perfon mentioned by you, imports any quantity for
himfelf at any time, I mail be glad to know of it. I
am forry you did not keep your, word in letting me
fee you a fecond time. I am always, dear Sir,
Your, etc.
LETTER XCIII.
FROM DR. YOUNG.
Dear Sir, May 2.
TTAVING been often from home I know not if you
have done me the favour of calling on me, but
be that as it will, I much want that inftance of your
friendmip I mentioned in my laft, a friendfhip I am
very fenfible I can receive from no one but yourfelf.
I mould not urge this thing fo much, but for very
particular reafons ; nor can you be at a lofs to con-
ceive how a trifle of this nature may be of ferious mo-
ment to me ; and while I am in hopes of the great
advantage of your advice about it, I mall not be fo
abfurd as to take any farther flep without it. I know
you are much engaged, and only hope to hear from
you at your entire leifure.
I am, etc.
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 289
LETTER XC1V.
LORD PETERBOROW TO MR. POPE.
SIR,
T F I can make a party with Lord Bolingbroke and
Lord Harcourt to dine at Parfons Green, you will
give me leave to fend my coach for you. Pray doe me
the favour to fend me the breadth and depth of the
marble field. You Tnay have it meafured by moon-
light by a ten-foot rod ; or any body ufed to grounds
will make a meer guefie by patting it over.
Your, etc.
LETTER XCV.
SIR GODFREY KNELLER TO MR. POPE.
Dear Friend,
T HOPE your genus dos and will know myn is with
the moft acceptable and mod accompliflied com-
pany to-morrow ; for my body is in no condition to
itirr out of my bed as jet, and has had no reft thefe
two nights but what it fnatches and gets in the day
times by fits ; and I believe my left lag will be out of
order a good wyle. Pray give my hearty good will
to the compa. for the deeds, and my moft humble
fervis, being ever yours.
VOL. VIII. U
290 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER XCVI.
FROM THE SAME.
Dear Friend,
y FIND them pictures are fo very frefh, being painted
in three collers, and ought to be near a fier feveral
days ; for as they are, it is impracticable to put them
where you intend. It would be pitty they mould take
dufL Jenny ftays here 8 or 10 days, and will not fail
of fending them when reddy ; and I am, giving my
hearty and humble fervis to your dear mother, dear
Mr. Pope*
Your, etc.
LETTER XCVII.
FROM THE SAME.
Dear Mr. Pope,
T BELIEVE this will be card playrs evnmg, and we
may do how we pleafe. If you come about 4
a clock, you may fee me paint. To-morrow I am
engaged to goe to Harrow the Hill with company,
being ever, dear friend,
Your, etc.
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 291
LETTER XCVIII.
FROM THE SAME.
From Great Queen-Street,
SIR, June 16, 1719.
T AM in towne, and have louck'd for beds and bed-
fleads, which mud coft ten pounds a year. When
I promifed to provide them you had maid no men-
tion of the towne rates, which I am to pay, and will
be 5 pounds a year at leaft, and which would be 1 5
pounds per annum whit the beds ; and that houfe did
let for 45 a year when I bought it ; fo that all I have
laid out being near 400 pound, would be done for
nothing, of which you will confider and let me know
your mind. The (tables are fitted as you gentlemen
ordered them to be, and all the painting will be done
to-morrow or Thurfday, with whenfcoating in the
quickeft manner and bed ; and if you can ftay till Sa-
turday let me know your pleafure about the beds and
bedfteads, for them I cannot provide. You may
have 6, of which two are to have courtins, for
10 pounds a year; and am, giving my moft humble
refpeds to my Lady Mery Whortly,
Your, etc.
I thought one might have fuch beds and bedfteads
for 4 or 5 pounds a-year ; and which I would have
done if no rates prop.
u 2
292 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER XCIX.
MR. JERVAS TO MR. POPE.
Dear Mr. Pope, Auguft 12, 1715, London*
| WOULD not have failed by Tuefday's poft, but
that the Doctor could not be near pofitive as to the
time, but yefterday we met on horfeback and took
two or three turns near the camp, partly to fee my
new horfe's going, and partly to name fomething like
the day of fetting forth, and the manner thereof:
viz. that on Thurfday next (God willing) Doctor
A , D. Difney, and C. Jervas rendezvous at
Hyde-Park-corner about noon, and proceed to Mr.
Hill's, at Eggam, to lodge there on Friday, to meet
with Mr. Pope upon the road to proceed together to
Lord StowelPs, and there alfo to lodge. The next
day, Saturday, to Sir William Windham's, and to
reft there the Lord's Day. On Monday, forward
again towards Bath, or Wilton, or as we mail then
agree. The Doctor propofes that himfelf or his man
ride my fpare horfe, and that I leave all equipage to
be fent to Bath by the carrier with your portman-
teau. The Doctor fays he will allow none of his
friends fo much as a night gown or flippers for the
road, fo a fliirt and cravat in your pocket is all you
muft think of in his new fcheme. His fervant may
be bribed to make room for that. You mail have h
a fhorter and lefs bridle fent down on Saturday, and
the
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 293
the other mall be returned in due time. The taylor
fhall be chaftifed if 'tis really negligence in his art, but
if 'tis only vapours, you muft beg pardon. The lin-
nen and ftockings out of your portmanteau may go
with the bridle. I forgot to tell you that the third
day is to be Oxford Univerfity, and the Monday fol-
lowing to Sir W. Windham's.
The French king has been indifpofed, and me-
thinks he is in an ill way, c. Service to every
tody.
Your, etc.
LETTER C ?
FROM THE SAME.
Dear Mr. P. Tuefday 2.
^THROUGH I have not a fyllable to fay of more cer-
tainty than the laft poft, yet I write. I hold my-
felf in readinefs, in fpite of a demand for pictures.
The Counfellor Bick has purchafed a nag for
his equipage, and waits our motions. He was here
yefterday, and to-morrow, Wenfday evening, we are
to tafte Devonfhire cyder with Mr. Appleflone at hi$
lodgings.
The Court opiniate it that the P is coming.
They have no account of Ormond's arrival in France,
though they have certain intelligence that he went off
u 3 at
294 LETTERS TO AND
at Shoreham, in Sufiex, ten days ago. I defign to
know Arbuthnot's determination to-morrow. Ser-.
vice to every body.
I am, etc.
LETTER CL
FROM THE SAME.
Wenfday, 1 1 o'Clock at Noon.
T ADY Mary W y ordered me by an exprefs
this Wenfday morning, fedente Gayo et ridentc
Fortefcuvio, to fend you a letter, or fome other proper
notice, to come to her on Thurfday, about five
o'clock, which I fuppofe me meant in the evening.
Gay defigned to have been with you to-day, and I
would have had him delivered this welcome meflage,
but he durft not venture to anfwer for your coming
upon his afleverations, you having interchangeably fo
accuftomed yourfelves to lying, that you cannot be-
lieve one another, though upon never fo ferious an
occafion. He will be ready to go back with you.
Fortefcue's fervice and mine to all. We are
Yours, etc.
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 295
LETTER CH.
FROM THE SAME.
Dear Mr. Pope,
T INTENDED to have breakfafted with James Ecker-
fall at Drayton, but heard by the way of his being in
London, fo I jogg'd to Hammerfmith in 5 hours and
a half without drawing bit. Yefterday I gave a printed
propofal to Lord Halifax, and fpoke to the Duke of
Devonfhire to join my Lord Wharton's intereft, and
move your affair, that we may fet 'em a going about
the counties.
I have not yet feen the dear Archdeacon, who is at
his old lodgings in St. James's place, nor the Dean ;
but have juft read a thing entitled a Prefatory Epiftle,
concerning fome remarks to be publifhed on Homer's
Iliad, occafioned by the propofals of Mr. Pope to-
wards a new Englifh Verfion of that poem To the
Rev. Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's -by Richd.
Fiddes, B. D. Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Earl of
Oxford. 'AjwapT?^' eoysvff Long. To Mr. Pope
from the author, in manufcript. All the foregoing
elegances at proper xlrfiances, and Italianized accord-
ing to form. It came too late for the coach, and is
too big for my privileges of frank 8vo. 120 pages-
marbled paper.
I find fo many party flrokes in it, that I am afraid
it may do your propofals more harm than good.
u 4 My
296 LETTERS TO AND
My Lord Halifax talked of a defign to fend for you
to Bufhy-Park, I believe with a coach-and-fix, or
light chaife, but did not name the precife time. I
publifh your having done the firft book and begun
I received the cloak-bag fafe I hope you did not
pay carriage. I can't yet guefs when J fhall be ready
for Sir William's fervice.
I am, etc.
LETTER Cffl,
FROM THE SAME.
Dear Mr. Pope,
j HAD your laft in due time.
Shall I fend you the lool. in bills or cam? and
when?
Gay had a copy of the Farewell, with your injunc-
tions. No other extant.
Lord Harvey had the Homer and letter, and bids
me thank the author.
I hear nothing of the Sermon. The generality will
take it for the Dean's, and that will hurt neither you
nor him.
Gay will be with you on Saturday next. He alfo
works hard.
Your old fvvord went with the carrier, and was
tyed to the other things with a cord, and my folks fay,
very
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 237 .
very faft. You mud make the carrier refponfible.
Mine will fwear to the delivery, &c.
No books for you from Lintot.
Mrs. Raines, a young lady in the city, and one of
my fhepherdefles, takes one of the volumes, has paid
her 2 guineas, and is to be a fubfcriber in your next
lift.
I alfo got 2 guineas from the Marquis of Dor-
chefter.
Philip fent me a note for receipts to be conveyed to
the 1 1 members of the late Hanover club. Pray let
me have their names by the firft. I fend to Mr.
Merrils to-day, &c.
Lintot fent me Tickell's Homer for your govern-
ment. I could not forbear comparing, and do not
know what the devil is got into my head, but I fancy
I could make a more poetical tranflation in a fort-
night (excepting a very few lines.)
It feems it's publiflit merely to mow as a fpecimen
of his ability for the Odyfles. Fortefcue would have
Gay publifh a verfion of the firft book of the Odyfles,
and tell the world 'tis only to befpeak their appro-
bation and favour for a tranflation of Statius, or any
other poet. In fhort, we are merry, whether we are
wife or no.^-My refpefts to dear Sir William, and his
good lady and fon, and am concerned for any defici-
ency in his countenance, but I am in no pain for the
paltry Baflb Relievo.
Yours, etc.
298 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER CIV.
FROM * * # *.
Dear Sir, Saturday Night.
T REALLY intended to have been with you to-day ;
but having been difappointed yeflerday of meeting
Mr. Selwyn, and going to the Exchequer about my
falary to-day, and to Mrs. Howard's to meet him,
made it too late ; fo that I made a vifit this morning
to Mr. Congreve, where I found Lord Cobham.
They both enquired kindly for you, and wimed to fee
you foon. Mr. Fortefcue could not have come with
me, but intends the latter end of next week to fee you
at Twickenham. I have feen our friend Dean Berke-
ley, who was very felicitous about your health and
welfare. He is now fo full of his Bermudas project,
that he hath printed his propofal, and hath been with
the Bifhop of London, about it. Mrs. Howard defired
me to tell you that me had a prefent of beech-mafl,
which this year hath been particularly good. When
'tis wanted me would have you fend to her. I writ
to you yeflerday, and am in hopes that Mrs. Pope will
foon be fo well that you may be able to come to
town for a day or fo about your bufmefs. I really
am this evening very much out of order with the cho-
lic, but I hope a night's reft will relieve me. - I wifh
Mrs. Pope and you all health and happinefs. Pray
give my fervice to her.
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 299
LETTER CV,
FROM MR. PITT, THE TRANSLATOR OF
VIRGIL, TO MR. SPENCE.
Dear Jo, J u ty '8, Blandford, 1726.
T AM entering into propofals with a bookfeller for
printing a little mifcellany of my own perform-
ances, confifting of fome originals and feled Tranf-
lations. I beg you to be altogether filent in the mat-
ter. Mr. Pope has ufed fo little of the 2jd Odyfley
that I gave Dr. Younge, that if I put it in among the
reft I mail hardly incur any danger of the penalty con-
cerning the patent. However, I will not prefume to
publiih a fingle line of it after Mr. Pope's Tranflation,
if you advife me (as I defire you to do fincerely) to
the contrary. I mail fend you a fmall fpecimen of
my Tranflation, which if you approve of, I can aflure
you the remainder of the book is not inferior to it.
THE nurfe all wild with tranfport feem'd to fwim,
Joy wing'd her feet and lighten'd ev'ry limb ;
Then to the room with fpeed impatient born
Flew with the tidings of her lord's return.
There bending o'er the fleeping Queen, fhe cries,
Rife, my Penelope, my daughter, rife
To fee Ulyfles thy long abfent fpoufe,
Thy foul's defire and lord of all thy vows :
Tho' late, he comes, and in his rage has flain,
For all their wrongs, the haughty fuitor train.
Ah
300 LETTERS TO AND
Ah Euryclea, (he replies, you rave ;
The gods refume that reafon which they gave ;
For Heav'n deep wifdom to the fool fupplies,
But oft infatuates and confounds the wife.
And wifdom once was thine ! but now I find
The gods have ruin'd thy diftemper'd mind.
How could you hope your fiction to impofe ?
Was it to flatter or deride my woes ?
How could you break a fleep with talk fo vain
That held my forrows in fo foft a chain ?
A fleep fo fweet I never could enjoy
Since my dear lord left Ithaca for Troy :
Curft Troy oh ! why did I thy name difclofe ?
Thy fatal name awakens all my woes :
But fly fomfi other had provok'd my rage,
And you but owe your pardon to your age.
No artful tales, no ftudied lies, I frame,
Ulyfies lives (rejoins the rev'rend dame)
In that difhonour'd ftranger's clofe difguife,
Long has he pad all unfufpeting eyes,
All but thy fen'sand long has he fuppreft
The well-concerted fecret in his bread ;
Till his brave father mould his foes defeat,
And the clofe fcheme of his revenge compleat.
Swift as the word the Queen tranfported fprung,
And round the dame in ftricl: embraces hung;
Then as the big round tears began to roll,
Spoke the quick doubts and hurry of her foul.
If my victorious hero fafe arrives,
If my dear lord, Ulyfles, ftill furvives,
Tell me, oh tell me, how he fought alone ?
How were fuch multitudes deftroy'd by one ?
Nought I beheld, but heard their cries, flie faid,
When death flew raging, and the fuitors bled :
Immur'd we liften'd, as we fat around,
To each deep groan and agonizing found.
Call'd
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 301
Call'd by thy fon to view the fcene I fled,
And faw Ulyfles (hiding o'er the dead !
Amidft the rifing heaps the hero flood
All grim, and terribly adorn'd with blood.
This is enough in conference for this time ; befides
I am defired by Mr. Pope or Mr. Lintot, I don't know
which, to write to Mr. Pope on a certain affair.
LETTER CVI.
MR. POPE TO DR. PARNELLE.
Dear Sir, London, July 29.
j wifh it were not as ungenerous as vain, to com-
plain too much of a man that forgets me, but I
could expoftulate with you a whole day upon your
inhuman filence ; I call it inhuman ; nor would you
think it lefs, if you were truly fenfible of the uneafi-
nefs it gives me. Did I know you fo ill as to think
you proud, I would be much lefs concerned than I
am able to be, when I know one of the beft-natured
men alive neglects me j and if you know me fo ill
as to think amifs of me, with regard to my friend/hip
for you, you really do not deferve half the trouble
you occafion me. I need not tell you that both Mr.
Gay and myfelf have written feveral Letters in vain j
that we are conflantly enquiring of all who have feen
Ireland, if they faw you, and that (forgotten as we
are) we are every day remembering you in our mod
agreeable
302 LETTERS TO AND
agreeable hours. All this is true ; as that we are fin-
cerely lovers of you, and deplorers of your abfence ;
and that we form no wifh more ardently than that
which brings you over to us. We have lately had
fome diftant hopes of the Dean's defign to revifit Eng-
land ; will not you accompany him ? or is England
to lofe every thing that has any charms for us, and
mud we pray for banimment as a benediction ? I
have once been witnefs of fome, I hope all, of your
fplenetic hours ; come and be a comforter in your
turn to me, in mine. I am in fuch an unfettled ftate,
that I can't tell if I mall ever fee you, unlefs it be this
year ; whether I do or not, be ever allured, you have
as large a mare of my thoughts and good wifhes as
any man, and as great a portion of gratitude in my
heart, as would enrich a monarch, could he know
where to find it. I mail not die without teftifying
fomething of this nature, and leaving to the world a
memorial of the friendmip that has been fo great a
pleafure and pride to me. It would be like writing
my own epitaph, to acquaint you with what I have
loft fince I faw you, what I have done, what I have
thought, where I have lived, and where I now repofe
in obfcurity. My friend Jervas, the bearer of this,
will inform you of all particulars concerning me ; and
Mr. Ford is charged with a thoufand loves, and a
thoufand complaints, and a thoufand commimons to
you, on my part. They will both tax you with the
neglect of fome promifes which were too agreeable
to us all to be forgot ; if you care for any of us, tell
them
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 303
them fo, and write fo to me. I can fay no more, but
that I love you, and am in fpite of the- longed neglect
or abfence, Dear Sir,
Your, ect.
Gay is in Devonlhire, and from thence he goes to
Bath ; my father and mother never fail to comme-
morate you.
LETTER CVII.
TO THE SAME.
Binfield, near Oakingham,
Dear Sir, Tuefday.
T BELIEVE the hurry you were in hindered your giv-
ing me a word by the laft poft, fo that I am yet
to learn whether you got well to town, or continue
fo there. I very much fear both for your health and
your quiet ; and no man living can be more truly
concerned in any thing that touches either, than my-
felf. I would comfort myfelf, however, with hoping
that your bufinefs may not be unfuccefsful, for your
fake ; and that, at leaft, it may foon be put into other
proper hands. For my own, I beg earneftly of you
to return to us as foon as poffible. You know how
very much I want you, and that however your bufi-
nefs may depend upon any other, my bufinefs de-
pends entirely upon you, and yet ftill I hope you will
find your man, even though I lofe you the mean
!$m while.
364 LETTERS TO AND
while. At this time the more I love you, the more I
can fpare you ; which alone will, I dare fay, be a
reafon to you, to let me have you back the fooner.
The minute I loft you, Euftathius with nine hundred
pages, and nine thoufand contractions of the Greek
character, arofe to my view ! Spondanus, with all his
auxiliaries, in number a thoufand pages, (value three
millings,) and Dacier's three volumes, Barne's two,
Valterie's three, Cuperus, half in Greek, Leo Alla-
tius, three parts in Greek ; Scaliger, Macrobius, and
(worfe than them all) Aulus Gellius 1 All thefe rufhed
upon my foul at once, and whelmed me under a fit
of the head ach. Dear Sir, not only as you are a
friend, and a good-natured man ; but as you are a
chriitian and a divine, come back fpeedily, and pre-
vent the increafe of my fins ; for at the rate I have
begun to rave, I mail not only damn all the poets and
commentators, who have gone before me, but be
damned myfelf, by all who come after me. To be
ferious, you have not only left me to the laft degree
impatient for your return, who at all times mould
have been fo ; (though never fo much as mice I knew
you in beft health here ;) but you have wrought fe-
veral miracles upon our family ; you have made old
people fond of a young and gay perfon ; and inve-
terate papifts of a clergyman of the church of Eng-
land ; even nurfe herfelf is in danger of being in love
in her old age, and (for aught I know) would even
marry Dennis for your fake, becaufe he is your man,
and
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 305
and loves his mafter. In fhort, come down forth-
with, or give me good reafons for delaying, though
but for a day or two, by the next poft. If I find
them juft, I will come up to you, though you know
how precious my time is at prefent; my hours were
never worth fo much money before ; but perhaps you
are not fenfible of this, who give away your own
Works. You are a generous author ; I, a hackney
fcribbler ; you are a Grecian, and bred at an Univer-
fity ; I, a poor Englifhman, of my own educating ;
you are a reverend parfon ; I, a wag : in fhort, you
are Dr. Parnelle, (with an E at the end of your
namej and I,
Your mofl obliged and affectionate friend,
and faithful fervant.
My hearty fervice to the Dean, Dr. Arbuthnot,
Mr. Ford, and the true genuine fhepherd J. Gay, of
Devon. I expeft him down with you.
LETTER CVIII.
TO THE SAME.
Dear Sir,
T WRITE to you with the fame warmth, the fame
* zeal of good-will and friendfhip with which I ufed
to converfe with you two years ago, and can't think
myfelf abfent, when I feel you fo much at my heart ;
VOL. viii. x the
306 LETTERS TO AND
the picture of you, which Jervas brought me over, is
infinitely lefs lively a reprefentation, than that I carry
about with me, and which rifes to my mind whenever
I think of you. I have many an agreeable reverie
through thofe woods and downs where we once ram-
bled together; my head is fometimes at the Bath,
and fometimes at Letcomb, where the Dean makes
a great part of my imaginary entertainment, this be-
ing the cheapeft way of treating me j I hope he will
not be difpleafed at this manner of paying my re-
fpects to him, inftead of following my friend Jervas's
example, which, to fay the truth, I have as much in-
clination to do, as I want ability. I have been ever
fince December laft in greater variety of bufmefs than
any fuch men as you (that is divines and philofo-
phers) can poffibly imagine a reafonable creature ca-
pable of. Gay's play, among the reft, has coil much
time and long-fuffering, to flem a tide of malice and
party, that authors have raifed againft it ; the befl
revenge upon fuch fellows is now in my hands, I
mean your Zoilus, which really tranfcends the expect-
ation I had conceived of it. I have put it into the
prefs, beginning with the poem Batrachom ; for you
feem by the firft paragraph of the dedication to it, to
defign to prefix the name of fome particular perfon.
I beg therefore to know for whom you intend it, that
the publication may not be delayed on this account ;
and this as foon as poflible. Inform me alfo upon
what terms I am to deal with the bookfeller, and
whether
FROM SEVERAL PERSONS. 357
tvhether you defign the copy-money for Gay, as you
formerly talked ; what number of books you would
have yourfelf, etc. I fcarce fee any thing to be al-
tered in this whole piece ; in the poems you fent, I
will take the liberty you allow me ; the ftory of Pan-
dora, and the Eclogue upon Health, are two of the
mod beautiful things I ever read* I don't fay this to
the prejudice of the reft, but as I have read thefe
oftener. Let me know how far my commiflion is to
extend, and be confident of my punctual perform-
ance of whatever you enjoin. I muft add a para-
graph on this occafion, in regard to Mr. Ward,
whofe verfes have been a great pleafure to me ; I will
contrive they mail be fo to the world, whenever I can
find a proper opportunity of publifhing them.
I mail very foon print an entire collection of my
own madrigals, which I look upon as making my lafl
will and teftament, fince in it I mail give all I ever
intend to give (which I'll beg yours and the Dean's
acceptance of); you muft look on me no more as a
poet, but a plain commoner, who lives upon his own,
and fears and flatters no man. I hope before I die to
difcharge the debt I owe to Homer, and get upon the
whole juft fame enough, to ferve for an annuity for
my own time, though I leave nothing to pofterity,
I beg our correfpondence may be more frequent
than it has been of late. I am fure my efteem and
love for you never more deferved it from you, or
more prompted it from you. I defired our friend
x i Jervas
3oS LETTERS TO AND
Jervas (in the greateft hurry of my bufmefs) to fay a
great deal in my name, both to yourfelf and the
Dean, and muft once more repeat the affurances to