oul of the mortal. Bolingbroke and
Warburton one day disputed before Pope, and parted never to meet
again. The will of Pope bears the trace of his divided feelings: he
left his MSS. to Bolingbroke as his executor, but his works to
Warburton as his editor. The secret history of Bolingbroke and
Warburton with Pope is little known: the note will supply it.[238]

But how did the puny Mallet stand connected with these great men? By
the pamphlets published during this literary quarrel he appears to
have enjoyed a more intimate intercourse with them than is known. In
one of them he is characterised "as a fellow who, while Mr. Pope
lived, was as diligent in licking his feet, as he is now in licking
your lordship's; and who, for the sake of giving himself an air of
importance, in being joined with you, and for the vanity of saying
'the Author and I,'--'the Editor and me,'--has sacrificed all his
pretensions to friendship, honour, and humanity."[239] An anecdote in
this pamphlet assigns a sufficient motive to excite some wrath in a
much less irritable animal than the self-important editor of
Bolingbroke's Works. The anecdote may be distinguished as

THE APOLLO VISION.

"The editor (Mallet) being in company with the person to whom Mr. Pope
has consigned the care of his works (Warburton), and who, he thought,
had some intention of writing Mr. Pope's life, told him he had an
anecdote, which he believed nobody knew but himself. I was sitting one
day (said he) with Mr. Pope, in his last illness, who coming suddenly
out of a reverie, which you know he frequently fell into at that time,
and fixing his eyes steadfastly upon me; 'Mr. M. (said he), I have had
an odd kind of vision. Methought I saw my own head open, and Apollo
came out of it; I then saw your head open, and Apollo went into it;
after which our heads closed up again.' The gentleman (Warburton)
could not help smiling at his vanity; and with some humour replied,
'Why, sir, if I had an intention of writing _your_ life, this might
perhaps be a proper anecdote; but I don't see, that in Mr. Pope's it
will be of any consequence at all.'" P. 14.

This exhibits a curious instance of an author's egotism, or rather of
Mallet's conceit, contriving, by some means, to have his name slide
into the projected Life of Pope by Warburton, who appears, however,
always to have treated him with the contempt Pope himself evidently
did.[240] What opinion could the poet have entertained of the t