refuse any legacy from Pope unless he left the world with a
disavowal of obligation to Allen. Having been long under her
dominion, now tottering in the decline of life, and unable to resist
the violence of her temper, or perhaps, with the prejudice of a
lover, persuaded that she had suffered improper treatment, he
complied with her demand, and polluted his will with female
resentment. Allen accepted the legacy, which he gave to the
hospital at Bath, observing that Pope was always a bad accountant,
and that if to 150 pounds he had put a cipher more he had come
nearer to the truth.

The person of Pope is well known not to have been formed by the
nicest model. He has, in his account of the "Little Club," compared
himself to a spider, and by another is described as protuberant
behind and before. He is said to have been beautiful in his
infancy, but he was of a constitution originally feeble and weak;
and, as bodies of a tender frame are easily distorted, his deformity
was probably in part the effect of his application. His stature was
so low, that to bring him to a level with common tables, it was
necessary to raise his seat. But his face was not displeasing, and
his eyes were animated and vivid. By natural deformity, or
accidental distortion, his vital functions were so much disordered,
that his life was "a long disease." His most frequent assailant was
the headache, which he used to relieve by inhaling the steam of
coffee, which he very frequently required.

Most of what can be told concerning his petty peculiarities was
communicated by a female domestic of the Earl of Oxford, who knew
him perhaps after the middle of life. He was then so weak as to
stand in perpetual need of female attendance; extremely sensible of