ΤΟ GEORGE WATSON TAYLOR, Esq; M. P. MY DEAR SIR, As you have in your library the Works of Pope lately edited by Mr. Roscoe; and as you first informed me that some opinions of mine, (deliberately formed and publicly maintained, on the character of that poet as a man, and on his rank in his art,) were again brought into discussion by Mr. Roscoe:-Unwilling that you should think those opinions rashly entertained, or hastily advanced, I have taken the liberty of dedicating the following pages to you, requesting your impartial attention to the arguments on the different points of discussion; And I am, dear Sir, Most faithfully yours, W. L. BOWLES. Bremhill, Jan. 1, 1825. TO THE READER. Deeming it an indispensable public duty to meet respectfully, but to combat fairly, any arguments brought against my conscientiously entertained and publicly professed moral sentiments, and critical opinions, in the edition of Pope's Works edited by me; I feel more particularly called upon so to do, when those sentiments and opinions are opposed by so accomplished a scholar as the Author of the Life of Lorenzo de Medici. After so much discussion, I am indeed most reluctant to engage in any part of the subject again; but the circumstances connected with the publication of Pope's Letters have never yet been examined with the attention which they deserve; and those circumstances constitute an important point, in a review of that poet's life and character. 66 With respect to the second topic of discussion, although it has been almost exhausted, yet Mr. Roscoe has advanced some new, and which probably appear to him incontrovertible, arguments, to prove that Pope was entitled to be placed, as a poet, in the same rank with "SPENSER and SHAKE"SPEARE." On this point we are at issue. Steadfast on the ground of my "Invariable "Principles of Poetry,"* I maintain that some subjects are more adapted to the higher order of poetry than others; that neither moral essays in verse, nor satires, are of this order; and that though the genius of a poet may render such subjects, in point of execution, perfect in their kind-no genius, no skill, can so exalt them as to entitle the author to be placed in the FIRST AND HIGHEST RANK in poetry, for reasons which will be more fully illustrated in the following pages. * See Letter to Mr. Campbell. |
