TO MRS. ARABELLA FERMOR
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ADAM, It will be in vain to deny that I have some regard for this piece, sinceI dedicate it to You. Yet you may bear me witness, it was intended onlyto divert a few young Ladies, who have good sense and good humour enoughto laugh not only at their sex's little unguarded follies, but at theirown. But as it was communicated with the air of a Secret, it soon foundits way into the world. An imperfect copy having been offer'd to aBookseller, you had the good-nature for my sake to consent to thepublication of one more correct: This I was forc'd to, before I hadexecuted half my design, for the Machinery was entirely wanting tocompleat it. The Machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the Critics, to signify thatpart which the Deities, Angels, or Dæmons are made to act in a Poem:For the ancient Poets are in one respect like many modern Ladies: let anaction be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of theutmost importance. These Machines I determined to raise on a very newand odd foundation, the Rosicrucian doctrine of Spirits. I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a Lady;but't is so much the concern of a Poet to have his works understood, andparticularly by your Sex, that you must give me leave to explain two orthree difficult terms. The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The bestaccount I know of them is in a French book call'd 'Le Comte deGabalis', which both in its title and size is so like a Novel, thatmany of the Fair Sex have read it for one by mistake. According to theseGentlemen, the four Elements are inhabited by Spirits, which they callSylphs, Gnomes, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The Gnomes or Dæmons of Earthdelight in mischief; but the Sylphs whose habitation is in the Air, arethe best-condition'd creatures imaginable. For they say, any mortals mayenjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle Spirits, upon acondition very easy to all true Adepts, an inviolate preservation ofChastity. As to the following Canto's, all the passages of them are as fabulous,as the Vision at the beginning, or the Transformation at the end;(except the loss of your Hair, which I always mention with reverence).The Human persons are as fictitious as the airy ones; and the characterof Belinda, as it is now manag'd, resembles you in nothing but inBeauty. If this Poem had as many Graces as there are in your Person, or in yourMind, yet I could never hope it should pass thro' the world half soUncensur'd as You have done. But let its fortune be what it will, mineis happy enough, to have given me this occasion of assuring you that Iam, with the truest esteem, Madam, Your most obedient, Humble Servant, A. Pope
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