treated like friends. I would fend my fervices to
Mr. Pultney, but that he is out of favour at court ;
and make fome compliment to Mrs. Pultney, if
me were not a Whig. My Lord Burlington tells
me me has as much out-mined all the French ladies,
as me did the Englifh before : I am forry for it,
becaufe it will be detrimental to our holy religion, if
heretical women mould eclipfe thofe Nuns and ortho-
dox Beauties, in whofe eyes alone lie all the hopes we
can have, of gaining fuch fine gentlemen as you to
our church.
Your, etc.
I wifli you joy of the birth of the young prince,
becaufe he is the only prince we have, from whom
you have had no expectations and no difappointments*
FROM MR. GAY. 153
LETTER VI.
FROM MR. GAY TO MR. F .
Stanton-Harcourt, Aug. 9, 1718,
r-p H E only news that you can expect to have from
me here, is news from, heaven; for I am quite
out of the world, and there is fcarce any thing that can
reach me except the noife of thunder, which undoubt-
edly you have heard too. We have read in old au-
thors of high towers levelled by it to the ground,
while the humble valleys have efcaped : The only
thing that is proof againfl it is the laurel, which,
however, I take to be no great fecurity to the brains
of modern authors. But to let you fee that the con-
trary to this often happens, I muft acquaint you, that
the higheft and moft extravagant heap of towers in
the univerfe, which is in this neighbourhood, ftand
(till undefaced, while a cock of barley in our next
field has been confumed to afhes. Would to God
that this heap of barley had been all that had perifti-
ed ! for unhappily beneath this little flicker fat two
much more conftant Lovers than ever were found in
Romance under the made of a beech-tree. John
Hewet was a well-fet man of about five and twenty,
Sarah Drew might be rather called comely than
beautiful, and was about the fame age. They had
pafi"ed
154 LETTERS TO AND
pafifed through * the various labours of the year to-
gether, with the greateft fatisfaftion ; if fhe milk'd,
'twas his morning and evening care, to bring the
cows to her hand ; it was but laft fair that he bought
her a prefent of green filk for her flraw hat, and the
pofie on her filver ring was of his chufmg. Their
love was the talk of the whole neighbourhood ; for
fcandal never affirmed, that they had any other views
than the lawful pofleflion of each other in marriage.
It was that very morning that he had obtained the
confent of her parents, and it was but till the next
week that they were to wait to be happy. Perhaps
in the intervals of their work they were now talking
of the wedding cloaths, and John was fuiting feveral
forts of poppies and field flowers to her complexion,
to chufe her a knot for the wedding-day. While they
were thus bufied, (it was on the laft of July be-
tween two and three in the afternoon,) the clouds
grew black, and fuch a florm of lightning- and thunder
enfued, that all the labourers made the befl of their
way to what fhelter the trees and hedges afforded.
Sarah was frightened, and fell down in a fwoon on a
heap of barley. John, who never feparated from her,
fat down by her fide, having raked together two or
three heaps, the better to fecure her from the florm.
Immediately there was heard fo loud a crack, as if
heaven
* The fate of thefe unfortunate Lovers is made the fubjedl of a
pathetic Epifode in Thomfon's Summer, line 1 1 70.
FROM MR. GAY. 155
heaven had fpiit afunder ; every one was now follici-
tous for the fafety of his neighbour, and called to one
another throughout the field : No anfwer being re-
turned to thofe who called to our Lovers, they ftept
to the place where they lay ; they perceived the bar-
ley all in a fmoke, and then fpied this faithful pair :
John with one arm about Sarah's neck, and the other
held over her, as to fcreen her from the lightning.
They were ftruck dead, and ftiffened in this tender
poflure. Sarah's left eye-brow was fmged, and there
appeared a black fpot on her bread : her lover was all
over black, but not the leaft figns of life were found
in either. Attended by their melancholy compa-
nions, they were conveyed to the town, and the next
day were interred in Stanton-Harcourt Church-yard.
My Lord Harcourt, at Mr. Pope's and my requeft,
has caufed a ftone to be placed over them, upon con-
dition that we furnifhed the Epitaph, which is as
follows :
When eaflern lovers feed the fun'ral fire,
On the fame pile the faithful pair expire :
Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found,
And blafled both, that it might neither wound.
Hearts fo fincere th' Almighty faw well pleas'd.
Sent his own lightning, and the vidlims feized.
But my Lord is apprehenfive the country peo-
ple will not underftand this, and Mr. Pope fays
he'll make one with fomething of Scripture in
it,
156 LETTERS TO 'AND
it, and with as little of poetry as Hopkins and
Sternhold f .
Your, etc.
f The Epitaph was this :
Near this place lie the bodies of
JOHN HEWET and MARY DREW,
an induftrious young Man
and Virtuous Maiden of this Parifh ;
Who being at Harvefl-Work
(With feveral others)
were in one inftant killed by Lightning
the lafl day of July 1718.
Think not, by rig'rous Judgment feiz'd,
A pair fo faithful could expire ;
Victims fo pure Heav'n faw well pleas'd,
And fnatch'd them in celeftial fire.
Live well, and fear no fudden fate ;
When God calls Virtue to the grave,
Alike 'tis juftice foon or late,
Mercy alike to kill or fave.
Virtue unmov'd can hear the call,
And face the flafh that melts the balU
FROM MR. GAY. 157
LETTER VII.
Dear Gay, September ii, 1722.
-T THANK you for remembering me ; I would do my
beft to forget myfelf, but that I find your idea is
fo clofely conne&ed to me, that I mud forget both
together, or neither. I am forry I could not have a
glimpfe either of you or of the Sun (your father)
before you went for Bath : but now it pleafes me to
fee him, and hear of you. Pray put Mr. Congreve in
mind that he has one on this fide of the world who
loves him ; and that there are more men and women
in the univerfe than Mr. Gay and my Lady Duchefs*.
There are ladies in and about Richmond, that pretend
to value him and yourfelf ; and one of them at lead
may be thought to do it without affectation, namely
Mrs. Howard. -
Pray confult with Dr. Arbuthnot and Dr. Cheyne,
to what exaft pitch your belly may be fuffered to
fwell, not to outgrow theirs, who are, yet, your bet-
ters. Tell Dr. Arbuthnot that even pigeon-pies and
hogs-puddings are thought dangerous by our go-
vernors ; for thofe that have been fent to the Bifliop
of Rochefter are opened and prophanely pried into
at the Tower : 'tis the firft time dead pigeons have
been fufpefted of carrying intelligence. To be feri-
ous,
* That is of Marlborough.
158 LETTERS TO AND
ous, you and Mr. Congreve and the Doctor will be
fenfible of my concern and furprize at his commit-
ment, whofe welfare is as much my concern as any
friend's I have. I think myfelf a molt unfortunate
wretch : I no fooner love, and, upon knowledge, fix
my efteem to any man ; but he either dies, like Mr.
Craggs, or is fent to imprifonment, like the Bimop.
God fend him as well as I wifh him, manifefl him to
be as innocent as I believe, and make all his enemies
know him as well as I do, that they may think of
him as well !
If you apprehend this period to be of any danger
in being addrefled to you, tell Mr. Congreve or the
Doctor, it is writ to them. I am
Your, etc.
LETTER VIII.
July 13, 1722.
T WAS very much pleafed, not to fay obliged, by your
kind letter, which fufficiently warmed my heart to
have anfwered it fooner, had I not been deceived (a
way one often is deceived) by hearkening to women ;
who told me that both Lady Burlington and yourfelf
were immediately to return from Tunbridge, and that
my Lord was gone to bring you back. The world
furnifhes
FROM MR. GAY. 159
furnifhes us with too many examples of what you
complain of in yours, and, I affure you, none of
them touch and grieve me fo much as what relates to
you. I think your fentiments upon it are the very
fame I mould entertain : I wilh thofe we call great
men had the fame notions, but they are really the
mod little creatures in the world ; and the moil in-
terefted, in all but one point, which is, that they want
judgment 5 to know their greateft intereft, to encou-
rage and choofe honeft men for their friends.
I have not once feen the perfon you complain of,
whom I have of late thought to be, as the Apoftle ad-
monimeth, one fleih with his wife.
Pray make my fincere compliments to Lord Bur-
lington, whom I have long known to have a ftronger
bent of mind to be all that is good and honourable,
than almofl any one of his rank.
I have not forgot yours to Lord Bolingbroke,
though I hope to have fpeedily a fuller opportunity,
he returning for Flanders and France next month.
Mrs. Howard has writ you fomething or other in a
letter, which, me fays, me repents. She has as much
good nature as if me had never feen any ill nature,
and had been bred among lambs and turtle-doves,
inflead of Princes and court-ladies.
By the end of this week, Mr. Fortefcue will pafs a
few days with me : we fhall remember you in our
potations,
Inftead of that they want judgment, propriety of expreffion
requires, he {hould have faid there where they want judgment. W.
i6o LETTERS TO AND
potations, and wifh you a fifher with us, on my grafs-
plat. In the mean time we wifh you fuccefs as a fifher
of women at the Wells, a rejoicer of the comfortlefs
and widow, and a play-fellow of the maiden. I am
Your, etc.
LETTER IX.
September n, 1722".
j THINK it obliging in you to defire an account of
my health. The truth is, I have never been in a
worfe flate in my life, and find whatever I have tried
as a remedy fo ineffectual, that I give myfelf entirely
over. I wifh your health may be fet perfectly right
by the waters : and be aflured, I not only wifh that,
and every thing elfe for you, as common friends wifh,
but with a zeal not ufual among thofe we call fo. I
am always glad to hear of and from you ; always
glad to fee you, whatever accidents or amufements
have intervened to make me do either lefs than ufual.
I not only frequently think of you, but conflantly do
my befl to make others do it, by mentioning you to
all your acquaintance. I defire you to do the fame
for me to thofe you are now with : do me what you
think juftice in regard to thofe who are my friends,
and if there are any whom I have unwillingly de-
ferved fo little of as to be my enemies, I don't defire
you
FROM MR. GAY. 161
you to forfeit their opinion or your own judgment in
any cafe. Let time convince thofe who know me
not, that I am an inoffenfive perfon ; though (to fay
truth) I don't care how little I am indebted to time,
for the world is hardly worth living in, at lead to one
that is never to have health a week together. I have
been made to expeft Dr. Arbuthnot in town this
fortnight, or elfe I had written to him. If he, by
never writing to me, feems to forget me, I confider I
do the fame feemingly to him, and yet I don't believe
he has a more fincere friend in the world than I am :
therefore I will think him mine. I am his, Mr. Con-
greve's, and
Your, etc.
LETTER X.
T FAITHFULLY affure you, in the midft of that me-
lancholy with which I have been fo long encom-
paffed, in an hourly expectation almofl of my Mo-
ther's death; there was no circumftance that ren-
dered it more unfupportable to me, than that I could
not leave her to fee you. Your own prefent efcape
from fo imminent danger I pray God may prove lefs
precarious than my poor Mother's can be ; whofe life
at beft can be but a fhort reprieve, or a longer dying.
But I fear even that is more than God will pleafe to
grant me; for thefe two days paft, her moft dan-
VOL. viii. M gerous
*6i LETTERS TO AND
gerous fymptoms are returned upon her ; and, unlefs
there be a fudden change, I muft, in a few days, if
not iil a few hours, be deprived of her. In the af-
flicting profpeft before me, I know nothing that can
fo much alleviate it as the view now given me (Hea-
ven grant it may increafe!) of your recovery. In the
fmcerity of my heart, I am exceflively concerned, not
to be able to pay you, dear Gay, any part of the debt,
I very gratefully remember, I owe you on a like fad
occafion, when you was here comforting me in her
laft great illnefs. May your health augment as fafl
as, I fear, hers muft decline ! I believe that would
be very fail. May the life that is added to you be
pafled in good fortune and tranquillity, rather of
your own giving to yourfelf, than from any expeft-
ations or truft in others ! May you and I live toge-
ther, without wiming more felicity or acquifitions
than Friendfhip can give and receive without obliga-
tions to Greatnefs ! God keep you, and three or four
more of thofe I have known as long, that I may have
fomething worth the furviving my Mother ! Adieu,
dear Gay, and believe me (while you live and while I
live)
Your, etc.
As I told you in my laft letter, I repeat it in this :
Do not think of writing to me. The Doctor, Mrs.
Howard, and Mrs. Blount give me daily accounts of
you.
FROM MR. GAY. 163
LETTER XL
Sunday Night.
j TRULY rejoice to fee your hand-writing, though
I feared the trouble it might give you. I wifh
I had not known that you are ftill fo exceflively
weak. Every day for a week paft I had hopes
of being able in a day or two more to fee you. But
my Mother advances not at all, gains no ftrength,
and feems but upon the whole to wait for the next
cold day to throw her into a Diarrhoea, that muft, if
it return, carry her off. This being daily to be feared,
makes me not dare to go a day from her, left that
mould prove to be her laft. God fend you a fpeedy re-
covery, and fuch a total one as, at your time of life,
may be expected. You need not call the few words
I write to you, either kind or good j that was, and is,
nothing. But whatever I have in my nature of kind-
nefs, I really have for you, and whatever good I could
do, I would, among the very firft, be glad to do to
you. In your circumftance the old Roman farewel is
proper, Vive memor no/In.
Your, etc.
I fend you a very kind letter of Mr. Digby, between
whom and me two letters have pafled concerning
you.
M 2
164 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER XIL
l^ro words can tell you the great concern I feel for
you ; I aflure you it was not, and is not leflened,
by the immediate apprehenfion I have now every day
lain under of lofmg my Mother. Be aflured, no
duty lefs than that mould have kept me one day from
attending your condition : I would come and take a
room by yoa at Hampftead, to be with you daily^
were me not ftill in danger of death. I have con-
flantly had particular accounts of you from the Doc-
tor, which have not ceafed to alarm me yet. God
preferve your life, and reflore your health ! I really
beg it for my own fake, for I feel I love you more
than I thought in health, though I always loved you
a great deal. If I am fo unfortunate as to bury my
poor Mother, and yet have the good fortune to have
my prayers heard for you, I hope we may live moft
of our remaining days together. If, as I believe, the
air of a better clime, as the fouthern part of France,
may be thought ufeful for your recovery, thither I
would go with you infallibly ; and it is very probable
we might get the Dean with us, who is in that aban-
doned ftate already in which I mall Ihortly be, as to
other cares and duties. Dear Gay, be as chearful as
your fufferings will permit : God is a better friend
than a Court : even any honefl man is a better. I
promife
FROM MR. GAY. 16$
promife you my entire friendihip in all events, heartily
praying for jbtri recovery.
Your, etc.
Do not write if you are ever fo able : the Doctor
tells me all.
LETTER XIII.
T AM glad to hear of the progrefs of your recovery,
and the oftener I hear it, the better, when it be-
comes eafy to you to give it me. I fo well remember
the confolation you were to me in my Mother's
former illnefs, that it doubles my concern at this time
not to be able to be with you, or you able to be with
me. Had I loft her, I would have been no where
elfe but with you during your confinement. I have
now pafled five weeks without once going from home,
and without any company but for three or four of
the days. Friends rarely ftretch their kindnefs fo far
as ten miles. My Lord Bolingbroke and Mr. Bethel
have not forgotten to vifit me : the reft (except Mrs.
Blount once) were contented to fend ineflages. I
never pafled fo melancholy a time, and now Mr.
Congreve's death* touches me nearly. It was twenty
years
* Our Author's great regard for Congreve appears from his
having dedicated to him, in preference to any great Patron, his
M 3 tranflation
1 66 LETTERS TO AND
years and more that I have known him : Every year
carries away fomething dear with it, till we outlive all
tendernefles, and become wretched individuals again
as we begun. Adieu ! This is my birth-day, and this
is my reflection upon it.
With added days if life give nothing new,
But, like a Sieve, let ev'ry Pleafure through ;
Some Joy dill loft, as each vain Year runs o'er,
And all we gain, fome fad Reflection more !
Is this a Birth-day? Tis, alas! too clear,
'Tis but the Fun'ral of another Year.
Your, &c.
tranflation of the Iliad. One of the moft fmgular circumftances in
the life of Congreve is, his having been able to write fuch a comedy
as the Old Bachelor* at the age of nineteen. Dr. Johnfon accounts
for this extraordinary phenomenon in the hiftory of Literature, by
faying it might be done by a mind vigorous and acute, andfurni/bed
with comic characters by the perufal of other poets, 'without much
actual commerce with mankind. And then he afterwards adds, in
direct and palpable contradiction of this aflertion, " that he is an
original writer, who borrowed neither the models of his plots, nor
the manner of his dialogue." The inexhaufted and improper fu-
perabundance of his wit, on all fubjects and oecafions, and in all
characters, (for Jeremy is as witty as his Mafter, Valentine^} has
been too often obferved to be here mentioned. The Mourning
Bride has been magnified, beyond its merits, by Lord Kaims ;
and Dr. Johnfon has ftrained an encomium on afpeech Q{ Almena t
in this tragedy, fo high, as to fay, that a more poetical paragraph
cannot be felected from the whole mafs of Englifh Poetry. One
paflage in this fpeech muft be noticed for its affectation: She fays,
*' The Temple in which the fcene lies, is fo folemn and awful, that
it looks tranquillity." How different in flyle and manner, aje the
brilliant fallies in Congreve's comedies, from the purity, jujlnefs,
and truth of Terence, and the Drummer!
FROM MR. GAY. 167
-"is ::iwoQ .Y. -v?v t v
TO THE HONOURABLE MRS. - -
p) gfjflO 1 i -,KlJ) J!# JIGD.3W
June 20,
cannot omit taking this occafion to congratu*
late you upon the encreafe of your family, for
your cow is this morning very happily delivered of the
better fort, I mean a female calf; me is as like her
mother as me can flare. All Knights Errants Pal-
freys were diftinguifhed by lofty names ; we fee 119
reafon w.hy a Paftoral Lady's fheep and calves mould
xvant names of the fofter founds : we have therefore
given her the name of Csefar's wife, Calfurnia : ima-
gining, that as Romulus and Remus were fuckled by
a wolf, this Roman Lady was fuckled by a cow, from
whence me took that name. In order to celebrate
this birth-day, we had a cold dinner at Marble-hill b .
Mrs. Sufan offered us wine upon the occafion, an4
upon fuch an occafion we could not refufe it. Our
entertainment confifted of flefh and rim, and the let-
tuce of a Greek ifland called Cos. We have fome
thoughts of dining there to-morrow, to celebrate the
day after the birth-day, and on Friday to celebrate
the day after that, where we intend to entertain Dean
Swift ; becaufe we think your hall the moft delightful
room in the world, except that where you are. If it
was
h Mrs. Howard's houfe. W,
M4
x68 LETTERS TO AND
was not for you, we would forfwear all Courts ; and
really it is the moft mortifying thing in nature, that
we can neither get into the Court to live with you,
nor you get into the country to live with us j fo we
will take up with what we can get that belongs to
you, and make ourfelves as happy as we can in your
houfe.
I hope we mail be brought into no worfe com-
pany, when you all come to Richmond : for what-
ever our friend Gay may wHh as to getting into
Court, I difxrlaim it, and deflre to fee nothing of the
Court but yourfelf, being wholly and folely
toiiriefc
ii;,V!3fU 3VBfi vu : aJbffuoV rHiol 5ftt 'io 3ftnsfi jnirff
. r ;bjjl siQ'ff atJ] s
rroii ,7/03 fi v ' . '"&'$
nidob-) 01 LETTER XV.. :, JOJ ^ '^a^
W*&*
"crou have the fame fhare in my memory that good
things generally have ; I always know (when-
ever. I reflect) that you mould be in my mind ; only
I reflect too feldom. However, you ought to allow
me the indulgence I allow all my friends (and if I did
not, they would take it) in c confideration that they
have other avocations, which may prevent the proofs
of their remembering me, though they prefervefor me
all the friendfhip and good-will which I deferve from
them. In like manner I expect from you, that my
pafl
FROM MR. GAY. i6g
paft life of twenty years may be fet againft the omif-
fion of (perhaps) one month : and if you complain
of this to any other, 'tis you are in the fpleert, and
not I in the wrong. If you think this letter fplenetic,
conlider I have juft received the news of the death of
a friend, whom I efteemed almoft as many years as
you j poor Fenton. He died at Eafthamftead *, of in-
dolence
* On occafion of his death, or Author wrote the following
Letter to Mr. Urootne, at Putham, Norfolk, which is here in-
ferted, becattfe it contains fome curious particulars :
" Dear Sir,
-. .." Jl intended to write to you on this melancholy fubjeft, the death
of Mr. Fenton, before yrs came ; but ftay'd to have informed my-
felf & you of y e circumftances of it. All I hear is, that he felt a
Gradual Decay, though fo early in Life, & was declining for 5 or
6- month*. It was not, as I apprehended, the Gout in his Sto-
mach, but I believe rather a Complication firft of Grofs Hu-
mors, as he was naturally corpulent, not difcharging themfelvesi
as he uled no fort of Exercife. No man better bore y e ap-
proaches of his DiiTolution (as I am told) or with lefs often-
tation yielded up his- Being. The great Modefty w ch you know
was natural to him, audy c great Contempt he had for all Sorts of
Vanity & Parade, never appear'd more than in his laft moments :
He had a confcious Satisfaction (no doubt) in afting right, in feel-
ing himfelf honeft, true, & unpretending to more than was his
own. So he dyed, as. he lived, with that fecret, yet fufficient,
Contentment.
" As to any Papers left behind him,I dare fay they can be but few;
for this reafon, He never wrote out of Vanity, or thought much
of the Applaufe of Men. I know an Inftance where he did his
utmoft to conceal his ow-n merit that way ; and if we join to this
his natural Love of Eafe, I fancy we muft expeft little of this
fort : at lead I hear of none except fome few further remarks on
Waller, (w eh his cautious integrity made him leave an order to be
given to Mr. Tonfon,) and perhaps, tho* 'tis many years fince
I (aw it, a Tranflation of y e firft Book of Oppian. He had
begun a Tragedy of Dion, but made fmall progrefs in it.
"As
i 7 o LETTERS TO AND
dolence and ina&ivity ; let it not be your fate, but
ufe exercife. I hope the Duchefs ' will take care of
you in this refpeft, and either make you gallop after
her, or teize you enough at home to ferve inflead of
exercife abroad. Mrs. Howard is fo concerned about
you, and fo angry at me for not writing to you, and
at Mrs. Blount for not doing the fame, that I am
piqued with jealoufy and envy at you, and hate you
as much as if you had a great place at court ; which
you will confefs a proper caufe of envy and hatred,
in any Poet militant or un-penfioned. But to fet
matters even, I own I love you ; and own, I am, as
I ever was, and iuft as I ever mail be,
__
ni yfca o-UguodJ Your, CtC,
" As to his other affairs, he died poor, but honeft, leaving no
debti, or legacies ; except of a few p ds to Mr. Trumbull and
my Lady, in token of refpeft, gratefulnefs, & mutual efteem.