feems, is Pattifon. I told him I should not write any thing, but I believed it might be as the writ in her letter. I am extremely concerned that my former indifcretion in putting them into the hands of this Preticufe, fhould have given you fo much difturbance; for the last thing I fhould do would be to dif oblige you, for whom I have ever preferved the greatest efteen, and fhall ever be, Sir, (lad ng I Your faithful Friend, and s brang snijd wandhöldin most humble Servant, soved lliw not. HENRY CROMWELL. To Mr. P QP E. Till I was Aug. 1, 1727. HO' I writ my long narrative from Epfom 'till I was tired, yet was I not fatisfied; lett any doubt should reft upon your mind. I could make proteftations of my innocence of a grievous crime; but I was impatient till I came to town, that I might fend you thofe Letters as a clear evidence that I was a perfect ftranger to all their proceeding. Should I have protefted against it, after the printing it might have been taken for an attempt to decry his purchase; and as the little exception you have taken has ferved him to play his game upon us for two years, a new incident from me might enable him to play it on for two more. The great value the expreffes for all you write, and her paffion for having them, I believe, was what prevailed upon me to let her keep them. By the interval of twelve thef years at least, from her poffeffion to the time of printing them, 'tis manifeft, that I had not the leaft ground to apprehend fuch a defign: but as people in great ftraits, bring forth their hoards of old gold and most valued jewels; fo Sappho had recourfe to her hid treasure of Letters, and play'd off not only your's to me, but all those to herself (as the lady's last stake) into the prefsAs for me, I hope, when you fhall coolly confider the many thousand inftances of our being deluded by the females, fince that great Original of Adam by Eve, you will have a more favourable thought of the undefigning error of Your faithful Friend, and humble Servant, HENRY CROMWELL. as ill Now should our apology for this publication be received, as the lady's feems to have been by the gen-. tlemen concerned; we shall at least have Her Comfort, of being thanked by the reft of the world. Nor has Mr. P. himself any great caufe to think it much offence to his modefty, or reflection on his judgment; when we take care to inform the public, that there are few Letters of his in this collection, which were e not written under twenty years of age: on th : on the other hand, we doubt not the reader will be much more furprized to find at that early period, fo much variety of flyle, affecting fentiment, and juftness of criticism, in pieces which must have been writ in hafte, very few perhaps ever reviewed, and none intended for the eye of the public. A CA mund Curll, 1727. [In this are Verfes, &c. afcribed to Mr. P. which were not his.] છે II. Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence for thirty years: from 1704 to 1734. Being a Collection of Letters which paffed between him and feveral eminent perfons. Printed for E. Curll, 8°, 1735, Two editions. The fame in duodecimo, with cuts. The third edition. [These contain several Letters not genuine.] Vo III. Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence, Vol. II.. Printed for the fame, 8, 1735. [In thi lume are no Letters of Mr. Pope's, but a few of thofe to Mr. Cromwell reprinted; nor any to a 4 him, him, but one faid to be Bishop Atterbury's, and IV. Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence, Vol. III. Printed for E. Curll, 80, 1735. [In this is only one Letter by Mr. Pope to the Duchefs of Buck- ix Surreptitious and Incorrect Editions, &c. Curll's, how he could come at more of their Letters, 8°, printed for the fame, 1736. VII. Letters of Mr. Pope and feveral Eminent Per fons, Vol. I. from 1705 to 1711. Printed and fold by the bookfellers of London and Westminfter, 8°, 1735. The fame, Vol. II. from 1711, &c. Printed and fold by the bookfellers of London and Westminster, 8, 1735.-The fame in 12m0, with a Narrative. VIII. Letters of Mr. Pope and several Eminent Perfons. From 1705 to 1735. Printed and fold by the bookfellers of London and Westminster, 12mo, 1735. [This edition is faid in the title to contain more Letters than any other, but contains only Two, faid to be the Bishop of Rochefter's, and printed before by Curll.] IX. Letters of Mr. Pope and feveral Eminent Perfons. From the year 1705 to 1735, Vol. I. and Vol. II. Printed for T. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-nofter Row, 1735, 12mo. [In this was inferted the Forged Letter from the Bishop of Rochester, and fome other things, unknown to Mr. Pope.] PRE |