This is the beginning of the period of his personal quarrels, which culminated in the publication of the 'Dunciad' in 1728. He quarrelled with Dennis; he quarrelled with Addison; he quarrelled with Philips; he quarrelled with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. The lofty ideas which he had formed of his own virtue and benevolence were put to the rude test of experience, and any one but himself might have seen that they were not the sterling coin he thought them. But his self-love blinded him to all but the wickedness of his enemies. In his letters to his intimate friends, no less than in his apologies to the public, the author of the Dunciad' preserved the character of the moralist of Windsor Forest. Nor was his self-deception quite inexplicable. His enemies were, for the most part, a mean and malignant crew; and even if Pope's appetite for satire made him frequently the first aggressor, it must be admitted that his adversaries retaliated with weapons much less legitimate than those which had been used against them. The 'spretæ injuria formæ '—as deadly to a man like Pope as to a woman-the slanderous reports, destructive of the ideal character which he had imagined for himself; the imputations of blasphemy and malignity calculated to rob him of the respect which he sought, must all be taken into account. We cannot possibly excuse Pope's conduct, but we can compassionate him; we can understand how the overwhelming desire to set himself right with the public made him afterwards involve himself in the surreptitious publication of his mutilated correspondence; and we can feel that self-deception rather than hypocrisy is the key-note of such a passage as the following: Not fashion's worshipper, not fashion's fool, The damning critic, half approving wit, iii. In the third period of his life we find him under the influence of Bolingbroke. The independent position which the success of his Translations had secured for him enabled him to survey the world at leisure, and, encouraged by his 'guide, philosopher, and friend,' he began to turn to poetical account the study and reading of his youth. The fruits of Bolingbroke's instruction are seen in the Essay on Man,' and the Moral Essays.' Moreover, as that statesman was the guiding spirit of the Opposition to Walpole, he naturally imparted his political sentiments to his friend. No atmosphere could have been more congenial to Pope's habits of selfdeception. An Opposition, especially if it be ill-compacted and wanting in unity of principle, instinctively assumes to itself the monopoly of virtue and enlightenment; nor have we, with our own experience, any difficulty in reading between the lines of the fine invectives of the Craftsman' against the despotism of Walpole. Bolingbroke, Atterbury, and Oxford, in their hour of danger or disgrace, all adopt one tone. Their language expresses a philosophic contempt of power and of an ungrateful world, while their actions betray an incessant hankering to regain the position they have lost. Pope, who had a natural inclination for this kind of posing, though professing himself superior to party, caught with readiness the cant of Opposition. His poetry, which at Binfield had been peaceful and pastoral, becomes at Twickenham full of personal references, secret histories, and political allusion. His villa in the midst of three courts, Kew, Richmond, and Hampton Court, and surrounded by houses of the nobility, formed a natural centre for the Opposition leaders, and for all the social rumours and scandals of that day. "I am tugged back," he writes to Gay (11th September, 1730), "to the world and its regards too often, and no wonder, when my retreat is but ten miles from the capital. I am within ear-shot of reports, within the vortex of lies and censures. hear sometimes of the lampooners of beauty, the calumniators of virtue, the jokers at reason and religion." From such materials it was easy for his satiric and party spirit to frame an indictment against the universal corruption of the age, and particularly against the Court. The very act of Opposition became in his eyes a virtue: But does the Court some worthy man remove? Epilogue to Satires ii. 74. I And not only so, but voluntary secession from the Court prevailed with him to remove unworthy men from the purgatory of his own satire, as in the case of the notorious Sir George Oxenden, who, having been severely satirised in the first edition of MDCCXXXVIII.,' was pardoned in later editions, because it was remembered that he had voted with the party of the Prince of Wales. Satire of this kind bears the stamp of self-deception. But it is indisputable that it also contains a considerable element of truth. Whatever benefits accrued to England from the accession of the House of Hanover, it cannot be denied that the Revolution was attended with great injustice and oppression to a large portion of the nation, and that to a Catholic like. Pope the Brunswick dynasty was identified with the revival of the Penal Laws, with double taxes, and harsh restrictions of personal liberty. The quarrels in the Royal Family, of which the poet was evidently most minutely informed, were a proper subject for party satire. The tone of the Church, Erastian and almost secular, especially in the Whig prelates, who owed their advancement to political interest, was certainly such as to invite stricture; while, the spiritual standard being low, the moral code of society was correspondingly debased. Gross sycophancy prevailed in the Court circles, and afforded an effective foil to Pope's constant professions of his own integrity and independence. Besides, the corruption of the monied interest, which had been encouraged by the Whigs as a means of maintaining the political balance against the landed aristocracy; the South Sea Bubble; the venal nature of Walpole's government, and its debasing influence on literature; all presented a fair theme to a moralist of Pope's party and character. These considerations may help the reader to understand the spirit of the satires contained in this volume. It is useless to try to paint the character of Pope in glowing colours. Those who, like Warburton and Roscoe, represent his genius for poetry as being 'only his second praise,' and base his reputation on his honesty and virtue, rather than on his poetical genius, do him an ill service. The evidence is against them; after the publication of the Caryll correspondence, it is impossible any longer to regard him as one of the noblest works of God.' The present volume will afford many further proofs of the unscrupulous deceptions he practised under the influence of his self-love and passion for fame. We must acknowledge the imperfection of his character, and leave it to the indulgence of the world, which, partly from humanity, partly from gratitude, makes equitable allowance for the faults of men of genius. But an Editor who makes any admissions to the moral disadvantage of the author, of whose reputation he has become, in a sense, the trustee, is bound to vindicate more jealously his literary genius. The world is, after all, more concerned with Pope's performances as a poet, as a satirist, and as one of the chief architects of our language, than with his character as a man. His fame has been established for more than a century and a half; but, since his genius was first recognized, questions affecting his position as a poet have been constantly raised; and many tendencies of taste in our own times make men reluctant to pay him the homage which is justly his due. For this reason I feel it to be desirable, in the preface to a volume which contains some of his most brilliant and characteristic writing, to make some reference to the very scholarly and interesting Sketch of Pope's Life and Genius by Mr. Leslie Stephen, which has been lately added to the series of English Men of Letters' edited by Mr. John Morley. Mr. Stephen's admirable workmanship is well calculated to influence public opinion, and the fairness and moderation of his tone might make his verdict on the poet appear judicial, were it not that an undernote of disparagement, which runs through the volume, shows him to be the natural successor of Warton and Bowles. The fact-strange as it seems-is that Mr. Stephen, whose own literary qualities are of a kind that peculiarly qualify him for appreciating Pope, has little sympathy with his author. He surveys the literature of the eighteenth century from the position of superiority, which critics of the nineteenth century have long imagined themselves entitled to occupy; and he judges the poetry of Pope as a decided advocate of the Lake school, to which the former is in spirit so essentially opposed. Hence he often manages to convey to the reader, doubtless unintentionally, a very inadequate, and even an erroneous, impression as to the general character of Pope's poetical style. For instance, in his criticism on his diction, after making some just remarks on the artificial atmosphere pervading the 'Translation of the Iliad,' and after asserting what is very true, that the style in which a woman is called "a nymph," and women generally are "the fair;" in which shepherds. are conscious swains, and a poet invokes the muses and strikes a lyre, and breathes on a reed, and a nightingale singing becomes Philomel "pouring her throat "-represents a fashion as worn out as hoops and rings '-he proceeds: "By Wordsworth's time the Pope style was effete; what VOL. III.-POETRY. D |