218 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 255. 



The name of H. S. Woodfall has been so long 

 associated with the secret as to the writer oi Junius s 

 Letters^ that it would be a curious coincidence if 

 Woodfall, his grandfather, should be found mixed 

 up with Pope's " secret about The Dunciad" as 

 Swift calls it, and the more important secret 

 about the Letters. This, of course, is a mere 

 speculative possibility ; but certainly " Woodfall 

 without Temple Bar," as described by Negus, in 

 his List of Printers in 1724, was in some way 

 associated with Pope. Nichols tells us (^Anec. 

 vol. i. p. 300.) that this Woodfall, " at the age of 

 forty, commenced master at the suggestion and 

 under the auspices of Mr. Pope, who had distin- 

 guished his abilities as a scholar whilst a journey- 

 man in the employment of the then printer to this 

 admired author." Nichols, in his farther account 

 of the Woodfalls, says that, " under the foster- 

 in"' attentions of his grandfather, Mr. H. S. VV. 

 received the first rudiments of his education ; and 

 before he had attained his fifth year, had the 

 honour of receiving from Pope half-a-crown for 

 reading to him, with much fluency, a page of 

 Homer in the Greek language. Mr. H. S. W. 

 was afterwards sent to a respectable school at 

 Twickenham, kept by Mr. Clarke," and, " at the 

 a<re of little more than eleven, he was removed to 

 St. Paul's." 



In the few notices I have stumbled on, respect- 

 ing this " Woodfall without Temple Bar," there 

 are none that run counter to this report of Nichols. 

 I do not find Woodfall amongst the subscribing 

 printers to the Bowyer Fund in 1712 ; and I do 

 find him in Negus's List for 1724, and in that same 

 year Gent mentions him as in good business. 



Here is a close and intimate connexion between 

 Woodfall and Pope ; and it Is but reasonable to be- 

 lieve that as Woodfall set up at the suggestion and 

 under the auspices of Pope, Pope would give him 

 some of his own works to print. Is it known that 

 he did so ? If not, would it be an absurd assump- 

 tion to suppose, that in 1727, whilst Bowyer was 

 printing the acknowledged " Miscellanies," the 

 protege Woodfall was printing the surreptitious 

 Dunciads ? P. T. P. 



Pope's "-Ethic Epistles" (Vol. x., p. 109.).-- 

 C. says, it is certain that the "Ethic Epistles" 

 were printed in 1744-5, and were ready for pub- 

 lication when Pope died. " Bolingbroke says he 

 has a copy of the book ;" but, " as M. M. K. infers 

 that Pope published or printed an edition, and 

 distributed copies to his friends, but does not cite 

 Bolingbroke, will he state the grounds on which 

 he makes the inference ? " 



As Pope died May 30, 1744, C. must mean that 

 the edition was printed in 1743-4, although he 

 twice says 1744-5. 



I will now, as he requests, state the grounds for 

 the opinion to which he refers.^ 



On March 24, 1743, Pope thus wrote to War- 

 burton : 



" When The Dunciad may be published, I know not. 

 I am more desirous of carrying on the rest ; that is, your 

 edition of the rest of the Epistles and Essay on Criticism, 

 &c. I know it is there I shall be seen to most advantage." 



Warburton was at that time engaged in pre- 

 paring the edition, which, as I infer from subse- 

 quent advertisements, and other circumstances, 

 was to appear in separate volumes. Pope was 

 anxious that Warburton should direct his special 

 attention to the " Essays," " more desirous" about 

 the " Essays" than The Dunciad. 



The next letter published is dated June 5 ; and 

 Pope therein says : 



" You have a full right to any [benefits] I could do 

 you, who not only monthly, but weekly of late, have loaded 

 me with favours of that kind which are most acceptable 

 to veteran authors ; those garlands ichich a comme7itator 

 tveaves to hang about his poet." 



Here we learn how actively Warburton was 

 engaged in preparing for the new edition ; and he 

 now came on a visit to Pope — a visit of "some 

 months" — obviously for the purpose of forward- 

 ing the work ; and, no doubt, after the feeling 

 expressed by Pope, early attention was paid to 

 the "Epistles," although The Dunciad was first 

 published. Warburton had returned home on 

 October 7 : 



" I heartily thank you," writes Pope, " for j'our's ; from 

 which I learn'd your safe arrival . . . and that you found 

 all in health . . . The Dunciad I have ordered to he adver^ 

 tised." 



The Dunciad here advertised bears date 1743. 

 In a subsequent letter, as I believe, but without 

 date, Pope thus wrote : 



" Whatever very little respites I have had from the daily 

 care of my malady, have been employed in revising the 

 papers On the Use of Riches, which I would have ready 

 for j'our last revise against a'ou come to town, that they 

 may be begun with while you are here." 



Which means, I think, " begun printing with." 



In April, 1744, Pope writes : 



" I received your's just now, and wish to hinder — | — 

 from printing the comment on The Use of Riches too hastily 

 . . . that you might revise it during your stay." 



As the "Essay on the Use of Riches" was 

 either the last, or the last but one, we may I think 

 fairly infer that the "Epic Epistles" were printed 

 in March ; and that, in consequence of a wish 

 expressed by Warburton, Pope wrote to the 

 printer not to strike off, as it is technically called, 

 the sheets of the " Essay on Riches" until Warbur- 

 ton had seen a revise. This agrees with Spence, 

 who records (p. 318.) : 



" Here I am [said Pope], like Socrates, distributing my 

 morality among my friends, just as I am dying. This 

 was said on his sending about some of his Ethic Epistles 

 as presents, about three weeks before we lost him." 



M. M. K. 



