the Fifth and the Nineteenth Letters; particularly what he faid to Warburton at the end of the latter.

If we confider him as a man, and examine his moral character impartially, we shall find that his predominant virtues feem to have been filial piety, and conftancy in his friendships; an ardent love of liberty and of his country, and what feemed be to its true interest; a manly deteftation of court-flatterers and fervility; a frugality, and economy, and order, in his house, and at his table; at the fame time that his private charities were many and great; of which DodЛley, whom he honoured with his friendship, and who partook of his beneficence, gave me feveral His revenue was about eight hundred

instances.

pounds a year.

As to his religious opinions, though he would not publicly renounce the tenets of his family, from the fear of being reckoned an interested convert, yet he had too clear and folid an understanding, not to difcern the grofs abfurdities, and glaring impieties of Popish fuperftition; and once owned to Dr. Warburton, that he was convinced the Church of Rome had all the marks and figns of that Antichristian Power and Apoftacy, fo ftrongly painted and Which opinion predicted in the New Teftament.

Dr. Warburton himself was so zealous in establishing, that he founded a Lecture for Sermons to be annually preached at Lincoln's Inn Chapel, on this very fubject; perfuaded, like his excellent friend Dr. Balguy,

that

that "Popery is indeed nothing better than a refined

fpecies of Paganifm; and that, fo far as this ex"tends, the Gospel has failed of its genuine effect, " and left men as it found them, Polytheifts and "Idolaters." The approaching deftruction of the Church of Rome, especially in a neighbouring kingdom, was thus remarkably foretold by the King of Pruffia, 1777: "Le Pape & les moines finiront fans "doute; leur chute ne fera pas l'ouvrage de la rai"fon; mais ils périeront à mesure que les Finances "des grandes potentates fe dérangeront. En France, quand on aura epuifé tous les expédiens pour avoir "des efpèces, on fera forcé de fecularifer des Abbayes & des Convens. Cet example fera imité, " & le nombre des Cuculati reduit à peu de chofe."

Through the whole course of his life, Pope was firmly and unvariably convinced of the Being of a God, a Providence, and the Immortality of the Soul. Though perhaps, when he was writing under the guidance of Bolingbroke, he entertained fome unhappy and ill-founded doubts concerning the truth of the Chriftian Difpenfation.

THE

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE*.

I

AM inclined to think that both the writers of books, and the readers of them, are generally not a little unreasonable in their expectations. The first seem to fancy the world muft approve whatever they produce, and the latter to imagine that authors are obliged to please them at any rate. Methinks, as on the one hand, no fingle man is born with a right of controuling the opinions of all the reft; fo on the other, the world has no title to demand, that the whole care and time of any particular perfon fhould be facrificed to its entertainment. Therefore I cannot but believe that writers and readers are under equal

The clearnefs, the clofenefs, and the elegance of ftyle with which this preface is written, render it one of the best pieces of prose in our language. It abounds in strong good sense, and profound knowledge of life. It is written with fuch fimplicity that scarcely a fingle metaphor is to be found in it. Atterbury was fo delighted with it, that he tells our Author he had read it over twice with pleasure, and defired him not to balance a moment about printing it; "always provided there is nothing faid there that you may have occafion to unfay hereafter." Thefe words are remarkable. This preface far excels those of Peliffon, Vaugelas, and D'Ablancourt, of which the French boast so highly. May I be allowed just to add, that the finest prefaces ever written, were, perhaps, that of Thuanus to his Hiftory, of Calvin to his Inftitutes, and of Caufabon to his Polybius.

VOL. I.

B

obligations,

obligations, for as much fame, or pleafure, as each affords the other.

Every one acknowledges, it would be a wild notion to expect perfection in any work of man: and yet one would think the contrary was taken for granted, by the judgment commonly past upon Poems. A Critic fuppofes he has done his part, if he proves a writer to have failed in an expreffion, or erred in any particular point: and can it then be wondered at, if the Poets in general seem refolved not to own themselves in any error? For as long as one fide will make no allowances, the other will be brought to no acknowledgments *.

I am afraid this extreme zeal on both fides is ill-placed; Poetry and Criticifm being by no means the univerfal concern of the world, but only the affair of idle men who write in their clofets, and of idle men who read there.

Yet fure, upon the whole, a bad Author deferves better ufage than a bad Critic: for a Writer's endeavour, for the most part, is to please his Readers, and he fails merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but fuch a Critic's is to put them out of

*In the former editions it was thus-For as long as one fide defpifes a well-meant endeavour, the other will not be fatisfied with a moderate approbation. But the Author altered it, as thefe words were rather a confequence from the conclufion he would draw, than the conclufion itfelf, which he has now inferted. W.

humour;

humour; a defign he could never go upon without both that and an ill temper.

I think a good deal may be faid to extenuate the fault of bad Poets. What we call a Genius, is hard to be diftinguished by a man himself, from a ftrong inclination and if his genius be ever fo great, he cannot at firft difcover it. any other way, than by giving way to that prevalent propensity which renders him the more liable to be mistaken. The only method he has is to make the experiment by writing, and appealing to the judgment of others: now if he happens to write ill, (which is certainly no fin in itself), he is immediately made an object of ridicule. I wish we had the humanity to reflect that even the worst authors might, in their endeavour to please us, deserve fomething at our hands. We have no caufe to quarrel with them but for their obftinacy in perfifting to write; and this too may admit of alleviating circumftances. Their particular friends may be either ignorant, or infincere; and the rest of the world in general is too well-bred to fhock them with a truth, which generally their Bookfellers are the first that inform them of. This happens not till they have spent too much of their time to apply to any profeffion which might better fit their talents; and till fuch talents as they have are fo far difcredited as to be but of fmall fervice to them. For (what is the hardest case imaginable) the reputation of a man generally depends upon the first steps he makes in the

B 2

world;