debaucheries, he had given evidence, by the eagerness with which he had courted the acquaintance of the immortal Dryden, that a want of taste was not among his failings. St. John, though at the time of the poet's death he could only have entered into his twenty-second year, is, nevertheless, confidently asserted to have been "the patron, the friend, and the protector of that great poet,"* and Pope says, in his Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,

"And St. John's self, great Dryden's friend before,
With open arms received one poet more."

Later in life, Bolingbroke formed one of a splendid galaxy of genius, in which his own star was not the least dazzling. Pope, Swift, Atterbury, Prior, Parnell, Gay, Arbuthnot! when will so brilliant a circle again assemble beneath the same roof, or join in social converse beside the same hearth! Bolingbroke, to his credit, was the friend of literary men; and in addition to his having opened his purse, or extended his patronage, to a host of writers whose names are no longer interesting to posterity, it may be mentioned that Dryden, Prior, Gay, and Thomson, received substantial favours at his hands. Neither does a contrariety of political opinion appear to have made the slightest difference in his liberality, when the object was a deserving one. Steele, though closely leagued with the opposite party, experienced proofs of his

* Biog. Brit. vol. v. p. 3561, note.

kindness, and Swift seldom importuned him in vain in favour of a suffering Whig. He forgot even the politics of Addison in his admiration of his genius; and on the first night on which "Cato" was represented on the stage, not only induced a large number of friends to accompany him to the theatre, but liberally rewarded Booth, the actor, for his splendid personification of the hero. So great was his admiration of Booth, both as an actor and as a social companion, that during several nights in every week his chariot was seen waiting at the door of the theatre, in order to convey the performer, after the play was over, to the country-seat of his patron.*

The admiration which Pope entertained of Bolingbroke's genius, was not confined to mere poetical rhapsodies. "Lord Bolingbroke," he said, "is much the best writer of the age. Nobody knows half the extent of his excellence but two or three of his most intimate friends. Whilst abroad, he wrote a consolation to a man in exile, so much in Seneca's style, that was he living now among us, one should conclude that he had written every word of it." Again, Pope observed to Spence :"There is one thing in Lord Bolingbroke, which seems peculiar to himself. He has so great a memory, as well as judgment, that if he is alone and without books, he can sit down by himself, as another man would in his study, and refer to his books, on such a particular subject in them, in his own mind, and write as fully on it as

* MS. note to Cibber's Apology for his Life.

another would with all his books about him. Hesits like an intelligence, and recollects all the questions within himself."* Pope admitted to Spence, that Bolingbroke had supplied him almost entirely with the thoughts and arguments contained in his great moral poem, and that, in addition to their frequent conversations, he had sent him seven or eight sheets of writing on the subject, which became the frame-work of the poem. Lord Bathurst also mentioned in conversation with Dr. Blair, that "he had read the MS. in Lord Bolingbroke's hand-writing, and was at a loss whether most to admire the elegance of Lord Bolingbroke's prose, or the beauty of Mr. Pope's verse.” A room is still pointed out, in what remains of Bolingbroke's house, at Battersea, as that in which Pope composed his " Essay on Man."

If Bolingbroke admired Pope as a poet, Pope no less venerated Bolingbroke as a philosopher; their friendship, and their mutual admiration of each other continued to the last; and when Pope was on his death-bed, the well-known circumstance of Bolingbroke weeping over the bard of his idolatry, and the friend of his choice, affords an affecting and beautiful picture. Spence,

* Spence's Anecdotes of men and books, pp. 165, 166. Pope observed at another time: "Lord Bolingbroke is something superior to anything I have seen in human. nature. You know I don't deal much in hyperboles. I quite think what I say." Ibid. p. 6.

+ Letter from Dr. Blair in Boswell's Johnson. See also D'Israeli's Miscellanies of Literature.

VOL. II.

I

who was present at the scene, describes him as leaning over Pope's chair in a "melancholy attitude," and frequently exclaiming, amidst his sobs and tears, "Ah! Great God, what is man!""When I was telling his lordship," adds Spence, "that Mr. Pope, on every catching and recovering of his mind, was always saying something kindly either of his present or absent friends, and that this, in some cases, was so surprising, that it seemed to me as if his humanity had outlived his understanding; Lord Bolingbroke said,

It has so,' and then added, 'I never in my life knew a man that had so tender a heart for his particular friends, or a more general friendship for mankind. I have known him these thirty years, and value myself more for that man's love and friendship, than,""- Here Bolingbroke is described by Spence as sinking his head, and losing his voice in hysterical sobs.

We cannot but regret that there should have appeared an afterpiece to this pathetic scene, which detracts considerably both from its moral and dramatic effect. It is almost needless to add, that we allude to the well-known breach of confidence and friendship, which Bolingbroke subsequently discovered that the deceased poet had committed. Bolingbroke, it seems, had entrusted to his friend's keeping, the manuscript of his celebrated essay "The Patriot King," with the understanding that only a few copies should be printed for private distribution. Pope, on the other hand, caused a large edition to be struck

off, of fifteen hundred copies, which, at the time of his death, remained in the hands of the printer.

Such is the brief outline of a singular story, which long constituted the gossip of every literary circle, and, at the time when it transpired, gave rise to more than one angry pamphlet, and fiery retort. According to the confident assertions of the enemies of Pope, it was the intention of the poet, in the event of his surviving Bolingbroke, either to have published the work as his own, or to have realized a large sum of money by disposing of an eighteen-penny pamphlet at a guinea a copy. These unlikely suppositions, however, are indignantly repelled by Warburton. He affirms that Pope had no other motive than to perpetuate a valuable work, which might otherwise have been lost to posterity; he shows how improbable it was, for many reasons, that the poet could ever have entertained an intention of declaring himself the author of the work; and he adds, that, as there was evidently but little likelihood of his surviving Bolingbroke, the charge of avarice was put entirely out of the question.

Whatever may have been Bolingbroke's private impressions, in regard to the motives of Pope's conduct, his anger and indignation certainly carried him beyond all bounds of decency:

"His thirst of vengeance," says Dr. Johnson, "incited him to blast the memory of the man over whom he had wept in his last struggles ;