would have been to his relish. Gay has got so ⚫ much money by his Art of Walking the Streets, that he is ready to set up his equipage: he is just going to the Bank, to negotiate some Exchange bills. 'Mr. Pope delays his second volume of his Homer 'till the martial spirit of the rebels is quite quelled, it being judged that the first part did some harm that way. Our love again and again to the dear Dean. Fuimus torys, I can say no more.

< · ARBUTHNOT.'

When a man is conscious that he does no good ⚫ himself, the next thing is to cause others to do some. I may claim some merit this way, in has'tening this testimonial from your friends abovewriting: their love to you indeed wants no spur, their ink wants no pen, their pen wants no hand, ⚫ their hand wants no heart, and so forth, (after the 4 manner of Rabelais; which is betwixt some meaning and no meaning); and yet it may be said, when present thought and opportunity is wanting, their pens want ink, their hands want pens, their hearts want hands, &c. till time, place, and conveniency, ⚫ concur to set them writing, as at present, a sociable meeting, a good dinner, warm fire, and aneasy situa-. tion do, to the joint labour and pleasure of this epistle.

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Wherein if I should say nothing I should say • much (much being included in my love), though my love be such, that, if I should say much, I • should yet say nothing, it being (as Cowley says) • equally impossible either to conceal or to express it. If I were to tell you the thing I wish above all things, it is to see you again; the next is to see here your treatise of Zoilus, with the Batrachomuomachia, and the Pervigilium Veneris, both which poems are master-pieces in several kinds; and I question not the prose is as excellent in its sort, as

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• the

the Essay on Homer. Nothing can be more glorious to that great Author, than that the same hand that raised his best statue, and decked it with its old laurels, should also hang up the scare-crow of his miserable critic, and gibbet up the carcase of Zoilus, to the terror of the witlings of posterity. 'More, and much more, upon this and a thousand ' other subjects, will be the matter of my next letter, ' wherein I must open all the friend to you. At this ' time I must be content with telling you, I am faithfully your most affectionate and humble servant,

'A. POPE.'

If we regard this letter with a critical eye, we must find it indifferent enough; if we consider it as a mere effusion of friendship, in which every writer contended in affection, it will appear much to the honour of those who wrote it. To be mindful of an absent friend in the hours of mirth and feasting, when his company is least wanted, shews no slight degree of sincerity. Yet probably there was still another motive for writing thus to him in conjunction. The above-named, together with Swift and Parnell, had some time before formed themselves into a saciety, called the Scribblerus Club, and I should suppose they commemorated him thus, as being an ab

sent member.

It is past a doubt that they wrote many things in conjunction, and Gay usually held the pen. And yet I do not remember any productions which were the joint effort of this society, as doing it honour. There is something feeble and quaint in all their attempts, as if company repressed thought, and genius wanted solitude for its boldest and happiest exertions. Of those productions in which Parnell had a principal share, that of the origin of the Sciences from the Monkies VOL. IV. C

in

in Ethiopia, is particularly mentioned by Pope him. self, in some manuscript anecdotes which he left behind him. The Life of Homer also, prefixed to the translation of the Iliad, is written by Parnell and corrected by Pope; and, as that great poet assures us in the same place, this correction was not effected without great labour. "It is still stiff,' says he,' and was written still stiffer: as it is, I verily think it cost 'me more pains in the correcting, than the writing 'it would have done.' All this may be easily credited; for every thing of Parnell's, that has appeared in prose, is written in a very aukward inelegant manner. It is true, his productions teem with imagination, and shew great learning, but they want that ease and sweetness for which his poetry is so much admired; and the language is also shamefully incorrect. Yet, though all this must be allowed, Pope should have taken care not to leave his errors upon record against him, or put it in the power of envy to tax his friend with faults, that do not appear in what he has left to the world. A poet has a right to expect same secrecy in his friend as in his confessor; the sins he discovers are not divulged for punishment but pardon. Indeed, Pope is almost inexcusable in this instance, as what he seems to condemn in one place, he very much applauds in another. In one of the letters from him to Parnell, above mentioned, he treats the Life of Homer with much greater respect, and seems to say, that the prose is excellent in its kind. It must be confessed, however, that he is by no means inconsistent; what he says in both places may very easily be reconciled to truth; but who can de fend his candour and his sincerity?

the

It would be hard, however, to suppose that there was no real friendship between these great men. The benevolence of Parnell's disposition remains unimpeached; and Pope, though subject to starts of pas

sion and envy, yet never missed an opportunity of. being truly serviceable to him. The commerce be tween them was carried on to the common interest of both. When Pope had a Miscellany to publish, he applied to Parnell for poetical assistance, and the latter as implicitly submitted to him for correction. Thus they mutually advanced each other's interest or fame, and grew stronger by conjunction. Nor was Pope the only person to whom Parnell had recourse for assistance. We learn from Swift's letters to Stella, that he submitted his pieces to all his friends, and readily adopted their alterations. Swift, among the the number, was very useful to him in that particular; and care has been taken that the world should not remain ignorant of the obligation.

But in the connexion of wits, interest has generally very little share; they have only pleasure in view, and can seldom find it but among each other. The Scribblerus Club, when the members were in town, were seldom asunder, and they often made excursions together into the country, and generally on foot. Swift was usually the butt of the company, and if a trick was played, he was always the sufferer. The whole party once agreed to walk down to the house of Lord B, who is still living, and whose seat is about twelve miles from town. As every one

agreed to make the best of his way, Swift, who was remarkable for walking, soon left the rest behind him, fully resolved, upon his arrival, to chuse the very best bed for himself, for that was his custom. In the mean time Parnell was determined to prevent his intentions, and taking horse arrived at Lord B's by another way, long before him. Having apprized his lordship of Swift's design, it was resolved at any rate to keep him out of the house; but how to effect this was the question. Swift never had the smallpox, and was very much afraid of catching it as

soon therefore as he appeared striding along at some distance from the house, one of his lordship's servants was dispatched, to inform him, that the smallpox was then making great ravages in the family, but that there was a summer-house with a field-bed at his service, at the end of the garden. There the dis appointed Dean was obliged to retire, and take a cold supper that was sent out to him, while the rest were feasting within. However, at last they took compassion on him; and upon his promising never to chuse the best bed again, they permitted him to make one of the company.

There is something satisfactory in these accounts of the follies of the wise; they give a natural air to the picture, and reconcile us to our own. There have been few poetical societies, more talked of, or productive of a greater variety of whimsical conceits, than this of the Scribblerus Club, but how long it lasted I cannot exactly determine. The whole of Parnell's poetical existence was not of more than eight or ten years continuance; his first excursions to England began about the year 1706, and he died in the year 1718; so that it is probable the club began with him, and his death ended the connexion. Indeed, the festivity of his conversation, the benevolence of his heart, and the generosity of his temper, were qualities that might serve to cement any society, and that could hardly be replaced when he was taken away. During the two or three last years of his life, he was more fond of company than ever, and could scarcely bear to be alone. The death of his wife, it is said, was a loss to him that he was unable to support or recover. From that time he could never venture to court the Muse in solitude, where he was sure to find the image of her who first inspired his attempts. He began therefore to throw himself into every company, and to seek from wine, if not

relief,