.
With the publication of the
Pastorals
, Pope embarked upon his life as a man of letters. They seem to have brought him a certain recognition, but hardly fame. That he obtained by his next poem, the
Essay on Criticism
, which appeared in 1711. It was applauded in the
Spectator
, and Pope seems about this time to have made the acquaintance of Addison and the little senate which met in Button's coffee house. His poem the
Messiah
appeared in the