_On a Passage in Pope_ (Vol. i., p. 201.).--P. C. S. S. has an inquiry
respecting the interpretation of these lines in Pope's Imitation of
Horace's "Epistle to Augustus:"
"The hero William and the martyr Charles,
One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles;
_Which made old Ben, and surly Dennis swear,
'No Lord's Anointed, but a Russian bear!'_"
And C. having repeated this Query (Vol. iv., p. 59.), I am induced to
impart to them a "guess" which I made not long since. I must premise by
asking your correspondents whether the unctuous substance known as
"bear's grease" was in use at the period referred to; and if the reply
be in the affirmative, I would suggest the following interpretation of
the couplet.
King William and King Charles had shown so little wisdom and
discrimination in their knighting and pensioning of worthless poets,
that they must be supposed to have been anointed, at their coronation,
with bear's grease, instead of the holy ointment commonly used for such
purposes, and which is considered to possess the power of conferring on
the kingly office those very virtues in which William and Charles had
shown themselves so deficient. In this sense, Old Ben and Dennis, each
in reference to the sovereign of his time, might have exclaimed,--
"No Lord's Anointed, but a Russian bear."
--the word "Russian" being obviously intended to describe bears in
general.
It is not for me to say how far this guess about "bear's grease" may
suit the fancy of C. and P. C. S. S. They will probably look upon it as
"tiré par les cheveux." If so, let them produce a better solution.