The Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 2 (of 10): Poetry - Volume 2Pope, Alexander
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The Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 2 (of 10): Poetry - Volume 2
Pope, Alexander
English poetry -- 18th century
One of the articles of Bolingbroke's deistical creed is said by
Warburton to have been concealed from Pope. "A few days before his
death," says Warburton, in the statement he drew up for Ruffhead, "he
would be carried to London to dine with Mr. Murray in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, whom he loved with the fondness of a father. He was solicitous
that Lord Bolingbroke and Mr. Warburton should be of the party. Some
time before Mr. Warburton being with Mr. Pope at Twickenham, Mr. Hooke
came in, and told us he had supped the night before at Battersea with
Lord Bolingbroke, when his lordship in conversation advanced the
strangest notions concerning the moral attributes of the Deity, which
amounted to an express denial of them. This account gave Mr. Pope much
uneasiness, and he told Mr. Hooke with much peevish heat that he was
sure he was mistaken. The other replied as warmly that he thought he had
sense enough not to mistake a man who spoke plainly, and in a language
he understood. Here the matter dropped. But Mr. Pope was not easy till
he had seen Lord Bolingbroke, and told him what Mr. Hooke said of a late
conversation. Lord Bolingbroke assured him that Mr. Hooke misunderstood
him. This assurance Mr. Pope with great pleasure acquainted Mr.
Warburton with the next time he saw him. But Lord Bolingbroke and Mr.
Pope were both so full of this matter that at this dinner at Mr.
Murray's, the conversation, amongst other things, naturally turned on
this subject, when, from a very suspicious remark of his lordship, Mr.
Warburton took occasion to speak of the clearness of our notions
concerning the moral attributes. This occasioned some debate, which
ended in some warmth on his lordship's side. This anecdote is not
improper to be told in vindication of Mr. Pope's religious sentiments,
and the reflections on Mr. Warburton, as if he had not attacked his
lordship's impiety till after his death."[754] Warburton had previously
told the story in his View of Lord Bolingbroke's Philosophy, and there
he related that Bolingbroke "denied God's moral attributes as they are
commonly understood."[755] In the narrative he wrote for Ruffhead,
Warburton reports Hooke to have said, that Bolingbroke's "notions
concerning the moral attributes amounted to an express denial of
them."[756] The first statement Bolingbroke would have allowed to be
correct; the second he would have repudiated. The two versions are
treated by Warburton as one, and his charge against Bolingbroke, and his
"vindication of Mr. Pope's religious sentiments," are based upon this
presumed identity of propositions which were quite distinct to Pope and
Bolingbroke.
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