ned with praise. "We must by no means," he said, "seem to use him
with disregard, but rather commend, lest by any circumstances I writ to
you the publisher be detected."[47] I This was seven years after the
appearance of the Dunciad, and Pope was not so universally beloved as
that the intimation that the correspondence was put forth by an enemy
could direct suspicion to the culprit. The pretence was too palpable to
impose upon any one, and P. T., who, among other motives for his
procedure, probably mistrusted Curll's cordiality or skill in a
panegyric, determined upon consideration to supply it himself. He was
not sparing in his tribute. "Mr. Pope," he wrote, "has not any great
cause to think the publication much offence to his modesty, or
reflection on his judgment, when we take care to inform the public that
there are few letters of his in this collection which were not written
under twenty years of age. On the other hand, we doubt not the reader
will be much more surprised to find at that early period so much variety
of style, affecting sentiment, and justness of criticism in pieces which
must have been writ in haste, very few perhaps ever re-viewed, and none
intended for the eye of the public."[48] This was the very language of
the poet. He coveted the distinction of precocity of talent, and was
perpetually directing attention to the early age at which he affirmed,
and sometimes falsely, that many of his letters and poems were penned.
He asserted that his most finished epistles were thrown off in haste,
which, as they were always held to bear the marks of labour in every
sentence, is the last topic of praise that would have been selected by
anybody else. He was anxious to persuade the world that they were not
revised before they were published, and he prevaricated to foster the
deception.[49] He protested that they were never meant for the press,
which no one believed, and which could least of all be credited by the
assumed traitor who transcribed them from the copy that had been
deposited in the library of Lord Oxford to ensure their preservation.
The vindictive P. T. was both so fortunate and so hearty in his
commendations that he proved the mere echo of Pope in his
self-applauding moods.

The other topics in the address "to the reader" were the same topics
which were subsequently reiterated by the poet. In his narrative of the
P. T. plot, and in the preface to the authorised edition of his
correspondence, he rela