Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1821-06-22

Homer with rapture which subsequent work
could ever afford and children are not the worst
Judges other own language. As boy I read Ho-
MGR IN the original have all done, SOME OF US
by force, and IA few bv favour; under which tcs-
eruption come is nothing to the purpose, iii
enough that l read him. As IA man haze tried TO
read Cowpers version, and found i, impossible.
Has any human reader succeeded
And now that We have heard the Catholic re-
preached viii, envy, duplicy RIGHTEOUSNESS, ava-
rlce--what WAS the Calvinist lie ATTEMPTED the
most atrocions of crimes in the Christian code viz
| stucide-and why because nc was 20 he examined
whether he was MT for Office which he seems to
wish to have made Il sinecnrc. His connection with
Mrs. unwin was pure enough, for the old lady was
deyout, and he was dpr;ngcd but WHY then is the
inhrm and ,hcn elderly Pope iobe reproved for his
| connexion with Martha Blount Cowpcr was the
almoner Of Mrs. Throgmorton; but Pope's chari-
Ties were has own, and they were noble and extern
sive tar beyond his fortunes warrant. Pope was
the tolerant yet steady adhercnt OF the most bgoted
OF sccts; andCowper the most bgotcd and despon-
dent sect,ry that anticipated damnation him
self or others. Is this harsh know is and do
not assert II as my opinion of Cowpcr persoRnlh,
but to shoc 'chGt might be said, with just as great
an appearance of,ruth and candour as NIL the obi
um which has been accumulated upon Pope in ST.
mlar spcculatons Cowper was good man, and
lived AT a fortunate time Tor his works.
| Mr. Bowlcs apparently not relying entirely upon
MS own arguments, has in person by proxy
Drought forward the names of Soutley and Moore.
Mr. Southcy'' agrees entirely with Mr. Bowles in
his inrGiabte principles poetry" The least that
Mr. Bowlcs can do in return is approve the g in
| variable principles of Mr.. Southey'' should have
| thought that tie word g inrUiaGie' might have
| stuck in Sou,hey's throat, like Macbcths :. Amen!"
am sure IL did in mine, and not the least con-
sstent OF the two, 1T least rs voter. Moore Get
Ia brute y aise approves, and Mr. j. Scott, There
Is a letter also of two lines from gentleman in as
terisks, who, IT seems, it poe, OF the highest
| rank'-who Cua this be not my friend, Sir Wal
ter, surely Can2bch it can, be; Rogers ii won't
be.
| !" You have hi he mil IN the head, and -
| Pope, presume oa the head also"
/ 5ei'oin yours, ailcc;ionatcly,
| -Four .f.teriSks.)
And in astcrisls lct him remain. Whoever his
| person may be, he deserves for such Judgment oil
Midas, that the naii'' which Mr.. Bowles has {" hit
"a the head shouldbc driven through his own ears
I am sure that they long enough
The attempt of the poetical populacc OF the pre-
sent day to obtain an os,racism against Pope is az
| easily accounted for the Ail,cnians shell against
ArIstIdcs they are tired of hearing him always
called" the Just They are also fighting for life
forit lie maintains his station. they will reach their
| own by falling. They have raised mosque by the
side ola Grecian temple of the purcst architecture
| and, more barbarous than the harhari;,ns from
whose practice have borrowed the figure, they are
not contented with their grocsque cdifcc, un-
less they destroy tue prior and purely beautiful IA
| brc which preceded, and which shamcs them and
theirs for ever and ever. shall be told that amongst
those hare bccu Tor may be- still any conspicu
! ous-rue, and aa ashamed oft hare been a.
| mongst the builders Of this Babel, attended by
confusion of tongues, but amongst the cnvious
destroyers OF the classic temple of our predecessor
| have loved and honored the fame and the name OF
that illustrlous and unrivaled man, far more than
my own patry renown, and the trashy jingle of the
| crowd of " Schools and upstarts who pretend to
rival, or even surpass him. Sooner than "A single
leaf should be torn from his laurel, it were better
that all which these men, and that of their
| set, have ever written, should
! Line trunks, cloths SPICE or, hutterng in a row,
Befringe the rails of Bedlam. or Soho y
| There are those who will believe this, and those
who will not. You, sir, know how far am sincere,
and whether my opinion, not only in the short work
intended for publication, but in private letters
| which can never be published, has or has not been
the same. L look upon this the declining age OF
English poetry NO regard for Others selfish feel
ing can prevent me from seeing this, and express
| ing the truth. There can be sign for the
taste OF the times than the depreciation Of Pope.
1t would he better TO receive for proof Mr.. Cobbets
| rough but strong attack upon Shakespeare and Mil
ton, than to allow this smooth and candid" under
mining OF the reputation of the most perfect of our
poets and the pureSt of moralists OF his DOW
er in the plssioas, i'll description in the mock hero
| &c, leave others to descant take him his
strong ground, as an ethical poet in the former
| none eXcel III the mock heroic and the ethical
none equal him and IN my mind, the latter is the
highest OF all poetry, because il does that in verse
which the greatest men have wished TO accom-
piSh in prose. II the essence of poetry must be
he, throw it to the dogs Danish it from your re-
| public, as Plato would have done He who can re-
conclc poetry with truth and WISDOM is the only
true pOeL IN It's real sense, The maker, - the
cyodtor'-why must this mean the liar" the
- fegner," the " tale teller Z" A man NAV make
and create better things than these.
shall not presume TO say that Pope is rs high
poet Shakespeare and Milton, though his enemy,
| Waron, places him Immediately under them |
would no moro say this than would assert in the
mosque (once Saint Sophia's,) that Socrates was
greater man than Mahomet. But if | say that he is
very near tIcm il is than has been asserted
oil Barns, who is supposed
" To rival all but Shahspeare's name below"
| say nothing against this opinion. But of what
order" according to the poctca arisocracy, are
turns poems There arc his opus HdgHtir,, Tam
O'Shanter, tGLe the COtter's Saturday Might a
descriptive sketch some others in the same style
| the rest arc songs So much for the rank Of his
productions; the rank of Burns is the very first of
IN art. vi Pope have expressed my opinion else
where, as $50 OF the effect which the present at
tempts at poetry have had upon our literature If
any great national OF natural convulsion could or
should ovcrwhelm your country in such sort, as To
sweep Great Britain from the Kingdoms of the
eaf'h and leave only that, alter all the living
OF human things, derd language, to be studied
and read, and initiated by the wise of future and far
generations, upon foreign shores il your literature
should become the learning of mankind, Invested
OF party cabals, temporary fashions and national
PRIDE and prejudice ; an Englshman, anxious that
the posterity OF strangers should know that there
had been such thing British Epic and Trage-
dy, might wish for the preservation of Shakespeare
and Milton but the surviving world would snatch
rope from the wreck, and let the sink with the
people. lie is the moral poet of all civilization
and as such, let Us hope that he will day be the
national poei of mankind lie is the only poet that
never shocks ihe on poet whose ftilfiessness has
been made his reprOach Cast your eye over his
productions ; consider their extent, and contem-
plate their variety :--pusora, passions mock hero
ic, Transitions satire cthics,ill excellent and Of
ten perfect. II his great charm be his neiolg, how
comes II that foreigners adore him in their d-
luted IranslatOns But have made this letter too
long Give my compliments to Mr. Bowles.
ioGra ever, very truly,
BYRON
Past Scrip'a5i.-- Long as this letter has grown, 7
find It necessary 10 append postscript /; possible
"a short one. Mr.. Bowles denies that he has accus-