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From The Athenæum.

On the Relations of Alexander Pope with the Duchess of Marlborough and the Duchess of Buckinghamshire; and on the Character and Characteristics of Atossa.

IN 1854 we took advantage of a lull in the publishing world, and ventured by way of experiment, to try our critical skill on an advertisement-the announcement of a forthcoming edition of Pope's Works to be edited by John Wilson Croker. That edition, so long expected, has been delayed, almost beyond hope, by the death of the editor. We are pleased now to hear that it will certainly be amongst the issues of the coming season. Delay, however, has not been without its advantages the announcement in 1854 of "one hundred and fifty unpublished letters" has enlarged its golden promise, and the last number of the Quarterly speaks of "more than three hundred unpublished letters." In other respects, too, good has resulted from delay. Mr. Carruthers has liberally declared that the publication of the papers in the Athenæum constituted "an era in Pope history." We are willing to believe that they did good service, pioneer fashion. But some questions then raised have not yet been decided; and amongst them one seriously affecting the moral character of the poet-did he, or did he not, receive a thousand pounds from the Duchess of Marlborough, to suppress the character of Atossa? We think it well therefore to revert to this subject before the new edition is issued.

As a starting-point in our inquiry, we will consider the personal relations of the several parties.

Pope for many years belonged to the same
political party as the Duchess of Bucking-
hamshire, and was in open and avowed hos-
tility to the Marlboroughs. He was under
friendly obligations to the Duke and subse-
quently to the Duchess of Buckinghamshire.
We infer from a letter of Jacob Tonson to
Pope, among the Homer MSS., that Pope
received the profits of the splendid edition
of the duke's works, printed after the duke's
death at the expense of the duchess. It was
natural and proper that it should be so, for
Pope selected, arranged, and prepared the
work for publication;-the duchess received
literary help, and Pope the reward for lit-
erary labor. We find Pope, on more than
one occasion, on a friendly visit to the duch-
ess; and in 1725 he was the active and con-
fidential friend in the famous prosecution of
Ward-a fact which appears to have been
overlooked by the biographers, although the
following letter from the duchess to Pope,
also among the Homer MSS., is proof:-

for his friendly assistance in helping my son
"S-I am much obliged to Lord Harcour
against the variety of injustices which we meet
with from Ward. There is nobody who can be
obliged whose gratitude is so useless as a wo-
man's and a child's; but I'll answer for the first
having a great share of it, and I hope the other
will alway show the same disposition. I am al-
ways, S., yr. faithful, humble serv.' K. B.

"I have wrote to Lord Trevor, who has ap-,
pointed a meeting at our house, and hopes to
have the business heard this sessions. I expect
you to-morrow."

Again :

"This is first to tell you that I hope you found your mother in very good health, and made your peace with the old woman for staying abroad so long. She will probably describe you by the Gadder as she did Mr. Compton by the Proser.

We do not mean to enter again on the evidence; that has been fully considered. We heretofore proved that the story was first published anonymously, and after the established fashion, with an "it is said." We proved, as we thought, that Warton and Walpole merely re-echoed the story with such" circumstantialities as time adds as a matter of course; and that Mr. Rose's pencilling was a mere indication of what might have been referred to-whether fact "I know 'tis unnecessary, but I desire you to or falsehood. We propose on this occasion to show, not merely that the anecdote is un- being at present not well in my favor, except to say nothing of what you know of Mr. Sheffield's true, but that it could not be true, and that my Lord Bathurst, in case he mentions it, bethe character of Atossa was not meant for cause I have many reasons to have the particuthe Duchess of Marlborough at all, but for lar circumstances as little spoke on as possible, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire. This is and not the man at all, at least for some time. a new light altogether-new to us as to others-I am ever, Sr. yr. most humble servt.' -a result of that spirit of doubt and consequent research which have done more, in the last ten years, to clear up the Pope history and mystery than all the trusting labors of editors in the preceding century. Some of the letters to which we shall have occasion "The Duchess of Buckingham is at Leigh's. to refer are yet in manuscript; but they are has signed. You will rejoice, I know, with me The writings to my mother and me she now all in the possession of Mr. Murray, and that what you so warmly solicited and contribwill therefore appear in the forthcoming edi-uted to, for my future ease is accomplished. If tion of Pope's Works. I live these hundred years I shall never fancy,

"K. B."

These friendly relations continued up to
November, 1728, when Pope thus wrote to
Lord Bathurst:-

:

even in my jealous old age, that I live too long upon you and her. And if I live but one year it would better please me to think an obelisque might be added to your garden, etc."

Pope and the duchess, as we shall show, soon after quarrelled, so that the flattering "Character of Katherine late Duchess of Buckinghamshire and Normanby," published in 1746 as "By the late Mr. Pope," must have been written about or before this time. Whether really written by Pope, or compiled, as he said, from the manuscript of the duchess, there is, we think, internal evidence that it was written many years before her death. Pope distinctly says so in his letter to Moyser. It must, therefore, have been subsequently adapted to circumstances, for reference is therein made to the loss of "all her children," which was not true until after the 31st of October, 1735, when her son Edmund died, and it concludes with an account of the death of the duchess herself.

to be represented or taken in a light any way requires being set right." (Coxe's Walpole, iii126.)

The following is the account of Pope's quarrel with the duchess, which he whispered in a letter to Moyser, as if in anticipation of the publication of the "Character," and of its being attributed to him. This letter Warburton fortunately stumbled on, when, after Pope's death, the "Character" was published and was so attributed :

"There was another Character written of Her

Grace by herself (with what help I know not), me, by all the adjurations of friendship, to give but she shewed it me in her blots, and pressed her my sincere opinion of it. I acted honestly and did so. She seemed to take it patiently, and upon many exceptions which I made, engaged me to take the whole, and to select out of it just as much as I judged might stand and return her the copy. I did so. Immediately she picked a quarrel with me, and we never saw each other in five or six years."

The cause of quarrel is a mystery; but the We have now clear evidence not only of date, within moderate limits, it is not diffi- the quarrel, but that it took place in or about cult to determine. On the 9th of July July, 1729. This brings us to, and helps to [1732] Pope thus wrote to Lord Bathurst:-explain, an incident in Pope's life not known "There is one woman at least that I think to his biographers. you will never run after, of whom the town rings with a hundred stories, why she run, and whither she is run. Her sober friends are sorry for her, and truly so am I, whom she cut off from the number of them three years ago. She has dealt as mysteriously with you as with me formerly; both which are proofs that we are both less mad than is requisite for her to think quite well of us."

This "one woman" was, beyond all doubt, the Duchess of Buckinghamshire, who thought it necessary, in consequence of the gossip with which the town rang, to inform the minister, Sir Robert Walpole, why and whither she had run, which she did on the 6th of June, 1732, by a letter from Boulogne:

In 1729-30, Edward Caryll married the daughter of Pope's friend and neighbor, Mr. Pigot; and the following is an extract from a letter of Pope of the 12th of February, in which he sent his congratulations to Caryll's father:

"I could not see Mr. Pigot as yet; but this day I have received from him, by the post, the letter you mentioned as having been given to you to deliver into my own hands. The contents desire you fairly to tell me, who gave it you; of that letter are so extraordinary that I must and if, instead of your giving it to Mr. Pigot, he did not give it to you.'

On the 10th of May Pope again adverts to the subject:

"I left England, sir, with no other precipita"A very odd adventure has lately befallen me, tion than was occasioned by my having some ac-in consequence of the letter you sent me enclosed counts to state and pass with Mr. Arthbornott.",

She then informs him that she had been taken ill at Boulogne,—and adds—

"This has given me the lucky opportunity of hearing, something quick, the silly reports somehow spread concerning a thing done by everybody at their pleasure,-I mean taking a journey to Paris."

She begs Walpole to take notice of her explanation to the queen or not, as he shall decide,

"in case any of these nonsensical storys, or any others, have reached her ears, or whether my coming away in the manner I did has happened

to Mr. Pigot which contained a note for £100, and it gives me a great curiosity to know what person put it into your hands. I soon found out the original plotter, but am at a loss for the instruments made use of, which this may give me some light into."

On the 16th of June Pope continues his questioning :—

"I can't help telling you, as well as I love you, that I am ready to take it ill (and the more ill the more I love you) your silence and evasion of my question, who it was that put into your hands the letter which contained a Bank Bill for £100? I found out, as I told you, the original plotter, and returned the bribe back, as an honest man ought, with the contempt it deserved, by

On this subject, whatever it was, he also wrote to Pope on the 23rd of November, 1731 :

the hands of Lord Bathurst to the lady. There- the prejudices conceived are, I see, so strong and fore, sir, the plot failed, and 'twas not a farthing so unlikely to be altogether removed." ("Att. to my advantage. Must I be forced to assure Corr." iv. 294.) you that I can refuse any thing I do not deserve, or do not seek, be it a hundred, or a thousand. And I thank God for having bestowed upon me a mind and nature more beneficent than craving. Adieu. Think of me as I merit; for I really am no worldly man, though but a poor one; but a friendly one where obliged, and therefore very mindfully to yourself and all yours."

"I expected to have heard from you by Mr. Morice, and wondered a little that I did not; but he owns himself in a fault, for not giving you due notice of his motions. It was not amiss

On the 29th of July we have a last refer- that you forebore writing on a head wherein I ence to this subject :

promised more than I was able to perform. Disgraced men fancy sometimes that they preserve an influence, where, when they endeavor to exert it, they soon see their mistake. I did so, my good friend, and acknowledge it under my hand. You sounded the coast, and found out my error, it seems, before I was aware of it."

"I take very kindly the warmth and concern you show in apprehending I fancied your opinion of me to be less favorable than it is. Indeed, I did not; but was merely desirous to tell you I am the man I am in respect to temptations of interest. Nor was the pretence taken to send me that £100 any proposal to me to do what was There is something mysterious about this dishonorable, but only a notion that I would re- quarrel-everybody seems studiously to ceive reward for what I had formerly done out of pure friendship. A lady who imagined herself obliged to me on that score imagined she could acquit herself of an obligation by money, which she cared not to owe on a more generous account, and Mr. Pigot can tell you the whole story, and so will I when we meet."

avoid all mention of the cause. Pope, in his most communicative mood, only promised "to tell". his old friend when "we meet," although his friend had been a blind agent in the drama, and would in all reasonable certainty be informed by Pigot. Atterbury is as obscure as an oracle; and nothIt is obvious from the agents employed ing can be gleaned from Pope's letter to that the lady, whoever she may have been, Bathurst, nor even from his explanatory letwas connected with the Catholic, the Nonjur- ter to Moyser. All we get at with certainty ing, the High Church, and the Tory party. is, that there was a quarrel,-an irreconcilThe Duchess of Buckinghamshire in 1730 able quarrel, and that it must have taken answered exactly to this description. Pigot place soon after the duchess, at the warm the counsellor was employed by her profes- solicitation of Bathurst, had signed "the sionally, at least in the prosecution of Ward writings" so much to Pope's satisfaction and (see "Life of Hardwicke, i. 185), and, there- his "future ease." There cannot be the fore, perhaps Pigot wished that the money least doubt that Pope, in this letter, refers should reach Pope by a less direct channel; to some grant of an annuity which he had and so, as appears from his first letter, Pope purchased, but purchased of whom? Not himself suspected. Pope, as we have shown, of the duchess, we think, for if she had taken had been actively the friend of the duchess his money, she must have "signed the writin the prosecution of Ward; and, in the let-ings." No solicitation would have been reter we have quoted, wherein he is entreated quired from Bathurst or any other person; to be silent, she makes a special exemption in favor of Lord Bathurst, who was, indeed, a trustee under the duke's will. What more natural than that a proud, half-mad duchess would not, if she could avoid it, remain under an obligation, and should believe that she might acquit herself of it by a mere money payment?

Atterbury, who was in great favor with the duchess, and was often consulted by her confidentially, hoped and promised, as we believe, to bring about a reconciliation; but it was beyond his power. We can no other way understand a mysterious paragraph in a letter to his son-in-law, Mr. Morice, to whom he thus wrote, March 18-29, 1731 :—

there was a legal necessity for her doing so, and on her part a moral necessity. It is not possible that her son, the young duke, as young dukes sometimes do, had taken up money from Pope on annuity, which, on account of the youth of the former, and for his honor's sake, required the sanction and therefore the signature of the duchess. There is an enigmatical passage in a poem called "The Difference between Verbal and Practical Virtue," attributed to Lord Hervey, and published in 1742, in which a charge is preferred against Pope, which we do not remember to have seen before :--

"Thus scribbling P., who Peter never spares, Feeds on extortion's interest from young heirs."

"I see you are afraid to see Pope, and easily guess at your reasons. I have mine, while I-Peter was, of course, the "wise Peter" almost despair of making up that matter; since Walter, of the Epistle to Bathurst, whose