mifed him mould never appear on his tomb while I
was Dean of Weftminfter.

I am

" Meek Francis lies here, Friend. Without flop or flay,

As you value your peace, make the beft of your way.

Though at prefent arrefted by Death's caitiff paw,

If he ftirs, he may ftill have recourfe to the law:

And in the King's Bench mould a verdift be found

That by livery and feifin his grave is his ground,

He will claim to himfelf what is ftri&ly his due,

And an aftion of trefpafs will ftraightway enfue,

That you, without right, on his premifes tread,

On a fimple furmife that the owner is dead.

The other was occafioned by the funeral of the Duke of Bucking*

ham, whom Prior furvived but a few months.

" I have no hopes," the Duke he fays, and dies ;
" In fure and certain hopes," the Prelate cries :
Of thefe two learned Peers, I pr'ythee, fay, man,
Who is the lying Knave, the Prieft or Layman ?
The Duke he ftands an Infidel confeft,
" He's our dear Brother," quoth the lordly Prieft.
The Duke, though Knave, ftill " Brother dear," he Cries,
And who can fay, the Reverend Prelate lies?
There cannot be a ftronger proof of Atterbury's reftlefs and

ambitious temper, than is exhibited in the Letter written to

him by his father, 1690, in vol. i. of Nicols's Colle&ion, p. n.

In the Britim Mufeum, there is one Letter of Pope to Prior, in

commendation of his Poem, entitled Damon, a little piece of true

humour.

H 2



loo LETTERS TO AND

I am pleafed to find you have fo much pleafure,
and (which is the foundation of it) fo much health at
Lord Bathuril's : May both continue till I fee you !
May my Lord have as much fatisfaction in building the
houfe in the wood, and ufmg it when built, as you
have in defigning it ! I cannot fend a wifh after him
that means him more happinefs, and yet, I am fure,
I wifh him as much as he wifhes himfelf.

I am, etc.



LETTER X.
FROM THE SAME.

Bromley, October 15, 1721.

"KjOT WITHSTANDING I write this on Sunday even,
to acknowledge the receipt of yours this morn-
ing : yet, I forefee, it will not reach you till Wednef-
day morning. And before fet of fun that day I hope
to reach my winter-quarters at the Deanery. I hope,
did I fay ? I recall that word, for it implies defire ;
and, God knows, that is far from being the cafe. For
I never part with this place but with regret, though I
generally keep here what Mr. Cowiey calls the worfl
of company in the world, my own ; and fee either
none befide, or what is worfe than none, fome of the
Arriii or Sebofi of my neighbourhood : Characters,
which Tully paints fo well in one of his Epiftles, and
complains of the too civil, but impertinent interrup-
tion



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. IGI

tion they gave him in his retirement. Since I have
named thofe gentlemen, and the book is not far from
me, I will turn to the place, and by pointing it out to
you, give you the pleafure of perufing the epiftle,
which is a very agreeable one, if my memory does
not fail me.

I am furprized to find that my Lord Bathurft and
you are parted fo foon ; he has been fick, I know, of
fome late tranfaclions ; but mould that ficknefs con-
tinue (till in fome meafure, I prophefy, it will be quite
off by the beginning of November : A letter or two
from his London-friends, and a furfeit of folitude will
foon make him change his refolution and his quar-
ters. I vow to you, I could live here with pleafure
all the winter, and be contented with hearing no more
news than the London Journal, or fome fuch trifling
paper, affords me, did not the duty of my place re-
quire, abfolutely require my attendance at Weftmin-
fler ; where, I hope, the Prophet will now and then
remember he has a bed and a candleftick. In fhort,
I long to fee you, and hope you will come, if not a
day, at leafl an hour fooner to town than you in-
tended, in order to afford me that fatisfaftion. I am
now, I thank God ! as well as ever I was in my life,
except that I can walk fcarce at all without crutches :
And would willingly compound the matter with the
gout, to be no better, could I hope to be no worfe,
but that is a vain thought, I expect a new attack long
before Chriflmas. Let me fee you therefore while I
H 3 am



102 LETTERS TO AND

am in a condition to relifh you, before the days (and
the nights) come, when I mail (and muft) fay, I have
no pleafure in them.

I will bring your fmall volume of Paftorals along
with me, that you may not be difcouraged from lend-
ing me books, when you find me fo punctual in re-
turning them. Shakefpear mail bear it company, and
be put into your hands as clear and as fair as it came
out of them, though you, I think, have been dabbling
here and there with the text : I have had more reve-
rence for the writer and the printer, and left every thing
{landing juft as I found it. However, I thank you for
the pleafure you have given me in putting me upon
reading him once more before I die.

I believe I mail fcarce repeat that pleafure any more,
having other work to do, and other things to think
of, but none that will interfere with the offices of
friendfhip, in the exchange of which with you, Sir,
I hope to Jive and die

Your, etc,

P. S. Addifon's works came to my hands yefterday.
I cannot but think it a very odd fet of incidents, that
the book mould be dedicated by s a dead man to h a
dead man ; and even that the new ! patron to whom
Tickell chofe to infcribe his verfes, mould be dead
alfo before they were publifhed. Had I been in the
Editor's place I mould have been a little apprehenfive

for

x Mr. Addifon. h Mr. Craggs. * Lord Warwick.



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 103

for myfelf, under a thought that every one who had
any hand in that work was to die before the pub-
lication of it. You fee, when I am converfing with
you, I know not how to give over, till the very
bottom of the paper admonifhes me once more to
bid you adieu !



LETTER XL

MY LORD, Feb. 8, 1721-2.

T T is fo long fmce I had the pleafure of an hour
with your Lordfhip, that I mould begin to think
myfelf no longer Amicus omnium horarum, but for
finding myfelf fo in my conftant thoughts of you.
In thofe I was with you many hours this very day,
and had you (where I wifh and hope one day to fee
you really) in my garden at Twitnam. When I went
laft to town, and was on wing for the Deanery, I
heard your Lordfhip was gone the day before to
Bromley, and there you continued till after my re-
turn hither. I fmcerely wifh you whatever you wifh
yourfelf, and all you wifh your friends or family. All
I mean by this word. or two, is juft to tell you fo, till
in perfon I find you as I defire, that is, find you well :
Eafy, refigned, and happy you will make yourfelf,
and (I believe) every body that converfes with you ;
H4 if



io4 LETTERS TO AND

if I may judge of your power over other men's minds
and affe&ions, by that which you will ever have over
thofe of

Your, etc.



LETTER XII.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.

Feb. 26, 1721-2.

THERMIT me, dear Sir, to break into your retire-
ment, and to defire of you a complete copy of
thefe Verfes on Mr. Addifon k ; fend me alfo your laft
refolution, which mall punctually be obferved in re-
lation to my giving out any copy of it ; for I am again
folicited by another Lord, to whom I have given the
fame anfwer as formerly. No fmall piece of your
writing has been ever fought after fo much : It has
pleafed every man without exception, to whom it has
been read. Since you now therefore know where
your real flrength lies, I hope you will not fuffer that
talent to lie unemployed. For my part I mould be
fo glad to fee you nniih fomething of that kind, that
I could be content to be a little fneered at in a line or

fo,

k An imperfeft copy was got out, very much to the Author's
furprize, who never would give any. P.

This Mr. Spence doubted.



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 105

fo, for the fake of the pleafure I fhould have in read-
ing the reft. I have talked my fenfe of this matter to
you once or twice, and now I put it under my hand,
that you may fee it is my deliberate opinion. What
weight that may have with you I cannot fay : But it
pleafes me to have an opportunity of mewing you
how well I wifh you, and how true a friend I am to
your fame, which I defire may grow every day, and
in every kind of writing, to which you will pleafe to
turn your pen. Not but that I have fome little in-
tereft in the propofal, as I (hall be known to have
been acquainted with a man that was capable of ex-
celling in fuch different manners, and did fuch
honour to his country and language ; and yet was
not difpleafed fometimes to read what was written
by his humble fervant.



LETTER XIII.

March 14, 1721-2.

y WAS difappointed (much more than thofe who
commonly ufe that phrafe on fuch occafions) in
miffing you at the Deanery, where I lay folitary two
nights. Indeed I truly partake in any degree of con-
cern that affects you, and I wiih every thing may fuc-
ceed as you defire in your own family,and in that which,

I think,



106 LETTERS TO AND

I think, you no lefs account your own, and is no lefs
your family, the whole world : For I take you to be
one of the true friends of it, and to your power its
protector. Though the noife and daily buftle for the
public be now over, I dare fay, a good man is ftill
tendering its welfare ; as the fun in the winter when
feeming to retire from the world, is preparing bene-
dictions and warmth for a better feafon. No man
wifhes your Lordfhip more quiet, more tranquillity,
than I, who know you mould underfland the value
of it : But I don't wifh you a jot lefs concerned or
lefs active than you are, in all fincere, and therefore
warm, defires of public good.

I beg the kindnefs (and 'tis for that chiefly I trouble
you with this letter) to favour me with notice as foon
as you return to London, that I may come and make
you a proper vifit of a day or two : For hitherto I
have not been your Vifitor, but your Lodger, and I
accufe myfelf of it. I have now no earthly thing to
oblige my being in town (a point of no fmall fatisfac-
tion to me) but the beft reafon, the feeing a friend.
As long, my Lord, as you will let me call you fo,
(and I dare fay you will, till I forfeit what, I think,
I never fhall, my veracity and integrity,) I mall efleem
myfelf fortunate, in fpite of the South-Sea, Poetry,
Popery, and Poverty.

I can't tell you how forry I am, you mould be
troubled a-new by any fort of people. I heartily

wiih,



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 107

wifh, guodfupereft, ut tibi vivas that you may teach
me how to do the fame : Who, without any real im-
pediment to acting and living rightly, do aft and live
as foolifhly as if I were a Great man.

I am, etc.



LETTER XIV.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.

March 16, 1721-2.

Asa vifitant, a lodger, a friend (or under what
other denomination foever) you are always wel-
come to me ; and will be more fo, I hope, every day
that we live : For, to tell you the truth, I like you
as I like myfelf, beft when we have both of us lead
bufmefs. It has been my fate to be engaged in it
much and often, by the ftations in which I was placed:
But God, that knows my heart, knows I never loved
it ; and am ftill lefs in love with it than ever, as I find
lefs temptation to aft with any hope of fuccefs. If I
am good for any thing, 'tis in angulo cum libello ; and
yet a good part of my time has been fpent, and per-
haps muft be fpent far otherwife. For I will never,
while I have health, be wanting to my duty in my
poft, or in any refpeft, how little foever I may like
my employment, and how hopelefs foever I may be.
in the difcharge of it,

i In



io8 LETTERS TO AND

In the mean time the judicious world is pleafed to
think that I delight in work which I am obliged to
undergo, and aim at things which I from my heart
defpife ; let them think as they will, fo I might be at
liberty to act as I will, and fpend my time in fuch a
manner as is moft agreeable to me. I cannot fay I
do fo now, for I am here without any books, and if I
had them could not ufe them to my fatisfa&ion, while
my mind is taken up in a more melancholy l manner;
and how long, or how little a while it may be fo taken
up God only knows, and to his will I implicitly refign
myfelf in every thing.

I am, etc.



LETTER XV.

MY LORD, March 19, 1721-2.

T AM extremely fenfible of the repeated favour of
your kind letters, and your thoughts of me in ab-
fence, even among thoughts of much nearer concern
to yourfelf on the one hand, and of much more im-
portance to the world on the other, which cannot but
engage you at this juncture. I am very certain of
your good will, and of the warmth which is in you
infeparable from it.

Your remembrance of Twitenham is a frefh in-
ftance of that partiality. I hope the advance of the

fine
1 In his Lady's laft ficknefs. W.



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 109

fine feafon will fet you upon your legs, enough to en-
able you to get into my garden, where I will carry you
up a Mount, in a point of view to fhew you the glory
of my little kingdom. If you approve it, I mail be
in danger to boad, like Nebuchadnezzar, of the
things I have made, and to be turned to converfe, not
with the beads of the field, but with the birds of the
grove, which I mail take co be no great punilhment.
For indeed I heartily defpife the ways of the world,
and mod of the great ones of it.

Oh keep me innocent, make others great !

And you may judge how comfortably I am
ftrengthened in this opinion, when fuch as your
Lordfhip bear teftimony to its vanity and empti-
nefs. Tinnit, inane e/i, with the picture of one
ringing on the globe with his ringer, is the bed
thing I have the luck to remember, in that great
Poet Quarles (not that I forget the Devil at bowls ;
which I know to be your Lordfhip's favourite cut,
as well as favourite diverfion).

The fituation here is pleafant, and the view rural
enough, to humour the mod retired, and agree with
the mod contemplative. Good air, folitary groves,
and fparing diet, fufficient to make you fancy your-
felf (what you are in temperance, though elevated
into a greater figure by your dation) one of the Fa-
thers of the Defert. Here you may think (to ufe an
author's words, whom you fo judly prefer to all his

followers,



no LETTERS TO AND

followers, that you'll receive them kindly, though
taken from his word work m )*.

That in Elijah's banquet you partake,
Or fit a gueft with Daniel, at his Pulfe.

I am fincerely free with you, as you defire I mould,
and approve of your not having your coach here, for
if you would fee Lord C * or any body elfe, I have
another chariot, befides that little one you laughed at
when you compared me to Homer in a nut-mell.
But if you would be entirely private, nobody mail
know any thing of the matter. Believe me (my
Lord) no man is with more perfed acquiefcence,
nay with more willing acquiefcence (not even any of
your own Sons of the Church)

Your obedient, etc.



m The Paradife Regained. I fuppofe this was in compliment
to the Bifhop. It could never be his own opinion. W.

* The fuperlative fublimity of the Paradife Loft has eclipfed
the milder beauties of Paradife Regained : For beauties it has,
and in no fmall abundance.



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. in

LETTER XVI.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.

April 6, 1722.

JTNDER all the leifure in the world, I have no lei-
fure," no flomach to write to you : The gradual
approaches of death are before my eyes. I am con-
vinced that it muft be fo ; and yet make a fhift to
flatter myfelf fometimes with the thought that it may
poflibly be otherwife. And that very thought,
though it is dire&ly contrary to my reafon, does for

a few moments make me eafy however not eafy

enough in good earned to think of any thing, but
the melancholy objeft that employs them. There-
fore wonder not that I do not anfwer your kind let-
ter : I mail anfwer it too foon, I fear, by accepting
your friendly invitation. When I do fo, no conve-
niences will be wanting : For I'll fee nobody but you
and your mother, and the fervants. Vifits to flatef-
men always were to me (and are now more than ever)
infipid things ; let the men that expeft, that wifli to
thrive by them, pay them that homage ; I am free.
When I want them, they mail hear of me at their
doors : When they want me, I mail be fure to hear of
them at mine. But probably they will defpife me fo
much, and I mall court them fo little, that we mail
both of us keep our diftance.

When



ii2 LETTERS TO AND

When I come to you, 'tis in order to be with you
only ; a prefident of the council, or a ftar and garter
will make no more impreffion upon my mind, at fuch
a time, than the hearing of a bag-pipe, or the fight of
a puppet-mew. I have faid to Greatnefs * fometime
ago Tuas tibi res habcto^ Egomet curabo meas. The
time is not far off when we mail all be upon the level ;
and I am refolved, for my part, to anticipate that
time, and be upon the level with them now : For he
is fo, that neither feeks nor wants them. Let them
have more virtue and lefs pride ; and then I'll court
them as much as any body : But till they refolve to
diftinguifh themfelves fome way elfe than by their
outward trappings, I am determined (and, I think, I
have a right) to be as proud as they are ; though I
truft in God, my pride is neither of fo odious a na-
ture as theirs, nor of fo mifchievous a confequence.

I know not how I have fallen into this train of
thinking when I fat down to write I intended only
to excufe myfelf for not writing, and to tell you that
the time drew nearer and nearer, when I muft dif-
lodge ; I am preparing for it : For I am at this mo-
ment building a vault in the Abbey, for me and mine.
'Twas to be in the Abbey, becaufe of my relation to
the place ; but 'tis at the weft door of it ; as far from
Kings and Casfars as the fpace will admit of.

I know

* Was the good Bifliop really cured of all ambitious views at
this time ?



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 113
I know not but I may ftep to town to-morrow, to
fee how the work goes forward j but, if I do, I mail
return hither in the evening. I would not have given
you the trouble of this letter but that they tell me it
will coft you nothing, and that our privilege of frank-
ing* (one of the moft valuable we have left) is again

allowed us.

Your, etc.



LETTER XVII.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.

Bromley, May 25, 1722.

T HAD much ado to get hither laft night, the water
being fo rough that the ferry-men were unwilling to
venture. The firft thing I faw this morning after my
eyes were open, was your letter, for the freedom and
kindnefs of which I thank you. Let all compliments
be laid afide between us for the future ; and depend
upon me as your faithful friend in all things within my
power, as one that truly values you, and wifhes you
all manner of happinefs. I thank you and Mrs.
Pope for my kind reception, which has left a pleafmg
impreflion upon me that will not foon be effaced.

Lord

* This is a peevifh fentiment ; furely more privileges were left ;
or rather, what privileges were taken away ?
VOL. VIII. I



ii4 LETTERS TO AND

Lord * has preffed me terribly to fee him at *, and
told me in a manner betwixt kindnefs and refent-
ment, that it is but a few miles beyond Twitenham.

I have but a little time left, and a great deal to do in
it : and muft expel that ill health will render a good
mare of it ufelefs ; and therefore what is likely to be
left at the foot of the account, ought by me to be che-
rifhed, and not thrown away in compliment. You
know the Motto of my fun-dial, Vivite, ait, fugio. I
will, as far as I am able, follow its advice, and cut off
all unneceffary avocations and amufements. There
are thofe that intend to employ me this winter in a
way I do not like : if they perfifl in their intentions,
I muft apply myfelf to the work they cut out for me,
as well as I can. But withal, that mail not hinder
me from employing myfelf alfo in a way which they
do not like. The givers of trouble one day mall
have their fhare of it another ; that at lafl they may
be induced to let me be quiet, and live to myfelf
with the few (the very few) friends I like ; for that is
the point, the fin-gle point I now aim at : though, I
know, the generality of the world who are unacquainted
with my intentions and views, think the very reverfe
of this character belongs to me. I don't know how I
have rambled into this account of myfelf j when I fat
down to write, I had no thought of making that any
part of my letter.

You might have been fure without my telling you,
that my right hand is at eafe ; elfe I fhould not have

over-



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 115

overflowed at this rate. And yet I have not done,
for there is a kind intimation in the end of yours,
\vhieh I underftood, becaufe it feems to tend towards
employing me in fomething that is agreeable to you.
Pray explain yourfelf, and believe that you have not
an acquaintance in the world that would be more in
earned on fuch an occafion than I, for I love you, as
well as efteem you.

All the while I have been writing, Pain, and a fine
Thrufh have been feverally endeavouring to call off
my attention ; but both in vain, nor mould I yet part
with you, but that the turning over a new leaf frights
me a little, and makes me refolve to break through
a new temptation, before it has taken too fad hold
on me.

I am, etc.



LETTER XVm.
FROM THE SAiME.

June 15, 1722.

xrou have generally written firft, after our parting ;
I will now be before-hand with you in my en-
quiries, how you got home, and how you do, and
whether you met with Lord *, and delivered my civil
reproach to him, in the manner I defiled ? I fuppofe
you did not, becaufe I have heard nothing either
i 2 from



ii6 LETTERS TO AND

from you, or from him on that head ; as, I fuppofe,

I might have done if you had found him.

I am fick of thefe men of quality ; and the more
fo, the oftener I have any bufmefs to tranfaft with
them. They look upon it as one of their diftinguifh-
ing privileges, not to be pun&ual in any bufmefs, of
how great importance foever ; nor to fet other people
at eafe, with the lofs of the leaft part of their own.
This conduct of his vexes me ; but to what purpofe ?
or how can I alter it ?

I long to fee the original MS. of Milton : but don't
know how to come at it, without your repeated affift-
ance.

I hope you won't utterly forget what pafied in the
coach about Samfon Agonifles * I mail not prefs you

as

* Dr. Johnfon thought differently about this Tragedy ; writ-
ten evidently and happily in the ftyle and manner of Efchylus ;
and faid, " that it was deficient in both requifites of a true Arif-
totelic middle* Its intermediate parts hare neither caufe nor confe-
quence ; neither baften, nor retard the catajlrophe" To which opi-
nion the judicious Mr. Twining accedes. What Dr.Warburton faid
of it is wonderfully ridiculous ; that Milton " chofe the fubjeft
for the fake of the fatire on bad wives ;" and that the fubjefts
of this tragedy, and Paradife Loft, were not very different, " the
fall of two heroes by a woman." Milton, in this drama, has given
an example of every fpecies of meafure which the Englifh language
is capable of exhibiting ; not only in the C/jorufes, but in the
Dialogue part. The chief parts of the Dialogue (though there is
a great variety of meafure in the Chorufes of the Greek Trage-
dies) are in Iambic Verfe. I recoiled!: but three places in which
Hexameter verfes are introduced in the Greek Tragedies, once in
the Trachinit, once in the PhiloSes of Sophocles, and once in the

Troades



FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 117
as to time, but fome time or other, I wifh you
would review, and polifh that piece. If upon a new
perufal of it (which I defire you to make) you think
as I do, that it is written in the very fpirit of the An-
cients ; it deferves your care, and is capable of being
improved, with little trouble, into a perfect model
and flandard of Tragic poetry always allowing for
its being a ftory taken out of the Bible ; which is an
objection that at this time of day, I know is not to be
got over.

I am, etc.



LETTER XIX.

July 27.

HAVE been as conftantly at Twitenham as your

Lordfhip has at Bromley, ever fince you faw Lord

Bathurft. At the time of the Duke of Marlbo-

rough's funeral, I intend to lie at the Deanery, and

moralize

Troades of Euripides. Voltaire wrote an opera on this fubjeft of
Samfon, 1732, which was fet to mufic by Rameau, but was
never performed. He has inferted Chorufes to Venus and
Adonis ; and the piece finimes by introducing Samfon, actually