self an air of importance, in being joined with you, and for the vanity of saying the Author and I,'' the Editor and me,'-has sacrificed all his pretensions to friendship, honour, and humanity*." An anecdote in this pamphlet, assigns a sufficient motive to excite some wrath in a much less irritable animal than the self-important editor of Bolingbroke's Works. The anecdote may be distinguished as, THE APOLLO VISION. "The editor (Mallet) being in company with the person to whom Mr. Pope has consigned the care of his works (Warburton), and who, he thought, had some intention of writing Mr. Pope's life, told him he had an anecdote, which he believed nobody knew but himself. I was sitting one day (said he) with Mr. Pope, in his last illness, who coming suddenly out of a reverie, which you know he frequently fell into at that time, and fixing his eyes steadfastly upon me; Mr. M. (said he) I have had an odd kind of vision. Methought I saw my own head open, and Apollo came out of it; I then saw your head open, and Apollo went into it; after which our heads closed up again.' The gentleman (Warburton) could not help smiling at his vanity; and with some humour replied, Why, sir, if I had an intention of writing your life, this might perhaps be a proper anecdote; but I don't see, that in Mr. Pope's it will be of any consequence at all.'" P. 14. could the Poet have entertained of the taste of that weak and vain critic, who, when Pope published anonymously "The Essay on Man," being mend."-From having been accidentally chosen as private tutor to the Duke of Montrose, he wound himself into the favour of the party at Leicester-house; he wrote tragedies conjointly with Thomson, and was appointed, with Glover, to write the life of the Duke of Marlborough. Yet he had already shown to the world his scanty talent for Biography in his Life of Lord Bacon, on which Warburton so acutely animadverted. According to Johnson's account, the Duchess of Marlborough assigned the task of writing the Life of the Duke to Glover and to Mallet, with a remuneration of a thousand pounds. She must, however, have mortified the poets by subjoining the sarcastic prohibition, that "no verses should be inserted." Johnson adds, "Glover, I suppose, rejected with disdain, the Legacy, and devolved the whole work upon Mallet." The cause why Glover declined this work could not, indeed, be known to Johnson: it arose from a far more dignified motive, than the petty disdain of the legacy, which our great literary Biographer has surmised. It can now be told in his own words, which I derive from a very interesting extract communicated to me by my friend Mr. Duppa, from that portion of the MS. Memoirs of Glover not yet published. I shall first quote the remarkable codicil from the original Will of her Grace, which Mr. Duppa took the pains to consult. She assigns her reasons for the choice of her historians, and discriminates This exhibits a curious instance of an author's egotism, or rather of Mallet's conceit, contriving, by some means, to have his name slide into the projected Life of Pope by Warburton, who appears, however, always to have treated him with the con-between the two authors. After bequeathing the tempt Pope himself evidently did †. What opinion thousand pounds for them, she adds: "I believe Mr. Glover is a very honest man, who wishes, as I do, all the good that can happen, to preserve the liberties and laws of England. Mr. Mallet was A letter to the Lord Viscount B--ke, occasioned by his treatment of a deceased friend. Printed for A. Moore, without date.-This pam-recommended to me by the late duke of Montrose, phlet either came from Warburton himself, or from one of his intimates. The writer, too, calls Pope his friend. + We find also the name of Mallet closely connected with another person of eminence, the Patriot-Poet, Leonidas Glover. I take this opportunity of correcting a surmise of Johnson's in his Life of Mallet, respecting Glover, and which also places Mallet's character in a true light. whom I admired extremely for his great steadiness and behaviour in all things that related to the preservation of our laws and the public good."-Thus her Grace has expressed a personal knowledge and confidence in Glover, distinctly marked from her "recommended" acquaintance Mallet. Glover refused the office of Historian, not from "disdain of the Legacy," nor for any deficient A minute life of Mallet might exhibit a curious zeal for the hero whom he admired. He refused example of mediocrity of talent, with but suspi-it with sorrowful disappointment; for, besides the cious virtues, brought forward by the accident of fantastical restrictions of "not writing any great connexions, placing a bustling intriguer verses ;" and the cruel one of yoking such a much higher in the scale of society than "our patriot with the servile Mallet, there was one Philosophy ever dreamt of." Johnson says of which placed the revision of the work in the hands Mallet, that "It was remarkable of him, that he of the Earl of Chesterfield: this was the circumwas the only Scot whom Scotchmen did not com- stance at which the dignified genius of Glover asked if anything new had appeared, replied that he had looked over a thing called an "Essay on Man," but, discovering the utter want of skill and revolted. Chesterfield's mean political character Doubtless, he disdained, too, his colleague; but Mallet reaped the whole legacy, and still more, a pension: pretending to be always occupied on the Life of Marlborough, and every day talking of the great discoveries he had made, he contrived to make this non-entity serve his own purposes. Once hinting to Garrick, that, in spite of Chronology, by some secret device of anticipation, he had reserved a niche in this great Work for the Roscius of his own times, the gratitude of Garrick was instant. He recollected that Mallet was a Tragedy-writer; and it also appeared, that our dramatic Bardling had one ready. As for the pretended Life of Marlborough, not a line appears ever to have been written ! Such was the end of the ardent solicitude and caprice of the Duchess of Marlborough, exemplified in the last solemn act of life, where she betrayed the same warmth of passion, and the same arrogant caprice she had always indulged, at the cost of her judgment, in what Pope emphatically terms "the trade of the world." She was "The wisest fool much time has ever made." Even in this darling project of her last ambition, to immortalise her name, she had incumbered it with such arrogant injunctions, mixed up such contrary elements, that they were certain to undo their own purpose.-Such was the barren harvest she gathered through a life of passion, regulated by no principle of conduct. One of the most knowledge in the author, had thrown it aside. Pope mortified him by confiding to him the secret. "The Apollo Vision" was a stinging anecdote, and it came from Warburton either directly or indirectly. This was followed up by "A Letter to the Editor of the Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, the Idea of a Patriot King," &c., a dignified remonstrance by Warburton himself; but "The Impostor detected and convicted, or the Principles and Practices of the Author of the Spirit of Patriotism (Lord Bolingbroke) set forth in a clear light, in a Letter to a Member of Parliament in Town, from his Friend in the Country, 1749," is a remarkable production. Lord Bolingbroke is the impostor, and the concealed Jacobite. Time, the ablest critic on these party productions, We dishas verified the predictions of this seer. cover here, too, a literary fact, which is necessary to complete our present history. It seems that there were omissions and corrections in the edition Pope printed of "The Patriot King," which his caution or his moderation prompted, and which such a political demagogue as Bolingbroke never forgave. They are thus alluded to: "Lord B. may remember" (from a conversation held, at which the writer appears to have been present), "that a difference in opinion prevailed, and a few points were urged by that gentleman (Pope) in opposition to some particular tenets which related to the limitation of the English monarchy, and to the ideal doctrine of a patriot king. These were Mr. P.'s reasons for the emendations he made; and which, together with the consideration, that both their lives were at that time in a declining state, was the true cause, and no other, of his care to preserve those letters, by handing them to the press, with the precaution mentioned by the author." Indeed the cry raised against the dead man, by Bolingbroke and Mallet, was an artificial one: that it should ever have tainted the honour of the bard, or that it should ever have been excited by his " Philosopher and Friend," are equally strange; it is possible that the malice of Mallet was more at work than that of Bolingbroke, who suffered himself to be the dupe of a man held in contempt by Pope, by Warburton, and by others. But the pamphlet I have just noticed might have enraged Bolingbroke, because his true character is ably drawn in it. The writer says, that "a person in an eminent station of life abroad, when Lord B- was at Paris, to transact a certain finished portraits of Pope is the Atossa, in his Epistle on Woman. How admirably he shows what the present instance proves, that she was one, who, always possessing the means, was sure to lose the ends. affair, said, C'est certainement un homme d'esprit, mais un coquin sans probité.” This was a very disagreeable truth! In one of these pamphlets, too, Bolingbroke was mortified at his dignity being lessened by the writer, in comparing his lordship with their late friend Pope." I venture to foretell, that the name of Mr. Pope, in spite of your unmanly endeavours, shall revive and blossom in the dust, from his own merits; and presume to remind you, that yours, had it not been for his genius, his friendship, his idolatrous veneration for you, might, in a short course of years, have died and been forgotten." Whatever the degree of genius Bolingbroke may claim, doubtless the verse of Pope has embalmed his fame.-I have never been able to discover the authors of these pamphlets, who all appear of the first rank, and who seem to have written under the eye of Warburton. The awful and vindictive Bolingbroke, and the malignant and petulant Mallet, did not long brood over their anger: he, or they, gave it vent on the head of Warburton, in those two furious pamphlets, which I have noticed in the Quarrels of Warburton, p. 176. All these pamphlets were published in the same year 1749, so that it is now difficult to arrange them according to their priority. Enough has been shown to prove, that the loud outcry of Bolingbroke and Mallet, in their posthumous attack on Pope, arose from their unforgiving malice against him, for the preference by which the poet had distinguished Warburton; and that Warburton, much more than Pope, was the real object of this masked battery. LINTOT'S ACCOUNT-BOOK. An odd sort of a literary curiosity has fallen | were contributions to a volume of Poetical Miscelin my way. It throws some light on the his- lanies, published by Lintot*. tory of the heroes of the Dunciad; but such minutiæ literaria are only for my bibliographical readers. 19 Feb. 1711.12. MR. POPE. Vertumnus and Pomona 9 April, 1712. It is a book of accounts, which belonged to the renowned BERNARD LINTOT the bookseller, whose Statius, First Book character has been so humorously preserved by Pope, in a dialogue which the poet has given as having passed between them in Windsor Forest. The book is entitled "Copies, when Purchased." The power of genius is exemplified in the ledger of the bookseller as much as in any other book; and while I here discover, that the moneys received even by such men of genius as Gay, Farquhar, Cibber, and Dr. King, amount to small sums, and such authors as Dennis, Theobald, Ozell, and Toland, scarcely amount to anything, that of Pope much exceeds 40007. I am not in all cases confident of the nature of these "Copies purchased;" those works which were originally published by Lintot may be considered as purchased at the sums specified some few might have been subsequent to their first edition. The guinea, at that time, passing for twenty-one shillings and sixpence, has occasioned the fractions. To the Author of a Poem called 23 Feb. 1712-13. Ode on St. Cecilia's Day 20 Feb. 1713-14. 1 Feb. 1714-15. Temple of Fame 30 April, 1715. Key to the Lock. 316 6 32 5 0 15 0 0 15 0 0 32 5 0 10 15 O * "Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, by several Hands, 1712.”—The second edition appeared in 1714; and in the title-page are enumerated the poems mentioned in this account, and Pope's name affixed, as if he were the actual editor an idea which Mr. Nichols thought he affected to discountenance. It is probable that Pope was the editor. We see, by this account, that he was paid for his contributions. This article is repeated to the sixth volume of Homer. To which is to be added another sum of 8407., paid for an assignment of all the copies. The whole of this part of the account amounting to Copy-moneys for the Odyssey, vols. i. ii. iii., and 750 of each vol. 150 0 0 3203 4 0 615 6 0 Ditto for the vols. iv. v. and 750 do. 425 18 7 10 Nov. 1708. Appius and Virginia 25 April, 1711. Essay on Public Spirit. 6 Jan. 1711. Remarks on Pope's Essay . 2 12 6 2 12 6 Dennis must have sold himself to criticism from ill-nature, and not for pay. One is surprised that his two tragedies should have been worth a great deal more than his criticism. Criticism was then worth no more than too frequently it deserves; Dr. Sewel, for his "Observations on the Tragedy of Jane Shore," received only a guinea. I had suggested a doubt whether Theobald attempted to translate from the original Greek : £4244 8 7 one would suppose he did by the following entry, which has a line drawn through it, as if the agreement had not been executed. Perhaps Lintot submitted to pay Theobald for not doing the Odyssey when Pope undertook it. MR. THEobald. MR. GAY. £ s. d. 12 May, 1713. Wife of Bath 11 Nov. 1714. Letter to a Lady 14 Feb. 1714. The What d'ye call it? . 22 Dec. 1715. Trivia Epistle to the Earl of Burlington 4 May, 1717. Battle of the Frogs 8 Jan. 1717. Three Hours after Marriage The Mohocks, a Farce, 27. 10s. (Sold the Mohocks to him again†.) Revival of the Wife of Bath. 75 0 0 £234 10 0 This was a new edition, published conjointly by Lintot and Lewis the Catholic bookseller and early friend of Pope, of whom, and of the first edition, 1711, I have preserved an anecdote, p. 180. The late Isaac Reed, in the Biog. Dramatica, was uncertain whether Gay was the author of this unacted Drama. It is a satire on the inhuman frolics of the bucks and bloods of those days, who imitated the savageness of the Indians whose name they assumed. Why Gay repurchased "the Mohocks," remains to be discovered. Was it another joint production with Pope?-The literary co-partnership between Pope and Gay has never been opened to the curious. It is probable that Pope was consulted, if not concerned, in writing "The What d'ye call it?" which, Jacob says in 34 6 April 21, 1714. Articles signed by Mr. Theobald, to translate for B. Lintot the 24 Books of Homer's Odyssey into English blank verse. Also the four Tragedies of Sophocles, called Edipus Tyrannus, Edipus Coloneus, Trachiniæ, and Philoctetes, into English blank verse, with Explanatory Notes to the twenty-four Books of the £ s. d. 23 June, 1709. Paid for the 2d Part of the Transactions 5 0 4 March, 1709-10. 10 Nov. 1710. Odyssey, and to the four Tragedies. To receive, Paid in hand, 27. 10s. It appears that Toland never got above 51., 101., or 201., for his publications. See his article in "Calamities of Authors," p. 118. I discovered the humiliating conditions that attended his pub. lications, from an examination of his original papers. All this author seems to have reaped from a life devoted to literary enterprise, and philosophy, and patriotism, appears not to have exceeded 2007. ! 1 July, 1712. Useful Miscellany, Part I. Lintot utters a groan over "The Duke of Buckingham's Works" (Sheffield), for "having been jockeyed of them by Alderman Barber and Tonson." Who can ensure literary celebrity? No bookseller would now regret being jockeyed out of his grace's works! Here, too, we find that the facetious Dr. King" Phædra and Hippolytus," 50%.; Rowe's "Jane threw away all his sterling wit for five miserable Shore," 507. 15s.; and "Jane Gray," 751. 5s. pounds, though "The Art of Cookery," and that Cibber's "Nonjuror" obtained 1057. for the copyof "Love," obtained a more honourable price. right. But a mere school-book, probably, inspired our lively genius with more real facetiousness than any of those works which communicate so much to others. 18 Feb. 1707-8 DR. KING. Paid for Art of Cookery 16 Feb. 1708-9. Is it not a little mortifying to observe, that among all these customers of genius whose names enrich the ledger of the bookseller, Jacob, that "blunderbuss of law," while his law-books occupy in space as much as Mr. Pope's works, the amount of his account stands next in value, far beyond d. many a name which has immortalised itself! £ s. *For an account of these humorous pieces, see the following article of "The Royal Society." POPE'S EARLIEST SATIRE. We find by the first edition of Lintot's "Miscellaneous Poems," that the anonymous lines "To the Author of a Poem called Successio," was a literary satire by Pope, written when he had scarcely attained his fourteenth year. This satire, the first probably he wrote for the press, and in which he has succeeded so well, that it might have induced him to pursue the bent of his genius, merits preservation. The juvenile composition bears the marks of his future excellences: it has the tune of his verse, and the images of his wit. Thirty years afterwards, when occupied by the Dunciad, he transplanted and pruned again some of the original images. The hero of this satire is Elkanah Settle. The subject is one of those Whig poems, designed to celebrate the happiness of an uninterrupted "Succession" in the Crown, at the time the Act of Settlement passed, which transferred it to the Hanoverian line. The rhymer and his theme were equally contemptible to the juvenile Jacobite poet. The hoarse and voluminous Codrus of Juvenal aptly designates this eternal verse-maker;-one who has written with such constant copiousness, that no bibliographer has presumed to form a complete list of his works *. When Settle had outlived his temporary rival *The fullest account we have of Settle, a busy scribe in his day, is in Mr. Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. i. p. 41. |