in our own terms. To the legislator, and the practised political economist, much of it will seem common place truism. But the best indoctrinated in a science know better than any others, how useful it is, to refresh the recollections of their former reading. There is much in this book, which from its simple and lucid language, and its mode of making no mystery of a plain matter, may seem too easy and obvious to have required to be given, which had it been explained in the common language of political economists, would have been thought profound and oracular. Our country has the broadest, the fairest, and freshest field for the exercise of political economy, that was ever yet presented in our world. The country and its institutions are a tabula rasa for the highest exercise of political wisdom or folly. No country, with our age and means, ever executed or meditated such gigantic enterprise. In the track of facilitating travel and transport by canal and rail-ways, there can be no mistake in our policy. To encourage, in our agriculture, the raising of wine and silk must be a policy equally imperative and obvious. Time, if public moderation and forbearance could be commanded, will soon test the wisdom of our restrictive measures. That wisdom is certain, and invaluable, which is taught by experience.

THE following Essay is translated from a charming work called 'Melanges Historiques et Literaires,' by M. VILLEMAIN, one of the distinguished literateurs of the French Academy. He is now engaged in a very interesting course of lectures, critical and literary. None of his works have appeared in an English dress.

The article now presented in this number of the Review, is interesting, as displaying the great change which has taken place in France, in public opinion on the subject of English literature, since the revolution. We do not believe that Voltaire, who lived in London, and was intimate with Pope, understood him as well as Villemain; he certainly misunderstood Shakspeare entirely. The acuteness and liberality displayed by the French critic, are worthy of all praise, and though we disagree with him on some points, particularly in his opinion of the Rape of the Lock,' we willingly accord to him the praise of having well studied one of the first poets the world has seen.

Essay on the Life and Writings of POPE. Translated from the Melanges Literaires of M. de VILLEMAIN.

(For the Monthly Review.)

ENGLISH poetry, so simple and free in Shakspeare, so learnedly original in Milton, so flowing and sometimes so brilliant, from the pen of Dryden, has presented, in the productions of Pope, an example of that elegance, nobleness and chastness, which has received the appellation of classic, and which for a long time distinguished the taste of the French. After hav

ing felt the immortal creations of Shakspeare; after having studied the sublime of English genius, in this great poet, who formed himself, coarse and powerful as the age in which he lived-after having studied the poetical tone of Milton, in which enthusiasm was unceasingly nourished by study and recollections, we can still relish those master-pieces, of less daring minds, which were produced in a state of society, more polished and improved. We discover in them, less of the peculiar genius of an author, than of the state of literature of the period in which they flourished-their ideas seem to be the artificial production of the social form of society. But if they occasionally return to nature; if they possess the caprices of an imagination ruffled by the world, then an interest is created for them, founded on surprise and novelty. Such was Pope, the most correct of English poets, and yet entirely original.

Alexander Pope was born in London, on the 22d of May, 1688, of a Catholic family, devoted to the house of Stuart. Of three brothers of his mother, who was the daughter of a gentleman of the county of York, one perished, fighting for Charles the first; the second remained until his death, in the service of this Prince, and the last, having abandoned his country during the usurpation of Cromwell, became a general officer in the army of Spain.

The year in which our author was born, his parents left London, and retired to Binfield, in Windsor Forest. His father, for many years devoted to banking and commercial speculations, had disposed of all his property, and not feeling any confidence in the new order of things, he deposited 20,000 guineas in his strong box, and lived quietly upon this sum, which he diminished every year. Nursed with the tenderest care, the infancy of Pope was infirm and delicate; his voice was distinguished by a singular sweetness he was called the little Nightingale. He became studious the moment he could read. He learned to write himself, from imitating the printed characters in books, and he preserved this little art during his whole life, in singular perfection, though his ordinary writing was extremely bad.

About the age of eight years, he was placed with a catholic priest, who adopted a method not sufficiently followed, by teaching him the rudiments of the Greek and Latin at the same time. The young student also read in his own language, poetical versions of Homer and of Ovid. He made rapid progress in his studies, and was soon sent to a school at Twyford, near Winchester, and afterwards to another in London, at the entrance of Hyde Park. Having sometimes been present at the theatre, he compiled a kind of play, taken from Ogilby's translation of Homer's Illiad, interspersed with verses of his own composition-he had this production represented, with the assistance of the gardener, who took upon himself the part of Ajax.

Boileau, in like manner, had, during his boyhood composed a tragedy, aided by the shreds and patches of the romance of ancient chivalry; and yet notwithstanding this early predilection for the drama, neither of these poets were destined to shine in this department.

Recalled to Windsor, at the age of 12 years, the natural genius of Pope and his zeal for poetry, finished an education, amidst the inspirations of the country and of solitude, more by the help of books than of masters.

Pope himself was in the habit of saying that he did not remember the period at which he had commenced being a versifier. His father, more indulgent than the parent of Ovid, encouraged this poetical instinct, not less irresistible than that of the Roman poet, and which certainly would not more easily have submitted to restraint. The honest gentleman, without being highly imbued with letters himself, pointed out to his son, some little subject for a poem, and several times made him retrench his pieces, telling him, by way of high eulogy, that he had made some excellent rhymes.

However minute these details may seem, they may serve to explain why the poetic genius thus prepared and excited from infancy, produced in Pope that precocious maturity, and that knowledge of versification, which characterized his early works, and which peculiarly distinguish his 'Ode to Solitude,' which he wrote in his twelfth year. The study of English models, and of Latin literature, were mingled in his poetical exercises. He accustomed himself to imitate and sometimes to correct, and remodel in a more correct form, the poems of the ancient Chaucer, or of some poet of brilliant powers, though neglected, such as Rochester. This kind of task, this taste for exactness and purity, astonishing in a child, seemed already to develope the character of his genius, of that style of writing, more learned than inspired, more skilful than ich, more calculated to imitate with art, than to apply itself to the composition of original matter. This zealous study, this premature attention to correctness and elegance, produced works as remarkable, for the perfection of their style as from the age of the author. His attempts at translation, and his 'Pastorals,' among the first productions of infancy, bear scarcely any marks of inexperience; they present the maturity of a poet, but they are deficient in the softness, richness, and genius of Virgil. Pope never could correct this defect.

However, an avowed poet, from the age of 16 years, he sometimes visited London and connected himself with many of the wits of the age, who gave him good counsel, but above all, loaded him with praise, for his vanity was insatiable. He was kindly received by the elegant and ingenious Congreve; he became the confident of Wycherly, a comic writer of great power, who in his youth, had been the lover of the Dutchess of Portsmouth at the court of Charles the II.

The young poet scrutinized the works of the old and loose Wycherly with great severity; but he was unable to inspire them with a pure and chaste taste. He sought the friendship of Walsh, the most able critic of that period. He numbered also among his friends, a gentleman of the name of Cromwell, and Sir F. Trumbull, former ambassador to Constantinople, who had retired to Windsor. He entertained them with his readings and his poems, for he seemed to have no other object in life; he studied incessantly the ancients, from Homer to Statius, whom he called the best versifier, next to Virgil, in the Latin language. His admiration went so far, as to induce him to translate the first book of the Thebaid, although he pruned it of much of its hyperbole and extravagance, and also of many errors in geography. He learnt Italian and French, studied Rochefaucault, and appreciated the harmony of Malherbe. Four Pastorals which he had written at the age of 16, were the first articles he pub

lished. In the same year, 1709, he gave to the world, his 'Essay on Criticism,' a poem not equal to Boileau's 'Art of Poetry,' but still an astonishing production, as regards power of discrimination, correctness and taste for a youth of 20 years. We here discover for the first time, that bitterness of satire, those violent and personal dislikes to bad authors, by which Pope was always influenced, and which agitated him through life. Born with a weak and sickly constitution, immersed from his earliest infancy in books and study, familiar with no emotions but those of poetic vanity, Pope contracted at an early period, a species of fretful, and jealous irritability. His person was diminutive, and crooked; and he called himself the 'smallest human thing in England.' These natural defects drew down upon him, the most vulgar sarcasms, which were sometimes mingled with literary criticisms. His temper was soured by them. Almost as much persecuted as Voltaire, by the injustice of satire, he felt as sensitively, and revenged himself in the same exemplary manner.

The reigns of William III. and of Anne, in the midst of the struggles for public liberty, gave an interest and tone to the productions of wit, that is not common during high political excitements. Splendid talents appeared upon the stage at the same time, and were equally divided between the two parties. Dryden was no more; but Swift stood forth the champion and boast of the tory cause; which he defended with a vigour truly republican. The elegant, the correct Addison, who seemed formed for an academician of the age of Louis 14th, fought in the whig ranks, with bitterness judiciously tempered, and with the irony of a courtier. Writers of various powers rallied round these leaders; among whom were Arbuth not, Steele, Congreve, Gay, Walsh, and others.

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Pope, who from his religion, was a tory from his birth, maintained a strict impartiality between the two parties that divided the whole country. His exclusive passion for poetry, and probably a too great indifference for, or an ignorance of public concerns, favoured this moderation on his part, which seemed however, but little in accordance with his general character. It is more than likely that he inclined to the whigs or tories just as he was affected by the literary decisions of the two parties.

The 'Spectator,' devoted to the interest of the whigs, then in power, celebrated the first works of Pope, and even published in its pages the sacred Eclogue of 'Messiah,' which followed immediately after the Essay on Criticism. The fine verses to the memory of an "Unfortunate Lady," the beautiful poem of the 'Rape of the Lock,' the ode to Windsor Forrest,' and the Epistle of Eloisa,' succeeded each other rapidly, and placed Pope in the first rank of English poets.

In 1710, the whole Government passed into the hands of the tories, and the brilliant ministry of Oxford and of Bolingbroke, encouraged literature, both from taste and policy. The English court, yielding to a feeling which inclined to imitate the example of the age of Louis 14th, thought of establishing an academy, similar to that founded by Richelieu. Swift had sketched the plan of this learned association; and Pope was pointed out as one of its luminaries, teemed by Bolingbroke. And it is probable that this minister, among the Next to Swift, he was the writer most esprojects of his ambition, may have calculated much upon assistance from the power and genius of the young poet.

But Pope's temper was too capricious and too independent to subject himself to the views of a powerful minister, although his friend, or to the schemes of a party, although that party was his own. When Addison, in 1713, in order to oppose the ascendency of the tories, was anxious to bring out his tragedy of Cato, Pope solely under the influence of private friendship, and zeal for literature, used all his credit at court to have this piece represented. He even wrote the prologue, in which he introduced many sentiments, in perfect accordance with the spirit of the play, and which addressed themselves to those feelings which Addison wished to excite.

'Here tears shall flow from a more generous cause,
'Such tears as patriots shed for dying laws;
'He bids your breast with ancient ardour rise,

'And calls forth Roman drops, from British eyes.'

Bolingbroke, in spite of his situation, affected to sympathise in all the zeal of Pope, and to applaud the maxims of liberty from the mouth of Cato.

In the mean time, Pope, whose religion excluded him from office, and who was not a man to grow rich on ministerial patronage, became anxious to secure himself an independence, by his own talents. At the age of 25, perfect in all the secrets of his art, but probably convinced that the glory of a great original work was not within his reach, he conceived the idea of translating the Illiad.' So young yet, having finished his educa tion himself, without assistance, Pope seemed to be deficient in some points which were necessary in an undertaking of such magnitude. But an astonishing capacity for intellectual labour supplied all defects. The enemies of his reputation asserted that he did not understand Greek; others insinuated that he was a Jacobite in his heart. But the annunciation of this great project was greeted both at court and in the country, with large subscriptions. During the interval of five years, Pope had finished the task he had proposed for himself, and at the age of 30, he published his celebrated translation, the most beautiful specimen, extant, of English versification. This great work was universally admired, in which the magnitude of the enterprise had taken nothing from an attention to details.

Addison, an honourable, though somewhat envious man, attempted to detract from the reputation of Pope, and wished to be considered his rival as a writer. He published, under the name of a minor poet, a translation of the first book of the Illiad,' and he puffed it as a master piece.

Pope avenged himself by several excellent satires, against the poet, turned minister. He accused him of despotic jealousy, and represented him as a sultan surrounding himself with mutes and slaves, and thinking he was only in the performance of his duties; whilst he was strangling his brethren. Their friends wished to heal this breach, but in vain. Pope immediately after an interview, brought about for this purpose, wrote some severe verses against Addison and sent them to him.

Notwithstanding this peevish bitterness, of which he gave numberless instances, Pope was singularly attached to a rural life. He only left Windsor at the close of the tory administration, at the period when VOL. III.-No. 4.

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