941p 1871 V.3 PREFACE. IN assuming the responsibility for the completion of this edition of Pope's writings, I must express a regret, which, I am confident, will be shared by all students of Pope, that unavoidable circumstances should have prevented the work from being finished by the hand which has already impressed upon it so distinct a character. Perhaps only a succeeding editor, after a painful experience of the perplexed, and almost hopeless, labyrinth of doubt and mystery, by which most of Pope's dealings are surrounded, can appreciate the full extent to which English literature has suffered by the loss of Mr. Elwin's patient and accurate investigations. I may, however, be permitted to hope that the reader, though he has been deprived of a knowledge and judgment which cannot be replaced, and though he may hereafter meet with opinions differing to some extent from those which have been expressed in the earlier part of the work, will have no reason to complain of any breach of continuity in the method in which the evidence, whether it tells against Pope or in his favour, is laid before him for consideration. For the help I have received in a laborious task I have many acknowledgments to make. I cannot sufficiently thank Mr. Elwin for the patient kindness he has shown in answering the enquiries I have from time to time had occasion to make of him, for the valuable information with which he has furnished me, and for his liberality in allowing me to use his transcript of the Chauncy MS., which throws so much light on the meaning of Pope's satires. At the same time I desire very gratefully to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy I have met with from Mr. R. Garnett, Superintendent of the Reading Room at the British Museum, whose wide acquaintance with books, always generously placed at my disposal, has been of material assistance to me; and from Mr. E. M. Thompson, Keeper of the MSS. in the Museum, who has given me every facility for obtaining the facsimile of the draft of the Epistle to Jervas, which is inserted in this volume. My friend, the Rev. E. C. Wickham, Head Master of Wellington College, has been good enough to revise some interpretations of difficult passages in Horace, which I submitted to his judgment; and Mr. E. Ford, of Old Park, Enfield, has given me several valuable references, illustrating from an antiquarian point of view the meaning of Pope's text. To previous labourers in the same field of literature my obligations are numerous. Much of the information in this volume has of course been extracted from the earlier library editions; but much is also derived from contemporary sources. Nothing testifies more strongly to the enduring popularity of Pope's poetry, than the care and ability which have been expended on the cheaper editions of his works. The edition of the late Mr. Carruthers is noteworthy, not only for the extent and general accuracy of the information which it produces in a popular form, but also as being the first edition in which the conflicting evidence as to Pope's character is subjected to anything like a rigorous examination. The excellent Globe edition, the work of Professor Ward, is too well known to require notice from me; and the same may be said of the admirable notes on the Satires, written by the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, and published by the Clarendon Press, which ought to be in the hands of every student of Pope. Of Mr. Leslie Stephen's 'Pope' in the 'English Men of Letters' series, I have said more in my General Introduction, and while dissenting decidedly from some of his conclusions, I gladly take the opportunity of acknowledging the advantage I have derived from the great literary ability with which he has reduced very stubborn materials into a readable and popular shape. To him, as to the other writers I have mentioned, I owe more than can appear on the surface; but whenever any of the information in my commentary has been consciously obtained solely from external sources, I have indicated the quarter from which it comes; those notes, which, from the exercise of independent judgment, memory, or research, I have felt might be considered as my own, are left unsigned. W. J. C. A CONSIDERATION OF THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY WARBURTON OF POPE'S Introductory Notice.-Remarks of Warburton-Johnson-Bowles -Roscoe.-Examination of the merits of Warburton's transposi- EPISTLE II.-OF THE CHARACTERS OF WOMEN.-TO A LADY. Introductory Notice.-Remarks of Warburton-Warton-Johnson. -An Inquiry into the circumstances attending the publication of the Character of Atossa-Characters of Philomede and Chloe-General EPISTLE III.-OF THE USE OF RICHES.-TO ALLEN, LORD BATHURST 117 Introductory Notice.-Remarks of Warton-Johnson. —Warbur- ton's transpositions and alterations in the form of the Epistle-Philo- EPISTLE IV.-OF THE USE OF RICHES.-TO RICHARD BOYLE, EARL Introductory Notice.-Remarks of Warburton-Bowles.-Dis- cussion as to the Character of Timon-Remarks upon the principles of |