From the beginning his craftsmanship was perfect; from the beginning he took his subject-matter from others as he found it and worked it up into aphorism and epigram till each line shone like a cut jewel and the essential commonplaceness and poverty of his material was obscured by the glitter the craftsmanship lent to it.
Subject apart, however, he was quite sure of his medium from the beginning; it was not long before he found the way to use it to most brilliant purpose.

_The Rape of the Lock_ and the satirical poems come later in his career.
As a satirist Pope, though he did not hit so hard as Dryden, struck more deftly and probed deeper.

He wielded a rapier where the other used a broadsword, and though both used their weapons with the highest skill and the metaphor must not be imagined to impute clumsiness to Dryden, the rapier made the cleaner cut.

Both employed a method in satire which their successors (a poor set) in England have not been intelligent enough to use.

They allow every possible good point to the object of their attack.