Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/223

Rh alſo, continues the author of the Notes to the Dunciad, is likewiſe untrue, it being known to divers, that theſe Memoirs were written at the ſeat of the lord Harcourt in Oxfordſhire, before the death of biſhop Burnet, and many years before the appearance of that hiſtory, of which they are pretended to be an abuſe. Moſt true it is that Mr. More had ſuch a deſign, and was himſelf the man who preſſed Dr. Arbuthnot, and Mr. Pope to aſſiſt him therein; and that he borrowed thoſe Memoirs of the latter, when that hiſtory came forth, with intent to turn them to ſuch abuſe; but being able to obtain from Pope but one ſingle hint, and either changing his mind, or having more mind than ability, he contented himſelf to keep the ſaid Memoirs, and read them as his own to all his acquaintance. A noble perſon there is, into whoſe company Pope once chanced to introduce him, who well remembered the converſation of Mr. More to have turned upon the contempt he had for that reverend prelate, and how full he was of a deſign he declared himſelf to have of expoſing him; this noble perſon is the earl of Peterborough.’

Thus Mr. Pope was obliged to repreſent this gentleman as a plagiary, or to paſs for one himſelf. His caſe indeed, as the author of the notes to the Dunciad obſerves, was like that of a man who, as he was ſitting in company, perceived his next neighbour had ſtolen his handkerchief. ‘Sir, ſaid the thief, finding himſelf detected, do not expoſe me, I did it for mere want; be ſo good but to take it privately out of my pocket again, and ſay nothing.’ The honeſt man did ſo, but the other cried out, ‘See, gentlemen! what a thief we have among us! look, he is ſtealing my handkerchief.’ The