nd appeared in folio pamphlets, run over several years, but
were afterwards re-arranged by Pope. That to Lord Burlington, _Of the
Use of Riches_ (Epistle IV.), was published in 1731, under the title,
_Of False Taste_; that to Lord Bathurst, _Of the Use of Riches_ (Epistle
III), in 1732; the epistle to Lord Cobham (Epistle I.), _Of the
Knowledge and Characters of Men_, bears the date of 1733; and that To a
Lady (Epistle II.), _Of the Characters of Women_, in 1735. Pope wrote
other Epistles, some at a much earlier period of his career, which
follow the _Moral Essays_ but are not connected with them. Of these one
is addressed to Addison, two are to Martha Blount, for whom the second
of the _Moral Essays_ was written; one to the painter Jervas, originally
printed in 1717; while another, a few lines only in length, was
addressed to Craggs when Secretary of State. Space will not allow of
examining each of the _Essays_ minutely, but there are portions of them
which call for comment.

The first _Moral Essay_, _Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men_, in
which Pope enlarges on his theory of a ruling passion, affords a
significant example of his incapacity for sustaining an argument, since
Warburton, to use his own words, entirely changed and reversed the order
and disposition of the several parts to make the composition more
coherent. That he has succeeded is doubtful, that he should have
ventured upon such a task shows where Pope's weakness lay as a
philosophical poet. It is the least interesting of the _Essays_, but is
not without lines that none but Pope could have written. _The Characters
of Women_, the subject of the second _Essay_, was not one which the
satirist could treat with justice. He saw little in the sex save their
foibles, and the lines with which it opens show the spirit that animates
the poem:

'Nothing so true as what you once let fall;
"Most women have no character at all,"
Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear,
And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.'

The satire contains one of Pope's offensive allusions to Lady Mary, and
the celebrated portrait drawn from two notable women, the Duchess of
Buckingham and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, from the latter of whom
the poet, at one time, despite his unquestionable love of independence,
received L1,000. The story, like many another in the career of Pope, is
wrapt in mystery.

Pope took great pains with the Epistle _Of the Use of Riches