ABSTRACT
On 29 May, the anniversary of Charles II's restoration, Stuart supporters staged riots in London and Oxford and by the Pretender's birthday on 10 June, there were violent demonstrations throughout the land, from Leeds in Yorkshire to Frome in Somerset. Alexander Pope was in London again in time for Oxford's trial. Alexander Pope was distinctly apprehensive and when he wrote to the Blount girls, he wanted to satisfy their curiosity but did not want to display obvious Jacobite sympathies because there was always a possibility his letter would be intercepted or stolen. Alexander Pope and Arbuthnot then moved on to Bath, when Government troops moved in and garrisoned that disaffected town. No sooner had the quarrel with Addison subsided, than Alexander Pope decided to throw down the gauntlet to Edmund Curll who, far from beating a retreat, took up the challenge, engaging in a war.
