vogue of the letters was already over. The succès de scandale caused by the P. T. mystery and the appeal to the House of Lords died away when it was discovered that there was nothing indiscreet and very little of public interest in the correspondence.

One faithful admirer, however, thought that the transcendent virtue displayed in the letters rendered the book as good as many sermons, and desired that the revised and corrected edition should be published for the benefit of mankind. This was Ralph Allen, of Prior Park, near Bath, celebrated by Pope as the man who "did good by stealth and blushed to find it fame," and by Henry Fielding as Squire Allworthy. Allen was a man of obscure birth, who had made a large fortune as a post-office contractor, much of which he spent in charity. He had sought Pope's acquaintance after reading the "Correspondence," the fine sentiments therein set forth having imposed upon his simple mind. So anxious was the good man that the book should be reprinted that he offered to pay all expenses of the new edition, and Pope agreed that if the subscriptions fell short he would allow Allen to make up the deficit. Allen at this time was building a fine new house, and laying out elaborate grounds. Pope advised him about his gardens and

1 Allen was the son of a Cornish innkeeper. He invented a system of cross-posts, which he farmed himself. His house was at Widcombe, four miles from Bath. Warburton said that Allen was, he believed, "the greatest private character in any age of the world." Hurd declared that Allen comes up to the notion of my favourites of Queen Elizabeth's reign: good sense in conjunction with good manners."

the decorations of his house, and received in return bottles of Bristol water and bits of spar for the Grotto.

Allen worked hard to promote the subscriptions for the quarto edition of the "Correspondence," which was to be known as "Mr. Pope's Prose Works," but guineas came in slowly and Pope evidently suspected that some of the subscribers were financed by his admirer. There is a volume of unpublished letters addressed by Pope to Allen in the British Museum,1 from which some extracts may here be given. On July 18 the poet writes:

"I will allow you to remit the forty-five guineas which you say some of your friends have really subscribed; and, to content you as far as I can, I will put the book to the press in three weeks' time, and determine to leave out every syllable, to the best of my judgment, that can give the least ill example to an age too apt to take it, or the least offence to any good or serious man. This being the point for which I have any sort of desire to publish the letters at all, is, I am persuaded, the chief point which makes you, in friendship to my character, so zealous about 'em. And, therefore, how small soever be the number so printed, provided I do not lose too much for a man of more prudence than fortune, I conclude that work will be done, and that end answered, were there but one or two hundred books in all. . .

“I wish you life, peace, and contentment.

For

1 Out of eighty-one only eight have been published in their entirety. Of the remainder a few extracts were printed in Ruffhead's "Life of Pope," contributed no doubt by Warburton.

myself, if I live I desire nothing so much as to live in the good opinion of reasonable men."

Pope's travels were curtailed this year, on account of the feeble state of his health. He refused a pressing invitation to Lord Bathurst at Cirencester, and contented himself with a visit to Lady Peterborough in the late autumn. An accident which befel him about the end of August must have given a further shock to his frail constitution. Mrs. Pendarves, writing to Swift on September 2, says:

"I suppose you may have heard of Mr. Pope's accident, which had like to have proved a fatal one. He was leading a young lady into a boat, from his own stairs; her foot missed the side of the boat, she fell into the water and pulled Mr. Pope after her; the boat slipped away, and they were immediately out of their depth, and it was with some difficulty they were saved. The young lady's name is Talbot; she is as remarkable for being a handsome woman as Mr. Pope is for wit. I think I cannot give you a higher notion of her beauty, unless I had named you instead of him."

On October 7 Pope was at his favourite Bevis Mount, and amusing himself by making new improvements in the grounds.

"This place is very pleasing to me," he writes to Allen, "both from the memory of what it has been in my lord's time, and what it is now. Here I live very much in my own way; nor is the ease and enjoyment of it lessened, but advanced, by the employment of planting and improving many parts of it. To be at ease is the greatest of happiness (at ease, I mean, both of mind and body), but to