Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-06-09
,1;,, 80, -. ..,u,,d Midas for his taste.

/ Heardt thee. in critic lore so skPd and deep,
| Descant on Cowpers s'st9eoraceous heap"
With kindred eiods he would have crownd thy orahs'
And link'd thee to dunghill for thy PANS
He adds-"As have given you so little in
return for the presents you nave heaPea upon
me, what if here only beg your acceptance oil
four impromptu lines for your long qao'a''h
from the Dunciad.
son Pope, Introducing an old Woman among the Cha'
racfers Of men.
| ssPope placed an old woman mid portraits OF men-
Hear this, We bold critics, and .rembie-
Because he foresaw that one critic would rise
Who should most an old ,conan resemble
Proceed we next to Mr. BIS answer to the
Quarterly Review No. 64,) under whose pointed
and personal critique it could hardly De ex-
pec,ed that Mr.. B. would be silent. lhis part
Of his publication be begins with observing: u
should not have continued this apparently IN
terminable strife further, but my old TREND The
Quarterly has turned oat again with something
like renewed spite, if not with renewed Vlgour,
like Atenus from the ground; have therefore
determined, whilst my hand Is in, and whilst the
unfortunate Mr.. Roscoe is on the ground, sur
rounded with sympathising nice, and signing
frogs, to turn for the last time, 10 his oofte-Hodsf
"My new antagonist, armed Win quarter
staff, is by no means 10 be disreSarded; though
am little out of breath, and what is worse, a
little out of pocket; for, il had three hundred
pounds for my edition Of Pope, have spent
nearly as much in defending myself, getting all
the abuse for nothing! But,
'-bell signum laurent Turnus alb arce
Exulit'"
Mr.. 3. next proceeds to show that his "inva-
riable principles of poetry have weathered every
storm and arrived safe in 'front.' that the Quar-
terly Reviewer places Mr.. Pope in exactly the
same rank Of poetical excellence, as he had done
before, however his arguments may have been
overlooked and mis-stated; that "there is not a
shade of difference between the Quarterly Re-
viewers opinion and his own, -"that Pope, as
a descriptive poet, was inferior 10 Cowper and
Thomson; as lyric poet, falled;-dld not at
tempt tragic or cpic;-was unrivaled, and ne
yer, in his opinion observes MIR. B. TO be e.
qualed in the Rape Of the Locke, and Epistle
to Neutrality-suspicious. to all others, ancient or
modern, as didactic or satirical poet; butSas
far as the noblest character and distinction OF
the most elevated kind of poetry, it is indeh-
mite to call him the greatest English poet; tor,
from the nature Of his subjects, however .exqul-
sitely treated, he must rank inferior 10 Shaks-
peare, Milton, and Spencer!!!!'
The Quarterly Reviewer alleges that Mr.. b
has unjustly applied the description of various
characters, given by Pope, to certain individuals
to whom they did not belong, and for whom
they were never intended. Thus Bufo, in the
Prologue to the Satires, according TO this OBJ
jec'or, was not Lord Halifax; nor Timob, the
Duke of Chandos; nor Sappho, Lady NJ w.
viii n R,iFp In
Bowlcs very ably contends, that the Character
could not possibly app y TO any other indlvldu
al The Reviewer maintains that Lork Hall
fax died in i7l5; but that the lines were moi
published till 1884 "Whatis the reason" asks
Mr.. BowIes, ",hat Pope, publishing mis- satire
in 1884, could not possibly have intended Bufo
for Lord Halifax? because Lord Halifax died in
l7l5; as if the lines might not have been writ
ten long before they were published: and as if
Pope did not say himself, that this Poem was
begun many years aso!" We must observe OIL
this point, that if the picture be noran actual
resemblance, it approaches wonderfully near to
likeness Of Lord Halif,x; and that the coinci.
dence, if not meant for him., is almost miracu-
lous. Mr. Bowles exuts in the triumph which
he has gained over the Quarterly Reviewer and
MIR Roscoe, by his cumulative proofs, that Blu
70 was really and truly Lord Halifax, and con-
hden,ly exclaims, 81 thought it absolutely i'm
possible there could be two noodles in his ma
jesty's dominions who could doubt, much less
deny it."-"I could rot conceive there could be
another such blockhead in the Caslalian state
IF 1925, as the editor of work so popular as
the Quarterly Review, who could have suffered
such ignoran, impotence "to pirate about Pope
and poetry" and b!azon in petty righteousness
and downright stupidity in front Of that Corin-
THAN journal"
Mr. BowIes shews no mercy whatever to-
wards the Quarterly writer, but attacks his in
visible assailant in every possible way-some-
times by ridicule-,hen BY invcctiye-and even
drama ,icai2y; for he has treaed his readers with
scene under the following title: "Bayea,
Bowles, ard the two Kings Of Brentford, per-
formed by Noodle and Doodle" Mr.. Roscoe
mplimen,s MIR, Bowles with the appellatlon
of "fend;" and Mr.. B. re,aliates on Mr.. R. and
his antagonist, by styling them geese" How
truly edifying is all this personsi oadinage to
the bystanders!
In the next place, Mr.. B. proceeds 10 refute
another assertion of his Quarterly adversary
with respect to pope's character Of Sappho, as
applied TO Lady NJ w. Montague.
With respect to the Clandestine publication
Of Pope's Letters. about which SO much has
been said in this controversy, or his prvity to
it, however confident MIR. Bowes may be on
the subject, we beg leave for the present, and