eded from Swift, it would be a curious coincidence, that
not a single line written by the poet since the time when his
correspondence was returned to him should have found its way into the
work.

It is against the innocence of Pope that in his public statements he
kept out of sight the fact that he had received back a certain portion
of the correspondence, and designedly conveyed the impression that the
whole of it remained with Swift. In the advertisement to the quarto it
is said that Pope could not be prevailed upon to revise the volume
printed in Dublin; but that he had furnished the London booksellers with
a few more of the letters of the Dean a little to clear up the history
of their publication. The reader is informed that he will see this
history in one view if he observes the passages marked by inverted
commas. The story they reveal is that Swift ultimately promised to send
the correspondence, that he collected it for the purpose, and ended by
sending none of it. The Dean's communication of August 8 is produced as
exhibiting the final result, and Pope marked with inverted commas the
declaration, "I can faithfully assure you that every letter you have
favoured me with, these twenty years and more, are sealed up in bundles
and delivered to Mrs. Whiteway." The sense in which the poet wished the
passage to be understood is defined in the table of contents. "The
entire collection of his and Mr. Pope's letters for twenty years and
upwards found, and in the hands of a lady, a worthy and judicious
relation of the Dean's.--This a mistake, not in hers, but in some other
safe hands." A note was added by Pope to the letter for the purpose of
strengthening the case against Swift; but not one syllable did he let
drop to indicate that the Dean was deceived in supposing that the series
remained unbroken, and that no part of it had been sent back. The
testimony of another witness, which had the appearance of corroborating
the error, was produced by the poet. The assertion in the postscript
that Mrs. Whiteway vouched for "a great collection being in some very
safe hand," seems to have beguiled him into the belief that the missing
letters had turned up, and Lord Orrery having lately come from Ireland
he applied to him on the subject. Lord Orrery answered, that Mrs.
Whiteway knew nothing of the letters, that he was satisfied they were
neither lost nor burnt, and that his attempts to discover where they
were deposited had been fruit