2»4 S. N« 98., Nov. 14. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14. 1857. 



ALEXANDER POPE OP BEOAD-STEEET. 



An absence of four months had left a serious 

 blank in my literary intelligence, and I was led 

 to a course of retrospection. Some time, how- 

 ever, was consumed in the exercise of the paper- 

 knife. Mr. Sylvanus Urban called out for it ; a 

 pile of the Atheneeum awaited the operation ; a pile 

 of Notea and Queries also awaited it ; etc. etc. 



Among the various subjects which came under 

 discussion within the above-named period, there 

 is one which I cannot omit to notice. It is the 

 discovery that Alexander Pope, the presumed 

 father of the poet of Twickenham, resided in 

 Broad-street in 1 677. It is believed, in certain 

 quarters, that my friend Mr. Peter Cunningham 

 was not acquainted with the fact when he wrote 

 his Handbook for London, and that it had escaped 

 my own observation although in possession of the 

 volume which proved it. 



In answer to such surmises I shall give a brief 

 statement of opposite evidence, in part admitting 

 of verification, and leave the question to its fate — 

 avowing that I am not insensible to the principle 

 contained in the phrase Sudm cuique. 



About the year 1848 I lent Mr. Cunningham a 

 small volume which he thus describes in his ex- 

 cellent Handbook'for London, under the heading 

 of A chronology of London occurrences — • 



" 1677 — ' A collection of the names of merchants living 

 in and about the City of London,' was published in 12mo. 

 this year." 



It was for several months in his hands, and he has 

 evidently availed himself of some of the informa- 

 tion which it affords. The said volume, which is 

 in alphabetical order, contains these entries — 



James Pope, Abchurch Lane. 

 Alexand. Pope, Broadstreet. 

 Joseph Pope, Redriff, 



Can it be believed, by those who are aware of the 

 favourite studies of Mr. Cunningham, that he 

 should have failed to detect those entries ? Is it 

 probable that a lover of biography, and an aspi- 

 rant in discovery, should have placed the volume 

 in his hands without adverting to the second of 

 those entries ? There is no exact standard of 

 credibility or probability — so I must declare that 

 we discussed the subject, in conversation, many 

 years since. 



How far the fact in question has become patent, 

 it is not for me to explain. I never saw the as- 

 sertion to that effect, except as a quotation ; and 

 the author may be quite able to justify it. 



I must now speak more expressly of myself. I 

 was quite satisfied that the merchant of Broad- 

 street was the father of the poet. The evidence 

 is soon stated. It is admitted that Alexander 



Pope the elder, albeit " Of gentle blood," was 

 a merchant of London, and we find above Alexander 

 Pope, Broadstreet — a street in which there were 

 fifty merchants! There are Innumerable state- 

 ments in biographical literature which rest on 

 worse evidence. The queries which arose were of 

 another description. Was the poet born in Broad- 

 street or in Lombard- street ? Do the records of 

 "Water-lane state where Mr. Morgan the apothe- 

 cary resided ? Are the registers of the parish- 

 church in existence ? Under the influence of those 

 feelings I exhibited my precious book to one of 

 the senior officials in Water-lane, and was fur- 

 nished with the name of the clerk, R. B. Upton, 

 Esq. The memorandum made at the moment is 

 now before me. I also ascertained that the re- 

 gisters of St. Bennet-Fink, as I now believe it to 

 have been, were in safe custody elsewhere. With 

 those preliminaries I paused : the path was plain, 

 and I feared no rival. 



It is easy to guess why Mr. Cunningham for- 

 bore to announce the fact in question, and as easy 

 to conceive that I should have claimed the dis- 

 covery of it in due time. I gave the clue, but 

 without then designing to give it. The particulars 

 shall now be briefly reported. 



On the 2nd May I contributed to Notes and 

 Queries a short account of the London directory 

 of 1677, without any allusion to Pope. On the 

 30th May, or under that date, came out another 

 description of the work, with the item on Pope. 

 It was communicated by Mr. Edward Edwards 

 of Manchester to Mr. Hotten of Piccadilly, and 

 printed in the adversaria appended to a Catalogue 

 of old and new hooks. Part X. What induced 

 Mr. Edwards at that time to examine the diminu- 

 tive volume which had so quietly reposed among 

 the Chetham folios ? It was no doubt my own 

 description of it. I entirely acquit him of any 

 unfair proceedings on this occasion, but hope he 

 will be convinced that the item on Pope has been 

 known to me for at least ten years. 



On the 13th June, at which time I was out 

 of England, two communications on the subject 

 appeared in Notes and Queries ; one, signed P. P. 

 — and the other, D. It is in reply to the ob- 

 servations of those writers that I have made the 

 above disclosures. 



To the superfluous insinuation of D. that the 

 fact was of " no significance or interest," I op- 

 pose the opinion of P. F. that it " has proved to 

 be of considerable importance as illustrating the 

 biography of Pope." BoiiTON CoENEr. 



The Terrace, Barnes. 

 31st October. 



EPITAPHS. 



The Place of Shelter, — The following is the 

 (somewhat unusual) inscription on a round- 



