would learn to write *; tho' I don't see of what use it could be, if their whole bufinefs is to give their Votes: It could only be ferviceable in figning their Protefts. Yet furely this fmall portion of learning might be indulged to your Lordship, without any Breach of that Privilege § you fo generously affert to all those of your rank, or too great an Infringement of that Right || which you claim as Hereditary, and for which, no doubt, your noble Father will thank you. Surely, my Lord, no Man was ever fo bent upon depreciating himself! All your Readers have obferv'd the following Lines: How oft we hear fome Witling pert and dull, That Life itself is like a wrangling game, &c. The whole Town and Court (my good Lord) have heard this Witling; who is fo much every body's acquaintance but his own, that I'll engage they all name the fame Perfon. But to hear you fay, that this is only-of whipt Cream a frothy Store, is a fufficient proof, that never mortal was endued with fo humble an opinion both of himself and his own Wit, as your Lordfhip: For, I do affure you, these are by much the best Verses in your whole Poem. * And when you fee me fairly write my name, + To be fools. ibid. How How unhappy is it for me, that a Perfon of your Lordship's Modefty and Virtue, who manifefts fo tender a regard to Religion, Matrimony, and Morality; who, tho' an Ornament to the Court, cultivate an exemplary Correspondence with the Clergy; nay, who difdain not charitably to converse with, and even affift, fome of the very worst of Writers (fo far as to caft a few Conceits, or drop a few Antithefes even among the Dear Joys of the Courant) that you, I fay, fhould look upon Me alone as reprobate and unamendable! Reflect what I was, and what I am. I am even Annihilated by your Anger: For in thefe Verses you have robbed me of all power to think*, and, in your others, of the very name of a Man! Nay, to fhew that this is wholly your own doing, you have told us that before I wrote my last Epiftles (that is, before I unluckily mention'd Fanny and Adonis, whom, I proteft, I knew not to be your Lordship's Relations) I might have lived and died in glory +. What would I not do to be well with your Lordship? Tho', you obferve, I am a mere Imitator of Homer, Horace, Boileau, Garth, &c. (which I have the lefs caufe to be afham'd of, fince they were Imitators of one another) yet what if I fhould folemnly engage never to imitate your Lordship? May it not be one step towards an accommodation, that while you remark my Ignorance in Greek, you are fo good as to fay, you have forgot your own? What if I should confefs I tranflated from D'Acier ? That furely could not but oblige your Lordship, who are known to prefer French to all the learned Languages. But allowing that in the fpace of twelve years acquaintance with Homer, I might unhappily contract as much Greek, as your Lordship * P-e, who ne'er cou'd think. p. 7. In glory then he might have liv'd and dy'd. ibid. did in Two at the Univerfity, why may I not for. get it again, as happily? Till fuch a reconciliation take effect, I have but one thing to intreat of your Lordship. It is, that you will not decide of my Principles on the fame grounds as you have done of my Learning: Nor give the fame account of my Want of Grace, after you have loft all acquaintance with my Perfon, as you do of my Want of Greek, after you have confeffedly lost all acquaintance with the Language. You are too generous, my Lord, to follow the Gentlemen of the Dunciad quite so far, as to feek my utter Perdition: as Nero once did Lucan's, merely for prefuming to be a Poet, while one of fo much greater quality was a Writer. I therefore make this humble request to your Lordship, that the next time you please to write of me, fpeak of me, or even whisper of me, you will recollect it is full eight Years fince I had the honour of any converfation or correfpondence with your Lordfhip, except just half an hour in a Lady's Lodgings at Court, and then I had the happiness of her being prefent all the time. It would therefore be difficult even for your Lordfhip's penetration to tell, to what, or from what Principles, Parties, or Sentiments, Moral, Political, or Theological, I may have been converted, or perverted in all that time. I befeech your Lordfhip to confider, the Injury a Man of your high Rank and Credit may do to a private Person under Penal Laws and many other disadvantages, not for want of honesty or confcience, but merely perhaps for having too weak a head, or too tender a heart †. It is by thefe alone I have hitherto liv'd excluded from The whisper, that, to greatness still too near, Perhaps yet vibrates on his Sovereign's ear. Epift. to Dr. Arbuthnot. † See Letter to Bishop Atterbury, Lett. iv. all all posts of Profit or Trust: As I can interfere with the Views of no man, do, not deny me, my Lord, all that is left, a little Praife, or the common Encouragement due, if not to my Genius, at least to my Industry. Above all, your Lordship will be careful not to wrong my Moral Character, with THOSE * under whofe Protection I live, and thro' whose Lenity alone I can live with Comfort. Your Lordship, I am confident, upon confideration will think, you inadvertently went a little too far when you recommended to THEIR perufal, and ftrengthened by the weight of your Approbation, a Libel, mean in its reflections upon my poor figure, and fcandalous in thofe on my Honour and Integrity: wherein I was reprefented as "an Enemy to Human Race, a Mur"derer of Reputations, and a Monster mark'd by "God like Cain, deferving to wander accurs'd "thro' the World." A ftrange Picture of a Man, who had the good fortune to enjoy many friends, who will be always remember'd as the first Ornaments of their Age and Country; and no Enemies that ever contriv'd to be heard of, except Mr. John Dennis, and your Lordfhip: A Man, who never wrote a Line in which the Religion or Government of his Country, the Royal Family, or their Miniftry were disrespectfully mentioned; the Animofity of any one Party gratify'd at the expence of another; or any Cenfure paft, but upon known Vice, acknowledg'd Folly, or aggreffing Impertinence. It is with infinite pleasure he finds, that fome Men who feem afham'd and afraid of nothing elfe, are fo very fenfible of his Ridicule: And 'tis for that very reafon he refolves (by the grace of God, and your Lordship's good leave) The K. and Q. That That while he breathes, no rich or noble knave Shall walk the world in credit to his grave. This, he thinks, is rendering the best Service he can to the Publick, and even to the good Government of his Country; and for this, at least, he may deferve fome Countenance, even from the GREATEST PERSONS in it. Your Lordship knows OF WHOM I speak. Their NAMES I should be as forry, and as much afham'd, to place near yours, on fuch an occafion, as I fhould be to fee You, my Lord, placed fo near their PERSONS, if you could ever make fo ill an Ufe of their Ear* as to asperse or misrepresent any one innocent Man. This is all I fhall ever afk of your Lordship, except your pardon for this tedious Letter. I have the honour to be, with equal Refpect and Concern, My Lord, Your truly devoted Servant, A. POPE. * Clofe at the ear of Eve. Ep. to Dr. Arbuth. |