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POPE, 



rP e cherished a special veneration. He once succeeded in 

 Alexander, obtaining a sight of Dryden at a coffee-house, but never 

 became acquainted with him, a misfortune which his 

 phrase of VirgiHum tnnlum vidi so happily expresses. 

 At the age of twelve he composed his Ode to Solitude, 

 which, though a respectable early composition, exhibits 

 no peculiarity of poetical talent. His translation of the 

 Thebais, and of Sappho to Phaon, executed when he 

 was only fourteen years of age, evince great progress 

 in his career, and the last has been especially admired, 

 At the age of fifteen he began an epic poem, called Al- 

 cander. A long time afterwards he showed it to At- 

 terbury, and mentioned his intention of burning it. 

 His friend concurred in the justice of the sentence, but 

 proposed a mitigation of punishment, by saving " the 

 first page, and placing it among his curiosities." " There 

 was a time," says Pope himself, " when I was in love 

 with myself; and my first productions were The Child- 

 ren of Self Love tipon Innocence. I had made an epic 

 poem and panegyrics on all the princes, and I thought 

 myself the greatest genius that ever was. I cannot 

 but regret these delightful visions of my childhood, 

 which, like the fine colours we see when our eyes are 

 shut, are vanished for ever." 



The manners and conversation of our author were 

 probably of the same early growth as his poetical ta- 

 lerits. Before the age of sixteen he had attracted the 

 notice of Sir William Turnbull, and had even formed 

 an intimacy with him. His acquaintance, however, 

 was now greatly extended by his Pastorals, begun in 

 1703. They procured him great reputation, and were 

 the means of introducing him to Walsh and Wycherley, 

 and some of the other wits and critics of the age. The 

 Pastorals were printed in 1709> in Tonson's Miscellanies, 

 and, though deemed by some deficient in original 

 observation, were yet unusually extolled for the me- 

 lody of the versification, and the splendour of the dic- 

 tion. 



The genius of Pope was now destined to shine in a 

 still higher sphere. He had already composed his 

 Ode for St. Cecilia's Day ; and in the year 1?08, be- 

 fore he had reached his twentieth year, he wrote his 

 Essay on Criticism, which, without being strongly mark- 

 ed with an imaginative lustre, evinced a maturity of 

 intellect, and a knowledge of human character, that 

 has rarely been surpassed. 



His Elegy on an Unfortunate Woman, which he wrote 

 in 1711, has been reckoned one of his finest composi- 

 tions. The story is a mysterious one ; and though the 

 author had already shown that he was not under the 

 influence of a romantic passion for the other sex, it has 

 been supposed, without any reason, to refer to some 

 lady who had inspired him with a real passion. 



The .publication of the Rape of the Lock, in 1712, 

 stamped his reputation as an inventive poet. This 

 mock heroic poem had its origin in the conduct of 

 Lord Petre, who cut off a lock of Mrs. Fermor's hair ; 

 and, what seldom happens in such cases, it had the 

 effect of reconciling the parties which that incident 

 had placed at variance. 



About the same time, Pope published his Temple of 

 Fame, altered from Chaucer, and written two years 

 before. In 1713, he published his Windsor Forest, 

 the first part of which had been composed in 1704. 



Pope now ventured on an undertaking of great dif- 

 ficulty and boldness. Jn 1713, he circulated proposals 

 for publishing by subscription a translation of the Iliad 



of Homer. This project succeeded beyond his most san- Pope, 

 gUine expectations, and the rise of the subscription to Alexander - 



e6000, besides 1200, which he received from Lintot for """"^ ' 



the copyright, ensured to him an ample remuneration for 

 the labour which such a great work necessarily entailed 

 upon him. He therefore proceeded with his translation - 

 with equal ardour and diligence ; and he produced the 

 first volume, containing the first four books, in the year 

 1715. Soon after the appearance of this volume, a 

 rival translation by Tickell was published; and as Ad- 

 dison had now quarrelled with Pope, the public, who 

 were not acquainted with the great ability of Tickell, with 

 some reason, ascribed the work to the pen of Addison. 

 Enraged at this attempt to injure his commercial in- 

 terests, which was in no respect an honourable one, 

 Pope attacked his rival in a piece of keen satire, which 

 extinguished all farther opposition, and left him in full 

 possession of the Troad. 



W r ith the produce of his subscriptions, Pope pur- 

 chased his house at Twickenham, which afterwards 

 became so celebrated; and he removed to it in 1715, 

 with his father and mother. His father lived only two 

 years to enjoy the prosperity of his family ; but his mo- 

 ther long survived, cheered by the most affectionate 

 kindness and attention of her son. 



Thus elevated in society by the successful exercise 

 of his own talents, Pope devoted himself to the im- 

 provement of his fortune ; and having done much for 

 his reputation, he began to do something to promote 

 his comfort and establish his independence. 



With this view, he published in 1717 a collection of 

 his separate works, in one volume quarto, to which 

 he prefixed a well- written preface ; and he began an 

 edition of Shakespeare, which was published in 1721, 

 in a splendid form by Tonson, but which exposed him 

 to much severity of criticism. 



Having completed the Iliad in 1720, he now under- 

 took a translation of the Odyssey ; but feeling, no 

 doubt, that independence had weakened his habits of 

 hard labour, he engaged Broome and Fenton to assist 

 him in the undertaking, for the sum of 500. This 

 work was published in 1725, on the same condition 

 as the Iliad, with this difference only, that Lintot gave 

 him only 600 for the copyright. Twelve books of the 

 Odyssey were translated by Pope himself, and the 

 translation is marked by his able hand ; but the other 

 twelve, executed by his assistants, were, notwithstand- 

 ing all his corrections and amendments, of a very in- 

 ferior character. 



In the year 1721, our author published a selection 

 of the poems of his deceased friend Parnell, which he 

 dedicated in a poetical effusion to the Earl of Oxford, 

 who had retired from the disputes and cares of a states- 

 man ; and some years previous to this he had composed 

 his " Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard ;" a poem of sin- 

 gular beauty, but more strongly marked with the li. 

 centiousness than with the romance of love. 



Soon after our author had settled himself in his ele- 

 gant residence at Twickenham, he became acquainted 

 with Lady Mary Wortley Montague, whom he had 

 induced to reside in the village of Twickenham, in 

 the house of Sir Godfrey Kneller, a lease of which he 

 had contrived to negotiate for his friend. The poet ven- 

 tured to address this eminent individual in the style of a 

 lover; and this tone of intimacy was probably permitted 

 by Lady Mary, on the ground that there was no risk of 

 scandal with a poet, and especially with one of his per- 



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