No More Learning

But the peculiar merit of the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' consists neither in
the ease and polish of its style, nor in the vigor and effectiveness of
its satire, but in the insight it gives us into the heart and mind of
the poet himself. It presents an ideal picture of Pope, the man and the
author, of his life, his friendships, his love of his parents, his
literary relationships and aims. And it is quite futile to object, as
some critics have done, that this picture is not exactly in accordance
with the known facts of Pope's life. No great man can be tried and
judged on the mere record of his acts. We must know the circumstances
that shaped these, and the motives that inspired them. A man's ideals,
if genuinely held and honestly followed, are perhaps even more valuable
contributions to our final estimate of the man himself than all he did
or left undone.

All I could never be,
All, men ignored in me,
This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped.

And in the 'Epistle to Arbuthnot' we recognize in Pope ideals of
independence, of devotion to his art, of simple living, of loyal
friendship, and of filial piety which shine in splendid contrast with
the gross, servile, and cynically immoral tone of the age and society in
which he lived.



[Footnote 1: i. e. the blessing of Arbuthnot's future companionship,
for which Pope (l. 413) had just prayed. ]





ADVERTISEMENT

Dr. John Arbuthnot, one of Pope's most intimate friends, had been
physician to Queen Anne, and was a man of letters as well as a doctor.
Arbuthnot, Pope, and Swift had combined to get out a volume of
Miscellanies in 1737.
His health was failing rapidly at this time, and
he died a month or so after the appearance of this 'Epistle'.


EPISTLE

'1 John:'

John Searle, Pope's faithful servant.


'4 Bedlam:'

a lunatic asylum in London in Pope's day. Notice how Pope mentions, in
the same breath, Bedlam and Parnassus, the hill of the Muses which poets
might well be supposed to haunt.


'8 thickets:'

the groves surrounding Pope's villa.

'Grot:'

see Introduction [grotto].


'10 the chariot:'

the coach in which Pope drove.

'the barge:'

the boat in which Pope was rowed upon the Thames.


'13 the Mint:'

a district in London where debtors were free from arrest. As they could
not be arrested anywhere on Sunday, Pope represents them as taking that
day to inflict their visits on him.


'15 Parson:'

probably a certain Eusden, who had some pretensions to letters, but who
ruined himself by drink.


'17 Clerk:'

a law clerk.


'18 engross:'

write legal papers.


'19-20'

An imaginary portrait of a mad poet who keeps on writing verses even in
his cell in Bedlam. Pope may have been thinking of Lee, a dramatist of
Dryden's day who was confined for a time in this asylum.


'23 Arthur:'

Arthur Moore, a member of Parliament for some years and well known in
London society.