of critical pamphlets. Each of them betrays very plainly the hand of a partizan, and a determination to support some theory in regard to Pope's character and genius. They thus form the links in a long chain of literary controversy. Warburton's edition is an answer to Bolingbroke's attack upon Pope's memory: Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope answers Warburton Bowles' edition embodies and extends the principles of Warton: Roscoe's is a criticism of the criticism of Bowles. Wherever personal questions arise, the particular animus of the literary critic is always apparent in the work of these biographers. They make no attempt to elucidate the private and social allusions in Pope's satires, and though some of them are ready enough to enliven their narratives with gossip injurious to his character, they are very careless about investigating its truth. This period of biography is fitly closed with the general controversy in the years 1819-1825 respecting the moral and poetical character of Pope.

In the last generation there was a reaction to the opposite extreme. After the first Reform Bill the taste for personal history and antiquarianism rapidly increased. Numerous critics now began to interest themselves in studying the life of Pope from a merely personal point of view. Of these by far the most eminent was the late Mr. Dilke, to whom, more than any other man, biographers of Pope are indebted for

to

the materials enabling them to form a just idea of his character. Acute, accurate, and industrious, he spared no pains to penetrate the mystery in which the poet loved to involve all his actions. The example set by his papers in the Athenæum' was widely followed, and every recorded incident in the poet's life was subjected to a rigorous examination, which led to many discoveries of real importance, but which undoubtedly tended to overload the whole subject, and to submerge all sense of proportion in a mass of insignificant detail. The typical biography of this period is that by the late Mr. Carruthers, which is admirable for its painstaking research and the popularity of its style, but which suffers from two serious defects. The first edition appeared before the revelations of Mr. Dilke in the Athenæum,' and though the second edition was largely remodelled in consequence, it is obvious that the newly discovered facts had been published too late to enable the author to alter his work as completely as circumstances required. Moreover Mr. Carruthers altogether ignored the critical questions that are involved in Pope's life and works. He seemed to be unaware that in the previous generation there had been a controversy as to the poetical merits of Pope half as long as the siege of Troy; and he was content to dismiss this part of the subject with the observation, that "criticism on the poet's works has been exhausted: his position as an

English classic has long been fixed." Within a year after these words were written the late Professor Conington, in an essay which is a model of sound and masculine criticism, examined Pope's claims to that pre-eminence in 'correctness' which had previously been disputed by De Quincey and Macaulay, while during the last ten years Pope's poetical aims and his place in literature have been discussed with the greatest diversity of opinion by many writers, including scholars of such eminence as Mr. Mark Pattison, Mr. Matthew Arnold, and Mr. Leslie Stephen.

In dealing with the personal side of Pope's history, I have endeavoured to follow, as far as possible, the good example set by Johnson. Johnson well understood the tortuous tendencies in Pope's character; but he knew that, in writing the life of a poet, it was not his main business to moralize on his defects as a man. His essay has therefore an air of impartiality which distinguishes it honourably from the performances of Pope's other biographers. It shows neither the literary partizanship of Warton, nor the censoriousness of Bowles, nor the sophistry of Warburton and Roscoe, but gives a lively and well-proportioned estimate of Pope's genius, with just incidental reflections on such passages of his conduct as naturally call for observation. Pope's genius cannot be understood without reference to his moral character, but on the other hand his moral character must be judged

in connection with his literary career. I have therefore arranged the different chapters of this biography according to the leading episodes of his poetical life, a division by which the development of his motives and character can be exhibited without any serious departure from the natural sequence of events.

The Life of Pope also involves critical questions of the deepest interest, and in this part of the subject I have discussed, with some minuteness, the nature and extent of his poetical aims as defined in his own phrase of 'correctness.' I have pleased myself with thinking that, in following this course, I should have had the sympathy and approval of a friend to whose judgment, taste, and learning I owe a debt of gratitude that I can never sufficiently acknowledge. In the Essay on Pope to which I have already alluded, Conington examined in considerable detail the meaning of the word correctness.' 21 I am happy to find myself in substantial agreement with his conclusions, but whereas he limited his criticism to illustrating the operation of the principle in Pope's own works, I have attempted to show its bearing on the course of English poetry both before and after the age of Pope. I am far from flattering myself that, though treating the question as a whole, I have been able entirely to suppress those personal inclinations by which every

1 Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. I., pp. 3-16.

man who engages in a great controversy of taste is unconsciously biassed. But whether the opinion of the poet's merits offered in the concluding chapter be well-founded or not, I may be allowed to hope that, by this historical treatment of the subject, it will be possible to conduct any future discussion as to his place in English Literature on grounds more definite and positive than the arbitrary principles which governed the controversy in the early part of this century.

In acknowledging the assistance received in the course of my work, my thanks are in the first place due to the Marquis of Bath for the courtesy with which he has allowed me to transcribe from MSS. preserved at Longleat the letters actually written by Wycherley to Pope, and thus to complete the evidence as to the methods adopted by Pope in preparing his correspondence for publication. I should naturally desire to express my obligations to all the works of living authors which I have consulted for the purposes of the present volume. But they are too many to enumerate, and I must confine myself to mentioning, among those which I have consulted with most advantage, Mr. Leslie Stephen's Life of Pope in the 'Men of Letters' series, Mr. Gosse's Life of Gray in the same series, Mr. J. A. Symonds' Renaissance in Italy,' Mr. A. J. Butler's Dante, and Mr. Churton Collins' Bolingbroke.' I have also read with great