Pope, Alexander--

Pope's celebrated philosophical poem An Essay on Man, originally published anonymously in 1733, was a resounding success with the reading public, both in England and on the continent, where it was translated into French prose by Etienne de Silhouette in 1736. When, however, a heavily adapted version in French verse by J.F. du B. Du Resnel appeared shortly afterwards, there was a strong reaction against the poem on moral and religious grounds. This was fanned by the Swiss professor Jean-Pierre de Crousaz, who in 1737 and 1738 published in French an Examen and a Commentary attacking Pope's poem. This was damaging to Pope's reputation, even though much of de Crousaz's criticism related to passages in the translations which were not even written by Pope. English translations of de Crousaz, themselves heavily adapted, ensued, one of them possibly by Charles Forman (for the "unspeakable Curll"), the other by the bluestocking Elizabeth Carter. Yet another attack on Pope, by William Ayre, was announced in 1739, and a final attack on Pope's heretical views was made on the continent in 1742 by Louis Racine, son of the playwright. Some relief came, however, in the form of a Vindication of Pope's Essay against de Crousaz's misguided attack, published in 1738-39 by the literary cleric and later bishop William Warburton.

The role of the present, anonymous and apparently unrecorded, manuscript in all this is unclear. Although the tone of the commentary is not particularly hostile, neither is it uncritical and it does not conform with Warburton's text. One example, for instance, refers to the "cacophony" of "rest, blest, best"  in three of Pope's verses and declares, "I dont know why one should be more Blest than y^e other. They both Act the Part they Were to Act". The manuscript is part of an apparently original working draft at least commenting on Pope's original text in English.