vehemence. He puffed himself, and abused his enemies, under feigned
names. He robbed himself of his own letters, and then raised the hue and
cry after them. Besides his frauds of malignity, of fear, of interest,
and of vanity, there were frauds which he seems to have committed from a
love of fraud alone. He had a habit of stratagem, a pleasure in
outwitting all who came near him. Whatever his object might be, the
indirect road to it was that which he preferred. For Bolingbroke, Pope
undoubtedly felt as much love and veneration as it was in his nature to
feel for any human being. Yet Pope was scarcely dead, when it was
discovered that from no motive, except the mere love of artifice, he had
been guilty of an act of gross perfidy to Bolingbroke."[185] Many of the
falsehoods and perfidies I have detailed have come to light since
Macaulay wrote, and there are more behind which will appear in their
proper place in Pope's life and works. There have been no lack of men
whose moral conduct was in an almost inverse ratio with their
intellectual gifts; but there never was an author of equal genius, who
habitually practised such despicable deceptions for such paltry
purposes;

"Who for this end would earn a lasting name,
Join moral infamy to mental fame,
Would tear aside the friendly veil of night
To stand degraded in a blaze of light."

His crooked policy was ineffectual, even when his worst devices were
undetected. Few believed that he was vexed at the publication of his
letters, or that they were careless effusions, or that the virtues he
paraded in them were the just reflection of his mind. Both men and
compositions will seem to be what they are, and the poet's protestations
did not prevent the world from discovering that his epistles were
laboured, that many of his sentiments were feigned, and that he eagerly
promoted the publications he pretended to deplore.

Having finished a discussion which from its nature will be dull to many,
and from its length will be wearisome to all, I turn to speak of the
present edition of the Correspondence. The last edition published in the
lifetime of Pope comprised, according to Mr. Croker's calculation, 354
letters. These, Mr. Croker states, were increased by Warburton to 384,
by Warton to 502, by Bowles to 644, and by Roscoe to 708, or exactly
double the number that were included in the last edition of the poet.
The present edition will contain more new letters than were