An Epistle to Burlington
An Epistle to Burlington is a poem by Alexander Pope, first published in December 1731. Addressed to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington, it considers taste in architecture and gardening, and asks whether expensive surroundings are necessarily useful or enjoyable.[1][2]
Titles and publication
The poem’s original title linked it to Burlington’s publication of drawings of ancient Roman buildings by Andrea Palladio. Its first half-title was Of Taste. Of False Taste appeared with the second edition and reached the title page of the third. Lock describes this as the name by which the poem became popularly known.[2][1]
In Pope’s 1735 Works, it appeared as Of the Use of Riches. It became the fourth of the Epistles to Several Persons, a group also known as the Moral Essays. The title Of the Use of Riches is also associated with An Epistle to Bathurst, so the addressee helps distinguish the two poems.[2][3]
Taste, buildings and gardens
Written in rhyming pairs of lines, the poem values judgement over expense. It urges designers to respect the character of a site when arranging buildings and planting.[2]
Timon’s villa provides the longest comic example. His enormous house, repetitive gardens, decorative book collection and formal dinner are costly but unpleasant. After ridiculing his extravagance, the poem concedes that building can provide employment. Its conclusion turns to agriculture and public works.[2]
Revision and interpretation
The order of passages changed substantially. Literary scholar Julian Ferraro argues that the manuscript, early printed versions and 1735 text should not be read as though they express precisely the same position. The earlier arrangement more directly contrasts Timon’s bad taste with Burlington’s example. Later changes give greater weight to usefulness and complicate Burlington’s role as an ideal.[3]
One important revision replaced a direct compliment to Burlington’s taste with a general statement that useful results justify expense. Ferraro also shows how moving the passage about employment changes its relationship to the ridicule of Timon. In his reading, revision alters the argument, rather than merely polishing its wording.[3]
Early responses
The poem helped make taste a subject of literary debate. A Miscellany on Taste (1732) reprinted it with hostile commentary. James Bramston’s The Man of Taste (1733) offered a more sympathetic response, developing Pope’s satire through its own self-revealing speaker. Lock places these works within contemporary arguments about cultivated judgement and conspicuous consumption.[1]
Related reading
- Poetry
- An Epistle to Bathurst — Pope’s related poem about the use of wealth.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 F. P. Lock, Introduction to James Bramston’s The Man of Taste (1733), Augustan Reprint Society, publication 171, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, 1975. Transcription on Project Gutenberg; introduction consulted 11 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Alexander Pope, “Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV — To Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington”, Representative Poetry Online, University of Toronto Libraries. Primary poem and editorial notes, especially note 1; accessed 11 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Julian Ferraro, “From Text to Work: The Presentation and Re-presentation of Epistles to Several Persons”, Proceedings of the British Academy, 91, 1998, pp. 111–134, especially pp. 119–125.