A VISIT TO POPE'S VILLA.

221

the world of London, of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the life-long home of Pope.

Let us picture to ourselves a visit from the princess to Pope's villa-As the barge, following the gentle bendings of the river, nears Twickenham, a richer green, a summerbrightness, indicates it is approaching that spot of which even Bishop Warburton says that the beauty of the owner's poetic genius appeared to as much advantage in the disposition of these romantic materials as in any of his best contrived poems.' And the loved toil which formed the quincunx, which perforated and extended the grotto until it extended across the road to a garden on the opposite side-the toil which showed the gentler parts of Pope's better nature-has been respected, and its effects preserved. The enamelled lawn, green as no other grass save that by the Thames side is green, was swept until late years by the light boughs of the famed willow. Every memorial of the bard was treasured by the gracious hands into which, after 1744, the classic spot fell-those of Sir William Stanhope.

In the subterranean passage this verse appears; adulatory it must be confessed:

:

'The humble roof, the garden's scanty line,

Ill suit the genius of the bard divine;

But fancy now assumes a fairer scope,

And Stanhope's plans unfold the soul of Pope.'

It should have been Stanhope's 'gold,'-a metal which was not so abundant, nor indeed so much wanted in Pope's time as in our own. Let us picture to ourselves the poet as a host.

As the barge is moored close to the low steps which lead up from the river to the villa, a diminutive figure, then in its prime (if prime it ever had), is seen moving impatiently forward. By that young-old face, with its large lucid speaking eyes that light it up, as does a rushlight in a cavern— by that twisted figure with its emaciated legs-by the large,

222

THE LITTLE NIGHTINGALE.

sensible mouth, the pointed, marked, well-defined nose-by the wig, or hair pushed off in masses from the broad forehead and falling behind in tresses-by the dress, that loose, singlebreasted black coat-by the cambric band and plaited shirt, without a frill, but fine and white, for the poor poet has taken infinite pains that day in self-adornment-by the delicate ruffle on that large thin hand, and still more by the clear, most musical voice which is heard welcoming his royal and noble guests, as he stands bowing low to the Princess Caroline, and bending to kiss hands-by that voice which gained him more especially the name of the little nightingale-is Pope at once recognized, and Pope in the perfection of his days, in the very zenith of his fame.

One would gladly have been a sprite to listen from some twig of that then stripling willow which the poet had planted with his own hand, to the talk of those who chatted for a while under its shade, before they went in-doors to an elegant dinner at the usual hour of twelve. How delightful to hear, unseen, the repartees of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who comes down, it is natural to conclude, from her villa near to that of Pope. How fine a study might one not draw of the fine gentleman and the wit in Lord Hervey, as he is commanded by the gentle Princess Caroline to sit on her right hand; but his heart is across the table, with Lady Mary! How amusing to observe the dainty but not sumptuous repast contrived with Pope's exquisite taste, but regulated by his habitual economy-for his late father, a worthy Jacobite hatter, erst in the Strand, disdained to invest the fortune he had amassed, from the extensive sale of cocked-hats, in the Funds, over which a Hanoverian stranger ruled; but had lived on his capital of 20,000l. (as spendthrifts do, without either moral, religious, or political reasons), as long as it lasted him; yet he was no spendthrift. Let us look, therefore, with a liberal eye, noting, as we stand, how that fortune, in league with nature, who made the poet crooked, had maimed two of

THE ESSENCE OF SMALL TALK.

223

his fingers, such time as, passing a bridge, the poor little poet was overturned into the river, and he would have been drowned, had not the postilion broken the coach window and dragged the tiny body through the aperture. We mark, however, that he generally contrives to hide this defect, as he would fain have hidden every other, from the lynx eyes of Lady Mary, who knows him, however, thoroughly, and reads every line of that poor little heart of his, enamoured of her as it was.

Then the conversation! How gladly would we catch here some drops of what must have been the very essence of smalltalk, and small-talk is the only thing fit for early dinners! Our host is noted for his easy address, his engaging manners, his delicacy, politeness, and a certain tact he had of showing every guest that he was welcome in the choicest expressions and most elegant terms. Then Lady Mary! how brilliant is her slightest turn! how she banters Pope-how she gives double entendre for double entendre to Hervey! How sensible, yet how gay is all she says; how bright, how cutting, yet how polished is the équivoque of the witty, high-bred Hervey! He is happy that day-away from the coarse, passionate king, whom he hated with a hatred that burns itself out in his lordship's Memoirs;' away from the somewhat exacting and pitiable queen; away from the hated Pelham, and the rival Grafton.

And conversation never flags when all, more or less, are congenial; when all are well-informed, well-bred, and resolved to please. Yet there is a canker in that whole assembly; that canker is a want of confidence: no one trusts the other; Lady Mary's encouragement of Hervey surprises and shocks the Princess Caroline, who loves him secretly; Hervey's attentions to the queen of letters scandalizes Pope, who soon afterwards makes a declaration to Lady Mary. Pope writhes under a lash, just held over him by Lady Mary's hand. Hervey feels that the poet, though all suavity, is ready to

224

HERVEY'S AFFECTATION AND EFFEMINACY.

demolish him at any moment, if he can; and the only really happy and complacent person of the whole party is, perhaps, Pope's old mother, who sits in the room next to that occupied for dinner, industriously spinning.

This happy state of things came, however, as is often the case, in close intimacies, to a painful conclusion. There was too little reality, too little earnestness of feeling, for the friendship between Pope and Lady Mary, including Lord Hervey, to last long. His lordship had his affectations, and his effeminate nicety was proverbial. One day being asked at dinner if he would take some beef, he is reported to have answered,Beef? oh no! faugh! don't you know I never eat beef, nor horse, nor curry, nor any of those things?" Poor man! it was probably a pleasant way of turning off what he may have deemed an assault on a digestion that could hardly conquer any solid food. This affectation offended Lady Mary, whose mot, that there were three species, 'Men, women, and Herveys'-implies a perfect perception of the eccentricities even of her gifted friend, Lord Hervey, whose mother's friend she had been, and the object of whose admiration she undoubtedly was.

It

Pope, who was the most irritable of men, never forgot or forgave even the most trifling offence. Lady Bolingbroke truly said of him, that he played the politician about cabbages and salads, and everybody agrees that he could hardly tolerate the wit that was more successful than his own. was about the year 1725, that he began to hate Lord Hervey with such a hatred as only he could feel; it was unmitigated by a single touch of generosity or of compassion. Pope afterwards owned that his acquaintance with Lady Mary and with Hervey was discontinued, merely because they had too much wit for him. Towards the latter end of 1732, The Imitation of the Second Satire of the First Book of Horace,' appeared, and in it Pope attacked Lady Mary with the grossest and most indecent couplet ever printed: she was