make a confiderable volume, of full as good ones, nay, I believe, of better than an y in Vol. I. which I could wifh you would defer, at least 'till you have finish’¿ thefe that are yet unprinted.

I fend you a fample of fome few of thefe: namely, the verfes to Mr Waller in his old age; your new ones on the Duke of Marlborough, and two others. I have done all that I thought could be of advantage to them: fome I have contracted, as we do fun beams, to improve their energy and force: fome I have taken quite away, as we take branches from a tree, to add to the fruit; others I have entirely new exprefs'd, and turn'd more into poetry. Donne (like one of his fucceffors) had infinitely more wit than he wanted verfification; for the great dealers of wit, like thofe in trade, take leaft pains to fet off their goods; while the haberdashers of fmall wit, fpare for no decorations or ornaments. You have commiffion'd me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to brush you up like your neighbours. But I can no more pretend to the merit of the production, than a midwife to the virtues and good qualities of the child fhe helps into the light.

The few things I have entirely added, you will excufe; you may take them lawfully for your own, because they are no more than sparks lighted up by your fire and you may omit them at laft, if you think them but fquibs in your triumphs.

I

LETTER XII.

From Mr WYCHERLEY.

Nov. II. 1707.

Received yours of the 9th yesterday, which has (like the reft of your letters) at once pleas'd and inftructed me; fo that, I affure you, you can no more write too much to your abfent friends, than fpeak too much to the prefent. This is a truth, that all men own who have either feen your writings, or heard your discourse; enough to make others fhow their judgment, in ceafing to write or talk, especially to you, or in your company. However, I fpeak or write to you, not to please you, but myself; fince I provoke your answers; which whilft they humble me, give me vanity; tho' I am leffen'd by you even when you commend me: fince you commend my little fenfe with so much more of yours, that you put me out of countenance, whilft you would keep me in it. So that you have found a way (against the custom of great wits) to fhew even a great deal of good nature with a great deal of good fenfe.

I thank you for the book you promis'd me, by which I find you would not only correct my lines, but my life.

As to the damn'd verfes I entrusted you with, I hope you will let them undergo your purgatory, to fave them from other people's damning them: fince the critics, who are generally the first damn'd in this life, like the damn'd below, never leave to bring those above them under their own circumftances. I beg you

to peruse my papers, and felect what you think best or moft tolerable, and look over them again; for I refolve fuddenly to print fome of them, as a hardened old gamefter will (in fpite of all former ill ufage by fortune) push on an ill hand in expectation of recovering himself; especially, fince I have fuch a Croupier or Second to stand by me as Mr Pope.

MR.

LETTER XIII.

Nov. 20. 1707.

"R Englefyld being upon his journey to London, tells me I must write to you by him, which I do, not more to comply with his defire, than to gratify my own; tho' I did it fo lately by the messenger you fent hither: I take it too as an opportunity of fending you the fair copy of the poem on Dulness, which was not then finish'd, and which I should not care to hazard by the common poft. Mr Englefyld is ignorant of the contents, and I hope your prudence will let him remain fo, for my fake no less than your own: fince if you should reveal any thing of this nature, it would be no wonder reports fhould be rais'd, and there are those (I fear) who would be ready to improve them to my disadvantage. I am forry you told the great man, whom you met in the court of re

* The original of it in blots, and with figures of the references from copy to copy, in Mr Pope's hand, is yet extant among other fuch Brouillons of Mr Wycherley's poems, corrected by

him.

quests, that your papers were in my hands: no man alive shall ever know any fuch thing from me; and I give you this warning befides, that tho' yourself should Lay I had any ways affifted you, I am notwithstanding refolv'd to deny it.

The method of the copy I fend you is very different from what it was, and much more regular: for the better help of your memory, I defire you to compare it by the figures on the margin, answering to the fame in this letter. The poem is now divided into four parts, mark'd with the literal figures, 1. 2. 3. 4. The first contains the praise of Dulness, and shews how upon several fuppofitions it paffes for 1. religion. 2. philosophy. 3. example. 4. wit, and 5. the cause of wit, and the end of it. The fecond part contains the Advantages of Dulness; 1ft, in business; and 2dly, at Court; where the fimilitudes of the Byafs of a bowl, and the Weights of a clock, are directly tending to the subject, tho' introduced before in a place where there was no mention made of thofe advantages (which was your only objection to my adding them. The third contains the Happiness of Dulness in all stations, and fhews in a great many particulars, that it is fo fortunate as to be efteem'd fome good quality or other in all forts of people; that it is thought quiet, fenfe, caution, policy, prudence, majefty, valour, circumfpection, honesty, &c. The fourth part I have wholly added, as a climax which fums up all the praife, advantage, and happinefs of Dulnefs in a few words, and ftrengthens them by the oppofition of the difgrace, dif

advantage, and unhappiness of Wit, with which it concludes*.

Tho' the whole be as short again as at first, there is not one thought omitted, but what is a repetition of fomething in your first volume, or in this very paper; fome thoughts are contracted, where they seem'd encompafs'd with too many words; and fome new exprefs'd, or added, where I thought there wanted heightning (as you'll fee particularly in the Simile of the clock-weights); and the verfification throughout is, I believe, fuch as no body can be shock'd at. The repeated permiffions you give me of dealing freely with you, will (I hope) excufe what I have done : for if I have not fpar'd you when I thought severity would do you a kindness, I have not mangled you where I thought there was no abfolute need of amputation. As to particulars, I can fatisfy you better when we meet; in the mean time pray write to me when you can, you

cannot too often.

This is totally omitted in the prefent Edition: Some of the lines are thefe:

"Thus Dulness, the fafe opiate of the mind, "The last kind refuge weary wit can find; "Fit for all ftations, and in each content, "Is fatisfy'd, fecure, and innocent; "No pains it takes, and no offence it gives, "Unfear'd, unhated, undisturb'd it lives, &c. It was originally thus expreffed:

"As Clocks run fafteft when moft Lead is on,"

in a Letter of Mr Pope to Mr Wycherley, dated April 3, 1705. and in a paper of verfes of his, To the Author of a poem called Succeffio, which got out in a mifcellany in 1712, three years before Mr Wycherly died, and two after he had laid afide the whole defign of publishing any poems.