The courtly Talbot, Somers, Sheffield, read, (said to have been the ordinary symptom of Bishop Atterbury being pleased; then comes the swelling climax,) And St. John's self, great Dryden's friend before, I feel that I ought not entirely to omit all mention of the long satiric poem of the Dunciad, upon which Pope evidently bestowed much care and labour; but it is throughout disfigured by great ill-nature, and by a pervading run of unpleasant and unsavoury images. There is much spirit in the account of the young highborn Dunce, who makes, what is called, the Grand Tour "Europe he saw, and Europe saw him too;" and tells how he "Judicious drank, and, greatly daring, dined." There is a luscious kind of burlesque softness in these lines, "To happy convents, bosom'd deep in vines, To lands of singing and of dancing slaves, Love-whisp'ring woods, and lute-resounding waves." One of the most distinguishing excellencies of Pope is the vividness which he imparts to all the pictures he presents to the mind, and which he attains by always making use of the very most appropriate terms which the matter admits. This, in conjunction with his wonderful power of compression, which he has probably carried further than any one before or since, gives a terseness and completeness to all he says, in which he is unrivalled. As instances of this perfect picture painting, I would refer you, as I must not indefinitely indulge in long citations, to the descriptions, all in the same Epistle on Riches, of the Miser's House, the Man of Ross's charities, and of the death of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: "In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung, Great Villiers lies-alas! how changed from him, If any should object that this is all very finished and elaborate, but it is very minute-only miniature painting after all, what do you say to this one couplet on the operations of the Deity? "Builds life on death, on change duration founds, And gives the eternal wheels to know their rounds." I would beg any of the detractors of Pope to furnish me with another couple of lines from any author whatever, which encloses so much sublimity of meaning within such compressed limits, and such. precise terms. I must cite another passage, in which he ventures on the same exalted theme, with somewhat more enlargement; it would be impossible, however, for you to hear it, and bring against it any charge of diffuseness: "All are but parts of one stupendous whole, That, chang'd through all, and yet in all the same, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, (There is a couplet indeed.) Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, Let me invite your attention to the few following lines on the apportionment of separate instincts or qualities to different animals, and be good enough to observe how the single words clench the whole argument. They are as descriptive as the bars of Haydn's music in the oratorio of the Creation : "What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam; Of smell, the headlong lioness between, Feels at each thread, and lives along the line." What a couplet again is that! It is only about a spider; but I guarantee its immortality. If I set down the Terse, the Accurate, the Complete, the pungency of the Satiric point, the felicity of the well-turned Compliment, as the distinctive features of Pope's poetical excellence, it should not escape us that there are occasions when he reaches a high degree of moral energy and ardour. I have purposely excluded from our present consideration all scrutiny and dissection of Pope's real inner character. I am aware, that, taking it in the most favourable light, it can only be regarded as formed of mixed and imperfect elements; but I cannot refuse to myself the belief that when the Poet speaks in such strains as the following, they in some degree reflect and embody the spirit of the Man. I quote from his animated description of the triumph of vice: "Let Greatness own her, and she's mean no more; And, again with more special reference to himself, "Ask you what provocation I have had ? Th' affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours. Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, The muse may give thee, but the gods must guide: My limits, more than my materials, warn me that I must desist. As, however, with reference to the single object which I have all along had in view, I think it more politic that I should let the words of Pope, rather than my own, leave the last echoes on your ear, I should like to conclude this address with his own concluding lines to perhaps the most important and highly-wrought of his poems, the "Essay on Man." They appear to me calculated to leave an appropriate impression of that orderly and graceful muse, whose attractions I have, feebly I know and inadequately, but with the honesty and warmth of a thorough sincerity, endeavoured to place before you; if I mistake not, you will trace in them, as in his works at large, the same perfect propriety of expression, the same refined simplicity of idea, the same chastened felicity of imagery, all animated and warmed by that feeling of devotion for Bolingbroke, which pervaded his poetry and his life: "Come then, my friend! my genius! come along; And while the muse now stoops, or now ascends, Gentlemen of the jury, that is my case. |