to whom, as Homer says, 'nothing but rumour has reached, and who has no personal knowledge 1.' Pope doubtless approached Addison, when the reputation of 104 their wit first brought them together, with the respect due to a man whose abilities were acknowledged, and who, having attained that eminence to which he was himself aspiring, had in his hands the distribution of literary fame. He paid court with sufficient diligence by his Prologue to Cato, by his abuse of Dennis3, and, with praise yet more direct, by his poem on the Dialogues on Medals, of which the immediate publication was then intended. In all this there was no hypocrisy; for he confessed that he found in Addison something more pleasing than in any other man 5. It may be supposed that as Pope saw himself favoured by the 105 world, and more frequently compared his own powers with those of others, his confidence increased, and his submission lessened; and that Addison felt no delight from the advances of a young wit, who might soon contend with him for the highest place. Every great man, of whatever kind be his greatness, has among his friends those who officiously, or insidiously, quicken his attention to offences, heighten his disgust, and stimulate his resentment. Of such adherents Addison doubtless had many, and Pope was now too high to be without them. From the emission and reception of the Proposals for the Iliad, 106 the kindness of Addison seems to have abated 6. Jervas the * ἡμεῖς δὲ κλέος οἷον ἀκούομεν, οὐδέ τι * Ante, ADDISON, 58; POPE, 66. * To Mr. Addison, occasioned by his Dialogues on Medals. In 1735 Pope stated that this poem 'was written in 1715, but not published till 1720.' Addison died in 1719. It was published in 1721, and in that year probably was written. Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), iii. 201. For Gibbon's criticism of it see his Misc. Works, v. 558. 5 Ante, ADDISON, 108; Spence's LIVES OF POETS. III I painter once pleased himself (Aug. 20, 1714) with imagining that he had re-established their friendship; and wrote to Pope that Addison once suspected him of too close a confederacy with Swift, but was now satisfied with his conduct. To this Pope answered, a week after 2, that his engagements to Swift were such as his services in regard to the subscription demanded, and that the Tories never put him under the necessity of asking leave to be grateful. But,' says he, 'as Mr. Addison must be the judge in what regards himself, and seems to have no very just one in regard to me, so I must own to you I expect nothing but civility from him.' In the same letter he mentions Philips, as having been busy to kindle animosity between them 3; but, in a letter to Addison, he expresses some consciousness of behaviour, inattentively deficient in respect 4. 107 Of Swift's industry in promoting the subscription there remains the testimony of Kennet, no friend to either him or Pope 5. 'Nov. 2, 1713, Dr. Swift came into the coffee-house, and had a bow from every body but me, who, I confess, could not but despise him. When I came to the ante-chamber to wait, before prayers, Dr. Swift was the principal man of talk and business, and acted as master of requests. -Then he instructed a young nobleman that the best Poet in England was Mr. Pope (a papist), who had begun a translation of Homer into English verse, for by Mr. Pope, give us reason to think that the Iliad will appear in English with as little disadvantage to that immortal poem.' ... 'The whole of Pope's letters to Addison,' writes Mr. Elwin, 'are an absolute fiction. Four out of the five are from the Caryll correspondence. The deception is aggravated by the erroneous aspect it imparts to the celebrated quarrel. In the letters which preceded the commencing rupture, Pope appears as the zealous champion and bosom associate of the man he afterwards maligned, and we are left to suppose that the vaunted generosity on one side had been met by envy and hostility on the other.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), i. Preface, p. 126. See also ib. iii. 233. For Jervas's letter, no doubt also a forgery, see ib. viii. 7. For the discovery of the Caryll correspondence 'about the middle of the nineteenth century in a half- 3 Philips is attacked also in a letter to Caryll dated June 8, 1714, for the genuineness of which there is only Pope's authority. Ib. vi. 209. 4 This letter (no doubt fabricated) is dated Oct. 10, 1714. Pope wrote: 'I will not value myself upon having ever guarded all the degrees of respect for you.' Ib. vi. 409. 5 For Pope's attack on Kennet, see ante, KING, 13 n. 1; Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), iii. 389, iv. 195, 353; Pattison's Pope's Satires, p. 151. • In Swift's Works, xvi. 74, where this 'Extract from the MS. Diary of Bishop Kennet in the library of the late Marquis of Lansdowne' is given at greater length, the last eight words of this sentence are left out. See also ante, SWIFT, 51 π. 4. which he must have them all subscribe; "for," says he, "the author shall not begin to print till I have a thousand guineas for him."" About this time it is likely that Steele, who was, with all his 108 political fury, good-natured and officious, procured an interview between these angry rivals, which ended in aggravated malevolence. On this occasion, if the reports be true, Pope made his complaint with frankness and spirit, as a man undeservedly neglected or opposed; and Addison affected a contemptuous unconcern, and, in a calm even voice, reproached Pope with his vanity, and, telling him of the improvements which his early works had received from his own remarks and those of Steele, said that he, being now engaged in publick business, had no longer any care for his poetical reputation; nor had any other desire, with regard to Pope, than that his should not, by too much arrogance, alienate the publick. To this Pope is said to have replied with great keenness and 109 severity, upbraiding Addison with perpetual dependance, and with the abuse of those qualifications which he had obtained at the publick cost, and charging him with mean endeavours to obstruct the progress of rising merit. The contest rose so high that they parted at last without any interchange of civility. The first volume of Homer was (1715) in time published; and 110 a rival version of the first Iliad, for rivals the time of their appearance inevitably made them, was immediately printed, with the name of Tickell. It was soon perceived that among the followers of Addison Tickell had the preference, and the criticks and poets divided into factions. 'I,' says Pope, 'have the town, that is, the mob, on my side; but it is not uncommon for the smaller party to supply by industry what it wants in numbers.I appeal to the people as my rightful judges, and, while they are not inclined to condemn me, shall not fear the high-flyers at Button's 3.' * Not the slightest trust, says Mr. Courthope, can be placed in this narrative, coming as it does from Ayre's Life of Pope (i. 99-101). 'The behaviour of the parties is utterly inconsistent with all that we know of their characters.' Pope's Works (E. & C.), v. 159. Ruffhead takes his account from Ayre. Ruffhead's Pope, p. 186. * Ante, TICKELL, 8. 3 Johnson quotes, though not accurately, a letter to Craggs dated July 15, 1715. Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), x. 171. This letter is, no doubt, a forgery. The same passage, with variations in the inaccuracy, Johnson quotes ante, TICKELL, 9. Scott wrote to Crabbe on June 1, 1812:-'Our old friend Horace knew what he was saying when he chose to This opposition he immediately imputed to Addison, and complained of it in terms sufficiently resentful to Craggs, their common friend. 111 When Addison's opinion was asked he declared the versions to be both good, but Tickell's the best that had ever been written; and sometimes said that they were both good, but that Tickell had more of Homer 1. 112 Pope was now sufficiently irritated; his reputation and his interest were at hazard. He once intended to print together the four versions of Dryden, Maynwaring2, Pope, and Tickell, that they might be readily compared, and fairly estimated 3. This design seems to have been defeated by the refusal of Tonson, who was the proprietor of the other three versions. 113 Pope intended at another time a rigorous criticism of Tickell's translation, and had marked a copy, which I have seen, in all places that appeared defective. But while he was thus meditating defence or revenge his adversary sunk before him without a blow; the voice of the publick was not long divided, and the preference was universally given to Pope's performance. 114 He was convinced, by adding one circumstance to another, that the other translation was the work of Addison himself; but if he knew it in Addison's lifetime it does not appear that he told it. He left his illustrious antagonist to be punished by what has to Pope, dated June 22, 1715. It was the versions of the first book they thought of printing. Pope's Works (E. & C.), ix. 541. * Warburton had this copy by him when editing Pope. Warburton, iv. 29. Hurd also had seen it. He quotes from it a passage where Tickell says:-'I had some thought of translating the whole Iliad, but was diverted by finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand.' He goes on 'to bespeak the favour of the public to a translation of the Odysseis, wherein I have made some progress. Warburton's Works, 1811, i. 49. See ante, TICKELL, II. 5 In the first edition, 'the voice of the public was not long suspended.' In the 1783 edition 'were' must be a misprint, unless Johnson wrote 'voices.' been considered as the most painful of all reflections, the remembrance of a crime perpetrated in vain 1. The other circumstances of their quarrel were thus related by 115 Pope2: 'Philips seemed to have been encouraged to abuse me in coffee-houses and conversations, and Gildon wrote a thing about Wycherley, in which he had abused both me and my relations very grossly. Lord Warwick himself told me one day, that it was in vain for me to endeavour to be well with Mr. Addison; that his jealous temper would never admit of a settled friendship between us; and, to convince me of what he had said, assured me that Addison had encouraged Gildon to publish those scandals, and had given him ten guineas after they were published. The next day, while I was heated with what I had heard, I wrote a letter to Mr. Addison 3, to let him know that I was not unacquainted with this behaviour of his; that if I was to speak severely of him, in return for it, it should be in such a dirty way, that I should rather tell him, himself, fairly of his faults, and allow his good qualities; and that it should be something in the following manner. I then adjoined [subjoined the first sketch of what has since been called my satire on Addison 4. Mr. Addison used me very civilly ever after.' I Hurd says that Warburton, convinced by him of Addison's innocence, 'said, if he lived to see another edition of Pope's Works, he would strike out the offensive reflections on Addison's character.' Warburton's Works, i. 52. Had Johnson known the truth he would once more have been 'roused with a just indignation,' and would have charged Pope, as he charged Bolingbroke, with being 'a scoundrel and a coward' a scoundrel because he slandered Addison; a coward because he did not venture to publish his slånders till after Addison's death. It is Pope's own character that is blackened; in his own words we still say with confidence:'No whiter page than Addison's remains.' Blackstone shows that at the time See also Pope's Works (Elwin and 3 This letter Pope forgot to forge. |