Lot 64: POPE, Alexander (1688-1744). Autograph manuscript (fair copy) of his early poem entitled 'A

POPE, Alexander (1688-1744). Autograph manuscript (fair copy) of his early poem entitled 'A Paraphrase on Thomas a Kempis, L[iber] 3, C[apitulum] 2 Done by the Author at 12 years old', n.p., n.d. [1700-1701], written in brown ink, the heading in roman and italic lettering in imitation of printing, the text in a neat cursive hand, 36 lines of verse in six stanzas, 1 1/2 pages, 308 x 190 mm (a few tiny holes in folds, professionally repaired on verso, a few light spots, the leaf tipped on to a mount), and:
CARYLL, John (?1666-1736). Autograph draft signed in favour of 'Mr Alex[ander] Pope' for the sum of eleven pounds, 28 February 1720, receipted and signed by Pope ('A. Pope') on verso, one page, 65 x 154 mm; and an autograph note by Sir Charles Dilke; in a brown cloth portfolio.

Provenance: John Caryll -- Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864) who discovered Caryll's papers in 1853 and published the poem in The Athenaeum -- Sir Charles Dilke (grandson), who retained the present manuscripts when he presented the remainder of the Caryll Papers to the British Museum in 1 -- purchased from W.H. Robinson, London, 9 December 1938, £80.

THE EARLIEST VERSES BY POPE WHICH MAY BE ACCURATELY DATED AND 'ONE OF POPE'S LEAST-KNOWN JUVENILIA, in a devotional mood he is not known otherwise to have pursued' (Maynard Mack, Alexander Pope: A Life, 1983). The paraphrase is based upon De Imitatione Christi, lib.3, cap.2, and expresses the familiar meditative theme that Truth speaks inwardly without the noise of words ('Quod veritas intus loquitur sine strepitu verborum'), opening with the lines 'Speak, Gracious Lord, oh speak: thy Servant hears: For I'm thy servant and I'l[l] still be so'.
Although Pope was later prone to exaggerate his precocity, the style of the work and some typically 17th-century rhymes confirm its early date and he is known to have acquired in his boyhood a copy of the work attributed to Thomas à Kempis. In his childhood he learnt to write by imitating printed letters, and read poetry voraciously. The manuscript was discovered by Charles Wentworth Dilke among the papers of John Caryll. The latter, who befriended Pope around 1710, is chiefly remembered as the source of inspiration acknowledged in the opening line of The Rape of the Lock ('This verse to Caryll, Muse, is due'). (The Collected Works, ed. N. Ault and J. Butt, vol.VI, 1954).

This lot will be subject to VAT at the rate of 17.5% on the buyer's premium