ing legally convicted for bribery and corruption in the administration of justice, while he presided in the supreme court of equity, he endeavoured to repair his ruined fortunes by the most profligate flattery to the court: which, from his very first entrance into it, he had accustomed himself to practise with a prostitution that disgraceth the very profession of letters. Cromwell seemeth to be distinguished in the most eminent manner, with regard to his abilities, from all other great and wicked men, who have overturned the liberties of their country. The times, in which others succeeded in this attempt, were such as saw the spirit of liberty suppressed and stifled, by a general luxury and venality; but Cromwell subdued his country, when this spirit was at its height, by a successful struggle against court oppression; and while it was conducted and supported by a set of the greatest geniuses for government the world ever saw embarked together in one common cause. [As some passages in the Essay on Man have been suspected of favouring the schemes of Leibnitz and Spinoza, or, as Mr. Warburton says, in his note on the Universal Prayer, of a tendency towards Fate and Naturalism; it is thought proper here to insert the two following Letters, to show how ill-grounded such a suspicion is.-These letters are not in any London edition.] Mr. Pope to the younger Racine, a celebrated French writer, occasioned by his animadversions on his Essay on Man, in a poem called Religion. Sir, London, Sept. 1, 1742. THE expectation in which I have been for some time past, of receiving the present you have honoured me with, was the occasion of my delaying so long to answer your letter. I am at length favoured with your poem upon Religion; and should have received from the perusal of it, a pleasure unmixed with pain, had I not the mortification to find, that you impute several principles to me,* *The following lines, cant. 2. 1. 92-97, are probably alluded to. "Sans doute pu'a ces mots, des bords de la Tamise which I abhor and detest. My uneasiness met some alleviation from a passage in your preface, where you declare your inability, from a want of knowledge of the English language, to give your own judgment on the Essay on Man.t You add, that you do not controvert my tenets, but the evil consequences deducible from them, and the maxims which some persons of notable sagacity have imagined that they have discovered in my poem. This declaration is a shining proof of your candour, your discretion, and your charity. I must take leave to assure you, Sir, that your acquaintance with the original has not proved more fatal to me, than the imperfect conceptions of my translators, who have not sufficiently informed themselves of my real sentiments. The many additional embellishments, which my piece has received from the version of M. D. R, have not done an honour to the Essay on Man equal to the prejudice it has suffered from his frequent misapprehension of the principles it inculcates. These mistakes, you will perceive, are totally refuted in the English piece, which I have transmitted to you. It is a + M. Racine, in an advertisement perfixed to his answer to M. Rousseau's letter against the Free-thinkers, speaks thus: "N'ayant pas le bonheur de pouvoir lire dans l'original les ouvagres de M. Pope, le plus celebre poete que l'Angleterre ait aujourd'hui, je ne pretens pas attaquer ici ses veritables sentimens, dont je ne puis etre certain. Je ne pretens attaquer que ceux qui sont devenus si communs parmi nous depuis la lecture de son Essai sur l'Homme, dont les principes n'etant pas assez developes pour nous, sont cause que pluiseurs personnes croyent y turouver un system, qui n'est peut-etre pas elui de l'auteur." critical and philosophic commentary, written by the learned author of the Divine Legation of Moses. I flatter myself that the Chevalier Ramsay will, from his zeal for truth, take the trouble to explain the contents of it. I shall then persuade myself, that your suspicions will be effaced, and I shall have no appeal from your candour and justice. In the mean time, I shall not hesitate to declare myself very cordially, in regard to some particulars about which you have desired an answer. I must avow then openly and sincerely, that my principles are diametrically opposite to the sentiments of Spinoza and Leibnitz; they are perfectly coincident with the tenets of M. Paschal, and the Archbishop of Cambray ; and I shall always esteem it an honour to me, to imitate the moderation with which the latter submitted his private opinions to the decisions of the church of which he professed himself a member. I have the honour to be, &c. A. POPE. Mr. Racine's Answer to Mr. Pope. Paris, Oct. 25, 1742. Sir, THE mildness and humility with which you justify yourself is a convincing proof of your religion; the more so, as you have done it to one on whom it is incumbent to nake his own apology for his rash attack upon your cha €6 RACINE'S ANSWER. racter. Your manner of pardoning me is the more delicate, as it is done without any mixture of reproach. But though you acquit me with so much politeness, I shall not so easily forgive myself. Certain it is, a precipitance of zeal hurried me away. As I had often heard positions, said to be yours, or at least consequences resulting from your Essay, cited against certain truths, which I now find you respect as much as myself, I thought I had a right to enter the lists with you. The passage in my preface was extorted from me by a degree of remorse, which I felt in writing against you. This remorse, Sir, was awakened in me by the consideration that the greatest men are always the most susceptible of the truths of revelation. I was really grieved to think that Mr. Pope should oppose a religion, whose enemies have ever been contemptible; and it appeared strange, that in a work which points out the road to happiness, you should furnish arms to those who are industrious to misguide us in the research. Your letter, at the same time that it does honour to your character, must bring a blush in my face, for having entertained unjust suspicions. But, notwithstanding this, I think myself obliged to make it public. The injury which I have done you was so, the reparation should be the same. I owe this to you, I owe it to myself, I owe it to justice. Whatever may be said in your favour in the commentary you have sent me, it is now rendered unnecessary by your own declaration. The respect which you avow for the religion you profess, is a sufficient vindication of your |