which absolutely determined me to be passive. I am told he is about printing them in an edition in twelves; in which case I humbly hope you will please to lay your commands upon him (which, if he has any sense of gratitude, must have the same power as an injunction in chancery) to forbear sending them over here. If you think this request to be reasonable, I know you will comply with it: if not, I submit.
As we once had a meeting upon this affair, and he may possibly have misrepresented the offers he then made me; I beg leave to assure you that his proposal was, that I should have paid him a larger price for the book than I could have had it printed for here in England; and surely I had the same right of printing them here, as he had in Ireland, especially having bought and paid for them. If he made any other offer, I declare I misunderstood him; and I am sure, if I had complied with those terms, I should have been a laughing stock to the whole trade.
Mr. Pope has published a second volume of his poetical works, of which, I suppose, he has made you a present. I am surprised to see he owns so little in the four volumes; and speaks of these few things as inconsiderable. I am a stranger to what part of the copy money he received[1]; but you who know better, are a competent judge whether he deserved it. "I always thought the Art of Sinking was his, though he there disowns it[2]."
Curll's edition of Letters to and from Mr. Pope, I suppose you have seen. They were taken notice of in
- ↑ Mr. Pope sold the Miscellanies for a considerable sum; and offered part of it to Dr. Swift, which he refused.
- ↑ The Art of Sinking was written by Mr. Pope.
