The would give him, if she could fix any Thing on him, at laft, fays fhe, Mr. Pope, you fay heres Men fome to Business, fome to Pleasure take, Do you think, Sir, that I am, or ever have been a Rake in my Heart? If not, you will find, I make no Queftion you have abus'd a great many Women more befides me; this Accufation is quite general, therefore I now acquit myself, and prove the Guilt of Falfhood upon you. To this Mr. Pope immediately replied, I should think very ill of myself, if I had in Thought abus'd your Ladyhip, no Madam, I must intreat of you to obferve, that I only fay: But every WOMAN is at Heart a Rake. This no Way affects your Ladyship, who was an Angel when you were young, and now advancing into Life, are almost already become a Saint. At this Door did Mr. Pope efcape, for the Lady was Woman enough to be pleas'd with the Compliment, and only faid, O fie, O fie, you Wits will always make Things out either a great deal worfe, or better than they are. Rough as this Epiftle may feem to be, fo rough that it drew, at the Inftance of a great Lady, fome fevere, tho' anonymous Lines, against Mr. Pope. Yet fpare the Dead, and at the utmost dare But But I must write or burft, my Gall o'erflows; Write more Epiftles, that's your present Vein, * Down to low PETRUS, he whofe zealous Lines, I fay, notwithstanding the Characters of Women are fo keenly handled in this Epiftle, it concludes in very fober and gentle Terms: And yet believe me, good as well as ill, Ev'n fuch is Woman's Fame: With this unbleft, And *A certain Papift Prieft, a regular Friar, who us'd to teize Mr. Pope, and tell him he was a lukewarm Catholick, And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf The gen'rous God, who Wit and Gold refinés, Kept Drofs for Ducheffes, the World fhall know it, To you gave Senfe, Good-humour, and a Poet. We defire the Fair who fhall ever look over this Epiftle, to confider, it was defign'd only to expose treal Vices, and Frailties through Habit, not to invent and stick any upon them, of which none are guilty, they may fee, that when Ladies lead fuch Lives as beft become them, he diftinguishes them by the Name of good Women, and certainly means no more, than that every bad Woman, meer Woman, (without the moral Attainments requifite to elevate her fomething higher) is at Heart a Rake, or has no Character at all, i. e. no good, or fix'd Rule, to characterize her by. There are many Ladies not in the leaft offended with any Thing in this Poem, and Mrs. Blount never thought herself leffen'd by any Reflection upon any bad, or foolish Woman, throughout the Piece. Whoever has been but a little acquainted with either Mr. Pope, or his Writings, will obferve how many Opportunies he lays hold of to fpeak well of many Ladies and Women of his Acquaintance, what extraordinary great Characters he gives them, both living and after Death; of this latter Sort please to take one from a Letter he wrote to Mrs. Blount, when he was ill and under other Affliction of Mind befides, it is in answer to one of her's. I Dearest Madam, Could never believe it poffible, that the Receipt of a Letter from you, fhould add to my Affliction, or that you could poffibly have fent me fuch bad News, as that you could not comfort me at the fame Time. I thought my Unhappiness at such a Point as could not admit of any Addition, and that fince you were able fomething to ftrengthen my Patience, to endure the Abfence of your Mother and you, there could not be any Misfortune, which you could not have encourag'd me to fuffer: But give me Leave to tell you, that I have found the contrary, in the Affliction I have for the Death of Mrs. A****, which hath heen heavy enough to crush me, and wanted not much to spend the Remainder of my Patience. You may eafily judge, Dear Madam, what an exceffive Grief it muft needs be to me to have loft a Friend fo good, fo fprightly, and fo accomplish'd as she, and one that having always given me fo many Expreffions of her Affection, would needs do fomething when fhe had not many Hours to continue here: But tho’ I reflected not on my own Concernments, yet could. I not but infinitely regret a Perfon by whom you were infinitely belov'd, and who among many particular Endowments, had that of knowing you as much as may be, and esteeming you above all Things; yet I muft confefs, if this Difturbance can admit of any Remiffion, it is to reflect on the Conftancy, fhe exprefs'd, and the Fortitude wherewith fhe hath fuffer'd a Thing, whereof the Name would make her tremble at any Time. I am extremely comforted to understand, that at her Death fhe had thofe Qualitics fhe only wanted in her Life, and that the fo opportunely found Courage and Refolution: When I confider it feriously, it is fomewhat againft my Confcience to bemoan her, and methinks, it shows an over-interested Affection to be fad, because fhe has left us to better her Condition, and and is gone into the other World, from whofe Bourne no Traveller returns, to find that Quiet fhe could never meet with in this. I very heartily entertain the Exhortations you give me thereupon, which is, often to con over a Leffon fo profitable and neceffary, and to prepare myself for the like one Day; I know how to make my Advantage of your Remonftrance: The Miferies we have run through all this while, is no fmall Preparation for it, there's no better Lecture to inftruct a Man how to die well, than not to take much Pleasure in living. But if it be not impoffible for the Hopes that Fortune propofes to prove effectual, if after fo many Years, we may prefume to expect feme few fair Days, be pleas'd to give me Leave, Madam, to entertain Thoughts more diverting than thofe of Death, and if it be likely that we are shortly to see another, let me not fall out with my Life. Where you fay, you think me deftin'd to great Things, you give fo great Security of my Life, and fo happy a Prefage of the Adventures that fhall happen to me, that I fhall not be forry for its Continuance yet a 'while; for my Part, if Destiny doth promise me any Thing that is good, I affure you I will do my utmost to get it; I will contribute all I can thereto, that your Prophecies may be fulfill'd. In the mean Time, I beseech you to be confident, that of all the Favours I can beg of Fortune, what I moft paffionately defire is, that fhe would do for you what the ought, and for myself, only afford me the Means to acquaint you with the Paffion which obliges me to be fo much, Dearest Madam, &ç. So that thofe Invectives in the Poem aforemention'd, |