lieve me, when I fay a bold word for a Chriftian, that, of all dogs, you will find none more faithful than

Your, &c.

LETTER XI.

April 10, 1710.

I Had written to you fooner, but that I made some fcruple of fending profane things to you in holy week. Befides, our family would have been fcandaliz'd to fee me write, who take it for granted I write nothing but ungodly verfes. I affure you, I am look'd upon in the neighbourhood for a very well-difpos'd perfon, no great Hunter indeed, but a great admirer of the noble sport, and only unhappy in my want of conftitution for that, and Drinking. They' all fay, 'tis pity I am fo fickly, and I think 'tis pity they are fo healthy. But I fay nothing that may destroy their good opinion of me: I have not quoted one Latin author fince I came down, but have learn'd without book a fong of Mr. Thomas Durfey's, who is your only Poet of tolerable reputation in this country. He makes all the merriment in our entertainments, and but for him, there would be so miserable a dearth of catches, that, I fear, they would put either the Parfon

Parfon or me upon making some for 'em. Any man, of any quality, is heartily welcome to the best toping-table of our gentry, who can roar out fome Rhapsodies of his works: fo that in the fame manner as it was faid of Homer to his detractors, What? dares any man speak against him who has given fo many men to eat? (meaning the Rhapfodifts who liv'd by repeating his verfes) thus may it be faid of Mr. Dur¬ fey to his detractors; Dares any one defpife him, who has made so many men drink? Alas, Sir! this is a glory which neither you nor I must ever pretend to. Neither you with your Ovid, nor I with my Statius, can amufe a board of justices and extraordinary 'fquires, or gain one hum of approbation, or laugh of admiration, These Things (they would fay) are too ftudious, they may do well enough with fuch as love reading, but give us your ancient Poet Mr. Durfey! 'Tis mortifying enough, it must be confess'd; but however let us proceed in the way that nature has directed us---Multi multa fciunt, fed nemo omnia, as it is faid in the almanack. Let us communicate our works for our mutual comfort; fend me elegies, and you shall not want heroics. At present, I have only these Arguments in profe to the Thebaid, which you claim by promife, as I do your Tranflation of Pars me Sulmo tenet---and the

Ring; the reft I hope for as foon as you can conveniently transcribe them, and whatsoever orders you are pleas'd to give me shall be punctually obey'd by Your, &c.

LETTER XII.

May 10, 1710.

Had not fo long omitted to express my acknowledgments to you for fo much goodnature and friendship as you lately show'd me; but that I am but juft return'd to my own hermitage, from Mr. C*'s, who has done me so many favours, that I am almoft inclin'd to think my friends infect one another, and that your conversation with him has made him as obliging to me as yourself. I can affure you, he has a fincere refpect for you, and this, I believe, he has partly contracted from me, who am too full of you not to overflow upon thofe I converse with. But I must now be contented to converse only with the dead of this world, that is to say, the dull and obfcure, every way obfcure, in their intellects as well as their perfons or else have recourfe to the living dead, the old Authors with whom you are fo well acquainted, even from Virgil down to Aulus Gellius, whom I do not think a critic by any

means

means to be compar'd to Mr. Dennis And I muft declare pofitively to you, that I will perfift in this opinion, till you become a little more civil to Atticus. Who could have imagin'd, that he, who had efcap'd all the misfortunes of his time, unhurt even by the profcriptions of Antony and Auguftus, fhould in these days find an enemy more severe and barbarous than those tyrants? and that enemy the gentlest too, the beft-natur'd of mortals, Mr. Cromwell, whom I must in this compare once more to Auguftus: who seem'd not more unlike himfelf, in the severity of one part of his life and the clemency of the other, than you. I leave you to reflect on this, and hope that time (which mollifies rocks, and of stiff things makes limber) will turn a refolute critic to a gentle reader; and instead of this pofitive, tremendous, new-fashion'd Mr. Cromwell, reftore unto us our old acquaintance, the foft, beneficent, and courteous Mr. Cromwell.

I expect much, towards the civilizing of you in your critical capacity, from the innocent air and tranquillity of our Foreft, when you do me the favour to vifit it. In the mean time, it would do well by way of preparative, if you would duly and constantly every morning read over a paftoral of Theocritus or Virgil; and let the lady Ifabella put your Macrobius and Aulus

Aulus Gellius fomewhere out of your way, for a month or fo. Who knows, but travelling and long airing in an open field, may contribute more fuccessfully to the cooling a critic's feverity, than it did to the affuaging of Mr. Cheek's anger, of old? In these fields, you will be fecure of finding no enemy, but the most faithful and affectionate of your friends, &c.

LETTER XIII.

a

May 17, 1710.

FTER I had recover'd from a dangerous illness which was first contracted in town, about a fortnight after my coming hither I troubled you with a letter, and paper inclos'd, which you had been fo obliging as to defire a fight of when last I saw you, promising me in return some translations of yours from Ovid. Since when, I have not had a syllable from your hands, fo that 'tis to be fear'd that tho' I have efcap'd death, I have not oblivion. I should at least have expected you to have finish'd that elegy upon me, which, you told me, you was upon the point of beginning when I was fick in London; if you will but do fo much for me a Verses on Silence, in chefter's poem on Nothing; imitation of the Earl of Ro- done at fourteen years old. P.