, the most elegant and popular of all English poets, was born in Lombard
, the most elegant and popular of
all English poets, was born in Lombard -street, London,
May 22, 1688, where his father, a linen-draper, had acquired a property of 20,000l. His mother was daughter of
William Turner, esq. of York, two of whose sons died in
the service of Charles I. and a third became a general
officer in Spain, and from this last Mrs. Pope is said to
have inherited what sequestrations and forfeitures had left
in the family. Both his parents were Roman catholics. He.
was from his birth of a constitution tender and delicate
but is said to have shewn remarkable gentleness and sweetness of disposition. The weakness of his body continued
throughout life, and was so great that he constantly wore
stays; but the mildness of his mind, says Johnson, perhaps ended with his childhood. His voice, when he was
young, was so pleasing, that he was called in fondness
“the little Nightingale.
”