378 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 17. 1855. 



•would never imagine a poet could dwindle to a brother of 

 Dawk3 and Dyer, from a rival of Tate and Brad\\" 



The original is destitute of the above pi'e- 

 liminary flourish ; it stands as follows : 



" Ladies. — It is a difficult task you have imposed upon 

 me, that of writing news ; and if you did not think me the 

 humblest creature in the world, you could never imagine 

 a poet would dwindle to a brother of Dyer and Dawkes, 

 and an associate of Tate and Brady. At this time, in- 

 deed, I might allege many excuses for disobeying you in 

 this point — as, first, that I have too much news to war- 

 rant the writing any. Secondlj', that it is dangerous ; 

 and, thirdly, and principally, that it is troublesome to 

 me." 



Many expressions of attachment and self-abase- 

 ment — graceful and becoming, as addressed to 

 young ladies of rank and beauty — are omitted in 

 the printed correspondence. One epistle begins : 

 "Fair Ladies — I would call you dear ladies, if I 

 durst;'' and he tells them, that "the days of 

 beauty are as the days of greatness, and so long 

 as yo7ir eyes make their sunshine, all the world are 

 your adorers." The words here given in Italics 

 were omitted. In the above extract, perhaps, the 

 reference to his visiting at Blenheim caused Pope 

 to make the alteration, as in his latter days his 

 friendships lay chiefly among the opposite party. 

 He was also, as the writer in the Athenoium justly 

 remarked, averse to ranking with the Roman 

 Catholics, though he nominally adhered to the old 

 faith ; and I find in the original letter on Arabella 

 Fermor's marriage, the words : " My acquaintance 

 runs so much in an anti-Catholic channel, that it 

 was but the other day I heard," &c. In another 

 letter, entitled, To a Lady in the Name of her 

 Brother, a certain priest, Sir William Kennedy, is 



transformed into " The reverend Mr. ." This 



letter is one of the most objectionable in the series. 

 It is found only in what Pope called the surrep- 

 titious editions ; but it was assuredly written by 

 him, commencing "Dear Sisters," and printed with 

 the usual amount of verbal alteration. Instances 

 of this kind might be multiplied. Delicacy and de- 

 corum prompted other excisions ; for the manners 

 of that age allowed great latitude, both in con- 

 versation and writing, as the Suffolk correspon- 

 dence and memoirs of the period abundantly show. 

 Pope certainly exceeded ; his genius and the al- 

 lowance made for "a man of his make" (his own 

 expression) proving his shield and buckler; but 

 he knew that something was due to public ap- 

 pearances. No imputation, unless it be that of 

 too great indulgence, rested on his female friends. 

 Their innocence is established even by letters 

 unfit for publication. 



My object, however, at present, is to direct the 

 attention of some of the correspondents of " N. & 

 Q." to Pope's quarrel with Ralph Allen. Mr. 

 Cunningham, in his edition of Johnson's Lives, 

 has copied Sir John Hawkins's version of the story, 

 No. 316.] 



that Martha Blount, when on a visit with Pope at 

 Prior Park, " signified an inclination to go to the 

 Popish chapel at Bath, and desired of Mr. Allen 

 the use of his chariot for the purpose ; but he 

 being at that time Mayor of the city, suggested 

 the impropriety of having his carriage seen at the 

 door of a place of worship to which, as a magistrate, 

 he was at least restrained from giving a sanction, 

 and might be required to suppress, and therefore 

 desired to be excused." The published letters 

 give no support to this statement, but it had pro- 

 bably some foundation in facts not yet ascertained. 

 Was Mr. Allen Mayor of Bath in 1743? I am 

 convinced that Mr. Roscoe is wrong in assigning 

 the misunderstanding to the year 1742 ; it must 

 have occurred in the autumn of 1743. Mr. Allen 

 said the dispute rested entirely upon a mutual 

 misunderstanding between Martha Blount and his 

 wife, which appeared in two or three days after 

 Martha's arrival. Pope gallantly took the whole 

 cause of the quarrel on himself; it wa^ in resent- 

 ment of the conduct of the Aliens to him, and to 

 remove him from such treatment, that she stayed 

 alone to suffer it. She did stay at Mr. Allen's for 

 some days after Pope left, at which he was by no 

 means pleased, as appears from the printed cor- 

 respondence. Martlia, in her account of the affair 

 to Spence, said she soon observed a strangeness 

 of behaviour in them ; they used Mr. Pope very 

 rudely, and Mr. Warburton with double com- 

 plaisance, to make their ill usage of the other 

 more apparent ; herself they " used very oddly, 

 in a stiff and over-civil manner." I have ah-eady 

 expressed my opinion, that " it is highly impro- 

 bable, that Mr. Allen, who so often entertained 

 the poet, and who so cordially admired his genius, 

 should have treated his visitor with rudeness " 

 {Life of Pope, p. 287.). But in the Maple Dur- 

 ham Collection is a letter on this subject, which 

 had escaped my notice. It is addressed to Pope, 

 whose reply to it will be found in Bowles and 

 Roscoe. The letter is in Martha Blount's hand- 

 writing, but is without signature : 



" I hope you are well. I am not. My spirits are quite 

 down, though the}' should not, for these people deserve 

 so much to be despised. One should do nothing but 

 laugh. I packed up my things j'esterday ; the servants 

 knew it ; Mr. and Mrs. Allen never said a word, nor so 

 much as asked me hov/ I went, where or when. In short, 

 from every one of them much greater inhumanity that 

 [than] I could conceive anj'body could show. Mr. War- 

 burton took no notice of me — 'tis most wonderful. They 

 have not one of them named your name, nor drunk 5'our 

 health, since you went. They talk to one another without 



futting me at all in the conversation. Lord Archibald 

 Lord Archibald Hamilton] is come to Lincolm [Lin- 

 combe]. I was to have gone this morning in his coach, 

 but imluckily he keeps it here. I shall go and contrive 

 something with them to-day ; for I do really think these 

 people would shove me out, if I did not go soon. I would 

 run all inconveniences and drink the waters, if I thought 

 they would do me good. My present state is deplorable 



