their oil the sharp sting of the
wasp, as his weakest talent was not the ludicrous, he resolved to
gain the laughers over, and threw Pope into a very ridiculous
attitude.[222] It was extorted from Cibber by this insulting line
of Pope's:--

And has not Colley, too, his Lord and w--e?

It seems that Pope had once the same! But a ridiculous story, suited
to the taste of the loungers, nettled Pope more than the keener
remonstrances and the honest truths which Cibber has urged. Those who
write libels, invite imitation.

Besides the two letters addressed by Cibber to Pope, this quarrel
produced a moral trifle, or rather a philosophical curiosity,
respecting Cibber's own character, which is stamped with the full
impression of all its originality.

The title, so expressive of its design, and the whim and good-humour
of the work, which may be considered as a curious supplement to the
"Apology for his Life," could scarcely have been imagined, and most
certainly could not have been executed, but by the genius who dared
it. I give the title in the note.[223] It is a curious exemplification
of what Shaftesbury has so fancifully described as "self-inspection."
This little work is a conversation between "Mr. Frankly and his old
acquaintance, Colley Cibber." Cibber had the spirit of making this Mr.
Frankly speak the bitterest things against himself; and he must have
been an attentive reader of all the keenest reproaches his enemies
ever had thrown out. This caustic censor is not a man of straw, set
up to be easily knocked down. He has as much vivacity and wit as
Cibber himself, and not seldom has the better of the argument. But the
gravity and the levity blended in this little piece form admirable
contrasts: and Cibber, in this varied effusion, acquires all our
esteem for that open simplicity, that unalterable good-humour which
flowed from nature, and that fine spirit that touches everything with
life; yet, as he himself confesses, the main accusation of Mr.
Frankly, that "his philosophical air will come out at last mere vanity
in masquerade," may be true.

I will attempt to collect some specimens of this extraordinary
production, because they harmonise with the design of the present
work, and afford principles, in regard to preserving an equability of
temper, which may guide us in Literary Quarrels.

_Frankly_ observes, on Cibber's declaration that he is not uneasy at
Pope's satire, that "no blockhead is so dull as not to b