us for concealment, that he kept his
secret even from his friendly legal adviser Fortescue; and Fortescue
innocently requested Pope to get up evidence to support a charge of
libel against his own organ. The evidence which Pope collected--in
defence of a quack-doctor, Ward--was not, as we may suppose, very
valuable. Two volumes of the Grub-street Journal were printed in 1737,
and a fragment or two was admitted by Pope into his works. It is said,
in the preface to the collected pieces, that the journal was killed by
the growing popularity of the Gentleman's Magazine, which is accused of
living by plunder. But in truth the reader will infer that, if the
selection includes the best pieces, the journal may well have died from
congenital weakness.

The Dunciad was yet to go through a transformation, and to lead to a new
quarrel; and though this happened at a much later period, it will be
most convenient to complete the story here. Pope had formed an alliance
with Warburton, of which I shall presently have to speak; and it was
under Warburton's influence that he resolved to add a fourth book to the
Dunciad. This supplement seems to have been really made up of fragments
provided for another scheme. The Essay on Man--to be presently
mentioned--was to be followed by a kind of poetical essay upon the
nature and limits of the human understanding, and a satire upon the
misapplication of the serious faculties.[13] It was a design manifestly
beyond the author's powers; and even the fragment which is turned into
the fourth book of the Dunciad takes him plainly out of his depth. He
was no philosopher, and therefore an incompetent assailant of the abuses
of philosophy. The fourth book consists chiefly of ridicule upon
pedagogues who teach words instead of things; upon the unlucky
"virtuosos" who care for old medals, plants, and butterflies--pursuits
which afforded an unceasing supply of ridicule to the essayists of the
time; a denunciation of the corruption of modern youth, who learn
nothing but new forms of vice in the grand tour; and a fresh assault
upon Toland, Tindal, and other freethinkers of the day. There were some
passages marked by Pope's usual dexterity, but the whole is awkwardly
constructed, and has no very intelligible connexion with the first part.
It was highly admired at the time, and, amongst others, by Gray. He
specially praises a passage which has often been quoted as representing
Pope's highest achievement in his art.