He then saw that Curll's answer might lead to a discovery.

He wrote a letter to Curll (in Smythe's name) intended to meet the difficulty.

He entreated Curll to take the whole of the responsibility of procuring the letters upon himself, and by way of inducement held out hopes of another volume of correspondence.

In a second note he tried to throw Curll off the scent of another significant little fact.

The sheets (as I have mentioned) were partly made up from the volume of Wycherley correspondence;[15] this would give a clue to further inquiries; P.T.
therefore allowed Smythe to say (ostensibly to show his confidence in Curll) that he (P.T.) had been employed in getting up the former volume, and had had some additional sheets struck off for himself, to which he had added letters subsequently obtained.