J821. 



The Enquirer.— No. XXXI. 



and passages from the obsolete works of 

 Flatman, Crashaw, Ben Jonson, Ca- 

 rew, Herbert, WoUaston, and other 

 old English writers ; Jis also from French 

 authors, such as Charron, La Bruyere, 

 Pascal, Montaigne, Boileau and La 

 Fontaine, but so improved and mo- 

 dernized as only to want the merit of 

 priority. The scheme of the ' Essay 

 on Man,' and the principal thoughts 

 contained in if, Pope nudoubteilly took 

 from the outline drawn by the power- 

 ful pen of his friend Lord Bolingbroke. 

 For hints and ideas in illustrating his 

 subject, he was indebted to Lucretius 

 and Silius, Italicus; to the Theodic^ 

 of Leibnitz, the Zodiac of I'alingenixis, 

 the Maxims of the Duke de la Roche- 

 foucault, and the works of Pascal, 

 Boileau and Voltaire ; iis also to Arch- 

 bishop King's Origin of Eril, Locke's 

 Essay on the Understanding, and the 

 Moralists of Lord Shaftsbury. In the 

 celebrated description of the omnipre- 

 sence of the Deity, beginniusf at verse 

 267, he no doubt had in view some fine 

 lines on the same subject quoted in 

 Aristotle's treatise ' nc;i Kor^y.a ;' and in 

 explaining the doctrine of universal 

 Providence, he probably imitated the 

 lofty hymn of Cleauthes tlie Stoic. 



In his ' Moral Essays' he received 

 considerable assistance from the com- 

 positions of other authors. The epistle 

 * On the Cliaracters of Women,' con- 

 tains inauy thoughts from Charron, 

 Montaigne, Rochefouciult, La Bruyere 

 and Pascal, who are imiversally es- 

 teemed by the adiiiirers of French lite- 

 rature, as unrivalled in depicting life 

 and manners in their natural state, and 

 are supposed to have had the most per- 

 fect knowledge of the human heart. 

 .In his description of the strength of 

 the " ruling passion,'"' we find a simi- 

 liarity to some passives in one of Lord 

 'Bacon's Essays ;* and in pourtraying 

 the various foibles and contrarieties of 

 the female character, he had the ad- 

 vantage of seeing the subject previously 

 (ouched upon by the masterly pen of 

 Boileau in his first Satire, and by 

 Young in his 'Universal Passion,'! 

 " a work,"' says AVarton, " which 

 abounds in wit, observation on life, 

 pleasantry, delicacy, urbanity and the 

 most well-bred raillery, williout a sin- 

 gle mark of spleen or ill-nature." 

 Cowley's Davideis has also furnished 

 him with a few ideas, which have been 



• Essay II. 

 t V and VI .Satires. 



Wpnthly Mag. No. ^50, 



improved by Iiisacuteness and dexterity 

 of application. 



The general character of the ' Epis- 

 tle to Dr. Arbuthnot,' bears a strong 

 resemblance to one of Dr. Young's 

 Epistles concerning the authors of tue 

 last century, addressed to Pope in the 

 year 1730. The portrait of Bufo, in- 

 tended for Charles Montague, after- 

 wards Earl of Halifax, is taken from 

 the description of parasites and flatter- 

 ers in the same epistle. The story of 

 Luidas, beginning at verse 69, is from 

 Persius. And in the interesting his- 

 tory of his parents, of their plain up- 

 right conduct, and of his own filial 

 piety, he no doubt had Boileau for his 

 model. 



In the " Rape of the Lock," Pope 

 was indebted for his idea of the ma- 

 chinery to the • Comte de Gabalis,' 

 of the Abbe MUars, and for the ac- 

 count of their various employments to 

 Shakespeare's ' Tempest,* and ' Mid- 

 summer Night's Dream. The descrip- 

 tion of the game at Ombre is imitated 

 from the ' Scacchia,' of Vida. In 

 other parts of the poem he has intro- 

 duced frequent parodies of Homer, Vir- 

 gil and Milton. He has also judiciously 

 employed the celebrated fiction of Ari- 

 osto, that all things lost on earth are 

 treasured in the moon. In this recepta- 

 cle of the lunar sphere, says Ariosto, 

 are to be found. 



" Le lach.-ime, e i sospiri de gli amaati, 

 L'inutil' tempo, chesi perde a gioco, 

 E I'otio lungo d'huomini ignoranti, 

 Vani ilisegDi, che iion ban raai loco, 

 I vani desiderii sono tanti, 

 Clie la piu parte ingombra di quel loco, 

 C'io cbe in summa qua giu perdesti raai. 

 La su sallendo ritrovar potrai." 



Orlando Furioso, Cant. 34. 



So Pope, in speaking of the sudden 

 disappearance of the Lock, has thus 

 adverted to the preceding passage: 

 " Some tbougbt it mounted to tbe lunar 



sphere, 

 Since all tbiugs lost on earth are treasured 



tbere : 

 Tiiere hero's wits are kept in pond'rous 



Vases, 

 And beaus' in snuff-boxes and tweezer cases: 

 There broken vows, and death-bed alms are 



found, 

 And lover's hearts with ends of riband bound : 

 The courtier's promises, and sick men's 



prajers, 

 The smiles of harlots and tiie tears of heirs : 

 Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a fleu, 

 Dried butterflies, and tomes of casuistry." 

 Cunt.S, 113, 22. 

 , Thus also Milton; in his description 

 of the Tiimbo of vanity, aUkough he 

 D maintains 



