Aug. 5. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



109 



occasion as equivalent to leaves, as the "cancelling 

 an hundred sheets" in the printing-house meaning 

 of the term, seems to me, as to M. M. K., incre- 

 dible. But, however that may have been, I doubt 

 whether anything of the kind happened with re- 

 spect to the edition which Warburton published 

 in 1751, which I have now before me, and which, 

 to the best of my judgment, has no marks of any 

 cancels whatsoever. M. M. K. thinks there is a 

 great deal of mystery about this edition, which he 

 states that Pope's editors, including Mr. Carru- 

 thers, all believe to have been in preparation, and 

 partly printed, before Pope's death. This M. M. K. 

 doubts. I go farther : I disbelieve it totally. I 

 have not Mr. Carruthers' volume at hand, but I 

 can hardly think that he says so ; and I do not re- 

 member that any other editor does ; nor do I see 

 anything in Warburton's preface to countenance 

 this conjecture. 



My guess at a solution of the difficulty is this : 

 There can be no doubt that Pope was, in 1744-5, 

 preparing, and had proceeded a good way in 

 printing, a complete edition of his works, in 

 which Warburton (who had already had a share 

 in a small edition of 1743) was an active co- 

 operator. How much was actually printed does 

 not appear ; but it is certain that the four so- 

 called " Ethic Epistles " were so, and ready for 

 publication when Pope died. Bollngbroke says he 

 has " a copy of the book" " that it contains the 

 character of Atossa ; and he asks Lord March- 

 mont whether it would be worth while to suppress 

 the edition." That edition, it seems, was War- 

 burton's property under Pope's will, and I sup- 

 pose that it was for some reason suppressed ; at 

 least I have never seen any edition of Pope's 

 works between that of 1743 which has not, and 

 Warburton's of 1751 which has, the Atossa. I 

 therefore incline to conclude that the edition 

 which Pope and Warburton were preparing in 

 1744-5 was altogether suppressed; and it is pos- 

 sible that Walpole's rumour, as to the cancelling 

 a hundred sheets, might, even in the special 

 meaning of sheets, have had reference to this sup- 

 pression. 



What Is now desirable is, that the correspon- 

 dents of " N. & Q." would be so good as to look 

 out sharply for any set, or even odd volumes, 

 which could have belonged to the edition that 

 Pope and Warburton were preparing in 1744-5, 

 and of which Bolingbroke had at least one volume. 



Is it known how Bolingbroke's books and 

 papers, or those of Mallet, were disposed of? A 

 clue to them might enable us to discover the 

 "book" which Bollngbroke certainly possessed. 

 As M. M. K. infers that Pope "published or 

 pnnted an edition of the 'Ethic Epistles,' and 

 distributed copies to his friends," would M. M. K. 

 be so good as to state the grounds on which he 

 makes that inference f It accords with what Bo- 



llngbroke says of the printing the four "Ethic 

 Epistles;" but M. M. K. does not cite Bollng- 

 broke, and seems to have had some other reason 

 for his inference : it would be desirable to know 

 what it is. As to the distribution of the new edi- 

 tion among his friends, I would again ask what 

 ground there is for this statement ? Has any such 

 copy been ever seen ? or is there any intimation 

 of the fact, except from Bolingbroke's statement 

 that he had a copy ? C. 



THE DtTNCIAD. 



(Vol. X., p. 65.) 



C. asks whether any of your correspondents 

 have ever seen an edition of The Dunciad of 1727. 

 " Pope himself," he says, " in his notes to the first 

 acknowledged edition of 1729, says distinctly and 

 repeatedly that an imperfect edition was published 

 in Dublin in 1727, and republished, in that year, 

 both in 12mo. and 8vo." Here then we have 

 three editions published in 1727. May I be al- 

 lowed to ask when and where did Pope distinctly 

 and repeatedly say this ? And farther, to en- 

 large the question, did any of your correspondents 

 ever see any of these editions ? Of course I have 

 my own opinion both as to what was said, and 

 when said, and why said ; but think it best to be 

 sure of my facts before I offer an explanation. 



E. T. D. 



I have a copy of an edition of The Dunciad 

 with this title, The Dunciad, Variorum, with 

 the Prolegomena of Scrihlerus. Beneath is a 

 plate representing an ass with a load of books 

 and papers, and an owl on the top of the 

 whole. Baker's Journal and the Flying Post lie 

 upon the ground. On the left is the inscription 

 " Deferor in vicum," continued on the left, " ven- 

 dentem Thus et Odores," and at the bottom, 

 " London, printed for A. Dob. 1729." There is 

 nothing about its being a reprint of the Dublin 

 edition, although reference is made to five pre- 

 vious editions. The contents of this volume are 

 to be found in another copy, which I have dated 

 1752, except the title-page : the text, moreover, 

 besides having the fourth book, differs very ma- 

 terially from that of 1729. I should like to know 

 if my 8vo. copy of 1729 is the so-called 4to. of 

 1729 ; if Pope is to be understood to be the editor 

 of this 8vo. ; if it be the first edition published 

 under his sanction ; and if any edition of The 

 Dunciad presents the various readings ? 



B. H. C. 



As The Dunciad is now attracting the attention 

 of the readers of " N. & Q.," I may mention that 

 I have in my possession a copy of an edition 

 (without date), not one, however, of " the first 

 five imperfect editions of The Dunciad printed at 



