CHISWICK 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 régime 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 eee a word, his genius, gave 
the entrée. 
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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