MrPope, his life and times . I must bringyou acquainted with. The best account I knowof them is in a French book called Le Comte deGabalis, which both in its title and size is so likea novel that many of the fair sex have read itfor one by mistake. According to these gentlemen,the four elements are inhabited by spirits which theycall sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders. Thegnomes, or demons of earth, delight in mischief;but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, arethe best-conditioned creatures imaginable. For, theysay, any mortal may enjoy the most intimatefamiliarities with these g
MrPope, his life and times . I must bringyou acquainted with. The best account I knowof them is in a French book called Le Comte deGabalis, which both in its title and size is so likea novel that many of the fair sex have read itfor one by mistake. According to these gentlemen,the four elements are inhabited by spirits which theycall sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders. Thegnomes, or demons of earth, delight in mischief;but the sylphs, whose habitation is in the air, arethe best-conditioned creatures imaginable. For, theysay, any mortal may enjoy the most intimatefamiliarities with these gentle spirits upon a conditionvery easy to all true adepts, an inviolable preserva-tion of chastity. As to the following cantos, all thepassages of them are as fabulous as the vision atthe beginning, or the transformation at the end, Popes offensively patronising tone is evidently quite un-conscious. Yet any girl of average intelligence could surelyhave understood the Rosicrucian fairy-tales without an From An Piigrnvlng by C. Dii Ensc after a painting by L. Dii RAPE OF TIIR LOCK, CANTO the second eililion of the pnrni, 1714. c * The Rape of the Lock 103 except the loss of your hair, which I always mention with reverence. The human personages are as fictitious as the airy ones, and the character of Belinda, as it is now managed, resembles you in A^ nothing but beauty. j The first scene is laid in the bedroom of Belinda,who at midday still her downy pillow morning dream brings her a vision of a youthwho whispers in her ear an account of the un-numbered spirits that surround her, the sylphs,salamanders, gnomes, and all the light militia ofthe lower sky. The duty of the sylphs is to guardthe purity of melting maids, and to expel oldimpertinence by new. For example : What tender maid but must a victim fall To one mans treat but for anothers ball ? When Florio speaks what virgin could withstand, If gentle Damon did not squeeze h
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