LETTER XXXIX.

FROM THE SAME.

1732.

I AM under the greatest impatience to see Dr. Swift at Bevis-Mount, and must signify my mind to him by another hand, it not being permitted me to hold correspondence with the said Dean, for no letter of mine can come to his hands.

And whereas it is apparent, in this protestant land, most especially under the care of divine providence, that nothing can succeed or come to a happy issue but by Bribery; therefore let me know what he expects to comply with my desires, and it shall be remitted unto him.

For though I would not corrupt any man for the whole world, yet a benevolence may be given without any offence to conscience; every one must confess, that gratification and corruption are two distinct terms: nay at worst many good men hold, that for a good end, some very naughty measures may be made use of.

But, Sir, I must give you some good news in relation to myself, because I know you wish me well;

9 This year Lord Peterborow and Pope paid a visit from Southampton to Winchester College, and gave prizes to the scholars for the best copy of verses that should be written, on a subject proposed to them by Mr. Pope himself-The Campaign of Valentia. The prizes were sets of Pine's Horace. Hampton, the excellent Translator of Polybius, at that time very young, gained one of these prizes: Mr. Whitehead another.

I am cured of some diseases in my old age, which tormented me very much in my youth.

I was possessed with violent and uneasy passions, such as a peevish concern for Truth1, and a saucy love for my Country.

When a Christian Priest preached against the Spirit of the Gospel, when an English Judge determined against Magna Charta, when the Minister acted against Common Sense, I used to fret.

Now, Sir, let what will happen, I keep myself in temper: As I have no flattering hopes, so I banish all useless fears: but as to things of this world, I find myself in a condition beyond expectation; it being evident from a late Parliamentary inquiry, that I have as much ready money, as much in the funds, and as great a personal estate, as Sir Robert S-tt-n.

If the Translator of Homer find fault with this unheroic disposition, or (what I more fear) if the Draper of Ireland accuse the Englishman of want of spirit: I silence you both with one line out of your own Horace: Quid te exempta juvat spinis de pluribus una? For I take the whole to be so corrupted, that a cure any part would be of little avail.

in

Your, etc.

1 As may be seen from his transactions with Fenwick in the Year 1696-7.

LETTER XL.

DR. SWIFT TO THE EARL OF PETERBOROW.

MY LORD,

I NEVER knew or heard of any person so volatile, and so fixed as your Lordship: you, while your imagination is carrying you through every corner of the world, where you have or have not been, can at the same time remember to do offices of favour and kindness to the meanest of your friends; and in all the Scenes you have passed, have not been able to attain that one quality peculiar to a great man, of forgetting every thing but injuries. Of this I am a living witness against you; for being the most insignificant of all your old humble servants, you were so cruel as never to give me time to ask a favour, but prevented me in doing whatever you thought I desired, or could be for my credit or advantage.

I have often admired at the capriciousness of Fortune in regard to your Lordship. She hath forced Courts to act against their oldest, and most constant maxims; to make you a General because you had courage and conduct; an Ambassador, because you had wisdom and knowledge in the interests of Europe; and an Admiral on account of your skill in maritime affairs: whereas, according to the usual method of Court proceedings, I should have been at the head of the Army, and you of the Church, or rather a Curate, under the Dean of St. Patrick's.

The Archbishop of Dublin laments that he did not

see your Lordship till he was just upon the point of leaving the Bath: I pray God you may have found success in that journey, else I shall continue to think there is a fatality in all your Lordships undertakings, which only terminate in your own honour, and the good of the public, without the least advantage to your health or fortune.

I remember Lord Oxford's ministry used to tell me, that not knowing where to write to you, they were forced to write at you. It is so with me, for you are in one thing an Evangelical man, that you know not where to lay your head, and I think, you have no house. Pray, my Lord, write to me, that I may have the pleasure, in this scoundrel country, of going about, and shewing my depending Parsons a letter from the Earl of Peterborow.

LETTER XLI.

TO **

I am, etc.

September 13.

I BELIEVE you are by this time immersed in your vast wood; and one may address to you as to a very abstracted person, like Alexander Selkirk, or the Self-taught Philosopher 3. I should be very curious to know what sort of contemplations employ you.

• Lord Bathurst, W.

3 The title of an Arabic Treatise of the Life of Hai Ebn Yocktan; written to explain and recommend the mystic Theology of the Mahometans, in all respects the same with the Mysticism of Christian Fanatics.

I remember the latter of those I mentioned, gave himself up to a devout exercise of making his head giddy with various circumrotations, to imitate the motions of the celestial bodies. I don't think it at all impossible that Mr. L. may be far advanced in that exercise by frequent turns towards the several aspects of the heavens, to which you may have been pleased to direct him in search of prospects and new avenues. He will be tractable in time, as birds are tamed by being whirled about; and doubtless come not to despise the meanest shrubs or coppice-wood, though naturally he seems more inclined to admire God in his greater works, the tall timber: for, as Virgil has it, Non omnes arbusta juvant humilesque myrica. I wish myself with you both, whether you are in peace or at war, in violent argumentation or smooth consent, over Gazettes in the morning, or over Plans in the evening. In that last article, I am of opinion your Lordship has a loss of me; for generally after the debate of a whole day, we acquiesced at night, in the best conclusion of which human reason seems capable in all great matters, to fall fast asleep! And so we ended, unless immediate Revelation (which ever must overcome human reason) suggested some new lights to us, by a Vision in bed. But laying aside Theory, I am told, you are going directly to Practice. Alas, what a fall will that be? A new Building is like a new Church; when once it is set up, you must maintain it in all the forms, and with all the inconveniences; then cease the pleasant luminous days of inspiration, and there is an end of miracles at once!