3 In the arrangement of an epistolary correspondence two distinct methods have been resorted to; the first is that of a strict chronological series, by which, without regard to the persons to whom they are addressed, the letters are given according to their date; the other is that of arranging the letters of each correspondent under a separate and peculiar head. The former of these modes has been generally adopted, and has in its favour the high authority, amongst others, of the excellent edition of the works of Swift by Sir Walter Scott; but in the various editions of the works of Pope, from his own time to the present, the latter method has been preferred, and has hitherto been adhered to in the present edition. That each of these has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages must be admitted; and it would be well if the former could be obtained without incurring the latter. This, however, it is evident can only be done in particular cases, where a chronological order can be combined, if not with a perfect unity of subject, at least with such an association between the parties, and such a participation of their opinions, studies, and pursuits, as intimately connect them together, and render each portion an illustration of the rest. An occasion of this kind, it is conceived, has occurred in the following correspondence; in which a number of celebrated literary characters are introduced, frequently engaged in discussing the same subject, two or more of them sometimes joining in the same letter, maintaining a constant understanding and participation of sentiment, and each of them, as it were, bearing a part in the same drama, insomuch that it would scarcely be possible to separate the correspondence into distinct portions, without destroying in a great degree its proper effect. Of characters so well known as those which stand at the head of the present collection, it would be unnecessary here to speak. To mention their names is to suggest their history. The humorous gravity, shrewd penetration, and caustic misanthropy of Swift, frequently perhaps assumed as a cover for the throbbings of a too sensible heart, may be contrasted with the open simplicity, the unaffected wit, and the mildness of Gay; the stately and polished style of Lord Bolingbroke, with the more loose and careless manner of Congreve, or Parnelle; whilst those who are pleased in tracing the nicer diversities of language, may apply themselves to 4 discriminate the shades of difference that are perceptible in the style of Arbuthnot and of Pope. It is not however merely by uniting in one series the letters heretofore found under detached heads, that an attempt has been made to give additional interest to the present volume. Many letters of Pope, printed in the works of his correspondents, but not heretofore included in his own, are now for the first time added; and several letters of other persons, either addressed to him, or relating chiefly to him and his productions, will also be found, arranged, as far as was practicable, according to their respective dates; exhibiting on the whole an example of a literary and friendly intercourse, carried on for nearly thirty years between the most distinguished characters of the age; not only without the slightest indication of dissension or jealousy; but with a common sentiment of affectionate and friendly attachment which pervades the whole, and gives an additional charm to the correspondence, by uniting the liveliest effusions of wit with the warmest feelings of the heart. LETTERS BETWEEN MR. POPE, DR. SWIFT, MR. GAY, MR. CONGREVE, LETTER I. MR. POPE TO MR. GAY. Binfield, Nov. 13, 1712. You writ me a very kind letter some months ago, and told me you were then upon the point of taking a journey into Devonshire. That hindered my answering you, and I have since several times inquired of you, without any satisfaction; for so I call the knowledge of your welfare, or of any thing that concerns you. I passed two months in Sussex, and since my return have been again very ill. I writ to Lintot in hopes of hearing of you, but had no answer to that point. Our friend, Mr. Cromwell, too, has been silent all this year: I believe he has been displeased at some or other of my freedoms,* which I very innocently take, and most with those I think most my friends. But * We see by the letters to Mr. Cromwell, that Mr. Pope was wont to rally him on his turn for trifling and pedantic criticism. So he lost his two early friends, Cromwell and Wycherley, by his zeal to correct the bad poetry of the one, and the bad taste of the other. Warburton. this I know nothing of; perhaps he may have opened to you and if I know you right, you are of a temper to cement friendships, and not to divide them. I really much love Mr. Cromwell, and have a true affection for yourself, which, if I had any interest in the world, or power with those who have, I should not be long without manifesting to you. I desire you will not, either out of modesty, or a vicious distrust of another's value for you, (those two eternal foes to merit,) imagine that your letters and conversation are not always welcome to me. There is no man more entirely fond of good-nature or ingenuity than myself, and I have seen too much of those qualities in you to be any thing less than Your, &c. LETTER II. MR. POPE TO MR. GAY. Dec. 24, 1712. Ir has been my good fortune within this month past, to hear more things that have pleased me, than (I think) almost in all my time beside. But nothing upon my word has been so home-felt a satisfaction as the news you tell me of yourself: and you are not in the least mistaken, when you congratulate me upon your own good success: for I have more people out of whom to be happy, than any ill-natured man can boast of. I may with honesty affirm to you, that notwithstanding the many inconveniences and disadvantages they commonly talk of in the res angusta domi, I have never found any other, than the inability of giving people of merit the only certain proof of our value for them, in doing them some real service. For after all, if we could but think a little, self-love might make us philosophers, and convince us quantuli indiget Natura! Ourselves are easily provided for; it is nothing but the circumstantials, and the apparatus or equipage of human life, that costs so much the furnishing. Only what a luxurious man wants for horses and footmen, a good-natured man wants for his friends or the indigent. I shall see you this winter with much greater pleasure than I could the last; and, I hope, as much of your time, as your attendance on the Duchess will allow you to spare to any friend, will not be thought lost upon one who is as much so as any man. I must also put you in mind, though you are now secretary to this lady, that you are likewise secretary to nine other ladies, and are to write sometimes for them too. He who is forced to live wholly upon those ladies' favours, is indeed in as precarious a condition as any he who does what Chaucer says for sustenance; but they are very agreeable companions, like other ladies, when a man only passes a night or so with them at his leisure, and away. I am your, &c. * Duchess of Monmouth, to whom he was just then made se cretary. Pope. |