of Fame," which, as he tells Steele in their cor- is so ingeniously dissembled, and the feeble lines respondence, he had written two years before; of Philips so skilfully preferred, that Steele, bethat is, when he was only twenty-two years old,ing deceived, was unwilling to print the paper, an early time of life for so much learning and so much observation as that work exhibits. On this poem Dennis afterwards published some remarks, of which the most reasonable is, that some of the lines represent Motion as exhibited by Sculpture. Of the epistle from "Eloisa to Abelard," I do not know the date. His first inclination to attempt a composition of that tender kind arose, as Mr. Savage told me, from his perusal of Prior's "Nutbrown Maid." How much he has surpassed Prior's work it is not necessary to mention, when perhaps it may be said with justice, that he has excelled every composition of the same kind. The mixture of religious hope and resignation gives an elevation and dignity to disappointed love which images merely natural cannot bestow. The gloom of a convent strikes the imagination with far greater force than the solitude of a grove. This piece was, however, not much his favourite in his latter years, though I never heard upon what principle he slighted it. lest Pope should be offended. Addison immediately saw the writer's design; and, as it seems, had malice enough to conceal his discovery, and to permit a publication which, by making his friend Philips ridiculous, made him for ever an enemy to Pope. It appears that about this time Pope had a strong inclination to unite the art of painting with that of poetry, and put himself under the tuition of Jervas. He was near-sighted, and therefore not formed by nature for a painter; he tried, however, how far he could advance, and sometimes persuaded his friends to sit. A picture of Betterton, supposed to be drawn by him, was in the possession of Lord Mansfield:* if this was taken from the life, he must have begun to paint earlier; for Betterton was now dead. Pope's ambition of this new art produced some encomiastic verses to Jervas, which certainly show his power as a poet; but I have been told that they betray his ignorance of painting. He appears to have regarded Betterton with kindness and esteem; and after his death pubIn the next year (1713) he published "Wind-lished, under his name, a version into modera sor Forest;" of which part was, as he relates, written at sixteen, about the same time as his Pastorals, and the latter part was added afterwards: where the addition begins, we are not told. The lines relating to the peace confess their own date. It is dedicated to Lord Lansdowne, who was then high in reputation and The next year (1713) produced a bolder atinfluence among the tories; and it is said, that tempt, by which profit was sought as well as the conclusion of the poem gave great pain to praise. The poems which he had hitherto writAddison, both as a poet and a politician. Re-ten, however they might have diffused his name, ports like this are always spread with boldness very disproportionate to their evidence. Why should Addison receive any particular disturbance from the last lines of "Windsor Forest?" If contrariety of opinion could poison a politician, he would not live a day; and, as a poet, he must have felt Pope's force of genius much more from many other parts of his works. English of Chaucer's Prologues, and one of his Tales, which, as was related by Mr. Harte, were believed to have been the performance of Pope himself by Fenton, who made him a gay offer of five pounds, if he would show them in the hand of Betterton. had made very little addition to his fortune. The allowance which his father made him, though, proportioned to what he had, it might be liberal, could not be large; his religion hindered him from the occupation of any civil employment; and he complained that he wanted even money to buy books.† He therefore resolved to try how far the favour of the public extended, by soliciting a subscription to a version of the "Iliad," with large notes. The pain that Addison might feel it is not likely that he would confess; and it is certain that he so well suppressed his discontent, that To print by subscription was, for some time, Pope now thought himself his favourite; for, a practice peculiar to the English. The first having been consulted in the revisal of "Cato," considerable work for which this expedient was he introduced it by a Prologue; and, when Den-employed is said to have been Dryden's "Virnis published his Remarks, undertook, not indeed to vindicate, but to revenge his friend, by a "Narrative of the Frenzy of John Dennis." There is reason to believe that Addison gave no encouragement to this disingenuous hostility; for, says Pope, in a letter to him, "indeed your opinion, that it is entirely to be neglected, would be my own in my own case; but I felt more warmth here than I did when I first saw his book against myself, (though indeed in two minutes it made me heartily merry.") Addison was not a man on whom such cant of sensibility could make much impression. He left the pamphlet to itself, having disowned it to Dennis, and perhaps did not think Pope to have deserved much by his officiousness. This year was printed in "The Guardian" the ironical comparison between the Pastorals of Philips and Pope; a composition of artifice, criticism, and literature, to which nothing equal will easily be found. The superiority of Pope gil;" and it had been tried again with success when the "Tatlers" were collected into volumes. There was reason to believe that Pope's attempt would be successful. He was in the full bloom of reputation, and was personally known to almost all whom dignity of employment, or splendour of reputation, had made eminent; he conversed indifferently with both parties, and never disturbed the public with his political opinions; and it might be naturally expected, as each faction then boasted its literary zeal, that the great men, who on other occasions practised all the violence of opposition, would emulate each other in their encouragement of a poet who had delighted all, and by whom none had been offended. him."* With those hopes he offered an English "Iliad" ed, as he said, "that somebody would hang to subscribers, in six volumes in quarto, for six guineas; a sum, according to the value of money This misery, however, was not of long conat that time, by no means inconsiderable, and tinuance; he grew by degrees more acquainted greater than I believe to have been ever asked with Homer's images and expressions, and before. His proposal, however, was very favour-practice increased his facility of versification.ably received; and the patrons of literature were In a short time he represents himself as debusy to recommend his undertaking and promote spatching regularly fifty verses a day, which his interest. Lord Oxford, indeed, lamented that would show him by an easy computation the such a genius should be wasted upon a work termination of his labour. not original; but proposed no means by which he might live without it. Addison recommended caution and moderation, and advised him not to be content with the praise of half the nation, when he might be universally favoured. Of the quartos it was, I believe, stipulated that none should be printed but for the author, that the subscription might not be depreciated; but Lintot impressed the small pages upon a small folio, and paper perhaps a little thinner; and sold exactly at half the price, for half a guinea each volume, books so little inferior to the quartos, that by a fraud of trade, those folios, being afterwards shortened by cutting away the top and bottom, were sold as copies printed for the subscribers. His own diffidence was not his only vexation. He that asks a subscription soon finds that he has enemies. All who do not encourage him defame him. He that wants money will rather be thought angry than poor; and he that wishes to save his money conceals his avarice by his malice. Addison had hinted his suspicion that Pope was too much a tory; and some of the tories suspected his principles because he had contributed to "The Guardian," which was carried on by Steele. The greatness of the design, the popularity of the author, and the attention of the literary world, naturally raised such expectations of the future sale, that the booksellers made their offers with great eagerness; but the highest bidder was Bernard Lintot, who became proprietor, on condition of supplying at his own expense all To those who censured his politics were the copies which were to be delivered to sub-added enemies yet more dangerous, who called scribers or presented to friends, and paying two in question his knowledge of Greek, and his hundred pounds for every volume. qualifications for a translator of Homer. To these he made no public opposition; but in one of his letters escapes from them as well as he can. At an age like his, for he was not more than twenty-five, with an irregular education, and a course of life of which much seems to have passed in conversation, it is not very likely that he overflowed with Greek. But when he felt himself deficient he sought assistance; and what man of learning would refuse to help him?Minute inquiries into the force of words are less necessary in translating Homer than other poets, Lintot printed two hundred and fifty on royal because his positions are general, and his reprepaper in folio, for two guineas a volume; of sentations natural, with very little dependence the small folio, having printed seventeen hun- on local or temporary customs, on those changedred and fifty copies of the first volume, he re-able scenes of artificial life, which, by mingling duced the number in the other volumes to a originally with accidental notions, and crowding the mind with images which time effaces, produces ambiguity in diction and obscurity in books. To this open display of unadulterated nature it must be ascribed, that Homer has fewer passages of doubtful meaning than any o her poet either in the learned or in modern languages. I have read of a man, who being, by his ignorance of Greek, compelled to gratify his curiosity with the Latin printed on the opposite page, declared, that from the rude simplicity of the lines literally rendered, he formed nobler ideas of the Homeric majesty, than from the laboured elegance of polished versions. thousand. It is unpleasant to relate that the bookseller, after all his hopes and all his liberality, was, by a very unjust and illegal action, defrauded of his profit. An edition of the English “Iliad" was printed in Holland, in duodecimo, and imported clandestinely for the gratification of those who were impatient to read what they could not yet afford to buy. This fraud could only be counteracted by an edition equally cheap and more commodious; and Lintot was compelled to contract his folio at once into a duodecimo, and lose the advantage of an intermediate gradation, The notes, which in the Dutch copies were placed at the end of each book, as they had been in the large volumes, were now subjoined to the text in the same page, and are therefore more easily consulted. Of this edition two thousand five hundred were first printed, and five thousand a few weeks afterwards; but indeed great numbers. bers were necessary to produce considerable If more help was wanting, he had the poetical profit. Pope, having now emitted his proposals, and engaged not only his own reputation, but in some degree that of his friends who patronized his subscription, began to be frighted at his own undertaking; and finding himself at first embarrassed with difficulties, which retarded and oppressed him, he was for a time timorous and uneasy, had his nights disturbed by dreams of long journies through unknown ways, and wish Those literal translations were always at hand, and from them he could easily obtain his author's sense with sufficient certainty; and among the readers of Homer the number is very small of those who find much in the Greek more than in the Latin, except the music of the num translation of Eobanus Hessus, an unwearied writer of Latin verses; he had the French Homers of La Valterie and Dacier, and the English of Chapman, Hobbes, and Ogilby. With Chapman, whose work, though now totally ne glected, seems to have been popular almost to the end of the last century, he had very frequent consultations, and perhaps never translated any ⚫ Spence. passage till he had read his version, which in- | tion, business, and pleasure, all take their turns deed he has been sometimes suspected of using instead of the original. Notes were likewise to be provided, for the six volumes would have been very little more than six pamphlets without them. What the mere perusal of the text could suggest, Pope wanted no assistance to collect or methodize; but more was necessary; many pages were to be filled, and learning must supply materials to wit and judgment. Something might be gathered from Dacier; but no man loves to be indebted to his contemporaries, and Dacier was accessible to common readers. Eustathius was therefore necessarily consulted. To read Eustathius, of whose work there was then no Latin version, I suspect Pope, if he had been willing, not to have been able; some other was therefore to be found, who had leisure as well as abilities; and he was doubtless most readily employed who would do much work for little money. The history of the notes has never been traced. Broome, in his preface to his poems, declares himself the commentator "in part upon the Iliad ;" and it appears from Fenton's letter, preserved in the Museum, that Broome was at first engaged in consulting Eustathius, but that after a time, whatever was the reason, he desisted; another man, of Cambridge, was then employed, who soon grew weary of the work; and a third, that was recommended by Thirlby, is now discovered to have been Jortin, a man since well known to the learned world, who complained that Pope, having accepted and approved his performance, never testified any curiosity to see him, and who professed to have forgotten the terms on which he worked. The terms which Fenton uses are very mercantile: "I think at first sight that his performance is very commendable, and have sent word for him to finish the 17th book, and to send it with his demands for his trouble. I have here enclosed the specimen; if the rest come before the return, I will keep them till I receive your order." of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thousand causes that can, and ten thousand that cannot, be recounted. Perhaps no extensive and multifarious performance was ever effected within the term originally fixed in the undertaker's mind. He that runs against time has an antagonist not subject to casualties. The encouragement given to this translation, though report seems to have overrated it, was such as the world has not often seen. The subscribers were five hundred and seventy-five.The copies for which subscriptions were given were six hundred and fifty-four; and only six hundred and sixty were printed. For these copies Pope had nothing to pay; he therefore received, including the two hundred pounds a volume, five thousand three hundred and twenty pounds four shillings without deduction, as the books were supplied by Lintot. By the success of his subscription Pope was relieved from those pecuniary distresses with which, notwithstanding his popularity, he had hitherto struggled. Lord Oxford had often lamented his disqualification for public employment, but never proposed a pension. While the translation of “Homer" was in its progress, Mr. Craggs, then secretary of state, offered to procure him a pension, which, at least during his ministry, might be enjoyed with secrecy. This was not accepted by Pope, who told him, however, that if he should be pressed with want of money, he would send to him for occasional supplies. Craggs was not long in power, and was never solicited for money by Pope, who disdain ed to beg what he did not want. With the product of this subscription, which he had too much discretion to squander, he secured his future life from want, by considerable annuities. The estate of the Duke of Buckingham was found to have been charged with five hundred pounds a year, payable to Pope, which doubtless his translation enabled him to pur chase. It cannot be unwelcome to literary curiosity that I deduce thus minutely the history of the English "Iliad." It is certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen; and its publication must therefore be considered as one of the great events in the annals of Broome then offered his service a second time, which was probably accepted, as they had afterwards a closer correspondence. Parnell contributed the life of Homer, which Pope found so harsh, that he took great pains in correcting it; and by his own diligence, with such help as kindness or money could procure him, in some-learning. what more than five years he completed his version of the "Iliad," with the notes. He began it in 1712, his twenty-fifth year, and concluded it in 1718, his thirtieth year. To those who have skill to estimate the excellence and difficulty of this great work, it must be very desirable to know how it was performed, and by what gradations it advanced to correctWhen we find him translating fifty lines a ness. Of such an intellectual process the knowday, it is natural to suppose that he would have ledge has very rarely been attainable; but hapbrought his work to a more speedy conclusion. pily there remains the original copy of the The "Iliad," containing less than sixteen thou-"Iliad," which being obtained by Bolingbroke sand verses, might have been despatched in less than three hundred and twenty days, by fifty verses in a day. The notes, compiled with the assistance of his mercenaries, could not be supposed to require more time than the text. as a curiosity, descended from him to Mallet, and is now, by the solicitation of the late Dr. Maty, reposited in the Museum. Between this manuscript, which is written upon accidental fragments of paper, and the printed edition, there must have been an intermediate copy, that was perhaps destroyed as it returned from the press. According to this calculation, the progress of Pope may seem to have been slow; but the distance is commonly very great between actual performances and speculative possibility. It is From the first copy I have procured a few natural to suppose, that as much as has been transcripts, and shall exhibit first the printed done to-day may be done to-morrow; but on the lines, distinguished by inverted commas; then morrow, some difficulty emerges, or some exter- those of the manuscripts, with all their varianal impediment obstructs. Indolence, interruptions. Those words which are given in italics are cancelled in the copy, and the words placed under them adopted in their stead. The beginning of the first book stands thus: "The wrath of Peleus' son, the direful spring The stern Pelides' rage, O Goddess, sing, That strew'd with warriors dead the Phrygian plain, heroes And peopled the dark hell with heroes slain; fill'd the shady hell with chiefs untimely "Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore, Since great Achilles and Atrides strove: Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove." Whose limbs, unburied on the hostile shore, And fear the God that deals his darts around. avenging Phœbus, son of Jove. "The Greeks, in shouts, their joint assent declare, He said, the Greeks their joint assent declare, Atrides Repulsed the sacred Sire, and thus replied. [Not so the tyrant. Dryden.] Of these lines, and of the whole first book, I am told that there was yet a former copy, more varied, and more deformed with interli neations. The beginning of the second book varies very Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of little from the printed page, and is therefore set Jove. "Declare, O Muse, in what ill-fated hour, Sprung the fierce strife, from what offended Pow'r? And heap'd the camp with mountains of the dead; Declare, O Goddess, what offended Pow'r anger Phoebus himself the dire debate procur'd, To avenge the wrongs his injur'd priest endur'd; For Chryses sought by presents to regain By these he begs, and lowly bending down For these as ensigns of his God he bare, "He sued to all, but chief implor'd for grace Ye Kings and warriors, may your vows be crown'd, To all he sued, but chief implored for grace Ye sons of Atreus, may your vows be crown'd, Your labours, by the Gods be all your labours crown'd, So may the Gods your arms with conquest bless, laid Till But, oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain, But, oh! relieve a hapless parent's pain, down without a parallel; the few differences do not require to be elaborately displayed. "Now pleasing sleep had seal'd each mortal eye; Fly hence delusive dream, and, light as air, The lofty walls of wide-extended Troy ; towers For now no more the Gods with fate contend; And nodding Ilium waits the impending fall." Invocation to the catalogue of ships. "Say, Virgins, seated round the throne divine, All-knowing Goddesses! immortal Nine ! Since Earth's wide regions, Heav'n's unmeasur'd height, And Hell's abyss, hide nothing from your sight, Now, Virgin Goddesses, immortal Nine. And all things know, and all things can resound! (For doubtful fame distracts mankind below, And nothing can we tell and nothing know :) Book v. v. 1. "But Pallas now Tydides' soul inspires, But Pallas now Tydides' soul inspires, Bright from his beamy crest the lightnings play, helm From his broad buckler flash'd the living ray; The Goddess with her breath the flames supplies, "When first he rears his radiant orb to sight, Where the fight burns, and where the thickest rage." Where the war bleeds, and where the fiercest rage. "The sons of Dares first the combat sought, There lived a Trojan-Dares was his name, Conclusion of Book viii. v. 687. "As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, As when in stillness of the silent night, As still in air the trembling lustre stood, And no dim cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene; not a POPE. Around her silver throne the planets glow And tip with silver all the mountain heads. And tip with silver every mountain's head. The valleys open, and the forests rise, The vales appear, the rocks in prospect rise, So many flames before the navy blaze, Of these specimens, every man who has culti vated poetry, or who delights to trace the mind from the rudeness of its first conceptions to the elegance of its last, will naturally desire a greater number; but most other readers are already tired, and I am not writing only to poets and philosophers. The "Iliad" was published volume by volume, as the translation proceeded; the four first books appeared in 1715. The expectation of this work was undoubtedly high, and every man who had connected his name with criticism or poetry was desirous of such intelligence as might enable him to talk upon the popular topic. Halifax, who, by having been first a poet and then a patron of poetry, had acquired the right of being a judge, was willing to hear some books while they were yet unpublished. Of this rehearsal Pope afterwards gave the following account:* "The famous Lord Halifax was rather a pretender to taste than really possessed of it. When I had finished the two or three first books of my translation of the Iliad,' that lord desired to have the pleasure of hearing them read at his house-Addison, Congreve, and Garth, were there at the reading. In four or five places, Lord Halifax stopped me very civilly, and with a speech each time of much the same kind, 'I beg your pardon, Mr. Pope: but there is something in that passage that does not quite please me. Be so good as to mark the place, and consider it a little at your leisure. I am sure you can give it a little turn.' I returned from Lord Halifax's with Dr. Garth, in his chariot; and, as we were going along, was saying to the doctor, that my ford had laid me under a great deal of difficulty by such loose and general observations; that I had been thinking over the passages almost ever since, and could not guess at what it was that offended his lordship in either of them. Garth laughed heartily at my embarrassment; said, I had not not been long enough acquaint ed with Lord Halifax to know his way yet; that I need not puzzle myself about looking those places over and over when I got home. you need do (says he) is to leave them just as they are; call on Lord Halifax two or three months hence, thank him for his kind observations on those passages, and then read them to him as altered. I have known him much longer than you have, and will be answerable for the Spence, All |