of the whole family. His errands were so frequent and frivolous,
that the footmen in time avoided and neglected him, and the Earl of
Oxford discharged some of his servants for their resolute refusal of
his messages. The maids, when they had neglected their business,
alleged that they had been employed by Mr. Pope. One of his
constant demands was of coffee in the night, and to the woman that
waited on him in his chamber he was very burthensome. But he was
careful to recompense her want of sleep, and Lord Oxford's servant
declared, that in the house where her business was to answer his
call, she would not ask for wages. He had another fault, easily
incident to those who, suffering much pain, think themselves
entitled to what pleasures they can snatch. He was too indulgent to
his appetite: he loved meat highly seasoned and of strong taste;
and, at the intervals of the table, amused himself with biscuits and
dry conserves. If he sat down to a variety of dishes, he would
oppress his stomach with repletion; and though he seemed angry when
a dram was offered him, did not forbear to drink it. His friends,
who knew the avenues to his heart, pampered him with presents of
luxury, which he did not suffer to stand neglected. The death of
great men is not always proportioned to the lustre of their lives.
Hannibal, says Juvenal, did not perish by the javelin or the sword,
the slaughters of Cannae were revenged by a ring. The death of Pope
was imputed by some of his friends to a silver saucepan, in which it
was his delight to eat potted lampreys. That he loved too well to
eat is certain; but that his sensuality shortened his life will not
be hastily concluded, when it is remembered that a conformation so
irregular lasted six-and-fifty years, notwithstanding such
pertinacious diligence of study and meditation. In all his
intercourse with mankind he had great delight in artifice, and
endeavoured to attain all his purposes by indirect and unsuspected