Born at Newcastle-on-Tyne - Educated at Edinburgh and Leyden - Deter- mines to study Physic - Publishes The Pleasures of Imagination '— His Quarrel with Warburton - Writes a Poem against Pulteney -- Publishes a volume of Odes - Mr. Dyson's friendship for him - His small practice as a physician-Death, and Burial in St. James's Church, Piccadilly, Lon- Son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton of Hagley, in Worcestershire-Educated at Eton and Oxford - Visits France and Italy - Obtains a seat in Parliament- Made Secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales - His Friendship with Pope and Thomson - Is twice married Publishes his 'Observations on the Con- version of St. Paul '-- Inherits his Father's Baronetcy — Is created a Peer- Writes the 'History of the Reign of Henry II.'-Death and Burial at Born in Cornhill, London - Educated at Eton and Cambridge — Accompanies Horace Walpole into Italy - His Quarrel with Pope - Publishes his 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' Its immediate popularity - Publishes his Odes Refuses the Laurel - Made Professor of Modern History at Cambridge Death and Burial at Stoke Pogeis in Buckinghamshire — РОРЕ. 1688-1744. Born in London - Both Parents Roman Catholics - Educated by Priests Early distinguished as a Poet Lives at Binfield in Berkshire 6 Poems Eloisa to Abelard' " 6 Sees Dryden Becomes acquainted with Wycherley, Walsh, Sir W. Trumbull, &c. Writes his 'Pastorals' Publishes his Pastorals' in Tonson's Miscellany Publishes 'An Essay on Criticism' Dennis attacks the 'Essay' Publishes The Rape of the Lock' in Lintot's Miscellany - His intimacy with Addison Publishes Windsor Forest' Commences a Translation of the Iliad’· History of the Subscription for the Iliad'. Lord Halifax and Pope Collects his Verses on an Unfortunate Lady' Commences a Translation of the 'Odyssey' - Fenton and Broome Publication of his Letters to Cromwell Curll Edits Shakespeare Theobald's Attack The Bathos History of The Dunciad' Writes his Moral Epistles' and Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot' - The Essay on Man' Bolingbroke and Warburton Quarrels with Lord Hervey and Lady Mary Montagu His Imitations of Horace - Collects a Second Volume of his Poems Publication of his Letters by Curll Writes his two Dialogues, 1738'- Quarrels with Cibber Writes a Fourth Book of The Dunciad'. Theobald dethroned Death and Burial at Twickenham Personal Character Works and Character - Dryden and Pope compared Criticism on his Epitaphs. - 1 ALEXANDER POPE was born in London, May 22, 1688, of parents whose rank or station was never ascertained: we are informed that they were of "gentle blood;" that his father was of a family of which the Earl of Downe was the head ;2 and that his mother was the daughter of William Turner, Esq., of York, who had likewise three sons, one of whom had the 1 Of gentle blood (part shed in honour's cause, While yet in Britain honour had applause) Each parent sprung. POPE: Epistle to Arbuthnot. 2 Compare note in Warton's 'Essay on Pope,' ed. 1782, vol. ii. p. 262. 3 66 Pray what authority had you to say that Mr. Pope's mother was Cooper's daughter? . . . In the parish of Worsbro, a village very near Lord Strafford, is the following entry:-'1643. Edith, the daughter of Mr. William Turner, bapt. 18 June.' Which Mr. Brooke, one of the Heralds, who is writing an account of Yorkshire families, says is the same person."-Mason to Walpole, Dec. 4, 1782. If honour of being killed, and the other of dying, in the service of Charles the First; the third [the eldest] was made a general officer in Spain, from whom the sister inherited what sequestrations and forfeitures had left in the family.4 This, and this only, is told by Pope, who is more willing, as I have heard observed, to show what his father was not, than what he was. It is allowed that he grew rich by trade, but whether in a shop or on the Exchange was never discovered till Mr. Tyers told, on the authority of Mrs. Rackett, that he was a linen-draper in the Strand. Both parents were Papists. 6 Pope was from his birth of a constitution tender and delicate, but is said to have shown remarkable gentleness and sweetness of disposition. The weakness of his body continued through his life; but the mildness of his mind perhaps ended with his childhood. His voice, when he was young, was so pleasing, that he was called in fondness the "little Nightingale." Being not sent early to school, he was taught to read by an aunt; and when he was seven or eight years old, became a this entry is correct, and the usual period only elapsed between birth and baptism, Pope's mother was ninety, and not ninety-three, at her death on the 7th June, 1733. • Pope's own note in his Epistle to Arbuthnot.' Magdalen Rackett-Pope's half-sister, it is said, by his mother's former marriage. She survived Pope, and, with her three sons, is remembered by him in his will. Pope's father in his will speaks of "My son-in-law Charles Rackett, and my dear daughter Magdalen," by which it is clear that the woman was nearer related to him than the man. A letter from Magdalen Rackett to Mrs. Pope (the poet's mother) concludes, "Dear mother, your dutiful daughter, M. Rackett." She speaks, however, in the same letter of her "mother Rackett," by which she may mean either her own or her husband's mother. (MS. Iliad, vol. ii. 136.) Pope in his will speaks of his "sister-in-law,' Magdalen Rackett, meaning perhaps his half-sister. I incline to think that the woman was the nearer related of the two to Pope, and that Magdalen Rackett was the daughter of Mr. Pope by a previous marriage, and not (as hitherto thought) of Mrs. Pope by a former husband. Compare Malone's note in his edition of Spence, p. 68. No, in Lombard Street. Martha Blount described him as a merchant who dealt in hollands" (Spence by Singer, p. 357). The poet's father became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith when still a youth, living with a merchant in Lisbon. 7 This weakness was so great that he constantly wore stays, as I have been assured by a waterman at Twickenham, who, in lifting him into his boat, had often felt them. His method of taking the air on the water was to have a sedan-chair in the boat, in which he sat with the glasses down.-SIR JOHN HAWKINS. (Note in Johnson's 'Lives,' 4 vols. 8vo., 1791.) |