guiihed, in the nobleft minds; but Revenge never
will harbour there : Higher principles than thofe of
the firft, and better principles than thofe of the latter,
will
FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 133
will infallibly influence men, whofe thoughts and
\vhofe hearts are enlarged, and caufe them to prefer
the Whole to any part of mankind, efpecially to fo
fmall a part as one's fmgle felf.
Believe me, my Lord, I look upon you as a fpirit
entered into another life % as one juft upon the edge
of immortality ; where the paflions and affections
mufl be much more exalted, and where you ought to
defpife all little views, and all mean retrofpefts. No-
thing is worth your looking back ; and therefore look
forward, and make (as you can) the world look after
you. But take care that it be not with pity, but with
efteem and admiration.
I am, with the greatefl fmcerity, and paflionfor your
fame as well as happinefs,
Your, etc.
LETTER XXIV.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.
Paris, Nov. 23, 1731.
XT ou will wonder to fee me in print ; but how could
I avoid it ? The dead and the living, my friends
and my foes, at home and abroad, called upon me to
fay
r The Bifhop of Rochefter went into exile the month follow-
ing, and continued in it till his death, which happened at Paris, on
the fifteenth day of February in the year 1732. P.
i 3 4 LETTERS TO AND
fay fomething ; and the reputation of an s Hiftory *
which I and all the world value, muft have fuffered,
had I continued filent. I have printed it here, in
hopes that fomebody may venture to reprint it in
England, notwithflanding thofe two frightening words
at the clofe of s it. Whether that happens or not, it
is fit you fhould have a fight of it, who, I know, will
read it with fome degree of fatisfa&ion, as it is mine,
though it mould have (as it really has) nothing elfe to
recommend it. Such as it is, Extremum hoc munus mo-
rientls habeto ; for that may well be the cafe, confi-
dering that within a few months I am entering into
my feventieth year : after which, even the healthy
and the happy cannot much depend upon life, and
will not, if they are wife, much defire it. Whenever
I go, you will lofe a friend who loves and values you
extremely, if in my circumftances I can be faid to be
loft to any one, when dead, more than I am already
whilft living. I expected to have heard from you by
Mr.
s 'E. of Clarendon's. ' W.
* Dr. "John Burton, Fellow of Eton College, publifhed a com-
plete vindication of the authenticity of this invaluable Hiftory of
Clarendon ; a hiftory written with almoft unparalleled dignity of
ftyle and manner ; though perhaps, in fome inftances, leaning to a
partiality for the character of his unfortunate, but unwife, Mafter.
It has been very lately proved, that there were fome omiflions
made in the Oxford edition of this Hiftory.
1 The Bifhop's Name fet to his Vindication of Bifliop Smal-
ridge, Dr. Aldrich, and himfelf, from the fcandalous Reflections
of Oldmixon, relating to the Publication of Lord Clarendon's
Hiftory. Paris, 1731, 4to. fince reprinted in England. P.
FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 135
Mr. Morice, and wondered a little that I did not ; but
he owns himfelf in a fault, for not giving you due no-
tice of his motions. It was not amifs that you for-
bore writing, on a head wherein I promifed more than
I was able to perform. Difgraced men fancy fome-
times that they preferve an influence, where, when
they endeavour to exert it, they foon fee their mif-
take. I did fo, my good friend, and acknowledge it
under my hand. You founded the coaft, and found
out my error, it feems, before I was aware of it : but
enough on this fubjeft.
What are they doing in England to the honour of
letters : and particularly what are you doing ? Ipfe
quidaudes? Qua circumvolitas agilis Thyma? Do you
purfue the Moral plan you marked out, and feemed
fixteen months ago * fo intent upon ? Am I to fee
it perfected ere I die, and are you to enjoy the repu-
tation of it while you live ? Or do you rather choofe
to leave the marks of your friendfhip, like the lega-
cies of a will, to be read and enjoyed only by thofe
who furvive you ? Were I as near you as I have been,
I mould hope to peep into the manufcript before it
was finifhed. But alas ! there is, and will ever pro-
bably be, a great deal of land and fea between us.
How many books have come out of late in your parts,
which you think I mould be glad to perufe ? Name
them : The catalogue, I believe, will not coft you
much trouble. They mud be good ones indeed, to
chal-
* So that the plan for the Eflay on Man was laid, 1729.
K4
136 LETTERS TO AND
challenge any part of my time, now I have fo little of
it left. I, who fquandered whole days heretofore,
now hufband hours when the glafs begins to run low,
and care not to miipend them on trifles. At the end
of the Lottery of Life, our laft minutes, like tickets
left in the wheel, rife in their valuation : They are
not of fo much worth perhaps in themfelves as thofe
which preceded, but we are apt to prize them more,
and with reafon, I do fo, my dear friend, and yet
think the mod precious minutes of my life are well
employed, in reading what you write. But this is a
fatisfaftion I cannot much hope for, and therefore
rnuft betake myfelf to others lefs entertaining. Adieu !
dear Sir, and forgive me engaging with one, whom
you, I think, have reckoned among the heroes of the
Dunciad. It was neceifary for me either to accept of
his dirty challenge, or to have fuffered in the efteem
of the world by declining it.
My refpects to your Mother ; I fend one of thefe
papers for Dean Swift, if you have an opportunity,
and think it worth while to convey it. My Country
at this diftance feems to me a ftrange fight, I know
not how it appears to you, who are in the midft of
the fcene, and yourfelf a part of it ; I wifh you would
tell me. You may write fafely to Mr. Morice, by the
honeft hand that conveys this, and will return into
thefe parts before Chriftmas ; fketch out a rough
draught of it, that I may be able to judge whether a
return to it be really eligible, or whether I mould not,
like
FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 137
like the Chemift in the bottle, upon hearing Don
Quevedo's account of Spain, defire to be corked up
again.
After all, I do and mufl love my country, with all
its faults and blemimes ; even that part of the confti-
tution which wounded me unjuftly, and itfelf through
my fide, mail ever be dear to me. My laft wifh (hall
be like that of father Paul, EJio perpetua ! And when
I die at a diftance from it, it will be in the fame man-
ner as Virgil defcribes the expiring Peloponnefian,
Sternitur et dulces moriens reminifcitur Argos.
Do I ftill live in the memory of my friends, as they
certainly do in mine ? I have read a good many of
your paper-fquabbles about me, and am glad to fee
fuch free conceffions on that head, though made with
no view of doing me a pleafure, but merely of load-
ing another.
I am, etc.
138 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER XXV.
FROM THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER,
ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER.
.". ' Montpelier, Nov. 20, 1729.
y AM not yet matter enough of myfelf, after the late
wound I have received, to open my very heart to
you, and I am not content with lefs than that, when-
ever I converfe with you. My thoughts are at prefent
vainly, but pleafmgly employed, on what I have loft,
and can never recover. I know well I ought, for
that reafon, to call them off to other fubjects, but hi-
therto I have not been able to do it. By giving them
the rein a little, and fuffering them to fpend their
force, I hope in fome time to check and fubdue them.
Multis fortunes vulneribus perculfus, huic uni me i?npa-
remjen/iy et pene fuccubui. This is weaknefs, not wif-
dom, I own ; and on that account fitter to be trufted
to the bofom of a friend, where I may fafely lodge
all my infirmities. As foon as my mind is in fome
meafure corrected and calmed, I will endeavour to
follow your advice, and turn it to fomething of ufe
and moment ; if I have ftill life enough left to do
any thing that is worth reading and preferving. In
the mean time I mail be pleafed to hear that you pro-
ceed in what you intend, without any fuch melan-
choly inteiruption as I have met with. Your mind
is
FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 139
is as yet unbroken by age and ill accidents, your
knowledge and judgment are at the height : ufe them
in writing fomewhat that may teach the prefent and
future times, and if not gain equally the applaufe of
both, may yet raife the envy of the one, and fecure
the admiration of the other. Employ not your pre-
cious moments, and great talents on little men and
little things * ; but choofe a fubjed every way worthy
of you, and handle it as you can, in a manner which
nobody elfe can equal or imitate. As for me, my
abilities, if I ever had any, are not what they were :
and yet I will endeavour to recollect and employ
them.
gelidus tardante fene&a
Sanguis hebet, frigentque effbeto in corpora vires.
However, I mould be ingrateful to this place, if I did
not own that I have gained upon the gout in the
fouth of France, much more than I did at Paris :
though even there I fenfibly improved. I believe my
cure had been perfected, but the earned defire of
meeting One I dearly loved, called me abruptly to
Montpelier ; where after continuing two months,
under the cruel torture of a fad and fruitlefs expect-
ation, I was forced at lafl to take a long journey to
Touloufe ; and even there I had miffed the perfon I
fought, had me not, with great fpirit and courage,
ventured all night up the Garonne to fee me, which
me
* It is to be wiflied that our Author had attended to this judi-
cious admonition.
140 LETTERS TO AND
fhe above all things defired to do before me died.
By that means fhe was brought where I was, between
feven and eight in the morning, and lived twenty
hours afterwards ; which time was not loft on either
fide, but palled in fuch a manner as gave great fatif-
faftion to both, and fuch as, on her part, every way
became her circumftances and character. For fhe
had her fenfes to the very laft gafp, and exerted them
to give me, in thofe few hours, greater marks of
Duty and Love than fhe had done in all her life-time,
though fhe had never been wanting in either. The
laft words fhe faid to me were the kindeft of all ; a
reflection on the goodnefs of God, which had allowed
us in this manner to meet once more, before we
parted for ever. Not many minutes after that, fhe
laid herfelf on her pillow, in a fleeping pofture,
Placidaque ibi deinum morte quievit.
Judge you, Sir, what I felt, and ft ill feel on this occa-
fion, and fpare me the trouble of defcribing it. At
my age, under my infirmities, among utter ftrangers,
how mall I find out proper reliefs and fupports ? I
can have none, but thofe with which Reafon and Re-
ligion furnifh me, and thofe I lay hold on, and grafp
as faft as I can. I hope that He, who laid the burden
upon me (for wife and good purpofes no doubt), will
enable me to bear it, in like manner, as I have born
others with fome degree of fortitude and firmnefs.
You fee how ready I am to relapfe into an argu-
ment which I had quitted once before in this letter.
Ifhalt
FROM DR. ATTERBURY. 141
I fhall probably again commit the fame fault, if I con-
tinue to write ; and therefore I ftop fhort here, and
with all fmcerity, affection, and efteem, bid you
adieu ! till we meet either in this world, if God
pleafes, or elfe in another *.
I am, etc.
* His body was brought to England, and interred on May 12,
1732, in his vault in "Weftminfter Abbey : his bowels were in aa
urn thus infcribed :
" In hac urna depofiti funt cineres,
" FRANCISCI ATTERBURY Epifcopi Roffenfis."
The infcription was intended to be longer, containing very fe-
vere farcafms on his trial and banifhment, and ending thus ;
" Cavete Pofteri !
" Hoc Facinus, confcivit, aggreflus eft, perpetravit, (Epifcopo-
rum pnecipue fuffragiis adjutus,) Robertus ifte Walpole,
" Quern nulla nefciet Pofteritas!"
Epiftolary Correfpondence, pullijbed ly
Mr. Nicholt, vol. i. p. 302.
LETTERS
TO AND FROM
MR. GAY,
From the Year 1712 to 1752.
LETTER I.
_ % - Binfield, Nov. 13, 1712.
X/-OU writ me a very kind letter fome months ago,
and told me you were then upon the point of
taking a journey into Devonfhire. That hindered my
anfwering you, and I have fmce feveral times in-
quired of you, without any fatisfadion ; for fo I caH
the knowledge of your welfare, or of any thing that con-
cerns you. I pafled two months in Sufiex, and fmce
my return have been again very ill, I writ to Lintot
in hopes of hearing of you, but had no anfwer to that
point. Our friend Mr. Cromwell too has been filent
all this year : I believe he has been difpleafed at fome
or other of my freedoms % which I very innocently
take, and moft with thofe I think moft my friends.
But
a We fee by the letters to Mr. Cromwell, that Mr. Pope was
wont to rally him on his turn for trifling and pedantic criticifm.
So he loft his two early friends, Cromwell and Wycherley, by his
zeal to correft the bad poetry of the one, and the bad tafte of the
other. W.
4
144 LETTERS TO AND
But this I know nothing of; perhaps he may have
opened to you: and if I know you right, you are
of a temper to cement friendfhips, and not to di-
vide them. I really much love Mr. Cromwell, and
have a true affection for yourfelf, which, if I had any
interefl in the world, or power with thofe who have,
I mould not be long without manifefting to you. I
defire you will not, either out of modefty, or a vicious
diftruft of another's value for you, (thofe two eternal
foes to merit,) imagine that your letters and converf-
ation are not always welcome to me. There is no
man more entirely fond of good-nature or ingenuity
than myfelf, and I have feen too much of thofe qua-
lities in you to be any thing lefs than
Your, etc.
LETTER II.
Dec. 24, 1712.
T T has been my good fortune within this month paft,
A to hear more things that have pleafed me than (I
think) almoft in all my time befide. But nothing
upon my word has been fo home-felt a fatisfaftion as
the news you tell me of yourfelf : and you are not in
the lead miftaken, when you congratulate me upon
your own good fuccefs : for I have more people out
of whom to be happy, than any ill-natured man can
boaft of. I may with honefly affirm to you, that not-
withftanding
FROM MR. GAY. 145
withflanding the many inconveniencies and dlfadvan-
tages they commonly talk of in the res angufta domi,
I have never found any other, than the inability of
giving people of merit the only certain proof of our
value for them, in doing them fome real fervice. For
after all, if we could but think a little, felf-love might
make us philofophers, and convince us quantuli indiget
Natura ! Ourfelves are eafily provided for ; 'tis no-
thing but the circumflantials, and the Apparatus or
equipage of human life, that cofts fo much the fur-
niming. Only what a luxurious man wants for
horfes and footmen, a good-natured man wants for
his friends or the indigent.
I mail fee you this winter with much greater plea-
fure than I could the laft ; and, I hope, as much of
your time, as your attendance on the Duchefs b will
allow you to fpare to any friend, will not be thought
loft upon one who is as much fo as any man. I muft
alfo put you in mind, though you are now Secretary
to this Lady, that you are likewife Secretary to nine
other Ladies, and are to write fometimes for them too.
He who is forced to live wholly upon thofe Ladies fa-
vours is indeed in as precarious a condition as any He
who does what Chaucer fays for fuftenance; but they
are very agreeable companions, like other Ladies,
when a man only pafles a night or fo with them at
his leifure, and away. I am
Your, etc.
k Duchefs of Momnouth, to whom he was juft then made Se-
cretary. P.
VOL. VIII. L
146 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER III.
Aug. 23, 1713.
TTUST as I received yours, I was fet down to write to
^ vou, with fome ihame that I had fo long deferred it.
But I can hardly repent my neglect, when it gives me
the knowledge how little you infift upon ceremony,
and how much a greater mare in your memory I have,
than I deferve. I have been near a week in London,
wherel am like to remain, till I become, by Mr. Jervas's
help, Elegans For mar urn Sped at or. I begin to dif-
cover beauties that were till now imperceptible to me.
Every corner of an eye, or turn of a nofe or ear, the
fmallefl degree of light or made on a cheek, or in a
dimple, have charms to diftraft me. I no longer look
upon Lord Plaufible as ridiculous, for admiring a
Lady's fine tip of an ear and pretty elbow, (as the
Plain Dealer has it,) but am in fome danger even
from the ugly and difagreeable, fince they may have
their retired beauties, in one trait or other about them.
You may guefs in how uneafy a ftate I am, when
every day the performances of others appear more
beautiful and excellent, and my own more defpi-
cable. I have thrown away three Dr. Swifts, each of
which was once my vanity, two Lady Bridgwaters, a
Duchefs of Montague, befides half a dozen Earls, and
one Knight of the Garter. I have crucified Chrift
over-again in effigie, and made a Madona as old as
4 her
FROM MR. GAY. 147
her mother St. Anne. Nay, what is yet more mira-
culous, I have rivalled St. Luke himfelf in painting,
and as, 'tis faid, an angel came and finifhed his piece,
fo, you would fwear, a devil put the lad hand to mine,
'tis fo begrim'd and fmutted. However I comfort
myfelf with a Chriftian reflection, that I have not
broken the commandment, for my pictures are not the
likenefs of any thing in heaven above, or in earth be-
low, or in the water under the earth. Neither will
any body adore or wormip them, except the Indians
mould have a fight of them, who, they tell us, worfhip
certain idols purely for their uglinefs.
I am very much recreated and refremed with the
news of the advancement of the Fan % whicli, I doubt
not, will delight the eye and fenfe of the fair, as long
as that agreeable machine mail play in the hands of
poflerity. I am glad your fan is mounted fo foon,
but I would have you varnifh and glaze it at your
leifure, and polifh the (licks as much as you can.
You may then caufe it to be borne in the hands of
both fexes, no lefs in Britain, than it is in China ;
where it is ordinary for a Mandarine to fan himfelf
cool after a debate, and a Statefman to hide his face
with it when he tells a grave lie.
I am, etc.
c A Poem of Mr. Gay's, fo intitled, not very ftriking or in-
terefting.
L 2
i 4 3 LETTERS TO AND
LETTER IV.
Dear Mr. Gay, Sept. 23, 1714.
"T TELCOME to your native foil d ! welcome to your
** friends! thrice welcome to me! whether re-
turned in glory, bleft with court-intereft, the love and
familiarity of the great, and filled with agreeable
hopes ; or melancholy with dejection, contemplative
of the changes of fortune, and doubtful for the future :
Whether returned a triumphant Whjg, or a defpond-
ing Tory, equally all hail ! equally beloved and wel-
come to me ! If happy, I am to partake in your eleva-
tion ; if unhappy, you have flill a warm corner in my
heart, and a retreat at Binfield in the worfl of times
at your fervice. If you are a Tory, or thought fo by
any man, I know it can proceed from nothing but
your gratitude to a few people who endeavoured to
ferve you, and whofe politics were never your con-
cern. If you are a Whig, as I rather hope, and as I
think, your principles and mine (as brother poets)
had ever a bias to the fide of Liberty, I know you
will be an honeft man, and an inoffenfive one. Upon
the whole, I know, you are incapable of being fo
much of either party as to be good for nothing.
Therefore,
d In the beginning of this year Mr. Gay went over to Hanover
with the Earl of Clarendon, who was fent thither by Q^Anne.
On her death they returned to England : and it was on this oc-
cafion that Mr. Pope met him with this friendly welcome. W.
FROM MR. GAY. 149
Therefore, once more, whatever you are, or in what-
ever (late you are, all hail !
One or two of your own friends complained they
had heard nothing from you fmce the Queen's death j
I told them no man living loved Mr. Gay better than
I, yet I had not once written to him in all his voyage.
This I thought a convincing proof, how truly one maybe
a friend to another without telling him fo every month.
But they had reafons too themfelves to allege in your
excufe ; as men who really value one another will
never want fuch as make their friends and themfelves
eafy. The late univerfal concern in public affairs
threw us all into a hurry of fpirits : Even I, who am
more a philofopher than to expect any thing from any
Reign, was born away with the current, and full of
the expectation of the Succeflbr : During your jour-
neys I knew not whither to aim a letter after you j
that was a fort of mooting flying : add to this the de-
mand Homer had upon me, to write fifty verfes a day,
befides learned notes, all which are at a conclufion
for this year. Rejoice with me, O my friend ! that
my labour is over ; come and make merry with me
in much feafting : We will feed among the lilies (by
the lilies I mean the Ladies). Are not the Rofalinda's
of Britain as charming as the Bloufalinda's of the
Hague ? or have the two great Paftoral Poets of our
nation renounced love at the fame time ? for Philips,
immortal Philips, hath deferted, yea, and in a ruflic
manner kicked, his Rofalind. Dr. Parnelle and I
L 3 have
150 LETTERS TO AND
have been infeparable ever fmce you went. We arc
now at the Bath, where (if you ,are not, as I heartily
hope, better engaged) your coming would be the
greateft pleafure to us in the world. Talk not of
expences : Homer mall fupport his children. I beg
a line from you directed to the Poft-houfe in Bath.
Poor Parnelle is in an ill ftate of health.
Pardon me, if I add a word of advice in the poeti-
cal way. Write fomething on the King, or Prince,
or Princefs. On whatfoever foot you may be with
the court, this can do no harm. I mall never know
where to end, and am confounded in the many things
I have to fay to you, though they all amount but to
this, that I am entirely, as ever,
Your, etc.
LETTER V.
London, Nov. 8, 1717.
T AM extremely glad to find by a Letter of yours to
Mr. Fortefcue, that you have received one from
me; and I beg you to keep as the greateft of curiofities,
that letter of mine which you received, and I never
writ.
But the truth is, that we were made here to expect
you in a Ihort time, that I was upon the ramble moft
part
FROM MR. GAY. i 5I
part of the Summer, and have concluded the feafon
in grief, for the death of my poor father.
I mail not enter into a detail of my concerns and
troubles, for two reafons ; becaufe I am really afflicted
and need no airs of grief, and becaufe they are not
the concerns and troubles of any but myfelf. But I
think you (without too great a compliment) enough
my friend, to be pleafed to know he died eafily, with-
out a groan, or the ficknefs of two minutes ; in a
word, as filently and peacefully as he lived.
Sic mihi contingat vivere, ficque mori !
I am not in the humour to fay gay things, nor in
the affectation of avoiding them. I can't pretend to
entertain either Mr. Pultney or you, as you have done
both my Lord Burlington and me, by your Letter to
Mr. Lowndes e . I am only forry you have no greater
quarrel to Mr. Lowndes, and wifh you paid fome hun-
dreds a year to the land-tax. That gentleman is lately
become an inoftenfive perfon to me too ; fo that we
may join heartily in our addreffes to him, and (like
true patriots) rejoice in all that good done to the na-
tion and government, to which we contribute nothing
ourfelves.
I mould not forget to acknowledge your letter fent
from Aix ; you told me then that writing was not
good
e A Poem intitled, To my ingenious and worthy friend W.
Lowndes, Efq; Author of that celebrated treatife in Folio, called
the LAND-TAX BILL.
152 LETTERS TO AND
good with the waters, and I find fmce, you are of my
opinion, that 'tis as bad without the waters. But, I
fancy, it is not writing but thinking, that is fo bad
with the waters ; and then you might write without
any manner of prejudice, if you write like our bro-
ther Poets of thefe days.
The Duchefs, Lord Warwick, Lord Stanhope,
Mrs. Bellenden, Mrs. Lepell, and I can't tell who elfe,
had your Letters : Dr. Arbuthnot and I expeft to be