ABSTRACT
The first review Pope received was of An Essay on Criticism. In his Essay Pope had included a three-line portrait of Dennis, using him as an example of that literary intemperance which the ideal critic should avoid. Pope sat down to read the manuscript Bernard Lintot had sent him; he discovered his Essay supposedly contained covert Papist and Jacobite propaganda. Pope noted all he had to say and, deciding he had 'objected to one or two lines with reason,' he told Caryll he would 'alter them in case of another edition,' being willing to 'Make use of ev'ry Friend-and ev'ry Foe. Political and religious attack won Pope new friends and was one of the reasons why Addison was prompted to write a calm and judicious defence of An Essay on Criticism for the Spectator, no. 253 in December. Nor did Pope react at first when his Pastorals were pointedly ignored by Addison's circle, who instead acclaimed those by Ambrose Philips.
