I'm not entirely sure what to make of Spence. He clearly falls into the clerical man of letters paradigm--obvious points of comparison would be Warburton (who also used criticism to enter into the Pope circle) as well as Warton and Young. He is similar but more skilful than Young in his ability to profit from patronage relationships with aristocrats and from selling subscriptions and copyrights to booksellers. Indeed, Spence was freakishly competent in acquiring ecclesiastical patroange, and he was further a patron himself, of Duck, Robert Hill, and Blacklock.