"Bentely] and Pope, soon after the publication of Homer, met at Dr. Mead's at dinner; when Pope, desirous of his opinion of the translation, addressed him thus: "Dr. Bentley, I ordered my bookseller to send you your books; I hope you received them." Bentley, who had purposely avoided saying any thing about Homer, pretended not to understand him, and asked, 'Books! books! what books?' 'My Homer,' replied Pope, 'which you did me the honour to subscribe for.'—'Oh,' said Bentley, 'ay, now I recollect—your translation:—it is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope; but you must not call it Homer.'"
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Sources
John Hawkins, The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. in Eleven Volumes, Vol. IV (1787), The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, "Life of Pope", footnote on p. 126.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Iliad_of_Homer_(Alexander_Pope)
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The Iliad of Homer (Alexander Pope)
The Iliad of Homer was a poetic interpretation of the original Homeric poem undertaken by Alexander Pope, published serially from 1715 to 1720. It was followed by Pope's similar interpretation of The Odyssey of Homer in 1725.
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