STANDARDILIDRARY EDITION or POPE'S POETICAL WORKS.

Tins new edition of POPE'S Poetry has, we think, been somewhat late in reaching us ; but it is never too late to recommend such a collection to any one who has five shillings to lay out in literature. The universal genius of SHAKSPERE, the dramatic form into which he threw his productions, the interest of the stori , the intensity of the passion, the popular and practical spirit which for the most part he infuses into the loftiest poetry, and the opportunity a narrative furnishes for instructing mankind in the affairs of life, have given him an attraction with all kinds of readers, whether capable or incapable of appreciating his more refined excellences, which no other author can attempt to rival. But next to SHAR- SPERE we should rank POPE, for the utility of his works, and the practical application we can make of them. In acquired learning, in vigour and sublimity of genius, as well as in elevation of mind and of poetical spirit, POPE must be placed below MILTON ; and we agree with JOHNSON in thinking, that the balance is in favour of DRYDEN as regards natural ability and bounding ani- mation of style, though the difference is not great. But the subjects of MILTON are too remote, and his thoughts too ele- vated for the mass of mankind, (although the religious world read his two epics as a kind of duty); whilst the negligence and consequent inequality of DRYDEN, together with the tempo- rary nature of most of his subjects, render him unattractive to those who do not bring some critical taste and some acquired knowledge to his perusal. But the untiring industry and attention of POPE, which, as JOHNSON observes, never allowed an error or fault to pass, or if it escaped his vigilance in a first edition was corrected in a second—his independence, which enabled him always to chose subjects adapted to his genius, and saved him from keeping a " shop of condolence and congratulation "—his happily- constituted intellect, where great and in a measure opposite qua- lities were so nicely balanced, but a keen sense and worldly sagacity perhaps predominated—have, all united, given a closeness, weight, and instructiveness to his works, that no other author, at least no other modern author, can approach. Like his prototype HORACE, the more we learn and the more we see, the more we appreciate his productions ; but the English poet had a fancy, as in the "Rape of the Lock," and a pathos and tenderness, as in the " Eloisa to Abelard," in which the critical, philosophical, and courtier-like Roman was deficient. - The " Standard Library " edition of this great and thoroughly English author is complete, and sufficiently illustrated ; containing several "Miscellanies" which are sometimes not inserted in his works, including one or two he never finished, but used up their best thoughts in other poems. The only omission we have ob- served is the fragment addressed to Lady WORTLEY MONTAGU- .' As the struck deer, in some sequestered part,

Lies down to die "-

It has been usual, however, to print the originals of the " Imita- tions" of HORACE and DONNE; which are omitted in the present volume, perhaps to save expense.

The edition is also, sufficiently illustrated; which in POPE, as in all satirists, is essential to make their satire fully apprehended ; and it is necessary even in his moral poems. As REYNOLDS re- marks of RAPHAEL, he copied accurately what he had before him, without taking upon himself to improve nature ; and though he selected instances which contained a general truth, the instances themselves were particular. It is true the text alone may be under- stood, but it is read with greater relish when the personal allusion is known ; besides which, we get an insight into the manners of the age, and learn somewhat of its private history. For instance, when the poet adduces, as proof of his forbearance, the long silence and patience he had tlisplayed under attacks, we seem to comprehend the couplet, "Let Budge]] charge low Grub Street on his quill, And write, whatc'er he plcas'd, except my will."

The envenomed sting of the exception, however, is lost to those who do not know that BEIDGELL was a conveyancer by profession, and vehemently suspected of fraudulently making TINDAL'S will in his own favour ; at all events, he got the property to the exclusion of TINDAL'S nephew and heir.

Again, the well-known satire at fashionable religion-

" To rest, the cushion and soft Dean invite, Who never mentions Hell to ears polite"—

though general enough, was derived from fact. A reverend Dean, preaching at Court, threatened the sinner with punishment in " a place which he did not think it decent to name in so polite an assembly." The curious examples in his various moral essays or epistles are almost all drawn from particular individuals—perhaps all, though the anecdote or character may not have survived. The reader, indeed, infers that the text is founded on fact, but the note gratifies him with the certainty, and also with some curious anec- dotes. We quote a fe* instances from the "Epistle on the Use of Riches."

" P. What riches give us let us then inquire :

Meat, fire, and clothes.

B. What more ?

P. Meat, clothes, and fire.

Is this too little ? would you more than live ? Alas, 'tis more than Turner • finds they give. Alas, 'tis more than (all his visions past) Unhappy Wharton, waking, found at last ! What can they give? to dying Hopkins t heirs ?

* " One who, being possessed of three hundred thousand pounds, laid down his coach because interest was reduced from five to four per cent., and then put seventy thousand into the charitable corporation for better interest ; which sum having lost, he took it so much to heart that he kept his chamber ever after. it is thought he would not have outlived it, but that he was heir to an- other considerable estate, which be daily expected, and that by this course of life he saved both clothes and all other expenses.

t " A citizen, whose rapacity obtained Lim the name of Vulture Hopkins. He lived worthless, but died worth three hundred thousand pounds ; which he would give to no person living, but left it so as not to be inherited till after the second generation. His counsel representing to him how many years it must be before this could take effect, and that his money could only lie at interest all that time, be expressed great joy thereat, and said, They would then be as long in spending as he had been in getting it.' But the Chancery afterwards set aside the will and gave it to the heir-at -law."

Again- " Perhaps you think the poor might have their part ?

Bond damns the poor,. and hates them from his heart : The grave Sir Gilbert holds it for a rule That every man in want is knave or fool : ' God cannot love (says Blunt, with tearless eyes) The wretch he starves '—and piously denies : But the good Bishop with a meeker air Admits, and leaves them, Providence's care."

" This epistle was written in the year 1730, when a corporation was esta- blished to lend money to the poor upon pledges by the name of the Charitable Corporation ; but the whole was turned only to an iniquitous method of en- riching particular people, to the ruin of such numbers that it became a Parlia- mentary concern to endeavour the relief of those unhappy sufferers ; and three of the managers, who were Members of the House, were expelled. By the re- port of the Committee appointed to inquire into that iniquitous affair, it ap- pears, that when it was objected to the intended removal of the office, that the poor, for whose use it was erected, would be hurt by it, Bond, one of the di- rectors, replied, Damn the poor! That God bates the poor,' and, that every man in want is either knave or fool,' tke. were the genuine apophthegms of some of the persons here mentioned. Sir John Blunt, originally a scrivener, was one of the first projectors of the South Sea Company, and afterwards one of the directors and chief managers of the famous scheme in 1720. He was also one of those who suffered most se- verely by the bill of pains and penalties on the said directors. He was a Dis- senter of a most religious deportment, and professed to be a great believer. Whether he did really credit the prophecy here mentioned is not certain, but it was constantly in this very style he declaimed against the corruption and luxury of the age, the partiality of Parliaments, and the misery of party-spirit He was particularly eloquent against avarice in great and noble persons ; of which he had indeed lived to see many miserable examples. He died in the year 1732."

As respects the notes illustrative of the text, it will be under- stood that they have no claim to the merit of original annotations : they tell nothing but what had previously appeared in former editions of the author, and for the most part in those of his own age. We have referred to the notes because some reprints are without any, except to the Doodad, and several do not contain nearly so much commentary as the single volume before us.