hound, the King gave his opinion on the part of the Your, &c. LETTER XI. April 10, 1710, Had written to you fooner, but that I made fome fcruple of fending profane things to you in holy week. Befides our family wou'd have been fcandaliz'd to see me write, who take it for granted I write nothing but ungodly verfes. I affure you I am look'd upon in the neighbourhood for a very well-difpos'd perfon, no great Hunter indeed, but a great admirer of the noble sport, and only unhappy in my want of conftitution for that, and Drinking. They all fay 'tis pity I am fo fickly, and I think 'tis pity they are fo healthy. But I fay nothing that may deftroy their good opinion of me: I have not quoted one Latin author fince I came down, but have learn'd without book a fong of Mr. Thomas Durfey's, who is your only Poet of tolerable reputation in this country. He makes all the merriment in our entertainments, and but for him, there would be fo miserable a dearth of catches, that I fear they wou'd put either the Parfon or me upon making fome for 'em. Any man, of any quality, is heartily welcome to the best topeing-table of of our gentry, who can roar out fome Rhapsodies of his works: fo that in the fame manner as it was faid of Homer to his detractors, What? dares any man fpeak against him who has given so many men to eat? (meaning the Rhapfodifts who liv'd by repeating his verfes) thus may it be faid of Mr. Durfey to his detractors; dares any one despise him, who has made fo many men drink? Alas, Sir! this is a glory which neither you nor I must ever pretend to. Neither you with your Ovid, nor I with my Statius, camufe a board of juftices and extraordinary 'fquires, or gain one hum of approbation, or laugh of admiration. These things (they wou'd fay) are too ftudious, they may do well enough with fuch as love reading, but give us your ancient Poet Mr. Durfey! 'Tis mortifying enough, it must be confefs'd; but however, let us proceed in the way that nature has directed usMulti multa fciunt, fed nemo omnia, as it is faid in the almanack. Let us communicate our works for our mutual comfort; fend me elegies, and you fhall not want heroicks. At prefent, I have only these Arguments in profe to the Thebaid, which you claim by promife, as I do your Tranflation of Pars me Sulmo and the Ring: the reft I hope for as soon as you can conveniently transcribe 'em, and whatfoever orders you are pleas'd to give me shall be punctually obey'd by Your, &c. tenet * LETTER XII. May 10, 1710. I Had not fo long omitted to express my acknowledgments to you for fo much good-nature and friendship as you lately fhow'd me; but that I am G bus but just return'd to my own hermitage, from Mr. C's who has done me fo many favours, that I am almost inclin'd to think my friends infect one another, and that your converfation with him has made him as obliging to me as yourfelf. I can af fure you he has a fincere refpect for you, and this I believe he has partly contracted from me, who am too full of you not to overflow upon those I converse with. But I muft now be contented to converfe only with the dead of this world, that is to fay, the dull and obfcure, every way obscure, in their intellects as well as their perfons: or else have recourfe to the living dead, the old authors with whom you are fo well acquainted, even from Virgil down to Aulus Gellius, whom I do not think a critic by any means to be compar'd to Mr. Dennis: And I muft declare pofitively to you, that I will perfift in this opinion, till you become a little more civil to Atticus. Who cou'd have imagin'd, that he who had escap'd all the misfortunes of his time, unhurt even by the profcriptions of Antony and Auguftus, fhou'd in these days find an enemy more fevere and barbarous than those tyrants? and that enemy the gentleft too, the best-natur'd of mortals, Mr. Cromwell, whom I must in this compare once more to Auguftus; who seem'd not more unlike himself, in the feverity of one part of his life and the clemency of the other, than you. I leave you to reflect on this, and hope that time (which mollifies rocks, and of stiff things makes limber) will turn a refolute critic to a gentle reader; and instead of this pofitive, tremendous, new-fashion'd Mr. Comwell, reftore unto us our old acquaintance, the foft, beneficent, and courteous Mr. Cromwell. I expect much, towards the civilizing of you in your eritical capacity, from the innocent air and tranquility of of Our Foreft, when you do me the favour to vifit it. In the mean time, it wou'd do well by way of preparative, if you wou'd duly and conftantly every morning read over a paftoral of Theocritus or Virgil'; and let the lady Isabella put your Macrobius and Aulus Gellius fomewhere out of your way, for a month or fo. Who knows, but travelling and long airing in an open field, may contribute more fuccefsfully to the cooling a critic's feverity, than it did to the affwaging of Mr. Cheek's anger, of old? In these fields, will be fecure of finding no enemy, but the moft faithful and affectionate of your friends, &c. you A May 17, 1710. FTER I had recover'd from a dangerous illnefs which was first contracted in town, about a fortnight after my coming hither I troubled you with a letter, and a paper inclos'd, which you had been fo obliging as to defire a fight of when laft I faw you, promifing me in return fome tranflations of yours from Ovid. Since when, I have not had a fyllable from your hands, fo that 'tis to be fear'd that tho' I have escap'd death, I have not oblivion. I fhou'd at least have expected you to have finifh'd that elegy upon me, which you told me you was upon the point of beginning when I was fick in London; if you will but do fo much for me first, I will give you leave to forget me afterwards; and for my own part will die at difcretion, and at my leisure. But * Verfes on Silence in imitation of the Earl of Rohefter's poem on Nothing; done at 14 years old. I fear I must be forc'd like many learned authors, to write my own epitaph, if I wou'd be remember'd at all. Monfieur de la Fontaine's wou'd fit me to a hair, but it is a kind of facrilege (do you think it is not?) to fteal epitaphs. In my present, living dead condition, nothing wou'd be properer than Oblitufque meorum, oblivifcendus & illis, but that unluckily I can't forget my friends, and the civilities I receiv'd from yourself, and fome others. They fay indeed 'tis one quality of generous minds to forget the obligations they have conferr'd, and perhaps too it may be fo to forget those on whom they conferr'd 'em: Then indeed I must be forgotten to all intents and purposes! I am, it must be own'd, dead in a natural capacity, according to Mr. Bickerstaff; dead in a poetical capacity, as a damn'd author; and dead in a civil capacity, as a useless member of the Commonwealth. But reflect, dear Sir, what melancholy effects may enfue, if dead men are not civil to one another! If he who has nothing to do himself, will not comfort and support another in his idleness: If those who are to die themselves, will not now and then pay the charity of vifiting a tomb and a dead friend, and ftrowing a few flow'rs over him: In the fhades where I am, the inhabitants have a mutual compaffion for each other; being all alike Inanes, we faunter to one another's habitations, and daily affift each other in doing nothing at all. This I mention for your edification and example, that all alive as you are, you may not fometimes difdain-defipere in loco. Tho' you are no Papist, and have not fo much regard to the dead as to address yourself to them, (which I plainly perceive by your filence) yet I hope you are not one of thofe heterodox, who hold them to be totally infenfible of the good offices and kind wishes |