The bachelor society of that day, not only the society of the Wycherleys and Cromwells, but the more virtuous society of Addison and his friends, was certainly not remarkable for any exalted tone about women.

Bolingbroke, Peterborough, and Bathurst, Pope's most admired friends, were all more or less flagrantly licentious; and Swift's mysterious story shows that if he could love a woman, his love might be as dangerous as hatred.

In such a school, Pope, eminently malleable to the opinions of his companions, was not likely to acquire a high standard of sentiment.

His personal defects were equally against him.
His frame was not adapted for the robust gallantry of the time.

He wanted a nurse rather than a wife; and if his infirmities might excite pity, pity is akin to contempt as well as to love.