Two Poems Against Pope: One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope and the Blatant Beast — John Shaqi
Two Poems Against Pope: One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope and the Blatant BeastAnonymous
General
Two Poems Against Pope: One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope and the Blatant Beast
Anonymous
Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744 -- Poetry
Welsted apparently means that Pope debased St. Cecilia in his _Ode for
Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day_ and glorified a suicide in his _Elegy to
the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady_. He is not saying, as did _The Life
of the late Celebrated Mrs. Elizabeth Wisebourn_ (1721), that the
heroine of the _Elegy_ died of her unrequited love for Pope. Pope’s
note to l. 375 of the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_ accusing Welsted of having
“had the Impudence to tell in print, that Mr. _P._ had occasion’d a
Lady’s death, and to _name_ a person he never heard of” refers not to
Cloris but to Victoria in Welsted’s _Of Dulness and Scandal_ who died
from reading Pope’s _Illiad_.[22]
The _Grub-Street Journal_ for 21 May 1730 invited “any Person of Credit
and Character to stand forth and attest any of the following Facts....”
That the late Duke of Buckingham paid any Pension to Charles Gildon,
which he took from him since his acquaintance with Mr. P.
That the present Archbishop of Canterbury hath past any Censure on
Mr. P.
That Mr. F[ento]n and he ever were at distance on variance with each
other.
That the Rev. Mr. Br[oo]me ever asserted or complain’d, he was not
gratify’d with a competent Sum for his Share in the Odyssey; nay did
not own that he thought himself highly paid.
That Mr. Addison or any other but Mr. P. writ, or alter’d, one line
of the Prologue to Cato.
Who will name any young Writer, allow’d to have Merit, that hath
been personally discourag’d by him; or who hath not received either
actual Services, or amicable Treatment from him?
III.
_The Blatant Beast_ appeared in December 1742, according to _The London
Magazine_; its authorship remains unknown. Pope had published _The New
Dunciad_ in March 1742, and Cibber had published his famous _A Letter
From Mr. Cibber, To Mr. Pope_ in July. Five other pamphlets attacking
Pope appeared in August, obviously capitalizing on the Cibber attack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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