Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/493

 to the merit of other writers as he ought to be. She then ventured to ask the dean, whether he thought the lines Mr. Pope addressed him with in the beginning of the Dunciad were any compliment to him? viz.

"O thou! whatever title please thine ear."

"I believe," said he, "they were meant as such, but they are very stiff." "Indeed, sir," said she, "he is so perfectly a master of harmonious numbers, that had his heart been the least affected with his subject, he must have writ better. How cold, how forced, are his lines to you, compared with yours to him!

"Hail, happy Pope! whose generous mind, &c."

"Here we see the masterly poet, and the warm, sincere, generous friend; while he, according to the character he gives of Mr. Addison, damns with faint praise." — "Well," replied the dean, "I'll show you a late letter of his." He did so, and Mrs. Pilkington was surprised to find it filled with low and ungentlemanlike reflections, both on Mr. Gay, and the two noble persons who honoured him with their patronage after his disappointment at court. "Well, madam," said the dean, "what do you think of that letter?" (seeing she had gone quite through it.) "Indeed, sir," replied she, "I am sorry I have read it; for it gives me reason to think there is no such thing as a sincere friend to " be