requires? But I am to blame to put a Distance between these two Things, fince Charity has fo perfectly united them, that the fond Affiftance you afforded your late Brother, fhould now prove an extraordinary Comfort to you, fince God will bestow that on you out of Juftice, which others obtain out of his Indulgence: his infinite Goodness being such, as will not fuffer, unrewarded, fo exemplary an A&t of Tenderness, as what, through a Contempt of your own Life, engaged you in the Offices of the beft and tendereft Sifter in the World, beyond the Limits of all Obligations; and by an admirable Conftancy, made you affured amidst a Danger that terrifies the most Daring.

Upon this Account am I confident that he will preserve you from the foul Diftemper you were above fearing, and will shower on you, as a Reward of your Virtue, the Bleffings which are wifh'd you by Dear Madam, &c.

After her Brother's Death he tells her, that she ftill went on gaining greater Power over him. He, at her Defire, which he calls a Command, fent her fome Verfes, which he fays if she should think very ill ones, fhe is the more obliged to him, in that he knowing it as well as fhe, had not forborn to fend them to her; and then adds; "And, to deal freely

with you, a lefs Power than what you have within "THESE FEW DAYS gained upon me, would not "have been fufficient to have prevailed with me to doi "" it." He affures her, that without her Command. they had never known any Place but in his own Memory. But the fairest and openeft Declaration of the real Paffion of Love that can be made is a little farther in the Letter which we now have before us, and of which we are now fpeaking." I perceive, Ma

8.6 dam,

dam, fays he, that where it was my Defign to fend you a Letter of Excufe and Compliment, I 66 am fallen into one of Love; but I with all the o*ther Defects you fhall find in it were as pardonable

as that. In the mean Time let me affure you, that I have not of a long Time been fo engaged, and that there are many in the World to whom I "would not fay fo much, even though they held a "Dagger at my Throat:"

To this Letter Mr. Pope receiv'd an Answer, in which the Lady let him understand, that it was no Ways difagreeable to her; and gives him Liberty, though in an indirect Manner, to ftyle himself her Admirer. She takes Occasion to speak of Alexander the Great in her Letter, and fays feveral very witty and obliging Things in fuch a Manner, as if she was at the fame Time ignorant of it, leaving the Applications to him, who fhe knew was fufficiently able to make them, and this was Cause of another Letter of Compliment and Thanks from Mr. Pope.

Dear Madam,

T HOUGH my Liberty were, as you fay,

greater than Alexander's, it were more than recompenced by the Thanks you have been pleased to return it. Even his Ambition, insatiable as it was, would by fo extraordinary a Favour have been limited. He would have valued this Honour more highly than the Perfian Diadem; and he would not have envied Achilles the Praises of Homer, might he have had your's. In like Manner, Madam, confidering the Reputation you do me, if I envy his, it is not fo much that which he hath acquired, as that you have beftowed on him, and he hath received no Honours, which I do not look upon my own; unlefs it be that you do him, when you call him your E 2 Gallant:

Gallant. Neither his own Vanity, nor his Flatterers have ever advanced any Thing fo advantagious to him, and the Quality of the Son of Jupiter Ammon was not fo glorious as that. But if nothing can cure me of the Jealoufy I have of it, yet, Madam, knowing you as I do, I am confident if you do him a Favour, it is not so much because he is the greatest of Mankind, as because it is two Thousand Years fince he was. However it be, we may fee, in this, the Greatnefs of his Fortune, which, not able to forfake him fo many Years after his Death, adds to his Conquefts a Perfon, which celebrates them more than the Wife and Daughter of Darius; and hath re-infused into him a Soul greater than that of the World he hath fubdued.

I should fear by your Example to write in too high a Style, but can a Man aim at one too high, fpeaking of you and Alexander? I befeech you, Madam, to affure yourself I have for you the fame Paffion you have for him; and that the Admiration of your Virtues fhall ever engage me to be,

Dear Madam, &c.

The Merits of this Lady and Mr. Pope's Gallantry had almost hurried us beyond the Thoughts of the Epiftle of the Characters of Women. A certain Lady, whofe Name for Virtue and Rectitude of Manners has been too confpicuous not to be seen by every Body who has the leaft Knowledge of her, and who in her Youth was thought one of the handfomeft Women of Quality, took Mr. Pope to Talk about the aforefaid Epiftle, pointing out several Places fatirical enough, about which he excufed himself with faying, that there were Women (though happily unknown to her Ladyfhip) of fuch Characters, and by that Means thought to get off from a Rebuke he knew

fhe

she would give him, if she could fix any Thing on him, at last, says fhe, Mr. Pope, you say here, Men fome to Bufinefs, fome to Pleasure take, But every Woman is at Heart a Rake.

Do you think, Sir, that I am, or ever have been a Rake in my Heart? If not, you will find, I make no Queftion you have abus'd a great many Women more befides me; this Accufation is quite general, therefore I now acquit myself, and prove the Guilt of Falfhood upon you. To this Mr. Pope immediately replied, I should think very ill of myself, if I had in Thought abus'd your dyship, no Madam, I must intreat of you to observe, that I only fay:

La

But every WOMAN is at Heart a Rake.

This no way affects your Ladyship, who was an Angel when you were young, and now advancing into Life, are almost already become a Saint. At this Door did Mr. Pope efcape, for the Lady was Woman enough to be pleas'd with the Compliment, and only faid, O fie, O fie, you Wits will always make Things out either a great deal worse, or better than they are.

Rough as this Epiftle may seem to be, fo rough that it drew, at the Inftance of a great Lady, fome fevere, tho' anonymous Lines, against Mr. Pope.

Yet fpare the Dead, and at the utmost dare
To mention Fame with them and ask a Share;
They who have gain'd themselves immortal Names
Without the mean Abufe of gentle Dames;
High was their Satire, ftruck at Vice alone,
And touching fuch as thee, tho' naming none;
Parnaffus Height they gain'd by manly Ways
And grudg'd not any, for they help'd to praise.

A few Lines after he is made to speak :

E 3

But

But I muft write or burft, my Gall o'erflows; I lofe my Quiet by the World's Repose; . My Vitals waste if I my Pen reftrainWrite more Epifles, that's your prefent Vein, From ARBUTHNOT, whofe real Worth and Skill Wants not the glazing of thy partial Quill, Down to low PETRUS, he whofe zealous Lines, Give thee fuch Qualms, and Bigot Fits at Times; Or lower yet, to that UNTHINKING PEER, Who whispers Smut to thy confenting Ear.

I fay, notwithstanding the Characters of Women are fo keenly handled in this Epiftle, it concludes in very fober and gentle Terms:

And yet believe me, good as well as ill,
Woman's at beft a Contradiction ftill.
Heav'n, when it ftrives to polish all it can
Its laft, beft Work, but forms a fofter Man;
Picks from each Sex, to make the Fav'rite bleft,
Your Love of Pleafure, our Defire of Reft,
Blends, in Exception to all gen'ral Rules,
Your Taste of Follies, with our Scorn of Fools,
Referve with Franknefs, Art with Truth ally'd,"
Courage with Softnefs, Modefty with Pride,
Fix'd Principles, with Fancy ever new;
› Shakes all together, and produces-

-You.

Ev'n fuch is Woman's Fame: With this unblest, Toafts live a Scorn, and Queens may die a Jest. This Phoebus promis'd, (I forget the Year,) When those blue Eyes firft open'd on the Sphere; Afcendant Phoebus watch'd that Hour with Care, Averted half your Parents fimple Pray'r,

And

A certain Papift Prieft, a regular Friar, who us'd to teize Mr. Pepe, and tell him he was a lukewarm Catholick.