I DEAR SIR, LETTER XVIII*. April 21, 1726. HAVE a great inclination to write to you, though I cannot by writing, any more than I could by words, exprefs what part I bear in your fufferings. Nature and esteem in you are joined to aggravate your affliction the latter I have in a degree equal even to yours, and a tie of friendship approaches near to the tenderness of nature; yet, God knows, no man living is lefs fit to comfort you, as no man is more deeply fenfible than myself of the greatness of the lofs. That very virtue which fecures his present state from all the forrows incident to ours, does but aggrandize our fenfation of its being removed from our fight, from our affection, and from our imitation; for the friendfhip and fociety of good men does not only make us happier, but it makes us better. Their death does but complete their felicity before our own, who probably are not yet arrived to that degree of perfection which merits an immediate reward. That your dear brother and my dear friend was fo, I take his very removal to be a proof; Providence would certainly lend * This was written, it appears very clearly, to Edward Digby, on the death of his brother Robert, Pope's correfpondent. He became Lord Digby, and was father of Edward and Henry, the late Lords, of Robert the prefent Admiral Digby, of William the late Dean of Durham, and grandfather to the prefent Lady Ilchefter, Mrs. Newbolt, etc. lend virtuous men to a world that fo much wants them, as long as in its juftice to them it could spare them to us. May my foul be with those who have meant well, and have acted well to that meaning! And, I doubt not, if this prayer be granted, I fhall be with him. Let us preferve his memory in the way he would beft like, by recollecting what his behaviour would have been, in every incident of our lives to come, and doing in each juft as we think he would have done; fo we fhall have him always before our eyes, and in our minds, and (what is more) in our lives and manners. I hope when we shall meet him next, we shall be more of a piece with him, and confequently not to be evermore feparated from him. I will add but one word that relates to what remains of yourself and me, fince fo valued a part of us is gone; it is to beg you to accept, as yours by inheritance, of the vacancy he has left in a heart, which (while he could fill it with fuch hopes, wishes, and affections for him as fuited a mortal creature) was truly and warmly his; and fhall (I affure you in the fincerity of forrow for my own lofs) be faithfully at your service while I continue to love his memory, that is, while I continue to be myself. MR. DIGBY died in the year 1726, and is buried in the Church of Sherborne in Dorsetshire, with an Epitaph written by the Author. POPE. His fifter Mary died of the fmall-pox, 1729. Elizabeth, who was probably Pope's favourite, married Sir John Dolben; died. OF Bishop Atterbury's birth, education, and talents, fomething He has already been faid in the course of these Volumes. appears to have acted fincerely from his confcience; although it has been faid, that disappointed ambition was the chief cause which made him take fo direct a line in politics, in oppofition to the reigning powers. Whatever may be thought of his conduct in this refpect, his claffical attainments, his talents, his cloquence, his tafte, and his various learning, together with his warmth of friendship, and domeftic tenderness, intereft us strongly in his behalf. No man was more popular; and we may readily imagine, there were few of whom Walpole was more afraid. He knew his talents, his decided principles, his powerful elocution, and his great popularity. He therefore proceeded with the greatest caution; but when, according to Mr. Coxe, he was convinced of the truth and danger of the confpiracy, he took an active part in conducting the profecution. The event is well known; Atterbury was sent to the Tower, and exiled. "It was apprehended," fays Mr. Coxe, "that his removal on board the fhip which was to convey him into banishment, would have been the signal of insurrection; but no tumults took place. Walpole, in a Letter to Townsend, dated Whitehall, June 20, 1723, thus fpeaks of his embarkation : "The late Bishop of Rochester went away on Tuesday. The crowd that attended him was not more than was expected; but great numbers of boats attended him to the water's fide. Nothing very extraordinary, but the Duke of Wharton's behaviour, who went on board the veffel with him, and a free converfation betwixt his Holinefs and Williamfon, with menaces of a day of vengeance." It evidently appears, that Walpole felt fome uneafinefs, till Atterbury had left the kingdom. The converfation respecting the “day of vengeance" was, perhaps, more the fuggeftion of his own ideas, than a circumftance founded in fact. It is totally unlike the dignified manlinefs which Atterbury exhibited, and the exquifite fenfibility of tenderness and of filent regret which his writings breathe. See the conclufion of his affecting Letter on leaving his country: "Some natural tears he dropp'd, but wip'd them foon ; The world was all before him!” |