ere are
none of the fine expressions of friendship, none of the many honied
words, none of the encomiums on his correspondent's good nature and
humility. He reproves him, on the contrary, in rather a lofty tone for
his excessive acknowledgments for trifling services, tells him he will
continue the revision of the poems the old dramatist had submitted to
him, insists that he must be permitted to alter and add as well as omit,
and in answer to an observation of Wycherley, that "the sprightliness of
wit despises method," assures him that if method is neglected his verses
had better be converted into separate maxims in prose. As Pope's letter
does not contain one syllable upon the subjects to which Wycherley
alludes in his reply, so the reply takes no notice of the subjects which
monopolise the epistle of Pope. Though he had discoursed exclusively
upon the remodelling of Wycherley's poems, Wycherley himself disdains to
offer in return a single word of thanks, of encouragement, of
acquiescence, or dissent. The omission cannot be explained by the
supposition that the copy was abridged. Whatever passages might have
been left out, those would certainly have been retained which confirmed
under Wycherley's own hand the particulars which were Pope's professed
justification for printing the letters, and his excuse for depositing
them in the library of Lord Oxford.

The Wycherley correspondence concludes with a letter from Pope dated May
2, 1710. A coldness then ensued of which Dr. Johnson gives this
account: "The fondness of Wycherley was too violent to last. His esteem
of Pope was such that he submitted some poems to his revision, and when
Pope, perhaps proud of such confidence, was sufficiently bold in his
criticisms and liberal in his alterations, the old scribbler was angry
to see his pages defaced, and felt more pain from the detection than
content from the amendment of his faults. They parted, but Pope always
considered him with kindness, and visited him a little time before he
died."[174] The statement is incomplete. Pope engaged in the revision as
early as April, 1706, when he describes to Wycherley the nature of the
emendations he has made: "Some parts I have contracted as we do
sun-beams to improve their energy and force; some I have taken quite
away, as we take branches from a tree to add to the fruit; others I have
entirely new expressed, and turned more into poetry." In November, 1707,
he informs his friend that he has