with so much favour as enraged Dennis, "who," he says, "found himself attacked without any manner of provocation on his side, and attacked in his person, instead of his writings, by one who was wholly a stranger to him, at a time when all the world knew he was persecuted by fortune; and not only saw that this was attempted in a clandestine manner, with the utmost falsehood and calumny, but found that all this was done by a little affected hypocrite, who had nothing in his mouth at the same time but truth, candour, friendship, good nature, humanity, and magnanimity."

How the attack was clandestine is not easily perceived, nor how his person is depreciated ;23 but he seems to have known

1711, No. 253] till yesterday at my Return home, wherein tho' it be y highest satisfaction to find myself commended by a Person whom all y" world commends, yet I am not more obliged to you for that, than for your Candour and Frankness in acquainting me with y Errour I have been guilty of in speaking too freely of my Brother-Moderns. Tis indeed y common method of all counterfeits in Wit, as well as in Physic, to begin with warning us of others' Cheats, in order to make ye more Way for their own. But if ever this Essay be thought worth a second edition, I shall be very glad to strike out all such strokes which you shall be so kind as to point out to me: I shall really be proud of being corrected; for I believe 'tis with y Errors of y Mind, as with y Weeds of a Field, wh if they are consumed upon y Place, enrich and improve it more, than if none had ever grown there. Some of y' Faults of that book, I myself have found, and more (I am confident) others have, enough at least to have made me very humble, had not you given this public approbation of it, which I can look upon only as y° effect of that Benevolence you have ever been so ready to show to any who but make it their endeavour to do well. But as a little Rain revives a flower, which too much overcharges and depresses, so moderate praise encourages a young writer, but a great deal may injure him; and you have been so lavish in this Point, that I almost hope, (not to call in Question your Judgement in yo Piece,) that 'twas some particular partial Inclination to ye Author which carried you so far. This would please me more than I can express, for I should in good earnest be fonder of your Friendship than the World's applause. I might hope too to deserve it better, since a man may more easily answer for his own sincerity, than his own Wit. And if yo highest Esteem built on yo justest ground in yo World, together with Gratitude for an obligation so unexpectedly conferred, can oblige a Man to be ever yours, I beg you to believe no one is more so than Sir, your most Faithful and obt

-Lucy Aikin's Life of Addison, ii. 73.

humble servant

A. POPE.

Pope returns to "the strokes of ill-nature in the Essay" in his last letter to Addison, Oct. 10, 1714: Letters,' 4to. 1737, p. 118.

23 The "threatening eye" and "stare tremendous" of Appius were Dennis's peculiarities.

something of Pope's character, in whom may be discovered an appetite to talk too frequently of his own virtues.

The pamphlet is such as rage might be expected to dictate.

He supposes himself to be asked two questions: whether the Essay' will succeed, and who or what is the author.

Its success he admits to be secured by the false opinions. then prevalent; the author he concludes to be "young and raw."

"First; because he discovers a sufficiency beyond his last ability, and hath rashly undertaken a task infinitely above his force. Secondly; while this little author struts and affects the dictatorian air, he plainly shows that at the same time he is under the rod; and while he pretends to give law to others, is a pedantic slave to authority and opinion. Thirdly; he hath, like schoolboys, borrowed both from living and dead. Fourthly; he knows not his own mind, and frequently contradicts himself. Fifthly; he is almost perpetually in the wrong.'

All these positions he attempts to prove by quotations and remarks; but his desire to do mischief is greater than his power. He has, however, justly criticised some passages in these lines:

"There are whom Heaven has bless'd with store of wit,

Yet want as much again to manage it;

For wit and judgment ever are at strife—”

[First Edition, 4to., 1711, p. 7.]

It is apparent that wit has two meanings, and that what is wanted, though called wit, is truly judgment. So far Dennis is undoubtedly right; but not content with argument, he will have a little mirth, and triumphs over the first couplet in terms too elegant to be forgotten. "By the way, what rare numbers are here! Would not one swear that this youngster had espoused some antiquated muse, who had sued out a divorce on account of impotence from some superannuated sinner; and having been p―xed by her former spouse, has got the gout in her decrepit age, which makes her hobble so damnably." This was the man who would reform a nation sinking into barbarity. In another place Pope himself allowed that Dennis had

detected one of those blunders which are called "bulls." 24 The first edition had this line:

"What is this wit

Where wanted, scorned; and envied where acquir`d?” "How," says the critic, "can wit be scorn'd where it is not? Is not this a figure frequently employed in Hibernian land? The person that wants this wit may indeed be scorned, but the scorn shows the honour which the contemner has for wit." Of this remark Pope made the proper use by correcting the

passage.

I have preserved, I think, all that is reasonable in Dennis's criticism; it remains that justice be done to his delicacy. "For his acquaintance (says Dennis) he names Mr. Walsh, who had by no means the qualification which this author reckons absolutely necessary to a critic, it being very certain that he was, like this essayer, a very indifferent poet; he loved to be well dressed; and I remember a little young gentleman whom Mr. Walsh used to take into his company, as a double foil to his person and capacity. Inquire between Sunninghill and Oakingham 25 for a young, short, squab gentleman, the very bow of the God of Love, and tell me whether he be a proper author to make personal reflections? He may extol the ancients, but he has reason to thank the gods that he was born a modern; for had he been born of Grecian parents, and his father consequently had by law had the absolute disposal of him, his life had been no longer than that of one of his poems, the life of half a day. Let the person of a gentleman of his parts be never so contemptible, his inward man is ten times more ridiculous; it being impossible that his outward form, though it be that of downright monkey, should differ so much from human shape as his unthinking, immaterial part does from human understanding." Thus began the hostility between Pope and Dennis, which, though it was suspended for a short time, never was appeased. Pope seems, at first, to have attacked him

24 I confess it is what the English call a bull in the expression, though the sense be manifest enough.-POPE to Caryl, June 15, 1711.

25 That is, inquire at Binfield.

wantonly; but though he always professed to despise him, he discovers, by mentioning him very often, that he felt his force or his venom.26

Of this Essay' Pope declared that he did not expect the sale to be quick, because "not one gentleman in sixty, even of liberal education, could understand it." 27 The gentlemen and the education of that time seem to have been of a lower character than they are of this. He mentioned a thousand copies as a numerous impression.

28

Dennis was not his only censurer: the zealous Papists thought the monks treated with too much contempt, and Erasmus too studiously praised; but to these objections he had not much regard.

The Essay' has been translated into French by Hamilton, author of the Comte de Grammont,' whose version was never printed; by Robotham, secretary to the King for Hanover, and by Resnel; and commented by Dr. Warburton, who has discovered in it such order and connection as was not perceived by Addison, nor, as is said, intended by the author.

Almost every poem consisting of precepts is so far arbitrary and immethodical, that many of the paragraphs may change places with no apparent inconvenience; for of two or more positions, depending upon some remote and general principle, there is seldom any cogent reason why one should precede the other. But for the order in which they stand, whatever

26 Compare Addison's Life,' vol. ii. p. 133.

"Letter to Caryl, July 19, 1711. 'Letters,' 1737, 4to. p. 83.

Old Mr. Lewis, the bookseller in Russell Street, who printed the first edition of this Essay in quarto, without Pope's name, informed me that it lay many days in his shop unnoticed and unread; and that, piqued with this neglect, the author came one day and packed up and directed twenty copies to several great men; among whom he could recollect none but Lord Lansdown and the Duke of Buckingham; and that in consequence of these presents, and his name being known, the book began to be called for.-WARTON: Life of Pope, p. xviii.

A second edition was advertised as ready in The Spectator' of 29th Nov. 1712. The first edition consisted of a thousand copies ('Letter to Caryl,' July 19, 1711; 'Letters,' 1737, 4to. p. 83).

* One of these gentlemen himself [Pope] can tell you that his admirable 'Essay on Criticism' lay upon the bookseller's hands for some time.-ARBUTHNOT: Works, i. 110.

it be, a little ingenuity may easily give a reason. "It is possible," says Hooker, "that, by long circumduction from any one truth, all truth may be inferred." Of all homogeneous truths, at least of all truths respecting the same general end, in whatever series they may be produced, a concatenation by intermediate ideas may be formed, such as, when it is once shown, shall appear natural; but if this order be reversed, another mode of connection equally specious may be found or made. Aristotle is praised for naming Fortitude first of the cardinal virtues, as that without which no other virtue can steadily be practised; but he might, with equal propriety, have placed Prudence and Justice before it, since without Prudence Fortitude is mad; without Justice it is mischievous.

As the end of method is perspicuity, that series is sufficiently regular that avoids obscurity; and where there is no obscurity, it will not be difficult to discover method.

In 'The Spectator '29 was published the 'Messiah,' which he first submitted to the perusal of Steele, and corrected in compliance with his criticisms.

6

It is reasonable to infer from his Letters that the verses on the Unfortunate Lady' were written about the time when his Essay' was published. The lady's name and adventures I have sought with fruitless inquiry.

I can therefore tell no more than I have learned from Mr. Ruffhead, who writes with the confidence of one who could trust his information.30 She was a woman of eminent rank and large fortune, the ward of an uncle, who, having given her a proper education, expected like other guardians that she should make at least an equal match; and such he proposed to her, but found it rejected in favour of a young gentleman of inferior condition.

Having discovered the correspondence between the two lovers, and finding the young lady determined to abide by her own choice, he supposed that separation might do what can rarely

29 Of May 14, 1712, No. 378.

30 Ruffhead (p. 133) follows the account in Ayre's Life of Pope,' 2 vols. 12mo., 1745, vol. i. p. 75.