procure him a penfion, which, at least during his miniftry, might be enjoyed with fecrecy. This was not accepted by Pope, who told him, however, that if he fhould be preffed with want of money, he would fend to him for occafional fupplies. Craggs was not long in power, and was never folicited for money by Pope, who difdained to beg what he did not want. With the product of this fubfcription, which he had too much difcretion to fquander, he fecured his future life from want, by confiderable annuities. The eftate of the Duke of Buckingham was found to have been charged with five hundred pounds a year, payable to Pope, which doubtless his tranflation enabled him to purchase. The original copy of the "Iliad" was obtained by Lord Bolingbroke as a curiofity, from whom it defcended to Mr. Mallet, and is now, by the folicitation of the late Dr. Maty, depofited in the British Museum. Between this manufcript, which is written upon accidental fragments of paper, and the printed edition, there must have been an intermediate copy, which was probably deftroyed as it returned from the prefs. The reputation of Mr. Pope gaining every day upon the world, he was careffed, flattered, and railed at, according as he was feared or loved by different perfons. Mr. Wycherley was among the first authors of eftablished reputation who contributed to advance his fame, and with whom he for fome time lived in the moft unreferved intimacy. This poet, in his old age, conceived a defign of publishing his poems; and as he was but a very imperfect mafter of numbers, he intrufted his manufcripts to Mr. Pope, and fubmitted them to his correction. The freedom which our young bard was under a neceffity to use, in order to polish and refine what was in the original rough, unharmonious, and indelicate, proved difguftful to the old gentleman, then near feventy, who, perhaps, was a little afhamed ashamed that one fo young fhould fo feverely correct his works. Letters of diffatisfaction were written by Mr. Wycherley, and at laft he informed him, in a few words, that he was going out of town, without mentioning to what place, and did not expect to hear from him till he came back. This cold indifference extorted from Mr. Pope a proteftation, that nothing fhould induce him ever to write to him again. Notwithstanding this peevith behaviour of Mr. Wycherley, occafioned by jealousy and infirmities, Mr. Pope preferved a conftant reípect and reverence for him while he lived, and after his death lamented him. In a letter to Edward Blount, Efq. written immediately on the death of this poet, he has there related fome anecdotes of Wycherley, which we shall here insert. "Dear Sir, "I know of nothing that will be fo interesting to "you at prefent as fome circumftances of the laft act of that eminent comic poet, and our friend, Wy"cherley. He had often told me, as I doubt not he "did all his acquaintance, that he would marry as "foon as his life was defpaired of: accordingly, a few "days before his death, he underwent the ceremony, "and joined together thofe two facraments, which "wife men fay fhould be the laft we receive; for, if 66 you obferve, matrimony is placed after extreme "unction in our catechiim, as a kind of hint of the "order of time in which they are to be taken. The "old man then lay down, fatisfied in the confcience "of having, by this one act, paid his juft debts, and "obliged a woman who, he was told, had merit, and "fhown an heroic refentment of the ill ufage of his "next heir. Some hundred prounds which he had "with the lady discharged those debts; a jointure of "four hundred a-year made her a recompence; and "the nephew he left to comfort himself, as well as he could, with the miferable remains of a mortgaged "eftate. "eitate. I faw our friend twice after this was done, "lefs peevish in his sickness than he used to be in his "health, neither much afraid of dying, nor (which "in him had been more likely) much afhamed of marrying. The evening before he expired he called "his young wife to the bed-fide, and earnestly en"treated her not to deny him one requeft, the lait he "fhould ever make: upon her affurance of confenting "to it, he told her, " 'My dear, it is only this, that << уси will never marry an old man again.) I cannot "help remarking, that fickness, which often deftroys "both wit and wifdom, yet feldom has power to re 66 move that talent we call humour: Mr. Wycherley "fhewed this even in this last compliment; though I "think his request a little hard; for why fhould he "bar her from doubling her jointure on the fame caly "terms?" One of the most affecting and tender compofitions of Mr Pope is his "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfor tunate Lady," built on a true ftory. We are informed in the Life of Pope, for which Curl obtained a patent, that this young lady was a particular favourite of the Poet, though it is not afcertained whether he himself was the perfon from whom she was removed. This young lady was of very high birth, poffeffed an opulent fortune, and under the tuterage of an uncle, who gave her an education fuitable to her titles and pretensions. She was esteemed a match for the greateft peer in the realm, but in her early years the fuffered her heart to be engaged by a young gentleman, and, in confequence of this attachment, rejected offers made to her by perfons of quality, feconded by the folicitations of her uncle. Her guardian, being furprifed at this behaviour, fet fpies upon her, to find out the real caufe of her indifference. Her correfpondence with her lover was foon difcovered, and when urged upon that topic, fhe had too much truth and honour to deny it. The uncle, finding that the would make no efforts to dif engage engage her affection, after a little time forced her abroad, where he was received with a ceremony due to her quality, but restricted from the converfation of every one but the fpies of this fevere guardian, fo that it was impoffible for her lover even to have a letter delivered into her hands. She languifhed in this place a confiderable time, bore an infinite deal of fickness, and was overwhelmed with the profoundest forrow. Nature being wearied out with continual diftrefs, and being driven at last to defpair, the unfortunate lady, as Mr. Pope juftly calls her, put an end to her own life, having bribed a maid fervant to procure her a fword. She was found upon the ground weltering in her blood. The feverity of the laws of the place, where this fair unfortunate perifhed, denied her Chriftian burial, and he was interred without folemnity, or even any attendants to perform the laft offices of the dead, except fome young people of the neighbourhood, who faw her put into common ground, and ftrewed the grave with flowers. The Poet, in the Elegy, takes occafion to mingle, with the tears of forrow, juft reproaches upon her cruel uncle, who drove her to this violation. But thou, falfe guardian of a charge too good, Lifelefs the breat which warm'd the world before, And thofe love-darting eyes muit roll no more. The conclufion of this elegy is irrefiftibly affecting, So peaceful refts, without a tone, a name, To wrom related, or by whom begot; A heap of duft alone remains of thee; 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be! No poem of our Author's more deservedly obtained him reputation than his Effay on Criticifin. Mr. Addifon, in his Spectator, No. 253, has celebrated it with fuch profufe terms of admiration, that it is really aftonishing aftonishing to find the fame man endeavouring afterwards to diminish that fame he had contributed to raife fo high. "The Art of Criticifm," fays he," which was "published fome months ago, is a masterpiece in its "kind. The obfervations follow one another, like "thofe in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that me"thodical regularity which would have been requifite "in a profe writer. They are fome of them uncom "mon, but fuch as the reader muft affent to when he "fees them explained with that elegance and perfpi"cuity with which they are delivered. As for those "which are the most known, and the most received, "they are placed in fo beautiful a light, and illuftra"ted with fuch apt allufions, that they have in them "all the graces of novelty, and make the reader, whọ "was before acquainted with them, ftill more convin"ced of their truth and folidity. And here give me "leave to mention what Monfieur Boileau has fo well "enlarged upon in the Preface to his Works, that wit "and fine writing do not confift fo much in advancing "things that are new, as in giving things that are "known an agreeable turn. It is impoffible for us, who "live in the latter ages of the world, to make obfer"vations in criticifm, morality, or any art and fci"ence which have not been touched upon by others. "We have little elle left us but to reprefent the com"mon fenfe of mankind in more ftrong, more beauti"ful, or more uncommon lights. If a reader exa"mines Horace's Art of Poetry, he will find but few precepts in it which he may not meet with in Arif"totle, and which were not commonly known by all "the poets of the Auguftan age. His way of expreffing and applying them, not his invention of them, "is what we are chiefly to admire. 46 Longinus, in his Reflections, has given us the "fame kind of fublime which he obferves in the feve"ral paffages which occafioned them, I cannot but "take |