inn of yours. Adieu, dear Sir : let us while away
this life ; and (if we can) meet in another.



LETTER XXXII.
TO THE SAME.

June 24, 1727.

T7OU are too humane and confiderate (things few
people can be charged with). Do not fay you
will not expecl: letters from me ; upon my word I
can no more forbear writing foinetimes to you, than
thinking of you. I know the world too well, not to
value you who are an example of adting, living, and
thinking, above it, and contrary to it.

I thank God for my mother's unexpected recovery,
though my hope can rife no higher than from re-
prieve



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 207

prieve to reprieve, the fmall addition of a few days to
the many fhe has already feen. Yet fo fhort and
tranfitory as this light is, it is all I have to warm or
fhine upon me ; and when it is out, there is nothing
elfe that will live for me, or confume itfelf in my fer-
vice. But I would have you think this is not the
chief motive of my concern about her : Gratitude is
a cheap virtue, one may pay it very punctually, for it
coils us nothing, but our memory of the good done.
And I owe her more good, than ever I can pay, or
me at this age receive, if I could. I do not think the
tranquillity of the mind ought to be diflurbed for
many things in this world : but thofe offices that are
neceflary duties, either to our friends or ourfelves,
will hardly prove any breach of it ; and as much as
they take away from our indolence and eafe of body,
will contribute to our peace and quiet of mind by
the content they give. They often afford the higheft
pleafure ; and thofe who do not feel that, will hardly
ever find another to match it, let them love them-
felves ever fo dearly. At the fame time it muft be
owned, one meets with cruel difappointments in fee-
ing fo often the beft endeavours ineffectual to make
others happy, and very often (what is moft cruel of
all) through their own means c . But ftill, I affirm,
thofe very difappointments of a virtuous man are
greater pleafures, than the utmoft gratifications and
fuccefies of a mere felf-lover.

The

1 See Letter xxvu. from Cirencefler. W.



208 LETTERS TO AND

The great and fudden event which has juft now
happened % puts the whole world (I mean this whole
world) into a new flate : the only ufe I have, fhall,
or wifh to make of it, is to obferve the difparity of
men from themfelves in a week's time : the defultory
leaping and catching of new motions, new modes,
new meafures : and that ilrange fpirit and life, with
which men broken and difappointed refume their
hopes, their folicitations, their ambitions ! It would be
worth your while as a Philofopher, to be bufy in
thefe obfervations, and to come hither to fee the
fury and buftle of the Bees this hot feafon, without
coming fo near as to be ftung by them.

Your, etc.



LETTER XXXIII.
TO THE SAME.

June 17, 1728.

* FTER the publiming my Boyifh Letters to Mr.
Cromwell, you will not wonder if I mould for-
fwear writing a letter again while I live j fmce I do not
correfpond with a friend upon the terms of any other
free fubjecl; of this kingdom. But to you I can never
be filent, or referved ; and, I am fure, my opinion of

your

u The Death of K. George the Firft, which happened the
Iithof June 1727. W.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 209

your heart is fuch, that I could open mine to you in
no manner which I could fear the whole world mould
know. I could publifh my own heart too, I will ven-
ture to fay, for any mifehief or malice there is in it :
but a little too much folly or weaknefs might (I fear)
appear, to make fuch a fpectacle either inftructive or
agreeable to others.

I am reduced to beg of all my acquaintance to fe-
cure me from the Kke ufage for the future, by re-
turning me any letters of mine which they may have
preferved ; that I may not be hurt, after my death,
by that which was the happinefs of my life, their
partiality and affection to me.

I have nothing of myfelf to tell you, only that I
have had but indifferent health. I have not made a
vifit to London : Curiofity and the love of Diffipa-
tion die apace m me. I am not glad nor forry for it,
but I am very forry for thofe who have nothing elfe
to live on.

I have read much, but writ no more. I have
fmall hopes of doing good, no vanity in writing, and
little ambition to pleafe a world not very candid or
deferving. If I can preferve the good opinion of a
few friends, it is all I can expect, confidering how
little good I can do even to them to merit it. Few
people have your candour, or are fo willing to think
well of another from whom they receive no benefits
and gratify no vanity. But of all the foft fenfations,
the greateft pleafure is to give and receive mutual

VOL. viii. p Truft.



no LETTERS TO AND

Truft. It is by Belief and firm Hope, that men are
made happy in this life, as well as in the other. My
confidence in your good opinion, and dependance
upon that of one or two more, is the chief cordial
drop I tafte, amidft the Infipid, the Difagreeable, the
Cloying, or the Dead-fweet, which are the common
draughts of life. Some pleafures are too pert, as
\vell as others too flat, to be relifhed long : and vi-
vacity in fome cafes is worfe than dulnefs. There-
fore indeed for many years I have not chofen my
companions for any of the qualities in fafhion, but
almofl entirely for that which is the moft out-of-
fafhion, fmcerity. Before I am aware of it, I am
making your panegyric, and perhaps my own too, for
next to poffemng the beft qualities is the efleeming
and diftinguifhing thofe who poflefs them. I truly
love and value you, and fo I flop fhort.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 211

LETTER XXXIV.
TO THE EARL OF PETERBOROW.

My Lord, Auguft 24, 1728.

T PRESUME you * may before this time be returned,
from the contemplation of many Beauties, animal
and vegetable, in Gardens ; and poflibly fome ra-
tional, in Ladies ; to the better enjoyment of your
own at Bevis-Mount. I hope, and believe, all you
have feen will only contribute to it. I am not fo
fond of making compliment to Ladies as I was twenty
years ago, or I would fay there are fome very reafon-
able and one in particular there. I think you happy,
my Lord, in being at lead half the year almofl as
much your own matter as I am mine the whole year :
and with all the difadvantageous incumbrances of
quality, parts, and honour, as mere a gardener, loi-
terer, and labourer, as he who never had Titles, or

from

* He was one of thofe men, fays Mr. Walpolc, of carelefs wit
and negligent grace, who fcatter a thoufand bon mots and idle
verfes, which we painful compilers gather and hoard, till the au-
thors ftare to find themfelves authors. Such was this Lord : of
an advantageous figure, and enterprifing fpirit ; as gallant as
Amadis and as brave, but a little more expeditious in his journies ;
for he is faid " to have feen more Kings and more poftilions
than any man in Europe." His enmity to the Duke of MarL
borough, and his friendfhip with Pope, will preferve his name,
when his genius, too romantic to have laid a folid foundation for
fame, and his politics, too difmterelted for his age and country,
r 2 frail



212 LETTERS TO AND

from whom they are taken. I have an eye in the laft
of thefe glorious appellations to the flyle of a Lord
degraded or attainted : methinks they give him a
better title than they deprive him of, in calling him
Labourer: Agricultura, fays Tully, proximo. Sapi-
entia, which is more than can be faid, by moft mo-
dern Nobility, of Grace or Right Honourable, which
are often proxhna Stultitia. The Great Turk, you
know, is often a Gardener, or of a meaner trade : and
there are (my Lord) fome circumftances in which
you would referable the Great Turk ! The two Para-
difes are not ill connected, of Gardens and Gal-
lantry ; and fome there are (not to name my Lord
B.) who pretend they are both to be had, even in
this life, without turning Muffelmen.

We

fhaB be equally forgotten. He was a man, as his friend faid,
*' who would neither live nor die like any other mortal.'* Yet
even particularities were becoming in him, as he had a natural
eafe that immediately adopted and faved from the air of affec-
tation. He wrote

" La Mufe de Cavalier, or an Apology for fuch Gentlemen as
make Poetry their Diverfion, not their Bufinefs," in a letter
from a Scholar of Mars, to one of Apollo, printed in the Pub-
lic Regifter, or Weekly Magazine, No. 3. p. 88, publi/hed by
Dodfley, 1741.

" A fevere Copy of Verfes on the Duchefs of Marlborough ;
addrefied to Mr. Harley after his Removal from Court."

He was author too of thofe well-known lines which conclude,

" Who'd have thought Mrs. Howard ne'er dreamt it was
She !"

Four very genteel letters of his are printed among Pope's.

The account of the Earl's conduct in Spain, taken from his
original letters and papers, was drawn up by Dr. Friend, and
publifhed in 1707, octavo.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 213

We have as little politics here within a few miles
of the Court (nay perhaps at the Court) as you at
Southampton ; and our Minifters, I dare fay, have
lefs to do. Our weekly hiftories are only full of the
feafls given to the Queen and royal Family by their
fervants, and the long and laborious walks her Ma-
jefty takes every morning. Yet if the graver Hiflo-
rians hereafter mail be filent of this year's events, the
amorous and anecdotical may make pofterity fome
amends, by being furnifhed with the gallantries of the
Great at home ; and 'tis fome comfort, that if the
Men of the next age do not read of us, the Women
may.

From the time you have been abfent, I've not been
to wait on a certain great man, through modefty,
through idlenefs, and through refpect. But for my
comfort I fancy, that any great man * will as foon
forget one that does him no harm, as he can one that
has done him any good. Believe me, my Lord,
yours.

* Let thofe who arc overfond of cenfuring great men, at every
turn and on every occafion, attend to the remarkable words that
Cardinal Richlieu fpoke to Marfhal Fabert : " In your fituation of
life, it is eafy for you to diftinguifh your friends from your enemies.
No difguife prevents you from difcerning the difference with ac-
curacy. But in my fituation, it is impoflible for me to penetrate
into their real fentiments. They all hold to me the fame lan-
guage, they make their court to me with the fame earneftnefs,
and thofe who fecretly wifli to deftroy me, give me as many vifible
proofs of their fricndfhip, as thofe who are truly attached to my
interefl."



214 LETTERS TO AND

LETTER XXXV.
FROM THE EARL OF PETERBOROW.

T MUST confefs *, that in going to Lord Cobham's,

I was not led by curiofity. I went thither to fee
what I had feen, and what I was fure to like.

I had the idea of thofe Gardens fo fixed in my
imagination by many defcriptions, that nothing fur-
prized me ; Immenfity and Van Brugh appear in the
whole, and in every part. Your joining in your letter
animal and vegetable beauty, makes me ufe this ex-
preffion : I confefs the {lately Sachariffa at Stow, but
am content with my little Amoret.

I thought you indeed more knowing upon the fub-
jeft, and wonder at your miflake : why will you ima-
gine women infenfible to Praife, much lefs to yours ?
I have feen them more than once turn from their
Lover to their Flatterer. I am fure the Farmerefs at
Bevis in her higheft mortifications, in the middle of
her Lent x , would feel emotions of vanity, if me knew
you gave her the character of a reafonable woman.

You have been guilty again of another miflake,
which hindered me mewing your letter to a friend ;

when

* The eafe and pleafantry of this Letter, fo far preferable to the
ftudied paragraphs of Pope, is a proof of what was faid above, of
the fuperiority of many of his Correfpondent's Letters to his own.
The fame may be faid of Letters 37,38, 39.

* The Countefs of Peterborow, a Roman Catholic. W.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS.

vhen you join two ladies in the fame compliment,
though you gave to both the beauty of Venus and
the wit of Minerva, you would pleafe neither.

If you had put me into the Dunciad, I could not
have been more difpofed to criticife your letter.
What, Sir, do you bring it in as a reproach, or as a
thing uncommon to a Court, to be without politics ?
With politics indeed the Richlieus and fuch folks
have brought about great things in former days ; but
what are they, Sir, who, without policy in our times,
can make ten Treaties in a year, and fecure ever-
lading peace ?

I can no longer difagree with you, though in jeft.
Oh how heartily I join with you in your contempt for
Excellency and Grace, and in your efteem of that
mod noble title, Loiterer. If I were a man of many
plums, and a good heathen, I would dedicate a Tern,
pie to Lazinefs : no man fure could blame my choice
of fuch a Deity, who confiders, that, when I have
been fool enough to take pains, I always met with
fome wife man able to undo my labours,

Your, etc,



r 4



LETTERS TO AND



LETTER XXXVI.

X^"ou were in a very polemic humour when you
did me the honour to anfwer my laft. I always
underftood, like a true controvertift, that to anfwer is
only to cavil and quarrel : however, I forgive you,
you did it (as all Polemics do) to mew your parts.
Elfe was it not very vexatious, to deny me to com-
mend two women at a time ? It is true, my Lord,
you know women as well as men : but fince you cer-
tainly love them better, why are you fo uncharitable
in your opinion of them ? Surely one Lady may allow
another to have the thing me herfelf leaft values,
Reafon, when Beauty is uncontefted. Venus herfelf
could allow Minerva to be Goddefs of Wit, when
Paris gave her the apple (as the fool herfelf thought)
on a better account. I do fay that Lady P* is a rea-
fonable woman ; and I think me will no take it
amifs, if I mould infift upon efteeming her, inftead of
toafting her like a filly thing I could name, who is the
Venus of thefe days. I fee you had forgot my letter, or
would not let her know how much I thought of her in
this reafonable way: but I have been kinder to you, and
have (hewn your letter to one who will take it candidly.
But, for God's fake, what have you faid about
Politicians ? you made me a great compliment in the
truft you repofed in my prudence, or what mifchief

might



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 217

might not I have done you with fome that affeft that
denomination ? Your Lordfhip might as fafdy have
fpoken of Heroes. What a blufter would the God
of the winds have made, had one that we know puf-
fed againft ^lolus, or (like Xerxes) whipped the feas ?
They had dialogued it in the language of the Re-
hearfal,

I'll give him flam for flam
I'll give him dafh for dafli

But all now is fafe ; the Poets are preparing fongs of
joy, and Halcyon days are the word.

I hope, my Lord, it will not be long before your
dutiful affeftion bring you to town. I fear it will a
little raife your envy to find all the Mufes employed
in celebrating a Royal work y , which your own par-
tiality will think inferior to Bevis-Mount. But if you
have any inclination to be even with them, you need
but put three or four Wits into any hole in your
Garden, and they will out-rhime all Eaton and Weft-
minfter. I think, Swift, Gay, and I could undertake
it, if you don't think our Heads too expenfive : but
the fame hand that did the others, will do them as
cheap. If all elfe mould fail, you are fure at leafl of
the head, hand, and heart of your fervant.

Why mould you fear any difagreeable news to
reach us at Mount-Bevis ? Do as I do even within
ten miles of London, let no news whatever come near
you. As to public affairs we never knew a deader

feafon :
r The Hermitage. W.



2i8 LETTERS TO AND

feafon : 'tis all filent, deep tranquillity. Indeed, they
fay, 'tis fometimes fo juft before an Earthquake. But
whatever happens, cannot we obferve the wife neu-
trality of the Dutch, and let all about us fall by the
ears ? or if you, my Lord, mould be pricked on by
any old-fafhioned notions of Honour and Romance,
and think it neceflary for the General of the Marines
to be in action, when our Fleets are in motion ; meet
them at Spithead, and take me along with you. I de-
cline no danger where the glory of Great Britain is
concerned : and will contribute to empty the largefl
bowl of punch that mail be rigged out on fuch an oc-
cafion. Adieu, my Lord, and may as many Years
attend you, as may be happy and honourable.



LETTER XXXVII.
FROM THE KARL OF PETERBOROW.

T/' ou muft receive my letters * with a juft imparti-
ality, and give grains of allowance for a gloomy
or rainy day ; I fmk grievouily with the weather-

glafs,

* In a curious and original Letter, which I have read by the
favour of the late Duchefs Dowager of Portland, Prior fpeaks
thus fljghtingly of the veracity of this celebrated Earl, to Lord
Oxford, dated February 10, 1714.

" Lord Peterlorow" fays he, " is gone from Genoa in an open
boat that's one ; 300 miles by fea that's tivo; that he was forced
afhore twenty times by Tempefts and Majorkeens to lie among the
rocks that's how many, my Lord Treafurer?"



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 219

glafs, and am quite fpiritlefs when opprefled with the
thoughts of a Birth-day, or a Return.

Dutiful affection was bringing me to town, but un-
dutiful lazinefs, and being much out of order, keep
me in the country : however, if alive, I muft make
my appearance at the birth day. Where you mewed
one letter, you may mew the other ; me that never was
wanting in any good office in her power, will make a
proper excufe, where a fin of Omiffion, I fear, is not
reckoned as a venial fin.

I confent you mail call me polemic, or affociate me
to any feel: or Corporation, provided you do not join
me to the Charitable Rogues or to the Pacific Poli-
ticians of the prefent age. I have read over z Barkley
in vain, and find, after a flroke given on the left, I
cannot offer the right cheek for another blow : all I
can bring myfelf to is, to bear mortification from the
Fair Sex with patience.

You feem to think it -vexatious that I mall allow
you but one woman at a time, either to praife or
love. If I difpute with you upon this point, I doubt
every jury will give a verdict againft me. So, Sir,
with a Mahometan indulgence, I allow you pluralities,
the favourite privilege of our church.

I find you do not mend upon correction ; again I
tell you, you muft not think of women in a reafon-
able way ; you know we always make GoddefTes of
thofe we adore upon earth j and do not all the good

men
* Barkley's Apology for the Quakers. P.



220 LETTERS TO AND

men tell us, we muft lay afide Reafon in what re-
lates to the Deity ?

'Tis xvell the Poets are preparing fongs of joy: 'tis
well to lay in antidotes of foft rhyme, againft the
rough profe they may chance to meet with at Weft-
minfter. I mould have been glad of any thing of
Swift's : Pray, when you write to him next, tell him
I expect him with impatience, in a place as odd and
as much out of the way, as himfelf.

Yours.



LETTER XXXVIII.
FROM THE SAME.

T j HE NEVER you apply as a good Papift to your
female Mediatrix*, you are fure of fuccefs ; but
there is not a full aflurance of your entire fubmiflion
to mother church, and that abates a little of your au-
thority. However, if you will accept of country let-
ters, me will correfpond from the hay-cock, and I will
write to you upon the fide of my wheelbarrow : furely
fuch letters might efcape examination.

Your Idea of the Golden age is, that every fhepherd
might pipe where he pleafed. As I have lived longer,
I am more moderate in my wifhes, and would be con-
tent
* Lady Peterborow, a rigid Papiit.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 221

tent with the liberty of not piping where I am not
pleafed.

Oh how I wifli, to myfelf and my friends, a freedom
which Fate feldom allows, and which we often refufe
ourfelves ! Why is our Shepherdefs * in voluntary
flavery ? why muft our Dean fubmit to the colour of
his coat, and live abfent from us ? and why are you
confined to what you cannot relieve ?

I feldom venture to give accounts of my journies
before hand, becaufe I take refolutions of going to
London, and keep them no better than quarrelling
lovers do theirs. But the devil will drive me thither
about the middle of next month, and I will call upon
you, to be fprinkled with holy water before I enter
the place of Corruption.

Your, etc.



LETTER XXXIX.

t : ]JjjiT 'ro> ; .<: 26 fbwl

FROM THE SAME.

1732.

T A M under the greateft impatience to fee Dr. Swift

at Bevis-Mount *, and muft fignify my mind to

him by another hand, it not being permitted me to

hold

Mrs. H. W.

* This year Lord Peterlorovi and Pops paid a vifit from South*
ampton to Winchester College, and gave prizes to the fcholars for

the



222 LETTERS TO AND

hold correfpondence with the faid Dean, for no let-
ter of mine can come to his hands.

And whereas it is apparent, in this proteftant land,
moft efpecially under the care of divine providence,
that nothing can fucceed or come to a happy ifiue
but by Bribery ; therefore let me know what he expects
to comply with my defires, and it mall be remitted
unto him.

For though I would not corrupt any man for the
whole world, yet a benevolence may be given with-
put any offence to confcience ; every one muft con-
fefs, that gratification and corruption are two diftincl:
terms : nay at worft many good men hold, that for
a good end, fome very naughty meafures may be
made ufe of.

But, Sir, I muft give you fome good news in re-
lation to myfelf, becaufe I know you wifli me well j
I am cured of fome difeafes in my old old age, which
tormented me very much in my youth.

I was poffeffed with violent and uneafy paflions,
fuch as a peevifh concern for Truth b , and a faucy
love for my Country.

When

the beft copy of verfes that fhould be written, on a fubjeft propofed
to them by Mr. Pope himfelf The Campaign of \lTatentia. The
prizes were fets of Pine's Horace. Hampton, the excellent Tranf-
lator of Polybius, at that time very young, gained one of thefc
prizes: Mr. IVhilehead another.

b As may be feen from his tranfa&ions with Fenwick in the
Year 1696-7. W.



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 223

When a chriftian Priefl preached againft the Spirit
of the Gofpel, when an Englifh Judge determined
againft Magna Charta, when the Minifter acled againft
Common Senfe, I ufed to fret.

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

If the Tranflator of Homer find fault with this un-
heroic difpofition, or (what I more fear) if the Dra-
per of Ireland accufe the Englimman of want of fpirit :
I filence you both with one line out of your own
Horace : Quid te exempta juvat fpinis e pluribus una ?
For I take the whole to be fo corrupted, that a cure
In any part would be of little avail.

Your, etc.



224 LETTERS TO AND



LETTER XL.



DR. SWIFT TO THE EARL OF PETERBOROW.



My Lord,
T NEVER knew or heard of any peribn fo volatile,

and fo fixed as your Lordfhfp : you, while your
imagination is carrying you through every corner of
the world, where you have or have not been, can at
the fame time remember to do offices of favour and
kindnefs to the meaneft of your friends ; and m all
the Scenes you have paffed, 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 witnefs againft you ; for being the moft infig-
nificant of all your old humble fervants, you were fo
cruel as never to give me time to alk a favour, but
prevented me in doing whatever you thought 1 de-
lired, or could be for my credit or advantage.

I have often admired at the capricioufnefs of For-
tune in regard to your Lordfhip. She hath forced
Courts to aft againft their oldeft, and moft conftant
maxims ; to make you a General becaufe you had
courage and conduct ; an Ambafifador, becaufe you
had wifdom and knowledge in the interefts of Europe;
and an Admiral on account of your fkill in maritime
affairs : whereas, according to the ufual method of
Court proceedings, I mould have been at the head of
7 the



FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 225

the Army, and you of the Church, or rather a Curate,
under the Dean of St. Patrick's.