it enough that my parents, such as they were, never cost me a blush; and that their son, such as he is, never cost them a tear 8. Dismissing these acrimonious contests, it may be sufficient to observe, that Alexander Pope, the father of the poet, having engaged in the business of a linenmerchant in Lombard-street, acquired thereby an independent property, that he retired first to Kensington, and afterwards to Binfield, in Windsor Forest, where he had purchased a house and about twenty acres of land, and where he resided until he removed to his son's house at Twickenham, a short time before his death. His character is drawn by his son in the following lines: "Born to no pride, inheriting no strife, The good man walk'd innoxious through his age; Nor dared an oath, nor hazarded a lie. Unlearn'd, he knew no schoolman's subtle art, His life, though long, to sickness pass'd unknown, Alexander Pope, the son, the most harmonious, correct, and popular of English poets, was born in Lombard-street, on the twenty-first day of May, in the year of the Revolution, 1688'. From his earliest infancy he was of a weak and delicate frame of body, and although he lived somewhat beyond the middle period of life, he never enjoyed a vigorous and uninterrupted state of health; insomuch that he has himself deno 8 Letter to a Noble Lord. 9 In the deed by which his estate at Kensington, when sold, was conveyed, he is intitled Alexander Pope, merchant, of Kensington. Bowles's Life of Pope, p. 18. Ruffhead's Life of Pope, p. 10. Spence's Anec. p. 259. Singer's ed. But Johnson and Warton place it on the 22nd of that month. minated it "a long disease." In his person he resembled his father, who is said to have been crooked. His constitution he probably derived from his mother, who was much afflicted with head-aches; circumstances to which he has alluded in some lines rejected by him. from the Prologue to his Satires: "But, friend, this shape, which you and Curll admire, I had it from my mother, not the muse : The infirm state of his health rendered him peculiarly dependant on the kindness and assistance of others, and united with a temper which is said to have been remarkably mild and engaging, undoubtedly contributed to endear him to his parents and friends2. "The weakness of his body," says Johnson, "continued through life; but the mildness of his mind perhaps ended with his childhood." This can scarcely be truly said of a person whose attention was uniformly devoted to the tenderest domestic duties, to which he has alluded in lines never to be forgotten: "Me let the tender office long engage, To rock the cradle of reposing age; With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Prol. to the Satires. Nor can such a remark justly be applied to one, whose warm attachment and affectionate devotion to his friends, amongst whom were some of the noblest 2 A picture was painted of him when he was about ten years of age, in which his face was round, plump, pretty, and of a fresh complexion; but the perpetual application he fell into about two years afterwards probably changed his features and injured his constitution. This picture was once in the possession of Jervas, who painted in it a branch of laurel. Spence's Anec. p. 26, Singer's ed. and best, of both sexes, of the age in which he lived, formed the most distinguishing feature of his cha racter. Most persons can relate some dangers of their youth, from which they have escaped with difficulty. An accident which happened to Pope, when young, had nearly deprived the world of the pleasure his writings have afforded. A cow that was driven by the place where he was at play, struck at him with her horns, beat him down, and wounded him in the throat, but without any further alarming consequences3. For his earliest instructions in reading he was indebted to an aunt, probably a sister of his mother. His voice was so melodious, that he was called "the little nightingale." At seven or eight years of age, he had acquired an uncommon relish for reading, and he learned to write by imitating print; an art which he retained through life, and practised with great correctness 4. His usual hand-writing exhibited also some indications of its origin, and though formal, was distinct and legible; characteristics, the acquisition of which, as it is in the power of every one to attain them, ought to be considered as a kind of moral duty. When eight years old, he was placed under the tuition of the family priest, whose name was Banister, from whom he acquired, the rudiments of Greek and Latin, which he began to study together, as is said to have been customary in the schools of the Jesuits, and which he thought a good method 5. 3 Spence's Anec. p. 5. Singer's ed. 4 I had learned very early to read, and delighted extremely in it; and taught myself to write, very early too, by copying from printed books; with which I used to divert myself, as other children do, with scrawling out pictures. Spence's Anec. p. 283. Singer's ed. 5 Ruffhead, Johnson, Warton, and Bowles, have all given to Pope's first instructor the name of Taverner, but he is repeatedly mentioned in Spence, as Banister, the family priest; and on one occasion Pope observed “he was living about two years before at Sir Harry Tichburne's." Spence's Anec. pp. 259. 283. Singer's ed. Having made some proficiency under this tutor, he was removed to a Catholic seminary at Twyford, a pleasant village on the banks of the Itchin, near Winchester; a circumstance that used frequently to be mentioned by the scholars of the neighbouring college in their youthful compositions 6. Whilst here, he read Ogilby's Homer with avidity and pleasure, although it did not obtain the praise of his riper judgment. Sandys' translation of Ovid was more fortunate; and he has declared in his notes to the Iliad, that English versification owed much of its beauty to that writer". At Twyford, Pope was guilty of the unpardonable offence of writing a lampoon on his master, for which he was visited, as might be expected, by a severe corporal punishment. In consequence of this, he was sent to another school, under a Mr. Deane, at Mary-lebone, but who afterwards removed to Hyde Park Corner, whither Pope accompanied him. Having, whilst here, been occasionally permitted to attend the theatre, and imbibed a taste for the drama, he undertook to compose a play from the Iliad, by tacking together some of the speeches from Ogilby's translation, with verses of his own. This piece was represented by some of his schoolfellows, his master's gardener having performed the part of Ajax ". The disposition of Pope was not suited to compulsory modes of instruction, and he lost at these schools much of what he had gained under the tuition of his first master. In fact, the business of early years seems to be rather to inspire a desire and relish for learning, 6 Warton's Life of Pope, p. 10. 7 Ruffhead, p. 12. 8 Mr. Pope was but a little while under his master at Twyford. He wrote extremely young; and, amongst other things, a satire on that gentleman, for some faults he had discovered in him. Spence's Anec. p. 25. Singer's ed. Ruffhead, p. 12. 9 Ruffhead, p. 13. 1700.] LEAVES SCHOOL TO RESIDE WITH HIS FATHER. 11 than to inculcate positive acquirements, at the risk of exciting resentment and disgust. Where a wish is felt for improvement, there is sufficient time in riper years to gratify it to its full extent. But where this is destroyed, as is generally the case where severity is resorted to, the actual acquisition is of little importance, and will be dismissed from the memory with all practicable speed. "It was our family priest, Banister," says Pope, "who taught me the figures, accidence, and first part of grammar. If it had not been for that, I should never have got any language; for I never learned any thing at the little schools I was at afterwards, and never should have followed any thing that I could not follow with pleasure'." When he came from the last of these schools, all the acquisition he had made was to be able to construe a little of Tully's Offices 2. Soon after the age of twelve, Pope quitted school and went to reside with his father, who had now retired to Binfield, "consoling himself," as one of Pope's biographers has chosen to express it, "like other great patriots, that as the world was not such as it ought to be, it was best to leave it." The manner in which it appears Pope's father consoled himself, was by cultivating a small garden: "Plants cauliflowers, and boasts to rear The earliest melons of the year." The unjust and impolitic restrictions of the times, whilst they subjected him, as a Papist, to double taxes, prevented him from placing out his property on real securities; and he was therefore compelled to live upon the principal, till it was very considerably diminished. |