[ourproject-public] Ted in different minds by a contemplation

Thu Sep 30 15:16:17 CEST 2010

Disappointing in society. Pope, as may be guessed from Spence's
reports, had a large fund of interesting literary talk, such as
youthful
aspirants to fame would be delighted to receive with reverence; he had
the reputation
for telling anecdotes skilfully, and we may suppose that when he felt
at ease, with a respectful
and safe companion, he could do himself justice. But he
must have been very trying to his hosts. He
could seldom lay aside his self-consciousness sufficiently to write an
easy letter; and the same fault
probably spoilt his conversation. Swift complains of him as a silent
and
inattentive companion. He went to sleep at his own table, says
Johnson, when the Prince of Wales was talking poetry to him--certainly
a
severe trial. He would, we may guess, be silent till he had something
to

say worthy of the great Pope, and would then
doubt whether it was
not wise to treasure it up for preservation in a couplet. His
sister declared that she had never seen him laugh heartily; and
Spence, who records the saying, is surprised, because Pope was said to
have been very lively in his youth;
but admits that in later years
he never went beyond a "particular easy smile." A hearty laugh would
have sounded strangely from the touchy,
moody, intriguing little man, who could "hardly drink tea without
a stratagem."

His sensitiveness, indeed, appearing by his often weeping when he read
moving passages; but we can hardly imagine him as ever capable of
genial self-abandonment. His unso
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: appear.jpg
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 11265 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/ourproject-public/attachments/20100930/aa120535/attachment.obj 