Books: Lives of the English Poets: Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Pope

S >> Samuel Johnson >> Lives of the English Poets: Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Pope

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At the two last schools he used to represent himself as having lost
part of what Taverner had taught him, and on his master at Twyford
he had already exercised his poetry in a lampoon. Yet under those
masters he translated more than a fourth part of the
"Metamorphoses." If he kept the same proportion in his other
exercises, it cannot be thought that his loss was great. He tells
of himself, in his poems, that "he lisped in numbers;" and used to
say that he could not remember the time when he began to make
verses. In the style of fiction, it might have been said of him, as
of Pindar, that when he lay in his cradle "the bees swarmed about
his mouth."

About the time of the Revolution his father, who was undoubtedly
disappointed by the sudden blast of Popish prosperity, quitted his
trade, and retired to Binfield, in Windsor Forest, with about twenty
thousand pounds, for which, being conscientiously determined not to
entrust it to the Government, he found no better use than that of
locking it up in a chest, and taking from it what his expenses
required; and his life was long enough to consume a great part of it
before his son came to the inheritance.

To Binfield Pope was called by his father when he was about twelve
years old, and there he had for a few months the assistance of one
Deane, another priest, of whom he learned only to construe a little
of "Tully's Offices." How Mr. Deane could spend with a boy who had
translated so much of "Ovid" some months over a small part of
"Tully's Offices," it is now vain to inquire. Of a youth so
successfully employed, and so conspicuously improved, a minute
account must be naturally desired; but curiosity must be contented
with confused, imperfect, and sometimes improbable intelligence.
Pope, finding little advantage from external help, resolved
thenceforward to direct himself, and at twelve formed a plan of
study, which he completed with little other incitement than the
desire of excellence. His primary and principal purpose was to be a
poet, with which his father accidentally concurred by proposing
subjects and obliging him to correct his performances by many
revisals, after which the old gentleman, when he was satisfied,
would say, "These are good rhymes." In his perusal of the English
poets he soon distinguished the versification of Dryden, which he
considered as the model to be studied, and was impressed with such
veneration for his instructor, that he persuaded some friends to
take him to the coffee-house which Dryden frequented, and pleased
himself with having seen him.

Dryden died May 1, 1701, some days before Pope was twelve; so early
must he therefore have felt the power of harmony, and the zeal of
genius. Who does not wish that Dryden could have known the value of
the homage that was paid him, and foreseen the greatness of his
young admirer?

The earliest of Pope's productions is his "Ode on Solitude," written
before he was twelve, in which there is nothing more than other
forward boys have attained, and which is not equal to Cowley's
performance at the same age. His time was now wholly spent in
reading and writing. As he read the classics he amused himself with
translating them, and at fourteen made a version of the first book
of the "Thebais," which, with some revision, he afterwards
published. He must have been at this time, if he had no help, a
considerable proficient in the Latin tongue.

By Dryden's fables, which had then been not long published, and were
much in the hands of poetical readers, he was tempted to try his own
skill in giving Chaucer a more fashionable appearance, and put
"January and May" and the "Prologue of the Wife of Bath" into modern
English. He translated likewise the Epistle of "Sappho to Phaon"
from Ovid, to complete the version, which was before imperfect, and
wrote some other small pieces, which he afterwards printed. He
sometimes imitated the English poets, and professed to have written
at fourteen his poem upon "Silence," after Rochester's "Nothing."
He had now formed his versification, and the smoothness of his
numbers surpassed his original; but this is a small part of his
praise; he discovers such acquaintance both with human life and
public affairs as is not easily conceived to have been attainable by
a boy of fourteen in Windsor Forest.

Next year he was desirous of opening to himself new sources of
knowledge, by making himself acquainted with modern languages, and
removed for a time to London, that he might study French and
Italian, which, as he desired nothing more than to read them, were
by diligent application soon despatched. Of Italian learning he
does not appear to have ever made much use in his subsequent
studies. He then returned to Binfield, and delighted himself with
his own poetry. He tried all styles, and many subjects. He wrote a
comedy, a tragedy, an epic poem, with panegyrics on all the princes
of Europe; and, as he confesses, "thought himself the greatest
genius that ever was." Self-confidence is the first requisite to
great undertakings. He, indeed, who forms his opinion of himself in
solitude, without knowing the powers of other men, is very liable to
error; but it was the felicity of Pope to rate himself at his real
value. Most of his puerile productions were, by his maturer
judgment, afterwards destroyed. "Alcander," the epic poem, was
burnt by the persuasion of Atterbury. The tragedy was founded on
the legend of St. Genevieve. Of the comedy there is no account.
Concerning his studies, it is related that he translated "Tully on
Old Age," and that, besides his books of poetry and criticisms, he
read "Temple's Essays" and "Locke on Human Understanding." His
reading, though his favourite authors are not known, appears to have
been sufficiently extensive and multifarious, for his early pieces
show with sufficient evidence his knowledge of books. He that is
pleased with himself easily imagines that he shall please others.
Sir William Trumbull, who had been Ambassador at Constantinople, and
Secretary of State, when he retired from business, fixed his
residence in the neighbourhood of Binfield. Pope, not yet sixteen,
was introduced to the statesman of sixty, and so distinguished
himself that their interviews ended in friendship and
correspondence. Pope was, through his whole life, ambitious of
splendid acquaintance; and he seems to have wanted neither diligence
nor success in attracting the notice of the great, for, from his
first entrance into the world, and his entrance was very early, he
was admitted to familiarity with those whose rank or station made
them most conspicuous.

From the age of sixteen the life of Pope, as an author, may be
properly computed. He now wrote his pastorals, which were shown to
the poets and critics of that time. As they well deserved, they
were read with admiration, and many praises were bestowed upon them
and upon the preface, which is both elegant and learned in a high
degree; they were, however, not published till five years
afterwards.

Cowley, Milton, and Pope are distinguished among the English poets
by the early exertion of their powers, but the works of Cowley alone
were published in his childhood, and, therefore, of him only can it
be certain that his puerile performances received no improvement
from his maturer studies.

At this time began his acquaintance with Wycherley, a man who seems
to have had among his contemporaries his full share of reputation,
to have been esteemed without virtue, and caressed without good
humour. Pope was proud of his notice. Wycherley wrote verses in
his praise, which he was charged by Dennis with writing to himself,
and they agreed for a while to flatter one another. It is pleasant
to remark how soon Pope learned the cant of an author, and began to
treat critics with contempt, though he had yet suffered nothing from
them. But the fondness of Wycherley was too violent to last. His
esteem of Pope was such that he submitted some poems to his
revision, and when Pope, perhaps proud of such confidence, was
sufficiently bold in his criticisms, and liberal in his alterations,
the old scribbler was angry to see his pages defaced, and felt more
pain from the detection than content from the amendment of his
faults. They parted, but Pope always considered him with kindness,
and visited him a little time before he died. Another of his early
correspondents was Mr. Cromwell, of whom I have learned nothing
particular, but that he used to ride a-hunting in a tie-wig. He was
fond, and perhaps vain, of amusing himself with poetry and
criticism, and sometimes sent his performances to Pope, who did not
forbear such remarks as were now and then unwelcome. Pope, in his
turn, put the juvenile version of "Statius" into his hands for
correction. Their correspondence afforded the public its first
knowledge of Pope's epistolary powers, for his letters were given by
Cromwell to one Mrs. Thomas, and she many years afterwards sold them
to Curll, who inserted them in a volume of his "Miscellanies."

Walsh, a name yet preserved among the minor poets, was one of his
first encouragers. His regard was gained by the pastorals, and from
him Pope received the counsel from which he seems to have regulated
his studies. Walsh advised him to correctness, which, as he told
him, the English poets had hitherto neglected, and which, therefore,
was left to him as a basis of fame; and, being delighted with rural
poems, recommended to him to write a pastoral comedy, like those
which are read so eagerly in Italy, a design which Pope probably did
not approve, as he did not follow it.

Pope had now declared himself a poet, and, thinking himself entitled
to poetical conversation, began at seventeen to frequent Will's, a
coffee-house on the north side of Russell Street, in Covent Garden,
where the wits of that time used to assemble, and where Dryden had,
when he lived, been accustomed to preside. During this period of
his life he was indefatigably diligent and insatiably curious,
wanting health for violent and money for expensive pleasures, and
having excited in himself very strong desires of intellectual
eminence, he spent much of his time over his books; but he read only
to store his mind with facts and images, seizing all that his
authors presented with undistinguishing voracity, and with an
appetite for knowledge too eager to be nice. In a mind like his,
however, all the faculties were at once involuntarily improving.
Judgment is forced upon us by experience. He that reads many books
must compare one opinion or one style with another; and, when he
compares, must necessarily distinguish, reject, and prefer. But the
account given by himself of his studies was, that from fourteen to
twenty he read only for amusement, from twenty to twenty-seven for
improvement and instruction; that in the first part of his time he
desired only to know, and in the second he endeavoured to judge.

The Pastorals, which had been for some time handed about among poets
and critics, were at last printed (1709) in Tonson's "Miscellany,"
in a volume which began with the Pastorals of Philips, and ended
with those of Pope. The same year was written the "Essay on
Criticism," a work which displays such extent of comprehension, such
nicety of distinction, such acquaintance with mankind, and such
knowledge both of ancient and modern learning, as are not often
attained by the maturest age and longest experience. It was
published about two years afterwards, and, being praised by Addison
in the Spectator, with sufficient liberality, met with so much
favour as enraged Dennis, "who," he says, "found himself attacked,
without any manner of provocation on his side, and attacked in his
person instead of his writings, by one who was wholly a stranger to
him, at a time when all the world knew he was persecuted by fortune;
and not only saw that this was attempted in a clandestine manner,
with the utmost falsehood and calumny, but found that all this was
done by a little, affected hypocrite, who had nothing in his mouth
at the same time but truth, candour, friendship, good-nature,
humanity, and magnanimity. How the attack was clandestine is not
easily perceived, nor how his person is depreciated; but he seems to
have known something of Pope's character, in whom may be discovered
an appetite to talk too frequently of his own virtues. The pamphlet
is such as rage might be expected to dictate. He supposes himself
to be asked two questions; whether the essay will succeed, and who
or what is the author.

Its success he admits to be secured by the false opinions then
prevalent; the author he concludes to be "young and raw."

"First, because he discovers a sufficiency beyond his little
ability, and hath rashly undertaken a task infinitely above his
force. Secondly, while this little author struts and affects the
dictatorian air, he plainly shows that at the same time he is under
the rod: and, while he pretends to give laws to others, is a
pedantic slave to authority and opinion. Thirdly, he hath, like
schoolboys, borrowed both from living and dead. Fourthly, he knows
not his own mind, and frequently contradicts himself. Fifthly, he
is almost perpetually in the wrong."

All these positions he attempts to prove by quotations and remarks;
but his desire to do mischief is greater than his power. He has,
however, justly criticised some passages in these lines:-

"There are whom Heaven has blessed with store of wit,
Yet want as much again to manage it:
For wit and judgment ever are at strife--"

It is apparent that wit has two meanings, and that what is wanted,
though called wit, is truly judgment. So far Dennis is undoubtedly
right: but not content with argument, he will have a little mirth,
and triumphs over the first couplet in terms too elegant to be
forgotten. "By the way, what rare numbers are here! Would not one
swear that this youngster had espoused some antiquated muse, who had
sued out a divorce on account of impotence, from some superannuated
sinner; and, having been p--d by her former spouse, has got the gout
in her decrepit age, which makes her hobble so damnably?" This was
the man who would reform a nation sinking into barbarity.

In another place Pope himself allowed that Dennis had detected one
of those blunders which are called "bulls." The first edition had
this line:-

"What is this wit -
Where wanted scorned; and envied where acquired?"

"How," says the critic, "can wit be scorned where it is not? Is not
this a figure frequently employed in Hibernian land! The person
that wants this wit may indeed be scorned, but the scorn shows the
honour which the contemner has for wit." Of this remark Pope made
the proper use, by correcting the passage.

I have preserved, I think, all that is reasonable in Dennis's
criticism; it remains that justice be done to his delicacy. "For
his acquaintance," says Dennis, "he names Mr. Walsh, who had by no
means the qualification which this author reckons absolutely
necessary to a critic, it being very certain that he was, like this
essayer a very indifferent poet; he loved to be well dressed; and I
remember a little young gentleman whom Mr. Walsh used to take into
his company as a double foil to his person and capacity. Inquire
between Sunning Hill and Oakingham, for a young, short, equal,
gentleman, the very bow of the God of Love, and tell me whether he
be a proper author to make personal reflections? He may extol the
ancients, but he has reason to thank the gods that he was born a
modern; for had he been born of Grecian parents, and his father
consequently had by law had the absolute disposal of him, his life
had been no longer than that of one of his poems, the life of half a
day. Let the person of a gentleman of his parts be never so
contemptible, his inward man is ten times more ridiculous; it being
impossible that his outward form, though it be that of downright
monkey, should differ so much from human shape as his unthinking,
immaterial part does from human understanding." Thus began the
hostility between Pope and Dennis, which, though it was suspended
for a short time, never was appeased. Pope seems, at first, to have
attacked him wantonly; but though he always professed to despise
him, he discovers, by mentioning him very often, that he felt his
force or his venom.

Of this essay, Pope declared that he did not expect the sale to be
quick, because "not one gentleman in sixty, even of liberal
education, could understand it." The gentleman, and the education
of that time, seem to have been of a lower character than they are
of this. He mentioned a thousand copies as a numerous impression.

Dennis was not his only censurer; the zealous Papists thought the
monks treated with too much contempt, and Erasmus too studiously
praised; but to these objections he had not much regard.

The "Essay," has been translated into French by Hamilton, author of
the "Comte de Grammont," whose version was never printed, by
Robotham, secretary to the king for Hanover, and by Resnel; and
commented by Dr. Warburton, who has discovered in it such order and
connection as was not perceived by Addison, nor, as it is said,
intended by the author.

Almost every poem, consisting of precepts, is so far arbitrary and
immethodical, that many of the paragraphs may change places with no
apparent inconvenience; for of two or more positions, depending upon
some remote and general principle, there is seldom any cogent reason
why one should precede the other. But for the order in which they
stand, whatever it be, a little ingenuity may easily give a reason.
"It is possible," says Hooker, "that, by long circumduction, from
any one truth all truth may be inferred." Of all homogeneous
truths, at least of all truths respecting the same general end, in
whatever series they may be produced, a concatenation by
intermediate ideas may be formed, such as, when it is once shown,
shall appear natural; but if this order be reversed, another mode of
connection equally spacious may be found or made. Aristotle is
praised for naming fortitude first of the cardinal virtues, as that
without which no other virtue can steadily be practised; but he
might, with equal propriety, have placed prudence and justice before
it; since without prudence fortitude is mad; without justice, it is
mischievous. As the end of method is perspicuity, that series is
sufficiently regular that avoids obscurity; and where there is no
obscurity, it will not be difficult to discover method.

In the Spectator was published the "Messiah," which he first
submitted to the perusal of Steele, and corrected in compliance with
his criticisms. It is reasonable to infer from his "Letters" that
the verses on the "Unfortunate Lady" were written about the time
when his "Essay" was published. The lady's name and adventures I
have sought with fruitless inquiry. I can therefore tell no more
than I have learned from Mr. Ruffhead, who writes with the
confidence of one who could trust his information. She was a woman
of eminent rank and large fortune, the ward of an uncle, who, having
given her a proper education, expected, like other guardians, that
she should make at least an equal match; and such he proposed to
her, but found it rejected in favour of a young gentleman of
inferior condition. Having discovered the correspondence between
the two lovers, and finding the young lady determined to abide by
her own choice, he supposed that separation might do what can rarely
be done by arguments, and sent her into a foreign country, where she
was obliged to converse only with those from whom her uncle had
nothing to fear. Her lover took care to repeat his vows; but his
letters were intercepted and carried to her guardian, who directed
her to be watched with still greater vigilance, till of this
restraint she grow so impatient that she bribed a woman servant to
procure her a sword, which she directed to her heart.

From this account, given with evident intention to raise the lady's
character, it does not appear that she had any claim to praise nor
much to compassion. She seems to have been impatient, violent, and
ungovernable. Her uncle's power could not have lasted long; the
hour of liberty and choice would have come in time. But her desires
were too hot for delay, and she liked self-murder better than
suspense. Nor is it discovered that the uncle, whoever he was, is
with much justice delivered to posterity as "a false guardian." He
seems to have done only that for which a guardian is appointed; he
endeavoured to direct his niece till she should be able to direct
herself. Poetry has not often been worse employed than in
dignifying the amorous fiery of a raving girl.

Not long after he wrote the "Rape of the Lock," the most airy, the
most ingenious, and the most delightful off all his compositions,
occasioned by a frolic of gallantry, rather too familiar, in which
Lord Petre cut off a lock of Mrs. Arabella Fermor's hair. This,
whether stealth or violence, was so much resented that the commerce
of the two families, before very friendly, was interrupted. Mr.
Caryl, a gentleman who, being secretary to King James's queen, had
followed his mistress into France, and who, being the author of Sir
Solomon Single, a comedy, and some translations, was entitled to the
notice of a wit, solicited Pope to endeavour a reconciliation by a
ludicrous poem which might bring both the parties to a better
temper. In compliance with Caryl's request, though his name was for
a long time marked only by the first and last letter, "C--l," a poem
of two cantos, was written (1711), as is said, in a fortnight, and
sent to the offended lady, who liked it well enough to show it; and,
with the usual process of literary transactions, the author,
dreading a surreptitious edition, was forced to publish it.

The event is said to have been such as was desired, the pacification
and diversion of all to whom it related, except Sir George Brown,
who complained with some bitterness that, in the character of Sir
Plume, he was made to talk nonsense. Whether all this be true I
have some doubt; for at Paris, a few years ago, a niece of Mrs.
Fermor, who presided in an English convent, mentioned Pope's work
with very little gratitude, rather as an insult than an honour; and
she may be supposed to have inherited the opinion of her family. At
its first appearance at was termed by Addison "merum sal." Pope,
however, saw that it was capable of improvement; and, having luckily
contrived to borrow his machinery from the Rosicrucians, imparted
the scheme with which his head was teeming to Addison, who told him
that his work, as it stood, was "a delicious little thing," and gave
him no encouragement to retouch it.

This has been too hastily considered as an instance of Addison's
jealousy, for, as he could not guess the conduct of the new design,
or the possibilities of pleasure comprised in a fiction of which
there had been no examples, he might very reasonably and kindly
persuade the author to acquiesce in his own prosperity, and forbear
an attempt which he considered as an unnecessary hazard. Addison's
counsel was happily rejected. Pope foresaw the future efflorescence
of imagery then budding in his mind, and resolved to spare no art or
industry of cultivation. The soft luxuriance of his fancy was
already shooting, and all the gay varieties of diction were ready at
his hand to colour and embellish it. His attempt was justified by
its success. The "Rape of the Lock" stands forward, in the classes
of literature, as the most exquisite example of ludicrous poetry.
Berkeley congratulated him upon the display of powers more truly
poetical than he had shown before with elegance of description and
justness of precepts he had now exhibited boundless fertility of
invention. He always considered the intermixture of the machinery
with the action as his most successful exertion of poetical art.
He, indeed, could never afterwards produce anything of such
unexampled excellence. Those performances, which strike with
wonder, are combinations of skilful genius with happy casualty; and
it is not likely that any felicity, like the discovery of a new race
of preternatural agents, should happen twice to the same man. Of
this poem the author was, I think, allowed to enjoy the praise for a
long time without disturbance. Many years afterwards Dennis
published some remarks upon it with very little force and with no
effect; for the opinion of the public was already settled, and it
was no longer at the mercy of criticism.

About this time he published the "Temple of Fame," which, as he
tells Steele in their correspondence, he had written two years
before--that is, when he was only twenty-two years old, an early
time of life for so much learning and so much observation as that
work exhibits. On this poem Dennis afterwards published some
remarks, of which the most reasonable is that some of the lines
represent motion as exhibited by sculpture.

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