Finberg did not record this inscription. See Introduction and note to folio 85 verso of the sketchbook (
D06709) for the background and subject of these verses, the demolition of Alexander Pope’s villa at Twickenham. Rosalind Mallord Turner’s reading published in the 1990 Tate catalogue is adopted here:
To workmen show him in weekly gain
and tear the flesh of him that his Ax[e] had made
Age M[enalcas] heard far less rejoice
Like lenten lambing
With B your Colin newly bride
Which B of Lob with pity smote
All like Alexis
‘Alexis’ refers to Pope himself, as in the verses on folios 86, 86 verso and 88 of the sketchbook (
D06710,
D06711,
D06714). ‘Colin’ is Colin Clout, a shepherd borrowed from Edmund Spenser, while ‘B’ is the maiden ‘Bloss’ or ‘Boz’; see also folios 85 verso and 86 verso (
D06709,
D06711). ‘M’ can be identified as Menalcas, another shepherd, this time from Virgil’s
Eclogues.
1
David Blayney Brown
December 2006
