368 POPE. 



madman and the Swede,&quot; and says that neither of them 

 &quot; looked forward farther than his nose,&quot; a slang phrase 

 which may apply well enough to Charles XII., but certainly 

 not to the pupil of Aristotle, who showed himself capable of 

 a large political forethought. So, too, the rhyme, if correct, 

 is a sufficient apology for want of propriety in phrase, as 

 where he makes &quot;Socrates bleed&quot; 



But it is in his Moral Essays and parts of his Satires 

 that Pope deserves the praise which he himself desired : 



&quot;Happily to steer 



From grave to gay, from lively to severe, 

 Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease, 

 Intent to reason, or polite to please.&quot; 



Here Pope must be allowed to have established a style of 

 his own, in which he is without a rival. One can open 

 upon wit and epigram at any page. 



&quot; Behold, if Fortune or a mistress frowns, 

 Some plunge in business, others have their crowns ; 

 To ease the soul of one oppressive weight, 

 This quits an empire, that embroils a state ; 

 The same adust complexion has impelled, 

 Charles to the convent, Philip to the field.&quot; 



Indeed, I think one gets a little tired of the invariable this 

 set off by the inevitable tliat^ and wishes antithesis would 

 let him have a little quiet now and then. In the first 

 couplet, too, the conditional &quot;frown&quot; would have been 

 more elegant. But taken as detached passages, how admir 

 ably the different characters are drawn, so admirably that 

 half the verses have become proverbial. This of Addison 

 will bear reading again : 



&quot; Peace to all such ; but were there one whose fires 

 True genius kindles and fair fame inspires ; 

 Blest with each talent and each art to please, 

 And born to write, converse, and live with ease ; 

 Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, 

 Bear like the Turk no brother near the throne, 

 View him with scornful yet with jealous eyes, 

 And hate for arts that caused himself to rise, 

 Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, 

 And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer ; 



