2-880-209 - Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

The Rape of the Lock, 1895-1896. The Baron attempst cuts a lock of Belinda's hair with a pair of scissors. 'He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends; The little engine on his fingers' ends; This just behind Belinda's neck he spread; As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head'. Illustration for "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, published privately by Leonard Smithers in 1896. Rape in this context refers not to sexual violence but to the theft and carrying away of a lock of hair, from the Latin rapere: to snatch, to grab, to carry off. From "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]