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than diminish with time; and whilst they occupy the public attention in a manner scarcely inferior to the events of the passing day, have occasionally been carried to an extreme of contention and animosity, not exceeded by any of those in which the author himself was in his lifetime engaged.

Although the life of Pope has frequently been professedly written, yet it may be asserted, without much hazard-of contradiction, that this has never been done in a manner adequate to its importance, or with a due attention to the peculiarities of his character, and to the various circumstances in which he was placed. Of these attempts, some are of too brief and cursory a nature to admit of any thing like a sufficient inquiry into subjects of a difficult and controverted kind. Even in those more extensive works which are devoted to this object, a very limited portion is occupied in impartial and diligent inquiries into the events of his life; the far greater part being employed in criticisms on his writings, or in extracting, for the use and instruction of the uninformed, such passages from his works as the biographer most admires. This mode of composition is scarcely dealing fairly with the reader. If we wish to know

the merits of an author, we can have recourse to his works; but in his life we expect to find a faithful representation of his character, manners, and endowments, of the situations in which he was placed, and the circumstances under which his works were produced, of the friends with whom he associated, the controversies in which he was engaged, and whatever else may tend to gratify that natural curiosity which we entertain respecting a person to whom we feel so deeply indebted, or which may throw a collateral light on his works.

The first attempt for this purpose which has occurred to my notice, appeared in a small piece of about seventy pages, in octavo, published in the same year in which Pope died, intitled, The Life of Alexander Pope, Esq., with remarks on his works; to which is added his Last Will. Printed for Weaver Bickerton, in the Temple Exchange-passage, in Fleet-street, 1744.-One of those hasty effusions that usually follow the loss of a person of eminence, which serve only to excite and to disappoint the public curiosity; as it contains not a single fact before unknown, and scarcely a single remark deserving of attention.

Soon afterwards a publication on a larger scale made its appearance, intitled, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Alexander Pope, Esq., with critical observations, by William Ayre, Esq., in 2 vols. octavo. This work was published for the author in 1745, the year after the death of Pope, and is inscribed to his surviving friends, Lords Bolingbroke, Burlington, Marchmont, and Bathurst. Of the author very little is known; yet it is probable that he was acquainted with Pope; as in the poem of Gay, commemorating Pope's supposed return from Greece, on the finishing his translation of the Iliad, we find amongst his friends who come to welcome him, the name of AYRS. The work itself displays no great share either of talent or of industry, being chiefly made up of extracts from Pope, and various other writers, many of whom have little or no connexion with him, and of translations by the author, from the Italian poets, with whom he appears to have had some acquaintance. There are however some anecdotes related, and some observations occasionally introduced, which are deserving of attention; and as it exhibits in general, a candid and impartial spirit, it will be occasionally referred to in the ensuing narrative.

In the same year a pamphlet appeared, intitled, Remarks on 'Squire Ayre's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Pope, in a letter to Mr. Edmund Curll, bookseller, with authentic Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the said E. C. Printed for M. Cooper, PaternosterRow, 1745, octavo: the writer of which subscribes his initials at the close, J. H. The purpose of these remarks is to shew, that there is no such person as William Ayre, Esq. and that the Memoirs were really written by Curll, who had assumed the name of Ayre on this occasion, as he had before that of Egerton, in his Memoirs of Mrs. Oldfield. It is not easy to discover, nor is it worth while to inquire further as to the object of this writer; who, whilst he attacks Curll, inserts a copy of scurrilous verses on Pope, and whilst he criticises the work of Ayre, writes worse, if possible, than Ayre himself.

In the year 1759, a small volume in duodecimo was published, called, The Life of Alexander Pope, Esq., with a view of his writings, and many curious anecdotes of his noble patrons, as well as of his cotemporary wits, friends, and foes, by W. H. Dilworth. This is little more than an abridgment of, or selection from, the volumes of Ayre, and contains

not a single incident or remark which throws any additional light on the subject.

These feeble attempts to give to the public the circumstances attending the life of Pope, were followed by a more decisive effort. The first general collection of the writings of Pope was published in 1751, by Dr. Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, who in his preface to the first edition (in a passage omitted in the subsequent ones) thus announces his intention of giving a life of Pope. 66 The author's life deserves a just volume, and the editor intends to give it. For to have been one of the first poets in the world is but his second praise. He was in a higher class; he was one of the noblest works of God; he was an honest man; a man who alone possessed more real virtue, than, in very corrupt times needing a satirist like him, will sometimes fall to the share of multitudes. In this history of his life will be contained a large account of his writings, a critique on the nature, force, and extent of his genius, exemplified from these writings, and a vindication of his moral character, exemplified by his more distinguished virtues; his filial piety, his disinterested friendship, his reverence for the constitution of his country, his

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