"writer. They are some of them uncommon, but "such as the reader must assent to when he sees "them explained with that elegance and perspicuity "with which they are delivered. As for those which 66 are the most known and the most received, they are "placed in so beautiful a light, and illustrated with "such apt allusions, that they have in them all the "graces of novelty, and make the reader, who was Before acquainted with them, still more convinc"ed of their truth and solidity. And here give me "leave to mention what Monsieur Boileau has so "well enlarged upon in the Preface to his Works, "that wit and fine writing do not consist so much "in advancing things that are new, as in giving things that are known an agreeable turn. It is "impossible for us who live in the latter ages of "the world, to make observations in criticism, mo"rality, or any art and science, which have not "been touched upon by others. We have little "else left us but to represent the common sense of "mankind in more strong, more beautiful, or more "uncommon lights, If a reader examines Horace's "Art of Poetry he will find but few precepts in it "which he may not meet with in Aristotle, and "which were not commonly known by all the "poets of the Augustan age. His way of express"ing and applying them, not his invention of them, "is what we are chiefly to admire

"Longinus, in his Reflections, has given us the "same kind of sublime which he observes in the "several passages which occasioned them. I can"not but take notice that our English author has, "after the same manner, exemplified several of his "precepts in the very precepts themselves." He then produces some instances of a particular kind of beauty in the numbers, and concludes with saying, "That we have three poems in our tongue of "the same nature, and each a master-piece in its "kind; the Essay on translated Verse, the Essay "on the Art of Poetry, and the Essay on Criti"cism."

In the lives of Addison and Tickell, some generai hints concerning the quarrel have been thrown out which subsisted between our poet and the former of

these gentlemen; here it will not be improper to give a more particular account of it.

The author of Mist's Journal positively asserts, "That Mr. Addison raised Pope from obscurity, "obtained him the acquaintance and friendship of "the whole body of our nobility, and transferred "his powerful influence with those great men to "this rising bard, who frequently levied, by that means, unusual contributions on the public. No sooner was his body lifeless, but this author, reviving his resentment, libelled the memory of his departed friend, and, what was still more heinous, "inade the scandal public."

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When this charge of ingratitude and dishonour was published against Mr. Pope, to acquit himself of it be called upon any nobleman whose friendship, or any one gentleman whose subscription, Mr. Addison had procured to our author, to stand forth and declare it, that truth might appear. But the whole libel was proved a malicious story by many persons of distinction, who several years before Mr. Addison's decease, approved those verses denominated a libel, but which were, it is said, a friendly rebuke, sent privately in our author's own hand, to Mr. Addison himself, and never made public till by Curl, in his Miscellanies, 12mo. 1727. The lines, indeed, are elegantly satirical, and, in the opinion of many unprejudiced judges, who had opportunities of knowing the character of Mr. Addison, are no ill representation of him. Speaking of the poetical triflers of the times, who had declared against him, he makes a sudden transition to Addison:

Peace to all such! But were there one whose fires
True genius kindles, and fair fame inspires;
Blest with each talent and each art to please,
And born to write, converse, and live with ease;
Should such a man, too fond to rule alone,
Bear, like the Turk, no rival near the throne,
View him with scornful, yet with jealous eyes
And hate for arts that caus'd himself to rise;
Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And, without sneering, others teach to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,

Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame or to commend,
A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend;
Dreading even fools; by flatt'rers besieg'd;
And so obliging, that he ne'er oblig'd.
Like Cato give his little senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause;
While wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise,
And wonder with a foolish face of praise;
Who but must laugh, if such a man there be !
Who would not weep, if Atticus were he!

Some readers may think these lines severe, but the treatment he received from Mr. Addison was more than sufficient to justify them, which will appear when we particularize an interview between these two poetical antagonists, procured by the warm solicitations of Sir Richard Steele, who was present at it, as well as Mr. Gay.

Mr. Jervas being one day in company with Mr. Addison, the conversation turned upon Mr. Pope, for whom Addison, at that time, expressed the highest regard, and assured Mr. Jervas that he would make use not only of his interest, but of his art likewise, to do Mr. Pope service; he then said, he did not mean his art of poetry, but his art at court, and protested, notwithstanding many insinuations were spread, that it should not be his fault if there was not the best understanding and intelligence between them. He observed, that Dr. Swift might have carried him too far among the enemy during the animosity, but now all was safe, and Mr. Pope, in his opinion, was escaped. When Mr. Jervas communicated this conversation to Mr. Pope, he made this reply: "The friendly office you endea"your to do between Mr. Addison and me deserves "acknowledgments on my part. You thoroughly "know my regard to his character, and my readi"ness to testify it by all ways in my power; you "also thoroughly know the meanness of that proceeding of Mr. Phillips, to make a man I so highly "value, suspect my disposition towards him. But "as, after all, Mr. Addison must be judge in what "regards himself, and as he has seemed not to be

"a very just one to me, so I must own to you I ex"pect nothing but civility from him, how much so"ever I wish for his friendship; and, as for any of "fers of real kindness or service, which it is in his power to do me, I should be ashamed to receive "them from a man who has no better opinion of 66 my morals than to think me a party man, nor of my temper, than to believe me capable of malign"ing or envying another's reputation as a poet. In "a word, Mr. Addison is sure of my respect at all times, and of my real friendship, whenever he "shall think fit to know me for what I am."

Some years after this conversation, at the desire of Sir Richard Steele, they met. At first, a very cold civility, and nothing else, appeared on either side: for Mr. Addison had a natural reserve and gloom at the beginning of an evening, which by conversation and a glass, brightened into an easy cheerfulness. Sir Richard Steele, who was a most social benevolent man, begged of him to fulfil his promise, in dropping all animosity against Mr. Pope. Mr. Pope then desired to be made sensible how he had offended, and observed, that the translation of Homer, if that was the great crime, was undertaken at the request, and almost at the command, of Sir Richard Steele. He entreated Mr. Addison to speak candidly and freely, though it might be with ever so much severity, rather than, by keeping up forms of complaisance, conceal any of his faults. This Mr. Pope spoke in such a manner as plainly indicated he thought Mr. Addison the aggressor, expected him to condescend, and own himself the cause of the breach between them. But he was disappointed; for Mr. Addison, without appearing to be angry, was quite overcome with it. He began with declaring that he always had wished him well, had often endeavoured to be his friend, and in that light advised him, if his nature was capable of it, to divest himself of part of his vanity, which was too great for his merit; that he had not arrived yet to that pitch of excellence he might imagine, or think his most partial readers imagined; that when he and Sir Richard Steele correct

his verses, they had a different air; reminding

Mr. Pope of the amendment, by Sir Richard, of a line in the poem called the Messiah;

He wipes the tears for ever from our eyes. Which is taken from the prophet Isaiah,

The Lord God will wipe tears from off all facesi From every face he wipes off every tear.

And it stands so altered in the newer editions of Mr. Pope's works. He proceeded to lay before him the mistakes and inaccuracies hinted at by the writers who had attacked Mr. Pope, and added many things which he himself objected to. Speaking of his Translation in general, he said, that he was not to be blamed for endeavouring to get so large a sum of money, but that it was an ill-executed thing, and not equal to Tickell, which had all the spirit of HoMr. Addison concluded, in a low hollow voice of feigned temper, that he was not solicitous about his own fame as a poet; that he had quitted the Muses to enter into the business of the public, and that all he spoke was through friendship to Mr. Pope, whom he advised to have a less exalted sense of his own merit.

mer.

Mr. Pope could not well bear such repeated reproaches, but boldly told Mr. Addison, that he appealed from his judgment to the public, and that he had long known him too well to expect any friendship from him; upbraided him with being a pensioner from his youth, sacrificing the very learning purchased by the public money to a mean thirst of power; that he was sent abroad to encourage literature, in place of which he had always endeavoured to suppress merit. At last the contest grew so warm that they parted without any ceremony, and Mr. Pope, upon this, wrote the foregoing verses, which are esteemed too true a picture of Mr. Addison.

In this account, and indeed in all other accounts which have been given concerning this quarrel, it does not appear that Mr. Pope was the aggressor. If Mr. Addison entertained suspicions of Mr. Pope's