Lives of Dryden and Pope Author:Samuel Johnson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1885 Original Publisher: Clarendon Press Subjects: Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Literary Criticism / Poetry Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the origi... more »nal. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE LIFE OF POPE. P. 125,1. 3. Cf. Pope's Epistle to Arbuthnot, 1. 388 : -- ' Of gentle blood (part shed in honour's cause While yet in Britain honour had applause) Each parent sprung.' 1. 4. Earl ofDowne. 'When Mr. Pope published the notes on the Epistle to Dr. Arbnthnot, in giving an account of his family, Mr. Pot- ringer, a relation of his, observed, that his cousin Pope had made himself out a fine pedigree, but he wondered where he got it; that he had never heard anything himself of tbjfr being descended from the Earls of Down; and, what is more, he had an old maiden aunt, equally related, a great genealogist, who was always talking of her family, but never mentioned this circumstance; on which she certainly would not have been silent, had she known anything of it.... The Earl of Guild- ford says that he has seen and examined the pedigrees of that family [the Popes, Earls of Down] and is sure that there were then none of the name of Pope left, who could be descended from that family.' Warton's Essay on Pope, vol. ii. p. 256, ed. 1806. Pope's claim to descent from the Earls of Downe is, however, allowed by Mr. Hunter (Pope, his Descent and Family, 1857) to be not improbable. 1. 5. His mother. Even of this there seems to be much doubt. It rests on the authority of' Mr. Brooke, one of the Heralds, who is writing an account of Yorkshire families.' Mason to Walpole, Dec. 4, 1782. 1. 9....« less