Swift (1739):
In Pope, I cannot read a Line,
But with a Sigh, I wish it mine:
When he can in one Couplet fix
More Sense than I can do in Six:
It gives me such a jealous Fit,
I cry, Pox take him, and his Wit.
The second testimony comes from David Garrick, the most esteemed actor of the eighteenth century, who in later life recalled the occasion in the winter of 1742 when Pope, who had less than two years to live, attended a triumphant appearance of Garrick in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III. "When I was told . . . that POPE was in the house," Garrick said, "I instantaneously felt a palpitation at my heart; a tumultuous, not a disagreeable emotion in my mind. I was then in the prime of youth; and in the zenith of my theatrical ambition. It gave me a particular pleasure that RICHARD was my character, when POPE was to see, and hear me. As I opened my part; I saw our little poetical hero; dressed in black; seated in a side box, near the stage; and viewing me with a serious, and earnest attention.
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