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

Broome then offered his fervice a second 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 fomewhat 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 fuppofe that he would have brought his work to a more speedy conclufion. The Iliad, containing less than fixteen thousand verfes, might have been dispatched 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 feem to have been flow; but the diftance 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, bufinefs, and pleasure, all take their turns of retardation; and every long work is lengthened by a thoufand caufes 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 translation, 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 fubfcriptions 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 thofe pecuniary diftreffes with which, notwithstanding his popularity, he had hitherto ftruggled. Lord Oxford had often lamented his difqualification for publick employment, but never propofed a penfion. 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 fhould 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 doubtlefs his tranflation enabled him to purchase.

It

It cannot be unwelcome to literary curiofity, that I 94 deduce thus minutely the history of the English Iliad. It is certainly the nobleft 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 skill to estimate 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 reposited 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 fhall exhibit firft the printed lines; then, in a small 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 stands thus;

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

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The ftern Pelides' rage, O Goddess, fing,
wrath

Of all the woes of Greece the fatal spring,

Grecian

That strew'd with warriors dead the Phrygian plain
heroes

And peopled the dark bell with beroes flain;

fill'd the fhady hell with chiefs untimely
Whose 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.
Whose limbs, unburied on the hoftile fhore,

Devouring dogs and greedy vultures tore,

Since firft Atrides and Achilles strove;

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 spread,

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 Site 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.

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For Chryfes fought by presents to regain
coftly gifts to gain

His captive daughter from the Victor's chain;
Suppliant the venerable Father stands,
Apollo's awful enfigns grac'd his hands,
By chefe he begs, and lowly bending down
The golden fceptre and the laurel crown,
Prefents 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 fued, 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

Your labours, by the Gods be all your labours crown'd;
So 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 shore.

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 these arms again;

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

avenging Phobus, fon of Jove."

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