This may have been only a careless
effusion, thought on no more: the report of such notice, however, was
soon in many mouths; and, if I do not forget or misapprehend Savage's
account, Pope, pretending to decline what was not yet offered, left his
house for a time, not, I suppose, for any other reason than lest he
should be thought to stay at home in expectation of an honour which
would not be conferred. He was, therefore, angry at Swift, who
represents him as "refusing the visits of a queen," because he knew that
what had never been offered had never been refused.

Beside the general system of morality, supposed to be contained in the
Essay on Man, it was his intention to write distinct poems upon the
different duties or conditions of life; one of which is the epistle to
lord Bathurst, 1733, on the Use of Riches, a piece on which he declared
great labour to have been bestowed[134].

Into this poem some incidents are historically thrown, and some known
characters are introduced, with others of which it is difficult to say
how far they are real or fictitious; but the praise of Kyrl, the man of
Ross, deserves particular examination, who, after a long and pompous
enumeration of his publick works and private charities, is said to have
diffused all those blessings from "five hundred a year." Wonders are
willingly told, and willingly heard. The truth is, that Kyrl was a man
of known integrity and active benevolence, by whose solicitation the
wealthy were persuaded to pay contributions to his charitable schemes;
this influence he obtained by an example of liberality exerted to the
utmost extent of his power, and was thus enabled to give more than he
had. This account Mr. Victor received from the minister of the place:
and I have preserved it, that the praise of a good man, being made more
credible, may be more solid. Narrations of romantick and impracticable
virtue will be read with wonder, but that which is unattainable is
recommended in vain; that good may be endeavoured, it must be shown to
be possible.

This is the only piece in which the author has given a hint of his
religion, by ridiculing the ceremony of burning the pope, and by
mentioning, with some indignation, the inscription on the monument.

When this poem was first published, the dialogue, having no letters of
direction, was perplexed and obscure. Pope seems to have written with no
very distinct idea; for he calls that an Epistle to Bathurst, in which
Bathurst