Recent Articles

4 the ass’s presence might imply an ironical admission that it was somewhat unwise of the poet to spend so much time in controversy with such dolts; in any case, the ass is primarily enacting the noble deed of carting off the rubbish. This brings us to the third argument, which has to do with the fact that the ass is munching thistles. Babrius has a fable on the subject. In the Loeb edition (p. 173, no. 133), a fox comes across an ass eating thistles. ‘‘How,’’ he says, ‘‘can you there, with that soft and flabby tongue, chomp and eat such a prickly piece of food?’’ The tone is one of surprise more than ridicule or revulsion. If in our picture the ass is Pope, then the thistles will represent the satirical attacks made on him by his adversaries8 —attacks which are shown to be utterly ineffective; in fact he thrives on them. If Scriblerians find these arguments convincing, I hope they will regard the image with increased affection. 1 Alexander Pope: A Life, New Haven: Yale, 1985, pp. 82–85. 2 Epistles 1.19.19f. 3 The Oxford Latin Dictionary has a small selection of such instances under Deferor, 1b (‘‘travel, come’’). Three other examples are: 1. Oris non est nimium mutanda species ne . . . ad ineptias . . . deferamur (Cicero, De Oratore 3.222) ‘‘The type of facial expression should not be altered too much for fear we lapse into silliness.’’ 2. Praeceps . . . in undas / deferar (Virgil, Eclogue 8. 59–60) ‘‘I shall throw myself into the waves’’ (Goold in the Loeb version). 3. Vallis per quam deferretur amnis (Livy 27.18.10) ‘‘A valley through which the river flowed.’’ 4 ‘‘The Solemn Owl and the Laden Ass: The Iconography of the Frontispieces to the Dunciad ,’’ HLB, 24 (1976), 25–39. 5 Ibid. 33. 6 ‘‘The Dunciad Illustrations,’’ Pope: Recent Essays by Several Hands, edd. M. Mack and J. A. Winn, Hamden, Connecticut: Archon, 1980, p. 751. 7 Ibid. 754. 8 Ibid. 754; reference is made to Swift’s Preface to The Tale of a Tub, where thistles are associated with ‘‘the Satyrical Itch.’’ University of Liverpool RECENT ARTICLES* ADDISON HAMMOND, BREAN. ‘‘Joseph Addison’s Opera Rosamond: Britishness in the Early Eighteenth Century,’’ ELH, 73 (Fall 2006), 601–629. This exploration of the apparent paradox of Addison’s dual role as stalwart critic of Italian opera and the author of a libretto examines the early eighteenth- *All unsigned reviews by the editors. century construction of ‘‘Britishness’’ along three vistas: the creation of a specifically British opera; Vanbrugh’s attempts to preserve the ruins of ‘‘Rosamond ’s bower’’ in the construction of Blenheim Palace; and the demands of the nationalist agenda, which required specific changes in the Rosamond story. What is speculative: whether Addison and Vanbrugh discussed Italian opera or the ruins at Blenheim at the gathering of 5 influential Whigs at the Hanoverian court on May 31, 1706 to confer the Order of the Garter on the future George II is unknown. What is certain: Vanbrugh opened the Haymarket Theatre in 1705 with the specific intention of presenting Italian opera, and Addison completed the libretto of an opera about Rosamond and offered it to the Duchess of Marlborough just before he left England . The ruins of Woodstock Manor, the supposed meeting place of Henry II and Rosamund, and the place of her death (according to some accounts, at the hands of Henry’s queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine ) became an issue between Vanbrugh and the Duchess. In this myth, the English rose was set against French treachery in the person of Eleanor, who, in addition to poisoning the rose, incited Henry’s sons to civil war against him, and sought the support of the French king to do so. The infant tourist industry already included visits to Rosamond’s bower. Thomas May’s The Reigne of King Henry the Seconde, published in 1633 when civil war was beginning to threaten the country, depicts Rosamond as a faithful English subject and ‘‘an honorary Protestant avant la lettre,’’ in contrast with Thomas Becket, who is not celebrated as a martyr. Mr. Hammond traces Addison’s influences in histories and ballads. Although the...