Note 50 — SPRING:
Reading edition
Pope had at first written,
If Sylvia smiles she brightens all the shore, The sun's outshined, and nature charms no more.
This he submitted to Walsh. Pope. "Quære, whether to say the sun is outshined be too bold and hyperbolical?" Walsh. "For pastoral it is." Pope. "If it should be softened with seems? Do you approve any of these alterations?
If Sylvia smile, she brightens all the shore, { All nature seems outshined, and charms no more. { Light seems outshined, and nature charms no more. { And vanquished nature seems to shine no more.
Quære, which of these three?" Walsh. "The last of these three I like best."