486 



NOTES AND. QUERIES. 



[2>"» S. X. Dec. 22. '60. 



which again is only a half sheet, with a pagination 

 from pp. 11. to 14. The asterisk signifies inser- 

 tion, and the four pages are occupied with one 

 letter. To accomplish this, to fill the four pages, 

 the letter, contrary to usage, is broken up into 

 seven paragraphs, with double the usual space 

 between each, and it concludes, also contrary to 

 usage, with the formal subscription " Dear Sir, 

 Your most affectionate Servant." Yet after all 

 these typographical extensions, the letter only 

 reaches by five lines into the fourth page ; all the 

 rest of the page being blank space. These four 

 pages, from pp. 11. to 14. of " *C," are followed by 

 the " C " of 1729, which begins by repeating p. 1 1. 

 As a general description, I may note that the 

 title of this edition is " Letters of Mr. Pope and 

 several Eminent Persons from the Year 1705 to 

 . 1711, vol. i. London, Printed and Sold by the 

 Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1735." 

 The address " To the Reader " fills eight pages. 

 The letters follow, beginning p. 1., and ending at 

 p. 208. The second volume in my copy has no 

 title-page, but begins with a bastard title of " Let- 

 ters of Sir William Trumbull, Mr. Steele, Mr. 

 Addison, and Mr. Pope. From 1711 to 1715;" 

 and the letters begin p. 3., and conclude, p. 164,, 

 with " Finis." I have shown that the pagination 

 is wrong, but it may serve as a guide. 



The only copy I have or have seen of the "horse- 

 load," — call it B, — is said in the title-page to have 

 been " Printed for J. Roberts." That the copy I 

 refer to was one of the " horseload " is shown by its 

 deficiencies. It does not contain on the 117th 

 page the letter to Jervas with its refef ence to the 

 Earl of Burlington ; it does not contain the note 

 about the Duke of Chandos ; it does not contain 

 the letters to Jervas, Digby, Blount, or Arbuth- 

 not, although in other respects it agrees with the 

 copy A, as appears when tested by the table of 

 errata. These facts prove that the " horseload " 

 were copies, though imperfect copies, of the first 

 edition. 



Assuming this B copy to be one of the " horse- 

 load," it contains proof that the " horseload " was 

 actually ■prepared for the seizure, with a fore- 

 knowledge of the exact points to which Lord 

 Islay, who brought the subject under the con- 

 sideration of the House of Lords, would direct 

 special attention ; for the copies were not merely 

 defective, but there had been an attempt by 

 actual printing and an alteration of the pagina- 

 tion, to make them appear complete, and this must 

 have been done before the copies were seized on 

 the 12th, for Lord Islay's questionings were not 

 until the 14th. Thus the Jervas letter, p. 117., 

 about which and its offences my Lord Islay was 

 anxious, was not only gone, but a harmless letter 

 to Gay, by alteration of pagination, figui^s in its 

 place ; and as the Jervas letter, with its reference 

 to the Earl of B. began p. 115., the note on 



Trumbull (p. 114.), is extended decently to cover 

 p. 115. by adding the epitaph on Trumbull. This 

 epitaph, be it understood, had only appeared as 

 an " JSlp, on Trumbull " in Pope's Works, vol. ii., 

 entered at Stationers' Hall on the 11th April. 

 That it was here printed for the purpose assigned 

 is manifested by the fact that it does not appear 

 in the copies " Printed for the Booksellers," nor 

 in any subsequent edition. At the end of this 

 epitaph we find the word " Finis," as if the work 

 was complete ; but this " Finis " is followed by 

 the letters to Gay beginning p. 117., and the Gay 

 group concludes the volume without a " Finis." 

 The half sheets X and Y with which the " Book- 

 sellers ' " conclude, and which contain the note 

 about the letter to the Duke of Chandos and 

 the letter to Arbjitbnot, are wanting. 



The hurry to be in the market with the " Book- 

 sellers ' " copy after the "horseload" had been 

 returned by the Lords to Curll on the 15th May 

 is shown in this — the Gay group will be found 

 in the " Booksellers' " with its pagination begin- 

 ning p. 117., although this p. 117. follows p. 194. 



But though these omissions and alterations were 

 required to mystify the Lords — to gain notoriety 

 for the publication without the risk of stopping it 

 — I do not see why the Digby and Blount letters 

 were omitted, except to damage Curll and destroy 

 the market value of the " horseload." Curll paid 

 Smythe lOl. in cash, and gave him a bill or bills 

 for 20Z. (See Narr. p. 16.) The lOZ. cash paid 

 for the fifty copies which Curll had received 

 and sold ; and as the bills could not be presented 

 for payment, Curll lost nothing by the copies 

 being defective, and this may have quieted the 

 conscience of P. T., R. S., or A. Pope. 



It may seem strange under the circumstances, 

 that I should refer for a specimen of the " horse- 

 load " to a copy published by Roberts ,• but Curll, 

 Roberts, Burleigh, and other booksellers of that 

 class frequently speculated in conjunction, each 

 printing a title-page with his name. Curll, hot 

 for revenge, announced on the 22nd May that he 

 should that week publish a perfect edition ; and 

 what with the editions by the " Booksellers," the 

 large and small editions by Curll, editions by 

 Cooper, Smith, and others, the town was soon in- 

 undated, and the imperfect copies may have been 

 got rid of as waste ^aper. Yet it is not impro- 

 bable that other copies of the "horseload" may yet 

 turn up, with Curll's name or other names upon 

 the title-page. 



My copy of the "horseload" — Roberts — may be 

 described thus : It has the address " To the 

 Reader " prefixed ; the pagination of the Letters 

 begins p. L, and ends p. 208. without " Finis," 

 and with " Letter " as a catch-word ; the second 

 volume opens with a bastard title, " Letters of 

 Sir William Trumbull," &c., and the Letters 

 begin p. 3., and end p. 154. without "Finis." 



