2-d Si No 78i, JuNF, 27. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



501 



.^"■ 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 27. 1857. 



STEAY NOTES ON EDMUND CURLL, HIS LIFE, AND 

 PUBLIC ATIONS. 



No. 9. — Curll and Sir Clement Wearg — Pope's 

 Satire on Addison — Curll's Treatment of Patti- 

 son, §'C. 



Having seen Edmund Curll carried back in 

 triumph from the Pillory on which he had been 

 exposed on the 23rd February, 1728, we will, be- 

 fore proceeding further with his history, lay be- 

 fore our readers some additional evidence of the 

 manner in which the Government of the day was 

 stirred up to undertake such pi-osecution. It is 

 contained in an article on " Deceptive Title- 

 Pages," which appeared in The London Journal 

 of Nov. 12, 1726, and bears the signature of " A. 

 P.," and which, if not by Pope, was so signed in 

 order to give the impi'ession that it was the work 

 of his pen. The article is what we should now 

 call " the Leader," and by being printed In large 

 type was evidently considered as deserving of 

 attention : 



" I lately met with a scandalous advertisement in one 

 of the evening papers which gave me no small offence. 

 It was, as near as I can remember, to this effect : • Just 

 published. Cases of Impotence and Divorce, in six volumes, 

 by Sir Clement" Wearg, Knt., late Solicitor-General.' 

 Such an insult upon the memory of the dead ought never 

 to be forgiven by the Community of which he was a 

 member. What avails it to a man's fame, to have had 

 virtue, learning, and parts, in his life, if, as soon as he 

 hath left the world, it shall be in the power of an aban- 

 doned man to blast his reputation bj' a trick like this, to 

 make a person possessed of the most excellent qualities, 

 pass for the Author of an impertinent work, which no 

 good man would read, and none but a bad man could 

 write? I heartily hope that Sir Clement's relations will 

 make his memorj' such reparation as the laws in the 

 punishment of the offender can afford; or if they should 

 neglect it, I think the public ought to undertake it — for 

 it is a common cause. Several gentlemen have been al- 

 ready treated in the same manner, by such outlaws to 

 virtue and good sense ; and no one knows whose turn it 

 may be next." 



The rest of the article is too general in its 

 nature to justify our transferring it to the columns 

 of " N. & Q." 



If Sir Clement Wearg really had nothing to do 

 with the publication he certainly had been very 

 grossly maligned. The truth probably is, that he 

 had something to do with one portion of it ; and 

 Curll availed himself of that fact to connect his 

 name with the whole five volumes to which the 

 collection was eventually extended. At least it 

 seems difficult to believe that Weai'g had really 

 no connexion with the publication in question, in 

 face of the following affidavit to the contrary, 

 sworn before the Lord Chief Justice Raymond, 

 ^nd published by Curll, "as an answer to such 



charge^" in the third part of his Ket/ to Gullivers 

 Travels : 



" To invalidate the notorious and scandalous Falsehoods 

 contained in the London Journal of the 12th of A^ov., Ed- 

 mund Curll maketh Oath, That a Book by him herewith 

 produced, Intitled, The Case of Impotency as debated in 

 England was published by Clement Wearg, Esq. (late 

 Solicitor-General), and printed from an original manu- 

 script by him given to this Deponent, and the following 

 Advertisement by the said Clement Wearg, Esq., thereto 

 prefixed. ' The Pnblick having given a general Appro- 



* bation of the late Tryal between the Marquis de Gesvres 

 ' and his Lad}' at Paris, as indeed so nice and curious a 

 ' subject deserved ; I was inclined to search our own Law 

 ' Books and Historians, to see what adjudged Cases and 

 ' Precedents we had of the same Nature. That which is 

 ' the most considerable in our English History was, the 

 ' case of the Earl of Esse.z and the Lady Hoioard, a case 

 ' that engaged the Politicks of the greatest Statesmen and 

 ' the Casuistry of a Monarch himself. There has as yet 

 ' been a great defect of Information concerning this Case, 

 ' which the Header will now find supplied from an Ori- 

 ' ginal Manuscript of Archbishop Abbot's, written' in his 

 ' own hand. This Manuscript contains an exact account 

 ' of all the Artifice and Stratagem used in the Affair, and 

 ' is not only very full and particular upon the Case, but 



* lets us into a considerable Part of the Secrets and Poli- 



* ticks of King James the l"'s Keign. To make a Collec- 



* tion of this Nature as perfect as 1 Avell could, there is 

 ' added the Lord Audlet/'s Tryal, and the Proceedings 



* upon the Duke of Norfolk's Bill of Divorce, which, as 



* they bear some relation to this Subject, so they are now 



* very rare and valuable. The Duke of Norfolk's Case in 

 ' particular employed some of our greatest Lawyers, who 



* have made since very eminent Figures in their Profes- 

 ' sions ; and contains all that can be said upon the Article 

 ' of Divorce. Inner Temple, Oct. 30, 1714.' 



" This Deponent farther saith. That when the above 

 mentioned Book was printed, he returned the Original 

 Manuscript to Clement Wearg, Esq., at his Chambers (then 

 in New Court) in the Temple. 



" E. CUKLL. 

 " Jurat apud Serjeants Inn, Chancery 

 Lane, 14 Die Novembris, 1726, 

 Coram me 

 R. Raymond." 



As our next Note let us reproduce the following 

 humorous lines on the subject of Curll, written by 

 Dean Swift in 1726, and which will be found in 

 the 5th vol. of Swift's Miscellanies, 1735, p. 75. ; 



"Advice to the Geub-Stheet A^'erse Wkiteks. 



" Ye Poets ragged and forlorn 



Down from your garrets haste ; 

 Ye Rhimers, dead as soon as born, 

 Nor yet consign'd to paste. 



" I know a trick to make you thrive, 

 Oh, 'tis a quaint device : 

 Your still-born Poems shall revive, 

 And scorn to wrap a spice. 



" Get all your verses printed fair, 

 Then let them well be dry'd : 

 And CuiiLL must have a special care 

 To leave the margins wide. 



" Lend these to paper-sparing Pope ; 

 And when he sits to write, 

 No letter with an Envelope 

 Could give him more delight. 



