neither original nor translated, neither ancient nor modern[1].
Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which, new trains of events are formed, and new scenes of imagery displayed; as in the "Rape of the Lock;" and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in the "Essay on Criticism." He had Imagination, which strongly impresses on the writer's mind, and enables him to convey to the reader, the various forms of nature, incidents of life, and energies of passion, as in his "Eloisa,"
- ↑ In one of these poems is a couplet, to which belongs a story that I once heard the reverend Dr. Ridley relate:
'Slander or poison dread from Delia's rage;
'Hard words, or hanging if your judge be ****.Sir Francis Page, a judge well known in his time, conceiving that his name was meant to fill up the blank, sent his clerk to Mr. Pope, to complain of the insult. Pope told the young man, that the blank might be supplied by many monosyllables, other than the judge's name:—'but, sir,' said the clerk, 'the judge says that no other word will make sense of the passage.'—'So then it seems,' says Pope, 'your master is not only a judge, but a poet: as that is the case, the odds are against me. Give my respects to the judge, and tell him, I will not contend with one that has the advantage of me, and he may fill up the blank as he pleases.' H.
