Again, the internal evidence of the character itself points to the fact that, when it was first composed, its "heat" was not caused by any information the poet had received of a transaction between Addison and Gildon. The following is the first published version of the satire: "If Dennis writes and rails in furious pet I'll answer Dennis when I am in debt. If meagre Gildon draw his meaner quill, I wish the man a dinner and sit still. But should there _One_ whose better stars conspire To form a bard, and raise a genius higher, Blest with each talent and each art to please, And born to live, converse, and write with ease; Should such a one, resolved to reign alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne, View him with jealous yet with scornful eyes, Hate him for arts that caused himself to rise, Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer; Alike reserved to blame or to commend, A timorous foe and a suspicious friend, Fearing e'en fools, by flatterers besieged, And so obliging that he ne'er obliged; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint the fault, and hesitate dislike, _Who when two wits on rival themes contest, Approves of both, but likes the worst the best_: Like Cato, give his little senate laws And sits attentive to his own applause; While wits and templars every sentence praise And wonder with a foolish face of praise: Who would not laugh if such a man there be? Who would not weep if Addison were he?" There is sufficient corroborative evidence to allow us to believe that these lines were actually written, as Pope says, during Addison's lifetime; and if they were, the character of the satire would naturally suggest that its motive was Addison's supposed conduct in the matter of the two translations of the _Iliad_. There is nothing in them to indicate any connection in the poet's mind between Gildon and Addison; on the other hand, the allusion to the "two wits" shows the special grievance that formed the basis, in his imagination, of the whole character. Afterwards we find that "meaner quill" is replaced by "_venal_ quill;" and the couplet about the rival translations is suppressed. The inference is plain. When Pope was charged with having written the character after Addison's death, he found himself obliged, in self-defence, to furnish a moral justification for the satire; and, after his own unfortunate manner, he proceeded to build up for himself a position on a number of systematic falsehoods. His story was probably so far true that the character was really written while Addison was alive; on the other hand, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the entire statement about Gildon and Lord Warwick is fabulous; and, as the assertion that the lines were sent to Addison immediately after their composition is associated with these myths, this, too, may fairly be dismissed as equally undeserving of belief.