hair, the decoration of her face, the chief employment of her time.

The beauty of
Belinda, and the elaborate details of her toilette are all set forth with matchless
grace, but behind all this fascinating description, there is a pervading sense of
vanity and emptiness. Pope's satirical gift is shown at its best when he shows the
outward charms and the inward frivolity of fashionable ladies. "Their hearts are
toy-shops. They reverse the relative importance of things; the title with them is
great and the great little."

Places and Names of London of the Day. In Canto III of The Rape of the Lock,
Pope gives a detailed description of the scene where Belinda's beautiful lock of
hair is to be raped. There is Hampton Court, the palace of the English Queen
beautifully situated on the banks of the river Thames, where

Here Britain's Statesmen oft, the Fall foredoom

Or Foreign Tyrants and, of Nymphs at home;
(L. 295-296)

Here the lords and ladies of the time often resorted to taste the pleasure of the
court and to talk society scandals. And

Here Thou, Great Anna! whom three Realms obey,

Dost sometimes Counsel take and sometimes Tea,

The poet in a very subtle manner satirizes the activities of the palace. The
Queen's consultations with her ministers and her taking tea with the luminaries of
her regime are equated. The serious and the frivolous have been mentioned in one
breath, as if taking counsel is as routine and frivolous matter as taking tea. The
intrigues of the court are also laid bare. The Queen's palace, Hampton Court, which
is beautifully laid out with "long canals" and "Woods" turns out to be a mere place
for gossip and intrigue where the nobles and ladies.

In various Talk th' instructive hours they pass,

Who gave the Ball, or paid the Visit last
And