bis demands for his trouble, 1 bove here enclofed the fpecimen; if the reft come before the return, I will keep them till I receive your order.

Broome then offered his fervice a fecond time, which was probably accepted, as they had afterwards a clofer correfpondence. Parnell contributed the Life of Homer, which Pope found so harsh, that he took great pains in correcting it; and by his own diligence, with fuch help as kindness or money could procure him, in somewhat more than five years he completed his version of the Iliad, with the notes. He began it in 1712, his twenty-fifth year; and concluded it in 1718, his thirtieth year.

When we find him tranflating fifty lines a day, it is natural to suppose that he would have brought his work to a more speedy conclufion. The Iliad, containing less than fixteen thousand verses, might have been difpatched in lefs than three hundred and twenty days by fifty verfes in a day. The notes, compiled with the affiftance of his mercenaries, could not be fuppofed to require more time than the text. According to this calculation, the progrefs of Pope may seem to have been flow; but the distance is commonly very great between actual performances and fpeculative poffibility. It is natural to fuppofe, that as much as has been done to-day may be done to-morrow; but on the morrow fome difficulty emerges, or fome external impediment obftructs. Indolence, interruption, business, and pleasure, all take their turns of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thoufand causes that can, and ten thousand that cannot, be recounted. Perhaps no extenfive and multifarious performance was ever effected within the term originally

fixed in the undertaker's mind. He that runs against Time, has an antagonist not fubject to cafualties.

The encouragement given to this tranflation, though report feems to have over-rated it, was fuch as the world has not often feen. The fubfcribers were five hundred and feventy-five. The copies for which fubscriptions were given were fix hundred and fifty-four; and only fix hundred and fixty were printed. For thofe copies Pope had nothing to pay; he therefore received, including the two hundred pounds a volume, five thousand three hundred and twenty pounds four fhillings, without deduction, as the books were fupplied by Lintot.

By the fuccefs of his fubfcription Pope was relieved from those pecuniary diftreffes with which, notwithftanding his popularity, he had hitherto struggled. Lord Oxford had often lamented his difqualification for publick employment, but never propofed a pension. While the tranflation of Homer was in its progrefs, Mr. Craggs, then fecretary of state, offered to procure him a pention, which, at least during his ministry, might be enjoyed with fecrecy. This was not accepted by Pope, who told him, however, that, if he should be preffed with want of money, he would fend to him for occafional fupplies. Craggs was not long in power, and was never folicited for money by Pope, who dif dained to beg what he did not want.

With the product of this fubfcription, which he had too much difcretion to fquander, he fecured his future life from want, by confiderable annuities. The eftate of the Duke of Buckingham was found to have been charged with five hundred pounds a year, payable to Pope, which doubtless his tranflation enabled him to purchase.

It cannot be unwelcome to literary curiofity, that I deduce thus minutely the hiftory of the English Iliad. It is certainly the noblest version of poetry which the world has ever feen; and its publication must therefore be confidered as one of the great events in the annals of Learning.

To those who have kill to eftimate the excellence and difficulty of this great work, it must be very defirable to know how it was performed, and by what gradations it advanced to correctnefs. Of fuch an intellectual process the knowledge has very rarely been attainable; but happily there remains the original copy of the Iliad, which, being obtained by Bolingbroke as a curiofity, defcended from him to Mallet, and is now by the folicitation of the late Dr. Maty repofited in the Museum.

Between this manufcript, which is written upon accidental fragments of paper, and the printed edition, there must have been an intermediate copy, that was perhaps deftroyed as it returned from the prefs.

From the first copy I have procured a few tranfcripts, and hall exhibit first the printed lines; then, in a final print, thofe of the manufcripts, with all their variations. Those words in the fmall print which are given in Italicks, are cancelled in the copy, and the words placed under them adopted in their ftead.

The beginning of the first book ftands thus:

The wrath of Peleus' fon, the direful fpring
Of all the Grecian woes, O Goddess, fing,
That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign.
The fouls of mighty chiefs untimely flain.

The

That ftrew'd with warriors dead the Phrygian plain, heroes

And peopled the dark hell with heroes flain;

fill'd the thady hell with chiefs untimely

Whofe limbs, unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore,
Since great Achilles and Atrides ftrove;

Such was the fovereign doom, and fuch the will of Jove.
Whofe limbs, unburied on the hostile fhore,

Devouring dogs and greedy vultures tore,

Since first Atrides and Achilles ftrove;

Such was the fovereign doom, and fuch the will of Jove.

Declare, O Muse, in what ill-fated hour

Sprung the fierce ftrife, from what offended power?
Latona's fon a dire contagion fpread,

And heap'd the camp with mountains of the dead;
The King of Men his reverend priest defy'd,
And for the King's offence the people dy❜d.

Declare, O Goddess, what offended Power
Enflam'd their rage, in that ill-omen'd hour;
fatal, hapless

anger

Phoebus himself the dire debate procur'd,

fierce

T'avenge the wrongs his injur'd priest endur'd ;
For this the God a dire infection spread,

And heap'd the camp with millions of the dead:
The King of Men the facred Sire defy'd,
And for the King's offence the people dy'd.

For Chryfes fought with coftly gifts to gain
His captive daughter from the Victor's chain;
Suppliant the venerable Father stands,
Apollo's awful enfigns grace his hands,
By thefe he begs, and, lowly bending down,
Extends the fceptre and the laurel crown.

For

For Chryfes fought by presents to regain

coftly gifts to gain

His captive daughter from the Vidor's chain;
Suppliant the venerable Father stands,

By

Apollo's awful enfigns grac'd his hands,
thefe he begs, and lowly bending down
The golden fceptre and the laurel crown,
Presents the fceptre

For thefe as enfigns of his God be bare,
The God that fends his golden fhafts afar;
The low on earth, the venerable man,
Suppliant before the brother kings began.

He fued to all, but chief implor'd for grace
The brother kings of Atreus' royal race;

Ye kings and warriors, may your vows be crown'd,
And Troy's proud walls lie level with the ground;
May Jove reftore you, when your toils are o'er,
Safe to the pleasures of your native shore.

To all he sued, but chief implor'd for grace
The brother kings of Atreus' royal race.
Ye fons of Atreus, may your vows be crown'd,
Kings and warriors

So

Your labours, by the Gods be all your labours crown'd;
may the Gods your arms with conqueft bless,
And Troy's proud walls lie level with the ground;
Till
laid

And crown your labours with deferv'd fuccefs;
May Jove restore you, when your toils are o'er,
Safe to the pleasures of your native fhore.

But, oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain,
And give Chryfeis to these arms again;
If mercy fail, yet let my prefent move,
And dread avenging Phoebus, fon of Jove.

But, oh relieve a hapless parent's pain,
And give my daughter to thefe arms again;

Receive my gifts; if mercy fails, yet let my prefent move,
And fear the God that deals his darts around,

avenging Phœbus, fon of Jove.

The