534 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



the " Essay on Criticism," the " Moral Essays," and some others. Dr. 

 Croly performs his task like a scholar and a poet. He introduces the 

 "Eloisa and Abelard" by some remarks, which go far to explain the 

 origin of this almost the only piece of passionate writing Pope has left 

 behind him ; and the witticisms of lady Mary no doubt led the " wasp of 

 Twickenham " to his fretful delineations of woman's character. 



" As a poem, the beauty of the epistle has exhausted panegyric : it has 

 long been acknowleged to be the richest, most varied, and most pathetic, 

 display of Pope. Abandoning for once the stateliness and severe dignity 

 of his style, he gave way to his feelings, and showed himself a master of 

 unsuspected passion. With the exception of the * Elegy on an Unfor- 

 tunate Lady/ it is the only instance in which he thus let loose his sensi- 

 bilities ; and it is equally the only instance in which he changed the strict 

 model of his language for the luxuriant epithets and picturesque beauty 

 of the old English versification. His betrayal into passion may not impro- 

 bably be accounted for by his correspondence with lady Wortley Mon- 

 tague. With this celebrated woman Pope evidently either was, or 

 imagined himself to be, in love. The epistle was written in 1716, imme- 

 diately after her departure with her husband on the embassy to Constan- 

 tinople. In a letter to Martha Blount from Oxford, he says, ' I am here, 

 studying ten hours a day, but thinking of you in spite of all the learned. 

 The epistle of Eloisa grows warm, and begins to have some breathings of 

 the heart in it, which may make posterity think I was in love : I can 

 scarce find in my heart to leave out the conclusion I once intended for it.' 

 To this conclusion he alludes, with a still more direct reference, in a 

 letter to lady Mary, accompanying the volume of his * Miscellaneous 

 Works,' published in 1717. ' I send you with this the third volume of 

 the Iliad, and as many other things as fill a wooden box, directed to Mr. 

 Wortley: among the rest, you have all I am worth, that is, my works : 

 there are few things in them but what you have already seen, except the 

 epistle of Eloisa to Abelard, in which you will find one passage that I 

 cannot tell whether to wish you to understand or not.' The passage thus 

 doubly marked, as containing the poet's purpose in the work, is the well- 

 known close of the poem. 



" Pope's habitual severity in speaking of the female character does no 

 honor to his understanding, 'his knowlege of life, or his sense of what was 

 due to society. From the higher ranks of the sex in England he appears 

 to have always received the respect paid to genius, though he was natu- 

 rally thwarted in all expectation of that value for his person which was so 

 willingly given to his mind. His passion for lady Wortley Montague, 

 which unfortunately laid him at the mercy of a witty woman of fashion, 

 who, if she esteemed the poet, palpably laughed at the admirer ; and his 

 platonic intercourse with the Blount family gradually sinking into the de- 

 pendency of an invalid, may have soured his recollections of woman." 



The illustrations are very fine Windsor Forest, a beautiful sylvan 

 scene, and Abelard and Eloisa. 



Wanderings through Wales. By THOMAS ROSCOE, Esq. Em- 

 bellished with highly-finished Engravings, Part II. Simpkin, and 

 C. Tilt, London. 



A very finely got up book; equally good as regards authorship, 

 painting, engraving, paper and print; and all are of the very first quality. 

 In this number Mr. Roscoe gives us a faithful account of the death of 

 Llewellyn, and a very graphic sketch of Chester, the ancient JDeva, and 

 more especially worthy of antiquarian and imaginative regard as the 

 capital of king Arthur, and his renowned knights of the round table. We 

 fully agree with Mr. Roscoe when he says, " These are names which 



