on, "I know you
will not be displeased, if I should tell you in your ear, perhaps I may
venture to join the _Text_ to my _Remarks_" (_id._, p. 254). By the
following March he had definitely determined upon giving an edition of
Shakespeare, as appears from another letter to Warburton: "As it is
necessary I should now inform the publick that I mean to attempt to give
them an edition of that Poet's [_i.e._ Shakespeare's] text, together with
my corrections, I have concluded to give this notice, not only by
advertisements, but by an occasional pamphlet, which, in order to
retaliate some of our Editor's kindnesses to me, I mean to call, _An Essay
upon Mr. Pope's Judgment, extracted from his own Works; and humbly
addressed to him_" (_id._ ii., p. 551). Of this he forwards Warburton an
extract. The pamphlet does not appear to have been published. The
_Miscellany on Taste_ which he brought out anonymously in 1732 contains a
section entitled "Of Mr. Pope's Taste of Shakespeare," but this is merely
a reprint of the letter of 15th (or 16th) April, which had already been
printed in the _Daily Journal_. A considerable time elapsed before
arrangements for publication were completed, the interval being marked by
a temporary estrangement from Warburton and an unsuccessful candidature
for the laureateship. Articles with Tonson were signed in November, 1731
(_id._ ii., pp. 13, 618), and at the same time the correspondence with
Warburton was renewed. The edition did not appear till 1733. The Preface
had been begun about the end of 1731.

From March, 1729, with the short break in 1730, Theobald had been in
steady correspondence with Warburton, and most of his letters, with a few
of those of Warburton, have been preserved by Nichols (see _id._ ii., pp.
189, 607). But it would have been more fortunate for Theobald's reputation
had they perished. The cruel contempt and bitterness of Warburton's
references to him after their final estrangement may be offensive, but the
correspondence shows that they were not without some justification.
Theobald submits his conjectures anxiously to the judgment of Warburton,
and again and again Warburton saves him from himself. In one of the
letters Theobald rightly condemns Pope's proposed insertion of "Francis
Drake" in the incomplete line at the end of the first scene of _Henry VI.,
Part 1._; but not content with this flawless piece of destructive
criticism he argues for inserting the words "and Cassiopeia." T