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Go on, obliging creatures, make me fee,
All that disgrac'd my Betters, met in me.
Say for my comfort, languifhing in bed,

Juft fo immortal Maro held his head :"
And when I die, be fure you let me know
Great Homer dy'd three thoufand years ago.
Why did I write? what fin to me unknown
Dipt me in ink, my parents', or my own?
As yet a child, nor yet a fool to fame,
I lifp'd in numbers, for the numbers came.

120

125

VARIATIONS.

I left

After Ver. 124. in the MS.

But, Friend, this shape, which You and Curl * admire,
Came not from Ammon's fon, but from my Sire † :

And for my head, if you'll the truth excuse,
I had it from my Mother ‡, not the Muse.
Happy, if he, in whom these frailties join'd,
Had heir'd as well the virtues of the mind.

* Curl fet up his bead for a fign.

+ His Father was crooked.

His mother was much afflicted with head-achs.

NOTES.

VER. 127. As yet a child, &c.] He used to say, that he began to write verses further back than he could remember. When he was eight years old, Ogilby's Homer fell in his way, and delighted him extremely; it was followed by Sandys' Ovid; and the raptures these then gave him were so strong, that he spoke of them with pleasure ever after. About ten, being at school at Hydepark-corner, where he was much neglected, and suffered to go to the comedy with the greater boys, he turned the transactions of the Iliad into a play, made up of a number of speeches from Ogilby's tranflation, tacked together with verfes of his own. He had the addrefs to perfuade the upper boys to act it; he even prevailed on the Master's Gardener to represent Ajax, and contrived to have all the Actors dressed after the pictures in his favourite Ogilby. At twelve he went with his father into the Foreft: and then got first acquainted with the Writings of Waller, Spenfer,

and

I left no calling for this idle trade,

No duty broke, no father disobey'd.

130

The

NOTES.

On the first fight

His Poems were

and Dryden; in the order I have named them. of Dryden, he found he had what he wanted. never out of his hands; they became his model; and from them alone he learnt the whole magic of his verification. This year he began an epic Poem; the fame which Bp. Atterbury, long afterwards, perfuaded him to burn. Befides this, he wrote, in those early days, a Comedy and Tragedy, the latter taken from a story in the legend of St. Genevieve. They both deservedly underwent the fame fate. As he began his Paftorals foon after, he used to say pleasantly, that he had literally followed the example of Virgil, who tells us, Cum canerem reges et prælia, etc.

W.

All the circumstances of our Author's carly life, mentioned in this Note, were communicated by Mr. Spence to Dr. Warburton. The account of this matter, as it was delivered to me by Mr. Spence, was as follows: As they returned in the fame carriage together from Twickenham, foon after the death of our Author, and joined in lamenting his death and celebrating his praises, Dr. Warburton faid he intended to write his life; on which Mr. Spence, with his ufual modefty and condefcenfion, faid, that he also had the fame intentions; and had, from time to time, collected from Pope's own mouth, various particulars of his life, purfuits, and studies; but would readily give up to Dr. Warburton all his collections on this fubject, and accordingly communicated them to him immediately.

VER. 128. I lifp'd in numbers,]

From Ovid,

"Sponte fua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos,

Et quod conabar fcribere, versus erat."

VER. 130. No father difobey'd.] When Mr. Pope was yet a child, his father, though no Poet, would set him to make English verses. He was pretty difficult to please, and would often fend the boy back to new-turn them. When they were to his mind, he took great pleasure in them, and would fay, Thefe are good rhymes. From Mr. Spenfe.

W.

>

The Muse but ferv'd to eafe fome friend, not Wife,
To help me through this long disease, my Life,
To fecond, ARBUTHNOT! thy Art and Care,
And teach, the Being you preferv'd, to bear.

134

A. But why then publish? P. Granville the polite, And knowing Walsh, would tell me I could write; Well-natur'd Garth inflam'd with early praise, And Congreve lov'd, and Swift endur'd my lays;

NOTES.

The

VER. 131. Not Wife,] These two words feem added merely for the verse, and are what the French call a cheville.

VER. 135. But why then publish?] To the three first names that encouraged his earlieft writings, he has added other friends, whofe acquaintance with him did not commence till he was a poet of established reputation. From the many commendations which Walsh, and Garth, and Grenville beftowed on his Paftorals, it may fairly be concluded how much the public tafte has been im proved, and with how many good compofitions our language has been enriched, fince that time. When Gray published his exquifite ode on Eton College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it but I fuppofe no critic can be found that will not place it far above Pope's Paftorals. On reading which ode a

certain perfon exclaimed,

"Sweet Bard, who fhunn'ft the noife of Folly,

Moft mufical, moft melancholy!

Thee oft the lonely woods among

I woo to hear thy evening fong;

And think thy thrilling ftrains have power

To raise Mufæus from his bower;

Or bid the tender Spenfer come

From his lov'd haunt, fair Fancy's tomb."

See particularly that fine ftanza,

"Thefe fhall the fury paffions tear,

and alfo,

The vultures of the mind;"

"Yet ah! why should they know their fate?"

The courtly Talbot, Somers, Sheffield read,
Ev'n mitred Rochester would nod the head,

140

And St. John's felf (great Dryden's friends before)

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From these the World will judge of men and books,
Not from the Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cooks.

NOTES.

146

Soft

VER. 139. Talbot, &c.] All these were Patrons or Admirers of Mr. Dryden; though a fcandalous libel against him, entitled Dryden's Satyr to his Mufe, has been printed in the name of the Lord Somers, of which he was wholly ignorant.

These are the persons to whofe account the Author charges the publication of his first pieces: persons, with whom he was converfant (and he adds beloved) at 16 or 17 years of age; an early period for fuch acquaintance. The catalogue might be made yet more illustrious, had he not confined it to that time when he writ the Paftorals and Windfor Foreft, on which he paffes a fort of Cenfure in the lines following:

"While pure Description held the place of Senfe," &c. P. Every word and epithet here used is exactly characteristical and peculiarly appropriated, with much art, to the temper and manner of each of the perfons here mentioned; the elegance of Lanfdown, the open free benevolence and candour of Garth, the warmth of Congreve, the difficulty of pleafing Swift, the very gesture (as I am informed) that Atterbury used when he was pleased, and the animated air and fpirit of Bolingbroke.

VER. 146. Burnets, &c.] Authors of fecret and fcandalous History.

P.

Ibid. Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cooks.] By no means Authors of the fame clafs; though the violence of party might hurry them into the fame miftakes. But if the firft offended this way, it was only through an honeft warmth of temper, that allowed too little to an excellent underftanding. The other two, with very bad heads, had hearts ftill worse. W.

150

Soft were my numbers; who could take offence While pure Description held the place of Sense? Like gentle Fanny's was my flow'ry theme, A painted mistress, or a purling stream. Yet then did Gildon draw his venal quill; I wish'd the man a Dinner, and fate still. Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret; I never answer'd, I was not in debt.

If want provok'd, or madness made them print, 155 I wag'd no war with Bedlam or the Mint.

Did fome more fober Critic come abroad; If wrong, I fmil'd; if right, I kifs'd the Rod.

NOTES.

Pains,

VER. 148. While pure Defcription held the place of Senfe?] He ufes pure equivocally, to fignify either chafe or empty; and has given in this line what he esteemed the true Character of descriptive poetry, as it is called. A compofition, in his opinion, as abfurd as a feast made up of fauces. The office of a picturefque imagination is to brighten and adorn good sense; so that to employ it only in defcription, is like children's delighting in a prism for the fake of its gaudy colours; which, when frugally managed and artfully dif pofed, might be made to unfold and illuftrate the nobleft objects in nature.

W.

VER. 150.] A painted meadow, or a purling stream,] is a verse

of Mr. Addison.

P.

Ibid. A painted mistress, or a purling ftream.] Meaning the Rape of the Lock, and Windfor-Foreft.

W.

VER. 151. Yet then did Gildon] The unexpected turn in the fecond line of each of these three couplets, contains as cutting and bitter strokes of fatire as perhaps can be written. It is with difficulty we can forgive our Author for upbraiding these wretched, fcriblers for their poverty and distresses, if we do not keep in our minds the grofsly abufive pamphlets they published; and, even allowing this circumftance, we ought to separate rancour from reproof:

"Curtam crudeles optavit fumere pœnas?"

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