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Lot 41
POPE (ALEXANDER) Autograph manuscript entitled 'Alterations to the pastoralls: (The Solutions of the Queries are written by Mr. Walsh.)', ALEXANDER POPE AT WORK ON THE PASTORALS, [?1706]
24 June 2015, 11:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £15,000 inc. premium
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POPE (ALEXANDER)
Autograph manuscript entitled "Alterations to the pastoralls: (The Solutions of the Queries are written by Mr. Walsh.)", containing 14 passages from the Pastorals densely written in Pope's neat and legible hand, under each passage his own "objection" to certain words and phrases, his suggestions as to possible "alteration" and inquiries ("quere") as to which of certain alternative readings would be preferable, with William Walsh's replies written in autograph beneath each query, 4 pages, with dark green morocco slip case, 8vo, [?1706]
Footnotes
'THUS SUNG THE SWAINS, WHILE DAY YET STROVE WITH NIGHT, AND HEAVEN YET LANGUISHED WITH DEPARTING LIGHT' - Alexander Pope at work on the Pastorals.
An important working manuscipt for Pope's first published work - 'An exquisite distillation from English pastoral in the Virgilian tradition...Pope's delicate eye for the scenic...and his mastery of verbal and metrical harmony...are here unparalleled; this is the poetry of artifice of an era when artifice was a term of praise'(Erskine-Hill, ODNB)
Pope had circulated the 'First Copy' of his pastorals at the age of seventeen and it was previewed by about fifteen literary and society notables, including William Wychereley, William Congreve and William Walsh. He meticulously incorporated these suggestions into the version printed by Tonson in the sixth volume of Dryden's Poetical Miscellany of 1709. The present manuscript is the principal evidence for Walsh's assistance and encouragement of the young poet and takes the form of a dialogue between Pope and his best early critic. It represents an aspect of the creative process that usually remains unrecorded, affording a unique insight into Pope's methods of composition.
William Walsh was designated by Dryden 'without flattery...the best Critick of our Nation', but he is now chiefly remembered for the help he gave Pope; '...in August 1707, when Pope visited him at Abberley, he famously advised the young poet to make correctness his study and aim. Walsh commented upon and corrected Pope's pastorals, and Pope appropriated some of his critical ideas for his 'Discourse on pastoral poetry'. Walsh may also have seen an early draft of the Essay on Criticism, a poem that seems to have been conceived under his influence and concludes with high praise of Walsh as 'the Muse's Judge and Friend'' (Sambrook, ODNB).
Provenance: This manuscript was presented by Alexander Pope to his close friend Jonathan Richardson, the portrait painte, and remained in his collection until at least 1871; Beverly Chew, Frank Brewer Bemis, and Arthur Houghton, bookplates. See illustration overleaf.