The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume IX. From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift.
§ 13. His Death
Bentley died in Trinity college after a few days’ illness on 14 July, 1742. Four months earlier, Pope had published, in the fourth book of The Dunciad, his full-length caricature of the most famous scholar in Europe, now over eighty years old It suited Pope’s purpose or his humour to represent Bentley as one of the dullest of men. But the truth is that no greater intellect than his has ever been devoted to the study and elucidation of ancient literature.