[113] Pope probably kept back from the quarto the unpublished letters he inserted in the octavo that their novelty might assist the sale of the edition which was intended to come out last. He would not use the new letters without his unfailing pretext that they "were in such hands as to be in imminent danger of being printed."
[114] These particulars are derived from the Chancery Bill Dodsley v. Watson, and from the documents preserved by Pope's solicitor, Mr. Cole, and now in the possession of his successors in the business, Messrs. Janssen and Co. I owe the extracts from Cole's papers to Mr. Dilke, who was indebted for them to the present members of the firm.
[115] Vol. I. p. xliii.
[116] The words were introduced by the poet's friend and counsel Murray when he revised, or, in legal phrase, settled the bill. The rough draft submitted to him is among the papers of Mr. Cole, and the parallel passage only states that the letters written and received by Mr. Pope "having fallen into the hands of several booksellers, they thought fit to print a surreptitious edition," which did not preclude the supposition that one or more of the editions might be genuine. Whenever Pope, throughout the business, could use equivocal language he always selected it.
[117] "Mr. Pope's Literary Correspondence," 12mo. Vol. III. p. xii.
[118] Vol. I. Appendix, p. 423, 447.
[119] Vol. I. p. 1. He is speaking of Curll's reprint, which has no letters that were not in the original P. T. volume.
[120] Pope to Swift, May 17, 1739.
[121] Covent Garden Journal, No. 23, March 21, 1752.
[122] Warton's Pope, Vol. I. p. lv.