POPE. 40*^ 



A man brought up in sublime mountain solitudes, and 

 whose nature was a solitude more vast than they, walk- 

 ing an earth which quivered with the throe of the 

 French Revolution, the child of an era of profound 

 mental and moral movement, it could not be expected 

 that he should be in sympathy with the poet of artificial 

 life. IMoreover, he was the apostle of imagination, and 

 came at a time when the school which Pope founded 

 had degenerated into a mob of mannerists who wrote 

 with ease, and who with, their congenial critics united at 

 once to decry poetry which brought in the dangerous 

 innovation of having a soul m it. 



But however it may be with poets, it is verv^ certain 

 that a reader is happiest whose mind is broad enough 

 to enjoy the natural school for its nature, and the artifi- 

 cial for its artificiahty, provided they be only good of 

 their kind. At any rate, we must allow that the man 

 who can produce one perfect work is either a great gen- 

 ius or a very lucky one ; and so far as we who read are 

 concerned, it is of secondary importance which. And 

 Pope has done this in the " Kape of the Lock." For 

 wit, fancy, invention, and keeping, it has never been 

 surpassed. I do not say there is in it poetry of the high- 

 est order, or that Pope is a poet whom any one would 

 choose as the companion of his best hours. There is no 

 inspiration in it, no trumpet-call, but for pure entertain- 

 ment it is unmatched. There are two kinds of genius. 

 The first and highest may be said to speak out of the 

 eternal to the present, and must compel its age to un- 

 derstand it ; the second understands its age, and tells it 

 what it wishes to be told. Let us find strength and in- 

 spiration in the one, amusement and instruction in the 

 other, and be honestly thankful for both. 



The very earliest of Pope's productions give indications 

 rf that sense and discretion, as well as wit, which after- 



