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have obliged you to refufe, what you wou'd not be difpleafed with, if done without your knowledge. And befides, to end all difpute, you had been pleafed to make me a free gift of them, to do what I pleased with them; and every one knows, that the perfon to whom a Letter is addreffed, has the fame right to difpofe of it, as he has of goods purchased with his money. I doubt not but your generofity and honour will do me the right, of owning by a line that I came honeftly by them. I flatter my felf, in a few months I fhall again be vifible to the world; and whenever thro' good providence that Turn fhall happen, I shall joyfully acquaint you with it, there being none more truly your obliged Servant, than, Sir,

Your faithful, and

most humble Servant,

E. THOMAS.

P. S. A Letter, Sir, directed to Mrs. Thomas, to be left at my houfe, will be fafely tranfmitted to her,

by,

Yours, &c.

E. CURLL.

WHEN

To Mr. POPE.

Epfom, July 6, 1727.

WHEN thefe Letters were firft printed, I wondered how Curll cou'd come by them, and cou'd not but laugh at the pompous title; fince

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whatever you wrote to me was humour, and familiar Raillery. As foon as I came from Epfom, I heard you had been to fee me, and I writ you a fhort lettter from Will's, that I longed to fee you. Mr. D.

about that time, charged me with giving them to a Miftrefs which I pofitively denied: not in the least, at that time, thinking of it; but fome time after, finding in the news papers Letters from Lady Packington, Lady Chudleigh, and Mr. Norris, to the fame Sapho or E. T. I began to fear that I was guilty. I have never feen thefe Letters of Curll's, nor would go to his fhop about them; I have not feen this Sapho, alias E. T. thefe feven years. Her writing, That I gave her 'em, to do what I wou'd with 'em, is ftraining the point too far. I thought not of it, nor do I think the did then; but severe Neceffity, which catches hold of a Twig, has produced all this; which has lain hid, and forgot by me fo many years. Curll fent me a Letter lait week, defiring a positive answer about this matter, but finding I wou'd give him none, he went to E. T. and writ a Pofcript in her long romantick Letter, to direct my Anfwer to his houfe; but they not expecting an Answer, fent a young man to me, whofe name, it feems, is Pattison: I told him I fhou'd not write any thing, but I believed it might be fo as fhe writ in her Letter. I am extremely concern. ed that my former Indifcretion in putting them into the hands of this Preticufe, fhould have given you fo much disturbance; for the laft thing 1 fhould do would be to difoblige you, for whom I have ever preferved the greateft efteem, and fhall ever be, Sir Your faithful Friend, and

moft humble Servant,"

HENRY CROMWELL.

T

To Mr. POPE.

August 1, 1727.

HO' I writ my long Narrative from Epsom 'till I was tired, yet was I not fatisfied; left any doubt should reft upon your mind. I could not 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 franger 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 served him to play his game upon us for these two years; a new incident from me might enable him to play it on for two more. -The great value fhe 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 years at least, from her poffeffion to the time of printing them, 'tis manifest, that I had not the least ground to apprehend such a defign: But as People în great traits, bring forth their hoards of old Gold and moft valued Jewels; fo Sapho had recourfe to her hid treafure of Letters, and play'd off not only your's to me, but all those to herself (as the Lady's laft ftake) into the prefs.

As for me, I hope, when you fhall cooly 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,

Now fhould our Apology for this Publication be as ill received, as the Lady's feems to have been by the Gentlemen concerned; we shall at least have Her Comfort of being Thanked by the rest of the world. Nor bas Mr. P. bimfelf any great caufe to think it much Offence to bis Modefty, or Reflexion on his Judgment; when we take care to inform the Public, that there are few Letters of bis in this Collection, which were not written under Twenty years of Age: On the other hand, we doubt not the Reader will be much more furprized to find, at that early period, fo much variety of Style, Affeting Sentiment, and Juftness of Criticism, in pieces which must bave been writ in bafte, very few perhaps ever reviewed, and none intended for the Eye of the Public.

A CATALOGUE of the Surreptitious and Incorrect Editions of Mr. Pope's Let

I.

ters.

F

Amiliar Letters to Henry Cromwell, Efq; by Mr. Pope, 12mo. Printed for Edmund Curl, 1727,

[In this are Verses, &c. afcribed to Mr. P. which were not his]

II. Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence for thirty years: from 1704 to 1734. Being a Collection of Letters which pass'd between him and feveral Eminent Perfons. Printed for E. Curl. 8° 1735, Two Editions. The fame in Duodecimo, with Cuts. The

third Edition.

[Thefe contain feveral Letters not genuine.]

III. Mr. Pope's Literary Correfpondence. Vol. 2. Printed for the fame, 8 1735. [In this volume are no Letters of Mr. Pope's, but a few of thofe to Mr. Cromwell reprinted; nor any to him, but one faid to be Bishop Atterbury's, and another in that Bishop's name, certainly not his; One or two Letters from St. Omer's, advertifed of Mr. Pope, but which prov'd to be only concerning him; fome fcandalous Reflections of one Le Neve on the Legislature, Courts of Justice, and Church of

Eng

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