According to the title page, _The Great Man's Answer_ is by the same author as _Are these things so?_. Once again the setting is Pope's grotto, but this time the poet engages Walpole in a direct dialogue. The poem begins with the poet being disturbed in his retreat by someone "thundering at the gate." It is Walpole who has come to answer the questions asked in _Are these things so?_. He maintains that Britain has not fallen as low as Pope claims and that the Honour of the Fleet is still intact. He defends his handling of Parliament, his fiscal policies, his appointment of Placemen and Pensioners, his attitude to Commerce, and the self-aggrandisement involved in many of his contracts. These defences, which only bring out a severer irony in Pope, lead up to Walpole's version of his own epitaph in contrast to that given him in _Are these things so?_. Where Pope had stressed his role as the grave-digger of British Liberty, Walpole sees himself as the healer of factions. Finally he falls back on his ultimate weapon of bribery. But his offers of money, pension, place, title, and honour are turned down by the poet with increasing scorn, and the poem ends with appropriate focus on Pope' incorruptibility. The following notes are offered to help with the topical allusions.[36] The poem opens with Pope directing his servant, John Serle (l. 7, p. 1), to see who is thundering at his gate. This is a playful allusion to the famous opening of _An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot_ where Serle had been urged to an exactly opposite course of action. The "_Gazetteer_ Abuse" scornfully mentioned by Pope (l. 37, p. 3) is a reference to _The Daily Gazetteer_, a pro-Government newspaper which ran from 30 June 1735-20 June 1745. The incomplete words, "Se--s" (l. 66, p. 4) and "P------ts!" (l. 79, p. 5) refer to Senates and Parliaments respectively. Walpole's claim (l. 89, p. 5) that "_Gin_ would then be drank without control" refers to the government's Gin Act of 1736, which placed an excise of five shillings a gallon on gin. His later claim that there would be "No _License_ on the _Press_, or on the _Stage_" (l. 98, p. 6) refers to the Stage Licensing Act of 1737, which placed the theatre under the control of the Lord Chamberlain. For Pope's ironic application of the epithet "sturdy" (l. 164, p. 9) to the London Merchants see the notes to _Are these things so?_. Pope's mention of "_Angria_" (l. 204, p. 11) is a comparison of Walpole to a Mahrattan pirate chief of the early part of the century. Walpole's introduction to his own epitaph, "They _best_ can speak it, who will _feel_ it most" (l. 223, p. 12) is an allusion to Pope's _Eloisa to Abelard_ (l. 366): "He best can paint 'em who shall feel 'em most." UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO London, Ontario, Canada NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION [1] H. R. Plomer, _A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers Who Were at Work in England. 1726-1775_ (Oxford, 1932), p. 61.