Naturally, the young Pope would be anxious to approach this famous clique, though his connexions lay in the first instance amongst the Jacobite and Catholic families.

Steele, too, would be glad to welcome so promising a contributor to the _Spectator_ and its successor the _Guardian_.
Pope, we may therefore believe, was heartily delighted when, some months after Dennis's attack, a notice of his _Essay upon Criticism_ appeared in the _Spectator_, December 20, 1711.

The reviewer censured some attacks upon contemporaries--a reference obviously to the lines upon Dennis--which the author had admitted into his "very fine poem;" but there were compliments enough to overbalance this slight reproof.

Pope wrote a letter of acknowledgment to Steele, overflowing with the sincerest gratitude of a young poet on his first recognition by a high authority.

Steele, in reply, disclaimed the article, and promised to introduce Pope to its real author, the great Addison himself.