Alexander Pope and his Patrons Trea Mary Liddy Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University College London University of London September 2000 ProQuest Number: U643920 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U643920 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract This thesis is an examination of Alexander Pope’s relationships with his patrons, the primary purpose of which is to discover the ways in which patronage mattered to him. Much of the thesis is a study of Pope’s relationships with two particular patrons: Richard Boyle, 3'"^ Earl of Burlington (1695-1753) and Allen Bathurst, T* Baron and later 1®‘ Earl Bathurst (1684-1775). It argues that these two were his most important patrons. Taking Pope’s relationships with these two men as case studies, it examines his claim that his relationships with his patrons were governed not only by need but by friendship. Chapter 1, ‘Living “among the Great”: the Historical Background to Pope’s Relationships with his Patrons’, consists of six sections. The first section introduces and gives a rationale for the thesis. The second section surveys significant literary-historical discussions of patronage in the early eighteenth century, and expresses some scepticism about the roles that Pope is made to play in some of these accounts. The next section discusses Pope’s representation of the relationship between commerce and writing and this is followed by an examination of Pope’s own finances as a necessary background for an understanding of his reliance on patrons. In the next section I describe his often satirical portrayal of patronage in his poetry. The final section is an overview of the roles of particular patrons (apart from Burlington and Bathurst). The next three chapters are concerned with Pope’s relationship with Burlington. Particular attention is given to the attacks on both men by their contemporaries in order to come to a better understanding of the nature of the bond between them. In Chapter 2, ‘Sanctifying Expense: Pope, Burlington and Taste’, I investigate the hostile response to the claims made by Pope and Burlington to be arbiters of Taste. In Chapter 3, “‘The Freedomes of Friendship”. Pope’s Relationship with Burlington’, I concentrate on Pope’s claims to friendship with Burlington, measuring these against biographical evidence. In Chapter 4, “‘A Most Extravagant Censure”: The Outcry against the Epistle To Burlington', I describe how these claims were tested in the attacks on Pope for ingratitude towards his patrons on account of his Epistle To Burlington. My last two chapters are concerned with Pope’s relationship with Bathurst. I argue that, of all Pope’s patrons, Bathurst is the only one with whom he was really friends. Chapter 5, “‘Yet Unspoil’d by Wealth”: Pope’s Friendship with Bathurst’, focuses on money in their relationship and considers the attempts of Pope’s Epistle To Bathurst to suggest the gentlemanly equivalence of poet and patron. Chapter 6, “‘Alas, my BATHURST!”: Pope’s Later Relationship with Bathurst’, focuses on gardening and highlights Pope’s remarkable combination of ridicule and respect in his treatment of Bathurst in his Imitation of Horace, Epistle II. ii.. At the end of this chapter, I make some suggestions about the ways in which my research might help towards an understanding of what was a transitional stage in the history of authorship and how changing ideas about authorship shaped Pope’s poetry. Contents Abstract 2 Contents 3 Acknowledgements 4 Illustrations 5 Abbreviations 6 1. Living ^among the Great : the Historical Background to Pope’s Relationships with his Patrons i) Introduction 7 ii) Modem discussion of patronage in the early eighteenth century 17 iii) Pope’s attitude to finance 26 iv) Pope’s financial dealings 36 v) Satirical representations of patronage in Pope’s poetry 53 vi) Overview of Pope’s relationships with his patrons 59 Sanctifying Expense: Pope, Burlington and Taste i) The historical background 94 ii) Pope’s Of the Use of Riches 107 iii) Hostile responses; Taste 114 3. The Freedomes of Friendship’: Pope’s Relationship with Burlington i) Burlington’s early patronage of Pope and Gay 120 ii) Burlington’s protection of Pope at Chiswick 125 iii) Pope’s and Burlington’s correspondence: Pope’s attitude towards their relationship 129 4. A Most Extravagant Censure’: The Outcry against the Epistle To Burlington i) The historical background 139 ii) Hostile responses: ingratitude 144 iii) Pope’s reply 153 5. Yet unspoil’d by Wealth’: Pope’s Friendship with Bathurst i) The background to the Epistle To Bathurst 163 ii) Bathurst: a brief biography and his early patronage of Pope 171 iii) Bathurst’s financial dealings and the Epistle To 181 6. Alas, my BATHURST!’: Pope’s Later Relationship with Bathurst i) Pope, Bathurst and gardens 205 ii) Bathurst’s and Pope’s correspondence: Pope’s attitude towards their fi'iendship 234 iii) Pope’s criticism of Bathurst: A Master Key to Popery 244 iv) Pope’s Imitation of Horace, Epistle II. ii.: friendship and dependence 254 Bibliography 269 Acknowledgements I should first like to thank Dr John Mullan for his careful and good-humoured supervision. I am also indebted to Mr Tim Langley for his assiduous reading of my work and many helpful comments. I am very grateful to Professor Howard Erskine-Hill for his encouragement at the midpoint of my research. I should also like to thank Professor Karl Miller for generously giving his time to reading my work in progress and for his kind advice. Acknowledgements are due to the department of English at University College London for awarding me a share of the Fourth Year Fellowship, which helped me to complete my research. 1 acknowledge the assistance of the British Library, the British Museum, the University of London Library and University College London Library. I am also grateful to the assistance of Mr Peter Day at Chatsworth. Finally, 1 dedicate this thesis to my family, my constant source of support and inspiration. Illustrations Figure 1. Hogarth, Taste, or Burlington Gate, Dec-Jan 1731/32, Hogarth’s Graphic Works, First Complete Edition, ed. by Ronald Paulson (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1965), vol. 2, No. 277. Figure 2. Frontispiece to Ingratitude: To Mr Pope. Occasion’d by a Manuscript Handed about, under the Title of, Mr Taste's Tour from the Land o f Politeness, to that of Dulness and Scandal, &c &c. Ingratitude’s the Growth o f Ev’ry Clime. (1733), No. 1935 in the Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum, 11 vols, ed. by Frederic George Stephens (London, 1873), vol. 2. Figure 3. Marble Hill from the river, 1749, by Heckell and Mason in Marie P. 0. Draper, Marble Hill and its owners (London: Greater London Council, 1970), plate 21. Figures 4 and 5. Samuel Rudder’s Plans of Oakley Great Park and Home Park, Cirencester, A New History of Gloucestershire (London, 1779). Figure 6. Photograph of King Alfred’s Hall in Christopher Hussey, ‘Cirencester House - II: The Park’, Country Life, 23 June 1950, p. 1884. Figure 7. The South View of King Alfred’s Hall in Oakley Wood, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Drawn by Thomas Robins the Elder (1716-70), engraved by Thomas Major (d, 1799), in Morris Brownell, Alexander Pope and the Arts of Georgian England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), plate 57. Figures 8 and 9. Photographs of King Alfred’s Hall, details, in Barbara Jones, Follies and Grottoes (London: Constable, 1953), p. 32. Figure 10. Cirencester House, the view from the Home Park, Rudder’s Gloucestershire (1779). Abbreviations Alexander Pope Maynard Mack, Alexander Pope: A Life (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985) The Early Career George Sherbum, The Early Career of Alexander Pope (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934) Corr. The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. by George Sherbum, 5 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956) Prose Works The Prose Works o f Alexander Pope, ed. by Norman Ault and Rosemary Cowler, 2 vols (Oxford: Blackwell, 1936-86) Spence Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, Observations and Characters of Books and Men: Collectedfrom Conversation, ed. by James M. Osborn, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966) T. E. The Twickenham Edition of the Poems of Alexander Pope, ed. by John Butt and others, 11 vols (London: Methuen; New Haven: Yale University, 1939-70) 1. Living ‘among the Great’: the Historical Background to Alexander Pope’s Relationships with his Patrons The first section of this chapter introduces and gives a rationale for this thesis. In the second section of this chapter, I will survey modem discussion of patronage in the early eighteenth century; in the third section, I will give an account of Pope’s attitude to finance before, in the fourth section, discussing the intricacies of his own financial dealings and, in the fifth section, his often satirical representation of patronage in his poetry. Finally, in the sixth section, I will give an overview of his relationships with his patrons. i) Introduction The aim of this thesis is to discover the ways in which patronage mattered to Alexander Pope. Much of my thesis is a study of Pope’s relationships with two particular patrons, Richard Boyle (1695-1753), 3"^^ Earl of Burlington and Allen Bathurst (1684-1775), Baron and later 1*‘ Earl Bathurst.