I

LETTER

XVII.

The Earl of OXFORD to Mr Pope.

SIR,

Brampton-Caftle, Nov. 6. 1721. Received your packet, which could not but give ine great pleasure, to fee you preferve an old friend in your memory; for it must needs be very agreeable to be remember'd by those we highly value. But then, how much fhame did it cause me, when I read your very fine verses inclosed? my mind reproached me how far fhort I came of what your great friendship and delicate pen would partially defcribe me. You ask my confent to publish it: to what traits doth this reduce me? I look back indeed to thofe evenings I have usefully and pleasantly spent, with Mr Pope, Mr Parnelle, Dean Swift, the Doctor, &c. I fhould be glad the world knew You admitted me to your friendship, and fince your affection is too hard for your judgment, I am contented to let the world know how well Mr Pope can write upon a barren subject. I return you an exact copy of the verfes, that I may keep the Origi. nal, as a teftimony of the only error you have been guilty of. I hope very speedily to embrace you in London, and to affure you of the particular efteem and friendship wherewith I am

Your, &c.

PP

VOL. V.

OXFORD.

LETTERS

TO AND FROM

EDWARD BLOUNT, Efq.

From the Year 1714 to 1725.

LETTER I.

Mr POPE to EDWARD BLOUNT, Efq.

WE

Aug. 27. 1714.

Hatever ftudies on the one hand, or amusements latever on the other, it fhall be my fortune to fall into, I fhall be equally incapable of forgetting you in any of them. The task I undertook, tho' of weight enough in itself, has had a voluntary increase by the enlarging my design of the Notes; and the neceffity of confulting a number of books has carried me to Oxford: but, I fear, thro' my Lord Harcourt's and Dr Clark's means, I fhall be more converfant with the pleasures and company of the place, than with the books and manufcripts of it.

I find ftill more reafon to complain of the negligence of the Geographers in their maps of old Greece, fince I looked upon two or three more noted names in the public libraries here. But with all the care I

am capable of, I have fome caufe to fear the engraver will prejudice me in a few fituations. I have been forced to write to him in fo high a ftyle, that were my epiftle intercepted, it would raife no finall admiration in an ordinary man. There is fcarce an order in it of lefs importance, than to remove fuch and fuch mountains, alter the courfe of fuch and fuch rivers, place a large city on fuch a coast, and raze another in another country. I have fet bounds to the fea, and faid to the land, Thus far fhalt thou advance, and no further*. In the mean time, I who talk and command at this rate, am in danger of lofing my horse, and ftand in fome fear of a country juftice t. To difarm me indeed may be but prudential, confidering what armies I have at present on foot, and in my fervice; a hundred thousand Grecians are no contemptible body; for all that I can tell, they may be as formidable as four thousand priefts; and they feem proper forces to fend against thofe in Barcelona. That fiege deferves as fine a poem as the Iliad, and the machining part of poetry would be the jufter in it, as, they fay, the inhabitants expect angels from heaven to their affiftance. May I venture to fay, who am a Papist, and say to you who are a Papist, that nothing is more astonishing to me, than that people fo greatly warmed with a fenfe of liberty, fhould be capable of harbouring fuch weak fuperftition; and that so

This relates to the Map of ancient Greece, laid down by our Author in his obfervations on the fecond Iliad.

Some of the Laws were, at this time, put in force against the Papists.

much bravery and fo much folly can inhabit the fame breafts?

I could not but take a frip to London on the death of the Queen, mov'd by the common curiosity of mankind, who leave their own business to be look ing upon other mens. I thank God, that, as for myfelf, I am below all the accidents of state changes by my circumstances; and above them by my philofophy. Common charity of man to man, and univerfal goodwill to all, are the points I have most at heart; and I am fure, thofe are not to be broken for the fake of any governors, or government. I am willing to hope the best, and what I more with than my own or any particular man s advancement, is, that this turn may put an end entirely to the divifions of Whig and Tory; that the parties may love each other as well as I love them both, or at least hurt each other as little as I would either: and that our own people may live as quietly as we fhall certainly let theirs; that is to fay, that want of power itself in us may not be a fu rer prevention of harm, than want of will in them. I am fure, if all Whigs and all Tories had the fpirit of one Roman Catholic that I know, it would be well for all Roman Catholics; and if all Roman.Catholics had always had that fpirit, it had been well for all others; and we had never been charged with so wicked a fpirit as that of perfecution.

I agree with you in my fentiments of the state of our nation fince this change: I find myself juft in the fame fituation of mind you defcribe as your own, heartily wishing the good, that is, the quiet of my country, and hoping a total crd of all the unhappy di

visions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few.

I am, &c.

LETTER II

From Mr BLOUNT.

Tis with a great deal of pleasure I see your letter,

Idear Sir, written in a ftyle that thews you full of

health, and in the midst of diverfions: I think thofe two things neceffary to a man who has fuch undertakings in hand as Yours. All lovers of Homer are indebted to you for taking so much pains about the fituation of his Hero's kingdoms; it will not only be of great use with regard to his works, but to all that read any of the Greek hiftorians; who generally are ill underftood thro' the difference of the maps as to the places they treat of, which makes one think one author contradicts another. You are going to fet us right; and 'tis an advantage every body will gladly fee you engross the glory of

You can draw rules to be free and easy, from formal pedants; and teach men to be short and pertinent, from tedious commentators. However, I congratulate your happy deliverance from such authors, as you (with all your humanity) cannot wifh alive again to converse with. Critics will quarrel with you, if you dare to please without their leave; and Zealots will shrug up their shoulders at a man that pretends to get to Heaven out of their form, drefs and diet. I would no more make a judment of an author's genius from a damning