[798] Pope to Warburton, Sept. 20, 1739; Jan. 4, 1740.
[799] Œuvres de Louis Racine, ed. 1808, tom. i. p. 444. "If," said Voltaire, "Pope wrote this letter to Racine, God must have given him at the close of his life the gift of tongues." Voltaire repeats three times over in his works, that he associated with Pope for a twelvemonth, and knew, what was publicly notorious in England, that he could hardly read French, and could not speak one word or write one line of the language. The objection was founded on the mistaken assumption that the French translation was the original letter. In the later editions of Racine's poem the letter is printed from Pope's English. Voltaire was annoyed that Pope should "retract" his deism, and wanted to have it believed that Ramsay alone was responsible for the sentiments expressed in the letter to Racine.
[800] Bolingbroke's Works, vol. iii. p. 457.
[801] Ruffhead, Life of Pope, p. 542. Spence, p. 277.
[802] Œuvres de Louis Racine, tom. i. p. 451.
[803] Œuvres de Louis Racine, tom. i. p. 442.
[804] Spence, p. 231.
[805] Bolingbroke's Works, vol. iii. p. 62.
[806] Epist. ii. ver. i.
[807] Bolingbroke's Works, vol. iii. p. 52.