r obliged to your brother for the wine, which was very good. I long to see you, whenever you can come. I am utterly unable to come to you. I am now so weak that I can hardly read or write at I feel all my * present, but shall as soon as I can. friendship for all my friends as and for you as much as any. you! strongly as ever, Heaven preserve A. POPE. * In this letter Pope has been obliged to have recourse to the pen of a friend. It is in all probability the last of his correspondence. THE correspondence between Pope and Aaron Hill was first given under a distinct head in the works of Pope by Dr. Warton; but with such a disregard to chronological order, as might readily be supposed to mislead the reader. Thus the last letter there inserted is that which bears the date of Jan. 28, 1730-1; in which Pope is attacked by Hill with great severity and strength of argument. Hence it would appear, that Pope was unable to make any reply; whereas, by referring back to Letter IV. in Warton's edition, we find a letter from Pope, dated Feb. 5, 1730—1, in which he vindicates himself against these charges, to the entire satisfaction of Hill, between whom and Pope a friendly intercourse was continued for several years afterwards, marked by a series of favours on the part of Pope, in correcting the dramatic works, and promoting the interests of Hill, for which the latter was unbounded in his acknowledgments. In the same correspondence, we find letters without their answers, and answers without the letters that gave rise to them; and the same observation applies also to the subsequent edition of Mr. Bowles. In the present edition an attempt has been made to correct these errors, and to supply these deficiencies by giving the letters in their proper order, and filling up the chasms in the correspondence from other sources, in order that the subject may be understood, and the letters mutually illustrate each other; a task the more necessary, as the controversy between these writers has been considered as redounding more to the discredit of Pope, than any other in which he was ever engaged. Of the transactions that took place between Pope and Hill, some account may be found in the Life of Pope prefixed to this edition, chap. vii. LETTERS TO AND FROM AARON HILL, ESQ. LETTER I. MR. POPE TO AARON HILL, ESQ. DEAR SIR, (1727.) THE little thing which you take so kindly, is but a very small part of what I owe you; and whatever my studies, or (to use a properer word) idleness, are capable of producing, ought to be returned you in mere gratitude for the pleasure I have received from your own writings; in which, give me leave to say, your good-will to me in particular is as distinguishable, as the obligation you lay on the public in general. I am very happy in the envy and silly attacks of such people as have awakened the generosity of so powerful a defender. Nor am I ashamed of those weaknesses of mine, which they have exposed in print, (the greatest of which was my thinking too candidly of them, to whom I wrote my letters with so much unguarded friendliness and freedom,*) since you have found a way to turn those weaknesses into virtue, Alluding to the publication of his letters to Mr. Cromwell in 1727. by your partial regard of them. The eye of candour, like the sun, makes all the beauties which it sees; it gives colour and brightness to the meanest objects purely by looking on them. I agree with you, that there is a pleasure in seeing the nature and temper of men in the plainest undress; but few men are of consequence enough to deserve or reward that curiosity. I shall indeed (and so will all mankind) be highly pleased to see the great Czar of Muscovy in this light, drawn by himself, like an ancient master, in rough strokes, without heightening or shadowing. What a satisfaction to behold that perfect likeness, without art, affectation, or even the gloss of colouring, with a noble neglect of all that finishing and smoothing, which any other hand would have been obliged to bestow on so principal a figure! I write this to a man whose judgment I am certain of, and therefore am as certain you will give the world this great depositum, just as you have received it. There will be no danger of your dressing this Mars too finely, whose armour is not gold, but adamant, and whose style in all probability is much more strong than it is polished. I congratulate you, that this great treasure is fallen into your hands; and I congratulate all Europe, that it is to be de * In consequence of his poem intitled the Northern Star, written in 1718, Hill had been presented with a gold medal; and was requested by the Empress Catherine to write the life of the Emperor, for which materials were to be sent him from Russia; but the death of the Empress prevented the undertaking. |