_Pylades and Corinna_ (Vol. vii., p. 305.).--If your correspondent's
question have reference to the two volumes in octavo published under this
title in 1731, assuredly Defoe had nothing to do with them, as must be
evident to any one on the most cursory glance. The volumes contain memoirs
of Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, on whom Dryden conferred the poetical title of
Corinna, and the letters which passed between her and Richard Gwinnett, her
intended husband. A biography of this lady, neither whose life nor poetry
were of the best, may be found in Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._, vol. xxix. p.
281., and a farther one in Cibber's _Lives_, vol. iv. The _Dunciad_, and
her part in the publication of Pope's early correspondence, have given her
an unhappy notoriety. I must say, however, that, notwithstanding his
provocation, I cannot but think that he treated this poor woman
ungenerously.