r the latter the unwelcome
honour of being recognized as the King of the Dunces, and coupled with
Bentley's disparaging mention of the Translation of the _Iliad_ provoked
the many contemptuous allusions to verbal criticism in Pope's later
satires.'[14]

A striking peculiarity of Pope's art may be mentioned here. He was able
only to play on one instrument, the heroic couplet. When he attempted
any other form of verse the result, if not total failure, was
mediocrity. It was a daring act of Pope to suggest by his _Ode on St.
Cecilia's Day_, a comparison with the _Alexander's Feast_ of Dryden. The
performance is perfunctory rather than spontaneous, and the few lyrical
efforts he attempted in addition, show no ear for music. The voice of
song with which even the minor poets of the Elizabethan age were gifted
was silent in England, though not in Scotland, during the first half of
the eighteenth century, or if a faint note is occasionally heard, as in
the lyrics of Gay, it is without the grace and joyous freedom of the
earlier singers. Not that the lyrical form was wanting; many minor
versifiers, like Hughes, Sheffield, Granville, and Somerville, wrote
what they called songs, but unfortunately without an ear for singing.

In this short summary and criticism of a poet's literary life it would
be out of place to insert many biographical details, were it not that,
in the case of Pope, the student who knows little or nothing of the man
will fail to understand his poetry. A distinguished critic has said that
the more we know of Pope's age the better shall we understand Pope. With
equal truth it may be said that a familiarity with the poet's personal
character is essential to an adequate appreciation of his genius. His
friendships, his enmities, his mode of life at Twickenham, the entangled
tale of his correspondence, his intrigues in the pursuit of fame, his
constitutional infirmities, the personal character of his satires, these
are a few of the prominent topics with which a student of the poet must
make himself conversant. It may be well, therefore, to give the history
in brief outline, and we have now reached the crisis in his fortunes
which will conveniently enable us to do so.

In 1716 Pope's family had removed from Binfield to Chiswick. A year
later he lost his father, to whose memory he has left a filial tribute,
and shortly afterwards he bought the small estate of five acres at
Twickenham with which his name is so intimat