be led by the hand through long and thorny ways, but went to the living well and drank. As he approached, the great masters of former ages seem to have unfolded their works to him; and he read and enjoyed them at a time of life when others are employed only in acquiring the rudiments of learning. Such was the facility of his powers, and the quickness of his apprehension, that he extended himself over all subjects, and epic, and satiric, and tragic, and comic, and lyric poetry, were the playthings of his childhood. The perceptions he had of the peculiar manner and style of his predecessors were such, that he reflected them again as from a mirror, and his imitations, whilst they astonish us by their resemblance, convince us that he might have succeeded in any department to which he had chosen to devote his talents. Amongst his earliest favourites were Ovid and Statius, whose ostentatious qualifications naturally attracted his young mind, and when he applied

"The loud Papinian trumpet to his lips,"

he shewed at least how deeply he had imbibed the spirit of his author. In this enchanted land he did not however long remain, but entered with Virgil and with Homer into the true recesses of the Muses, guiding himself by their precepts, and founding himself on their example.

Of English authors those to whom Pope stands the nearest related in genius and poetical character, are Chaucer and Dryden, both of them not only the objects of his warm admiration, but of his avowed and frequent imitation. Chaucer may be said to be, like Pope, a general poet. His excellence was not confined to any particular department. He was qualified

From grave to gay, from lively to severe."

In this respect Chaucer is unrivalled by any of his successors, except Shakespear and Pope, both of whom resemble

him also in that moral and contemplative character which delights in comparing, and illustrating the phenomena of the moral and physical world, and demonstrating that not an incident or a sensation can take place in the one without exciting in the mind a decided sympathy with the other.

It was probably this similarity of taste that induced Pope when young to imitate several of the pieces of Chaucer, and in particular to write his Temple of Fame, one of the noblest, although one of the earliest of his productions. That the hint of this piece is taken from Chaucer's House of Fame, is sufficiently obvious, yet the design is greatly altered, and the descriptions, and many of the particular thoughts, are his own; notwithstanding which, such is the coincidence and happy union of the work with its prototype, that it is almost impossible to distinguish those portions which are originally Pope's, from those for which he has been indebted to Chaucer.

In the establishment of the English language, Chaucer may be said to have laid the foundation of a building which it was the good fortune of Pope to complete. In this point of view they have each their respective merit—a merit in which none of their countrymen can contend with them; but it would be as frivolous to attempt to decide which of them is intitled to the higher praise, as it would to inquire whether Bramante, who laid the foundations of the church of St. Peter at Rome, or Michelagnolo, who raised the cupola, is the greatest architect.

Sir Walter Scott, with somewhat of the partiality of an editor, has, in his Life of Dryden, claimed on several occasions for his author, a place next to Shakespear and Milton, in the series of English poets, and has even ventured to insinuate a doubt whether he is not entitled to a still higher rank. In the opening of his advertisement to the Life, he denominates him "one who may claim at least

the third place, and who has given proofs of greater versatility of talent than either Shakespear or Milton, though justly placed inferior to them in their peculiar provinces." And his volume concludes with declaring the name of Dryden to be "second only to those of Milton and of Shakespear." On which of his performances this superiority is supposed to rest, it is not easy to discover. Dismissing his translations, and his dramatic pieces, neither of which can entitle him to so distinguished an honour, what work of original genius has Dryden produced that can compare in fancy, in feeling, in strength, or in dignity, with the Rape of the Lock, the Epistle of Eloisa, the Dunciad, or the Essay on Man? It may be said that the Ode for Music by Dryden, excels that of Pope on the same subject; but admitting this to be the fact, the superiority in a single effort and a short composition, cannot induce us to forget the numerous instances in which the case is reversed, and in which the works of Dryden stand in no degree of competition with those of Pope. On this subject the only decisive judge is the public, and it would not perhaps be too much to assert, that where one person reads Dryden, ten at least read Pope, and that where one line of Dryden is recited by memory, a hundred are repeated from the works of Pope. Nor is this difficult to be accounted for. Such is the continual alloy, such the vulgarity and contaminated tastę, which occur in the works of Dryden, that it is scarcely possible to point out a single composition in which examples do not appear, sufficient to take away the appetite of the most voracious reader.

But it will perhaps be said that passages of this kind in the writings of Dryden are amply compensated by others which excel those of his rivals, as much as these confessedly fall below them. If however we may judge from the general opinion on this subject, and the infrequency with which the works of Dryden have been called for by the

public, we shall scarcely be inclined to admit, that even if undebased by an inferior mixture, they are such as to confer on him the high rank now claimed for him. They may indeed be considered as veins of a rich ore, but they are so intimately intermixed with such a mass of an inferior material, that to separate them requires in general more expense and trouble than they are worth. Few attempts are of less utility than those which profess to arrange the different degrees of rank to which poets are entitled; as amongst writers of eminence every individual exhibits a different kind of excellence, which cannot be compared with that of another; but whatever may be the grounds or principles upon which the decision is founded, it is impossible that whilst Chaucer, and Spenser, and Pope remain, Dryden should retain undisturbed possession of the rank assigned to him as the third in dignity of the British poets.

I. In attempting to describe those characteristics which are peculiar to Pope, and by which he is more particularly distinguishable both from those who preceded him, and those who have followed him, we may in the first place observe in all his writings a striking, expressive, and energetic manner, so peculiar as to carry with it a conviction that no other person could have compressed the same sentiAt ments into such narrow limits, with such full effect. the same time he is always equal and consistent with himself; in whatever he attempts he always succeeds; whether he rises or falls, he does it with equal grace; the one displays no effort, the other no weakness.

II. He always goes directly to his point, and occupies

* Pope disliked comparisons of authors. "In speaking of comparisons upon an absurd and unnatural footing, he mentions Virgil and Homer, Corneille and Racine, the little ivory statue of Polycletes and the Colossus; magis pares quam similes? Aye, that's in one word." Spence's Anec. p. 9. Singer's ed.

no useless time. To his writings nothing can be added but what would be superfluous, from them nothing can be taken away but what would occasion a deficiency. He does not say all that can be said, but all that ought to be said.

III. He is always alive and attentive to his subject, and keeps his readers so. Homer nods, but Pope never nods. On whatever subject he writes, there is a continual and rapid variety, that plays upon the imagination, and surprizes, elevates, softens, or in some other manner affects or delights the mind; yet this is never dwelt upon so as to become tiresome or disgusting. A quick sense of propriety distinguishes all he says. His tact is sure. He feels for the reader, and never offers him any thing but what is acceptable. This is a perpetual compliment to the good sense or perhaps the self-love of the reader, who perceives that he is never treated with disrespect or neglect, and that the author has not only done all that was in his power, but all that was possible to be done to gratify him.*

IV. Though highly ornamented, he exhibits no ambitious love of ornament; nothing but what his subject demands. If the idea or image intended to be communicated require only a simple statement, it is always given in the most appropriate and fewest words. No unnecessary similes are introduced to illustrate a proposition which is sufficiently clear already. Pope well knew, that the finest figures of speech, if brought forward for their own sake, are an impertinence, not an ornament. When required, they are always ready at hand, and in the skilful use of them no one ever excelled him; but he never employs them more frequently or longer than the occasion requires. As soon as the idea is communicated, the reader is not intruded upon by useless repetitions.

* He has himself declared, that "he was afraid of nothing so much as to impose any thing on the world which was unworthy of its acceptance." Letter to Steele.