Editing Alexander Pope (section)

==Life==
Alexander Pope was born in London on 21 May 1688 during the year of the [[Glorious Revolution]]. His father (Alexander Pope, 1646–1717) was a successful linen merchant in the [[Strand, London]]. His mother, Edith (née Turner, 1643–1733), was the daughter of William Turner, Esquire, of [[York]]. Both parents were [[Catholic Church|Catholics]].<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/> His uncle-in-law was the miniature painter [[Samuel Cooper (painter)|Samuel Cooper]], through his mother's sister, Christiana. Pope's education was affected by the recently enacted [[Test Act]]s, a series of English penal laws that upheld the status of the [[State religion|established]] [[Church of England]], banning Catholics from teaching, attending a university, voting, and holding public office on penalty of perpetual imprisonment. Pope was taught to read by his aunt and attended [[Twyford School]] circa 1698.<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/> He also attended two Roman Catholic schools in London.<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/> Such schools, though still illegal, were tolerated in some areas.<ref name="Alexander Pope' 2000">"Alexander Pope", ''Literature Online biography'' (Chadwyck-Healey: Cambridge, 2000). (subscription required) 
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In 1700 his family moved to a small estate at [[Popeswood]], in [[Binfield]], [[Berkshire]], close to the royal [[Windsor Great Park|Windsor Forest]].<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB" /> This was due to strong anti-Catholic sentiment and a statute preventing "[[Popery|Papists]]" from living within {{convert|10|mi|km}} of London or Westminster.<ref>"An Act to prevent and avoid dangers which may grow by Popish Recusants" ([[3 Jas. 1]]. c. 4). For details, see ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11611c.htm Penal Laws] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806142534/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11611c.htm |date=6 August 2020 }}".</ref> Pope would later describe the countryside around the house in his poem ''[[Windsor-Forest|Windsor Forest]]''.<ref name="WF">Pope, Alexander. [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/o3704-w0010.shtml ''Windsor-Forest''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617055954/http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/o3704-w0010.shtml |date=17 June 2016 }}. Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).</ref> Pope's formal education ended at this time, and from then on, he mostly educated himself by reading the works of classical writers such as the [[Satire|satirists]] [[Horace]] and [[Juvenal]], the [[Epic poetry|epic poets]] [[Homer]] and [[Virgil]], as well as English authors such as [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], [[William Shakespeare]] and [[John Dryden]].<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/> He studied many languages, reading works by French, Italian, Latin, and Greek poets. After five years of study, Pope came into contact with figures from London literary society such as [[William Congreve]], [[Samuel Garth]] and [[William Trumbull]].<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/><ref name="Alexander Pope' 2000"/>

At Binfield he made many important friends. One of them, [[John Caryll the younger|John Caryll]] (the future dedicatee of ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]''), was twenty years older than the poet and had made many acquaintances in the London literary world. He introduced the young Pope to the ageing playwright [[William Wycherley]] and to [[William Walsh (poet)|William Walsh]], a minor poet, who helped Pope revise his first major work, ''[[Pastorals (Pope)|The Pastorals]]''. There, he met the Blount sisters, [[Teresa Blount|Teresa]] and [[Martha Blount|Martha (Patty)]], in 1707. He remained close friends with Patty until his death, but his friendship with Teresa ended in 1722.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rumbold |first1=Valerie |title=Women's Place in Pope's World |date=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |pages=33, 48, 128 |isbn=978-0-521-36308-2 |url= http://archive.org/details/womensplaceinpop0000rumb}}</ref>

[[File:Alexander Pope's house at Twickenham.png|thumb|left|[[Pope's villa]] at [[Twickenham]], showing the [[grotto]]; from a watercolour produced soon after his death]]

From the age of 12 he suffered numerous health problems, including [[Pott disease]], a form of [[tuberculosis]] that affects the spine, which deformed his body and stunted his growth, leaving him with a severe hunchback. His tuberculosis infection caused other health problems including respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes and abdominal pain.<ref name="Erskine-Hill, DNB"/> He grew to a height of only {{height|ft=4|in=6|abbr=no}}. Pope was already removed from society as a Catholic, and his poor health alienated him further. Although he never married, he had many female friends to whom he wrote witty letters, including [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]]. It has been alleged that his lifelong friend [[Martha Blount]] was his lover.<ref name="Alexander Pope' 2000"/><ref name="Gordon 2002"/><ref name="Mount"/><ref>''The Life of Alexander Pope'', by [[Robert Carruthers]], 1857, with a corrupted and badly scanned version available [https://archive.org/details/lifealexanderpo00carrgoog from Internet Archive], or as an [https://archive.org/details/lifealexanderpo00carrgoog even worse 23MB PDF]. For reference to his relationship with Martha Blount and her sister, see pp. 64–68 (p. 89 ff. of the PDF). In particular, discussion of the controversy over whether the relationship was sexual is described in some detail on pp. 76–78.</ref> His friend [[William Cheselden]] said, according to [[Joseph Spence (author)|Joseph Spence]], "I could give a more particular account of Mr. Pope's health than perhaps any man. [[Cibber]]'s slander (of carnosity) is false. He had been gay [happy], but left that way of life upon his acquaintance with Mrs. B."<ref>Zachary Cope (1953) ''William Cheselden, 1688–1752''. Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone, p. 89.</ref>

In May 1709, Pope's ''Pastorals'' was published in the sixth part of bookseller [[Jacob Tonson]]'s ''Poetical Miscellanies''. This earned Pope instant fame and was followed by ''[[An Essay on Criticism]]'', published in May 1711, which was equally well received.

Around 1711, Pope made friends with Tory writers [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Thomas Parnell (poet)|Thomas Parnell]] and [[John Arbuthnot]], who together formed the satirical [[Scriblerus Club]]. Its aim was to satirise ignorance and pedantry through the fictional scholar Martinus Scriblerus. He also made friends with [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] writers [[Joseph Addison]] and [[Richard Steele]]. In March 1713, ''Windsor Forest''<ref name="WF"/> was published to great acclaim.<ref name="Alexander Pope' 2000"/>

During Pope's friendship with Joseph Addison, he contributed to Addison's play ''[[Cato, a Tragedy|Cato]]'', as well as writing for ''[[The Guardian (1713)|The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The Spectator (1711)|The Spectator]]''. Around this time, he began the work of translating the ''[[Iliad]]'', which was a painstaking process – publication began in 1715 and did not end until 1720.<ref name="Alexander Pope' 2000"/>

In 1714 the political situation worsened with the death of Queen Anne and the disputed succession between the [[House of Hanover|Hanoverians]] and the [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]], leading to the [[Jacobite rising of 1715]]. Though Pope, as a Catholic, might have been expected to have supported the Jacobites because of his religious and political affiliations, according to [[Maynard Mack]], "where Pope himself stood on these matters can probably never be confidently known". These events led to an immediate downturn in the fortunes of the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]], and Pope's friend [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke]], fled to France. This was added to by the [[Impeachment of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford|Impeachment]] of the former Tory Chief Minister [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Lord Oxford]]. 

Pope lived in his parents' house in Mawson Row, [[Chiswick]], between 1716 and 1719; the red-brick building is now the ''[[Mawson Arms]]'', commemorating him with a [[blue plaque]].<ref name="ChiswickHistory">{{Cite web |url=http://chiswickhistory.org.uk/html/110-people.html |title=Chiswick History |publisher=chiswickhistory.org.uk |work=People: Alexander Pope |access-date=16 March 2012 |author=Clegg, Gillian |archive-date=20 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920224652/http://chiswickhistory.org.uk/html/110-people.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The money made from his translation of Homer allowed Pope to move in 1719 to [[Pope's villa|a villa at Twickenham]], where he created his now-famous [[Pope's Grotto|grotto]] and gardens. The serendipitous discovery of a spring during the excavation of the subterranean retreat enabled it to be filled with the relaxing sound of trickling water, which would quietly echo around the chambers. Pope was said to have remarked, "Were it to have nymphs as well – it would be complete in everything." Although the house and gardens have long since been demolished, much of the grotto survives beneath Radnor House Independent Co-educational School.<ref name="Gordon 2002"/><ref>''[[London Evening Standard]]'', 2 November 2010.</ref> The grotto has been restored and will open to the public for 30 weekends a year from 2023 under the auspices of Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The secrets and lights of Alexander Pope's Twickenham grotto |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6a06cfab-1be7-432e-9aab-3c7ba501ac28 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/6a06cfab-1be7-432e-9aab-3c7ba501ac28 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=24 July 2021 |newspaper=Financial Times|date=23 July 2021 |last1=Fox |first1=Robin Lane }}</ref>