Explain the following lines in "The Rape of the Lock". Might hide her Faults, if Belles had faults to hide: If to her share some Female Errors...

Pope's poem "The Rape of the Lock" is separated into five
different parts (Cantos). The lines below are from Canto Two of the poem, lines
16-18:

Might
hide her Faults, if Belles had faults to hide:
If to her
share some Female Errors fall,
Look on her Face, and you'll forget 'em
all.

Canto Two begins with
Belinda on a boat on the Thames River. Pope describes Belinda as a beautiful woman with
beautiful hair. One of the men on the boat with Belinda is so enamoured with her hair
that he wants her locks for his own. Another passenger on the boat (Ariel) has had a
premonition that something bad will happen on the boat that day and, therefore, assigns
others on the boat to protect Belinda.

The meaning of the
lines shown earlier describe the beauty of Belinda and women in general. The entire
second stanza, where the lines appear, describe Belinda's looks. The line prior to those
shown sets up the true meaning of the last three lines of the
stanza:

Yet
graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of
Pride,

Therefore, the meaning
of the three lines questioned refer to the fact that Belinda's ease and sweetness will
hide any faults which her beauty covers (if women actually have any faults). In the last
line, Pope is simply stating that to look upon the beauty of a woman will insure that if
any faults be found they will be forgotten once one looks upon a woman's
face.