less. To us, who are aware that Lord Orrery
had been the bearer of an instalment of the correspondence, it is plain
that he is referring to that portion of it which could not be found when
he carried over the remainder. To those who had only before them the
version contained in the quarto, and who merely read of an intention to
send letters by him in July, 1737, which had not been forwarded in
August, 1738, his general expressions in answer to Pope would appear to
apply to the whole of the correspondence, and seem a confirmation of the
delusion of Swift. The poet made himself responsible for the
misconceptions of the Dean by marking them with inverted commas, by
supporting them with specious subsidiary evidence, and attesting that
they embodied the history of the publication; and since they leave an
impression which he knew to be false upon the precise particular which
implicates himself, his disingenuous sanction of the error must be
considered to be the act of conscious guilt.

"I should think with you, madam," Lord Orrery wrote to Mrs. Whiteway,
"that some of Mr. Pope's servants had stolen the letters, did not many
appear from various people to the Dean, of which Mr. Pope cannot be
supposed either to have seen the copies or originals." With our present
information, the letters in the collection which are not from the pen of
Pope tell the other way, and contribute in a powerful degree to fix the
publication on him. The replies of Swift, together with much of Swift's
correspondence with Gay, are included in the volume, and it will be
found upon examination that all these materials were likely to have been
furnished by the poet, and that part of them could have been furnished
by nobody else. He has twice touched upon the subject in the annotations
to the quarto. The first note is attached to the heading, "Letters of
Dr. Swift to Mr. Gray," and states that they were "found among Mr. Gay's
papers, and returned to Dr. Swift by the Duke of Queensberry and Mr.
Pope." The second note is appended to that portion of the postscript of
August 24, 1738, in which the Dean mentions "a great collection of
your/my letters to me/you." "It is written," subjoins the poet, "just
thus in the original. The book that is now printed seems to be part of
the collection here spoken of, as it contains not only the letters of
Mr. Pope, but of Dr. Swift, both to him and Mr. Gay, which were returned
him after Mr. Gay's death, though any mention made