Rank of Men; or had he called our excellent Weekly Writers by the fame Name wich they openly bestow on the greatest Men in the Miniftry, and out of the Miniftry, for which they are all unpunished, and most rewarded: In any of these Cafes, indeed, I might have judged him too prefumptuous, add perhaps have trembled for his Rashness.

I could not but hope better for this fmall and modest Epistle, which attaks no one Vice whatfoever; which deals only in Folly, and not Folly in general, but a fingle Species of it; that only Branch, for the oppofite Excellency to which, the Noble Lord to whom it is written muft neceffarily be celebrated. I fancied it might efcape Cenfure, especially seeing how tenderly thefe Follies are treated, and really less accused, than Apologized for.

Yet hence the Poor are cloath'd, the Hungry fed,
Health to himself, and to his Infants Bread
The Lab'rer bears.

Is this fuch a Crime, that to impute it to a Man must be a grievous Offence? 'Tis an Innocent Folly, and much more Beneficent than the Want of it; for Ill Tafte employs more hands, and diffufes Expence more than a Good one. Is it a Moral Defect? No, it is but a Natural one; a Want of Tafte. It is what the best good Man living may be liable to: The worthiest Peer may live exemplarily in an ill-favour'd House, and the best reputed Citizen be pleased with a vile Garden. I thought (I say) the Author had the common Liberty to obferve a Defect, and to compliment a Friend for a Quality that diftinguishes him:

M 4

which

which I know not how any Quality fhould do, if we were not to remark that it was wanting in others.

But, they fay, the Satire is Perfonal. I thought it could not be fo, because all it's Reflexions are on Things. His Reflexions are not on the Man, but his Houfe, Garden, &c. Nay, he refpects (as one may fay) the Perfons of the Gladiator, Amphitheatre, the Nile and the Triton: He is only forry to see them (as he might be to fee any of his Friends) ridiculous, by being in the wrong Place, and in bad Company. Some fancy, that to fay a Thing is Perfonal, is the fame as to fay it is Unjuft, not confidering, that nothing can be Just that, is not Perfonal. I am afraid that "all fuch Writings and Discourses as touch no "Man, will mend no Man." The Good-Natured, indeed, are apt to be alarmed at any thing like Satire; and the Guilty readily concur with the Weak for a plain Reafon, because the Vicious look upon Folly as their Frontier:

No wonder those who know Ridicule belongs to them, find an inward Confolation in removing it from themselves as far as they can; and it is never fo far, as when they can get it fixed on the beft Characters. No wonder thofe who are Food for Satirifts, fhould rail at them as Creatures of Prey; every Beast born for our Ufe would be ready to call a Man fo.

I know no Remedy, unless people in our Age would as little frequent the Theatres, as they begin to do the Churches; unless Comedy were forfaken, Satire filent, and every man left to do what seems

good

good in his own Eyes, as if there were no King, no Prieft, no Poet in Ifrael.

But I find myfelf obliged to touch a Point, on which I must be more ferious; it well deferves I should I mean the malicious Application of the Character of Timon, which I will boldly fay, they would impute to the Perfon the most different in the World from a Man-hater, and the Perfon whofe Tafte and Encouragement of Wit have often been fhewn in the righteft Place. The Author of that Epistle muft certainly think fo, if he has the fame Opinion of his own Merit as Authors generally have; for he has been favoured by this very Perfon.

Why, in God's Name, must a Portrait, apparently collected from twenty different Men, be applied to one only? Has it his Eye? No, it is very unlike. Has it his Nofe or Mouth? No, they are totally differing. What then, I beseech you? Why, it has the Mole on his Chin. Very well; but muft the Picture therefore be his, and has no other man that Blemish?

Could there be a more molancholy Instance

how much the Tafte of the Publick is vitiated, and turns the most falutary and feafonable Phyfic into Poison, than if amidst the Blaze of a thoufand bright qualities in a Great Man, they should only remark there is a Shadow about him, as what Eminence is without? I am confident the Author was incapable of imputing any fuch to One, whofe whole Life (to ufe his own Expreffion in Print of him) is a continued Series, of good and generous Actions.

I know no man who would be more concerned, if he gave the leaft Pain or Offence to any innocent Perfon; and none who would be lefs concerned, if the Satire were challenged by any one

at whom he would really aim it. If ever that happens, I dare engage he will own it, with all the Freedom of one whofe Cenfures are just, and who fets his Name to them.

T

To the Earl of Burlington.

My LORD,

MARCH 7, 1731.

HE Clamour rais'd about my Epiftle to you, could not give me fo much pain, as I receiv'd pleasure in feeing the general Zeal of the world in the cause of a great Man who is Beneficent, and the particular Warmth of your Lordship in that of a private Man who is innocent.

It was not the Poem that deferv'd this from you; for as I had the Honour to be your Friend, I cou'd not treat you quite like a Poet: but fure the Writer deferv'd more Candor, even from those who knew him not, than to promote a Report, which in regard to that Noble Perfon was Impertinent ; in regard to me, Villainous. Yet I had no great caufe to wonder, that a Character belonging to twenty fhou'd be applied to one; fince, by that means, nineteen wou'd escape the Ridicule.

I was too well content with my Knowledge of that Noble Perfon's Opinion in this Affair, to trouble the Public about it. But fince Malice and Mistake are so long a dying, I have taken the opportunity of a third Edition to declare His Belief, not only of My Innocence, but of Their Malignity, of the former of which my own heart is as confcious, as I fear fome of theirs must be of the latter. His Humanity feels a Concern for the Injury

done

done to Me, while his Greatness of Mind can bear with Indifference the Infult offer'd to Himfelf.*

However, my Lord, I own, that Critics of this Sort can intimidate me, nay half incline me to write no more: That wou'd be making the Town a Compliment which I think it deferves; and which fome, I am fure, wou'd take very kindly. This way of Satire is dangerous, as long as Slander rais'd by Fools of the lowest Rank can find any countenance from those of a higher. Even from the Conduct fhewn on this occafion, I have learnt there are some who wou'd rather be wicked than ridiculous; and therefore it may be fafer to attack Vices than Follies. I will therefore leave my Betters in the quiet Poffeffion of their Idols, their Groves, and their High-Places; and change my Subject from their Pride to their Meannefs, from their Vanities, to their Miferies: And as the only certain way to avoid Misconstructions, to leffen Offence, and not to multiply ill-natur'd Applications, I may probably, in my next, make ufe of Real Names and not of Fictitious Ones. † I am, my Lord,

Your Faithful,

Affectionate Servant,

A. POPE.

Alludes to the Letter the Duke of Cb---wrote to Mr Pope on this occafion, a Copy of which, together with Mr Pope's to

his Grace, we hope to procure for the next Volume.

This he did in his next Piece, which was the Epiftle to

the Lord Bathurst of the Ufe of Riches.