a good general education; but as respects art, was entirely self-taught. His first picture exhibited at the Royal Academy appeared there in 1830. His early paintings were chiefly of west country and Welsh scenery and peasantry, and from their freshness and vigour were exceedingly popular. But gradually he worked towards a severer style and a higher range of subjects. At first these were of a poetical cast; afterwards they were more strictly historical; at present he inclines towards incidents which illustrate a period of history or state of society, rather than the representation of any particular event. His manner is peculiar and characteristic, strongly individual in conception, idealized in treatment beyond what is now at all common with English painters, and warm and harmonious, but somewhat monotonous in colour. It is evidently his aim to appeal to the mind, at least as much as to delight the eye. An enumeration of his principal pictures will sufficiently indicate his class of subjects and his course as a historical painter—"Solomon Eagle exhorting the People to repentance during the Plague of London," 1813; the "Beleagured City," 1844; the "Messenger announcing to Job the Slaughter of his Servants," 1850; the "Goths in Italy," 1857; the "Song of the Troubadour," 1854; a "Field Conventicle," 1857; "Glaucus and Ione," 1860; and the "Trial of a Sorceress—the Ordeal by Water," 1862. Mr. Poole was elected A.R.A. in 1846; R.A. in 1861. In 1847 he was awarded by the Fine Arts commissioners one of the premiums of £300 for his picture of "Edward III.'s Generosity to the People of Calais."—J. T—e.
POPE, Alexander, the successor of Dryden on the throne of English poetry, was born in Lombard Street, London, on the 21st of May, 1688. According to his own account his father's family was "tolerable," his mother's "ancient;" the father himself was a linen merchant who had amassed a competency by trade. Both of Pope's parents were Roman catholics, a circumstance which indirectly exerted a considerable influence on his career. Soon after his birth came the Revolution of 1688, one hostile to persons of his parents' communion, and with their deformed and sickly child they withdrew from trade and the city to a pleasant little property at Binfield in Windsor Forest. The child Pope was noted for his gentleness and sensibility, and from the sweetness of his voice was called "the little nightingale." An old aunt taught him his letters, the family priest his Greek and Latin accidence; writing he taught himself by copying printed books. "I began writing verses," was his own account, "farther back than I can well remember;" and at eight he took delight in the perusal of Ogilby's translation of Homer. At the same age he was sent to school at Twyford, where, despite his early amiability, his satirical propensities began already to develop themselves. He wrote a lampoon upon his master, who in return flogged him, and in consequence he was removed by his fond parents and placed at a school at Hyde Park Corner. On leaving this school his classical knowledge just enabled him to "construe a little of Tully's Offices." But at twelve he had written a play, with speeches from the Iliad and verses of his own, which was performed by his school-fellows. The works of the greatest of then living poets were so appreciated by him that from Hyde Park Corner he had procured himself to be taken to catch a glimpse of Dryden at Wills' coffee-house or elsewhere, and "I looked upon him," was his account long afterwards, "even then with veneration." Dryden died on the 1st of May, 1700, and about the same time Pope was recalled from school home to Binfield, there to prepare himself to fill the place left vacant by the death of glorious John, whose verse was his favourite model. His father seems never to have thought of training him for any business or profession, and encouraged him to rhyme. Indeed, he needed little encouragement. His "Ode on Solitude" was written at twelve; at thirteen he began an epic, "Alcander;" at fourteen he wrote satirical verses on Dryden's butt, Elkanah Settle; at fifteen he had begun his "Pastorals." He read widely, too, not only English and Latin poetry, but dipped into that of France and Italy. "I followed everywhere," he says, "as my fancy led me, and was like a boy gathering flowers in the fields and woods, just as they fell in his way. These five or six years I looked upon as the happiest in my life." Commenting on this passage, Mr. Thackeray remarks (Lectures on the Humourists), "Is not here a beautiful holiday-picture? the forest and the fairy story-book—the boy spelling Ariosto or Virgil under the trees, battling with the Cid for the love of Chimène; or dreaming of Armida's garden—peace and sunshine round about—the kindest love and tenderness waiting for him at his quiet home yonder—and Genius, throbbing in his young heart, and whispering to him, 'You shall be great; you shall be famous.'" The "Pastorals"—Pope's earliest work of note—were not published until 1709, in Tonson's Miscellany, but five or six years before they had been read and admired by his neighbour, the retired diplomate, Sir William Trumbull, and a firm friendship was established between the youthful poet and the veteran politician. Trumbull introduced him to Walsh and to Wycherley, the latter going off the stage just as Pope was going on it. Garth, Granville, Lord Lansdowne, Congreve, Gay, were soon added to his list of friends; and when the "Essay on Criticism," published in 1711, had been praised in the Spectator, there followed a temporary intimacy with Addison, and a year later, 1713, a more lasting friendship with Swift. In 1712 Steele procured the "Messiah" from Pope for the Spectator, and in the same year appeared in Lintott's Miscellanies the first sketch of the "Rape of the Lock." So famous a man was the young poet of twenty-five that Addison was glad to have him write the prologue to Cato, performed in 1713. In those days of official patronage of men of letters, the author of the "Essay on Criticism" might have naturally expected to obtain some easy and well-paid government post, like those which were showered on Addison, Prior, and Congreve. But Pope's religion stood in the way of official employment, and his independent spirit in that of a pension, twice offered him afterwards, by Halifax and by Craggs, and on both occasions declined by him. At one time he thought of following painting as a profession, and in 1713 was placed under Jervas for a year and a half. Some specimens of his brush still survive; but near sight and weak eyes were against the scheme, abandoned not to be resumed. During this residence in London Pope figured in Addison's court at Button's until a coolness sprang up between them. Pope, who had a grudge of his own to avenge, attacked, in a prose lampoon (A Narrative of the Frenzy of John Dennis, 1713), Dennis the critic fiercely for his assault on Cato; but Addison disowned the attack, and he and Pope were friends no longer. Perhaps it was partly the result of this estrangement from the whig Addison that Pope now cultivated for a time chiefly the society of the opposite party, forming one of the Scriblerus club with Swift, Harley, and Atterbury. A little earlier, and chiefly to improve his fortunes, he had resolved on translating Homer. His name was now foremost among the poets of the age. He had influential friends in both of the great political parties, and Swift himself canvassed for subscriptions. The dissipations of London were dangerous for a man of Pope's feeble constitution, and he wisely withdrew to Windsor Forest to work at his great task. In 1716 he removed to Chiswick with his parents. In 1717 his father died; and after about two years' residence at Chiswick, he made a final migration to the house and grounds at Twickenham, with which his memory is always associated. Meanwhile a collected edition of his works (1717) had appeared, containing among other new or unpublished pieces the "Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard," the "Elegy to the memory of an unfortunate lady," while his Homer was nearly completed. Volume i. of the Iliad had been issued to subscribers in the June of 1715, and had been completely successful in spite of Addison's patronage of a rival translation by Tickell, which soon fell to the ground. A volume of Pope's translation appeared annually from 1715 to 1718; the concluding volumes, the fifth and sixth, were published with a dedication to Congreve in 1720. The pecuniary success of the enterprise was as signal, as its literary triumph was splendid. For the Iliad Pope received altogether more than £5000, the largest sum which one work had as yet produced in England; four times as much as Dryden had received for the translation of Virgil. We may as well add here, that in 1723 Pope agreed to translate the Odyssey in three years, with the assistance of Fenton and Broome. It was completed in 1725, when Homer had brought his English translator between £8000 and £9000, considerably more than the same sum in our own day, and which, skilfully invested with the little fortune left him by his father, placed the poet in easy circumstances for the rest of his life. A little before he undertook the translation of the Odyssey, Pope had accepted a commission to edit the plays of Shakspeare. His edition was published in 1722, and was his first, nay, his only literary failure. He contributed a preface, fine in its way, and what is more curious, as marking the imperfect Skakspearian taste of that time, he deemed it advisable to point out "the
