or another), will inevitably find the features more composed than his appear in these letters."

It is therefore to the writings of Pope, and particularly to his correspondence with his friends, that we are to look, if we wish to become acquainted with the individual in the most important transactions and the most deliberate and serious concerns of his life. At the same time we must not forget to make due allowance for those feelings of partiality and of selfattachment which are inseparable from every human being, and which will not only appear in his writings, but will sometimes give to them a grace and an interest which they could not derive from any other

source.

It must however be observed, that the most eminent of Pope's biographers has not only omitted to avail himself of this immense fund of information, but has objected to the letters of Pope being considered as the real indication of his sentiments, or as intitled to the credit of the reader. Dr. Johnson, indeed, admits, that “if an estimate of Pope's social qualities were to be made from his letters, an opinion too favourable cannot easily be formed; that they exhibit a perpetual and unclouded effulgence of general benevolence and particular fondness, and that there is nothing but liberality, gratitude, constancy, and tenderness." He also observes, that "it has been so long said, as to be generally believed, that the true characters of men may be found in their letters, and that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open to him;" "but," he adds, "the truth is, that such were the friendships of the golden age, and are now the friendships only of children.

Very few can boast of hearts which they dare lay open even to themselves, and of which, by whatever accident exposed, they do not shun a distinct and continued view; and certainly what we hide from ourselves we do not show to our friends."

Are we then to believe that affection and sincerity are banished from the earth? or are only to be found in the friendships of children? And are we to discard those memorials which have handed down to us that which is most worthy of preservation in the greatest, the wisest, and the best of our predecessors, the very form and pressure of their minds? Happily, to his own objections, Johnson has himself furnished a reply. "To charge those favourable representations," says he, "which men give of their own minds, with the guilt of hypocritical falsehood, would show more severity than knowledge. The writer commonly believes himself." And on another occasion he has observed, that "in a man's letters his soul lies naked; they are only the mirror of his breast; whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process; nothing is inverted, nothing distorted; systems appear in their elements, actions are discovered in their motives." An opinion which seems to be carried to as great an extreme one way as that before advanced is the other.

Another authentic source to which we may resort for information, is found in the letters of many of the contemporaries and friends of Pope, which are inserted not only in his own works, but in various other collections. It is true, this evidence must also be received with caution, on account of the partiality of friendship; but it must at the same time be acknowledged, that

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this partiality is seldom obtained without being deserved. At all events, the same discretion which ought to be exercised on his own productions will be applicable also to those of his friends; and it cannot fail to be in the highest degree interesting to examine and compare the sentiments of so many eminent individuals, who not only acted a conspicuous part both in the political and literary history of their own times, but are intimately known to posterity; and whose writings, whilst they serve to elucidate the character of their friend, throw no inconsiderable light upon their own.

To these original sources of information we may, in the third place, add the various narratives and anecdotes handed down from his own times to the present, and to which important additions have recently been made. Of these, by far the most valuable are the anecdotes of Pope, by the Rev. Joseph Spence,—a work which introduces us to the Poet in his most confidential and familiar hours, and enables us to estimate his character, disposition, and acquirements, and to review the judgment he had formed of the excellences and defects of other authors. Spence was an amiable and excellent man, and in 1728, was appointed professor of poetry, at Oxford. His acquaintance with Pope commenced in the preceding year, and the unassuming mildness and candour of his disposition, seem to have induced the Poet to unbosom himself to him on subjects of taste and literature, at greater extent and with more confidence than to any other of his associates.

For the authenticity of these anecdotes, independent of their internal evidence, the following account (which

has been given to the public by Mr. Singer, the editor of the most complete edition), is conclusive :

"The original copy of Spence's Anecdotes, with all the other papers of Mr. Spence, remained in the hands. of Dr. Lowth, and were by him, some time previous to his decease, given to the late Mr. Forster, (his private secretary,) from whose representatives they have been obtained, and will form the materials of this publication." These manuscripts were purchased by Mr. Carpenter the bookseller, from the nephew of Mr. Forster, but now belong to Mr. Singer, to whom I am indebted for this particular information respecting them.

It must, however, be observed, that notwithstanding the information afforded by these and other sources for the life of Pope, there are many parts of it which have long been, and perhaps will still remain, subjects of a controversial nature; and that however desirous his biographer might now be, of laying before the public a plain and impartial narrative, he will probably find himself impeded by innumerable obstacles, thrown in the way by his predecessors, which, in order to do justice to the subject, it will be absolutely necessary for him to examine, and if improperly placed there, to remove. If, in the performance of this indispensable duty, he should be under the necessity of controverting the opinions, or rejecting the conclusions of others, he will only exercise the same privilege which they have themselves exercised before him; and will, at all events, endeavour to keep within those bounds of

5 One of the executors of Mr. Spence.

civility and literary courtesy, which are due to those against whom he can have no personal feeling, and consequently no motives either of resentment or disrespect.

In the present edition of the works of Pope, it has been thought advisable to adhere principally to that of Warburton, in preference to those that have since been published; such edition having in a great degree been prepared and corrected by the author himself, who furnished many of the notes; and the commentaries and remarks of Warburton, as far as completed in the lifetime of Pope, having received his decided appro

bation.

At the same time, the estimation in which the literary character, and the labours of Dr. Warton, are deservedly held, is such, that it would be unjust to deprive the present edition of the advantages which it must derive from his acknowledged erudition, talents, and taste. I have, therefore, endeavoured to unite as far as practicable, his various and extensive notes and observations in the same edition with those of Warburton, with the omission, however, of such of those of Warton, as appeared to have no immediate relation to the writings of Pope.

That the annotations and remarks of Mr. Bowles, in his edition, should not all be included in the present work, will not be thought surprising by any person who feels himself interested in the character and writings of Pope. Such of them as tend to illustrate the subject, or exhibit a candid and impartial spirit of criticism, are, however, retained. But there is one class of notes to which little indulgence has been extended, from