New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-24

! tor and Achilles rings thin and metallic" Even
! though ne had had infinitely deeper schoIar-
/ ship he would have missed the Homeric note.
| The truth is that he needed larger soul for
the great enterprise even more than he needed
a better scholarship. Had he possessed the
| former he would have held himself up 10 scorn
in his own "Dunciad' before attempting to be-
dizen the mighty epic with his cracking hneEy.
But when he used that 1nery to drape the Iegiti-
mate motives of his imagination he Transformed
| it by a kind Of alchemy until it giittered ike
| cloth of gold, and if he missed the romantic
! glow which We like to associate with that fabric
| ne gained something. very much his own. which
no one who loves brilliant effect can resist.
| Somewhere among his verses-so often touched
by the influence Of this pOet-Mr Austin Dob
son. after giving the devils advocate his due.
stoutIy declares his loyal readiness 70 fling his
| cap for Pope. We appreciate this emotion.
! After one has read POpes Homer and has
/ shaken ones head over its amazing transmOgri-
1 fcation Of the poet one pauses TO reflect the
| pleasure the work has nevertheless yielded
After one has reInquished with decidedly mixed
| feelings the 'Paraphrases from ChaUcer," or
| those quantity pastoral "PastOrals' one remeT-
| bers that there is always The Rape OF the
| Lock- to fall back upon the Essay on Crit-
| cism," or the "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot," or
| THE Dunciad" With these the reader is at
4
| to fling his cap for him, not caring a straw
| whether he was kind or unkind Just unjust,
/ an honest man or a rascal It is sufficient that
| in these things Pope is poet. OF what account
| is it that the lode for Music on ST. Cecilia's
| Day. sends US for refreshment TO Dryden or
/ Gray when the tale of Belinda remains 70 exert
/ an enchantment for supreme in its way
as any that Gray or Dryden could bring to
| bear? We may smile with a sense Of the incOn-
| gruity of the thing when We find Pope playing
with the ballad form in a composition Ike The
| Challenge" but We listen with unmeasured de-
| light when. on his own ground. he gives US
vignette of the literary life Of his time in lines
| like these.
| ne'er with Wits or Writings pass'd my days
| To spread about the itch Of verse and praise.
Nor IKE PUPPY Gagged l InrO ti s, ~ ~
| Nor at rehearsals sweat. and moutht and cried.
But sick Of tops, and poetry; and pirate.
| To Bufo left the whole CastaIian state.
Proud as Apollo his fOrked hill
| Sat full blown Bufo pun d by evr quiA-
/ Horace and he went hand in hand in song
His library (ghere bGsts Of poets 2sSs5s,, dead In
Receiv'd of Wits undistinsuishd race.
Much ltS they extoITd his pictures much bis seat
And fatter'd eyry day; and SOM me. DAYS KS, eat
| He paid bards with port, and some WIN
To some dry rehearsal was assigr'd.
! And others (harder stilb ne paid IN kln,t
1 u
Dryden alone escaped this judging eye.
| But still the great have kindness IN reserve
/ He help'd bury whom he helpd 10 starte-
| The passage is one of a hundred illustrating
Pope's salient merits, his diTectness and clarity,
/ his agile movement mis- pictorial faculty. gift
| on which one is sOreIy tempted to enlarSe-and,
| above all. that exhilarating atmosphere, as Of
| man in full possession OF his theme. and draw
| ing with unerring instinct upon rich resources
/ for its adornment. which is. perhaps. as inn
/ portant as anything in Pope. Speaking Of his
| poets peculiar education and his escape from
/ 'the discipline of a regular academic career.
/ Mr.. Boynton observes that such mind IS his
/ is not likely to submit itself readily 20 rigid
/ processes of thought" and he quotes Pope him
/ self on the subject in letter to Spence. when
1 had done with my priests he says. Il took to
reading by myself. for which I have a very
! great eagerness and enthusiasm, especially Tor
/ poetry; and in a very few years I had dipped
| into Il great number of English. French, Italian
| Latin and Greek poets. This did without any
/ design but that of pleasing myself, and got the
language by hunting after the stories in the
several authors I read. rather than read the
books to get the language. Thus the cultIYa-
ton which makes itself felt in mis- work reflects
always the fresh and lively intellect, ranging
nimbly over life and letters and never the mere
pedant. The point is important as bearing upon
one more of his virtues. the fexibility which IS