After holding out a prospect of perpetual peace, Pope conjures up a future vision of "sueing kings," and "suppliant states," which are the consequences of war and victory.
[167] This return to the trees of Windsor Forest, his original subject, is masterly and judicious; and the whole speech of Thames is highly animated and poetical,—forcible and rich in diction, as it is copious and noble in imagery.—Bowles.
[168] Originally thus:
Now shall our fleets the bloody cross display
To the rich regions of the rising day,
Or those green isles, where headlong Titan steeps
His hissing axle in th' Atlantic deeps:
Tempt icy seas, &c.—Pope.
The original lines were rejected, probably as too nearly resembling a passage in Comus:
And the gilded car of day
His glowing axle doth allay
In the steep Atlantic stream.—Bowles.
[169] Pope has written "if obscure?" against this line in the manuscript. It is plain he meant that the trees were converted into ships, but the language is extravagant.
[170] The red cross upon the Union Jack.
[171] Waller's verses on Tea:
To the fair region where the sun does rise.