hostility; for, says Pope, in a letter to him, "indeed your
opinion, that 'tis entirely to be neglected, would be my own in my own
case; but I felt more warmth here than I did when I first saw his book
against myself, (though indeed in two minutes it made me heartily
merry.") Addison was not a man on whom such cant of sensibility could
make much impression. He left the pamphlet to itself, having disowned it
to Dennis, and, perhaps, did not think Pope to have deserved much by his
officiousness.

This year was printed in the Guardian the ironical comparison between
the Pastorals of Philips and Pope; a composition of artifice, criticism,
and literature, to which nothing equal will easily be found. The
superiority of Pope is so ingeniously dissembled, and the feeble lines
of Philips so skilfully preferred, that Steele, being deceived, was
unwilling to print the paper, lest Pope should be offended. Addison
immediately saw the writer's design; and, as it seems, had malice enough
to conceal his discovery, and to permit a publication which, by making
his friend Philips ridiculous, made him for ever an enemy to Pope.

It appears that about this time Pope had a strong inclination to unite
the art of painting with that of poetry, and put himself under the
tuition of Jervas. He was near-sighted, and, therefore, not formed by
nature for a painter: he tried, however, how far he could advance, and
sometimes persuaded his friends to sit. A picture of Betterton, supposed
to be drawn by him, was in the possession of lord Mansfield[117]: if
this was taken from the life, he must have begun to paint earlier; for
Betterton was now dead. Pope's ambition of this new art produced some
encomiastick verses to Jervas, which certainly show his power as a poet;
but I have been told that they betray his ignorance of painting.

He appears to have regarded Betterton with kindness and esteem; and
after his death published, under his name, a version into modern English
of Chaucer's prologues, and one of his tales, which, as was related by
Mr. Harte, were believed to have been the performance of Pope himself by
Fenton, whe made him a gay offer of five pounds, if he would show them
in the hand of Betterton.

The next year, 1713, produced a bolder attempt, by which profit was
sought as well as praise. The poems which he had hitherto written,
however they might have diffused his name, had made very little addition
to his fortune. The allowance which his