And gave you Beauty, but deny'd the Pelf We defire the Fair who fhall ever look over this Epiftle, to confider, it was defign'd only to expose real Vices, and Frailties through Habit, not to invent and stick any upon them, of which none are guilty, they may fee, that when Ladies lead fuch Lives as beft become them, he distinguishes them by the Name of good Women, and certainly means no more, than that every bad Woman, meer Woman, (without the moral Attainments requifite to elevate her fomething higher) is at Heart a Rake, or has no Character at all, i. e. no good, or fix'd Rule, to characterize her by. There are many Ladies not in the leaft offended with any Thing in this Poem, and Mrs. Blount never thought herself leffen'd by any Reflection upon any bad, or foolish Woman, throughout the Piece. Whoever has been but a little acquainted with either Mr. Pope, or his Writings, will obferve how many Opportunies he lays hold of to fpeak well of many Ladies and Women of his Acquaintance, what extraordinary great Characters he gives them, both living and after Death; of this latter Sort pleafe to take one from a Letter he wrote to Mrs. Blount, when he was ill and under other Affliction of Mind befides, it is in answer to one of her's. Dearest Madam, I Could never believe it poffible, that the Receipt of a Letter from you, fhould add to my Affliction, or that you could poffibly have fent me fuch bad News, as that you could not comfort me at the fame Time. I thought my Unhappiness at fuch a Point as could not admit of any Addition, and that fince you were able fomething to ftrengthen my Patience, to endure the Abfence of your Mother and you, there could not be any Misfortune, which you could not have encourag'd me to fuffer: But give me Leave to tell you, that I have found the contrary, in the Affliction I have for the Death of Mrs. A****, which hath heen heavy enough to crufh me, and wanted not much to spend the Remainder of my Patience. You may eafily judge, Dear Madam, what an exceffive Grief it must needs be to me to have loft a Friend fo good, fo fprightly, and fo accomplish'd as she, and one that having always given me fo many Expreffions of her Affection, would needs do fomething when fhe had not many Hours to continue here: But tho' I reflected not on my own Concernments, yet could I not but infinitely regret a Perfen by whom you were infinitely belov'd, and who among many particular Endowments, had that of knowing you as much as may be, and esteeming you above all Things; yet I muft confefs, if this Difturbance can admit of any Remiffion, it is to reflect on the Conftancy fhe exprefs'd, and the Fortitude wherewith fhe hath fuffer'd a Thing, whereof the Name would make her tremble at any Time. I am extremely comforted to understand, that at her Death she had those Qualities fhe only wanted in her Life, and that she fo opportunely found Courage and Refolution: When I confider it seriously, it is somewhat against my Conscience to bemoan her, and methinks, it shows an over-interefted Affection to be fad, because fhe has left us to better her Condition, and and is gone into the other World, from whofe Bourne no Traveller returns, to find that Quiet fhe could never meet with in this. I very heartily entertain the Exhortations you give me thereupon, which is, often to con over a Leffon fo profitable and neceffary, and to prepare myself for the like one Day; I know how to make my Advantage of your Remonftrance: The Miferies we have run through all this while, is no fmall Preparation for it, there's no better Lecture to inftruct a Man how to die well, than not to take much Pleasure in living. But if it be not impoffible for the Hopes that Fortune proposes to prove effectual, if after fo many Years, we may prefume to expect fome few fair Days, be pleas'd to give me Leave, Madam, to entertain Thoughts more diverting than those of Death, and if it be likely that we are shortly to fee another, let me not fall out with my Life. -Where you fay, you think me deftin'd to great Things, you give fo great Security of my Life, and fo happy a Prefage of the Adventures that shall happen to me, that I fhall not be forry for its Continuance yet a while; for my Part, if Destiny doth promise me any Thing that is good, I affure you I will do my utmost to get it; I will contribute all I can thereto, that your Prophecies may be fulfill'd. In the mean Time, I beseech you to be confident, that of all the Favours. I can beg of Fortune, what I most paffionately defire is, that fhe would do for you what he ought, and for myself, only afford me the Means to acquaint you with the Paffion which obliges me to be fo much, Dearest Madam, &c. So that thofe Invectives in the Poem aforemention'd, tion'd, must at last be only look'd on as the Sallies of a great, and then angry Wit. Another Epistle of our Author's, which was exceedingly admir'd, was to Allen Lord Bathurst, of the Ufe of Riches: This Nobleman in another of the Epiftles, he takes the Liberty to call Philofopher and Rake, which Character had fo much Truth in it, and Mr. Pope fuch an unlimited Freedom with my Lord, that fo far from giving Offence, it was Matter of Mirth: This Gentleman truly Noble, has a more than common Regard for the Fair Sex, and having withal very great Vivacity, very fairly deferv'd the Name Mr. Pope has given him, there is none among the Nobility exceed him for Tafte, his is quite grand, he hates any Thing that's little, and not capable of filling the Mind, and fpends whole Days in his Wood, which is impoffible to be known but by the Eye, no Defcription would do it Juftice; it' is juft mentioned by Mr. Pope in a Letter to the Hon. Robert Digby, Efq; that Part relating to this Subject we have transcrib❜d. I' 'M told you are all upon Removal very speedily, Lady Scudamore, of feeing my Lord Bathurst's Wood in her Way. How much I wish to be her Guide thro' that enchanted Foreft, is not to be expreft: I look upon myself as the Magician appropriated to the Place, without whom no Mortal can penetrate into the Receffes of thofe facred Shades. I could pafs whole Days, in only describing to her the future, and yet vifionary Beauties, that are to rife in thofe Scenes: The Palace that is to be built, the Pavilions that are to glitter, the Colonades that are to adorn them: Nay more, the Meeting of the Thames and the Severn, which (when the noble noble Owner has finer Dreams than ordinary) are to be led into each other's Embraces thro' fecret Caverns of not above twelve or fifteen Miles, till they rife and celebrate their Marriage in the Midst of an immenfe Amphitheatre, which is to be the Admiration of Pofterity a hundred Years hence. But till the deftin'd Time fhall arrive that is to manifest these Wonders, Mrs. Digby muft content herfelf with feeing what is at prefent no more than the fineft Wood in England. There are few Virtues which do not attend this Nobleman, of his Foible we have fpoke; he is fo great an Oeconomift, that Mr. Pope thought fit to write this Epistle to him, where he afferts, and endeavours to prove that the true Ufe of Riches is known to few, most falling into one of the Extremes, Avarice or Profufion; he ranks Mankind under two Claffes. But when, by Man's audacious Labour won, Flam'd forth this Rival to its Sire the Sun, Then, in plain Profe, were made two Sorts of Men, To fquander fome, and fome to hide agen. Like Doctors thus, when much Difpute has paft,' We find our Tenets much the fame at laft. Both fairly owning, Riches in Effect No Grace of Heav'n, or Token of the Elect; Giv'n to thee Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil, To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, or the Devil. JOHN WARD of Hackney, Efq; Member of Parliament, being profecuted by the Dutchefs of Buckingham, and convicted of Forgery, was first expell'd the Houfe, and then flood in the Pillory on the 17th of March 1727. He was fufpected of joining in a Conveyance |