LETTERS of Mr POPE, and feveral of his Preface of the publisher of the furreptitious edi- A catalogue of the furreptitious' and incorrect editions of Mr Pope's letters, MEMOIRS MEMOIRS Of the extraordinary LIFE, WORKS, and DISCOVERIES OF MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS. I INTRODUCTION to the READER. 'N the reign of Queen Anne, (which, notwith ftanding those happy times which fucceeded, every Englishman may remember), thou mayst poffibly, gentle reader, have feen a certain venerable perfon who frequented the outside of the Palace of St James's, and who, by the gravity of his deportment and habit, was generally taken for a decayed gentleman of Spain. His ftature was tall, his vifage long, his complexion olive, his brows were black, and even, his eyes hollow, yet piercing, his nofe inclined to aquiline, his beard neglected, and mixed with gray. All this contributed to spread a folemn melancholy over his countenance. Pythagoras was not more filent, Pyrrho more motionless, nor Zeno more auftere. His wig was as black and smooth as the plumes of a raven, and hung as ftraight as the hair of a river god ri VOL. V. A fing fing from the water. His cloak fo completely covered his whole perfon, that whether or no he had any other cloaths (much less any linen) under it, I fhall not fay: But his fword appeared a full yard behind him, and his manner of wearing it was fo ftiff, that it seemed grown to his thigh. His whole figure was fo utterly unlike any thing of this world, that it was not natural for any man to afk him a question without bleffing himself first. Those who never faw a Jefuit, took him for one, and others believed him fome high-prieft of the Jews. But under this macerated form was concealed a mind replete with fcience, burning with a zeal of benefiting his fellow-creatures, and filled with an honeft conscious pride, mixed with a fcorn of doing, or fuffering the least thing beneath the dignity of a philofopher. Accordingly he had a foul that would not let him accept of any offers of charity, at the fame time that his body seemed but too much to require it. His lodging was in a small chamber up four pair of stairs, where he regularly paid for what he had when he ate or drank; and he was often obferved wholly to abstain from both. He declined fpeaking to any one, except the Queen, or her first minifter, to whom he attempted to make fome applications; but his real bufinefs or intentions were utterly unknown to all men. Thus much is certain, that he was obnoxious to the Queen's miniftry; who, either out of jealoufy or envy, had him fpirited away, and carried abroad as a dangerous perfon, without any regard to the known laws of the kingdom. One day, as this gentleman was walking, about dinner-time, alone in the Mall, it happened that a manu manuscript dropt from under his cloak, which my fervant picked up and brought to me. It was written in the Latin tongue, and contained many most profound fecrets, in an unusual turn of reafoning and ftyle. The firft leaf was infcribed with thefe words, Codicillus, feu liber memorialis, Martini Scribleri. The book was of fo wonderful a nature, that it is incredible what a defire I conceived that moment to be acquainted with the author, who I clearly perceived was fome great philofopher in disguise. I feveral times endeavoured to fpeak to him, which he as often industriously avoided. At length I found an opportunity (as he stood under the piazza by the dancing-room in St James') to acquaint him in the Latin tongue, that his manufcript was fallen into my hands; and faying this, I prefented it to him, with great encomiums on the learned author. Hereupon he took me afide, furveyed me over with a fixed attention, and, opening the clafps of the parchment cover, spoke (to my great surprise) in English, as follows. "Courteous ftranger, whoever thou art, I embrace thee as my best friend; for either the stars and my art are deceitful, or the destined time is come which is to manifeft Martinus Scriblerus to the world, and thou the perfon chofen by fate for this task. What thou feeft in me is a body ex-* hauited by the labours of the mind. I have found in Dame Nature not indeed an unkind, but a very coy mistress. Watchful nights, anxious days, flender meals, and endless labours, muft be the lot of all who purfue her through her labyrinths and meanders. My first vital air I drew in this island, A 2 (a foil (a foil fruitful of philofophers), but my complexion is become aduft, and my body arid, by vifiting lands (as the poet has it) alio fub fole calentes. I have, through my whole life, paffed under feveral difguifes, and unknown names, to fcreen myself from the envy and malice which mankind exprefs against those who are poffeffed of the arcanum magnum. But at prefent I am forced to take fanctuary in the British court, to avoid the revenge of a cruel Spaniard, who has pursued me almoft through the whole terraqueous globe. Being a bout four years ago in the city of Madrid, in queft of natural knowledge, I was informed of a lady who was marked with a pomegranate upon the infide of her right thigh, which bloffomed, and, as it were, feemed to ripen in the due feafon. Forthwith was I poffeffed with an infatiable curiofity to view this wonderful phænomenon. I felt the ardour of my paffion increase as the feafon advanced, till, in the month of July, I could no longer contain. I bribed her duenna, was admitted to the bath, faw her undreffed, and the wonder difplayed. This was foon after discovered by the hufband, who finding fome letters I had writ to the duenna, containing expreffions of a doubtful meaning, fufpected me of a crime moft alien from the purity of my thoughts. Incontinently I left Madrid by the advice of friends; have been purfued, dogged, and waylaid through several nations, and even now fcarce think myfelf fecure within the facred walls of this palace. It has been my good fortune to have feen all the grand phænomena of nature, excepting an earthquake, which I waited for in Naples three years in vain; and now, by means of fome |