gratified it by some
covert means; and how far, again, he succeeded in calming Wycherley's
susceptibility by his compliments, or aroused his wrath by more or less
contemptuous treatment of his verses.

A year after the quarrel, Cromwell reported that Wycherley had again
been speaking in friendly terms of Pope, and Pope expressed his pleasure
with eagerness. He must, he said, be more agreeable to himself when
agreeable to Wycherley, as the earth was brighter when the sun was less
overcast. Wycherley, it may be remarked, took Pope's advice by turning
some of his verses into prose maxims; and they seem to have been at last
upon more or less friendly terms. The final scene of Wycherley's
questionable career, some four years later, is given by Pope in a letter
to his friend, Edward Blount. The old man, he says, joined the
sacraments of marriage and extreme unction. By one he supposed himself
to gain some advantage of his soul; by the other, he had the pleasure
of saddling his hated heir and nephew with the jointure of his widow.
When dying, he begged his wife to grant him a last request, and, upon
her consent, explained it to be that she would never again marry an old
man. Sickness, says Pope in comment, often destroys wit and wisdom, but
has seldom the power to remove humour. Wycherley's joke, replies a
critic, is contemptible; and yet one feels that the death scene, with
this strange mixture of cynicism, spite, and superstition, half redeemed
by imperturbable good temper, would not be unworthy of a place in
Wycherley's own school of comedy. One could wish that Pope had shown a
little more perception of the tragic side of such a conclusion.

Pope was still almost a boy when he broke with Wycherley; but he was
already beginning to attract attention, and within a surprisingly short
time he was becoming known as one of the first writers of the day. I
must now turn to the poems by which this reputation was gained, and the
incidents connected with their publication. In Pope's life, almost more
than in that of any other poet, the history of the author is the history
of the man.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The letter is, unluckily, of doubtful authenticity; but it
represents Pope's probable sentiments.

[2] See Elwin's Pope, Vol. I., cxxxv.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST PERIOD OF POPE'S LITERARY CAREER.

Pope's rupture with Wycherley took place in the summer of 1710, when
Pope, therefore, was just twenty-two. He was at this time on