n to whom it was
sent, and neither asterisks nor name to represent the sender. Pope's
ally, Cooper, is supposed to have been concerned in the volume to which
the Atterbury epistles were first transferred from the publication of
Curll, and it is obvious that no bookseller would have originated the
alteration, and that no other person would have prompted it who had not
a peculiar interest in the correspondence of the poet, and who was not
aware that these stray productions would be at once appended to a
current P. T. impression. The distinction between the letters was made
in the reprints of the P. T. collection before Pope published the
preface to the quarto, in which he affirmed that both were
counterfeited. He made the distinction in the catalogue almost
immediately after the quarto appeared. He did not the less preserve the
passage in his preface unchanged in every edition of his correspondence,
and never uttered a single word of recantation. He allowed the charge of
forgery to be circulated till it had served his purpose; and then,
without an allusion to his former language, imported the letter into his
works with the complacent announcement "that it was plainly intended for
Mr. Pope."

The reason assigned by Pope why a letter must be forged which he
afterwards admitted to be genuine, was one of his usual deceptions. By
the Bill of pains and penalties against Atterbury it was declared to be
felony to correspond with him in his exile after June 25, 1723. Pope
disregarded the enactment with little risk of discovery, and perhaps
without much danger of punishment if his harmless intercourse was
detected. He condoled with the bishop on the death of his daughter, Mrs.
Morice; and the bishop thus commenced his reply, which is dated
Montpelier, November 20, 1729: "Yes, dear sir, I have had all you
designed for me, and have read all, as I read whatever you write, with
esteem and pleasure. But your last letter, full of friendship and
goodness, gave me such impressions of concern and tenderness, as neither
I can express, nor you, perhaps, with all the force of your imagination,
fully conceive." This again must have drawn forth a response from the
poet, for Atterbury says in an answer without date, "I venture to thank
you for your kind and friendly letter, because I think myself very sure
of a safe conveyance, and I am uneasy till I have told you what
impressions it made upon me. I will do it with the same simplicity with
which