"Tatler," "Spectator," and Guardian;" his Essays "On the Pleasure of being Deceived," and "On the Properties of Style;" "Two Dialogues of the Dead;" "Charon, a Vision;" his Prefaces to a translation of "Boccalini," "Kennett's History of England," and the "Lay Monastery;" and his "Discourse on Allegorical Poetry;" are all valuable for the perspicuity, grace, learning, and sense, which they display.

He published an edition of the Works of Spenser, which, until the appearance of the recent more important and elaborate edition of Todd, attached much reputation to his character as an Editor.

In addition to the works already mentioned, he translated Ovid's "Pyramus and Thisbe," the tenth book of Lucan's "Pharsalia," and some fragments from Orpheus, Pindar, and Euripides; also, in prose, Fontenelle's "Dialogues of the Dead," and a "Discourse concerning the Ancients and Moderns," the "Misanthrope" of Molière, Vertot's "History of the Revolution of Portugal," and the "Letters of Abelard and Heloise."

His official employment and literary labors, notwithstanding his expenses and desires were singularly moderate, had failed to place him in easy circumstances; until the accession of George I, when Lord Cowper, on resuming the Chancellorship, made Hughes Secretary to the Commissioners of the Peace, a very profitable appointment, in which he was continued by Lord Macclesfield, upon Cowper's resignation. But he was destined to enjoy affluence but for a very short period: his appointment took place in 1717, his health being then very infirm, and on February 17, 1719-20, he expired of pulmonary consumption, the night his "Siege of Damascus" was brought on the stage. He had dedicated his Tragedy to Lord Cowper only ten days previous, and he had just lived to receive the intelligence of its success.

Sir Richard Steele has described him with all the ardor of friendship, and there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of his description.

"Mr. Hughes could hardly ever be said to have enjoyed health: if those who are sparing of giving praise to any virtue without extenuation of it, should say that his youth was chastised into the severity, and preserved in the innocence, for which he was conspicuous, from the infirmity of his constitution, they will be under new difficulty when they hear that he had none of those faults to which an ill state of health ordinarily subjects the rest of mankind. His incapacity for more frolicsome diversions never made him peevish or sour to those whom he saw in them; but his humanity was such that he could partake of those pleasures he beheld others enjoy, without repining that he himself could not join in them. His intervals of ease were employed in drawing, designing, or else in music and poetry; for he had not only a taste, but an ability of performance to a great excellence, in those arts which entertain the mind within the rules of the severest morality, and the strictest dictates of religion. He did not seem to wish for more than he possessed, even as to his health, but to contemn sensuality as a sober man does drunkenness; he was so far from envying, that he pitied the jollities that were enjoyed by a more happy constitution. He could converse with the most sprightly without peevishness, and sickness itself had no other effect upon him than to make him look upon all violent pleasures as evils he had escaped without the trouble of avoiding."

HENRY GROVE was born on the 4th of January, 1683, at Taunton, Somerset. He was descended from families of high respectability in Wiltshire and Devonshire, conspicuous for their attachment to the cause of religious freedom. His parents early inculcated in him an ardent love of religion, and bestowed on him the valuable addition of a classical education. At the age of fourteen he entered upon a course of academical study under the Rev. Mr. Warren, of Taunton; and, on its conclusion, removed to London to prosecute his literary career under his near relation, the Rev. Thomas Rowe. Here he acquired a thorough acquaintance with the systems of Descartes and Newton, and a knowledge of the Hebrew Language, which enabled him to peruse the Old Testament in the original; he likewise contracted a friendship with Dr. Watts, which continued during his life.

After two years' residence in London he returned home, and, at the age of twentytwo, became a preacher. For this office he was well qualified, and he soon obtained great popularity:-attracting the notice of Mrs. Singer (afterward Mrs. Rowe), she expressed her friendship and esteem for him by addressing to him, "An Ode on Death." In 1706, at the age of twenty-three (being then married), he was nominated to suc. ceed Mr. Warren, as Tutor to the Academy at Taunton, in conjunction with two other gentlemen of established reputation. His departments were Ethics and Pneumatology. He removed to Taunton in order to fulfill the duties of this appointment, and adopted two small congregations in the neighborhood, to whom, for eighteen years, he preached upon a salary of £20 per annum.

His auditors were few, and probably of the lower class; nevertheless, his sermons were carefully composed, and emphatically delivered, and, as one of his biographers says, "were adapted to the improvement of the meanest understanding, while they were calculated to please and edify the most polite and judicious hearers."

Mr. Grove's first published production was "An Essay on the regulation of Diversions," written for his pupils, in 1708. He entered into a controversy with Dr. Clarke, upon a deduction propounded in the Doctor's "Discourse on the Being and Attributes of God;" which, though it failed to convince either party, terminated in (what is not very usual with disputants) mutual expressions of respect and good-will. In 1714 his first paper in the "Spectator" appeared; and in 1718 he published "An Essay toward a Demonstration of the Soul's Immateriality." The eloquence he displayed in the pulpit excited great admiration among the Dissenters, and he received many invitations from populous and important places, which his love for retirement induced him to decline. He wisely abstained from participating in the disputes relative to the doctrine of the Trinity, which at that time engendered so much heat and animosity among his brethren.

In 1723 he published "A Discourse on Secret Prayer, in several Sermons;" a production highly valuable for its powerful argument and persuasive energy. Two years after, on the death of Mr. James, his associate in the Academy, he undertook his duties as Divinity Tutor, and succeeded to his pastoral charge at Fulwood, near Taunton.

Indefatigable both in public and in private, he continued to give the world Sermons, and various other productions, all useful and meritorious, until the year 1736; when the loss of his wife (who had lingered under a most distressing nervous disorder, attended with alienation of mind), though borne with fortitude and resignation, deeply affected his health and spirits. He survived her little more than a year, dying of fever on the 27th of February, 1737-8.

His death was universally lamented by all who knew him; and one of his congregation thus expressed himself. "Our sorrow for Mr. Grove's sickness was not like our concern for other friends when dying, whom we pity and lament; but a sorrow arising as from the apprehension of the removal of one of the higher order of beings who had condescended to live on earth for a while to teach us the way to heaven, and was now about to return to his native place."

ALEXANDER POPE was born in Lombard-street, London, on May 22, 1688. His parents were Roman Catholics: his father retired from his business of a Linen-draper, with a fortune of £20,000; his mother was the daughter of William Turner, Esq., of York. Two of her brothers died in the service of Charles I, and a third was a General in the Spanish Army. To the high respectability of his family connections he alludes with complacency in the "Prologue to his Satires :"

"Of gentle blood (part shed in honor's cause),
Each Parent sprung."

When eight years of age he was placed under the tuition of Taverner, a priest, who taught him the rudiments of the Greek and Latin Languages at the same time. After having made considerable progress, he was sent to a Catholic Academy at Twyford, near Winchester; where, in consequence of his writing a lampoon on his master, he did not remain long, but was removed to a school near Hyde Park. By this time he had read with great delight "Ogilby's Homer," and "Sandys's Ovid;" and, having acquired a partiality for theatrical performances, had arranged a part of the "Iliad" as a drama, and acted it in conjunction with his school-fellows. He was about twelve years old when his father left London, and took up his residence at Binfield, adjoining Windsor Forest, taking his son with him, for whom a second private tutor was procured. But Pope was soon sensible that his improvement was by no means equal to his aspirations; and, throwing off all restraint, he formed for himself a plan of study, and persevered in it with great diligence. He read every book that came in his way with avidity, particularly Poetry, and speedily became intimate with, and capable of appreciating, the writings of the most eminent of his predecessors. He preferred Dryden before all others, and made him his model; and his enthusiastic admiration of him was such that he persuaded a friend to take him to Button's Coffee-house, that he might, even though as a stranger, have the gratification of beholding that illustrious man. "How proud," it has been observed, "must Dryden have felt, could he have known the value of the homage thus paid him!"

Destined to neither Trade nor Profession, Pope had now full opportunity of improving and maturing his genius, which was already rapidly developing itself. He had, at twelve years of age, written "An Ode to Solitude;" two years afterward he translated the first book of Statius's "Thebais," and Ovid's "Epistle of Sappho to Phaon;" and had modernized Chaucer's "January and May," and the "Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale." These were followed by his "Pastorals," which were not, however, published until 1709. His "Essay on Criticism," was written in 1709, and published in 1711:-it was advertised in No. 65 of the "Spectator." In 1712 he contributed to the "Spectator" his magnificent Poem, "The Messiah;" which is, perhaps, the only instance that can be referred to wherein the sublimity of the Prophetic Writings has been heightened, rather than debased, by modern transfusion. The "Elegy on the death of an Unfortunate Lady," is said to have originated in circumstances of deep interest to the Poet:- a lady named Withinbury, amiable and beautiful in feature, but, like himself, deformed in person, had conceived a strong affection for him; her Guardian considering such a union degrading, forcibly carried her abroad, and placed her in a convent; where, abandoning herself to despair, she put an end to her life.

The "Rape of the Lock," in two cantos, was published in 1711; it then possessed none of that exquisite machinery which now adorns and constitutes it the most perfect and fascinating of imaginative poems. In its original form, Addison declared it to be "Merum Sal;" and strenuously endeavored to deter Pope from running a risk of deteriorating its excellence by introducing the Gabalisian Mythology of Sylphs and Gnomes. This advice Pope fortunately rejected; and in 1712 the Poem was published as it is now read and admired, astonishing and delighting the Public, and consummating the fame of the Author as one of the first Poets of this or any other country. In the same year the "Temple of Fame," founded on Chaucer's "Vision," was printed; and soon after, "Windsor Forest," the first portion of which had been written nine years previously. Pope also wrote several papers in the "Guardian;" the most ingenious are those in which he draws, with inimitable gravity, an ironical comparison between his own "Pastorals," and those of Ambrose Phillips. So well did he succeed in vailing his satire that Steele was deceived, and hesitated to give the papers insertion, out of tenderness to Pope himself, whom he judged hardly dealt by in them; but Addison detected the real author and his aim, and published them.

The arbitrary seclusion of the heroine of his Elegy" probably influenced Pope's choice of a subject in his "Eloisa to Abelard;" however that may be, this Poem, in intense feeling and impressive scenery, and in highly-wrought contrast of voluptuous passion and superstitious devotion, stands without a parallel; and, when viewed at the same time with the "Rape of the Lock," proves that, with equal power and grace, he could agitate and overwhelın, or soothe and fascinate, the human mind, at his pleasure. Pope had now established his reputation; and, finding the allowance he received from his father inadequate to his expenses, he resolved to try to make his talents available likewise, for the establishment of his fortune. His religion precluded him from every Civil employment; and his father, with a Jacobinical distrust of the Government Securities, had been living on his principal, which was rapidly decreasing. He probably, therefore, saw that, while yet in the zenith of his popularity, it behooved him to make a grand effort to fix himself in independence; and he succeeded. He issued Proposals for a translation of the "Iliad" of Homer, in six volumes, quarto, at six guineas a copy, and obtained subscriptions for 650 copies, which Lintot the Bookseller delivered at his own expense, and gave him £1200 additional for the copyright. By this arrangement Pope cleared £5320. 4s., and very prudently invested the major part of it in the purchase of annuities, and the remainder in that of the since celebrated house at Twickenham; to which he immediately removed, having persuaded his father to sell the pro perty at Binfield, and accompany him. The translation of the "Iliad" was begun in 1712; the first four books were published in 1715, and the work was completed in 1718. Dr. Johnson says, "It is certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever seen; and its publication must therefore be considered as one of the great events in the annals of learning."

Pope had entertained a sincere respect and friendship for Addison; he had written the "Prologue" to his "Cato;" had outrageously attacked Dennis for his "horse play" criticism on that Tragedy; and had made the "Dialogue on Medals" the subject of a very laudatory epistle. Nevertheless, from the publication of the Proposals for the "Iliad," Addison appears to have cherished a dislike to Pope, which the latter soon became conscious of, and reciprocated; and although Jervas the Painter, and Steele (who procured an interview between them), exerted themselves to the utmost to effect a reconciliation, all their endeavors failed, and the parties separated in mutual disgust. Immediately after the appearance of the first volume of Pope's "Iliad," a rival version of the first book was published with the name of Tickell: this, concurrent circumstances convinced Pope, was the work of Addison himself; and (according to Spence), finding that Phillips and Gildon were receiving encouragement and reward from Addison, for disparaging and abusing him in the Coffee-houses, and in their writings, he wrote to Addison, stating that he was aware of his proceedings, and that, if he retorted, he should, at the same time that he exposed his faults, fairly allow his good qualities; inclosing him the first sketch of what has been called his "Satire on Addison." It has been much the fashion to exalt the character of Addison to the disadvantage of Pope, in this affair; but it is pretty clear that Addison was the aggressor in the first instance, and did not, throughout, evince the manly candor displayed by Pope; and the sincerity of Pope's conviction that he had received unmerited ill-treatment is sufficiently proved by the pains he took in correcting and finishing the Verses, and his persisting in publishing them for his own vindication.

In 1717 his father died, in his seventy-fifth year, -in 1721 he published an edition of "Shakspeare," which was attacked with insolent severity by Theobald, in his "Shakspeare Restored." Shortly after the completion of the "Iliad," he undertook (assisted by Broome and Fenton) a translation of the "Odyssey," of which he furnished twelve books, and realized a considerable sum, after paying his associates for their labors. In 1723 he appeared before the House of Lords at the trial of Atterbury, to give evidence as to the Bishop's domestic life and occupations: and about the same time, met with an accident which very nearly proved fatal; for, being overturned in a coach into the water, he was with much difficulty extricated by the driver, when at the point of suffocation. In 1727 he joined Swift in three volumes of "Miscellanies," in which he inserted the "Memoirs of P. P., Parish Clerk," in ridicule of "Burnet's History of his own Time;" and "The art of Sinking in Poetry." In 1728, he printed the "Dunciad;" installing Theobald as the hero, and introduced the whole herd of critics and poetasters, who, through malevolence, or for hire, had for some years continued to exert themselves in depreciating and abusing him. This Poem, as might have been expected, engaged all the lower grades of the literary world in active hostility against him; but, elated with the triumph he had achieved, he for a long time remained callous to their virulence. In 1731 appeared his poem on "Taste," and he incurred very general blame for his wanton and unprovoked attack upon the harmless foibles of the Duke of Chandos; a nobleman of an upright character, and a most kind heart: he endeavored to exculpate himself, but ineffectually; and the odium of having causelessly given pain to a worthy man unfortunately still attaches to his memory. In the following year he lost his friend Gay; and the year after that, his mother died, having attained to the great age of ninety-three. Dr. Johnson, in alluding to this event, says, "The filial piety of Pope was in the highest degree amiable and exemplary; his parents had the happiness of living till he was at the summit of poetical reputation, till he was at ease in his fortune, and without a rival in his fame, and found no diminution of his respect and tenderness. Whatever was his pride, to them he was obedient; and whatever was his irritability, to them he was gentle. Life has, among its soothing and quiet comforts, few things better to give than such a son.

He has, himself, beautifully commemorated his reverence and affection for his mother, in the Prologue to his "Satires :"

"Me, let the tender office long engage,

To rock the cradle of reposing age,

With lenient arts extend a mother's breath,

Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death,

Explore the thought, explain the asking eye,
And keep awhile one parent from the sky."

Between 1730 and 1740 he published two other "Moral Essays," "Imitations of

Horace," a modernized version of the "Satires of Dr. Donne," and the "Essay on Man:" he also gave to the world a quarto volume of letters between himself and some of his friends. It is supposed that he was anxious to introduce this Correspondence to the Public, and that he contrived, by a maneuver, to place a portion of it in the hands of Curll, the Bookseller, that his publishing it might afford a pretext for issuing a genuine edition.

In the composition of the "Essay on Man," his imperfect acquaintance with Theology and Metaphysics had, unfortunately, thrown him under the guidance of Lord Bolingbroke; a man whom he highly esteemed, of great genius, learned and acute, but an Infidel. The consequence was that, while intent upon inculcating religious and moral precepts, he was unwittingly promulgating the dogmas of the Fatalist and the Theist. This brought upon him a severe castigation from Crousaz, a Swiss Professor of some note, who openly denounced the Poem as tending to set aside Revelation, and to establish a system of Natural Religion. In the dilemma in which Pope now found himself, Warburton (then just rising into notice) voluntarily stepped forward as his champion, and published, in the "Republic of Letters," a "Vindication of the Essay on Man."

This assistance Pope very gratefully acknowledged; he recommended Warburton to Mr. Murray, by whose influence he was appointed preacher at Lincoln's Inn; and, by his introduction to Mr. Allen, he married the niece, and succeeded to the estate, of that gentleman. He also left Warburton the property of his Works, which Dr. Johnson estimates at £4000.

About 1740 Pope printed the "Memoirs of Scriblerus," a fragment of a work originally projected by himself, Swift, and Arbuthnot, which was never completed; and in 1742 a new edition of the "Dunciad," enlarged by the addition of a fourth book. In this he attacked Colley Cibber most unmercifully, for no evident reason; unless, as Dr. Johnson suggests, he thought that, in ridiculing the Laureate, he was bringing into contempt the bestowers of the laurel. Cibber, who had on several previous occasions manifested great forbearance, now lost all patience; he amused the town with a pamphlet, in which he describes Pope as a "Wit out of his senses;" and attributes his ill-will to his (Cibber's) having made a ludicrous allusion to the damnation of the farce of "Three hours after Marriage," while acting Bays in the Rehearsal; and ascribes the authorship of the piece to Pope. It is a pity that Pope suffered his vexation to subdue his better judgment: he should have remained silent. On the contrary, in 1743, he dethroned Theobald, and constituted Cibber the hero of his "Dunciad;" much to the deterioration of the Poem, and certainly inconsistently with fact. Cibber could not fairly be classed among the Dunces; if, alternately he soared and groveled in Tragedy, his Comedy is of very superior excellence, possessing wit, humor, tenderness, and elegance; and, if his practice and habits were anything but moral, his dramas (during a season of unrestrained licentiousness) were strictly so: he seems to have been guided, in this respect, by the feeling he expressed to Mrs. Bracegirdle, the actress, who, upon inquiring of him "How it happened that his writings were so very moral, and his life so very immoral?" received for answer, that "Morality in the one was absolutely indispensable, but not exactly so in the other." Cibber, who had declared his intention to "have the last word," quickly published another pamphlet, which is described by Richardson (the son of the Painter) as having perfectly agonized Pope.

The health of Pope now began to fail, and he contented himself with occupying his time in the revisal of his Works for a collective Edition; in this he was assisted by Warburton. He lingered some months under an accumulation of infirmity and disease, and expired on the 30th of May, 1744.

If this admirable Poet may be considered fortunate in having Warburton for the original Editor of his Works, he has been peculiarly unfortunate with respect to some who have succeeded him:-a bevy of fifth-rate authors, also, anxious to reduce the standard of poetic excellence to their own level, have, of late years, done their utmost to cloud the luster of his fame as a poet, and to depreciate his character as a man. Byron, contemning the cant of criticism, and the paltry cavils of scandal, thus disposes of the one and the other.

Lord

"The attempt of the poetical populace of the present day to obtain an ostracism against Pope is as easily accounted for as the Athenians' shell against Aristides; they are tired of hearing him always called 'The Just.' They are also fighting for life; for, if he maintains his station, they will reach their own by falling. They have raised a Mosque by the side of a Grecian Temple of the purest architecture: I have been among the builders of this 'Babel,' but never among the envious destroyers of the Classic