small uneasiness to Mr. Pope: Who had indeed drawn it upon himself, by
being the aggressor in his Dunciad.--This afterwards occasioned a
private paper-war between those writers, in which 'tis generally thought
that Mr. Hill had greatly the advantage of Mr. Pope. For the
particulars, the reader is referred to a shilling pamphlet lately
published by Owen, containing Letters between Mr. Pope and Mr. Hill, &c.

The progress of wit begins with the eight following lines, wherein the
SNEAKINGLY APPROVES affected Mr. Pope extreamly.

Tuneful Alexis on the Thames' fair side,
The Ladies play-thing, and the Muses pride,
With merit popular, with wit polite,
Easy tho' vain, and elegant tho' light:
Desiring, and deserving other's praise,
Poorly accepts a fame he ne'er repays:
Unborn to cherish, SNEAKINGLY APPROVES,
And wants the soul to spread the worth he loves.

During their controversy, Mr. Pope seemed to express his repentance, by
denying the offence he had given; thus, in one of his letters, he says,

'That the letters A.H. were apply'd to you in the papers I did not know
(for I seldom read them) I heard it only from Mr. Savage[4], as from
yourself, and sent my assurances to the contrary: But I don't see how
the annotator on the D. could have rectified that mistake publicly,
without particularizing your name in a book where I thought it too good
to be inserted, &c.[5].'

And in another place he says,