I muft needs 'defire you would apply your care wholly at present to thofe which are yet unpublished, of which there are more than enough to make a confiderable volume, of full as good ones, nay, I believe, of better than any in Vol. I. which I could with you would defer, at leaft till you have finish'd these that are yet unprinted.

I fend you a fample of fome few of these; 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 en tirely 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 haberdafhers of fmall wit, fpare for no decorations or ornaments. You have commiffion'd me to paint your shop, and I have done my beft 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.

*Several of Mr. Pope's lines, very eafy to be diftinguifh'd, may be found in the Pofthumous Editions of Wycherley's Poems: particularly in thofe on Solitude, on the Public, and on the Mixed life.

The

The few things I have entirely added, you will excufe; you may take them lawfully for your ow 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.

LETTER

XII.

I am, &c.

I

From Mr. WYCHERLEY.

;

Nov. 11, 1707.

Received yours of the 9th yefterday, which has (like the rest of your letters) at once pleas'd and instructed 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 difcourfe; enough to make others fhow their judgment, in ceafing to write or talk, efpecially to you, or in your company. However, I fpeak or write to you, not to please you, but myfelf; fince I provoke your anfwers; 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 fo much more of yours, that you put me out of countenance, whilst you would keep me in it. So that you have found a way (against the custom of great wits) to fhew even a

C 4

great

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 thofe above them under their own circumstances. I beg you to peruse my papers, and select what you think beft or most tolerable, and look over them again; for I resolve fuddenly to print fome of them, as a harden'd old gamefter will (in fpite of all former ill ufage by fortune) push on an ill hand in expectation of recovering himself; efpecially fince I have fuch a Croupier or Second to ftand 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 e to comply with his defire, than to gratify my own; tho' I did it fo lately by the meffenger you fent hither: I take it too as an opportunity of fending you the fair copy of the

poem

1

poem on Dulness, which was not then finish'd, and which I fhould not care to hazard by the common 1 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 fhould 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 difadvantage. I am forry you told the great man, whom you met in the court of requests, that your I papers were in my hands: no man alive fhall ever know any fuch thing from me; and I give you this warning befides, that tho' yourself should fay 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 in the margin, anfwering 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 fhews how upon feveral fuppofitions it paffes for 1. religion. 2. philofophy. 3. example. 4. wit. and 5. the caufe of wit, and the end of it. The fecond part contains the Advantages of Dulness; 1ft, in

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.

bufinefs;

bufinefs; and zdly, at Court; where the fimilitudes of the Byafs of a bowl, and the Weights of a clock, are directly tending to the fubject, 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 Happinefs of Dulness in all ftations, and shews 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, majesty, valour, circumfpection, honefty, &c. The fourth part I have wholly added, as a climax which fums up all the praise, advantage, and happiness of Dulnefs in a few words, and ftrengthens them by the oppofition of the difgrace, difadvantage, and unhappiness of Wit, with which ît concludes *.

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

Thus Dulnefs, the fafe opiate of the mind, The laft kind refuge weary wit can find ; "Fit for all ftations, and in each content, 66 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 exprefs'd:

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 call'd Succeffio, which got out in a mifcellany in 1712, three years before Mr. Wycherley died, and two after he had laid afide the whole defign of publishing any poems.

Tho'