The manuscript of
Tickell's work, which has been preserved, is said to prove this to be an
error, and in any case there is no real ground for supposing that
Addison did anything more than he admittedly told Pope, that is, read
Tickell's manuscript and suggest corrections.
To argue seriously about other so-called proofs, would be waste of time.
They prove nothing except Pope's extreme anxiety to justify his wild
hypothesis of a dark conspiracy. Pope was jealous, spiteful, and
credulous. He was driven to fury by Tickell's publication, which had the
appearance of a competition. But angry as he was, he could find no real
cause of complaint, except by imagining a fictitious conspiracy; and
this complaint was never publicly uttered till long after Addison's
death. Addison knew, no doubt, of Pope's wrath, but probably cared
little for it, except to keep himself clear of so dangerous a companion.
He seems to have remained on terms of civility with his antagonist, and
no one would have been more surprised than he to hear of the quarrel,
upon which so much controversy has been expended.
The whole affair, so far as Addison's character is concerned, thus
appears to be a gigantic mare's nest. There is no proof, or even the
slightest presumption, that Addison or Addison's friends ever injured
Pope, though it is clear that they did not love him. It would have been
marvellous if they had. Pope's suspicions are a proof that in this case
he was almost subject to the illusion characteristic of actual insanity.
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