DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

ae) authors of the day, he came forward as the champion of wit against dullness, and thus created the word ‘Dunce.’ A martyr to physical infirmities, sensitive and irritable, Pope spent the last twenty-five years of his life at a villa near Twickenham, which still bears hisname. There he produced creations that made him the acknowledged head of the poetical world of the day, and whose vigour and spirit will remain eternally fresh. There, unmoved by political strife, an impartial | and independent author, he associated with the wits, | the beauties, and the statesmen whose memories | hallow the rural shades of suburban London. And round Addison and Pope, round Swift and Defoe, were grouped a host of writers of considerable importance, who glorified the person and the reign of Queen Anne. They divined the necessity of giving a specific form to the growing demand for public information, and thereby elevated the standard of mental culture and the tone of public morality. And not the least amongst the imperishable records of their merits is that as they thought and as they worked, they prepared the ground for that stupend- ous growth of modern days, the Press. Ayiessury Lirrerary Instiru7e, May 6th, 1884. LONDON Printed by Srranceways & Sons, Tower Street, Upper St. Martin’s Lane.