partly an imitation of a poem by Boileau, called Le Lutrin, "the lectern," but it is generally acknowledged that Pope's is the better, if it be not the most charming poem of the kind in any language.

The Messiah is a sacred eclogue written in imitation of Virgil's Pollio, as the fourth of his eclogues is called. It has often interested critics to note the strange points of resemblance between the Pollio and some of the prophecies of Isaiah. Some writers even go so far as to say that Virgil may have been acquainted with the prophetic portions of the Bible in an indirect manner through Jews who had settled in Rome. In the Messiah-which is one of the most beautiful of Pope's shorter poems, the language of Isaiah is intentionally grafted on the language of Virgil, and thus a higher and Christian application has been given to a poem written in honour of the Consul Pollio's little boy.

On Pope's Homer-perhaps his best known, his longest, but hardly his greatest work-his contemporary, Bentley, the most eminent classical critic of his time, passed a criticism to which even now it is difficult to add. "A pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but please don't call it Homer." It begins:

"Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring

Of countless evils, heavenly goddess, sing."

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The sonorous roll of the original hexameters, the natural freedom of the early poet have vanished, and have been replaced by the stiffness of an artificial style. The problem of translation is better understood now. Pope was not a finished Greek scholar, and thoroughly to understand the work to be translated is the first need of

a translator. But if Pope's translation does not reproduce Homer, it is well worth reading for its own sake. It enjoyed an extraordinary popularity for the greater part of a century, during which time many boys learnt the story of the Fall of Troy from Pope, and when older remembered with pleasure its polished couplets. The translation was published by subscription and brought the poet a large sum of money, so that in an age of patronage he was able to boast

"Thanks to Homer, whilst I live and thrive,
Indebted to no prince or peer alive."

Pope's greatest admirers do not claim originality amongst his merits. A large portion of his poems is made up of translations and imitations. Perhaps it would have been more suitable if Pope could have changed places with Dryden, and employed his smooth style as the translator of Virgil rather than of Homer. But amongst ancient writers his affinity is with Horace. In the careless cynicism of the Roman writer, as in the epigrams and polish of his verse, we may find a likeness to Pope, who, besides the imitation in the Essay on Criticism, paraphrased several of the satires and epistles and adapted them to the Age of the two first Georges. There is much to remind us of Horace even in the Dunciad, a biting satire upon the dull writers, the Dunces of Pope's day. The poet attacks Dulness, as represented by his own contemporaries, especially by such as had offended him. Some parts of the Dunciad are parodies; others are full of burning indignation. This spirit of indignation only occasionally appears in the Satires, the attack upon Lord Hervey under the

name of "Sporus" being especially savage. Sometimes the satire is more stinging by being wrapt in a studious moderation, as in the attack on his former friend Addison, veiled under the name of "Atticus."

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The merits of Pope's poetry are not originality nor sympathy with nature, virtues which distinguish greater poets, but grace, smoothness, correctness, the perfection of poetic taste. Pope pays infinite attention to the form of his verses, making the subject-matter a secondary consideration. His lines remind one of the exquisite chiselling of a master-sculptor, and the result of this is that, after Shakspere, he has contributed more quotations to our everyday language than perhaps any other poet. He belongs to an artificial school, which has been called Classical and has been called French. has certainly been greatly influenced by the Classics as studied from a particular point of view, as well as by the French writers of the Age of Louis XIV. The predominant element in Pope's poetry is due to the conscious following of advice which he received from a critic of eminence when he was young-"Be a correct poet." The confession made by Pope that he aimed at carrying out this advice has naturally stimulated the critics as a challenge to find instances where he is incorrect. Few poets have been more carped at: the search for faults sometimes going so far as to object to ellipses, and to require the same fulness of statement in terse verse that can be expected in prose. The greatest poets, however, aim at something far more important than correctness, even if that be attainable: and it must be allowed that Pope does not belong to the first order of the world's poets, its eternal masters of har

monious song. But that order is not large, and neither the world nor English Literature can afford to exclude from the list of poets those who only belong to the second order, those who return to an Age its own thoughts melodiously expressed in verse.

Pope holds the mirror up, not to nature, but to the society of a particular epoch.1 The greatest critic of our time, Mr. Matthew Arnold, was inclined altogether to deny the name of poet to Dryden and to Pope. Unable, however, to deny their power and their importance in literature, he calls them the "high-priests of an age of prose." But as Poetry, like Wisdom, is justified of all her children, it seems better not to refuse these high-priests the time-honoured name of poet.

There is no doubt that Pope, from earliest years to latest, reverenced Dryden and acknowledged him as his master. Dr. Johnson compares Pope's prose to that of Dryden in language which may be applied also to their poems: "The style of Dryden is capricious and varied, that of Pope is cautious and uniform; Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid, Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe, and levelled by the roller."

Pope's influence upon English poetry may be said to have lasted until nearly the end of the eighteenth

1 We are to regard Dryden as the puissant and glorious founder, Pope as the splendid high-priest of our age of prose and reason. For the purposes of their mission and destiny their poetry, like their prose, is admirable. (Ward's English Poets, Introduction, p. xxxviii.).

entury, and it cannot be regarded as beneficial. Poetry consists of two parts-the outward form and the inward meaning. Some writers have neglected one and some the other. The absence of heart and of nature from a great deal of the poetry of the coming time seems to be due to imitation of Pope; and those poets who did the most to bring back simplicity and truth instead of artificiality, and to develop the love of nature, protested against the influence of Pope. Cowper complains that he

"Made poetry a mere mechanic art,

And every warbler has his tune by heart.”

Wordsworth said that in description Pope never had his eye upon his subject. In Sleep and Poetry Keats attacks him as one of the handicraftsmen who wore the mask of Poesy.

III. THE "ESSAY ON MAN.”

The Essay on Man the author declares to have been written as part of a much larger scheme, others of the poems entitled Moral Essays being intended to be woven into it, until the whole should be about four times its present bulk. The Essay on Man was given to the world in parts: the first epistle published at first anonymously in 1732, and the last in 1734. Pope lived for ten years after the last date, and, therefore, want of time could not be pleaded as his reason for abandoning his design.

The summaries prefixed to each of the epistles are by the author himself. It may be worth while here to

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