Note D — Front matter

Woolston was convicted on four counts of blasphemy on 4 March 1729. His offending works were six Discourses on the Miracles of our Saviour (1727-29). He never succeeded in paying his fine of £100 (Pope, Poems (Twickenham Edition, genl. ed. John Butt; London: Methuen, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939-69), 5, 459). Hereafter referred to as TE. Methuen's resignation is erroneously dated in 1730 in DNB and in Romney Sedgwick, The House of Commons 1715-1754 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970), 2, 254. See Abel Boyer, The Political State of Great Britain, 37 (May 1729), 523, and John, Lord Hervey. Some Materials towards Memoirs of the Reign of King George II, ed. Romney Sedgwick (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1931), pp. 101-02. According to Hervey, Methuen's ostensible reason for resigning was his dislike of the general conduct of the court, his real reason his failure to be appointed Secretary of State.