Were others angry: I excus'd them too; Well might they rage, I gave them but their due. NOTES. A man's enough of other pieces to make up a volume? Did Cæfar, for example, know nothing of that fine and fublime ode (the 37th of Book i.) made on his grand victory at Actium, till he saw it in the fame fcroll or volume with thirty-feven others, many on trifling and private fubjects? Had Horace fo little regard for fo choice a piece, or was he even fo bad a courtier, as to fupprefs it so long, and for no better a reafon? To publish, now-a-days, means to print; but, in those days, it was a publication to communicate a MS.; and it is not to be doubted, that, immediately on the victory and death of Cleopatra, the ode was in the hands of every man of tafte in Rome. It was the practice (fays Bentley) to publish their pieces femel fimulque. But I fay neither femel nor fimul. The 4th Sat. 1. i. was published most evidently before the roth of the fame book, for the 10th vindicates it from the exceptions taken to it by the admirers of Lucilius. They were not, therefore, published originally fimul. Again, the 4th Satire certainly made its appearance along with the 10th, when they composed one book or volume. It was therefore published twice, and not femel. "The ode upon Virgil's Voyage to Athens (according to Bentley's Chronology) was written at least eight years before Virgil made it. The ode, that fo chearfully invites Virgil to a feaft, according to the fame great Critic's chronology, was addressed to him two or three years after his death. Are these things probable? "As to philofophy (which is your own province) I have much the fame to fay as I have faid already about the publication. It is no proof he did not publifh his pieces feparately, because at times he published them together; and no proof that he was never a Stoic or Old Academic, because at times he was an Epicurean. "Nunc agilis fio, et merfor civilibus undis, Virtutis veræ cuftos, rigidusque fatelles." Thefe lines (I fay) can never be tortured into Epicureanism, as the editor of Arrian well knows. And what did Horace ftudy in his youth, when at Athens, inter fylvas Academi? Was it the doctrine of Epicurus? He might as well have ftudied the doctrine of Calvin at St. Omer's. It is hard not to take a man's own word in matters merely relative to himfelf." A man's true merit 'tis not hard to find; 175 180 Juft writes to make his barrenness appear, And strains, from hard-bound brains, eight lines a year; He, who still wanting, tho' he lives on theft, Steals much, fpends little, yet has nothing left: 184 And He, who now to fenfe, now nonsense leaning, Means not, but blunders round about a meaning: And He, whofe fuftian's fo fublimely bad, It is not Poetry, but profe run mad: All these, my modest Satire bade tranflate, And own'd that nine fuch Poets made a Tate. 190 NOTES. How VER. 180. A Perfian tale] Amb. Philips tranflated a Book called the Perfian Tales, a book full of fancy and imagination. P. Philips, certainly not a very animated or first-rate writer, yet appears not to deserve quite so much contempt, if we look at his first and fifth paftoral, his epiftle from Copenhagen, his ode on the Death of Earl Cowper, his tranflations of the two first Olympic odes of Pindar, the two odes of Sappho, and, above all, his pleafing tragedy of the Diftrefs'd Mother. The fecret grounds of Philip's malignity to Pope, are faid to be the ridicule and laughter he met with from all the Hanover Club, of which he was fecretary, for mistaking the incomparable ironical paper in the Guardian, No. 40. which was written by Pope, for a serious criticism on paftoral poetry. The learned Heyne alfo mistook this irony, as appears by p. 202. v. 1. of his Virgil. VER. 189. All thefe, my modeft Satire bade tranflate,] See their works, in the Tranflations of claffical books by feveral hands. P. How did they fume, and stamp, and roar, and chafe! And swear, not ADDISON himself was safe. Peace to all fuch! but were there One whofe fires True Genius kindles, and fair Fame infpires; ( NOTES. Bleft VER. 190. And own'd that nine fuch Poets] Before this piece was published, Dr. Young had addreffed two Epistles to our Author, in the year 1730, concerning the Authors of the age; in which are many passages that bear a great resemblance to many of Pope's; though Pope has heightened, improved, and condenfed the hints, images, and fentiments of Young. Shall we not cenfure all the motley train, Rich, poor, male, female, young, old, gay, or fad, Profoundly dull, or fhallowly polite, Men that read well, or men that only write; From tatter'd rags of all the stuff on earth. VER. 192. And fwear, not ADDISON himself was fafe.] This is an artful preparative for the following tranfitions and finely obviates what might be thought unfavourable of the severity of the fatire, by those who were ftrangers to the provocation. W. VER. 193. But were there One whofe fires, &c.] Our Poet's friendship with Mr. Addifon began in the year 1713. It was cultivated on both fides with all the marks of mutual esteem and affection, and a conftant intercourfe of good offices. Mr. Addi fon Bleft with each talent and each art to please, 195 Should And born to write, converse, and live with ease: NOTES. fon was always commending moderation; warned his friend against a blind attachment to party; and blamed Steele for his indiscreet zeal. The translation of the Iliad being now on foot, he recommended it to the public, and joined with the Tories in pushing the subscription; but at the fame time advised Mr. Pope not to be content with the applause of one half of the nation. On the other hand, Mr. Pope made his friend's interest his own, fee note on Ver. 215. Ep. B. ii. of Hor.) and, when Dennis fo brutally attacked the Tragedy of Cato, he wrote the piece called A narrative of his madness. Thus things continued till Mr. Pope's growing reputation, and fuperior genius in Poetry, gave umbrage to his friend's false delicacy and then it was he encouraged Philips and others (fee his Letters) in their clamours againft him as a Tory and Jacobite, who had affisted in writing the Examiners; and, under an affected care for the Government, would have hid, even from himself, the true grounds of his difguft. But his jealoufy foon broke out, and discovered itself, first to Mr. Pope, and, not long after, to all the world. The Rape of the Lock had been written in a very hafty manner, and printed in a collection of Miscellanies. The fuccefs it met with encouraged the Author to revife and enlarge it, and give it a more important air; which was done by advancing it into a mock-epic poem. In order to this it was to have its Machinery; which, by the happieft invention, he took from the Roficrucian System. Full of this noble conception, he communicated his scheme to Mr. Addison, who, he imagined, would have been equally delighted with the improvement. On the contrary, he had the mortification to fee his friend receive it coldly; and even to advise him against any alteration; for that the poem, in its original state, was a delicious little thing, and, as he expressed it, merum fal. Mr. Pope was shocked for his friend; and then firft began to open his eyes to his Character. Soon after this, a tranflation of the first book of the Iliad appeared under the name of Mr. Tickell; which coming out at a critical juncture, when Mr. Pope was in the midst of his engage ments on the fame fubject, and by a creature of Mr. Addison's, made Should fuch a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne, NOTES. Alike made him suspect this to be another shaft from the fame quiver: And after a diligent enquiry, and laying many odd circumstances together, he was fully convinced that it was not only published with Mr. Addifon's participation, but was indeed his own performance. And Sir R. Steele, in the ninth Edition of the Drummer (which Tickell had omitted to infert amongst Addison's Works) in a long epiftle to Congreve, affirms very intelligibly, that Addison, and not Tickell, was the translator of the first book of the Iliad to which the latter had fet his name. Mr. Pope, in his first resentment of this ufage, was refolved to expose this new Version in a severe critique upon it. I have now by me the Copy he had marked for this purpose; in which he has classed the feveral faults in tranflation, language, and numbers, under their proper heads. But the growing fplendor of his own works for eclipfed the faint efforts of this oppofition, that he trufted to its own weakness and malignity for the justice due unto it. About this time, Mr. Addifon's fon-in-law, the E. of Warwick, told Mr. Pope, that it was in vain to think of being well with his Father, who was naturally a jealous man; that Mr. Pope's talents in poetry had hurt him; and to fuch a degree, that he had underhand encouraged Gildon to write a thing about Wycherley; in which he had fcurrilously abused Mr. Pope and his family; and for this fervice he had given Gildon ten guineas, after the pamphlet was printed. The very next day, Mr. Pope, in great heat, wrote Mr. Addison a Letter, wherein he told him, he was no ftranger to his behaviour; which, however, he fhould not imitate: But that what he thought faulty in him, he would tell him fairly to his face and what deferved praise he would not deny him to the world; and, as a proof of this difpofition towards him, hẹ had fent him the inclosed; which was the CHARACTER, first publifhed feparately, and afterwards inferted in this place of the Epift. to Dr. Arbuthnot. This plain dealing had no ill effect. Mr. Addison treated Mr. Pope with civility, and, as Mr. Pope be. lieved, with justice, from this time to his death; which happened about three years after. It appears, from a collection of Swift's Letters lately publifhed, that Mr. Addison, when party was at its height, used |
