No More Learning

'52'

Pope in a note to this poem says that a lady of his time actually
imagined herself to be a goose-pie.


'56 A branch':

so AEneas bore a magic branch to protect him when he descended to the
infernal regions ('AEneid', VI, 136-143).

'Spleenwort':

a sort of fern which was once supposed to be a remedy against the spleen.


'58 the sex':

women.


'59 vapours':

a form of spleen to which women were supposed to be peculiarly liable,
something like our modern hysteria. It seems to have taken its name from
the fogs of England which were thought to cause it.


'65 a nymph':

Belinda, who had always been so light-hearted that she had never been a
victim of the spleen.


'89 Citron-waters':

a liqueur made by distilling brandy with the rind of citrons. It was a
fashionable drink for ladies at this time.


'71'

Made men suspicious of their wives.


'82 Ulysses':

Homer ('Odyssey', X, 1-25) tells how AEolus, the god of the winds, gave
Ulysses a wallet of oxhide in which all the winds that might oppose his
journey homeward were closely bound up.


'89 Thalestris':

the name of a warlike queen of the Amazons. Pope uses it here for a
friend of Belinda's, who excites her to revenge herself for the rape of
her lock. It is said that this friend was a certain Mrs. Morley.
'102 loads of lead':

curl papers used to be fastened with strips of lead.


'105 Honour':

female reputation.


'109 toast':

a slang term in Pope's day for a reigning beauty whose health was
regularly drunk by her admirers. Steele ('Tatler', No. 24) says that the
term had its rise from an accident that happened at Bath in the reign of
Charles II. A famous beauty was bathing there in public, and one of her
admirers filled a glass with the water in which she stood and drank her
health.

"There was in the place," says Steele "a gay fellow, half-fuddled, who
offered to jump in, and swore though he liked not the liquor, he would
have the Toast. He was opposed in his resolution; yet this whim gave
foundation to the present honor which is done to the lady we mention
in our liquors, who has ever since been called a TOAST. "

To understand the point of the story one must know that it was an old
custom to put a bit of toast in hot drinks.

In this line in the poem Thalestris insinuates that if Belinda submits
tamely to the rape of the lock, her position as a toast will be
forfeited.


'113-116'

Thalestris supposes that the baron will have the lock set in a ring
under a bit of crystal. Old-fashioned hair-rings of this kind are still
to be seen.


'117 Hyde-park Circus':

the Ring of Canto I, l. 44. Grass was not likely to grow there so long
as it remained the fashionable place to drive.


'118 in the sound of Bow':

within hearing of the bells of the church of St.