2-xi s. V. 129., JcNE 19. '58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



491 



been sent for during his uncle's illness was not 

 diminished on learning from the woman of the 

 house in which Dr. Tindal died, " that his uncle 

 had writ for him, but that the letter had not 

 been sent to the post-house." Mr. Tindal and 

 his friend, the Rev. Philip Morant, then pro- 

 ceeded to call upon Budgell, who took the former 

 aside, and told him " that his uncle had for some 

 time entertained a great value for him (Budgell), 

 whether on account of his personal merits or his 

 works he could not tell ; and as a mark of it had 

 committed to his care the publishing of his manu- 

 scripts," adding, " that out of a generous compas- 

 sion for his misfortunes, and in consideration of 

 the trouble he might undergo in printing his pa- 

 pers, the Doctor, he believed, had moreover left 

 him a handsome legacy ; which," he continued, 

 " let it be what it will, you are not to reckon as 

 lost ; for you must know your uncle was of opinion 

 there will shortly be a change in the ministry, 

 and from something he saw in me, imagined I 

 should be, as he was pleased to express it, a great 

 man, and therefore has laid me under the strongest 

 obligation, when such a change happens, to pro- 

 vide for you and your family." 



Budgell and Tindal then proceeded to Mrs, 

 Price's, where they opened the strong box and 

 found the will, which Mr. Tindal instantly sus- 

 pected, from its dissimilarity to his uncle's style; 

 its omission of a word ; its being entirely in the 

 handwriting of Mrs. Price, and witHcssed only by 

 Budgell's footman and the woman of the house 

 (where lodgings had been hired for Dr. Tindal by 

 Budgell), but more particularly for the extrava- 

 gant legacy to Budgell, so contrary to the Doc- 

 tor's frequent and express declarations, and to a 

 will penned by a friend of the Doctor's not six 

 weeks before. 



It would take too long to tell here how Budgell 

 comforted Tindal by telling him that he must not 

 think he had all this money to pay, for the Doctor 

 had lately lent him upon bond and judgment a 

 thousand pounds ; how Mrs. Price and Budgell 

 assured Tindal that the Doctor had left him very 

 handsomely, "for he might depend upon it the 

 Doctor died worth at least four or five thousand 

 pounds;" how Tindal ascertained from Snow 

 and Pallock, the bankers, that the Doctor had 

 never been for many years possessed of more than 

 100/. Bank Stock, and 1800/. South Sea Stock, 

 lOOOZ, of which was sold out in June, 1732, and 

 the remaining 800Z. in June, 1733 ; and how he 

 eventually traced the first thousand pounds into 

 Budgell's hands ; how Budgell at first denied all 

 knowledge of the thousand pounds, and eventually, 

 when it was traced to him, admitted, " to tell the 

 truth, he had borrowed the money of the Doctor 

 upon bond, but had repaid it and torn the bond." 

 But these hints will show what materials existed 

 to excite the attention of the literary world to 

 Budgell and his proceedings. 



Curll would at once see in them materials which 

 he could turn to profitable account, and well pleased 

 he was no doubt when he received, as we have 

 already shown, the copy of the Doctor's will from 

 Mrs. Price. 



His edition of this will, which we have marked 

 (A.), must certainly have been published before 

 August 29, as in The Bee (vol. iii. 1181.) it is 

 mentioned in a letter of that date, and his copy of 

 the Life must have been circulated October 6, as 

 in The Bee of that day we have an article of 

 twelve closely printed pages, in which we are told 

 that 



" The life was scarce out of his (Dr. Tindal's) body 

 when an Eighteenpennj' pamphlet was published, entitled 

 The Life of Dr. Tindall, and there was an advertisement 

 put into the newspapers that the Life of the Doctor was 

 wrote by himself.". . ."A more scandalous imposition upon 

 the public, or a grosser abuse to the memory of a great 

 man, was never yet offered. The person who wrote and 

 published this senseless piece of stuff, was a fellow whose 

 character all mankind are acquainted with ; who, we are 

 credibly informed, has been obliged several times to walk 

 about Westminster Hall with a label about his neck, and 

 has once already stood in the pillory. We are sorry to see 

 ourselves obliged to stain our pens with the name of such 

 a creature, yet since it must out, we will name at once 

 the most perfect compendium of impudence and wicked- 

 ness by naming Curll, the bookseller." — Bee, iii. 1416. 



After assuring Curll that Mr. Budgell will not 

 be drawn into a paper war with him, the article 

 proceeds — 



" This fellow, when he published what he was pleased 

 to call Dr. Tindal's Life, acquainted the world that he 

 would likewise shortly publish his Political Writings. 

 Mr. Budgell was at the same time informed by several 

 booksellers, that Curll run up and down the whole town 

 making use of his name, and stating that it was by his 

 orders and directions, that he was going to publish Dr. 

 Tindal's Works." 



The article then denounces what the writer calls 

 " an infamous Advertisement signed with his own 

 name against Mr. Budgell:" the infamy consist- 

 ing, as it appears, in its containing " a pretended 

 letter of Mr. Budgell's to a certain lady; some 

 lines from a pretended Letter from Dr. Tindal to 

 his nephew and executor; and, lastly, in Curll's 

 claiming an intimacy with Mr. Budgell, — the latter 

 fact being most strenuously denied." After charg- 

 ing Curll with " these fifteen years last past con- 

 tinually teazing Mr. Budgell with his letters," to 

 which Mr. Budgell never returned one syllable in 

 answer, it proceeds — 



" Mr. Budgell, going lately to visit a lady, in whom 

 Dr. Tindal reposed the highest confidence, to his no small 

 surprise, he found Curll with her. Curll immediately 

 desired his favour, and that they might be better ac- 

 quainted. Mr. Budgell told him, he did not think that 

 necessarj'. To show what a man of consequence he M'as, 

 Mr. Curll had the assurance to afifirm, that Mr. Pain had 

 lately been at his house from the Commissioners of the 

 Stamp-Office, to get him to draw up their case, and write 

 for them against Mr. Budgell; that Sir Robert Walpole 

 sent to him for his assistance, and to desire his judgment 



