"fuaded he will not dislike, to the benefit of "the Bath hospital *. "I give

*The reader cannot fail to be fmitten with the apparent coolness which Mr. POPE, by this extraordinary bequest, betrays towards his truly amiable and generous friend Mr. Allen and the impartiality of hiftory will not allow me to conceal the cause.

:

Mr. POPE's extravagant attachment to Mrs. Blount is well known, and ftrongly difplayed in this Will itself. About a year before Mr. POPE's death, this Lady, at the defire of Mr. POPE and Mr. Allen, paid a vifit to the latter at Prior Park, where fhe behaved herself in fo arrogant and unbecoming a manner, that it occafioned an irreconcileable breach between her and fome part of Mr. Allen's family. As Mr. POPE's extreme friendship and affection for Mrs. Blount, made him confult her in all his concerns, fo when he was about making his laft will, he advifed with her on the occafion; and the declared to him the would not accept the large provifion made by it for herself, unless he returned back, by way of legacy, all that he had received of Mr. Allen, on any account: and Mr. POPE, with the greatest reluctance, complied with the infirmity of such a vindictive fpirit.

Mr. Allen, on reading this clause, and obferving the fum mentioned, smiled and faid-" Poor Mr. POPE was always "a bad accomptant; however," fays he, "I will receive "the legacy (as Mrs. Blount is the refiduary legatee) and "give it to the Bath hospital :" which he accordingly did. And to fhew that his affection to Mr. POPE was ftill the fame (laying all that was blameable in this affair to the charge of Mrs. Blount) he doubled the legacy Mr. POPE left to his faithful and favourite fervant John Searl, and took him and his family into his protection.

One of Mr. POPE's intimate friends, who was obliged to him for all he had, being disappointed by his will, had the infolence to obferve on this occafion, that "the public faid

Nn 2

(hiding

"I give and devife to my fifter-in-law, Mrs. Magdalen Racket, the fum of three hundred "pounds; and to her fons, Henry, and Robert "Racket, one hundred pounds each. I alfo "releafe and give to her all my right and intereft "in and upon a bond of five hundred pounds, "due to me from her fon Michael. I alfo give "her the family pictures of my father, mother, "and aunts, and the diamond ring my mother wore, and her golden watch. I give to Eraf"mus Lewis, Gilbert Weft, Sir Clement Cotte"rell, William Rollinfor, Nathaniel Hook, Efquires, and to Mrs. Anne Arbuthnot, to "each the fum of five pounds, to be laid out in a ring, or any memorial of me; and to my

66

(hiding his own rancour under a name which will bear every thing) that Mr. Pope bad divided his fortune without any "other regard than to his fame and his mistress." So early were these returns for the pureft friendship paid to his me

mory.

It is certain, however, that Mr. PoPE in this, as in the cafe of Lord Bolingbroke, deferved pity inftead of blame. For though he had the ftrongeft friendship and affection for Mrs. Blount, yet it was of a kind the most innocent and pure, notwithstanding what malignant or mirthful people might fuggeft to the contrary, either in jeft or earnest. But no excufe can be made for Mrs. Blount's abuse of the influence he had over him; or for the indifference and neglect fhe fhewed to him throughout his whole laft illness.

In fhort, it was his fortune, like Manley's in the PLAIN DEALER, to be egregiously duped by his friend, and his mistrefs. The mafk of rigid, favage virtue, which the former affumed when he turned philofopher, and the tenderness of friendship which he thought he faw in the other, made a fport of one of the best heads and hearts that ever was.

"fer

fervant, John Searl, who has faithfully and ably ferved me many years, I give and devife "the fum of one hundred pounds, over and "above a year's wages to himself and his wife; "and to the poor of the parish of Twickenham, "twenty pounds, to be divided among them by "the faid John Searl: And it is my will, if "the faid John Searl die before me, that the faid "fum of one hundred pounds go to his wife or " children.

" Item, I give and devife to Mrs. Martha "Blount, younger daughter of Mrs. Martha "Blount, late of Welbeck-ftreet, Cavendish

fquare, the fum of one thousand pounds im

mediately on my deceafe: and all the furni"ture of my grotto, urns in my garden, houle"hold-goods, chattels, plate, or whatever is "not otherwife difpofed of in this my will, I

give and devife to the faid Mrs. Martha "Blount, out of a fincere regard, and long

46

friendship for her. And it is my will, that my abovefaid Executors, the furvivors or fur"vivor of them, fhall take an account of all my "eflate, money or bonds, &c. and, after paying

'

my debts and legacies, fhall place out all the "refidue upon government, or other fecurities,

according to their beft judgment; and pay the produce thereof, half-yearly, to the faid Mrs. "Martha Blount, during her natural life: and "after her deceafe, I give the fum of one thousand "pounds to Mrs. Magdalen Racket, and her “fons, Robert, Henry, and John, to be divided "equally among them, or to the furvivors or Nn 3 "fur

"furvivor of them; and after the decease of "the faid Mrs. Martha Blount, I give the fum "of two hundred pounds to the abovefaid Gil"bert Weft; two hundred to Mr. George Ar"buthnot; two hundred to his fifter, Mrs. "Anne Arbuthnot; and one hundred to my "fervant, John Searl; to which foever of thefe "fhall be then living: And all the refidue and “remainder to be confidered as undisposed of, "and go to my next of kin.

"This is my laft will and teftament, written "with my own hand, and sealed with my seal, "this twelfth day of December, in the year of 66 our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and « forty-three.

"Stephen Hales, minifter of Ted"dington.

Jofeph Spence, profeffor of hif

tory in the University of "Oxford."

Soon after he had made his will, he wrote a letter to the learned commentator on his works, wherein is the following pathetic paffage. " I "own," fays he, "the late encroachments upon. my constitution, make me willing to fee the "end of all farther care about me or my works. "I would reft for the one, in a full refignation "of my being to be difpofed of by the Father "of all mercy; and for the other (though in"deed a trifle, yet a trifle may be fome example) "I would commit them to the candour of a fen"fible and reflecting judge, rather than to the "malice of every fhort-fighted and malevolent "critic, or inadvertent and cenforious reader: "And no hand can set them in fo good a light, "or fo well can turn their beft fide to the day, 46 as your own."

In the year 1751, was published a compleat edition of Mr. POPE's works. In what manner it was executed, and how far Mr. POPE has been juftified in the choice he made both of a friend, and a critic, the approbation of the impartial public has long fince determined.

To that impartial tribunal, I fubmit the foregoing fheets, in which I have endeavoured to do juftice to Mr. POPE's character, whether he is confidered as an author, or as a man. If I have been mistaken in my judgment of his literary capacity, his writings are in every body's hands, and the reader's better tafte will correct me. In the delineation of his moral character, I have been