2od s. V. 130., June 26. '58.] 



mw^ A^"p QUERi^.s. 



5QP 



I^QUPQN, SATURDAY, ^UlfE 26. 1858. 



STBAT NOTES ON EDMUND CURI.T., HIS LIFE, AND 

 PUBLICATIONS. 



No. 10. (concluded). — Curll, Budgell, and Pope. 



This quarrel, it appears, well nigh led to blows ; 

 for as Budgell was passing through Fleet Street, 

 he met a shabby fellow, who set upon him in the 

 open street, calling him the rogue who scribbled 

 in The Bee ; the villain who wrote against the 

 government, and the fellow that forged a Will. 

 This was Curll's son. Mr. Budgell retired into a 

 shop to escape the storm, where he was challenged 

 by him to come out and fight him, he swearing, 

 that if ever he and his father caught him in Bur- 

 leigh Street, he should never more get out of it. 



This afiair so exasperated Budgell, that he im- 

 mediately dictated a letter to Sir Robert Walpole, 

 which thus commences : — 



" Sir : Since I have for some years past declined wait- 

 ing upon you, as I used to do formerly, I hope you will 

 excuse mj' writing to you after this manner. Whatever 

 differences there may have been between us, I am of 

 opinion that there are some debts of honour which every 

 gentleman owes to another. In order to acquit myself of 

 a debt of this kind, I think proper to acquaiiit you that 

 Curl! the bookseller pretends to a very extraordinary in- 

 timacy with you ; and that he can be admitted to you 

 whenever he pleases. He tells a story, Sir, of his having 

 received two bank notes of 501. each from yourself and 

 the Lord Townshend, for a most shameful job, and adds 

 so many circumstances to this story as would induce any 

 man to believe it, who was not thoroughly acquainted 

 with this fellow's infamous character. I do think, Sir, 

 that I have conversed (familiarly conversed) with wiser 

 men and abler statesmen than either yourself or the Lord 

 Townshend ; and j'ct I must own I cannot think you 

 would both be so very weak as to put yourselves in the 

 power of Curll the bookseller. I think this fellow de- 

 serves a halter for the story he has forged of you, since 

 could I believe it true, as he tells it, I should think. Sir, 

 that you yourself deserved a block and a hatchet. I shall 

 not in this letter even repeat a story after him, which I 

 hope and believe is not true. I am ready (as I think in 

 justice I ought) to acquaint yourself, or the Lord Town- 

 shend, with every particular. The nation longs to see 

 some notorious offenders brought to justice; and though 

 I am far from approving your late measures as a minister, 

 I will immediatel}', if you please, put it in your power to 

 do justice upon a fellow who has long been botli a dis- 

 grace and a nuisance to mankind ; and who I have strong 

 reasons to believe is as dangerous a villain as ever 

 breathed : I dare engage to furnish you with proofs fully 

 sufficient to make an example of him. I think 'tis your 

 interest to do so< for what must men believe of you, if 

 they could think you capable of giving constant access to 

 a fellow, whom even such a wretch as I, under all my 

 misfortunes, would never once condescend to talk to. Mj- 

 servants have, by my orders, turned him from mj"- door 

 above twenty times : he has haunted me for many years 

 last past. To be plain with you. Sir, I had a violent sus- 

 picion, that if you had but suffered him to see me once in 

 private (which he always aimed at), he was either capable 



of conimitting an immediate murder, or of swearing some- 

 thing against me that might take away my life."* 



In the following number of The Bee, Oct. 1 3. 

 to Oct. 20, 1733, p. 1500., is a second letter from 

 E. Budgell to Sir Robert Walpole, dated Oct. 17, 

 1733, in the postsqript of which he says, " I have 

 not yet had the honour to hear either from yoiirr 

 self or Lord Townshend in relation to Curll." 



Walpole, as might be supposed, took tio notice 

 of this communication, and the quarrel raged as 

 fiercely as ever ; one of the bitterest attacks upon 

 Budgell being A Vindication of Emtace Budgell, 

 Esq., from some Aspersions thrown upon him in a 

 late Pamphlet entitled, ^c, and which, under the 

 semblance of a defence, is a clever exposure of the 

 weak points of his case. 



It appears that Mr. Bucjgell at this tiqie re- 

 ceived several threatening letters by the penny- 

 post, among others the following notable epistle, 

 which the editor of The Bee says "we are satisfied 

 came from Curll ; who, by an advertisement in the 

 Daily Journal of this day, endeavours to impose 

 some stuff (which he has published) upon the 

 public as the genuine and correct Works of the 

 late Dr. Tindall:" — 



" Whitehall, 15th Oct. 1733. 

 "Sir, There is a strong alliance between Mr. Curll, 

 Mr. Knapton, and Mr. Tindall, and you are too quick. A 

 letter from Mr. Tindall to Mr. Curll will come out in a 



day or two very severe upon Mr. P . The Narrative 



was wrote by Mr. T , but the chief part of it was seen 



in MS. under Mr. Curll's hand, in the hand of a verv 

 great man at Hampton Court, about a week before the 

 Narrative came out, and you and Mr. P are univers- 

 ally censured. Tour Dr. T did give to a noble Lord 



an Essay on the Laws of Nations, &c., written by hiip 

 forty years since, with a very great case, wherein he was 

 consulted as a civilian in Queen Anne's time. These are 

 now both printing by Mr. Curll, who is determined to 

 print several pieces, which he originally printed with 

 Mr. Darby in Bartholomew Close, and ^r. Sanger in 

 Fleet Street, and the booksellers you may assure yourself 

 will stand by one another. Take this notice kindly, and 

 be advised, that the ill language in j'our two late pam- 

 phlets have done Mr. Curll a service. 



" Your humble servant, 



" J. Whitehead. 

 " p. S. Several huncked of the Narrative have been 

 given away." 



The editor then adds : — 



"This penny-post letter is signed Whitehead ; but if 

 either Mr. Whitehead, Mr. Blackhead, or Mr. Bluehead 

 dares offer to impose an imperfect edition of anj' of Dr. 

 Tindall's Works upon the public, we do hereby assure 

 him, that such methods shall be taken to undeceive the 

 public, as shall effectually prevent his getting any money 

 by such an attempt." 



Meanwhile, as if poor Budgell had not enough 

 upon his hands with such adversaries as the Doc- 

 tor's nephew and Curll the bookseller, he was ex- 

 posed to attacks from a fresh quarter. According 

 to his statements in The Bee, no less powerful an 



* The Bee, Oct. 6. 1733, No. xxxiii. vol. iii. p. 1463. 



