Pope very savagely attacked both his verses and his character. The former he refers to in speaking of a supposed charge of weakness against his own verses. He says: “The Lines are weak another’s pleased to say Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day.”[47] and “Like gentle Fanny’s was my flow’ry theme A painted mistress or a purling stream.” These allusions stung Lord Hervey’s shallow feelings. This was his idea of a refined and witty rejoinder. “To the imitator of the Satires of the Second Book of Horace.” “Thus whilst with coward hand you stab a name And try at least t’ assassinate our fame; Like the first bold assassins be thy lot; And ne’er be thy guilt forgiven or forgot; But as thou hat’st, be hated by mankind And with the emblems of thy crooked mind Marked on thy back, like Cain, by God’s own hand, Wander like him accursed through the land.” Which reminds one, somehow, of the lines one used to hear in the old-fashioned Christmas pantomimes given out by the Demon. But these were very cruel and in bad taste considering Pope was a cripple. But in the same poem, Lord Hervey refers to the poet’s affliction again: “None thy crabbed numbers can endure Hard as thy heart, and as thy birth obscure.” Pope, as will be seen was, however, quite equal to a rejoinder in the same strain. It is stated by Lord Hailes that Lord Hervey having suffered some attacks of epilepsy dieted himself--or rather starved himself--after in the following extraordinary manner; his daily food consisted of a small quantity of asses’ milk and a flour biscuit. This stayed the progress of the terrible disease, but it gave him a very ghastly complexion. He is also stated to have used emetics daily, which, under the circumstances, appeared hardly necessary. Once a week he took the indulgence of an apple. To hide his cadaverous appearance, he painted his face as it has been already stated. None of these weaknesses seem to have been overlooked by Pope in his reply to Hervey whom he satirized as “Sporus”: