in no very thriving ftate here, as indeed no where else in Italy; however, among many pretenders, fonie men of tafte are to be met with. A friend of mine told me not long fince, that, being to vifit Salvini at Florence, he found him reading your Homer: he liked the notes extremely, and could find no other fault with the ver fion, but that he thought it approached too near a páraphrafe; which fhews him not to be fufficiently acquainted with our language. I wish you health to go on with that noble work, and when you have that, I need not wish you fuccefs. You will do me the justice to believe, that whatever relates to your welfare is fincerely wifhed by Your, &c.

LETTER. VIII.

Mr. POPE to ***,

Dec. 12, 1718.

THE old project of a Window in the bofom, to

ho

render the Soul of man vifible, is what every neft friend has manifold reafon to wifh for; yet even that would not do in our cafe, while you are fo far fe parated from me, and fo long. I begin to fear you'lld die in Ireland, and that Denunciation will be fulfilled upon you, Hibernas in Hiberniam reverteris. I fhould be apt to think you in Sancho's cafe; fome Duke has made you Governor of an Ifland, or wet place, and you are adminiftring laws to the wild Irish. But I must own, when you talk of Building and Plant

es,

1

ing, you touch my ftring; and I am as apt to pardon you, as the fellow that thought himself Jupiter would have pardon'd the other madinan who call'd himself his brother Neptune. Alas, Sir, do you know whom you talk to? one that has been a Poet, was degraded to a Tranflator, and at laft, thre' mere dulnefs, is tur ned an Architect. You know Martial's cenfure, Praconem facito vel Architectum. However, I have one way left, to plan, to elevate, and to furprize, (as Bays fays) the next news you may expect to hear, is that I am in debt.

The hiftory of my Tranfplantation and fettlement which you defire, would require a volume, were I to enumerate tke many projects, difficulties, viciffitudes, and various fates attending that important part of my life: much more, fhould I defcribe the many Draughts, Elevations, Profiles, Perspectives, &c. of every Palace and Garden propos'd, intended, and happily raised, by the ftrength of that faculty wherein all great Genius's excel, Imagination. At last, the Gods and fate have fix'd me on the borders of the Thames, in the diftricts of Richmond and Twickenham: It is here I

have passed an entire year of my life, without any fix'd abode in London, or more than cafting a transitory glance (for a day or two at moft in a month) on the pomps of the Town. It is here I hope to receive you, Sir, returned from eternizing the Ireland of this age. For you my ftructures rife; for you my Colonades extend their wings; for you my groves afpire, and rofes bloom, And, to fay truth, I hope pofterity (which, no doubt, will be made acquainted with all these things) will look upon it as one of the principal motives of my

Architecture, that it was a manfion prepar'd to receive you, against your own fhould fall to duft, which is deftin'd to be the tomb of poor Frank and Betty, and the immortal monument of the Fidelity of two fuch Servants, who have excell'd in conftancy the very Rats of your family.

and

What more 'can I tell you of myself? so much, yet all put together fo little, that I fcarce care or know, how to do it. But the very reasons that are against putting it upon paper, are as ftrong for telling it you in perfon; and I am uneafy to be fo long denied the fatisfaction of it.

At prefent I confider you bound in by the Irifh Sea, like the ghofts in Virgil,

Trifti palus inamabilis unda

Alligat, & novies Styx circumfufa coërcet!

and I can't exprefs how I long to renew our old intercourse and conversation, our morning conferences in bed in the fame room, our evening walks in the park, our amufing voyages on the water, our philosophical fuppers, our lectures, our differtations, our gravities, our reveries, our fooleries, our what not? This awakens the memory of fome of thofe who have made a part in all these. Poor Parnelle, Garth, Rowe! You justly reprove me for not speaking of the death of the laft Parnelle was too much in my mind, to whose memory I am erecting the best Monument I can. What he gave me to publifh, was but a small part of what he left behind him; but it was the beft, and I will not make it worse by enlarging it. I'd fain know if he be Vol. VII.

S

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buried at Chefter, or Dublin; and what care has been, or is to be taken for his Monument, &c. Yet I have not neglected my devoirs to Mr. Rowe; I am writing this very day his Epitaph for Westminster - Abbey After thefe, the best natur'd of Men, Sir Samuel Girth, has left me in the trueft concern for his lofs. His death was very heroical, and yet unaffected enough to have made a Saint or a Philofopher famous. But ill tongues, and worfe hearts have branded even his last moments, as wrongfully as they did his life, with Irreligion. You must have heard many tales on this fubject; but if ever there was a good Chriftian without knowing himself to be fo (e), it was Dr. Garth.

Your, &c.

T

LETTER IX.

To Mr. **

Sept. 17.

HE gaiety of your letter proves you not fo ftudious of Wealth as many of your profeffion are, fince you can derive, matter of mirth from want of bu finefs. You are, none of thofe Lawyers who deferve the motto of the devil, Circuit. quærens quem devoret. But your Circuit will at least procure you one of the greatest of temporal bleffings, Health. What an ad vantageous circunftance is it, for one that loves ramb

(e) This fuppofes rather an abfolute ignorance of Christianity than a rejeétion of it.

し

ling fo well, to be a grave and reputable rambler? while (like your fellow Circuiteer, the Sun) you travel the round of the earth, and behold all the iniquities under the heavens? You are much a fuperior genius to me in rambling; you, like a Pigeon (to which I would fooner compare a Lawyer than to a Hawk) can fly fome hundred leagues at a pitch; I, like a poor fquirrel, am continually in motion indeed, but it is about a cage of three foot: my little excurfions are but like thofe of a fhopkeeper, who walks every day a mile or two before his own door, but minds his bufiness all the while. Your letter of the Caufe lately before you, I could not but communicate to fome ladies of your acquaintance. I am of opinion, if you continued a correspondence of the fame fort during a whole Circuit, it could not fail to please the fex, better than half the novels they read; there would be in them what they love above all things, a most happy union of Truth and Scandal. I affure you the Bath affords nothing equal to it: It is on the contrary full of grave and fad men, Mr. Baron S. Lord chief Justice A. Judge P. and Counsellor B. who has a large pimple on the tip of his nofe, but thinks it inconfiftent with his gravity to wear a patch, notwithstanding the precedent of an eminent judge. I am, dear Sir,

Your, &c.