What kinds of people are satirized in An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot?

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Portrait of poet Alexander Pope — Alexander Pope Alexander Pope, portrait by Thomas Hudson, c. 1739; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Alexander Pope defends his literary reputation by satirizing various figures he viewed as threats to artistic integrity and personal honor. The poem targets several specific groups of people, including:

Cowardly critics: Those who attacked his work from a position of anonymity or lack of conviction.1
Hypocritical pedants: Individuals who feigned intellectual superiority while lacking genuine substance.1
Insipid patrons of the arts: Those who claimed to support literature but lacked true taste or understanding.1
Corrupt sycophants: Individuals who used flattery and manipulation to gain influence.1

Additionally, the poem serves as a direct response to specific contemporaries who had criticized him, most notably Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Joseph Addison, and John, Lord Hervey. By employing these satires, Pope sought to uphold the ethical principle of intellectual honesty against those he perceived as dishonest or malicious detractors.1