The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, vol 1 | Page 7

seemed to feel, entire indifference as to
these assaults. On some of them, indeed, he could afford to look down
with contempt, on account of their obvious animus and gross language.
Others, again, were neutralised by the fact, that their authors had
provoked reprisals by their previous insults or ingratitude to Pope.
Many, however, were too obscure for his notice; and some, such as

Aaron Hill and Bentley, did not deserve to be classed with the
Theobalds and Ralphs. To Hill, he, after some finessing, was compelled
to make an apology. Altogether, although this production increased
Pope's fame, and the conception of his power, it did not tend to shew
him in the most amiable light, or perhaps to promote his own comfort
or peace of mind. After having emptied out his bile in "The Dunciad,"
he ought to have become mellower in temper, and resigned satire for
ever. He continued, on the contrary, as ill-natured as before; and
although he afterwards flew at higher game, the iron had entered into
his soul, and he remained a satirist, and therefore an unhappy man, for
life.
In 1731 appeared an "Epistle on Taste," which was very favourably
received; only his enemies accused him of having satirised the Duke of
Chandos in it,--a man who had befriended Pope, and had lent him
money. Pope denied the charge, although it is very possible, both from
his own temperament, and from the frequent occurrence of similar
cases of baseness in literary life, that it may have been true. Nothing is
more common than for those who have been most liberally helped, to
become first the secret, and then the open, enemies of their benefactors.
In 1732 appeared his epistle on "The Use of Riches," addressed to Lord
Bathurst. These two epistles were afterwards incorporated in his "Moral
Essays."
As far back as 1725, Pope had been revolving the subject of the "Essay
on Man;" and, indeed, some of its couplets remind you of "pebbles
which had long been rolled over and polished in the ocean of his mind."
It has been asserted, but not proved, that Lord Bolingbroke gave him
the outline of this essay in prose. It is unquestionable, indeed, that
Bolingbroke exercised influence over Pope's mind, and may have
suggested some of the thoughts in the Essay; but it is not probable that
a man like Pope would have set himself on such a subject simply to
translate from another's mind. He published the first epistle of the
Essay, in 1732, anonymously, as an experiment, and had the
satisfaction to see it successful. It was received with rapture, and passed
through several editions ere the author was known; although we must
say that the value of this reception is considerably lessened, when we

remember that the critics could not have been very acute who did not
detect Pope's "fine Roman hand" in every sentence of this brilliant but
most unsatisfactory and shallow performance.
In the same year died dear, simple-minded Gay, who found in Pope a
sincere mourner, and an elegant elegiast; and on the 7th of June 1733,
expired good old Mrs Pope, at the age of ninety-four. Pope, who had
always been a dutiful son, erected an obelisk in his own grounds to her
memory, with a simple but striking inscription in Latin. During this
year, he published the third part of the "Essay on Man," an epistle to
Lord Cobham, On the Knowledge and Characters of Man, and an
Imitation of the First Satire of the Second Book of Horace. In this last,
he attacks, in the most brutal style, his former love Lady Mary W.
Montague, who replied in a piece of coarse cleverness, entitled,
"Verses to the Imitator of the First Satire of the Second Book of
Horace,"--verses in which she was assisted by Lord Harvey, another of
Pope's victims. He wrote, but was prudent enough to suppress, an
ironical reply.
In 1734 appeared his very clever and highly-finished epistle to Dr
Arbuthnot (now entitled the "Prologue to the Satires"), who was then
languishing toward death. Arbuthnot, from his deathbed, solemnly
advised Pope to regulate his satire, and seems to have been afraid of his
personal safety from his numerous foes. Pope replied in a manly but
self-defensive style. He is said about this time to have in his walks
carried arms, and had a large dog as his protector; but none of the
dunces had courage enough to assail him. Dennis, who was no dunce,
might have ventured on it--but he had become miserably infirm, poor,
and blind; and Pope had heaped coals of fire on his head, by
contributing a Prologue to a play which was acted for his behoof.
Our author's life becomes now little else than a record of multiplying
labours and increasing infirmities. In