Are these Things So? (1740) The Great Man's Answer to Are These things So: (1740) — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Are these Things So? (1740) The Great Man's Answer to Are These things So: (1740)
John Stuart Mill · en
The persons named at the end of the poem as possible replacements for
Walpole are all persons who were at one time members of the Whig party
but who had joined the opposition because of their dislike for Walpole.
John Carteret, Earl Granville (ll. 231-236, p. 13, and referred to as
Camillus in the first edition), had a long struggle with Walpole for
control of the Whig party and joined the Opposition Whigs after he
returned from the lord lieutenancy of Ireland in 1730. It was Carteret
who was to move the unsuccessful resolution on 13 February 1741,
requesting the King to remove Walpole from his "presence and counsels
for ever." William Pulteney, Earl of Bath (ll. 237-242, p. 13, and
referred to as Demosthenes in the first edition) was also an early ally
of Walpole's who later broke with him to form the Patriot party. He
became one of the editors of _The Craftsman_. Philip Stanhope, Earl of
Chesterfield (ll. 243-245, p. 13, and referred to as Atticus in the
first edition) was also a lifelong Whig who joined Carteret in leading
the opposition to Walpole in the Lords. Hugh Hume, Lord Polwarth and
Earl of Marchmont (ll. 246-257, p. 14, and referred to as "that fam'd
_Caledonian Youth_" in the first edition), had been a persistent and
relentless opponent of Walpole in the Commons, but on the death of his
father in February 1740 had acceded to the Earldom of Marchmont and been
unable to get elected as a representative peer. Although twenty years
younger than Pope (he was only 32 in 1740) he became a close friend and
was appointed an executor of his will. Pope refers to his friendship in
his _Verses on a Grotto_: "And the bright Flame was shot thro'
MARCHMONT'S Soul."[35] Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham (ll. 258-261,
p. 14), was also a staunch Whig who broke with Walpole and joined the
Patriots. He, too, was an intimate friend of Pope's who addressed the
first moral essay to him and praised his famous gardens at Stowe in the
fourth. John Campbell, Duke of Argyle (ll. 262-265, pp. 14-15) was a
distinguished soldier who joined the Opposition during the discussion of
Spanish affairs. Both Pope and Thomson had celebrated his eloquence, and
ll. 262-263 here are a direct recollection of lines 86-87 in Pope's
_Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogue II_:
ARGYLE, the State's whole Thunder born to wield,
And shake alike the Senate and the Field.
With the exception of Carteret each of the persons named at the end of
the poem was either an acquaintance or a close friend of Pope's. We have
here one last example of the remarkable degree to which the author of
this pamphlet had assimilated the true facts of Pope's life into his
fictional re-creation.
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