Copy 1, Volume 1
The works of Alexander Pope, esq. with notes and illustrations by himself and others. To which are added a new life of the author, an estimate of his poetical character and writings, and occasional remarks / by William Roscoe. Esq.
- Alexander Pope
- Date:
- 1824
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The works of Alexander Pope, esq. with notes and illustrations by himself and others. To which are added a new life of the author, an estimate of his poetical character and writings, and occasional remarks / by William Roscoe. Esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.
495/698 (page 449)
![innumerable wheels and counter-wheels, the object of which was only to draw a cork. What might have been the determination of Pope, if left to his own decision with respect to the publication of his letters, it is now impos- sible to ascertain ; but the immediate causes that ‘induced him to this measure, were, 1. The treach- ery of a woman; 2. The rupacity of a bookseller ; and 3. The wnbecility of a friend. By attending to these distinctions we shall be able to obtain, without much difficulty, a correct idea of a series of transactions, which the negligence or the cre- dulity of his editors, have concurred with the baseness or the falsehood of the perpetrators, to render as intricate as possible. ]. Amongst the obligations which Pope owed to his early correspondent Mr. Henry Cromwell, was the introduction of him to the acquaintance of Mrs. Eliza Thomas, a lady of doubtful charac- ter, but of considerable talent, and who is doubly immortalized, as the correspondent of Dryden and the Corinna of the Dunciad. Of the family and connexions of this lady, a narrative has been published, abounding in errors and inconsistencies, which deprive it of all authenticity.* By Pope’s biographer, Ayre, Mrs. Thomas is described as being witty, generous, and young, and as having charmed Pope so much, that about the year 1711, he neglected to keep up his correspon- * See Mr. Bowles’s editiog of Pope’s Works, vol. vii. p. 421. VOL. I. 2G](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33092060_0001_0495.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
