Copy 1, Volume 1

The works of Alexander Pope, esq. with notes and illustrations by himself and others. To which are added a new life of the author, an estimate of his poetical character and writings, and occasional remarks / by William Roscoe. Esq.

  • Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of Alexander Pope, esq. with notes and illustrations by himself and others. To which are added a new life of the author, an estimate of his poetical character and writings, and occasional remarks / by William Roscoe. Esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    496/698 (page 450)
    dence with his friends as usual.* Such also was the influence that she at one time possessed over Mr. Cromwell, that he presented to her, or at least intrusted to her keeping, the correspondence be- tween him and his friend. ‘The course of.a life of gallantry and dissipation, led, by its usual progress, to disgrace and distress; and in the year 1726, we find that Mrs. Thomas had formed an acquaint- ance with Curll, to whom she transmitted some letters from Dryden to her, highly complimentary to her poetical talents, and which were afterwards published by Curll, together with her letter to him on this eccasion.t| After this introduction, it may be presumed Curll found little difficulty in obtain- ing from her also the letters of Pope and Crom- well, which he immediately printed in a small volume, in duodecimo. No sooner was Pope apprized of this surrepti- tious publication of his letters, than he applied to Mr. Cromwell to know by what means it had been accomplished. The inquiries of Mr. Cromwell on this head, produced an apologetical epistle from Mrs. Thomas, in which, after acknowledging that she “ had lent the letters to a friend, who had con- » veyed them to the press, not altogether with her ’ consent, or wholly without it ;” and contending, that “Mr. Pope ought not to resent the publica- tion, since the early pregnancy of his genius was * Ayre’s Life of Pope, vol. i. p. 292. {+ In Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 21, sur- reptitious ed. |