Censorship and Political Editing
Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized literary editing as a political activity. This final chapter examines Pope’s overlooked role as the editor of Buckingham’s posthumous Works, published at the height of the Atterbury Plot in 1723. This controversial book was seized upon publication and censored by the government; as the editor, Pope himself was taken in for questioning. This episode was the most politically dangerous of Pope’s career. This chapter sheds light on Pope’s involvement in the edition and his immersion in the conspiratorial diaspora of Buckingham House. The subscription for the edition was used to disguise fundraising for Atterbury’s plot for a Stuart restoration; Atterbury, the Duchess of Buckingham, John Barber, and Mary Caesar were all involved in this plan. Why did Pope return to the conspiratorial fold after his retirement from political affairs in 1714? He too must have known about the plan and believed that it could succeed. By editing and emending Buckingham’s Works for the press, this chapter suggests, Pope found an opportunity to express ideas that he simply could not afford to ventilate under his own name.