s frauds in purchasing and printing stolen copies of Mr. Pope's works. It is in relation to these tricks, that Pope mentions Curl in his Dunciad and Letters. A succinct history of him I shall here give: but had I complied with his requests, it would have been a long relation, to the advantage and glory of this extraordinary man: For he came one morning into my closet, with an apron full of papers; being letters, memorandums, parodies, and notes, written by or concerning himself; and requested I would, on a good consideration, write his life, to his profit and honour, and make it a five shilling book. That I said was not then in my power to do: but I would, one time or other, give the public a true account of him,

and make it conclude I hoped to the glory of his character. Here it is.
CURL was in person very tall and thin, an ungainly, aukward, white-faced man. His eyes were a light-grey, large, projecting, gogle and pur-blind. He was splay-footed, and baker-kneed.
He had a good natural understanding, and was well acquainted with more than the title pages of books. He talked well on some subjects. He was not an infidel as Mrs. Rowe misrepresents him in one of her letters to lady Hartford, (afterwards Dutchess of Somerset). He told me, it was quite evident to him, that the scriptures of the Old and New Testament contained a real revelation. There is for it a rational, a natural, a traditionary, and a supernatural testimony; which rendered it quite certain to him. He said, he no more doubted the truth of the christian religion, than he did the existence of an independent supreme Creator; but he did not believe the expositions given by the divines. So far Curl was right enough. His fault was, that with such a belief, he took no pains with his heart. Trusting intirely to the merits the Saviour, like too many other mistaken christians, he had no notion of religion as an invisible thing within us, called the kingdom of God: He did not even consider it as a good outside thing, that

recommends a man to his fellow-creatures. He was a debauchee to the last degree, and so injurious to society, that by filling his translations with wretched notes, forged letters, and bad pictures, he raised the price of a four shilling book to ten. Thus, in particular, he managed Burnet'
