Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men: Collected from the Conversation of Mr Pope, and Other Eminent Persons of his Time

Joseph Spence

doi:10.1017/CBO9781107450509

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Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men

Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men

Collected from the Conversation of Mr Pope, and Other Eminent Persons of his Time

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Joseph Spence
Edited by Samuel Weller Singer

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:: February 2015
Print publication year:: 2015
First published in:: 1820
Online ISBN:: 9781107450509
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107450509

Subjects:: Literature, Literary Texts, English Literature: General Interest, English Literature 1700-1830
Series:: Cambridge Library Collection - Literary Studies

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Joseph Spence (1699–1768) was ordained after graduating from Oxford, and having made the acquaintance of Alexander Pope, was helped by him to the professorship of poetry at Oxford, which he held for ten years from 1728. At the same time (and while holding the living of Birchanger in Essex) he began the first of several extended European journeys, accompanying nobility on the Grand Tour. He had published various literary works before his death in 1768, but left a number of manuscripts to be published at the discretion of his executors. They decided to take no action, but these anecdotes of Alexander Pope and his contemporaries came into the possession of a bookseller called Carpenter, who had them edited, and published them, prefaced with a life of Spence, in 1820. This is a fascinating compilation of anecdotes, aphorisms and biographical details about the most famous poet of his age.

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Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men

Collected from the Conversation of Mr Pope, and Other Eminent Persons of his Time

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Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

THE EDITOR'S PREFACE
pp vii-xvi

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR
pp xvii-xl

SECTION I - 1728-30
pp 1-54

SECTION II - 1730-32
pp 55-96

SECTION III - 1732-33
pp 97-133

SECTION IV - 1734…36
pp 134-181

SECTION V - 1737…39
pp 182-218

SECTION VI - 1740…41
pp 219-254

SECTION VII - 1742…43
pp 255-287

SECTION VIII - 1743…44
pp 288-322

SUPPLEMENTAL ANECDOTES, FROM MR. SPENCE'S PAPERS
pp 323-324

SUPPLEMENTAL ANECDOTES, FROM MR. SPENCE'S PAPERS
pp 325-360

SUPPLEMENTAL ANECDOTES FROM FIRST MEMORANDUM BOOK FOR 1755
pp 361-378

ADDITIONAL NOTES
pp 379-380

APPENDIX
pp 381-382

No. I - MR. POPE TO MR. SPENCE
pp 383-384

No. II - FROM MR. CHRISTOPHER PITT
pp 384-386

No. III - FROM MR. R. DOWNES
pp 386-388

No. IV - FROM DR. EDWARD YOUNG
pp 389-389

No. V - FROM MR. STEPHEN DUCK
pp 389-390

No. VI - FROM MR. A. SMYTH
pp 391-392

No. VII - FROM THE SAME
pp 392-394

No. VIII - FROM LORD MIDDLESEX
pp 395-397

No. IX - The three following Letters of Mr. Spence to his Mother, are inserted, on account of the amusing particulars contained in them. Editor TO MRS. SPENCE. (1.)
pp 397-400

TO MRS. SPENCE. (2.)
pp 400-403

No. XI - TO MRS. SPENCE. (3.)
pp 403-405

No. XII - FROM HORACE WALPOLE
pp 405-406

No. XIII - FROM LD ORFORD, TO COL: CHURCHILL
pp 407-407

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Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men

Collected from the Conversation of Mr Pope, and Other Eminent Persons of his Time

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