"indeed your opinion, that 'tis entirely to be neglected, would be
my own in my own case; but I felt more warmth here than I did when I
first saw his book against myself (though, indeed, in two minutes it
made me heartily merry)." Addison was not a man on whom such cant
of sensibility could make much impression. He left the pamphlet to
itself, having disowned it to Dennis, and perhaps did not think Pope
to have deserved much by his officiousness.

This year was printed in the Guardian the ironical comparison
between the pastorals of Philips and Pope, a composition of
artifice, criticism, and literature, to which nothing equal will
easily be found. The superiority of Pope is so ingeniously
dissembled, and the feeble lines of Philips so skilfully preferred,
that Steele, being deceived, was unwilling to print the paper, lest
Pope should be offended. Addison immediately saw the writer's
design, and, as it seems, had malice enough to conceal his
discovery, and to permit a publication which, by making his friend
Philips ridiculous, made him for ever an enemy to Pope.

It appears that about this time Pope had a strong inclination to
unite the art of painting with that of poetry, and put himself under
the tuition of Jervas. He was near-sighted, and therefore not
formed by nature for a painter; he tried, however, how far he could
advance, and sometimes persuaded his friends to sit. A picture of
Betterton, supposed to be drawn by him, was in the possession of
Lord Mansfield. If this was taken from the life, he must have begun
to paint earlier, for Betterton was now dead. Pope's ambition of
this new art produced some encomiastic verses to Jervas, which
certainly show his power as a poet; but I have been told that they
betray his ignorance of painting. He appears to have regarded