I must not conclude without gratefully acknowledging the kindness of my York friends,[46] who have, with the utmost readiness and liberality, given me free access to the records and documents which form many of my authorities.
I am, my dear Sir,
with much respect,
most faithfully yours,
ROBERT DAVIES.
The Mount, York,
April, 1858.
London:
F. Pickton, Printer,
Perry’s Place, 29, Oxford Street.
Footnotes:
[1] Johnson is probably in the wrong. They are printed as Lady Mary’s in the collection entitled The Poetical Works of the Right Honourable Lady M—y W—y M—e. Dublin: 12mo, 1768, p. 26.
It is rather remarkable that we should find in private documents two ladies whom Pope had made the subject of his severest satire, both manifesting curiosity about the contents of his will. Lady Hervey (Mary Lepell) writes on the 20th July, 1744, respecting one clause in it; but she writes darkly, and the editor of her Letters has not cleared away the obscurity. Lady Mary’s curiosity is expressed in letters perhaps not so well known; at least I copy from the originals. They are addressed to her intimate friend the Countess of Oxford.—“Avignon, Aug. 10, 1744.—I hear that Pope is dead, but suppose it is a mistake, since your Ladyship has never mentioned it. If it is so, I have some small curiosity for the disposition of his affairs, and to whom he has left the enjoyment of his pretty house at Twict’nam, which was in his power to dispose of for only one year after his decease.” Again:—“Avignon, Oct. 15.—I am surprised Lord Burlington is unmentioned in Pope’s will. On the whole, it appears to me more reasonable and less vain than I expected from him.” It was from Lady Oxford that she had received a copy of the will. In another letter (not of this series) Lady Mary speaks of having converted an old ruined windmill on the heights of Avignon into a belvedere, from which she says there was commanded the finest land prospect she had ever seen; then recollecting what were perhaps the happiest months of her life (for her happiness is to be counted by months, not years), she adds, “except Wharncliffe.” This “belvedere” must have been on the hill on which still stand the cathedral and the Pope’s palace, now barracks. The prospect, though magnificent, does not naturally recal the forests and moors of Wharncliffe. No traces of the “belvedere” are discoverable.
[2] See Private Memoirs of John Potenger, Esquire, edited by his Descendant, C. W. Bingham, M.A. 12mo. 1841. The editor confines himself very much to the one member of the family to whom the memoirs relate; and we have no notice of any connection with the name of Pope, or of any collateral branches of the Potengers. The Mr. Potenger, the friend of the Dean of Carlisle, is reasonably supposed to be Mr. Richard Potenger, who was elected three times member for Reading—1727, 1734, and again in 1735, when he was re-elected, having accepted a Welsh judgeship. Beatson informs us that on November 28, 1739, a new writ was ordered on his death.