LETTER X.

O&. 19, 1709.

I

MAY truly fay I am more obliged to you this fummer than to any of my acquaintance, for had it not been for the two kind letters you fent me, I had been perfectly oblitufque meorum, oblivifcendus & illis. The only companions I had were those Muses, of whom Tully fays, Adolefcentiam alunt, fenectutem oblectant, fecundas res ornant, adverfis perfugium ac folatium præbent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobifcum, peregrinantur, rufticantur: which indeed is as much as ever I expected from them: for the Muses, if you take them as companions, are very pleasant and agreeable, but whoever fhould be forced to live or depend upon them, would find himself in a very bad condition. That Quiet, which Cowley calls the Companion of Obfcurity, was not wanting to me, unless it was interrupted by thofe fears you fo justly guess I had for our friend's welfare. 'Tis extremely kind in you to tell me the news you heard of him, and you have delivered me from more anxiety than he imagines me capable of on his account, as I am convinced by his long filence. However, the love of fome things rewards itfelf, as of virtue, and of Mr. Wycherley. I am furprised at the danger you tell me he has been in, and muft agree with

you,

you, that our nation would have loft in him as much wit and probity, as would have remained (for aught I know) in the reft of it. My concern for his friendship will excuse me (fince I know you honour him fo much, and fince you know I love him above all men) if I vent part of my uneafinefs to you, and tell you, that there has not been wanting one, to infinuate malicious untruths of me to Mr. Wycherley, which, I fear, may have had fome effect upon him. If so, he will have a greater punishment for his credulity than I could wish him, in that fellow's acquaintance. The lofs of a faithful creature is fomething, though of ever fo contemptible a one; and if I were to change my dog for fuch a man as the aforefaid, I fhould think my dog undervalued; who follows me about as constantly here in the country, as I was used to do Mr. Wycherley in the town.

Now I talk of my dog, that I may not treat of a worse subject, which my fpleen tempts me to, I will give you some account of him; a thing not wholly unprecedented, fince Montaigne (to whom I am but a dog in comparison) has done the fame thing of his cat. Dic mihi quid melius defidiofus agam? You are to know then, that as 'tis likeness begets affection, my favourite dog is a little one, a lean one, and none of the finest shaped. He is not much a spaniel in his fawning, but has (what might be worth any man's while to imitate him in) a dumb furly fort of kindness, that rather fhews itself when he thinks ine ill-ufed

fo

ill-ufed by others, than when we walk quietly and peaceably by ourselves. If it be the chief point of friendship to comply with a friend's motions and inclinations, he poffeffes this in an eminent degree; he lies down when I fit, and walks when I walk, which is more than many good friends can pretend to, witness our walk a year ago in St. James's Park.Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends, but I will not infift upon many of them, because it is poffible fome may be almost as fabulous as those of Pylades and Oreftes, etc. I will only fay for the honour of dogs, that the two most ancient and esteemable books, facred and prophane, extant, (viz. the Scripture and Homer,) have fhewn a particular regard to these animals. That of Toby is the more remarkable, because there feemed no manner of reason to take notice of the dog, befides the great humanity of the author. Homer's account of Ulyffes's dog Argus is the most pathetic imaginable, all the circumftances confidered, and an excellent proof of the old bard's good-nature. Ulys. fes had left him at Ithaca when he embarked for Troy, and found him at his return after twenty years (which by the way is not unnatural, as fome critics have faid, fince I remember the dam of my dog was twenty-two years old when fhe died: may the omen of longevity prove fortunate to her fucceffors). You fhall have it in verse:

The fimplicity and unaffected tenderness exhibited in the beautiful hiftory of Tobit, was never furpaffed.

ARGUS.

ARGUS.

When wife Ulyffes, from his native coast
Long kept by wars, and long by tempests toft,
Arriv'd at laft, poor, old, difguis'd, alone,

To all his friends, and even his Queen unknown:
Chang'd as he was, with age, and toils, and cares,
Furrow'd his reverend face, and white his hairs,
In his own palace forc'd to afk his bread,
Scorn'd by thofe flaves his former bounty fed,
Forgot of all his own domestic crew;

The faithful dog alone his rightful mafter knew!
Unfed, unhous'd, neglected, on the clay,
Like an old fervant now cafhier'd, he lay;
Touch'd with refentment of ungrateful man,
And longing to behold his ancient Lord again.
Him when he faw *-he rofe, and crawl'd to meet,
('Twas all he cou'd,) and fawn'd, and kiss'd his feet,
Seiz'd with dumb joy-then falling by his fide,
Own'd his returning Lord, look'd up, and dy'd!

Plutarch relating how the Athenians were obliged to abandon Athens in the time of Themiftocles, steps back again out of the way of his hiftory, purely to defcribe the lamentable cries and howlings of the poor dogs they left behind. He makes mention of one that followed his mafter across the fea to Salamis, where he died, and was honoured with a tomb by the Athenians, who gave the name of the Dog's Grave

to

* I know not fweeter lines in our language than these four; Prior fays well in Solomon, b. i.

And dying licks his long-lov'd master's feet.

Which my friend Dobfon admirably tranflated,

Et lambit charum linguâ moriente magiftrum. WARTON.

is

to that part of the island where he was buried. This respect to a dog in the most polite people in the world, very obfervable. A modern inftance of gratitude to a dog (though we have few fuch) is, that the chief order of Denmark (now injuriously called the order of the Elephant) was inftituted in memory of the fidelity of a dog, named Wild-brat, to one of their Kings who had been deferted by his fubjects; he gave his Order this motto, or to this effect, (which ftill remains,) Wild-brat was faithful*. Sir William Trumbull has told me a story", which he heard from one that was prefent: King Charles I. being with some of his court during his troubles, a discourse arose what fort of dogs deferved pre-eminence, and it being on all hands agreed to belong either to the spaniel or grey-hound, the king gave his opinion on the part of the grey-hound, because (said he) it has all the good-nature of the other, without fawning. A good piece of fatire upon his courtiers, with which I will conclude my difcourfe of dogs. Call me a cynic, or what you please, in revenge for all this impertinence, I will be contented; provided you will but believe me, when I fay a bold word for a Chriftian, that, of all dogs, you will find none more faithful than

Your, etc.

*The poetical world has feldom feen any thing more pleafing and elegant on this fubject, than Wm. Spencer's Ballad of Beth Gellert, or the Grave of the Grey-hound.

Sir Philip Warwick tells us this story in his Memoirs.

WARBURTON.