AT THE death of Joseph Spence, the companion and intended biographer of Pope, Spence's executors discovered certain manuscripts relating to a burlesque poem, The Charliad. Although the work was apparently ready for the press, the author had taken no steps toward publication, and for sundry reasons the executors decided upon suppression of the poem as the proper course to follow—at least for a time. After more than a century and a half, The Charliad still remains undisturbed in manuscript form, known only to scholars and to them chiefly by name. Because of its intimate connection with The Dunciad, however, as well as because of lesser considerations, Spence's peculiar production deserves some belated attention.