Note 1495 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
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.