ABSTRACT
‘The Rape of the Locke’ was first published on 20 May 1712. In 1735 Pope told Spence that the poem was ‘written fast’, and, in a note added in 1736 to the later, five-canto Rape of the Lock, he claimed to have written this first version in under two weeks (OAC, I.45n). If correct, this fortnight most probably fell between the beginning of August and end of September 1711 (TE, II.83–7), and the ‘little poetical present’ which Pope mentioned to John Caryll on 21 September (Corr, I.133; date from Mack 1982: 461–2) was very possibly a draft of the poem, as Pope clearly thought it too important an effort to be entrusted to Lewis the bookseller; but it is not certain which poem was indicated. However, a letter Pope sent to Cromwell on 15 July of the same year (Corr., I.125) suggests something of the difficulty of attempting to fix precise dates for the composition of his poems. In this letter he offers a mock-heroic tribute to Cromwell’s latest ‘conquest’:
The Trophy you bore away from one of ’em, in your Snuffbox, will doubtless preserve her Memory, and be a Testimony of your admiration, for ever.
As long as Moco’s happy Tree shall grow, While Berries crackle, or while Mills shall go; While smoking streams from Silver Spouts shall glide, Or China’s Earth receive the sable Tyde; While Coffee shall to British Nymphs be dear; While fragrant Steams the bended Head shall chear; Or grateful Bitters shall delight the Tast; So long her Honour, Name, and Praise shall last!