After all this disquisition comes a recent Number of "N. & Q.," of which a column and a quarter is wasted by a correspondent A. T. W., who confesses that he (or she) has not a modern edition of Pope within reach, and begs to know whether these verses (repeated in extenso) "have been yet introduced to the public?"
Surely "N. & Q." should beware of correspondents that write to inquire about Pope, without having an edition of his works; and I cannot but wonder that this crambe, which had been served up thrice before, and so fully by Mr. Crossley, should have been recocta, and introduced as a new theme, entitled to a special attention.
C.
CIBBER'S "LIVES OF THE POETS."
(Vol. v., p. 161.)
Allow me to draw your attention to a curious letter which I transcribe, with reference to the above. It appears to have escaped the notice of Mr. Croker, although it corroborates his statements. It was written by the bookseller himself who published the Lives, and would seem to set the matter as to their authorship completely at rest. Griffiths appears to have been also the editor of the Monthly Review; and Cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom, to whom the letter is addressed, to have been one of his contributors.
"MR. GRIFFITH to MR. CARTWRIGHT.
"Turnham Green, 16th June [1781?].
"Dear Sir,
"I have sent you a feast! Johnson's new volumes of the Lives of the Poets. You will observe that Savage's Life is one of the volumes. I suppose it is the same which he published about thirty years ago, and therefore you will not be obliged to notice it otherwise than in the course of enumeration. In the account of Hammond, my good friend Samuel has stumbled on a material circumstance in the publication of Cibber's Lives of the Poets. He intimates that Cibber never saw the work. This is a reflection on the bookseller, your humble servant. The bookseller has now in his possession Theophilus Cibber's receipt for twenty guineas (Johnson says ten), in consideration of which he engaged to 'revise, correct, and improve the work, and also to affix his name in the title-page.' Mr. Cibber did accordingly very punctually revise every sheet; he made numerous corrections, and added many improvements: particularly in those lives which came down to his own times, and brought him within the circle of his own and his father's literary acquaintance, especially in the dramatic line. To the best of my recollection, he gave some entire lives, besides inserting abundance of paragraphs, of notes, anecdotes, and remarks, in those which were compiled by Shiells and other writers. I say other, because many of the best pieces of biography in that collection were not written by Shiells, but by superior hands. In short, the engagement of Cibber, or some other Englishman, to superintend what Shiells in particular should offer, was a measure absolutely necessary, not only to guard against his Scotticisms, and other defects of expression, but his virulent Jacobitism, which inclined him to abuse every Whig character that came in his way. This, indeed, he would have done; but Cibber (a stanch Williamite) opposed and prevented him, insomuch that a violent quarrel arose on the subject. By the way, it seems to me, that Shiell's Jacobitism has been the only circumstance that has procured him the regard of Mr. Johnson, and the favourable mention that he has made of Shiell's 'virtuous life and pious end'—expressions that must draw a smile from every one who knows, as I did, the real character of Robert Shiells. And now, what think you of noticing this matter in regard to truth, and the fair fame of the honest bookseller?"—Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Mechanical Inventions of Edmund Cartwright, D.D., F.R.S.: Saunders & Otley.
W. L. Nichols.
Lansdown Place, Bath.