st account I am able to give of this
extraordinary man, without doing injustice to him or others. It is time to
refer to particular instances in his works.--The Rape of the Lock is the
best or most ingenious of these. It is the most exquisite specimen of
_fillagree_ work ever invented. It is admirable in proportion as it is
made of nothing.

"More subtle web Arachne cannot spin,
Nor the fine nets, which oft we woven see
Of scorched dew, do not in th' air more lightly flee."

It is made of gauze and silver spangles. The most glittering appearance is
given to every thing, to paste, pomatum, billet-doux, and patches. Airs,
languid airs, breathe around;--the atmosphere is perfumed with
affectation. A toilette is described with the solemnity of an altar raised
to the goddess of vanity, and the history of a silver bodkin is given with
all the pomp of heraldry. No pains are spared, no profusion of ornament,
no splendour of poetic diction, to set off the meanest things. The balance
between the concealed irony and the assumed gravity, is as nicely trimmed
as the balance of power in Europe. The little is made great, and the
great little. You hardly know whether to laugh or weep. It is the triumph
of insignificance, the apotheosis of foppery and folly. It is the
perfection of the mock-heroic! I will give only the two following passages
in illustration of these remarks. Can anything be more elegant and
graceful than the description of Belinda, in the beginning of the second
canto?

"Not with more glories, in the ethereal plain,
The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,
Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams
Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames.
Fair nymphs, and well-drest youths around her shone,
But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose,
Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those:
Favours to none, to all she smiles extends;
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike;
And like the sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,
Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide:
If to her share some female errors fall.
Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.
This nymph, to the destruction of mankind,
Nourish'd two locks, which graceful hung behind
In eq