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Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot

Being the Prologue to the Satires

By Alexander Pope

Read by Denis Daly

John Arbuthnot (1675-1735) was an eminent physician, scholar, satirist, and an intimate friend of Pope, John Gay, and Jonathan Swift. "He has more wit than we all have," said Swift; "and more humanity than wit."

This very clever and highly-polished epistle to Dr Arbuthnot (also entitled the "Prologue to the Satires"), who was suffering from terminal illness, dates from 1734. Arbuthnot, from his deathbed, solemnly advised Pope to moderate his satire and expressed fear about the poet's personal safety from his numerous foes. Pope replied in a manly but self-defensive style. He is said at this time to have in his walks carried arms, and taken a large dog as a protector, but none of the purported enemies ever had the courage to attack him.

The poem takes the form of a dialogue in which Pope vents at length about being publicly misrepresented and also taken advantage of by publishers and critics and Arbuthnot provides occasional rejoinders urging caution and moderation.

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