iff silence." This modesty was by no means inconsistent with a very
high opinion of his own merit. He demanded to be the first name in
modern wit; and, with Steele to echo him, used to depreciate Dryden,
whom Pope and Congreve defended against them. There is no reason to
doubt that he suffered too much pain from the prevalence of Pope's
poetical reputation; nor is it without strong reason suspected that by
some disingenuous acts he endeavoured to obstruct it; Pope was not the
only man whom he insidiously injured, though the only man of whom he
could be afraid. His own powers were such as might have satisfied him
with conscious excellence. Of very extensive learning he has indeed
given no proofs. He seems to have had small acquaintance with the
sciences, and to have read little except Latin and French; but of the
Latin poets his "Dialogues on Medals" show that he had perused the works
with great diligence and skill. The abundance of his own mind left him
little indeed of adventitious sentiments; his wit always could suggest
what the occasion demanded. He had read with critical eyes the important
volume of human life, and knew the heart of man, from the depths of
stratagem to the surface of affectation. What he knew he could easily
communicate. "This," says Steele, "was particular in this writer--that
when he had taken his resolution, or made his plan for what he designed
to write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with
as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to
the coherence and grammar of what he dictated."

Pope, who can be less suspected of favouring his memory, declares that
he wrote very fluently, but was slow and scrupulous in correcting; that
many of his Spectators were written very fast, and sent immediately to
the press; and that it seemed to be for his advantage not to have time
for much revisal. "He would alter," says Pope, "anything to please
his friends before publication, but would not re-touch his pieces
afterwards; and I believe not one word of Cato to which I made an
objection was suffered to stand."

The last line of Cato is Pope's, having been originally written--

"And oh! 'twas this that ended Cato's life."

Pope might have made more objections to the six concluding lines. In the
first couplet the words "from hence" are improper; and the second line
is taken from Dryden's Virgil. Of the next couplet, the first verse,
being included in the seco