CHISWIGK HOUSE 



The most brilliant writers of that day did not hesitate to assail 

 with cruel satire, and to belittle, their rivals in literature, and 

 those from whom they differed in politics, and religion. The 

 lampoon, and the scurrilous literary squib, flew about and exploded 

 like so many bombs ; and were as merciless in their effect on 

 human reputations as the latter on human lives. 



Pope was unscrupulous in his attacks on rivals, or those whom 

 he considered literary upstarts or charlatans ; and he also castigated 

 his critics severely. The " Dunciad," dangerously full of per- 

 sonalities as it is, assailed the literary reputation of so many 

 people that it was at first published anonymously with names 

 veiled by initials ; when its success was assured, a second edition 

 was issued with the names openly given ; and, to protect himself, 

 the author assigned the copyright to three noblemen whose position 

 practically rendered them immune from prosecution for libel ; 

 one of these three sponsors was Lord Burlington. 



Pope was vain, and unduly eager for posthumous praise, defeating 

 his own ends by the measures he took to ensure the publication 

 of his letters in his lifetime, and by his manipulation of these same 

 letters, after he had collected them from his correspondents, in 

 order to make himself appear in the best light to posterity : this, 

 however, only came to light some hundred years after his 

 death. Although his weaknesses must have been well known to 

 his associates, yet he was greatly loved by all who knew him 

 well, and the friendship with the Earl lasted to the end of 

 his life. 



In that age, when no dynasty was secure, politics could nowhere 

 be totally excluded : and a circle which included Swift, Pope, and 

 Bolingbroke, among its members, must have been built on a solid 

 substratum of Toryism. Later on in its history, as we shall soon 

 see, Chiswick House, like Holland House, though in a lesser degree, 

 became a stronghold of Whiggism, but during the regime of Lord 

 Burlington, so far as I can discover, no man received a welcome, 

 or was refused it, on account of his political opinions. His wit, 

 his humour, his art, his literary merit in a word, his genius, gave 

 the entree. 



Pope seems to have been sincerely attached to the Earl. When 

 he was only twenty-eight years old he wrote of him, " His garden 

 flourishes, his statues rise, his pictures arrive, and (what is far 



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