Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/133

Pope  Elwin. The researches of Mr. Charles Wentworth dilke [q.v.] were first started by the discovery of the Caryll Papers in 1853. These papers have since been presented to teh British Museum by the present Sir Charles W. Dilke, Mr. Dilke's grandson. Mr. Dilke published his results in the athenæum and Notes and Queries; and they are reprinted in the first volume of his Papers of a Critic (1875). Mr. Dilke also gave great help to Mr. Elwin (see 'Works,' vol. i, p. cxli) in collecting letters and explaining difficulties. the results of the labours of Croker, Dilke, Mr. Elwin, and Mr. Courthope are given in the notes, introductions, and essays in the edition above notices. The papers formerly in Lord Oxford's library are now at Longleat, and were placed at Mr. Elwin's disposal by the Marquis of Bath. the correspondence of Lord Orrery with Pope, communicated to Mr. Elwin by the Earl of Cork, and first published in the eighth volume of the Works also throws much light upon Pope's transactions. The British Museum has a collection of the original manuscripts of Pope's translations of Homer, presented by David Mallet [q.v.] Much of it is written upon the backs of letters, most of which have been printed in the 'supplemental Volume' of 1726, and in later editions of the correspondence.]

 POPE or PAIP, ALEXANDER (d. 1782), minister of the church of Scotland, was the son of Hector Paip of Loth, Sutherlandshire. He was educated at the university and King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. 15 April 1725. A contribution was recommended to be made for him by the synod in 1720, to enable him to prosecute his studies with the purpose of entering the ministry of the national church. On 28 July 1730 he was elected session clerk and precentor of Dornoch, where probably he was also a schoolmaster. He is said to have in the summer of 1732 ridden on his pony from Caithness to Twickenham to visit his namesake the poet Pope, who presented him with a copy of the subscribers' edition of his ‘Odyssey,’ in five volumes, and a handsome snuff-box. If the date of a letter of the poet's to him, 28 April 1728 (, Works, ed. Elwin and Courthope), be correct, the visit took place some time before 1728, but not improbably the date should be 1738. In it the poet refers to the ‘accidental advantage which you say my name has brought you,’ which would seem to indicate that there was no blood relationship between them.

Pope was licensed as a preacher of the kirk of Scotland by the presbytery of Dornoch, 19 Feb. 1734, and having been unanimously called to the church of Reay, Caithness-shire, was ordained there on 5 Sept. He was remarkably successful in reforming the habits of the semi-barbarous population of the parish, his great bodily strength being an important factor in enabling him to win their respect and deference. He is said to have enlisted some of the worst characters as elders, in order that they might be the better induced to curb their vicious tendencies; and he was accustomed to drive to church with a stick those of his parishioners whom he found playing at games on Sundays. He died on 2 March 1782. By his first wife, Mary Sutherland, he had three sons; and by his second wife he had also three sons, the youngest of whom, James, became his assistant. He translated a large part of the ‘Orcades’ of Torfæus, extracts from which are published in Cordiner's ‘Antiquities.’ He also wrote the account of Strathnaver and Sutherland in Pennant's ‘Tour,’ and a description of the Dune of Donadilla in vol. v. of ‘Archæologia.’

[New Statistical Account of Scotland; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. iii. 367; Pope's Works.]  POPE, ALEXANDER (1763–1835), actor and painter, was born in Cork in 1763. His father and his elder brother, Somerville Stevens Pope, were miniature-painters, and Alexander was trained as an artist under Francis Robert West in the Dublin Art Schools. He practised for a time at Cork, taking portraits in crayons at a guinea apiece; but, after appearing at a fancy ball in the character of Norval, and subsequently taking part with much applause at private theatricals, he adopted the stage as a profession. He appeared at Cork as Oroonoko with a success which led to his engagement at Covent Garden, where he appeared in the same character on 8 Jan. 1785. On the 19th he played Jaffier in ‘Venice Preserved,’ on 4 Feb. Castalio in the ‘Orphan,’ on the 28th Phocyas in the ‘Siege of Damascus,’ on 7 March Edwin in ‘Matilda,’ on 12 April Horatio in the ‘Fair Penitent,’ and on the 23rd Othello for his benefit. He made an eminently favourable impression, and for many years played the principal tragic parts at the same house. From 1801 to 1803, in which year he returned to Covent Garden, he was at Drury Lane, where he reappeared in 1812, remaining there until his retirement from the stage. He was in 1824 at the Haymarket, and made occasional appearances in the country, especially in Edinburgh, where he was a favourite. During these years he was seen at one or other house in an entire round of parts, chiefly tragic. In Shakespeare alone he played Antonio, Banquo, King Henry in ‘Richard the Third,’ Bassanio, Iachimo, Leontes, Romeo, 