[1494] That is, the rest is mere outside appearance,—the leather of the cobbler's apron, or the prunella of the clergyman's gown. Prunella was a species of woollen stuff.
[1495] Cordon is the French term for the ribbon of the orders of knighthood; but in England the ribbons are never called "strings," nor would Pope have used the term unless he had wanted a rhyme for "kings." The concluding phrase of the couplet was aimed at the supposed influence of the mistresses of George II.
[1496] Cowley, Translation of Hor. Epist. i. 10:
To kings or to the favourites of kings.—Hurd.
[1497] In the MS. thus:
The richest blood, right-honourably old,
Down from Lucretia to Lucretia rolled,
May swell thy heart and gallop in thy breast,
Without one dash of usher or of priest:
Thy pride as much despise all other pride
As Christ-church once all colleges beside.—Warburton.
[1498] A bad rhyme to the preceding word "race." It is taken from Boileau, Sat. v.:
Et si leur sang tout pur, ainsi que leur noblesse,
Est passé jusqu'à vous de Lucrèce en Lucrèce.—Warton.
The bad rhyme did not appear till the edition of 1743. The couplet had previously stood as follows:
Thy boasted blood, a thousand years or so
May from Lucretia to Lucretia flow.