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"I am a Catholic in the ftricteft fenfe of the word. ❝ If I was born under an absolute prince I would be "a quiet fubject; but I thank God I was not. I "have a due fenfe of the excellence of the British "conftitution. In a word, the things I have always "wished to see are not a Roman Catholic, or a French "Catholic, or a Spanish Catholic, but a true Catho"lic; and not a king of Whigs, or a king of Tories, ❝but a king of England."

Thefe are the peaceful maxims upon which we find Mr. Pope conducted his life; and if they cannot in fome refpects be juftified, yet it must be owned that his religion and his politics were well enough adapted for a poet, which entitled him to a kind of univerfal patronage, and to make every good man his friend.

Dean Swift fometimes wrote to Mr. Pope on the topic of changing his religion, and once humorously offered him twenty pounds for that purpose. Mr. Pope's answer to this Lord Orrery has obliged the world by preferving in the life of Swift. It is a perfect masterpiece of wit and pleasantry.

We have already taken notice that Mr. Pope was called upon by the public voice to tranflate the Iliad, which he performed with fo much applaufe, and, at the fame time, with fo much profit to himfelf, that he was envied by many writers whofe vanity, perhaps, induced them to believe themfelves equal to fo great a defign. A combination of inferior wits were employed to write the Popiad, in which his tranflation is characterized as unjuft to the original, without beauty of language, or variety of numbers. Inftead of the juftnefs of the original, they fay there is abfurdity and extravagance: inftead of the beautiful language of the original, there is folecifm and barbarous Englifh. A candid reader may eafily difcern from this furious atroduction, that the critics were actuated rather by malice than truth, and that they must judge with

with their eyes fhut, who can fee no beauty of language, no harmony of numbers, in this tranflation.

But the most formidable critic against Mr. Pope in this great undertaking was the celebrated Madam Dacier, whom Mr. Pope treated with lefs ceremony in his Notes on the Iliad, than, in the opinion of fome people, was due to her fex. This learned lady was not without a fenfe of the injury, and took an opportunity of difcovering her resentment.

"Upon finishing," fays fhe," the second edition of my translation of Homer, a particular friend fent me a tranflation of part of Mr. Pope's Preface to his "verfion of the Iliad. As I do not understand Eng"lish, I cannot form any judgment of his performance, "though I have heard much of it. I am indeed wil"ling to believe, that the praises it has met with are not unmerited, because whatever work is approved "by the English nation cannot be bad; but yet I hope "I may be permitted to judge of that part of the preface which has been tranfmitted to me; and I "here take the liberty of giving my fentiments con66 cerning it. I moft freely acknowledge that Mr. "Pope's invention is very lively, though he seems to “have been guilty of the fame fault into which he "owns we are often precipitated by our invention, "when we depend too much upon the ftrength of it; "as magnanimity, fays he, may run up to confufion "and extravagance, fo may great invention to redun"dancy and wildnets.

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"This has been the very cafe of Mr. Pope himself: "nothing is more overstrained, or more falfe, than "the images in which his fancy has reprefented Homer. Sometimes he tells us that the Iliad is a wild paradife, where, if he cannot fee all the beauties, as "in an ordered garden, it is only because the number "of them is infinitely greater. Sometimes he com"pares him to a copious nurfery, which contains the "feeds and first productions of every kind; and, laftly,

"he

"he reprefents him under the notion of a mighty tree, "which rifes from the most vigorous feed, is improved with industry, flourishes and produces the "fineft fruit, but bears too many branches, which "might be lopped into form, to give it a more regular appearance.

"What! is Homer's poem then, according to Mr. "Pope, a confused heap of beauties, without order "or fymmetry, and a plot whereon nothing but feeds, "nor nothing perfect or formed is to be found; and a "production loaded with many unprofitable things, "which ought to be retrenched, and which choak and "disfigure those which deserve to be preserved? Mr. "Pope will pardon me if I here oppose those com"parisons, which to me appear very falfe, and en"tirely contrary to what the greatest of ancient and "modern critics ever thought.

"The Iliad is fo far from being a wild paradife, "that it is the most regular garden, and laid out with "more fymmetry than any ever was. Every thing "therein is not only in the place it ought to have "been, but every thing is fitted for the place it hath. "He prefents you, at first, with that which ought to "be firft feen; he places in the middle what ought to "be in the middle, and what would be improperly "placed at the beginning or end; and he removes "what ought to be at a greater diftance, to create "the more agreeable surprise; and, to use a compa"rison drawn from painting, he places that in the

greateft light which cannot be too vifible, and finks "in the obfcurity of the fhade what does not require "a full view; fo that it may be faid that Homer is "the painter who best knew how to employ the fhades "and lights. The fecond comparison is equally unjust: How could Mr. Pope fay, " that one can only difcover feeds, and the first productions of every "kind in the Iliad ?" Every beauty is there to fuch an amazing perfection, that the following ages could

"add

"add nothing to thofe of any kind; and the Ancients "have always propofed Homer as the most perfect "model in every kind of poetry.

"The third comparifon is compofed of the errors "of the two former. Homer had certainly an incom"parable fertility of invention, but his fertility. is

always checked by that just sense which made him "reject every fuperfluous thing which his vaft ima"gination could offer, and to retain only what was "neceffary and ufeful. Judgment guided the hand "of this admirable gardener, and was the prun"ing-hook he employed to lop off every useless "branch."

Thus far Madam Dacier differs in her opinion from Mr. Pope concerning Homer; but these remarks, which we have juft quoted, partake not at all of the nature of criticifm; they are mere affertion. Pope had declared Homer to abound with irregular beauties. Dacier has contradicted him, and afferted, that all his beauties are regular; but no reason is affigned by either of thefe mighty geniuses in fupport of their opinions, and the reader is left in the dark as to the real truth. If he is to be guided by the authority of a name only, no doubt the argument will preponderate in favour of our countryman. The French lady then proceeds to anfwer fome obfervations which Mr. Pope made upon her Remarks on the Iliad, which the performs with a warmth that generally attends writers of her fex. Mr. Pope, however, paid more regard to this fair antagonist than any other critic upon his works. He confeffed that he had received great helps from her, and only thought he had (through a prodigious and almost fuperftitious fondnefs for Homer) endeavoured to make him appear without any fault or weakness, and ftamp a perfection on his works which is no where to be found. Here wrote her a very obliging letter, in which he confeffed himself exceedingly forry that he ever fhould

have difpleafed fo excellent a wit; and fhe, on the other hand, with a goodness and franknefs peculiar to her, protefted to forgive it; fo that there remained no animofities between those two great admirers and tranflators of Homer.

Mr. Pope, by his fuccefsful translation of the Iliad, as we have before remarked, drew upon him the envy and raillery of a whole tribe of writers. Though he did not efteem any particular man amongst his enemies of confequence enough to provoke an answer, yet, when they were confidered collectively, they offered excellent materials for a general fatire. This fatire he planned and executed with fo extraordinary a maftery, that it is by far the moft complete poem of our Author's; it is intitled the Dunciad, and discovers more invention, and a higher effort of genius, than any other production of his. The hint was taken from Mr. Dryden's Mac Flecknoe; but as it is more general, fo it is more pleafing.

The Dunciad has been fo univerfally read, that we reckon it fuperfluous to give any further account of it here; and it would be an unpleafing task to trace all the provocations and refentments which were mutually difcovered upon this occafion. Mr. Pope was of opinion that, next to praifing good writers, there was a merit in expofing bad ones; though it does not hold infallibly true that each perfon ftigmatized as a dunce was genuinely fo. Something must be allowed to perfonal refentment. Mr. Pope was a man of keen paffions; he felt an injury ftrongly, retained a long remembrance of it, and could very pungently repay it. Some of the gentlemen, however, who had been more feverley fashed than the reft, meditated a revenge which redounds but little to their honour. They either intended to chaftife him corporally, or gave it out that they had really done fo, in order to bring fhame upon Mr. Pope, which, if true, could only bring fhame upon themfelves.

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