POPE AND THE MARQUIS MAFFEI.
I would beg the insertion of the following Note, which occurs at p. 338. of Walker's Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy; with a view to ascertaining whether any light has been thrown on the subject since the publication of the work in question. I fear there is little chance of such being the case, but still I would be glad to learn from any of your correspondents, whether there is other evidence than the passage given from the Marquis's letter to Voltaire, to prove that Pope was actually engaged in the translation of his tragedy; or whether there is any allusion in the cotemporary literature of the day, to such a work having been undertaken by the bard of Twickenham.
"It seems to have escaped the notice of all Pope's biographers, that when the Marquis Maffei visited Twickenham, in company with Lord Burlington and Dr. Mead, he found the English bard employed on a translation of his Merope: yet the public have been in possession of this anecdote about fifty years. The Marquis, in his answer to the celebrated letter addressed to him by Voltaire, says: 'Avendomi Mylord Conte di Burlington, e il Sig. Dottore Mead, l'uno e l'altro talenti rari, ed à quali quant' io debba non posso dire, condotto alla villa del Sig. Pope, ch' è il Voltaire dell Inghilterra, come voi siete il Pope della Francia, quel bravo Poeta mi fece vedere, che lavorava alla versione della mia Tragedia in versi Inglesi: se la terminasse, e che ne sia divenuto, non so.'—La Merope, ver. 1745, p. 180. With the fate of this version we are, and probably shall ever remain, unacquainted: it may, however, be safely presumed, that it was never finished to the satisfaction of the translator, and therefore committed to the flames."
T. C. S.