T.
was himself, Smith his agent, and that his objects were partly to outwit
Curll, to mystify the public, to gratify that strange love of
manoeuvring which dwelt as strongly in him as in any match-making mamma,
and to attract interest and attention to the genuine correspondence when
it should appear. Pope, it was said, could not "drink tea without a
stratagem," and far less publish his correspondence without a series of
contemptible tricks--tricks, however, in which he was true to his
nature--_that_ being a curious compound of the woman and the wit, the
monkey and the genius[1].
In 1737, four of his Imitations of Horace were published, and in the
next year appeared two Dialogues, each entitled "1738," which now form
the Epilogue to the Satires. One of them was issued on the same day with
Johnson's "London." In that year, too, he published his "Universal
Prayer,"--a singular specimen of latitudinarian thought, expressed in a
loose simplicity of language, quite unusual with its author. The next
year he had intended to signalise by a third Dialogue, which he
commenced in a vigorous style, but which he did not finish, owing to the
dread of a prosecution before the Lords; and with the exception of
letters (one of them interesting, as his last to Swift), his pen was
altogether idle. In 1740, he did nothing but edit an edition of select
Italian Poets.
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