public, we shall scarcely be inclined to admit, that even if undebased by an inferior mixture, they are such as to confer on him the high rank now claimed for him. They may indeed be considered as veins of a rich ore, but they are so intimately intermixed with such a mass of an inferior material, that to separate them requires in general more expense and trouble than they are worth. Few attempts are of less utility than those which profess to arrange the different degrees of rank to which poets are entitled; as amongst writers of eminence every individual exhibits a different kind of excellence, which cannot be compared with that of another; but whatever may be the grounds or principles upon which the decision is founded, it is impossible that whilst Chaucer, and Spenser, and Pope remain, Dryden should retain undisturbed possession of the rank assigned to him as the third in dignity of the British poets. I. In attempting to describe those characteristics which are peculiar to Pope, and by which he is more particularly distinguishable both from those who preceded him, and those who have followed him, we may in the first place observe in all his writings a striking, expressive, and energetic manner, so peculiar as to carry with it a conviction that no other person could have compressed the same sentiments into such narrow limits, with such fall effect. At the same time he is always equal and consistent with himself; in whatever he attempts he always succeeds; whether he rises or falls, he does it with equal grace; the one displays no effort, the other no weakness. II. He always goes directly to his point, and occupies * Pope disliked comparisons of authors. "In speaking of comparisons upon an absurd and unnatural footing, he mentions Virgil and Homer, Corneille and Racine, the little ivory statue of Polycletes and the Colossus; magis pares quam similes? Aye, that's in one word." Spence's Anec. p. 9. Singer's ed. no useless time. To his writings nothing can be added but what would be superfluous, from them nothing can be taken away but what would occasion a deficiency. He does not say all that can be said, but all that ought to be said. III. He is always alive and attentive to his subject, and keeps his readers so. Homer nods, but Pope never nods. On whatever subject he writes, there is a continual and rapid variety, that plays upon the imagination, and surprizes, elevates, softens, or in some other manner affects or delights the mind; yet this is never dwelt upon so as to become tiresome or disgusting. A quick sense of propriety distinguishes all he says. His tact is sure. He feels for the reader, and never offers him any thing but what is acceptable. This is a perpetual compliment to the good sense or perhaps the self-love of the reader, who perceives that he is never treated with disrespect or neglect, and that the author has not only done all that was in his power, but all that was possible to be done to gratify him.* IV. Though highly ornamented, he exhibits no ambitious love of ornament; nothing but what his subject demands. If the idea or image intended to be communicated require only a simple statement, it is always given in the most appropriate and fewest words. No unnecessary similes are introduced to illustrate a proposition which is sufficiently clear already. Pope well knew, that the finest figures of speech, if brought forward for their own sake, are an impertinence, not an ornament. When required, they are always ready at hand, and in the skilful use of them no one ever excelled him; but he never employs them more frequently or longer than the occasion requires. As soon as the idea is communicated, the reader is not intruded upon by useless repetitions. * He has himself declared, that "he was afraid of nothing so much as to impose any thing on the world which was unworthy of its acceptance." Letter to Steele. V. But perhaps the superlative merit of Pope consists in the purity and correctness of his language, which is truly English, and exhibits no instances of being debased or intermixed with the French or any other foreign idioms, as some of his critics would lead us to suppose. If we had paid as much attention to our own language as the Italians have done to theirs, this would place Pope at the head of our Testi di Lingua, or models of composition; nor would it be too much to say, that if every English writer were to be corrected, so as to bring him to a true standard, there would be less to alter in Pope than in any other. In this respect it has justly been observed by Lord Byron, that in case of an overwhelming convulsion, the surviving world would snatch from the wreck the writings of Pope in preference to those of all his countrymen. VI. To these peculiar endowments of Pope, as a poet, we may add, the variety which he has displayed not only in the choice of his subjects, but in the manner in which he has treated them. Poetry, like music, and, indeed, like all the imitative arts, admits of great diversity of excellence, and it is in general sufficient if a poet can arrive at superiority in any one department, as it is for a musician to perform with superlative skill on any one instrument. If, however, we consider the writings of Pope with a view of ascertaining the universality of his talents, we shall find that there is scarcely a subject, from the simplest description, to the sublimest strains of devotion, or the deepest recesses of intellectual and moral truth, which has not engaged his attention, and on which his efforts have not been attended with the most acknowledged success. To exemplify these remarks, by shewing in what manner Pope has employed his different powers and acquirements in the various productions of his pen, would here have been necessary; but for what remains to be said on this subject, |