Show or Old Love ABBEY SAGE RICHARDSON POOR sickly deformed little Pope was not framed by nature to excite a deeper feeling in his feminine contemporaries contemporaries contemporaries than pity He was so good and devoted a son that it is sad he could not have had the opportunity to show the same virtues as a husband One of his latest biographers says ays II The best prescription Popes Pope's spiritual physician physician physician phy phy- could have given was the love of a good and sensible woman The nearest approach to such an affection in his life was that between himself and Martha Blount the younger of the two sisters The Blounts were bright vivacious young women whom whom Pope had known from boyhood and who in 1714 came cameto cameto cameto to to live near Popes Pope's villa at ham At first he seems to have shared 11 his reg regard rd eq equally between the two There was h however wever on his part a glowing partiality for Martha and after some jealousy on on the part of Teresa a falling off in his regard for her which ended in a quarrel and estrangement For the last fifteen y years ars of his Ii life fe Martha became his almost constant companion and at his death he left lefther lefther lefther her the bulk of his fortune In his last years he was pitifully pitiful y dependent on her for care and sympathy and he clung to her affection with most touching helplessness He speaks of her in aletter a a. letter to one of his friends as II a IIa a friend friend friend-a a woman with friend with whom I have ha three four hours spent or a day day- for these last fifteen ye years |