12G 



naturally mild and gentle, yet sometimes betrayed that ex- 

 quisite sensibility which is the concomitant of genius. His 

 lively perception and delicate feeling, irritated by wretched 

 ill health, made him too quickly take fire, but his good 

 sense and humanity soon rendered him placable. With 

 regard to the extent of his genius, it was so wide and various, 

 that perhaps it may not be too much to say, that he excelled 

 in every species of composition; and, beside his excellence 

 as a poet, he was both an antiquarian and an architect, and 

 neither in an inferior degree.* No man ever entertained 

 more exalted notions of friendship, or was ever more sincere, 

 steady, warm, and disinterested, in all his attachments. 

 Every inch of his heart was let out in lodgings for his 

 friends." Lord Orrery thus speaks of him: "His prose 

 writings are little less harmonious than his verse ; and his 

 voice, in common conversation, was so naturally musical, that 

 I remember honest Tom Southern used to call him the Little 

 Nightingale; his manners were delicate, easy, and engaging; 

 he treated his friends with a politeness that charmed, and a 

 generosity that was much to his honour. Every guest was 

 made happy within his doors; pleasure dwelt under his roof, 

 and elegance presided at his table." One may trace Mr. 

 Pope's hospitality throughout his letters. I will merely se- 

 lect one or two instances. In a letter to Swift, he says, 

 " My house is too large; my gardens furnish too much wood 

 and provision for my use. My servants are sensible and 

 tender of me. They have intermarried, and are become 

 rather low friends than servants. Would to God you would 

 come over with Lord Orrery, whose care of you in the voy- 

 age I could so certainly depend on; and bring with you your 



* At Holm-Lacey is preserved a sketch, in crayons, by Pope, (when on 

 a visit there) of Lord Strafford by Vandyke. It is well known that Pope 

 painted Betterton in oil colours, and gave it to Lord Mansfield. The noble 

 lord regretted the loss of this memorial, when his house was consumed at 

 the time of the disgraceful and ignorant riots. 



