Transcriber's Note:
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FIFTH THOUSAND.
The life and writings of Pope have been discussed in a literature morevoluminous than that which exists in the case of almost any otherEnglish man of letters. No biographer, however, has produced adefinitive or exhaustive work. It seems therefore desirable to indicatethe main authorities upon which such a biographer would have to rely,and which have been consulted for the purpose of the followingnecessarily brief and imperfect sketch.
The first life of Pope was a catchpenny book, by William Ayre, publishedin 1745, and remarkable chiefly as giving the first version of somedemonstrably erroneous statements, unfortunately adopted by laterwriters. In 1751, Warburton, as Pope's literary executor, published theauthoritative edition of the poet's works, with notes containing somebiographical matter. In 1769 appeared a life by Owen Ruffhead, who wroteunder Warburton's inspiration. This is a dull and meagre performance,and much of it is devoted to an attack—partly written by Warburtonhimself—upon the criticisms advanced in the first volume of JosephWarton's Essay on Pope. Warton's first volume was published in 1756; andit seems that the dread of Warburton's wrath counted for something inthe delay of the second volume, which did not appear till 1782. TheEssay contains a good many anecdotes of interest. Warton's edition ofPope—the notes in which are chiefly drawn from the Essay—was publishedin 1797. The Life by Johnson appeared in 1781; it is [Pg vi]admirable in manyways; but Johnson had taken the least possible trouble in ascertainingfacts. Both Warton and Johnson had before them the manuscriptcollections of Joseph Spence, who had known Pope personally during thelast twenty years of his life, and wanted nothing but literary abilityto have become an efficient Boswell. Spence's anecdotes, which were notpublished till 1820, give the best obtainable information upon manypoints, especially in regard to Pope's childhood. This ends the list ofbiographers who were in any sense contemporary with Pope. Theirstatements must be checked and supplemented by the poet's own letters,and innumerable references to him in the literature of the time. In 1806appeared the edition of Pope by Bowles, with a life prefixed. Bowlesexpressed an unfavourable opinion of many points in Pope's character,and some remarks by Campbell, in his specimens of English poets, led toa controversy (1819-1826) in which Bowles defended his views againstCampbell, Byron, Roscoe, and others, and which incidentally cleared upsome disputed questions. Roscoe, the author of the Life of Leo X.,published his edition of Pope in 1824. A life is contained in the firstvolume, but it is a feeble performance; and the notes, many of themdirected against Bowles, are of little value. A more complete biographywas published by R. Carruthers (w