Alexander Pope

“ A trifling Head, and a corrupted Heart!
Eve's Tempter thus the Rabbins have exprest,
A Cherub's face, a Reptile all the rest; 315
Beauty that shocks you, Parts that none will trust,
Wit that can creep, and Pride that licks the dust. ”

“ This Man had the Impudence to tell in print, that Mr. P. had occasion'd a Lady's Death, and to name a person he never heard of. He also publish'd that he had libell'd the Duke of Chandos; with whom (it was added) that he had liv'd in familiarity and receiv'd from him a Present of five hundred pounds: The falsehood of which is known to his Grace, whom Mr. P. never had the honour to see but twice, and never receiv'd any Present farther than the the subscription for Homer, from him, or from Any Great Man whatsoever. ”

“ Did some more sober Critics come abroad? 155
If wrong, I smil'd; if right, I kiss'd the rod. ”

“ But what is stranger, a Nobleman (if such a Reflection can he thought to come from a Noblemen) has dropt an Allusion to this pitiful Untruth, in his Epistle to a Doctor of Divinity; And the following Line,
Hard as thy Heart, and as thy Birth obscure,
had fallen from or a like Courtly pen, in the Verses to the Imitator of Horace. Mr. Pope's Father was of a Gentleman's Family in Oxfordshire, the Head of which was the Earl of Downe, whose sole Heiress married the Earl of Lindsey.—His Mother was the Daughter of William Turnor, Esq ”

“ Let Budgel charge low Grubstreet on his quill, 360
And write whate'er he pleas'd, except his Will:
Let the Two Curls of Town and Court abuse
His Father, Mother, Body, Soul, and Muse. [19]
Yet why? that Father held it for a rule
It was a Sin to call our Neighbour Fool, 365
That harmless Mother thought no Wife a Whore,—
Hear this! and spare his Family, James M*
Unspotted Names! and memorable long,
If there be Force in Virtue, or in Song. ”

“ I was not born for Courts or great Affairs,
I pay my Debts, believe, and go to Pray'rs,
Can sleep without a Poem in my head,
Nor know, if Dennis be alive or dead. ”

“ Dryden, tho' a scandalous Libel against him, entitled Dryden’s Satyr to his Muse, has been printed in the Name of the Lord Somers, of which he was wholly ignorant. ↑ Authors of secret and scandalous History. ↑ Supposed to be the late E. of S—rl—d Minister of State to K. G. I. Others think Mr. D———. ↑ See the Epistle to the Earl of Burlington. ↑ Lord H———rv———y. ↑ In the fourth Book of Milton, the Devil is represented in this Posture. It is but justice to own, that the Hint of Eve and the Serpent was taken from the Verses on the Imitator of Horace. ↑ Lies so oft o'erthrown. ”

“ Budgel in a Weekly Pamphlet call'd the Bee, bestow'd much abuse on him, in the imagination that he writ some things about the Last Will of Dr. Tindal, in the Grubstreet Journal; a Paper wherein he never had the least Hand, Direction, er Supervisal, nor the least knowledge of its Authors. He took no notice of so frantick an Abuse; and expected that any man that knew him self Author of what he was slander'd for, would have justify'd him on that Article. ”

“ Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; 200
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a Fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous Foe, and a suspicious Friend,
Dreading ev'n Fools, by Flatterers besieg'd, 205
And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd; ”

“ Such as those in relation to Mr. A—, that Mr. P. writ his Character after his death, &c. that he set his Name to Mr. Broom's Verses, that he receiv'd Subscriptions for Shakespear, &c. which tho' publickly disprov'd by the Testimonies prefix'd to the Dunciad, were nevertheless shamelesly repeated in the Libels, and even in the Paper called, The Nobleman's Epistle. ”

“ And St. John's self (great Dryden's friends before [8] )
With open arms receiv'd one Poet more.
Happy my Studies, when by these approv'd! 140
Happier their Author, when by these belov'd!
From these the world will judge of Men and Books,
Not from the [9] Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cooks.
Soft were my Numbers, who could take offence
While pure Description held the place of Sense? 145
Like gentle Damon's was my flow'ry Theme,
A painted Mistress, or a purling Stream.
Yet then did Gildon draw his venal quill ”