Nunc in Aristippi 'furtim præcepta relabor, NOTES. died, he told me, that he had determined to throw out of the collection of all his works, which was then to be published, his first juvenile performance, the Persian Letters, written 1735, in imitation of those of his friend Montesquieu, whom he had known and admired in England, in which he said there were principles and remarks that he wished to retract and alter. I told him, that notwithstanding his caution, the booksellers, as in fact they have done, would preserve and insert these letters. Another little piece, written also in his early youth, does him much honour; the Observations on the Life of Tully; in which, perhaps, a more dispassionate and impartial character of Tully is exhibited than in the panegyrical volumes of Middleton. Warton. Warton has paid a just tribute of applause to Lyttelton. Lyttelton consulted Pope about his Pastorals.† As it elucidates Pope's concern in his young friend's Poems, the reader, perhaps, will excuse my inserting an original letter from Lyttelton to Dodington, on this subject. "Dear Sir, Hagley, November 24, 1731. "The approbation you express of my verses, and the praise you bestow, cannot but be extremely pleasing to me, as they are the effects of a friendship upon which I set so high a value. When I sent my Pastorals to Mr. Pope, I desired him to make any corrections he should judge proper, and accordingly he has favoured me with some alterations, which I beg you will give yourself the trouble of inserting in your copy. At the end of the first page, after this line: 'When now the setting sun less fiercely burn'd;' be pleased to add the two following: 'Blue vapours rose along the mazy rills, And light's last blushes tinged the distant hills.' * Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res. In Pope. + Four Pastorals by Lord Lyttelton, published in Dodsley's collection. Sometimes with Aristippus, or St. Paul, NOTES. In the second, read the following lines thus: 'Auspicious Pan, the monarch of the plain, "In the third, instead of And fills with frantic pains, &c.' 66 Again, instead of 'Pleased by not studying, &c.' He pleased, because he studied not to please.' Perhaps, too, the verses would run better, if, instead of 'A town with spiring towers is crown'd;' you were to put, with spiring turrets crown'd;' but then the verb 'is' must be understood. "I do not know whether you will not have reason to think I am too solicitous about those trifles, by my giving you the trouble to alter them; but I would have them appear in as good a dress as possible, for fear of their being a disgrace to the persons I have addressed them to. My father and mother desire their compliments. I am, with great respect and truth, your most obliged humble servant, "G. LYTTELTON." Bowles. I have admitted this as a circumstance connected with literature and with Pope. Ver. 31. Aristippus, or St. Paul,] There is an impropriety and indecorum, in joining the name of the most profligate parasite of the court of Dionysius, with that of an Apostle. In a few lines before, the name of Montaigne is not sufficiently contrasted by the name of Locke; the place required that two philosophers, holding very different tenets, should have been introduced. Hobbes might have been opposed to Hutcheson. I know not why he omitted a strong sentiment that follows immediately: "Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor;" which line Corneille took for his motto. Warton. Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica; diesque Lenta videtur opus debentibus; ut piger annus Pupillis, quos dura premit custodia matrum : Sic mihi tarda 'fluunt ingrataque tempora, quæ spem Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter 'id, quod "Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus; NOTES. Ver. 51. I'll do what Mead] Mr. Pope highly esteemed and loved this worthy man; whose unaffected humanity and benevolence have stifled much of that envy which his eminence in his profession would otherwise have drawn out. Speaking of his obligations to this great physician and others of the faculty, in a letter to Mr. Allen, about a month before his death, he says: “There is no end of my kind treatment from the faculty. They are in general the most amiable companions, and the best friends, as well as the most learned men I know." Warburton. Ver. 51. Cheselden] Of the friendship which Pope entertained for Cheselden, many instances appear in his correspondence. Pray," says Swift in a letter to Pope, "put me out of fear as soon as you can, about that report of your illness, and let me know who this Cheselden is, that hath so lately sprung up in your favour." 9 Long as to him who works for debt, the day, 35 Long as the night to her whose love's away, Long as the year's dull circle seems to run, When the brisk minor pants for twenty-one; So slow the 'unprofitable moments roll, That lock up all the functions of my soul; That keep me from myself, and still delay Life's instant business to a future day: That 'task, which as we follow, or despise, The eldest is a fool, the youngest wise; 40 Which done, the poorest can no wants endure; 45 X 50 And men must walk at least before they dance. Say, does thy blood rebel, thy bosom move 55 With wretched avarice, or as wretched love? Know, there are words and spells, which can control Between the fits, this fever of the soul; NOTES. favour." Pope replies: "I wondered a little at your quære, who Cheselden was? It shews that the truest merit does not travel so far any way as on the wings of poetry. He is the most noted and most deserving man in the whole profession of chirurgery, &c." a Laudis amore tumes? Sunt certa piacula, quæ te Ter purè lecto poterunt recreare libello. Invidus, iracundus, iners, vinosus, amator; Nemo adeò ferus est, ut non mitescere possit, Si modò culturæ patientem commodet aurem. •Virtus est vitium fugere; et sapientia prima, Stultitiâ caruisse. Vides, quæ 'maxima credis Esse mala, exiguum censum, turpemque repulsam, Quanto devites animi capitisque labore. Impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos, Per 'mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes: Ne cures ea, quæ stultè miraris et optas, h Discere, et audire, et meliori credere non vis? NOTES. Ver. 65. to abhor;-more.] Dr. King informed me that these were two of the rhymes to which Swift, who was scrupulously exact in this respect, used to object, as he frequently did to some others in Pope; and particularly to two in the Essay on Criticism, Verse 237, where delight is made to rhyme to wit; and to many in his Homer. Warton. Ver. 70. Scared at the spectre] Pope has given life to the image, and added terror to the simple expression, Pauperiem. Bolingbroke translated this passage in Horace, in about twenty-six lines, and sent them to Swift in a letter, dated March 16, 1719. But a poor performance. Pope has omitted the Olympian games. Warton. |