rality of the people; which I am almost confident to effect, if I may presume upon the following assistances *: 186. TO MR. KEALLY. SIR, JULY 26, 1711. HAPPENING to be now at Mr. Addison's lodgings, and talking of you (which we often do with great affection), I recollected that I had not yet thanked you you for your great kindness to Mr. Bateman. The poor man acknowledges he should have made nothing of his journey without your assistance; for which you will ever have the blessings of his numerous family. You have laid an infinite obligation upon me in it. My most humble service to Mr. Thomas Vesey, who, I am sorry to hear, mistakes mé. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. RICH. STEELE. *Here the letter breaks off abruptly. 187. TO 187. TO THE SPECTATOR. AUG. 2, 1711. WENT this evening to visit a friend, with a design to rally him, upon a story I had heard of his intending to steal a marriage without the privity of us his intimate friends and acquaintance *. I came * This extract from the Spectator, No CXXXIII, is selected to do justice to the memory of a friend of Steele, whose kindness he acknowledges in several passages of the preceding letters (see pp. 149, 152, 153, &c.). On good authority it may be now told, that the character here so affectionately drawn, is that of Stephen Clay, ésq. This gentleman was the son and heir of Edmund Clay, a haberdasher in London: was admitted of the honourable Society of the Inner Temple, Nov. 16, 1693; and called to the Bar, Nov. 24, 1700. Great pains have been taken to recover some account of this ingenious Lawyer; but they have not been attended with much success. The two following short poems may probably incline the reader to sympathize in the regret that this enquiry has not been more fruitful of discoveries: The MAID'S COMPLAINT; a SONG, by STEPHEN CLAY, Esq. Custom, alas! does partial prove, into his apartment with that intimacy which I have done for very many years, and walked directly into his bed-chamber, where I found my friend in the agonies of death. What could I do? The innocent mirth in my thoughts struck upon me like the most flagitious wickedness: I in vain called upon him; he was senseless, and too far spent to have the least knowledge of my sorrow, or any pain in ́himself. Give me leave then to transcribe my soliloquy, as I stood by his mother, dumb with the weight of grief for a son who was her honour, and Then equal laws let Custom find, Nor thus the sex oppress; SONG, in Imitation of an Ode of HORACE to BARINE. Oh! that I could one blemish find, To moderate my pain! On that alone I'd fix my mind, And you shall charm in vain. I ran thy face and body o'er, But thou art lovely there; Through all mankind you spread desires, Old age no freedom knows; And as each youth to man aspires, Your empire larger grows. But all that's female you must shun, Their envy sooths your pride, You rob the mother of her son, And of her spouse the bride. See Roscommon's Miscellaneous Works, 1709, 8vo, Part VIII. her her comfort, and never till that hour, since his birth, had been an occasion of a moment's sorrow to her. « How surprising is this change! from the possession of vigorous life and strength, to be reduced in a few hours to this fatal extremity! Those lips, which look so pale and livid, within these few days gave delight to all who heard their utterance! It was the business, the purpose of his being, next to obeying Him (to whom he is going), to please and instruct, and that for no other end but to please and instruct. Kindness was the motive of his actions; and, with all the capacity requisite for making a figure in a contentious world, moderation, good-nature, affability, temperance, and chastity, were the arts of his excellent life. There as he lies in helpless agony, no wise man, who knew him so well as I, but would resign all the world can bestow, to be so near the end of such a life. Why does my heart so little obey my reason as to lament thee, thou excellent man!-Heaven receive him, or restore him!-Thy beloved mother, thy obliged friends, thy helpless servants, stand around thee without distinction. How much wouldst thou, hadst thou thy senses, say to each of us! "But now that good heart bursts, and he is at rest! With that breath expired a soul who never indulged a passion unfit for the place he is gone to! Where are now thy plans of justice, of truth, of honour? of what use the volumes thou hast collated, the arguments thou hast invented, the examples thou hast followed? Poor were the expectations of the studious, the modest, and the good, if the reward reward of their labours were only to be expected from man. No, my friend, thy intended pleadings, thy intended good offices to thy friends, thy intended services to thy country, are already performed (as to thy concern in them) in His sight before whom the past, present, and future, appear at one view. While others with thy talents were tormented with ambition, with vain glory, with envy, with emulation, how well didst thou turn thy mind to its own improvement in things out of the power of fortune, in probity, in integrity, in the practice and study of justice! How silent thy passage! how private thy journey! how glorious thy end! Many have I known more famous, some more knowing, not one so innocent." 188. TO THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. MY LORD, JAN. 1, 1711-12. IT was with the utmost consternation I, this day, heard your Grace had received a dismission from all your employments *: and lest you should, out of * "On the 30th of December, the Queen declared in Council, that her Majesty being acquainted, that an information against the Duke of Marlborough was laid before the House of Com mons by the Commissioners of the public accounts; her Majesty thought fit to dismiss him from all employments, that that matter might take an impartial examination. And the next day her Majesty sent his Grace a letter, written with her own hand, signifying her royal pleasure to resume all the employments she had intrusted him with." Life of Queen Anne, p. 415. the |