Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/136

 of Painters and Engravers,’ was engraved as a frontispiece to the original quarto edition of that work, and many other portraits by him have been engraved, including those of Henry Grattan, John Boydell, Henry Tresham, Lewis the actor, and Mrs. Crouch. He engraved a mezzotint plate from a picture by himself, entitled ‘Look before you leap.’

Pope was a confirmed gourmand, and spent in good living, and, it is said, in bribing his critics, the handsome property he obtained with his wives. So early as 1811 he had fallen into straits, from which, in spite of the assistance of his brother actors—notably Edmund Kean—he never recovered. Kean, asking Pope to join him in Dublin, and promising him a great benefit, received the answer, ‘I must be at Plymouth at the time; it is exactly the season for mullet.’ He offended people of distinction and influence by his pretensions, refusing to sit with Catalani because she cut a fricandeau with a knife; and ordering expensive luxuries, for which he did not pay, to be sent in to houses to which he was bidden. Many of these stories are probably coloured, if not apocryphal; but there is abundant proof of his gluttonish propensities.

Portraits of Pope by Sharpe as Henry VIII, by Dupont as Hamlet, and by Stewart, are in the Mathews collection of pictures in the Garrick Club. Another, engraved by Clamp, after Richardson, is given in Harding's ‘Shakespeare,’ 1793.

[Manager's Notebook; Genest's Account of the English Stage; Biographia Dramatica; Gilliland's Dramatic Mirror; Clark Russell's Representative Actors; Dramatic Essays by Leigh Hunt, ed. Archer and Lowe; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Pasquin's Artists of Ireland, p. 30; Gent. Mag. 1835, i. 666; Registers of Marriages, St. George's, Hanover Square, ii. 176, 369; and information kindly supplied by F. M. O'Donoghue, esq.] 

POPE, CLARA MARIA (d. 1838), painter, and third wife of the actor, Alexander Pope [q. v.], was a daughter of Jared Leigh [q. v.], an amateur artist, and married at an early age Francis Wheatley [q. v.], the painter, whom she served as model for all his prettiest fancy figures. In 1801 she was left a widow with a family of daughters; and on 25 June 1807 married, as his third wife, Alexander Pope [q. v.], the actor and artist. In 1796, while Mrs. Wheatley, she commenced exhibiting at the Royal Academy, her first contributions being miniatures; later she sent rustic subjects with figures of children, such as ‘Little Red Riding-hood,’ ‘Goody Two-shoes,’ and ‘Children going to Market.’ In 1812 Mrs. Pope exhibited a whole-length drawing of Madame Catalani, of which she published an excellent engraving by A. Cardon. During the latter part of her life she enjoyed a great reputation for her groups of flowers, of which she was an annual exhibitor from 1816 until her death. She died at her residence, 29 Store Street, London, on 24 Dec. 1838. Two portraits of Mrs. Pope, painted by her first husband, were engraved by Stanier and Bartolozzi.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Dramatic Mag. January 1830; Royal Academy Catalogues; Gent. Mag. 1839, pt. i. p. 217.] 

POPE, ELIZABETH (1744?–1797), actress, and first wife of Alexander Pope [q. v.] the actor, was born about 1744 near Old Gravel Lane, Southwark. Her parents are said to have been named Younge. In girlhood she was apprenticed to a milliner. Furnished with a letter of introduction, she went to Garrick, who, pleased with her abilities, put her forward. As ‘Miss Younge’ she made accordingly, at Drury Lane on 22 Oct. 1768, her first appearance upon any stage, in the part of Imogen. She won immediate recognition, and, the death of Mrs. Hannah Pritchard [q. v.] furnishing an opening for her, was assigned many leading characters. In her first season she played Jane Shore and Perdita, and was, on 17 Dec., the original Ovisa, the heroine of Dow's tragedy of ‘Zingis.’ The following season Garrick kept her closely occupied, exhibiting her as Juliet, Margaret (presumably) in ‘A New Way to Pay Old Debts,’ Almeria in the ‘Mourning Bride,’ Selima in ‘Tamerlane,’ Maria in the ‘London Merchant,’ Lady Anne in ‘Richard III,’ Alcmena in ‘Amphitryon,’ Angelica in ‘Love for Love,’ Lady Dainty in the ‘Double Gallant,’ Lady Easy in the ‘Careless Husband,’ Mrs. Clerimont in the ‘Tender Husband,’ Leonora in the ‘Double Falsehood,’ Lady Charlot in the ‘Funeral,’ Calista in the ‘Fair Penitent,’ Miranda in the ‘Tempest,’ Mrs. Kiteley in ‘Every Man in his Humour,’ and Lady Fanciful in the ‘Provoked Wife.’ She was also, on 3 March 1770, the original Miss Dormer in Kelly's ‘Word to the Wise.’ Not a few of these parts were in high comedy. She also recited ‘Bucks, have at you all,’ altered for her by the author. In the summer of 1769 she played under Love at Richmond. On a question of terms, Garrick parted with her. Engaged by Dawson for the Crow Street Theatre, then rechristened the Capel Street Theatre, she went to Dublin, where she made her appearance as Jane Shore early in 1771. She played with con-