THE CHAPTER III 1706-1708 Life at Binfield 'HE "Pastorals," of which mention has already been made, became famous long before they attained the honour of print. They were read and admired by wits of standing like Congreve and Garth, and by noblemen of discernment like Lord Halifax and Lord Wharton. "Knowing Walsh," as Pope dubbed him, declared that Virgil himself had written nothing so good at sixteen, and Trumbull complained that it was cruel to withhold such wonderful compositions from the world.' But the young poet professed to be in no hurry for publicity. The ideal of "correctness " was ever before his eyes, and he retouched, blotted, and polished until the fame of his work reached the ears of old Jacob Tonson, the publisher, who wrote to the unknown author on April 20, 1706: "I have lately seen a pastoral of yours in Mr. Walsh's and Mr. Congreve's hands, which is extremely fine, and is generally approved by the best 1 "Wits, courtiers, statesmen, grandees the most dignified and men of fashion the most brilliant, all alike treated him [Pope] not only with pointed kindness, but with a respect that seemed to acknowledge him as their intellectual superior" (De Quincey). judges in poetry. I remember I have formerly seen you at my shop, and am sorry I did not improve my acquaintance with you. If you design your poem for the press, no person shall be more careful in printing of it, nor no one can give a greater encouragement to it." This flattering offer from Dryden's own publisher was naturally accepted, though Pope declared that he was heartily relieved when, from one cause or another, the publication of his firstling was postponed from year to year. But there was great jubilation among his patrons and admirers when Tonson's offer became known. "I am glad," wrote Wycherley, "to find you design your country beauty of a Muse shall appear at Court and in public to outshine all the farded, lewd, confident, and affected town-dowdies, who are being honoured only for their shame." While awaiting his introduction to the public Pope occupied himself in making translations from Ovid and Statius, paraphrasing one or two of the "Canterbury Tales," and working at his drawing. The greater part of the year was spent at Binfield, but he was occasionally in town for a few weeks at a time, improving his acquaintance with the wits. and rakes, and leading a life which had the worst effect upon what Wycherley called his "little, crazy, tender carcase." Though he lived at home free of charge and his parents allowed him to invite his new friends to Binfield, he found it difficult, with a rapidly increasing acquaintance and new standards of living, to obtain sufficient funds for current expenses from the parental exchequer. Thus early in July 1707 he writes a letter in doggerel verse to Henry Cromwell, beginning: I had to see you some intent But for a curst impediment, Which spoils full many a good design, That is to say, the want of coin. He paid a visit to Walsh at Abberly Park towards the end of the month, and probably could not afford a stay in town as well. The above letter is not worth quoting further, save for the following lines, which contain a biographical hint or two: To end with news, the best I know One of the pleasantest traits in Pope's character was his love for animals, and there is a pretty little passage about a dog in one of his letters to Cromwell : "You are to know, then," he explains, "that as it is likeness that begets affection, so my favourite dog is a little one, a lean one, and none of the finest shaped. He is not much a spaniel in his fawning, but has, what might be worth many a man's while to imitate from him, a dumb, surly sort of kindness, that rather shows itself when he thinks me ill-used by others than when we walk quietly and peaceably by ourselves. If it be the chief point of friendship to comply with a friend's |