I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE WORKS, I N VERSE AND PROSE, O F WILLIAM SHENSTONE, Efq; VOL. III. CONTAINING LFTTERSto particular FRIENDS, from the Year 1739 to 1763. , THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON, Printed for J. DODSLEY, in Pall-mall, M D C C L X I X. ' PR * 3 ^77 A! C "i ] \'7. P R E F A C E. THOUGH the Character of Mr. .SHENSTONE is too well known, and his Reputation as a Writer too firmly efta- blifhed, to require any further commenda- tion, yet it may perhaps be expected that fame apology mould be made for this Ad- ditional Volume of his Works, containing Familiar Letters to fome of his moft in- timate Friends. To thofe who may think fuch an apo- logy requifite, it might be fufficient to Jay, that the reception which the former Vo- lumes have met v/ith, affords the ftrongeft reaibn to believe that an addition to them would be very acceptable to the Public ; aad that the Author's talent in tpifialary- writing appears not to have been inferior to that which dillinguimes his other compo- iltions. a 2 JBi;r 1214961 i* PREFACE. BUT it may be objected, that, whatever their merit may be. Letters, not intended for the Public, ought not to be published ; and that an act of this kind is a violation of Private Friendfhip. THIS objection, it muft be confefled, car- ries with it fuch an air of delicacy, that the perfons here concerned are very willing to give it all due attention. At the fame time they cannot but obierve, that it will not hold in all cafes, and therefore muft un- avoidably be fubject to fome limitations that thefe limitations muft vary, as the cir- cumftances of cafes happen to vary and that not to make proper allowances for fuch circumftances is highly unreafonable in- jurious to many who have deferved well of the Public by this very conduct, and detri- mental to the interefts of Literature. It might perhaps be difficult, and is' by no means neceffary, to enumerate thefe feveral limitations. It will be fufficient in this place to fay, that where neither the repu- tation PREFACE. v tation of the Writer, nor that of any other perfon, is injured, there the force of the objection evidently ceafes. And it is not only believed, on the molt mature delibera- tion, that this is the cafe in the prefent in- ftance ; but moreover that there are pofitive good realbns in its favour, reipecting as well the Writer's character in this fpecics of compofition, as the fatisfactipn and enter- tainment of the Reader. THE encouragement which has been nfually given to Works of this nature might feem to make thefe obfervations un- necefTary ! But it was not thought fufficient barely to melter this publication under the fanction of fuch an authority ; as it is well known that the wantonnefs of curiofity has fometimes encouraged defigns by no means juftifiable : and it is as readily acknowledg- ed that the following Letters are deficient in many particulars requifite to excite that curiofity, being neither written on popular fubjects, nor addrefled to perfons of rank 3 and vi PREFACE. and eminence in the world. They will not fail however to afford an agreeable enter- tainment to fuch as can relim an animated difplay of the various efforts of a fine Ima- gination for a length of years, whether amufmg itfelf with rural embellimments, or occupied in ether pleafures of learned re- tirement, and a warm difmterefted friend- mip. Such are the fubjecls of the follow- ing Letters ! and if any perfon mould ftill retain a doubt concerning the propriety of perpetuating them in this manner, he mail be finally referred to the Writer's own au- thority, who, in a letter dated October 23, 1754, thus exprefies himfelf: ! " I CONFESS to you that I am confidera- " bly mortified by Mr. W 's conducl in " regard to thofe Letters (meaning his ov, n " letters to that gentleman's brother) ; and, " rather than they Ihould have been fo un- " necefiafilv deftroyed, would have given " more money than it is allowable for me " to mention with decency. I look upon " my P R E F A C E. vii * e my Letters as fome of my cbjtf-f&tvrej ; and could I be fuppofed to have the frnal- " left pretenfions to propriety of ftyle or fen- " timent, I mould imagine it muft appear " principally in my Letters to his brother, " and one or two more friends. I confider " them as the records of a friendlhip that " will be always dear to me, and as the " hiflory of my mind for thefe twenty years " paft." WHEN it is confidered how feldom fo valuable a collection of real correfpondence is to be met with, and how difficult it is to fupply the want of it by a fictitious one, it cannot be doubted that the Public will be pleafed to fee the lofs here complained of fo well repaired, and to be furnifhed with fuch genuine examples of the Author's ftyle and fentiments, together with an authentic hiftory of his mind, for fo long a fpace of time. To conclude : The talents of this Au- thor, on whatever fubjcft they were exercifed, 2 were viii PREFACE. were fo uncommon, and the fame of his lit- tle Ferme ornee, under the conduct of a tafte entirely original, was become fo confiderable, that every fpecimen of the one, and every anecdote relative to the improvement of the other, feemed too interefting to be buried in oblivion : at leaft, they were thought fo by thofe to whom, the greater part of this Collection is addrefled: perfons indeed confeffedly partial to the Writer's talents, and interefted in his commendations , but at the fame time perfons neither fo regard- lefs of their Friend's reputation, nor. their own, as to have hazarded either, without the ftrongeft perfuafion that their partiality had not impofed upon their judgement i and that it was no indecent oftentation in them, by this public act, to teftify, that they efteemed it 'not only a peculiar felicity in their fortunes, but likewife fome degree of credit, to have enjoyed the pleafures of fuch aFriendfhip throughout fo confiderable a period of human life. MR. I ' 3 MR. SHENSTONE'S LETTERS. I. To Mr. JAGO, with a Song, and the Author's Sentiments on Mufical Compofition. Dear Sir, AS my head is confiderably more confufed than ufual, by reafon of a bad cold, I mall aim no higher in this letter than at bare recitative, referving all my airs for a feafon when my mind is more in time. Such, I hope, will be the time which you fet apart to attend the chief mu/tcian, at Birmingham. I thorough- VOL. III. B ly 2- MR. S HENS TONE'S ly defign to lend an ear to bis performance, 0n tion he will not refufe one to a propofal I intend to make, of having, one day or other, a merry ftrain at The Leafowes. But if you have any penchant to fee the face of your humble fervant at Birmingham, your moft effectual way will be to inform him when thefe folemn nuptials betwixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle- dee are to be coiifummated. I will, certes, not be abfeni at the throwing of the flocking, any more than Parfon Evans in Shakefpear would be " abfence at the grace." I have fent a fong, not that I am ftire I have not fent it before ; but that, if you can ice any joke that it containeth,, the fore-mentioned gentleman may be afked to tranflate it into mufic. When I ufe this expreffion, you will, peradventure,. look upon it as my opinion, that in mulical compo- fitions found ought as much to anfwer fenfe as one language does another, infomuch, that fuch and fuch thoughts ought to bring into our heads fuch and fuch founds, and i>ice verfa^ But in cafe there is no fenfe, and no thought, the more languages a fentence- r, translated into, the more 'tis expofed. And in cafe it be the misfortune of my little piece to have neither, I beg that Mr. Mamett may not inform any- body wJiat it fignifies in rnufic. As a farther proof of the confufed flate of my intellects, you fee, almolt at the end of my letter, my thanks for the packet^ :c. which ought to have been placed in the very front of it, in order to exprefs, in feme degree, the fenfe LETTERS. 3 fenfe I have of your favours. I long to fee you ; and am* dear Sir, Your mdft obedient aad faithful fervant, W. SONG. " When bright Ophelia treads the greeu " In all the pride of drefs and mien ; '* Averfe to freedom, mirth, and play, The lofty rival of the day ; "< Methinks to my enchanted eye, " The lilies droop, the rofes die. " But when, difdaining art, the fair " Affumes a foft, engaging air: *' Mild as the opening morn of May, " And as the feather'd warblers gay : " The fcene improves where'er me goes, "juft hatched, and has brought all her eggs to " good." " That's brave indeed, fays I." "Ay,- that " it is, Cays &e, fo be and't pleafe G d an how that " they liven, there'll be a glorious parcel of 'em. a His houfe-kecper, of whom very rtfpeftful mention is in the courfe of this correfpondence. " Shall L T T E 'R S. 5 ' Shall I bring 'em up for you to fee?" fays fne. "No, thank yc, Mrs. Arnold, fays I; but aren't " ye in fome apprehenfions from the kite, Mrs. Arnold ?" "No, Sir, fays fhe, I hope there's KO *' danger ; I takes pretty good care of 'em." " I ** don't queftion your care, fays I ; for you're feldom " without a duck or a chicken about you." " Poor " pretty cretin! fays fhe ; look here, Mafter, thjs has "gotten a fpeck of black upon her tail/' " Aj, " I thought you wern't without one about you, fays " 1 1 don't think, fays I, Mrs. Arnold, but your " foul was defign'il for a hen, originally." " Why, " and if 1 h.,d been a hen, fays fhe, I believe I fliould " have done as much for my chickens as yonder " great black-and-white hen does, tho' I fay't that " fhou'd not fay't, faid fhe." Aye, that you would, thought I. " Well, but now when Mr. Jago come?, ' have you got e'er a chicken that's ft to kill ?" " No, fays Ihe, I doubt there is ne'er-a-one." " Well, fays I, Mrs. Arnold, you and your chicken " may go dow ; n ; I am going to write a letter,." So I fat down, and wrote thus for : fcratde, fcrattle, goes the pen why how now r fays 1 -r- what's the matter with the pen ? So J thought I would make an end of my letter, becaufe my pen went fcr at tie, fcrat- tle. Well, I warrant I fhall have little pleafure when Mr. Jago comes ; for I never fixed my heart much upon any thing in my life, but fome misfor- tune happened to balance my pleal'urc. After all, B i thought 6 MR. SHE N STONE'S thought I, it muft be fame very ill accident that out- weighs the pleafure I fhall take in feeing him. Leafowes, July 22. W. SHENSTONE. III. To a Friend, too ceremonioufly declining to purchafe a Horfe for him. ' ' SIR, 1739. T CANNOT avoid imagining the firftpart of your * letter was mere raillery. I am fure it gave me a good deal of pleafure (for I can bear very well to hear my foibles expofed, though not my faults), and On that account muft needs make grateful mention of it. I acknowledge the oddnefs of the letter which occafioned it, and could not expect that fuch an ill- formed application could have produced an anfwer fo very oratorical. In the firft place, you lay open the fubjeft, or indeed, what you call the offices in which I am pleafed to employ you. In the next, you alledge your own inability to enter upon mat- ters of fuch great concernment. Th.at this is rhe- torical, nay, pure rhetoric, I gather from the ex- ordiums of all the declamations that I ever heard in my life. 'Tis, moreover, not uncommon with de- daimers to give fome reafons why they fhould not -V'olutely decline the fubjeft, though they are fen- fible LETTERS. 7 fible of their infufh'ciency (otherwife they might be xpecled to fit .down, and hold their tongues). And this is what you have done, by faying that you are unwilling to diflent from the world in regard to the fubjeds you are engaged in ; that you, therefore, chofe to iteer a middle courfe, by that means avoid- ing the imputation of prefuinption on the one hand, and indifference on the other. When this is done, you enter gravely upon the fubjeft, and, to give it a greater perfpicuity, divide it into two parts. The firft part happens to be " concerning the purchafe of " an horfe," On this occafion, you inform me, that' I am in a good country for horfes ; and fecondly, that 1 have a number of acquaintance round about me, who are very well ikilled in the nature of them. Now each of thefe informations feems, at firft fight, to mean no more than what I have better opportunities of knowing than the perfon who informs me, and, on this account, to err in point of fuperfluity. Bur, apon fecond thoughts, they have this force (to fpeak like a grammarian) ; namely, that I am entirely negligent of my own affairs ; and, fecondly, that I care not whom I give trouble to, if I can but avoid it myfelf ; fo that the fentences have really a beauty, when one fearches beneath their fuperficies. After you have faid this and more, which includes all that can be faid upon the fubject, you defcend to the fe- cond divifion, in relation to which I am too grateful to be cthenvife than ferious in my acknowledge- ments. 84 I HAD 8 MR. SHENSTONE'S I HAD not expatiated thus far, but to fhew that I am not infenfible of a fneer ; nor fhould I expatiate any farther, but to prove that I am equally fenfible of a favour. I DESIRE you would believe, that I abfolutely af- fect to your critique : That fome of your fentiments were my own before I communicated the verfes ; and others, as foon as you had favoured me with the dif- covery of them. : That 1 would, per prtffentes, return 'iriy thanks for thern-j which you might juftly have claimed, whether I had approved them or not. One exception to this approbation my modelty bids me mention, on account of your too great partiality hi my favour. My gratitude you are entitled to with- out exception or limitation. IT will, perhaps, gratify your curiofity to know, that Mr. G. has a copy of verfes in the laft maga- zine, entitled, ^ The little Cur." There are feveral ilrokes that are pi&urefque and humourous ; I be- lieve it was done in hafte. The motto is exquifite, and much more properly applied by Mr. G. than, the Emperor Adrian, in my opinion, notvvithflanding all that Pope fays. Tell me your judgement of Mr. L 1 ; n's in the fame paper. The epigram " Tq " ( one who refufed to walk in the Park, &c." is a good one. I HAVE LETTERS. 9 I HAVE waved fending the verfes to Mr. Somervile at prefent, becatife I hope to fee you foon either at The Leafowes or at Birmingham. I cannot tell whether I (hall have time to inclofe in this letter my ballad. If I do, confider it only as fome words that I chufe to make ufe of to fome notes of which I am more than ordinarily fond b . It is as much defigned for my own finging (in private I mean) as ever was a bottle of cherry-brandy for an old woman's drinking. Now I think of it, I really believe that I every day approach nearer and nearer to the capacity, the way, the infignificancy, of an old woman. Mrs. Arnold has certainly, by her charms, her incantations, and her converfations together, contributed a good deal to this transformation. Pray come over if you can, and try to reintlate me in my right mind, in propor- tion to the foundnefs of which I mall be more and more Your friend and fervant, W. S. b The tune " Come, and liften to my ditty, &c." The words founded upon a true hiftory of Queen Elizabeth, who, looking from a caftle wherein (he was a prifoner, and feeing a country milk-maid finging, exprefTed great envy at the girl's condition, and difTatisfavtion with regard to her own. IV. To MR. SHENSTON'S IV. To the fame, from Town. Dear Sir, '739- IRETUR.N you my thanks, moil heartily, for the poetical refentment which you have ihewn againft my cenfurers, the Riddle-mailers. I have fenC Mr. Somervile's veries and yours to Cave ; though I am afhamed to own I negleeled it fo long, that, I fear, he will have no room for them this month. If you can extirpate falfe wit in a manner, you will do no fmall fervice to the true : you do no fmall koiaur to it, whether you extirpate the other or not. You have heard of the motion ; have heard, pro- bably, all that I can tell you of it : That it was ill- concerted ; that it has done the oppofition great dif- fervice ; that the King is now confirmed in the opi- nion of Sir Robert's honefty; that the younger Mr. Pitt's fpeech was the moft admired on the oppofite fide, and Sir R t's on the court fide ; that they did not leave the Houfe till five in the morning ; that Sir R t and P y are fo violent, that the Sp r is continually calling them to order; finally, that the affair has cccafioned this print, which I addrefs to your curiofity" merely, though the lines upon the Bi- (hop are humourous enough. Now I mention curio- fity- ; do you take^notice of the many quaint con- trivances LETTERS. 11 trivances made ufe of to catch peoples natural in- quifitivenefs in the pamphlets, viz. " Are thefe *< things To r" " Yes, they are." What then ?" " The devil of a ftory." " Hoy, boys." " Up go ' we." And a thoafand others. What do you think muft be my expence, who love to pry into every thing of this kind f Why, truly, one fhilling. My company goes to George's Coffee-houfe, where, for that fmall fubfcription, I read all pamphlets un- der a three-fhilling dimenfions ; and, indeed, any larger ones would not be fit for coffee-houfe perufal. T Lord Dudley lent me two fermons, given him at the Houfe of Lords, which I read laft night. In the firft, there are a great many deep animadverfions delivered in a ftyle that is tolerable ; in the other^ there is as great a want of common Englim as there is plenty of common obfervations. Have you feen the fermons on the Martyrdom and on the Fait-day f If you read either, fend for the firft. You'll find ine degenerate from a gentle bard into a fnarling critic, if my poem does not pleafe (you'll fay I am no very candid one at prefent) : but let its fate be what it will, I (hall lay no fmall rtrefs upon the opinion of fome that have approved it. As it is at prefent in keeping, it difcovers no uncommon impudence, and runs no very great rifque ; but who can anfwer for it, when it has the gracelefThefs to come upon the town? Ora pro nobis muft foon be my motto. Its vir- tues and faults will then be incapable of addition or diminution, iz MR. S HENS TONE'S diminution, and the pious aflirtance of friends muft but I am no Roman Catholic. The intrinfic merit of a book when it is printed, as well as the pad life and converfation of a man that is departd, muft damn, or give it immortality I mean, to a certain degree. I fcribble what comes uppermoft, and defire you would do the fame. Yours, W. S. V* To a Friend, from London, dfcribing his Tem- per, and Manner of Living there. From Mr. Wintle's, Per- fumer, near Temple- Dear Sir, Bar, &c. 6th Feb. 1740. I A M now with regard to the toivn pretty much in the fame itate in which I expect to be always with regard to thewor/d'; fometimes exclaiming and railing againlt -it ; fometimes giving it a good word, and even admiring it. A fun-miny day, a tavern- fupper after a play we'll adted, and now and then an invigorating breath of air in the Mall, never fail of producing a cbearful effeft. I don't know whe- ther I gave you any account of Quin's acling Fal- flaff in my former letter : I really imagined that I iawyou tittering on one fide me, fhaking ycur fides, and fometimes fcarce containing youifelf. You win 7 pardon LETTERS. f3 pardon the attitude in which I placed you, fince it was what feemed natural at that circumftance of time. Comus I have once been at, for the fake of the fongs, though I dcteft it in any light : but as a dra- matic piece, the taking of it feems a prodigy \ yet in- deed fucb-a-one, as was pretty tolerably accounted for by a gentleman who fat by me in the boxes. This learned fage, being afked how he liked the play, made anfwer, * He could not tell pretty well, he thought 44 or indeed as well as any other play he always " took it, that people only canae there to fee and to " be feen for as for what was faid, he owned, " he never underftood any thing of the matter." I told him, I thought a great many of its admirers were in his cafe, if they would but own it. ON the other hand, it is amazing to confider to what an univerfality of learning people make pre- tenfions here. There's not a drawer, a chair or hack- ney coach-man, but is politician, poec, and judge of polite literature. Chimney- fweepers damn the Con- vention, and black-lhoe-boys cry up the Genius of Shakefpear. " The Danger of \vriting.Verfe" is a very good thing ; if you have not read it, I would recommend it to you as poetical. But now I talk, of Learning, I muft not omit an interview which I accidentally had the other night in company with Lord D and one Mr. C . We were taken to fup at a private houfe, where I found a perfon whom I had never feen before. ' The man behaved exceeding modeftjy i 4 MR. SHENST ONE'S modeftly and well ; till, growing a little merry over a bottle (and being a little countenanced by the fubjeft we were upon), he pulls out of his pocket about half a dozen ballads, and diitributes them amongft the cpmpany. I (not finding at firlt they were of his own compofition) read one over, and, finding it a dull piece of fluff, contented myfelf with obferving that it was exceedingly well printed. But to fee the man's face on this occafion would make you pity the circumftance of an author as long as you live. His jollity ceafed (as a flame would do, mould you pour water upon it) j and, I believe, for about five minutes, Jie fpoke not a fyllable. At length, recovering himfelf, he begaiv-to talk about his coun- try-feat, about Houghton-HalJ, and foon after de- iired a health, imagining . (as I found afterwards) that LordD would have given Sir Robert's. But he did not, naming Sir T L : mine, .which followed, was that of Mr. L . Now, who do you think this ihould be, but honeft Ralph Freeman (at leaft the writer of the paper fo fubfcribedj, your father's old friend and intimate, Sir Robert's right-hand, a per- fon that lives elegantly, drives fix of the beft horfes in town, and plays on St. John's organ : (you know Mr. L is not only Sir Robert's greateft enemy, but the Gazetteer's proper antagonift.) We were invited to fee him very civilly, and indeed the man behaved with the utmoft good-humour, without arrogance, or any attempts at wit, which, probably, would" riot have * L E- T T E R S. 15 hxvt been very fucc'efsful. Aflc your father what he would fay to me, if I fhould join in the caufe with his old friend, and take a good annuity under Sir . Robert, which, I believe, I might have j and little encouragement, God knows, have I met with on die ether fide of the queftion. I fay, I believe I might have, becaufe I know a certain perfan gives penfions of three pounds a-week to porters and the moft il- literate llupid fellows you can imagine, to talk in his behalf at ale-houfes : where they fit fo long a. time, and are as regularly relieved as one centry re-. ]icves another. At leaft tell him that I expeft in his anfwer to my letter (which I (hall not allow him to affign to you), he write fomething to confirm me in my integrity, and to make me prefer him, and you', and honefty, to lace, brocade, and the fmiles of the ladies, " Et Veneri, & cunis, & plumis Sardanapali." But 1 hope to keep my Hercules in view, whether in print or manufcript; and though I am as fond of pleafure as moft people, yet I Ihall obferve the rule, "Pofitam fie tangere noli." I DESIRE I may hear from you next port : I have a line or two, which I intend for the fens of utter dark- nefi (as you call them) next magazine : I would fend them to you, for your advice; but- cannot readily 16 MR. SHENSTONE'S find them. I like every thing in Mr. Somervile's, but the running of the laft line. 1 think to infert them. Should be glad to have a line or two of yours, that one may make a bold attack. I look on it as fun, without the leaft emotion, I aflure you. I am, dear Sir, Your faithful fcribbling flave, W. SHENSTONE. VI. To the fame at Bath, on his publifhing his Poem of The Judgement of HERCULES. From Mr. Wintle's, My good friend ! April 30, 1 740. I HEARTILY .thank you for the fervice your letter did me ; and a confiderable fervice, no doubt, it is, to raife the fpirits of a perfon fo habi- tually difpirited as I have been for fome time. For this, and all former favours, as the fallen fellow fays in Shakefpear, " I thank you ; I am not of many " words, but I thank you." I BEG you would ceafe to apologize for your let- ters,: In the firft place, it will lay me under a neceflity ef doing fo ; and, in the next place, you may be af- fured, L E T- T E R S. 17 fured, that no friendly letter of yours will ever be otherwife than infinitely agreeable to me. J SENT a letter to Mr. Marriett at Bath, to be left with you at your former place of reiidence; you will be fo kind as to give it to him. IF I wifh for a large fortune, it is rather for the fake of my friends than myfelf: or, to compromifc the matter with thofe moralifts who argue for the univerfality offelf-interej!,ith to gratify myfelf iri the company, and in the gratifications, of my friends. DR. Ratcliff has fent me a letter, which gives me much fatisfafiion in refpedl of my poem ; notwith- ftanding, he cannot forbear adding, that he expefts to hear, fmce my pen has fo well adorned the fable, that my conduft will with equal propriety and ele- gance iltiiftrate the moral. However, the fimple approbation of a fincere man affe&s one more than Pliny's panegyric could do from a more courtly one. THERE are feveral errors 6f the prefs, which nei- ther fagacity nor vigilance itfelf, I now fee, can pre- vent, and which I beg you to correcl with your pen in a copy which I mull get you to prefent to C - L together with the inclofed letter. Pleafe to be at the expence of having it flitched in purple paper, and gilt at the edges ; and I will re-pay you. VOL. III. C iff MR. SHENSTfcNE'S I WAS loitering yefterday in the coffee-room, when two perfons came in, well-drefied, and called for my poem ; read a page or two, and commended the four lines upon Mr. L extremely, (" Lov'd by that Prince, &c.") repeated them forty times, and in the end got them by heart, mentioned them to a third perfon, who faid he knew of no virtue that the Prince fired with, and then endeavoured to mimic the Prince's way of talking ; but, fays he, /'// mew the four beji lines in the poem, and then proceeded to " 'Twaa " Youth's perplexing ftage, &c." which are flat enough, God knows but to my firft heroes ; one of them reads, " When great Alcides to a grove re- tir'd." sty, ay, you know Mr. L didretire, he nuas in the fecej/ion ; re ad on ', you II find he mentions Delia anon. Don't you remember Mr. L 'wrote a fang upon Delia? but proceed you'll find he is going to give ti defcription oftnuo ladies, of different charaQers, that ivere in love ^with Mr. L . One 'was (here he named two names, which I have forgot.) Upon my word, it is- fine : I believe it is Pope's ; but how comes Pope to praijk himfclf there? (" Lov'd by that Bard, &c.") N* doubt, however, it iuat ^written by M~r.. Pope or Mr. MY critics proceeded to the reading of the laft fimile immediately, without the lines preceding it, and, agreeing that i* was a very good thing, called out for LETTERS. 19 for " The Oeconomy of Love." So you fee, " Lau- " dant i!/a, fed ijia legunt," is the cafe. A perfon cannot be fuppofed vain from the approbation of fuch critics, or elfe I would not have inferted fuch a commendatory paragraph. I never enquire how my poem takes, and am afraid to do fo. However, I tind/ome do allow it to be Mallet's I am impatient till I hear from you : I mail be here till this day fort- night; afterwards at The Leafowes I muft add this, ' Ne, ftudio noftri, pecces ;" but at the fame time alfo O defend, " Againftyour judgement, your moft faithful frierid." W. S. THESE oppofite petitions delineate my date of mind: it is well for me that I have you at Bath. VII. To Mr. JAGO, on the Death of his Father. Dear Mr. Jago, Leafowes, Aug. 28, 1740. T F I N D fome difficulty in writing to you on this *- melancholy occafion. No one can be more un- fit to attempt to leffen your grief than myfelf, be- caufe no one has a deeper fenfe of the caufe of your affliction. Though I would by 0,0 means, be, number- a gd 20 MR. SHENSTONE'S ed by you amongft the common herd of your ac- quaintance that tell you they are forry, yet it were impertinent in me to mention a mere friend's concern to a perfon interefted by fo many more tender re- gards. Befides, I mould be glad to alleviate your for- r.ow, and fuch fort of condolence tends but little to promote that end. I do not chufe to flatter you ; neither could I, more efpecially at this time ; but though I could perhaps find enough to fay to perfons of lefs fenfe than you, I know of nothing but what your own reafon muft have fuggefted. Concern in- ' deed may have fufpended the power of that faculty ; and upon that pretense, I have a few things that I would fuggeft to you. After all, it is time alone that can and iuill cure all afflictions but fuch as are the confequence of vice ; and yours, I am fare, pro- ceeds from a contrary principle. I HEARD accidentally of this forrowful event, and accompanied you to London with the utmoff concern. I wifhed it was in my power to mitigate your griefs by fharing them, as I have often found it in yours to augment my pleafures by fo doing. ALL that I can recommend to you is, not to con- fine your eye to any fingle event in life, but to take in your whole circumftances before you repine. WHEN LETTERS. 21 WHEN you refleft that yon have loft one of the belt of men in a father, you ought to comfort your- felf that you had fuch a father ; to whom I cannot forbear applying thefe lines from Milton : " Since to part ! t: Go, heav'nly gueft, ethereal meffenger ! " Sent by whofe fovereign goodnefs we adore 1 " Gentle to me and affable has been " Thy condefcenfion, and mail be honour'd ever " With gratefuPft memory ; " End of Book VIII. PAR. LOST. I WOULD have you by all means come over hither as foon as you can. I will endeavour to render the time you fpend here as fatisfadlory as it is in my .power ; and I hope you will ever look upon me as your hearty friend, through all the viciffitudes of life. PRAY give my humble fervice to Mrs. Jago and your brother. I am, wich the utmofl affeflion. Yours fincerely, W. SHENSTONE. c 3 vnr. TO ft MR. SHENSTONE'S VIII. To Mr. REYNOLDS. Dear Sir, Leafowes, Aug. 1740= T1[7ONDERFUL were the dangers and difiicul- * * ties through which I went, the night I left you at Barels : which I looked upon as ordained by fate for the temporal punifhrrient of obilinacy. It was very kind, and in character, for you to endea- vour to deter me from the ways of darknefs ; but having a fort of pencbant for needlefs difficulties, I have an undoubted right to indulge myfeif in them, fq long as I do not infill upon any one's pity. It is true, thefe ought not to exceed a certain degree ; they fhould be lenia torn.enta', and I muft own the labours I underwent that night did not come with- in the bounds which my imagination had prefcribed. I cannot forbear mentioning one imminent danger. J rode along a confiderable piece of water, covered fc clofe with trees, that it was as probable \ might have purfued the channel, which was dangerous, aj my way out of it. Or, to put my caie in a more poetical light, having by night intruded upon an amour betwixt a Wood-nympJi and a River-god, I owed my efcape to Fortune, who conveyed me from the vengeance which they might have taken. I put up finally at a little alehoufe about ten o'clock, and Jay all night awake, counting the cords which fup- ported me, which I could more fafely fwear to than ' to LETTERS. 2 j to either bed or blanket. For farther particulars, fee my epiille to the Paibor Fido of Lapworth. Mr. Graves fays, he fhould be glad to fhew you any ci- vilities in his power, upon his own acquaintance ; and will ferve you as far as his vote goes, upon my recommendation ; but is afraid, without the con- currence of fome more confiderable friends, your chance will be but fmall this year, &c. If the former part of this news gives you any pleafure, 1 aflure you it gives me no lefs to communicate it ; and this pleafure proceeds from a principle which would in- duce me to ferve you myfelf if it fhould ever be in my power. I faw Mr. Lyttelton laft week : he is a candidate for the county of Worcefter, together with Lord Deerhuft ; I hope Mr. Somervile will do hira the honour to appear as his friend, which he muft at leaft think fecond to that of fucceeding. I HEAR you are commenced Chaplain fmce I faw you. I wifh you joy of it. The Chaplain's title is infinitely more agreeable than his office; and I hope the fcarf, which is expreflive of it, will be no dimi- nutive thing, no four-penny-halfpenny piece of rib- boning; but that it will " High o'er the neck its ruftling folds difplay, - " Difdain all ufual bounds, extend its fway, > " Ufurp the head, and pufh the wig away." J C 4 I HOPS 24 MR. SHENSTONE'S I HOPE it will prove ominous, that my firft letter is a congratulatory one ; and if I were to have op- portur.Hes of fending all fuch, it would entirely quadrate with the fincere wiihes of Your faithful humble fervarit, W. SHENSTONE, I BEG my compliments to Mr. Somervile, Mrs. Knight, and your family. IX. To the fame. From Mr. Wintle's, Per- fumer, at the King's Arms, by Temple-Bar, SIR, Fleet- Street, 1740. I A M heartily obliged to Mr. Somervile, that he will make ufe of any means to ferve me ; more efpecially that he will take the trouble of confulting which may be moil effectual to that end j and I de- fire you would reprefent thefe fentiments to him in the moft expreflive manner. I HAVE, fince I arrived here (which was laft Satur- day night), heard Lowe fmg, and feen Cibber aft. The laureat fpoke an epilogue, made upon, and, I fuppofc, LETTERS. 25 fuppofe, ly himfelf, in which he does not only make a bare confeffion, but an ojlentation of all his follies : * Offuch (fays he) whoe'er demands a bill of fare " May look into my life he'll find 'em there j" or fome fuch lines, I cannot accurately recoiled them. 1 do not wonder he pleafed extremely ; but to a confidering man there is fomething ftrangely dif- ugreeable, to hear a fcandalous life recommended by one of his age, and as much fatisfaclion mewn in the review of it as if it had been a perfedl galaxy of vir- tues. An. Athenian audience would have mewn their different fentiments on this occafion. But I am adT> ing the part of Jeremy Collier, and indeed in fome degree of an hypocrite, for I confefs I was highly pleafed with him myfelf. I have nothing to add, but a fine clofe, if I had it; as I have not, you mull be content with the vulgar one, that I am Yours fincerely, W. SHENSTONE. X. To the fame. -Dear Sir, 1740. T THANK you for the favour of your laft letter, * particularly your readinefs in tranfmitting to me any thing of Mr. Somervile's. It fo fell out, that Mr. z6 MR. S HENS TONE'S Mr. Outing delivered to me the verfes, and I had the pleafure of reading them, about a moment before he gave me your epiflle. THE town expedled fomething of importance, name- ly, a motion for a committee of enquiry into late meafures, would be moved for to-day. Jf any thing of this nature has been carrying on, I will add an account of it before I clofe my letter. In the mean time it is, I believe, very credible, that Lord Orford has a. continued influence over the King j and that the Duke of Argyle is fufficiently difgufted, to have talked of the refignation of his pofts again. AN odd ftory enough the following, and I believe true ! Somebody, that had juft learnt that H eW 's gentleman's name was Jackfon, writes a letter to Mr. Floyer, Keeper of the Tower, intimating his matter's defire to fpeak with him. Floyer drefies the next morning, and waits upon H e, comes into his room " Sir, fays H e, I really dont't know " you " " Sir, my name is Floyer " " Ay, by * G d, that may be ; but, by G d, I don't know " you for all that " " Sir, fays he, I am Keeper of " the Tower " G d d n your blood, fays *' H e, produce your warrant ; d n you, produce " your warrant j or, by G d, I'll kick ye down " flairs" FRIGHTED LETTERS. 27 FRIGHTED at thefe threats, the gentleman re- tired ; and in his way home had leifure to confider the joke that was put upon him, and more particu- larly turned upon the perfon to whom he was fent. IF you diredl a line to Mr. Shuckburgh's, bookfel- ler, in Fleet-ftreet, it will arrive agreeable to Your humble fervant, March, W. SHENSTONE. Tuefday Night. MY compliments to your patron. XI. To the fame. SIR, 1740. "VT'OUR laft letter gave me a good deal of uneafi- * nefs in regard to Mr. Somervile's indifpofition. I hope, if he is better, you will omit no opportunity of gratifying me with the news of it. I fhall be glad to employ you and Mr. Jago in my little rivulet be- fore winter comes, when one muft bid adieu to ru- ral beauties. Thofe charming fcenes, which the poets, in order to render them more cempleat, have furnimed witli ladies, muft be ftript of all their or- naments. Thofe incomparable nymphs, the Dryads and the Nereids, which have been my conftant com- panions this fliort fummer, will vanifh to more pleaf- 28 MR. SHENSTONE'S ing climes ; and I muft be left to feek my aMance in real beauties inftead of imaginary ones. In fhort, I am thinking to live part of this winter in Worcefter, or fome other town. I was at a concert there, a very full one, lately. I obferved Dr. Mackenzie talking to Mr. Lyttelton ; and I hope, on that account, he is in his intereft : otherwife Mr. Somervile would do Mr. Lyttelton great fervice by engaging him. Mr. Lyttelton took occafion to mention to me the obligation he lay under to Mr. Somervile for his let- ter, as well as his other defigns in his favour that he had long received great pleafure from that gentle- man's pen, and wifhed for the honour of his ac- quaintance. I told him, I believed the fatisfaftion would be mutual, or to that purpofe. He added, that The Chace was an extremely beautiful poem, the beft by far ever written on the fubjeft. But now the fiddles fqueaked, the harpfichord jingled, and the performers began to feel the divine enthufiafm. The god of mufic invaded them as he did the Sibyll of old: ' Deus, ecce Deus ! cui talia fanti *' Ante fores, fubito non vultus, non color unus, " Non comptas manfere coma? ; fed peftus anhe- " lum. " Et rabie fera corda tument, majorque videri, " Nee mortale fonans." I AM, LETTERS. 29 I AM, ir, with all due compliments to Mr. So- mervile, Yours fincerely, W. SHBNSTONE. XII. To Mr. JAGO, from London, with Obfervations on the Stage, &c. S I R, Jan. 21, 1741. "\7"O U fee I am extremely expeditious in anfwering * your letter; the reafon of which is a very pow- erful one, namely, the information which I received laft night, that it would be agreeable to you I mould do fo. Pleafe therefore to fet afide the fum of eighteen pence, or thereabouts, for letters which you will receive whilft I am in London ; and, to make it feem the lefs profufely fquandered, consider it amongft any other cafual expences which you care- lefsly fubmit to, merely to gratify your curiofity. I WENT the other night, with the greateft expefta- tions, to fee " The Merry Wives of Windfor" per- formed at Co vent- Garden. It is impoffible to exprefs how much every thing fell below my ideas. But I have csnfidered Jince ; and I find that my expectations were really more unjuft than their manner of ading. 3 Perfons, 30 MR. S HENS TONE'S Per/ons, in order to aft well, mould have fomethiog of the author's fire, as well as a polite education. And what makes this the clearer to me is, that you hear ten plays well read by gentlemen in company, to one that you find well performed upon the ftage. Nothing can be more ignorant or affe&ed than the fcornful airs which fome people give themfelves at a country play ; becaufe, forfooth, they have feen plays in town. The truth is, the chief advantage of plays in town lies entirely in the fcenery. You feldom obferve a fet of ftrollers without one or two a&ors who are quite equal to their parts ; and I really know of no good one at either of the two Theatres Royal, except Cibber who rarely afts, and Mrs. Clive. I will add one more, in compliance with my own tafte merely ; and that is Mr. Neal, a fellow who, by playing the fool, has gained my particular ejleem. AFTER the play, we had an entertainment ; falfely fo called ! It was that of Orpheus and Eurydice, the moil un-mujical thing I ever heard, and which lafted, I believe, three hours, with {bme intermixtures of Harlequin ; both fo dull, and yet heard with pa- tience, that I was amazed, aftoniflied, confounded: but really a man of fenfe ought not to be fo ; becaufe they were not calculated for him. I WANT you here extremely : pray come up for a >veek. I fuppofe you will not, fo I will not argue ftipcrflooufly, LETTERS. 3, fuperfluoufiy. However, write foon ; and believe that your letters are the moft agreeable things in the world to, Sir, Yours moft faithfully, W. S. XIII. To the fame. Dear Sir, 1 74' A S I have no fort of library in town, I find fe- * veral minutes upon my hands, for which, if I employ them in fcribbling to my friends, they are \>\& jlenderly obliged to me. I hope no friend of mine will ever be induced, by my example, to do any thing but avoid it ; I believe no one breathing can fay with more truth, " Video meliora, &c."' It is not from a fpirit of jealotify that I would advife my acquaintance to feek happinefs in the regular path of a fixed life. But, though I very highly approve it, and envy it, my particular turn of mind would be as little fatisfied -with it as it is like to be in a different one. Yet, however I complain, I muft own I have a good deal reconciled myfelf to this mixture of gratification and difappointment, which rauft be my lot till the laft totally prevails, YET, 3* MR. S HENS TONE'S YET, after all, to tell you the truth, I am not pleafed with being advifed to retire. I was faying the other day to Mr. Outing, that I had been ambitious more than I was at prefent, afid that I grew lefs fo every day. Upon this he chimed in with me, and approved ihy defpondency ; faying, " that he alfo had been am- " bitious, but found it would not do." Do you think I liked him much for this? no = I wheeled about, and faid, " I did not think with him ; for I " Ihould always find myfelf whetted by difappoint- " ments, and more violent ift proportion to the intri- " cacy of the game." I fpent a night with him and Mr. Meredith, and with him and Mr. Dean : in the latter party he had laid his hand upon his fword fix times, and threatened to put a dozen men te death, one of which was Broughton the prize-fighter. Mr. Whift- ler's company feldom relieves me on an evening ; and I go to plays but feldom, becaufe I intend no more to give cottntenance to the pit. I have got a belt!!! which diftingtiimes me as much as a garter it capti- vates the eyes of all beholders, and binds their under- itandings in golden bandage. I heard a pedant pun>- ning upon the word /?/ATJ-O ; and a wag whifpering that I was related to Eeltijhazzar. In fhort I may fay, from the Dragon of Wantley, " No girdle, nor belt, e'er excell'd it ; " It frightens the men in a minute : *' No maiden yet ever beheld it, ' Eut wilh'd herfelf tied to me in it*" THE LETTERS. 33 THE Dunciad is, doubtlefs, Mr. Pope's dotage, T Ato? SvMria ; flat in the whole, and including, with feveral tolerable lines, a number of weak, ob- fcure, and even punning ones. What is now read by the -whole ; but merit, as Sir John FalflafF fays, is not regarded in thefe colter-monger days. PRAY now do not write me word that your lu/jntfs will not allow you ten minutes in a fortnight to write to me.; 4 6 MR. SHENSTONE'S me ; an excufe fit for none but a cobler, who has ten children dependent upon a waxen thread. Adieu ! W. S. XX. To the fame, on occafion of printing The School- miftrefs. Dear Sir, I 74 I I TRUST you do not pay double poftage for my levity in inclofmg thefe decorations. If I find you do, 1 will not fend you the tbatctt 'd-houfe and the birch- tree, with the fun fetting, and gilding the fcene. I expeft a cargo of franks ; and then for the beautiful pifture of Lady Gainfborough, and the deformed por- trait of my old fchool-dame Sarah Lloyd ! whofe houfe is to be feen as thou traveleft towards the na- tive home of thy faithful fervant but me fleeps with her fathers, and is buried with her fathers and Thomas her fon reigneth in her ftead ! 1 have the firft meet to correct upon the table. . I have laid afide the thoughts of fame a good deal in this itn-promifing. fcheme ; and fix them upon the landfeip which is engraving, the red letter which I purpofe, and the fruit-piece which you fee, being the mod feemly ornaments of the firft fixpenny pamphlet that was ever fo highly honoured. I mail incur the fame re- flection .E T T E R S. 4^ fleftion with Ogilby, of having nothing good but my decorations. I HAVE been walking in the Mall to-night. Thr Duke was there, and was highly delighted with two dogs j and flared at me more enormoufly than ever Duke did before. I do not know for what reafori'; unlefs for the fame which made him admire the ether puppy-dogs, becaufe they were large ones. I EXPECT that in your neighbourhood, and in wickfliire, there fhould be about twenty of my poems ibid. I print it myfelf. I am ,ot yet fatisfied about mottoes. That printed is this, " O, qua fol habi- " tabiles illuftrat oras, maxime principum !" It muft be fhort, on account of the plate. I do not know- but I may adhere to a very infignificant one : " En erit ergo " Ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facia !" I AM pleafed with Mynde's engravings; and I can fpeak without affe&ation, that fame is not equally in my thoughts Qne caution igave Mr. G , and it is what I would give to all my friends with whom I wifli my intimacy may continue fb much as I wilh it may with you. Though I could bear the difregard of the town, I could not bear to fee my friends alter their opinion which they fay they have of what I write, 4 8 MR. SHE N STONE'S write, though millions contradift them. It is an ob- ftinacy which / can boaft of, and they that have more fenfe may furely infift on the liberty of judging for themfelves. If you mould faulter, I mould fay you did not deferve your capacity to judge for yourfelf. Write foon you never are at a fault " tantummodo in- " cepto opus eft, caetera res expediet." Adieu I W. S. XXII. To the fame, from Town, on the Death of Mr. Somervile, &c. My good friend, 1 74 1. OU R old friend Somervile is dead ! I did not imagine I could have been fo forry as I find my- felfon this occafion " Sublatum quaerimus." lean now excufe all his foibles ; impute them to age, and to diltrefs of circumftances : the laft of thefe confi- derations wrings my very foul to think on. For a man of high fpirit, confcious of having (at leaft in one produ&ion) generally pleafed the world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that are low in every fenfe ; to be forced to drink himfelf into pains of the body in order to get rid of the pains of the mind ; is a mifery which I can well conceive, becaufe I may, without vanity, efteem myfelf his equal in point of oc- conomy, LETTERS. 49 onomy, and confequently ought to have an eye on his misfortunes : (As you kindly hinted to me about twelve o'clock at the Feathers) I Ihould retrench ; I will ; but you fhall not fee me : I will not let you know that 1 took your hint in good part. I will do it at folitary times, as I may : and yet there will be fome difficulty in it ; for whatever the world might efleem in poor Somervile, I really find, upon critical enquiry, that / loved him for nothing fo much as his flocci- nauci-nihili-pili-rlcation of money. MR. A-^was honourably acquitted: Lord A'' s who was prefent, and behaved very infolently they fay, was luffed out of court. They proved his ap- plication to the carpenter's fon, to get him to fwear againft Mr. A , though the boy was proved to have laid in feveral companies (before he had been kept at Lord A 's houfe) that he was fure the thing was ac- cidental. Finally, it is believed he will recover the title of A ea. THE apprehenfion of the whores, and the fuffbca- tion of four in the round-houfe by the Jlupidity of the keeper, engrofles the talk of the town. The faid houfe is re-buiiding every day (for the mob on Sunday night demolifned it), and re-demolilhed every night. The Duke of M gh, J S his brother, Lore! C G , were taken into the round-houfe, and con- f.ned from eleven at night till eleven next day : I am Vo L. III. E net 50 MR. S H E N S T O N E S not pofitive of the Duke of M gh ; the others are certain : and that a large number of people of the firft fafhion went from the round-houfe to De Veil's, to give in informations of their ufage. The juflice him- felf feems greatly feared ; the profecution will be car- ried on with violence, fo as probably to hang the keeper, and there is an end. LORD Bath's coachman got drunk and tumbled from his box, and he was forced to borrow Lord Or- ford's. Wits fay, that it was but gratitude for my Lord Orford's coachman to drive my Lord Bath, as my Lord Bath kimfelf\&& driven my Lord Orford. Thus they. I HAVE ten million things to tell you ; though they all amount to no mo/e than that I wifli to pleafe you, and that I am Your iincere friend and humble fervant. I AM pleafed that I can fay I knew Mr. Somervile, which I am to thank you for. XXII, To LETTERS. ft XXII. To Mr. GRAVES, on Benevolence, and Friend- fliip. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves* Jan. 19, 1741-2. 1C ANNOT forbear immediately writing to you: the pleafure you laft letter gave me put it out of my power to reftrain the overflowings of my benevo- lence. I can eafily conceive that, upon fome extra- ordinary inftances of friendship, my heart might be fefcrt attendri, that I could not bear any reftraint upon my ability to fhew my gratitude. It is an obfervation 1 made upon reading to-day's paper, which contains an acccfunt of C. Khevenhuller's fuccefs in favour of the Queen of Hungary. To think what fublime af- fe&ion muft influence that poor unfortunate Queen, ihould a faithful and zealous General revenge her upon her enemies, and reflore her ruined affairs ! HAD a perfon {hewn an efteem and affection for me, joined with any elegance, or without any ele- gance, in the exprefHou of it, I mould have been in acute pain till I had given fome fign of my willing- nefs to ferve him. From all this, I conclude that I have more humanity than fome others. PROBABLY enough I fhall never meet with a larger ihare of happinefs than I feel at prefent. If not, I 2 am 5,2 MR. SHENSTONb'S am thoroughly convinced, my pain is greatly fupe- rior to my pleafure. That pleafure is not abfolute- ly dependent on the mind, I know from this, that I have enjoyed happier fcenes in the company of feme friends than I can poflibly at prefent ; but alas ! all the time you and I {hall enjoy together, abftracl- ed from th& reft of our lives, and lumped, will nor perhaps amount to a folid year and a half, How fmall a proportion ! PEOPLE will fay to one that talks thus, Would " you die ?" To fet the cafe upon a right footing, they muft take away the hopes of greater happinefl in this life, the fears of greater mifery hereafter, together with the bodily pain of dying, and addref me in a difpofition betwixt mirth and melancholy ; and I could eaftly refolve them. I DO not know how I am launched out fo far into this complaint: it is, perhaps, a ftrain of conftitu- tional whining; the effeft of the wind did it come from the winds ? to the winds will 1 deliver it : *' Tradam protervis in mare Creticum r *' Portare vends " J WIT. i, be as happy as my fortune will permit, and make others fo : " Pone me pigri's ubi r.itlla camp'n " Arkcr xft-ya recreatnr aura" I WILL LETTERS. 53 I WILL be fo. The joke is, that the description which you gave of that country was, that you had few trees about you ; fo that I mould trick Fortun^ if {he fliould grant my petition implicitly. But, in earneft, I intend to come and flay a day or two with you next fummcr. MR. Whiftler is at Mr. Gofling's, bookfeller, trt the Mitre and Crown, in Fleet-ftreet, and enquired much after you in his laft letter to me. He writes to me ; but I believe his affedlion for one weighs lefs with him while the town is in the other fcale; though "he is very obliging. I do not know whe- ther Tdo right, when 1 fay I believe we three, that is, in Tolitary circumftances, have an equal idea of, and afteftion for, each other. I fay, fuppofmg each to be alone, or in the country, which is nearly the fame ; for fcenes alter minds as much as the air in- fluences bodies. For inftance, when Mr. Whiftler is in town, I fuppofe we love him better than he does us ; and when we are in town, I fuppofe the fame may be faid in regard to him. THZ true burlefque of Sperifer (whofe charafteriftic is fimplicity) feems to confift in nfimple reprefenta- tion of fuch things as one laughs \Q fee or to obferve one's felf, rather than in any men/Iron: contrail be- twixt the thoughts and words. I cannot help think- E 3 ing 54 MR. S HENS TONE'S ing that my added ftanzas have more of his manner than what you faw before, which you are not a judge of till you have read him. W. S. XXIII. To the fame, with fome Obfervations on SPENSER. Dear Sir, The Leafowes, 1742, the Day before Chriftmas. r T^ HOUGH your lafl letter feemed to put my - correfpondence upon an oltentatious footing, namely, an inclination to be witty, yet I affure you it was not any punctilious confideration of that kind that has kept me fo long filent. Indeed with fome people one would ftand upon the niceft punctilios ; for though ceremony be altogether lighter than vanity atfelf, yet it furely weighs as much as the acquain- tance of the undeferving. But this is trifling, be- caufe it can have no reference to a perfon for whom I have the greateft affection. IN regard to my Oxford affairs, you did all I could cxpedt. I have wrote fince to Mr. M , who, ei- ther for your fake or mine, will, I dare fay, fettle ihem to my fatisfaftion. LETTERS. r' ? ?* I WISH your journey and head-ach would have permitted you to have been a little more particular concerning the feat of the Mufes; but I fuppofe no- thing material diftinguifhed your fortnight. MR. Whiitler has relapfed at Whitchurch ; but purpofed, when I laft heard from him, to go to London before this time. I do not entirely under- ftand his fchem.es, but mould have been fincerely glad of his company with me this winter; and, he fays, he is not fond of London. For my part, I defigned to go thither the next month, but the fever (whicK is chiefly violent in towns) difcourages me. SOME time ago, I read Spenfer's Fairy Queen ; and, when I had finifhed, thought it a proper time to make fome additions and corrections in my trifling imitation of him, The School-miilrefs. His fubjedt is certainly bad, and his adlion inexpreffibly con- fufed ; but there are fome particulars in him that charm one. Thofe which afford the greateft fcope for a ludicrous imitation are, his fimplicity and ob- folete phrafe ; and yet thefe are what give one a very fingular pleafure in the perufal. The burlefque which they occafion is of quite a different kind to that of Philips's Shilling, Cotton's Traveflie, Hudi- bras, or Swift's works ; but I need not tell you this. I inclofe a copy, for your amufement and opinion ; E 4 which, 56 MR. 8 H E N S T O N E ' S which, if franks are plentiful, you may return, and fave me the tedious trouble of writing it over again. The other paper was, bona Jide, written to divert my thoughts from pain, for the fame reafon that I fmoak- ed ; actions equally reputable. MR. Somervile's poem upon hawking, called, Field Sports," I fuppofe, is out by this time. It was fent to Mr. Lyttehon, to be read to the Prince, to whom it was iofcribed. It feeras, he is fond of hawk- ing, I HAVE often thought thofe to be the moft envia- ble people whom one leail envies I believe, mar- ried men are the happieft that are ; but I cannot fay I envy them, becaufe they lofe all their merit in the eyes of other ladies. I BEG fincerely that you would write in a week's time at furthelt, that I may receive your letter here if I ihould go from home this winter. I will never ufe any thing by way of conclusion, but your old Roman Farewel ! W. SHEXSTONS. XXIV. To LETTERS. 57 XXIV. To the fame, with a Continuation of the fame Subjeft. Dear Mr. Graves ! June* 1742. I A M glad the ftay you make in Herefordshire amufes you, even though it puts you upon pre- ferring the place you refide at to my own place of refidence. I do not know whether it be from the prejudice of being born at The Leafowes, or from any real beauty in the Situation j but I would wifh no other, would fome one, by an addition of two hundred pounds a year, put it in my power to ex- hibit my own defigns. It is what I can now do in no other method than on paper. I live in fuch an un-ceconomical manner, that I muft not indulge my- felf in the plantation of a tree for the future. I have glutted myfelf with the extremity of folitude, and muft adapt my expences more to fociable life. It is on this account that it feems more prudent for me to buy a chair while I. am in town, than to carry down twelve guineas for the model of the tomb of Virgil, an urn, and a fcheme or two more of like nature. I long to have my picture, diftantly approach- ing to a profile (the beft manner I can think of to exprefs myfelf), drawn by Davifon. I have feen your filter's, and think the face well done in every refpeft j but am greatly indignant with other things pf a lefs fixed nature. The cap, though a good cap enough, rR MR. -SHENSTONE'S enough, has a vile effect: ; the formality of Hays, &c. not agreeable. I do not know if you faw the picture of a Scotch girl there at full length? Mifs Graves has the advantage of her's, or any pidlure there, in her perfon ; but certainly this girl's hair is in- ^vprefiibly charming ! there is the genteeleft neg- ligence in it I ever faw in any picture : what fol- lows, but that I wifh your filter would give orders to pull off her cap, and have hair after the manner of this picture ? To fpeak abruptly; as it is, I dif- npprove it : were it altered, I fhould like it beyond :\ny 1 ever'faw. 1 arh glad you are readihg Spen- ? his plan is deteftable, and his invention onderful than moft people Imagine,' who do not Tm:ch ccmfider the obvioufnefs of allegory ; yet, I tlirnk, a perfon of your difpofition muft take great vielight in his fimpUdty, his good-nature, &c. Did 'ihferve a: ftanza that bdgiris a canto fomevvhere, ,aght is there under heav'n's wide hollownefa That breeds," &c. ? ', WHEN I bough: him firft, I read a page or two of the Fairy Queen, and cared not to proceed. Af- ter that, Pope's Alley made me confider him lu- dicroufly ; and ifc thAt light, I think, one may read hrm with pleafure. I am now (as Ch mley with ), front trifling and laughing at him, really" in love with him, I think even the metre p'retty (though I fhall LETTERS. 59 I fhall never ufe it in earned) ; and that the laft Alex- andrine has an extreme majefty. Does not this line ftrike you ? (I do not juflly remember what canto it is in) fc Brave thoughts and noble deeds did evermore in- " fpire." Perhaps it is my fancy only that is enchanted with the running of it. Adieu ! W. S. XXV. To the fame, on the Publication of The School-miftrefs. Dear Mr. Graves ! T DEPENDED a good deal on an immediate an- *- fvver from you, and am greatly fearful you never received a packet of little things which I fent you to Oxford, inclofed in a frank; though, if it arrived at all, it mull have arrived feveral days before you left it. I befeech you to fend me a line upon the receipt of thefe, which will free me from much per- plexity; though it is doubtful whether I can defer my fchemes fo as to make your criticifms offervice. I would have you fend them notwithflandingl I CANNOT 60 MR. SHE N STONE'S I CANNOT help confidering myfelf as a fportfman (though God knows how poor a one in every fenfe!) and the company as my game. They fy up for a little time ; and then/ettle again. My cue is, to dif- charge my piece when I obferve a number together. This week, they are ftraggling round about their pafture, the town : the next, they \vill flock into it with violent appetites ; and then I difcharge my little piece amongft them. I afiure you, 1 fhall be very eafy about the acquifition of any fame by this thing ; all I much wifh is, to lofe none : and in- deed I have fo little to lofe, that this confideration fcarcely arFefts me. I DARE fay it muft be very incorreft ; for I have added eight or ten ilanzas within this fortnight. But inaccuracy is more excufable in ludicrous poetry than in any other. If it ilrikes any, it muft be merely people Qttajh; for people of wit without tafte (which comprehends the larger part of the critical tribe) will unavoidably defpife it. I have been at fome pains to fecure myfelf from A. Philips's misfortune, of mere ehittijbnefs, " Little charm of placid mien, &c " J have added a ludicrous index, purely to {hew (fools) that I am in jeft : and my motto, " O qua Col ha- ** bitabiles illurtrat eras, maxime principum," is cal- culated for the fame purpofe. You cannot conceive ,ic iv large the number is of thofe that miflake bur* kfque LETTERS. 6r for the very foolifhnefs it expofes (which ob- iervation I made once at The Rehearfal, at Tom Thumb, at Chrononhotonthologos ; all which are pieces of elegant humour). I have fome mind to purfue this caution further ; and advertife it, " The " School-miftrefs, &c." A very childijb performance every body knows (no ftubb.le, I HAVE LETTERS. 69 I HAVE altered this ballad, you fee; I doubt, not to your mind : but fend your criticifras, and I will be all obedience. From London I will fend you mine on your more important poem : your critiqus will be important upon my filly affair ; mine filly, I am afraid, upon your momentous one but you do not think it momentous, as you ought. Direct to Nando's. I am Your moft finccre and aiTeftionate friend and humble fervant, W. S. I QUESTION whether I mould be more unhappy in any mere mechanical employment, for inftance, making nails (which feems to deal as much in re- petition as any trade), than I am in great part of my time when my head is unfit for fludy. My neigh- bour is gone to London, and has left me a legacy of franks ; fo I fhall be able to return your poem, &c. at leafl by parcels. I ftrenuoufly purpofe to be there (or to fet out) next week ; but, as I am here at prefent, I think you ought to pay fome deference to the vis inerlifgy at leaft to the centripetal force of matter, and direfl to The Leafowes one more letter, with your opinion concerning the various readings in the trifle I inclofe, writing the firR pod that you well can. Once more adjeu ! Feb. 16, 1743. F * XXIX. Ti> MR. S HENS TONE'S XXIX. To the fame. Dear Mr. Graves, I 74J- T~VR. Swift would not have fcrupled to print your ^* parody, with his name to it. Why fhould you, without your name ? I had a violent inclination ta print it in a large folio, four leaves, price four- pence : but I dare not do it, for fear you fhould think it of evil importance with regard to the clergy. You e^cell me infinitely in a way in which I take moil pleafure ; odd pifturefque defcription. Send me word whether I mall print it or no and that right foon. I have lingered in town till now, and did not receive your letter till this morning. I do not know whether I {hall fend you with this letter a little thing which I wrote in an afternoon, and, with proper demands of being concealed as the author, fold for two guineas. Next time I am in town, I will get money like a haberdamer. I will amufe myfelf with linding out the people^s weak fide, and fo fur- nilh them with fuitable nonfevfe. I would have you do the fame. Make your wit bear your charges. In- deed, as to the little parody you fend, it would fix your reputation with men of fenfe as much as (great- ly more than) the whole tedious character ofParfon Adams. I read it half a year ago; the week after I came to town : but made Mr. Shuckburgh take it again, imagining it altogether a very mean per- formance. LETTERS. 7I formance. I liked a tenth part pretty well j but, as Dryden fays of Horace (unjuftly), he mews his teeth without laughing : the greater part is unnatural and unbuworoits. It has foroe advocates ; but, I ob- ferve, thofs not fuch as I ever efteemed tafters. Finally, what makes ysu endeavour to like it ? MY primer was preparing his bill for The School- miftrefs, when I flopped him Ihort, with a hint to go to Dodfley, who has not yet reckoned with me for Hercules. Let the dead bury their dead. Dr. Young's Complaint is the belt thing that has come out this feafon (thefe twenty years, Pope fays) ex- cept mine, for fo thinks every author, who does not think proper to fay fo : poor Pope's hiilory in Gib- ber's Letter, and the print of him upon the Mount of Love (the coarfeji is moft humorous), muft furely mortify him. Your filler does me great honour to think my hint any thing ; but I am quite zealous in my approbation of that Scotch lady's hair. I will ever aim at oddnefs for the future; it is cheaper to follow tafte than fafhion, and whoever he be that devotes himfelf to tajle will be odd of courfe, You fend me the verfes on Lord Hay : they were hacked about town three months ago, and I favv them. The town is certainly the fcene for a man of curiofi- ty. I do not purpofe to be long away ; but I muft think of retrenching. I have ten thoufand things to tell you, but I have not room. Such people as F 4 ivt ?2 MR. SHEN STONE'S we Ihould meet as regularly to compare notes as tradefmen do to fettle accounts, but oftener ; there is no good comes of long reckonings ; I mail for- get half I think it mould be four days in a fort- night it would not do ; it would make one mindful of, and confequently more uneafy on account of, abfence. Every one gets pofls, preferments, but my- felf. Nothing but my ambition can fet me on a footing with them, and make me eafy. Come then, lordly pride j &c. The devil thought with me in Milton, " ^//is not loll, th' unconquerable will, " And iludy never to fubmit or yield." I HAVE been in new companies ; but I fee no rea- fon to contradict my afTertion, that I find none I like equally with you. Adieu! W. SHENSTONE. XXX. To Mr. JAGO, from London. Dear friend, *743' T SHALL fend you but a very few lines, being -*- fo much indifpofed with a cold, that I can fcarce tell how to connecl a fentence. I am juft got into lodgings at a goldfmith's a dangerous fituation, you LETTERS. 73 you will fay, for me ; " Aclum eft, ilicet, periifti !" Not fo ; for of late I have not fo violent a tafte for toys as I have had ; and I can look even on fnufF- boxes " oculo irretorto." LONDON is really dangerous at this time; the pick-pockets, formerly content with mere filching, make no fcruple to knock people down with bludgeons in fleet-Jlreet and the Strand, and that at no later hour than eight o'clock at night : but in the Piazzas, Covent-garden, they come in large bodies, armed with couteaus, and attack whole parties, fo that the danger of coming out of the play-houfes is of fome weight in the oppoiite fcale, when I am difpofed to go to them oftener than I ought. There is a poem of this feafon, called " The Pleafures of Iniagina- " tion," worth your reading ; but it is an expenfive quarto; if it comes out in a lefs fize, I will bring it home with me. Mr. Pope (as Mr. Outing, who has been with Lord Bolingbroke, informs me) is at the point of death. My Lord Carteret faid yeilerday in the houfe, " That the French and Spaniards had " actually faid, they would attempt a fecond in- " vaiion." There is a new play a&ed at Drury Lane, " Mahomet,'* tranflated from the French of Voltaire ; but I have no great opinion of the fub- jeft, or the original author as a poet ; and my dif- fidence is rather improved by the^ teflimony of thofe who have feen it. I lodge between the two coffee- 2 houfes, 74 MR. SHENSTONE'S houfes, George's and Nando's, fo that I partake of the expenfivenefs of both, as heretofore, I have no acquaintance in town, and but {lender induce- ment to flay j and yet, probably, 1 ihall loiter here for a month. T H was knighted againft his will, and had a demand made upon him for an hundred pounds before he could get out of St. James's ; fo foon are felt the inconveniencies of grandeur ! He came out of the court in a violent rage, " G d ! Jack, what " doft think? I am knighted! the devil of a " knight, e'faith !" I believe he was fincere in his difguft ; for there had been two barge-mafters knight- ed in his neighbourhood fome time before. I SAW, coming up, Lady Fane's grotto, which* they fay, cofl her five thoufand pounds ; about three times as much as her boufe is worth. It is a very beautiful difpofition of the fineft collection of {hells I ever faw Mr. Powis's woods, which are finer. Mean time, if I had three hundred pounds to lay out about The Leafowes, I could bring my ambition to peaceable terms. I am, dear Sir, with all affeclion, yours and Mrs. Jago's. W. SHENSTONE. WRITE foon. It is this moment reported that Pope is dead. XXXI. To LETTERS. XXX I. To the fame. Dear Sir, *743-- T L O N G heartily to talk over affairs with you ^- fete a fete ; but am an utter enemy to the fatigue of tranfcribing what might pafs well enough in con- verfation. I (hall fay nothing more concerning my departure from L , than that it was neceffary, and therefore excufable. f have been fince with a. gentleman upon the borders of Wales, Bifhop's Caflle, from whence I made a digreflion one day beyond OfFa's Dyke : favv mountains which converted all that I bad feen into mole-hills ;. and houfes which changed The Leafowes into Hampton Court : where they talk of a glazed window as a piece of magni- ficence ; and where their higheil idea of his Ma- jelly is, that he can ride in fuch a coach as 'Squire Jones or 'Squire Pryce's. The woman of the inn, at one place, faid, " Glafs (in windows) was very " genteel, that it was j but Hie could not afford fuch " finery." You agree with the reft of the married world in a prcpenfity to make profelytes. This inclination in fome people gives one a kind of dread of the mat- ter. They are ill-natured, and can only vvifh one in their own Hate becaufe they are unhappy ; like perfons that have the plague, who, they fay, are ever 6 defirous 76 MR. SHE N STONE'S defirous to propagate the infection. I make a con- trary conclusion when you commend marriage, as you feem to do, when you wifh Mifs may recon- cile me to more than the natne of wife. I know not what you have heard of my amour : probably more than I can thoroughly confirm to you. And what if I fhould fay to you, that marriage was not once the fubjecl of our converfation r " Nee conjugis unquam " Prastendi taedas, aut hnsc in fcedera veni." Do not you think every thing in nature ftrangely improved fince you were married, from the tea-table to the war wing-pax ? I WANT to fee Mrs. Jago's hand-writing, that I may judge of her temper; but fhe mud write fome- thing in my praife. Pray fee you to it, in your next letter. I COULD parodize my Lord Carteret's letter from Dettingen, if I had it by me. " Mrs. Arnold (thanks " be praifed !) has this day gained a very confidera- " ble vidory. The fcold lafted two hours. Mrs. " S e was ported in the hall, and Mrs. Arnold upon " the flair-cafe ; which fuperiority of ground was of " no fmall fervice to her in the engagement. The '* fire lalted the whole fpace, without intermiflion ; " at LETTERS. 77 " at the clofe of which, the enemy was routed, and ' Mrs. Arnold kept the field." DID you hear the fong to the tune of The " Cuckow r" " The Baron flood behind a tree, " In woeful plight, for nought heard he " But Cannon, Cannon, &c. " O woxd of fear 1 " Unpleafing to a German ear." The notes that fall upon the word " Cannon" ex- prefs the found with its echo admirably. I SEND you my paftoral elegy (or ballad, if you think that name more proper), on condition that you return it with ample remarks in your next let- ter : I fay " return it," becaufe I have no other copy, and am top indolent to take one. Adieu! W. S. XXXil. To MR. S HEN STON'S XXXII. To Mr. GRAVES, defcribing his Situation, and State of Health, &c. Dear Mr. Graves, The Leafowes. TO-MORROW morning I fet out for Chelten- ham, to make trial of the waters there. I mail, perhaps, add to this letter at feveral ftages, and conclude it at the place to which I am going ; fo that, like thofe fprings, you may, perhaps, find it impregnated with the nature of all thofe places through which it paffes ; perhaps quite the con- trary. - , iflmiftake not the man, is an encourager of works of tafte, &c. though I am going to in- ftance this oddly : he was a hearty ftickler for my poem upon Hercules at Bath, as D. Jago fent me word. Perhaps it was complaifance to Mr. Lyttel- ton, with whom, Charles, &c. he is intimate, if, as I faid before, I do not miftake the perfon. I flat- ter myfelf, I do not; and I hope that we two fhall ever find the fame perfons, or the fame kind of per- fons, our friends, and alfo our enemies. IF I get over this ill habit of body, depend upon >t, I will have a reverend care of my health, as Sir John Falftaff advifes the Chief Juftice. I folve all the tempefts that difturb my conftitution into wind ; LETTERS. 79 wind: it plagues me, firft, in the fhape of a bad appetite, then indigeilion, then lownefs of fpirits and a flux of pale water, and at night by watchings, reftleflnefs, twitchings of my nerves, or a fleep more diftrafted than the molt active ftate of watchfulnefs. But I think purging leflens all thefe fymptoms, and I truft my fcheme that I am entering upon is right. I WAS on Monday at Hagley, to wait on Mr. Lyttelton, who was gone to Sir John Aftley's, to fee his grand edifice. As to Mrs. Lyttelton, if her afr fability is not artificial, I mean, if it does not owe its original (as it ought to do its management) to art, I cannot conceive a perfon more amiable ; butfenje and elegance cannot be feigned : to exhibit them, is to haiie them. How is my fong fet ? Mifs Carrington procured it that favour ; but I have never feen a copy, nor knew of its being to be printed. Howard has fet another of mine, which I received laft poft ; but my harp- fichord is out of order, and I have found no one yet to explain the hieroglyphics which convey it. You may probably find it in fome future number of the Britifh. Orpheus, " By the fide of a ftream, &c." I AM in as good fpirits this inftant as ever I was in my life : only " Mens turbidum lastatur." My head is a little confufed ; but I often think ferioufly, that 8o MR. S HEN STONE'S that I ought to have the moft ardent and practical gratitude (as the Methodifts chufe to exprefs them- felves) for the advantages that I have : which, though not eminently fhining, are fuch, to fpeak the truth, as fuit my particular humour, and confequently deferve all kind of acknowledgement. If a poet fnould addrefs himfelf to God Almighty, with the moft earneft thanks for his goodnefs in allotting him an eftate that was over-run with fluubs, thickets, and coppices, variegated with barren rocks and pre- cipices, or floated three parts in four with lakes and marfhes, rather than fuch an equal and fertile fpot as the " fons of men" delight in ; to my ap- prehenfion, he would be guilty of no abfurdity. But of this I have compofed a kind of prayer, and intend to write a little fpeculation on the fubjedl ; this kind of gratitude I aifuredly ought to have, and have. For my health, if one refledls, a coun- try-fellow's flock of it would be unfit for folitude ; would difpofe one rather to bodily feats, and, what Falltaff calls in Poins, gamlol faculties, than mental contemplations ; and would give one that kind of pain which fprings from impatience. My conititution was given me originally good ; and with regard to it now (as G. Barnwell fays) " What am I r What " 7 have made mj/e!f." Or, to fpeak with Mil- ton, ' HIM LETTERS. ?x " HIM after all difputes * l Forc'd I abfolve : all my evafions vain, " And reafonings, tho* thro' mazes, only lead "But to my own conviftion. Firft and laft " On me, me only, as the fource and fpring " Of all corruption, all the blame lights due." Though this is but vulgarly exprefled in Milton neither. JAGO has been here this laft week, and I drove him to Dudley Cattle, which I long to (hew you : I never faw it (fmce I was the fize of my pen) be- fore : it has great romantic beauty, though perhaps Derby/hire may render it of fmall note in your eye. ONE is tempted to addrefs the K as Harry the Jlighth does his wife, mutatis mutandit : " Go thy ways, George ! Whoe'er he be that mall aflert he has '* A bolder king, let him in nought be trufted " For faying falfe in that " I HAVE a mind to write an ode in praife of him, and in rivalfhip of Gibber. Mine mould be of the ballad ftyle and familiarity, as expreffing the fenti- ments of a perfon returning from a diflike to a thorough approbation of him, which feems, at pre- Vo L. |II, Q fent. 8i MR. SHENSTONE'S fent, the fenfe of the nation. But herein I am not in earneft. MY pen has run on a whole page at random. It amufes me to encourage it, and fo I will try to get a frank. ^ I AM this moment arrived at Cheltenham, after an expenfive and fatiguing journey. I called yefter- day at Mickleton ; faw the portico, and fnapped up a bit of mutton at your brother's ; drank a difh of tea with Mifs S j and, in oppolition to the ilrongefl remonftrances, perfifted in an endeavour to reach Cheltenham after five o'clock. The confequence was, that, about ten, I found myfelf travelling back, again towards Stowe ; and had undoubtedly wander- ed all night in the dark, had I not been fortunately met by a waggoner's fervant, who brought me back to the woril inn but one I ever lay at, being his matter's. Here I am : which is all I fliall fay in this letter. Adieu ! W, S. XXXIII. To LETTERS. 83 XXXIII. To Mr. JAGO, on the fame. *. The Leafowes, Saturday,- Dear Mr. Jago, July the gth, 1743. IT is not a contrived apology, or an excufe, which I am going to offer for the difappointments I have given you. I have aflually been fo much out of order ever fmce 1 wrote to you, nay, ever ftnce I formed a dcfign of a Sunday expedition to L , that it never has been in my pmver to execute my intentions. My vertigo has not yet taken away my fenfes : God knows how foon it may do ; but my nerves are in fuch a condition, that I can fcarce get a wink of even disordered reft for whole nights toge- ther. May you never know the mifery of fuch involuntary vigils? I ride every day almoft to fa- tigue ; which only tends to make my want of fleep more fenfille, and not in the leaft to remove it. I have^z>/>j all day, good ones ; though my head is dizzy, and I never enterprise any ftudy of greater fubtlety than a news-paper. I cannot fay the journey to L would be at all formidable to me ; for I ride about fifteen miles, as I compute it, every day before dinner. But the nights from home would be infupportable to me. I have fatigued Mrs. Ar- nold's afliduity, to the injury of her health ; by oc- cafioning her to fit in my room a'nights, light my candle, put it out again, make me perfpiratory G 2 wheys, 8 4 MR. S HENS TONE'S wheys, and flops ; and am amufed by the moft filly animadverfions me is capable of making. I never knew her ufefulnefs till now; but I now prefer her< . to all of her Ration. If I get over this diforder, con- cerning which I have bad apprehenfions, you may depend upon feeing me the firft Sunday I dare ven- ture forth. I hope you continue mending. The be- nefit of riding is only not univerfal, and would cure me too, could I but make one previous advance to- wards health. Have you tried cold-bathing ? Per- haps it may not fuit your cafe. I wifh I had not dropt it. I take my fluctuation of nerves to be caufed, as that of the fea is, by wind ; which I am continually pumping up, and yet find it flill renew- ed. When I am juft finking to fleep, a fudden twitch of my nerves calls me back again to watch- fulnefs and vexation 1 I confider myfelf as in the ftate of the philofopher, who held a bullet betwixt his finger and thumb, which, whenever he was about to nod, was ordered fo as to fall into a large brafs pan, and wake him that he might purfue his lucu- brations. I WILL mention one circumftance regarding the weaknefs of my nerves; and not my fpirits, for 1 told you thofe were tolerable : the leaft noife that is, even the falling of a fire-movel upon the floor, if it happen unexpectedly, fhocks my whole frame ; md I actually believe that a gun fired behind my back, LETTERS.' 85 back, unawares, amidft the ftillnefs of the night, \vould go near to kill me with its noife. I A M juft going to bed ; and dare not be any more attentive, as I hope to clofe my eyes for a minute. So fare you well ! IT is now fix o'clock in the morning, and I have had about five hours middling fleep ; which encou- rages me greatly : fo I will hope to be able to fee you next Sunday fevennight. WHAT think you of the battle ? Are not you fo much in love with our King, that you could find in your heart to ferve him in any profitable poll he might aflign you ? CAPT. L is wounded in the thigh. WHEN I ride in my chair round my neighbour- hood, I am as much flared and wondered at, as a giant would be that ftiould walk through Pall-mall. My vehicle is at leajl as uncommon hereabouts as a blazing comet. My chief pleafure lies in finding out a tljoufand roads, and delightful little haunts ,near hpme, which I never dreamt of: egregious folitudes, and moft incomparable bye-lanes ; where I can as effectually lofe myfelf within a mile of home, ,as if I were benighted in the defarts of Arabia. Adieu ! G 3 XXXIV. To 86 MR. S HENS TONE'S XXXIV. To Mr. GRAVES, written in Hay-Harveft. Dear Mr. Graves, July 3, 1745. F DID not part from you without a great deal of * melancholy. To think of the Jhort duration of thofe interviews which are the objects of one's con- tinual wifhes, . has been a reflection that has plagued me of old! I am fure I returned home with it then, more aggravated, as I forefaw myfelf returning to the fame fence of melancholy hours from which you had a while relieved me, and which I had particularly fuffered under all this lail fpring ! I wifh to God, -you might happen to be fettled not far from me: a day's journey diftance, however; 1 mean, an eafy one. But the odds are infinitely againft me. I mu ft only Yely for my-happinefs on the hopes of a never-ceafing correlpondence ! SOON after you were gone, I received my packet. The hiftory of Worcefterfhire is mere fluff. T I am fo fond of, that, I believe, I fhall have his part of the collection bound over again, neatly and fepa- rately. But fure Hammond has no right to the leaft zawntive merit, as the preface-writer would infmuate. I do not think there is a Tingle thought, of any eminence, that is not literally tranflated. I am aftonifhed he could content himfelf with being fo lit- tle, an original. MR. LETTERS. 87 - . MR Lyttelton and his lady are at Hagley. A malignant caterpillar has demolished the beauty of all our large oaks. Mine are fecured by their lit- tlenefs. But, I guefs, the park fuffers ; a large wood near me being a mere winter piece for nakednefs. AT prefent, I give myfelf up to riding and thought- leffnefs; being refolved to make trial of 'their efficacy towards a tolerable degree of health and fpirits. I wifh I had you for my director. I mould proceed with great confidence of fuccefs ; though I am brought very low by two or three fits of a fever fince I faw you. Had I written to you in the midft of my difpirited condition, as I was going, you would have had a more tender and unaffected letter than I can write at another time : what I think, perhaps, at all times ; but what ficknefs can alone elicit from a temper fearful of whining. SURELY the " nunc formofiffimus annus" is to be limited to hay-harveft. I could give my reafons : but you will imagine them to be, the activity of country people in a pleafing employment ; the full verdure ofthefummer; the prime of pinks, woodbines, jaf- mines, &c. 1 am old ; very old ; for few things give me fo much mechanical pleafure as lolling on a bank in the very heat of the fun, " When the old come forth to play ** On a fun-fhine holiday " G 4 And $ MR. SHENSTONE'S And yet it is as much as I can do to keep Mrs. Ar- nold from going to neighbouring hoafes in her fmoclc, in defpite of decency and my known difapprobadon. I FIKD myfelfmore of a patriot than I ever thought I was. Upon reading th account of the battle, I found a very fenfible pleafare, or, as the Methodifts term it, perceived my heart enlarged, &c. The map you fent me is a pretty kind of ty, but does not enough particularize the fcenes of the war, &c. which was the end I had in view when I fent for it. *' O DURA melTorum ilia!" About half the rip- petite, digeflion, ftrength, fpirits, &c, of a mower, would make me the happieft of mortals ! I would be tmderftood literally, and precifety. Adieu! W. S. XXXV. To the feme, after the Difappolntment of a Vifit. Dear Sir, *743- I AM tempted to begin my letter as Memmius does his harangue. " Multa me dehortantiir a ' vobis, Tii ftudium virtutis veftrx omnia exfuperet.'* You contrive interviews of about a minute's du- 6 ration ; LETTER S; -89 ration ; and you make appointments in order to dif- appoint one ; and yet, at the fame time that yoar proceedings are thus vexatious, force one to bear teftimony to the ineftimable value of your friendfhip! I do infift upon it, that you ought to compound for the difappointment you have caufed me, by a little letter every poft you ftay in town. I ihall now fcarce fee you till next funimer, or fpring at fooneft ; and then I may probably take occafion to vifit you, urider-pretence of feeing Derbyshire. Truth is, your prints have given me /otntr curiofity to fee the original places. I am grateful for your intentions with re- gard to giving me part of them, and impertinent in defiring you to convey them to me as foon a* you can well fpare them. Let me know if they are fold feparately at the print-fhops. I think to re- commend them to my new acquaintance, Mr. Lyt- telton Brown. I like the humour of the ballad you mention, but am more obliged for your partial opi- nion of me. The notes that fall upon the word " Cannon, Cannon," are admirably expreffive of the found, I dare fay : I mean, jointly with its echo ; and fo, I fuppofe, you will think, if you ever at- tended to the Tower-guns. I find I cannot afford to go to Bath previoufly to my London-journey ; though I look upon it as a proper method to make my refidence in town more agreeable. I mall, pro- bably, be there about the firft of December ; or be- fore, if I can accelerate my friend Whiitler's journey. The 90 MR. S HEN STONE'S The pen I write with is the moft difagreeable of pens! Bat I have little elfe to fay; only this that our good friend Jack Dolman is dead at Al- dridge, his father's benefice. I BEG, if you have leifure, you would inclofe me in a frank the following fongs, with the notes : " Stella and Flavia," " Gentle Jefly," " Sylvia, wilt " thou waile thy prime ?" and any other that is new. I fhould be glad of that number of the Britifh Or- pheus which has my fong in it, if it does not coil above fix-pence. Make my compliments to your brother and lifter ; and believe me, in the common forms, but in no common degree, Dear Mr. Graves's Moft affectionate friend and fervant, The Leafowey, W. SHENSTONE. Nov. 9th, 1743. Do write out the whole ballad of " The Baron flood '* behind a tree." XXXVI. To LETTERS. 9, XXXVI. To the fame, on the Receipt of a Prefent of Prints. Dear Sir, The Leafowes, Dec. 23, 1743. YO U may reafonably have expefted a letter be- fore now, either as an acknowledgement for yoar genteel prefent, or at leaft by way of informa- tion that I had received it. The prints have given me a pleafure, which, however confiderable, would foon have languifhed, if I had bought them at a fliop; but which is now built upon the efteem I have for the giver, and cannot have a more durable foundation. As for the reft, I am moft pleafed with the view of Matlock, and mall have no peace of mind till I have feen the original. I have been gild- ing the frames, and wilhing all the while for your company. I WILL alter the ballad according to your advice; dividing it into three parts, and adding a ftanza or two to the (horteft, fome time or other. I have had no opportunity of trying the tunes. " Arno's vale" has pretty words, and recommends itfelf to one's imagination by the probability that it was written on a real occafion the fimilitude of rhimes in the clofe inexcufable. For all that has been the fubjeft of my letter hitherto, as the country people fay, I can 9 2 MR. SHE N STONE'S can but thank you, and I do very fincerely ; thongh a.s to the fongs I will re-pay you. I HAVE your poem by me, which I have read often with the grcatert plQafur.e. .1, have many pbfervations to make; and only defer the communication "till I know whether you have a copy at Tiffington to turn to. I think, the moft polite a.nd fuitable title to it would run thus : " The Villa, a, Poem ; containing a ' Sketch of the prefent Tafte in. Rural Embellifh- ' ments, written in 1740." Your preface has a pret- ty thought towards the clofe ; otherwife is on no ac- count to be admitted. Pardon my freedom ; but, I think, there is no manner of occafion for a preface ; and thofe ftrokes, which I know to be real modefty in you, the world will undoubtedly impute to affectation. If you give me encouragement, I will be very mi- nute in my crhicifms, allowing you to rejed ten to one that you admit of. . , WHISTLER is gone to Briftol, and has bilked me. I laid, he is gone ; but, I believe, he is only upon going I linger at home, in hopes of gleaning up a little health,. and through a dread of being ill in. a . pjace,-where I can be lefs attended on. [ can conti- HurJlyj/W out fomething in my preceding diet that, I think, diforders me ; fo that I am conftantly in hopes of growing, well ; but, .perhaps, [ never fhall : " Optima L E T T E R S. 93 , '* Optima quaeque dies miferis mortalibus an r i *' Prima fugit, fubeunt morbi " WHEI* I was a fchool-boy, I never knew there ivai anyfucb thing as perfpiration ; and now, half my time is taken up in confidering the immediate connexion betwixt that and health, and endeavouring to promote it. MR. Lyttelton has built a kind of alcove in his park, infcribed, " SEDES CONTEMPLATIONIS," near his hermitage. Under the aforefaid infcription is " OMNIA VANITAS :" the fides ornamented with fheeps-bones, jaws, fculls, &c. feftoon-wife. In a nitch over it, an owl. As to fchemes, I have none with regard to the world, women, or books. And I hate, and have deferred writing to you (for fome days) for that rea- fon. I am fick of exhibiting fo much famenefs : I am conftantly poring over fome Claflic, which I confider as one of Idlenefs's better fhapes. But I am impatient to be doing fomething that may tend to better my fituation in fome refpecl or other. It is encouragement can alone inspire one. " Malta & prreclare minantem " Vivere nee re<3e, nec/uaviter 1J exprefies the whole of me. Tims my epiftles per- i^evere in the plaintive ftylej and I queftion whether the 94 MR. SHENST.ONE'S the light of them does not, ere now, give you the vapours. I have an old aunt that vifits me fome- times, whofe converfation is the perfect counterpart of them. She fhall fetch a long-winded figh with Dr. Young for a wager; though I fee bis Sufpiria are not yet finifhed. He has relapfid into " Night " the Fifth." 1 take his cafe to be wind in a great meafure, and would advife him to take rhubarb in powder, with a little nutmeg grated amongft it, as I do. DEAR Mr. G , write down to me; and believe me to be, invariably, Your moft fmcere and obliged friend, &c. W. SHENSTONE, XXXVII. To the fame, with Obfervations on Hy- pocrify, &c. Dear Sir, 1743. XT" O U muft know, my laft letter to you was -*- written before I received yours from Tiflington ; and I fhould take fhame upon myfelf for not anfwer- ing it, were I not furnifhed with this excufe that I waited for a frank for you, There are but few things LETTERS. 95 things I have to fay to you, and fuch as are not worth tranfcribing ; yet, as our diftance from one another requires it, I will fcrawl them over as negligently as I can, to let you fee I lay no ftrefs upon them. A good excufe for lazinefs ! you will fay : and lazy enough I am, God knows ! I believe, any one who knows me thoroughly will think, that there never was fo great an inconfiftence as there is betwixt my words (in my poem) and my actions. This is what the world calls hypocrify, and is determined to look upon with peculiar averfion. But, I think, the hy- pocrite is a ba/f-good character. A man certainly, confidering the force of precedent, deferves fome praife who keeps up appearances; and is, no doubt, as much to be commended for talking better than he ats, as he is to be blamed for ailing worfe than he talks. So much for cafuiftry. I would feem, you muft know, to have fome meritorious views in talk- ing 'virtuoujly ; but who does not know that every one who writes poetry looks directly with his face towards praife, and whatever elfe his eye takes in is viewed obliquely ? Praife, as I faid to foible-con- feffmg W , is the defired, the noted, and the ade- quate reward of poetry; in which fort he that re- wards me, Heaven reward him, as Sir John Falftaff fays. There is fomething very vain in repeating my own fayings ; but I could not confcientioufly ufe a joke to you which I had ufed in another let- ter, without owning it. In fhort, it is neceffary to z have 96 MR. SH-EN STONE'S have fome earthly aim in view ; the next world,, whether it be in reality near or far off, is always fcen at a diftance. All that the generality of young people can do is,, to aft confidently, with their ex- pectations there. Now, though fame, &c. be obvi- ouily enough in the eye of reafon difTatisfa&ory ; yet it is proper enough to fufter one's felf to be de- luded with the hopes of it, that is, it is proper to cherifh fome worldly hopes, that one may avoid impatience, fpleen, and one fort of defpair : I meaa that of having no hope s here, becaufe one fees no- thing here that deferves them. If I were in your cafe, I would make all the efforts I was able towards being a Bilhop. That mould be my earthly aim : not but I would aft with fo much indifference as to bear all difappointment unconcernedly as, I dare fay, you will. There is but one paffion that I put upon an equally fprightly footing with ambition, and that is love ; which, as it regularly tends to ma- "trimony, requires certain favours from fortune and circumftance to render it proper to indulge in. By this time you think me crazed as it often hap- pens to me to doubt, ferioujly, whether I am not : but if it be the " mentis gratiflimus error," I do not mind. You are very obliging to endeavour to continue my madnefs and vanity. I mould be as glad to fee Mr. Graves your brother as any one I know: I live in a manner wherein he would find many things to exercife his good-nature. PAMELA LETTER S. 97 PAMELA would have made one-good volume : and I wonder the author, who has fome /V*-natural ftrokes, fhould not have fenfe enough to fee that. I beg you will collect ail the hints, &c. of your own, or others, that you thirrk may tend to the improvement of my poem, againft winter ; that you would mention any flat lines, See. Write me word fome time ere you come over ; but write to me immediately. I am Yours faithfully, W. SHENSTONE. XXXVIII. To a Friend, with a Parody. The Leafowes, Dear Sir, March i, 1743-4.. "XT" O U are upon very good terms with me, and * have been all along. I gueffed the caufes of your filence, and have been fmcerely forry for them ; not however that I did not believe you were more happy than any one in the world who is neither a lover nor a poet, though not able to turn himfelf for money* bags .-TI am really going to London ; and am about the purchafe of an elegant pair of piltols from Birmingham. I indulge myfelf in this expence, becaufe they fhall ferve in two capacities; one while i VOL. III. H to 98 MR. SHEN STONE'S to garnifh my chair, another while my horfe. And fome time next week you will probably fee your old friend on horfe-back, armed at all points^ and as very a knight to all appearance as any body. " Well! they fay the Owlivas a Quaker's Dattgh- " ter one knovjs ivbat one iis, but one does not knonu " what one SHALL be" Ophelia in Hamlet. Burl digrefs. If I juft call to fee you, God for- bid that I fhould be burthenfome to you. I will fend my horfes to H , and lodge there, or fome- where. But 1 am perfectly impatient to unbofom my foul to you, and to fee Mrs. Jago, whom I mould have mentioned firil. Wednefday or Tuefday in- deed feems the moft likely day. Though I am not fure ; nor do you confine yourfelf. POOR Mariett ! / too am emaciated ; but I hope, by means of fome warm weather, to acquire plus d' 'embonpoint. I defign to call upon him, and keep him in countenance. My ballad, in the midft of your hurry, muil ap- pear as ridiculous as Cinna the poet does, when he fwears nothing but death mall reftrain him from addreffing Brutus and Caffius (and that the night before the battle) with two doggrel verfes and thofe the worft I have ever read ; and that makes the fimile the LETTERS. 99 the more juft. It is now a good deal metamorphofed. Your parody is prodigioufly droll : the firfl line de- lights me ! I think I could furnifh Mrs. K with as good mottoes, and as cheap, though 1 fay it, as any- body; but, alas! Did I fend you the follow- ing parody or no, before ? I believe not. Le wcila ! " WHEN firft, Philander, firft I came " Where Avon rolls his winding ftream, " The nymphs how brifk! thefwains how gay ! " To fee Ajleria, Queen of May ! " The parfons round, her praifes fung! " The fteeples, with her praifes rung ! " I thought no fight, that e'er was feen, " Could match the fight of Barel's-green ! " BUT now, fince old Eugenia dy'd " The chief of poets, and the pride *' Now, meaner bards in vain afpire *' To raife their voice, to tune their lyre ! " Their lovely feafon, now, is o'er! " Thy notes, Florelio, pleafe no more ! " No more Afteria's fmiles are feen ! " Adieu! the fvveets of Barel's-green ! "-. IT is a kind of extempore, fo excufe it. You have feen the fong of Arno's Vale. H2 I AM ico MR. S HEN STONE'S I AM taking part of my farm upon my hands, to fee if I can fucceed as a farmer ; but I am afraid I am under the fentence, " And, behold, whatfoever he " taketh in hand, it fhall not profper." MY good friend, I fincerely confide, that, however we may be feparated, r>o time fhall extenuate our mu- tual friend fnip. lam Your zealous, unferviceable friend, W. SHENSTONE, XXXIX. To Mr. GRAVES, on Social Happinefs. Dear Mr. Graves, About 1745. HP HERE is not a fyllable you tell me concerning -* yourfelf in your la ft letter, but what applied to me is molt literally true. I am fenfible of the daily progrefs I make towards infignificancy, and it will not be many years before you fee me ar- rived at the ne plus ultra. I believe it is abfolutely impofiible for me to acquire a confiderable degree of knowledge, though I can underftand things well enough at the time I read them. I remember a preacher at St. Mary's (I think it was Mr. E ) made a notable diftinftion betwixt apprebenfan and I csmprehenjior,. LETTERS. 10 1 tomprebenjion. If there be a real difference, pro- bably it may find a place in the explication of my genius. I envy you a good general in fight into the writings of the learned. I muft aim at nothing higher than a well-concealed ignorance. I was think- ing, upon reading your letter, ivhen it was that you and Mr. Whiftler and I went out of the road of hap- pinefs. It certainly was where we firil deviated from the turnpike-road of life. Wives, children, alliances, vifits, &c. are neceffary objects of our fo- cial paffions ; and whether or no we can, through particular circumftances, be happy with, I think it plain enough that it is not poffible to be happy with- out them. All attachments to inanimate beauties, to curiofides, and ornaments, fatiate us prefently. The fanciful tribe has the difad vantage to be natural- ly prone to err in the choice cf lofting pleafures : and when our paffions have habitually wandered, it is too difficult to reduce them into their proper chanels. When this is the cafe, nothing but the change or variety of amufements (lands any chance to make us eafy, and it is not long ere the whole fpecies is exhaufted. I agree with you entirely in the neceffity of zfociable life in order to be happy: I do not think it much a paradox, that any com- pany is better than none. I think it obvious enough as to the prefent hour; and as to any future influence, folitude has exceeding favage effects on our dii- po fit ions. I have wrote out my elegy : I lay no man- H 3 ner loz MR. SHENSTONE'S ner of ftrefs but upon the piety of it. Would it not be a good kind of motto, applied to a perfon you know, that might be taken from what is faid of Ophelia in Hamlet, " I tell thee, faithlefs prieft I " A rriiniftring angel fhall Ophelia be " When thou art howling." .1 HAVE smufed myfelf often with this fpecies of writing fince you faw me ; partly to divert my prefect impatience, and partly as it will be a picture of moft that paffes in my mind ; a portrait which friends may value. I mould be glad of your profile : if you have obje&ions, I drop my requeit. I mould be heartily glad if you would come and live with me, for any Jpace of time that you couid find convenienp. But I will depend on your coming over with Mr. Whiftler in the fpring. I may poffibly take a jaunt towards you ere long : the road would furnifh me out fome vifits ; and, by the time I reached you, perhaps, afford me a kind of climax of happinefs. If I do not, I mall perhaps be a little time at Bath. I do not fpeak of this lalt as a icheme from which I entertain great expectations of pleafure. It is long ilnce I have confidered myfelf as undone. The world will not perhaps confider me in that light entirely, till I have married my maid. Adieu ! XL.TQ LETTERS. 103 XL. TO the fame, with Obfervations on the Re- bellion, and its probable Conferences. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Nov. 22, 1745. MY life, for aught I fee, will pafs away juft as it bat done, without introducing fufficient improvement into my circumltances to give a chear^ ful caft to my correfpondence. In one refpecl:, in regard to my inviolable friendmip for you, I hope you will hear with fome fatisfadlion that I continue ftill the fame. And this kind of identity, I think, I could promife you, though every circumftance in my fortune, every particle of my body, were changed ; and others, ever fo heterogeneous, fubftituted in their place. After this, it would be no compliment to fay, that the pretended heir to thefe kingdoms could not alter it, were he to fubvert the Britim con- ftitution ; which muft, out of all doubt, be the con- fequence of his fuccefs. The rebellion, yo may guefs, is the fubjedl of all converfation. Every inr dividual nailer here takes in a news-paper (a more pregnant one by far than any of the London ones), and talks as familiarly of kings and princes as ever Matter Shallow did of John of Gaunt. Indeed it is no bad thing that they do fo ; for I cannot con- ceive that the people want fo much to be convinced by/trmonsof the abfurdities of popery, as they do by 1} 4 KMW- 104 MR. S H E N S TONE'S news-papers that *'/ may poflibly prevail. The rea r fons and arguments too in favour of the prefect Go- vernment are fo Jlrong and obvious, that even I, and every country 'fquire, and every country clerk, and Sam Shaw the taylor, feem to be as much mafters of them as the Bifhops themfelves. I muft nojt fay we could exprefs them fo politely. I like Seeker's the beft of any fermon on this occafion. He gives his audience a view of fuch evil confe- quences from a change, as no man of fenfe can poflibly doubt of, when fairly flated : and, I own, I cannot fee one fingle^Wit could produce, in com- penfation for its inevitable and abundant mi/chiefs. I have read Dr. Sherlock's fermon on this occafion : and I have read Mr. Warburton's; and, at your re'-juefc, I will read his Legation. I HAVE often thoughts of a jaunt as far as your country this winter. Some kind of pilgrimage I nmfl: make, to avoid a lethargy. Public places I want to viiit a little ; to peep at and renew my idea of the world's vanity ; but either Bath or London would fleep me fo far in poverty, that I (hould not probably emerge before the middle of next fummer. ] have fpent this lad fummer agreeably enough with fomeofmy young relations, Mr. Dolman's children. They have an excellent tafte for their years. I have been upon feveral jaunts with the fon to Lhchhdd, Worceiler, Mr. Fletcher's, c. amufmg him, LETTERS. 105 him, what I could, under the lofs of his father. Mifs W F afked very earneftly after you. Two of the fitters have been with me at The Leafowes, and upon feveral parties of pleafure in my chair. Broom is difpofed of I do not underftand upon what inducement. After all, I am miferable ; con- fcious to myfelf that I am too little felfifti ; that I ought now or never to aim at fome addition to my fortune ; and that I make large advances to- wards the common cataltrophe of better poets, po- verty. I never can attend enough to fome twelve- penny matter, on which a great deal depends. My amour, fo far as J indulge it, gives me fome pleafure, and no pain in the world. I have read Spenfer once again : and I have added full as much more to my School-miflrefs, in regard to number of lines ; fometbing in point of matter (or manner rather) which does not difpleafe me. I would be glad if Mr. were, upon yoyr requeft, to give his opinion of par- ticulars, for two reafons ; as you fay he has fome tafte for this kind of writing, and as he is my enemy, and would, therefore, find out its deficiencies. I HAVE a reafon, of a moft vvhimfical kind, why I would wifh you to preferve this letter. Pray write foon, and believe me molt affectionately Your friend and humble fervant, W. SHE:; STONE. XLI. To ic6 MR. S H E N S T O N E * S XLI. To the fame, with Remarks on the Execution and Behaviour of the Lords Kilmarnock and Bal- merino. Dear Mr. Graves, 1746, ineunte anno. T BEXIEVE it is impoffible for me to difagree * with you on any other fcore, than the fcanty pittances you allot me of your company ; and, if I have difclofed any fymptoms of refentrnent on that account, you will, perhaps, overlook them, out of regard to the motive from which they proceeded. I thank you for your perufal of that trivial poem. If I were going to print it, I mould give way to your remarks implicitly, and would not dare to do other- wife. But fo long as I keep it in manufcript, you will pardon my filly prejudices, if I chufe to read and ihew it with the addition of moft of my new ilanzas. 1 own, I have a fondnefs for feveral, imagin- ing them to be more in Spenfer's way, yet more in- dependent on the antique phrafe, than any part of the poem ; and, on that account, I cannot yet pre- vail on myfelf to banifh them entirely ; but were I \o print, I fhould (with fame reluctance) give way to your fentiments (which I know are jult), namely, that they render the work too diffufe and flimzy, and feem rather excrefcences than effential parts of it. LETTERS. 107 BUT of thefe things I fay no more now. I pur- pofe ftaying a month with Mr. Whiftier in Decem- ber, if it fuits him; and then I hope I fliall have a great deal of your company. Let me hear fome- thing in your next of your dotneftic affairs. I beg you would not make any grand decifion, without giving me fome previous information. I efteem this as due to the friendfhip I have fo long profefled for you, and from the friendfhip you have fo long pro- feffed for me. I LOOK upon the death of the two Lords as equally decent upon their refpe&ive principles. Lord Kil- marnotk, I fuppofe, joined the rebels through a view of bettering his circumftances, conicious to himfelf that he- was guilty of a crime the moment he did fo. This is agreeable to his fpeech before the Lords, and to that melancholy which he difcQvered upon the fcaffpld. Death, aggravated by guilt, would fit heavier upon him than upon the other, even fup- pofing him to have had the fame refolution. Bal- merino's life was quite unie, and his death equal to the chara&er he aimed at. We are to obferye, that he meant to fuffer as a Friend to the Stewarts, a Sol- dier, and a Scotfman. The firft he manifefted when he came out of the Tower, by his reply of " God fave V King I s;" the fecond, by his drefs, and num- berlefs oftentations of intrepidity; the laft, by his plaid night- cap. Did you hear the Itory of his fend- ing io8 MR. S H E N S T O N E ' S ing a meflage to Lord Kilmarnock ? " That he had " been praftifing how to lye upon the block ; and ' had found out, the eafieft way of receiving fche " blow was, to bite his tongue hard : or even it " he bit it off, it was no matter, they mould have. ' no further ufe for it." His behaviour feems to have wanted coolnefs, or elfe to eq-ual that of Adrian, Cato, Sir T. More, &c. or any of thofe heroes who had fpirit enough to make an oftentation of their unconcern. I had, from the printed accounts of their behaviour, an idea of their perfons, exadly conformable to the defcription J read afterwards in yeur paper ; but enough you fend me flerling matters of fad, and I return you tinfel obfervations. - I thank you for accenting Cromertie and Balmenno ; I learnt Culloden from you before. I HAVE had little company fince I faw you. One day indeed I was furprized by a vifit from Mr. Thorn Ion, Author of The Seafons. Mr. Lyttelton introduced him. I have not room to tell you all that pafled. They praifed my place extravagantly ; propofed alterations, &c. Thomfon was very face- tious, and very complaifant ; invited me to his houfe at Richmond. There were many things faid worth telling^ but not writing to you. This has been a fummer that I have fpent more Joa 'ally than any one thefe three years. I expeft a good deal more com- pany this week, the next, and the week after. ' Ladr LETTERS. 109 Lady Luxborough talks of coming, and I believe ivi/l. The viiit would bring my little, walks into repute. When will the time come, that I (hall en- joy your company here a month uninterrupted r Dear Sir, Yours mofl faithfully, W. SHENSTONE. XLII. To the fame, with a new Theory of Political Principles. Dear Mr. Graves, T HAVE lately received a letter from Mr. Whift- -*- ler, which conveys your compliments to me, and, by fo doing, prompts me to acknowledge the re- ceipt of your laft kind letter. I obferve you adhere ftri&ly to the apoftolical precept of being " fvvift " to hear, flow to /feat;" the latter part of which, I would fain conclude, you underftand too literally. YOUR neighbour, I fee, is not a little embarrafled with his mills at Whitchurch. I have long had an eye upon his advertifement in the London Evening Poll, and been not a little fcandalized thereat. What has the name of a poet to do with the pub- lication of lands and tenements ? or the idea of harmony with the noife of a water-mill? yet has he no MR. SHENSTONE'S he extrafted mufic from the fubjeft, and mirth from his misfortunes ; having fent me a ballad upon the miller, written with much eafe and fome drollery. As to the light in whicjj you place your prefent fortunes, I can only fay, that you have not that fituation I could wifh you for your oian fake : for fo far as / am concerned in your elevation, I can affure you very faithfully, that no circumftances in the world could more endear you to my affeftion, or recommend you to my refpeft, than the prefent. My affeflion, you will eafily obferve, from the very nature of aftedtion in general, would fland no chance to be increafed by your promotion ; and as for re- fpecl, if I knew the degree you defired, I would acquit myfelf of it to your fatisfa&ion now, and were you fettled at Lambeth, I Ihould expedt that you would require no more from me upon that account ; at leaft in private : fo that, fo far as either deference .or friend/hip is concerned, you are an Archbifhop to me to all intents and purpofes. As to figure in the world, it depends much, I know, upon advance- ment ; and yet even here you will be ever fure of that kind of weight which ingenuity gives ; dif- cernible to the fmaller indeed, but undoubtedly the more 'valuable part of the world ; but this is im- proper, as it is philofophy, and as it is ad-vice; nei- ther of which is it fuitable for me to fuggeft to you " Alcinoo Poma, &c." As to the long feries 7 of LETTERS. in of my lamentations, I will not now enter upon the reafonablenefs of them. It is a fubje&, to tell you the truth, on which you cannot reply without fome danger of hurting me. As for politics (you will blame this letter for dwelling fo much upon the fub- jel of yours) ; but as for politics, 1 think poets are tories by nature, fuppofing them to be by nature poets. The love of an individual perfon or family, that has worn a crown for many fucceflions, is an in- clination greatly adapted to the fanciful tribe. On the other hand, mathematicians, abftraft-reafoners, of no manner of attachment to perfons, at leaft to the vifible part of them, but prodigioufly devoted to the ideas of virtue, liberty, intereft, and fo forth, are generally whigs. It happens agreeably enough to this maxim, that the whigs are friends to that wife* plodding, un-poetical people the Dutch the to- ries, on the other hand, are taken mightily with that Ihewy, oftentatious nation the French. Fox- hunters, that refide amongft the beauties of nature, and bid defiance to art, in fhort, that have intellects of a poetical turn, are frequently tories citizens, merchants, &c. that fcarce fee what nature is, and confequently have no pretenfions to a poetical tafte, -are, I think, generally argumentative and whiggifli ; but perhaps I carry this too far. Something there is in it, however, you will fee : not that I would ap- ply what I here fay to particular revolutions, &c. J would only advance fomething general and fpecu- lativc, riz MR. SHENSTO'NE'S lative. Nor would I approve or condemn by this any one fee of people now exifting. Nor would I have you pretend to fifil out ray party from any thing I have faid j for I am of none. The letter I fent you lail was occafanal, and when I fee you I will tell you the occafion. I abfolutely agree with you in every tittle of your political oblervations. I am glad I do ; for I know the poifonous nature of party : and though we are neither violent, yet I fhould fear it. My fchemes are doubtful at prefent, but my face is fet towards Bath. I am confident of the fervice thofe .waters would do me. I hope you will exhilarate me with a letter foon. I would fain have furnifhed out a letter to amufe you after fo long a filence, but I find myielf unable ; even as unable as I am to exprefs the regard with which I am Yours, -The Leafowes, April 6,1746. W. SHENSTONE. XLIII. Continuation of the fame. The Leafowrs, Dear Mr. Graves, May u, 1746. HP HO UGH I feel an irrefiftible propenfity to . * write to you this very poft, yet 1 cannot fay that I am able to advance any thing tending either to your own LETTERS. 113 own or my fatisfaftion. What is worit of all is, I cannot fix the time of feeing you with fo much pre- cifion as 1 would always endeavour where my pleafure is fo much concerned I will tell you the whole af- fair. I have for a long feafon purpofed to drink the Bath waters this fpring ; and did think of letting out in a week's time, when I received your letter, pur- pofing to flay there a month ; and from thence take a circuit which mould indulge me in a fight of you, Mr. Whifller, and fome few others, in my way home. The latter part of this fcheme (though far the more agreeable to me) was rather doubtful and precari- ous; depending (as you exprefs it) on the ftate of my finances after a month's continuance at Bath ; which I confidered, and do confider, as a very probable means of bettering my conftitution. Now I covet to fee you fo much, that I would bring nothing but health in competition. What I wifh is, that you could, with convenience, either baften or delay your journey, that you might find me before mine, or after my return, though I mould infinitely, and for many reafons, pre- fer the former. I long to talk with you particularly now. I have much to fay in regard to our friend's amour, to which you alluded in your laft. I requeft it as a favour of you, that you would conjure him, by the friendfhip I have ever born him, and by any efteem which he has ever profefled for me, that he would do nothing very material in the affair till I VOL. III. I have ii4 MR. SHENSTONE'S have talked it over, and given him my faithful fentiment?, " quod cenfet amiculus." I AM net willing the balance ihould turn entirely on the whig fide : I would give it a greater equili- brium, if the following fuggeftion might effecl: it. Tories, I faid, have great, and fometimes partial affections for the perfon of a king. We will fuppofe that kings are alternately good and bad: their loyal- ty to the good one is commendable ; their partiality to the bad one not to be vindicated. Whigs have no paflion, no gratitude, towards the good prince: there they are wrong. They are fevere upon the bad one, in which they are juftifiable. I wilh I had not begun thefe wholefale diftinflions, this miferable fpecimen of my politics. I proteft againft all epifto- lary difputes. I am now embarrafTed in one, on much fuch another fccre, which fills up all my let- ter ; for I love the ]a(t word, like a fcold or a child. I thank you for your little anecdotes from time ;o time : you may depend upon it, that I have iiever heard any thing before ; for I never do hear ajiy thing. I am one very thankful letter in debt to your neighbour Whiftler. I have at prefent no- thing but the frope/ifity of a good correfpondent ; but I will write foon. In the mean time, if you fee him, aflc him if he goes to Bath or Briftol this fea- fon. I beg you would write to me directly when you can come, and how I may regulate my motions fo LETTERS, 115 fo as to be beft allured of ioeiag you. Pray do not nfeglecl a potf. I am Yours moft entirely, W. S, XLIV. To the fame, on the Mixture of Pleafure and Pain. The Leafowe?, Dear Mr. Graves, June the laft, 1747. T T is now, I believe, near half a year fince I had * the favour of a letter from you. When I wrote laft, I difcovefed a more than ordinary folicitude for one immediate anfwer. It puzzles me to account for your unufual filence, otherwife than upon fuppofition of fome offence you have taken : and it puzzles me as much to guefs by what behaviour of mine I have been fo unhappy as to give you that offence* I AM vain enough to imagine that the little me- rit 1 have, deferves fomewhat more regard than I have met with from the world. Be that as it will, the difappointment I mufl undergo, by any appearance of negleft from the friends I value, would more sffedtually difpirit me than any other whatfoever. I 3 . I HAVE n6 MR. SHENSTONE'S I HAVE publifhed my defign of vifiting you, and Mr. Whiftler in Oxfordfhire, to all the world. A thoufand incidents have hitherto interfered with it, which I will not now recount. But when I look back upon the regular fucceffion of them, it looks as if DeiHny had fome hand in detaining me. The moil vigorous of my hopes dwell upon feeing you next winter, though I am not a little indulgent to thofe that tell me I may fee you long before. I HAVE brought my place here to greater per- feftion than it has ever yet appeared in ; and, with the mob* it is in fome vogue. Nevertheless, I do not know that I ever reliftied it lefs in my life than I have done this fummer. Bad health, bad fpirits, no company to my mind, and no correfpondences, are enough to blaft the fweeteft fliades, and to poifon the pureil fountains. Some of thefe misfortunes I can impute to my own mifconduft, and it embitters them. The two laft I can lefs account for, having at all times done all I was able to recommend my- felf to my friends, behaving at the fame time with courtefy to the reft of the world. The fad is not true ; otherwife I might refolve it into this, that I alone am idle, and all the world is bujfy. \ FANCY you will imagine I lay too much ftrefs upon Mr. Thomfcn's vifit, when I mention the fol- lowing infcription upon a feat in Virgil's grove : " CELEB'MO LETTERS. n 7 " CELEB'MO POET. " IACOBO THOMSON, S. " PROPE FONTES ILLI WON FASTIDITOS c. s. " SEDEM HANC ORNAVJT. *' Qua: tibi, qua: tali reddam pro carmine dona ? " Nam neque me tantum Dementis * Jibilus Auftri, " Nee perc'ufla juvant fl'uftu tarn litora, nee quas <{ Saxofas inter decurrunt flumina valles." VIRG. I want your opinion of it, and whether it were not better thus, " THOMSON, " Q\\ CVM qVICQVID VBIQVE RVRIS EST *' AVT AMOENVM AVT VARIVM " MIRE DEPINXERAT, " HOS ETIAM FONTES KON FASTIDIVIT." But you will difcover at firft glance an impropriety in both. Now I am upon infcriptions, I fend you one from a coin dug up very near me a few weeks ago: Round the head, " IMP V.V.V.* V AVG GER DAC M" On the reverfe, " S P QJl OPTIMO PRINCIPI COS Vl" * The verfe whifpers here. I 3 Within ii8 MR. SHENSTONE'S Within which is an human figure fitting, with one hand Declined upon a wand; the other, as I take it, holding forth an olive. I have given my opinion, it is one of Trajan's ; ,and my virtuofo character will, reft upon the truth of it. It is a filver coin, but very obfcure. There appears a large mafs of ruins, rough llone, very ftrongly cemented, where they fo'und it. If you were here, it might amufe you. HEAVINESS may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. I have fo fettled a notion of the proportionate mixture of pleafure and pain in this life, that I expeft one to fucceed the other as naturally as day and night. I own, this, is owing to the foul as much as to outward incidents. Sor- row prepares it for mirth, and egin to be feldom pleafed with the compofitions of others, or my own ; but I could be liwky fond of this, with a few alterations that I could propofe : but you muft know, at the fame time, that thefe are fuch as no one would approve beiide myfelf. I know it. How- ever, there are fome feeming f auks in it. I HAVE been greatly mortified in my correfpondonts of late. I even faid in my halte, All friends are faith- lefs. G , after a, month's expe&aticn, which he had confirmed to me, of feeing him here, let me know about a fortnight fince, that I had more leifure than him ; and, fince it did not fuit his convenience to come, I ought to take the opportunity of vifiting him, and feeing Derbyfhire while he continues in it. W has not wrote to me thefe fix weeks. Outing has been, moreover, dumb for the fame fpace of time ; and I purpofe in iny heart to behave with fome diftance towards both, for this neglect (fee my rule of circumftantial evidence). IT is pity you cannot fpare a day or two to come and fee me. My wood grows exceflively pleafant, and its pleafantnefs vexes me ; becaufe nobody will come that can tafte it. YOUR 124 MR - S II ENS TONE'S YOUR health, according to your defcription, is much the fame with mine ; but, from the gaiety of your ftyle and defigns, I colledl that it is greatly bet- ter. I HAVE an alcove, fix elegies, a feat, two epitaphs (one upon myfelf), three ballads, four fongs, and a ferpentine river, to fhew you when you come. Will the compofitions come fafe to you, if I fend my book, which contains the only copies of feveral things (which I could not remember if they were loft) ? but I will not fend them. If my horfe gets well, I may effay a vifit for two days, and bring them with me, that I may make comments while you read them, as befeem- eth a genuine author to do. I AM railing a green-houfe from the excrefcences of Lord Dudley's; but I do not find that " vient 1'ap- " petit en mangeant," that I grow fonder of my col- le&ion proportionally as it increafes. I SHOULD think myfelf fortunate enough at pre- fent, if, like you, I could only find that I had been mentioned for a vacant poft ; but I have withdrawn all my views from court-preferment, and fixed them on finding a pot of money, which I determine to be the far more probable fcheme. I HAVE LETTERS. 125 I HAVE little health and frequent mortification, fo that no one need envy me ; and yet, I believe, there are that do. Is any enviable but fuch as are unam- bitious? I never mail be able to reckon myfelf of that tribe, which have engro fled aM-4affittf/s to themfelves, and left the reft of the world nothing but hopes and pofielfions. Yet I do no much feel the pains of am- bition while I am converging with ingenious friends of my own level : but in other company it hurts me. Let me advife you, now I think of it, to dread the company of filly people, out-of-the-way people, and, in one word, what men of genius call the vulgar. You run ten times the rifque of being mortified, vo- luntarily or unkowingly, amongft the latter of thefe, to what you do amongft men of fenfe and politenefs, be they ever fo malicious ; but my paper is filled. Do write foon. XLVII. To the fame. It is fomewhere about the aotli of Sept. 1747 ; and I write from The Lea- Dear Sir, fowes. T THINK I have lived to out-correfpond almoft * all my correfpondents ; whether you are the laft that is to be fubdued, I will not fay ; the reft are fo fatigued, U6 M K- S H E N S T O N S ' 5 fatigued, that they are not able to atchicve a line/ Apprized of this, and being by nature diipo&d to have mercy on the vanquilhed, " parcere fubjectis," I feldom write a fyllable more than is rcquiiite to further fome fcheme, or afcertain fome interview, the latter of thefe being the purnofe of th'u mine cpiitic. 1 am in great hopes I mall be at liberty to ice you ere many weeks be pail j and would beg of you, in the mean time, to inform me, by a let- ter, when I am likely, or when very unlikely, to meet with you at home. \ am detained, jiiil at prefect,- by continual expectations of the Hagley family. As I was returning from church on Sunday lait, whom mould 1 meet, in a cbai.Te, with two horfes length-ways, but that right friendly bard, Mr. Thcmfon? I complimented him upon his arrival in this country, and afked him to accompany Mr. Lyt- telton to The Leafowes, which he faid he would with abundance of pleasure; and fo we parted. You will obferve, that the more ftrefs I lay upon this vifit, and the more I difcaver to you, the more fubftantial is my apology for deferring mine into Warwick/hire. I own, I am pleafed with the profpeft of mewing them fomething at The Leafowes beyond what they expecT:. I have begun my terras on the high hill I fliewed you, mace fome confiderable improvements in Virgil's grove, and finiflied a walk from it to the houfe, after a manner which you will approve. They LETTERS. 127 They are going to build a cattle in the park round the lodge, which, if well executed, muft have a good effecl: ; and they are going likewife to build a ro- tund to terminate the vifto. The fault is, that they anticipate every thing which I propofe to do wjxen. I become rich ; but as that is never likely to be, perhaps it is not of any importance ; but what I term rich, implies no great deal ; I believe you are a witnefs to the moderation of my defires ; and I flatter myfelf that you will believe your friend in that refpeft fomething above the vulgar : " Crede non ilium tibi de fceleila " Plebe diledlum, neque fie fidelem, " Sic lucro averfum, potuiffe nafci " Patre pudendo." IF I come to your houfe, pofitively I will not go to fee Mr. M . He has been twice as near me as The Graoge, with C L , and never deemed my place worth feeing. I doubt, you are a little too modeft in praifing it wherever you go. Why don't you applaud it with both hand^, utroque " pollice ?" " Parcentes ego dexteras odi, fparge " rofas." 1 am fo very partial to my native place, that it feems a miracle to me that it is not more fa- mous. But I complain unjuftly of you; for, as you have always contributed to my happinefs, you have taken every opportunity to contribute to my figure. 5 I wifh 128 MR. SHENSTONE'S I wifli I could fay the fame of fome who have it more in their power. I HAVE yet about a thoufand things to fay to you not now, though. Lady L h's vifit I referve till I fee you. A coach with a coronet is a pretty kind of phenomenon at my door few prettier, ex- cept the face of fuch a friend as you ; for I do not want the grace to prefer a generous and fpirited friendship to all the gewgaws that ambition can con- trive. I have wrote out my elegies, and heartily wifh you had them to look over before I come. I know not how to fend them. I fhall bring and leave fome poetry with you. " Thus & odores !" or rather a proper covering for " Thus & odores, & " piper, & quicquid chartis amicitur ineptis !" Adieu ! dear Sir. Believe me ever yours, W. SHENSTONE. XL VIII. To the fame, with a Song. Dear Sir, i/47 TjEINGjitit returned from a fmall excurfion, it JL * was with the utmou pleafure that I read over your letter; and, thowgh it abounds both in wit and LETTERS. 129 and waggery, I fit down incontinently to anfwer it with none. THE agreeablenefs of your letters is now heighten- ed by the furprize they give me. I muft own, I have thought you in a manner loft to the amufe- ments in which you once delighted, correfpondences, ' works of tafte and fancy, &c. If you thmk the opinion worth removing, you need only favour me with fuch a letter now and then, and I will place you (in my imagination) where you mail fee all the favourites of fortune cringing at your feet. I THINK I could add about half a do2en hints to your obfervations on electricity, which might at leajl difguife the fafts ; and then why will you not put it into fome news-paper, or monthly pamphlet ? you might difcover yourfelf to whom you have a mind. It would give more than ordinary pleafure at this time. Some other will take the hint. ^-Pity your piece mould not have the advantage of novelty as well as of wit ! I DINED and flayed a night with Dr. E ; hq was extremely obliging, and I am glad of fuch a friend to vifit at B. He afked much after you. He (hewed me his Ovid I advifed him to finifh fbrne one epiftle highly, that he might ihew it. Vo L. HI. K The i 3 o MR. S HEN STONE'S 'j he whole will not take, though it goes againii me to tell him fo. I fhould be glad he could fucceed at B. ; and could I ferve him, it would be with a fafe confcience ; for I take him to excel the reft of B. phyficians .far in point of fpeculation and dili- gence, &c. I SEND you the fong you afked fcr, and reqwft of you to write me cut your new edition of the' elccljon vcrfes : and, at your Jei/ure, a copy of the poem v.'hich we altered. THE LARK. " Go, tuneful bird, that gladd'ft the Ikies, " To Daphne's window fpeed thy way, ' And there on quiv'ring pinions rife, " And there thy vocal art difplay. " And if ihe deign thy notes to hear, " And if me praife thy matin fong ; " Tell her, the founds that footh her ear, " To fimple Biitifh birds belong. " Tell her, in livelier plumes array'd, " The bird from Indian groves may fhine : " But afk the lovely, partial maid, " What are his notes compar'd to thine ? Then L E T T E R S. 131 " Then bid her treat that witlefs beau " And all his motley race with fcorn ; " And herd deferving Damon's woe, " Vv'ho lings her praife, and /ings forlorn." I am, Sir, Your moil faithful friend and fervant, W. SHENSTONB. HAVE you read Watfon, Martyn, and i-'reke, on ele&ricity ? I accidentally met with the two former, by which my head is rendered almoil giddy eleclrics, non-eleclrics, electrics per fe, and bodies that are only condu&ors of electricity, have a plaguy bad effect on fo vortical a brain as mine. I WILL infallibly fpend a week with you, perhaps about February, if it fuits you ; though I think too k muft be later. I HAVE been painting in water colours, during a riiit I made, flowers. I would recommend the amufe- ment to you, if you can allow it the time that is expedient. I TRUST you will give me one entire week in the fpring, when my late alterations may exhibit them- fclves to advantage. K 2 XLIX. To MR. SHENSTONE'S XLIX. To the fame, after a Vifit, Sunday, Dear Mr. Jago, Feb. 14, 1747 . T AM tempted once more to apologize for the un- *- feafonable vifit I paid you, though I feel myfelf entirely innocent in that refpeft, even as much fo as the poll-boy was guilty ; for had my previous letter arrived in due time, you had then been furniihed with an opportunity of waving my company till a jrtore convenient feafon. I was on!?, or, at lead, chiefly uneafy upon your account. I fpent my time very agreeably, and only lefs fo than 1 might, had I not been confcious to myfelf that I was intruding cpon domeftic tendernefTes. I SPENT the Sunday night and the next day at , Mr. Wren's ; and am now juft returned from Mr. Dolman's, who has made me a genteel prefent of Spence's Polymetis. I have not yet read many dia- logues in it, but I have dipped in feveral j and have reafon to be well enough fatisfied with the fimple and uninvidious manner in which he has introduced Mr. Lowth's poem. I have long known of this intended introdufiion (which I accidentally found to have been fettled betwixt them before I publiihed mine on the fame fubjeft), and a little dreaded the form of it. I have long ago made confiderable im- provement* LETTERS. 133 provements in mine, and have a mind one day to publifti it once more; after which, let it flecp in peace. I have fometimes thought of printing my next title-page thus, viz. " Poems ; confiding of Songs, Odes,' and Elegies ; with an improved edi- tion of The Judgement of Hercules, and of The School-miftrefs." But I have but very few critical acquaintance, and I live at a great diftance from, thofe I have ; ftationed amongft the makers and the tucearers of hobnails ; " Far from the joys that with my foul agree, " From ivit, from karning~~- very far from thee." PARNELL. I know I have thrown a great number of carelefs things into your hands. I know to whom I in- truded my follies ; but I know not what they are : I believe, in general, that they confift of mis-begot- ten embryos and abortive births, which it had been merely decent to have buried in fome part of my garden ; but I was morally aflured that you would expofe nothing of mine to my difadvantage. As to fome that are left imperfetf, you promifed your ob- feryations, and I defire you would make them with the utmoft freedom. I can bear any cenfure which you mail pafs by way of letter, and 1 beg once more that you would not be fparing. It will be efteemed as great a favour as you can do me. When they have gpns i: ough your hands, and thofe of one K 3 or 154. MR. SHE|\ V S TONE'S or two more friends, I fliall, perhaps, think ofpuh* lifhing them ; though as to that, much depends upon the advice I receive, and previously on the op- portunity I have of recciv;ifi it. I am in hopes that you will be pretty full in difcovcring to me, which you dijlike the haft, what faults you f.ad^ and ixhat itnp.i-o'vements they are ccpabk cf. I let you a tedious talk ; but I will return the favour as far as I am able, either in the fame nxay or any other. This brings me to fay, that, if there be any compositions of yours that you would have me correct (and there are feveral of which I want a copy), I would beg you to fend them, Your Blackbird excels any finging-bird I ever heard ; and I befeech you to convey it to The Leafowes by the next opportunity, that he may acquire fame near other rills, and in other valleys, than thofe in which he was produced. I H A v E many compliments to make in your country ; to Mr. H , Mrs. N-, Mrs. J , Mr. F , Mr. T , and your brother. If I go over to Mr. W 's, 1 will afiuredly call and fpend a night with you. Tbft is precarious. But whether I do or not, I would willingly hope to fee you this fpring and firm- mer more than once; as a critic and as a fr':end : nor do I forget the promife of Mr. H and Mr. F j but of thefe things more when I fend for the pa- pers, which I purpofe to do to-morrow fortnight, that is, the twenty-ninth of February. I HAVE LETTERS. 135 I HAVE fuffered greatly by railing at the black button on a parfon's great coat. Had Mr. Hall's been thus dittinguifhed, he could not have millaken mine for his own; which latter I fent in order to be commuted at Birmingham, and was almoft ftarved to death before I could accomplifh the exchange. There is no trifling with any fart of orthodoxy \v.itl\ impunity. That is the moral. I HAVE received a very obliging letter from Lajy Luxborough, wherein fhe tells me that Lady Hart- ford admires my place in her defcription. Mr. Thomfon is intimate at Lady Hartford's ; and I fup- pofe Lady -Hartford may have been informed by Lady L. that Mr. Thqiufon has been here ; fo I con- clude, in ir.sre vanity, that my farm is adva-nemg in reputation. WHAT think you of Mr. Carte's Hiftory ? or what of his narrative concerning the Pretender's touching for the King's evil ! I think one is not,:; however, to give up his book entirely; becaufe, with alibis fuperftition, he may have feveral anecdote's that one would like to read. I HAVE had great expectations from the beautiful veins of a piece of oak of which I have had a table made ; but, upon a thorough furvey of it, it is fo K 4 like 136 MR. SHE N STONE'S like nothing in the world as old B 's callimanco night-gown. I HAVE nothing to add worth beginning upon another page ; but I happened not to make a regular conclufion in my preceding one. You muft give me fome time to colour you a collection of flowers (that octavo edition I fhewed you here) j and then I will make Mrs. Jago a pre- fent of it. I believe I can engage Mr. Dolman to affift me, who is much my fuperior in point of ac- curacy ; and the infcription at the beginning is to run fomehow thus : " ELEGANTISSIMAE PVELLAE " DOROTHEAE FANCOVRT, " QVAE PERDI-LECTI SVI CONDISCIPVLI " RICHARDI IAGO " AMORES MERVlT, D. D. " GVLIELMVS SHENSTONE J c? DEBITAE NYMPHIS OPIFEX CORONAE." That is, by trade a garland-maker ; but this in- fcription I may alter, if I can think of any thing more expreflive of the regard which I have ever born and ftill bear you. LETTERS. x 37 LORD Dudley is gone, and franks are no more. I have nothing to wifh you but health and pre- ferment ; ' det vitam, det opes ; " with.thefe you will eafily compound that cordial bappinefs, hav- ing every other ingredient that is requifite at hand. : I am, moft affectionately, Your very faithful friend, &c. W. SHENSTONB. L. To Mr. JAGO. The Leafowes, Dear Sir, Mar. 23, 1747-8. IH A V E fent Tom over for the papers which I left under your infpedtion: having nothing to add upon this head, but that the more freely and par- ticularly you give me your opinion, the greater will be the obligation which I mail have to acknow- ledge. I S-HALL be very glad, if I happen to receive a good large bundle of your own compofitions ; in regard to which, I will obferve any commands which you ihall pleafe to lay upon me. I AM ijS MR. S HEN STONE'S I AM favoured with" a certain correfpondence, by way of letter, which I told you I mould be glad to cultivate ; and I find it very entertaining. PRAY did you receive my anfwer to your laft let- ter, fent by way of London ? I {hould be extremely forry to be debarred the pleasure of writing to you by the port, as often as I feel" a violent propenfity to defcribe the notable incidents of my life ; which amount to about as much as the tinfel of your little boy's hobby-horfe. I AM on the point of purchafing a couple of buds for the niches in my hall ; and believe me, my good friend, I never proceed one ftep in ornamenting my little farm, but I enjoy the hopes of rendering it more agreeable to you, and the fniill circle of ac- quaintance which fomedmes favour me with their company. I SHALL be extremely glad to fee you and Mr. Fancourt when the trees are green j that is, in May ; bat I would not have you content yourfelf with a fmgle viiit this fummer. If Mr. Hardy (to whom you will make my compliments) inclines to favour ne fo far, you mult calculate fo as to wait on him whenever he finds it convenient ; though I have better b:j.a of making his reception here agreeable I LETTERS. j 39 to him when my Lord Dudley comes down. I won- der how he would like the fcheme I am upon, of exchanging a large tankard for a filver ftandilh. I HAVE had a couple of paintings given me fincc you were here. One of them is a Madona, valued, as it is faid, at ten guineas in Italy, but which you would hardly purchafe at the price of five millings. However, I am endeavouring to make it out to be one of Carlo Maratt's, who was a nrit hand, and famous for Madonas; even fo as to be nick-named " Cartuccio delle Madonne" by Salvator Rofa. Two letters of the cypher (CM) agree ; what lhall I do with regard to the third r It is a fmall piece, and fadly blackened. It is about the fize (though not quite the fhape) of the Bacchus over the parlour door, and has much fuch a frame. A PERSON may amufe himfelf almofl as cheaply as he pleafes. I find no frnall delight in rearing all forts of poultry ; geefe, turkeys, pullets, ducks, &c. I am alfo fomewhat fmitten with a blackbird which I have purchafed : a very fine one ; brother by father, but not by mother, to the unfortunate bird you fo beautifully defcribe, a copy of which defcription you muft not fail to fend me ; but, ay I faid before, one may eafily habituate one's felf to cheap amufements ; that is, rural ones (for all town ,a^iufemqnts are horridly expenfive) ; I would have you M o MR. SHENST ONE'S you cultivate your garden ; plant flowers, have a bird or two in the hall (they will at leajl amufe your children) ; write now and then a fong ; buy now and then a book ; write now and then a letter to Your moft fincere friend, and affectionate fervant, W. SHENSTONE. P. S. I HOPE you have exhaufted all your fpirit of criticifm upon my verfes, that you may have none left to cavil at this letter ; for I am amamed to think, that you, in particular, fliould receive the dulleft I ever wrote in my life. Make my compli- ments to Mrs. Jago. She can go a little abroad, you fay. Tell her, I mould be proud to ihew her The Leafowes. Adieu ! LI. To Mr. , on his Marriage. This was written Auguft a i, 1748 ; but not fent Dear Sir, till the a8th. HO W little foever I am inclined to write at this time, J cannot bear that you mould cenfure me of unkindnefs in fceming to overlook the late change in your fituatiori. It will, I hope, be efteemed fuperfluous LETTERS. 141 (Superfluous in me to fend you my moft cordial wifhes that you may be happy; but it will, perhaps, be fometking more fignificant to fay, that I believe you ivill : building my opinion on the knowledge I have long had of your own temper, and the account you give me of the perfon's whom you have made choice of, to whom I defire you to pay my fmcere and moil affectionate compliments. I SHALL always be glad to find you pra>f and fo do others that have feen them; but you will give me leave, when I fee you, to propofe fome lit- tle alteration. As to an epiitle, it would be exe- cuted with difficulty, and I would have it turn to your credit as well as my own. But you have cer- tainly of late acquired an eafe in writing ; and I am tempted to think, that what you write hence- forth LETTERS. 147 forth will be univerfally good. Perfons that have feen your elegies like " The Blackbirds" bell, as it is mofi. affuredly the moil, correti ; but I, who pre- tend to great penetration, can forefee that " The " Linnets" twill be made to excel. More of this when I fee you. Poor Mifs G , J R fays, is married ; and poor Mr. Thomfon, Mr. Pitt tells me, is dead. He was to have been at Hagley this week, and then I mould probably have feen him here, As it is, I will ereft an urn in Virgil's Grove to his memory. I was really as much (hocked to hear of his death, as if I had known and loved him for a number of years : God knows, I lean on a very few friends ; and if they drop me, I become a wretched mifanthrope. LIII. To the fame. Sunday night, Dear Mr. Jago, Sept. 11,174.8. T TAKE this opportunity of acknowledging the juftice of your excufes. Mrs. Jago's prefent cir- cumftances render her vifit quite impracticable, and yours I have the fame kind of reafon to difpenfe with; as I guefs, that me could as foon take a journey herfelfzt this time, as bear that you mould. But to fay I was not greatly mortified, would be L z doing i 4 8 MR. SHENSTONE'S doing myfelf the greateft injuftice. Difappointedl was, you may be fure, to hear excufes ; even as much as Sir John Falftaff, when Mr. Dombledon put him in mind of Jecurity, inftead of fending him t I met him one morning with an Italian in my grove, and our acquaintance has been growing ever fince. He has a fhare in an eftate that is near me, and lives there at prefent ; but 1 doubt will not do fo long ; when you come, 1 will fend for him. Have you read my Lord Bolingbroke's Eflays on Patriotifm, &c. ? and have you read Merope r and do you take in the Magazin des Londres ? and pray how does your garden flourim ? I warrant, you do not yet know the difference betwixt a ranunculus and an anemone. God help ye ! Come to me, and be informed of the nature of all plants, " from *' the cedar on Mount Lebanon to the hyifop that 4< fpringeth out of the wall." Pray do not fail to decorate your new garden, whence you may tranf- plant all kinds of flowers into your verfes. If by chance you make a vifit at I fifty years hence, from fome diftant part of England, (hall you forget this little angle where you ufed to mufe and fing ? " En unquam, &c. Polt aliquot, tua regna videns *' mirabere, ariftas." I EXPECT by the return of Tom to receive a trifle that will amufe you. It is a fmall gold feal of Vida's head, given by Vertue to a relation of mine, who pub- Jiflied Vida, an4 introduced Vertue into bufmefs. Perhaps 160 MR. S HEN STONE'S Perhaps you remember Mr. Triftram of Hampton, and the day we fpent there from fchool ; it was his. I am, very cordially, Yours, W. SHENSTONE. LYII. To the fame. Dear Sir, '749- T T is now Sunday evening, and I hafe been ex- * hibiting myfelf in my walks to no lefs than a hundred and fifty people, and that with no lefs ftate and vanity than a Turk in his feraglio. I have fame hopes of feeing you this week ; but if thefe mould happen to be fruftrated, I (hall find them revive with double ardour and vivacity the next. Did not you tell me of a treatife that your Mr. Mil- ler had, where the author endeavours to vindicate and eitabliih Gothic architecture ? and does not the fame man explain it alfo by draughts on copper plates? That very book, or rather the title and the author's name, I want. I fhall never, I believe, be entirely partial to Goths or Vandals either ; but I think, by the afliftance'of fome fuch treatife, I could {ketch out fome charming Gothic temples and Go- thic benches for garden-feats. I do alfo efteem it extremely LETTS p, s. ie\ 'extremely ridiculous to permit another perfon to dc- fign for you, when by (ketching out your own plans you appropriate the merit of all you build j and feel a double plenfure from any praifss which it receives. ~I had here lad Wednefday Dean Lyttelton, Mr. William Lyttelton, Commodore Weft, Mifs Lyt- telton, and Mifs Weft. They drank tea,- and went round my walks, where they feemed aftonifhed they had been fo long ignorant of the beauties of the place ; faid, in general, every thing that was com- plaifant or friendly ; and left me highly delighted with their vifit, and with room to hope for many more. Mean time, why do notjs come? I do fay, you are not Pylades. -What! you think, becaufe you have an agreeable wife, and five fine children, that you muft employ all your time in carefiing them at home, or laying fchemes for their emolu- ment abroad ? Is this public fpirit ? is this vtrtue ? or, if it be virtue, dolt thou think, becaufe thou art vartuous, there muft be no cakes and ale ? is it not your duty to partake of them with a friend fometimes ; eafing and relieving him under what Boileau calls, " Le penible fardeau de n'avoir rien a faire ;" and what Pope (Jlealing from the former) denomi- nates " The pains and penalties of idlenefs." ? VOL. III. M PRAY i6z MR. SHENSTONE'S PRAY come the firil day of the week, and let Mr Fancourt accompany you. I have not much to add by way of news. The Duke of Somerfet is going to Jay out thirty thoufand pounds upon Northumber- iand-houfe ; nine houfes to be purchafed and pul- led down on the other fide the Strand for ftables ; the Strand there to be widened: I cannot {ell you half; but one thing morel will, which is, that there will be a chapel on one fide of the quadrangle, with a Gothic wainfcot and deling, and painted glafsj and {Cp in it a Dutch Hove, contrived fo as to look like a tomb with an urn upon it. WHAT need I write all this ? am I not to fee you in a few days ? Not a word more pofitively ; faving what may ferve to affure you that I am, dear Sir, Inviolably yours, The Leafowes, July9,i749. . W. SHENSTONE. LVI1I. To the fame. The Leafowes, Dear Sir, Mar. 15, 1749-^0. r T^ HOUGH I have not hitherto troubled you with * a letter, I have not been void either of inquiry or information, concerning the Hate of your affairs, and of LETTERS. 163 of Mr. Hardy's health. Indeed it is now feveral weeks fince I collected fome particulars from your brother, and I am now impatient for further intelli- gence. As to the circumftances of our friendly re- ception at Wroxall, Mr. John Jago has probably enough acquainted you with them. He --would, how- ever, feduce me to give you a diiHncl account ; being affured, as he fays, that Mr. Wren's behaviour mail afford a good fubjefl for drollery. I do not know how far this would be proper ; but I think, when I write again to my friend Wren, to give him a {ketch of his own character, juft as it appeared to us during the time of our viiit. Perhaps it may avail a little. Amidft his violent paffion for gardening, if he would but prune away fome wild excrefcences from one or two branches of his character, he might bring him- felf to bear good fruit. He mould weed his mind a. little ; where there has fprung up a moft luxuriant crop of puns, that threaten to choak all its wholefome pro- ductions "Spinas ammo fortius quam agro evellat." He has good fenfe and good-nature ; pity he mould difguife them ! not but that it is better to have the fubjlcmce alone than the forms aLr.e, and fo I conclude. Since I came home, I have done little elfe than plant bufhes, hazel, hawthorn, crabtree, elder, &c. toge- ther with fome flowering fhrubs that I have had gi- ven me, and fome that I have purchafed to the amount of twenty millings. I think nothing remarkable has occurred ; only, one miserable tempelluous day, I M 2 had 164 MR. SHENSTONE'S had my Lord Stamford, who called to fee my walks,! My Lord promifed to come again in the fummer, and invited me more than once to Enville. By the way,, he is now building a Gothic green-houfe by Mr. Miller's direction, and intends to build caftles, and God-knows-what. By all accounts, the place is well worth feeing when you come into the country, which I hope you will not-fail to do this fpring. Pray do *ot you embroil me with Mr. Miller, in regard to any observations I made in his walks. Remember, there were a greafmany things with which I was highly de- lighted; and forget that there were a few alfo which' I feemed lefs to admire; Indeed, I thought it idle to regulate my expreffions, amongft friends only, by the fame rules- which I ought to obferve in mixed com- pany. I fay ought t for hi has been exceedingly fa- vourable to me in his reprefentation of The Leafowes. I hope to fee Mr. Fancourt with you, when you come this fpring j and why not your brother ? he can fpend half a week every now and then at Wroxall. I HAVE nothing to infert or inclofe in this letter that can render it at all agreeable. I cannot ivrite, I can- not think. I can juft mufter up attention enough to give orders to my workmen ; I faunter about my grounds, take fmilf, and read Clarifla. This laft part of my employment threatens to grow extremely tedious: not but the author is a man of genius and nice, obfervatien ', but he might be lefs prolix. I will fend you LETTERS. 165 you " The Life of Socrates" when I can get it home from Barrels. I wilh both your circumstances and mine would allow of an utter inattention to them ; and then, I believe, our natural indolence would be a kind of match for our ambition. I mall probably enlarge my acquaintance this year ; but what doth it I the cir- cle of my friends with whom I can be eafy, and amufed much, will continue fmall as ever. I could dwell a good deal upon this fubjecT: ; but I have only room to defire you would give me your opinion how I mould infcribe my urn to Mr. Scmervile. " Author of The ' Chace" cannot be tolerably expreffed in Latin without a circumlocution. I aim at brevity, and would therefore omit it. Pray read over the fpeci- mens I have thrown together, and oblige me with a fpeedy anfwer, if it extend to nothing elfe befides yours and Mrs. Jago's health, which I ought at this time more particularly to enquire after. I am Your moft affe&ionate and faithful friend, W. SHJENSTONE. LIX. To the fame. Dear Sir, June 11,1750. I ACKNOWLEDGE myfelf obliged to you for pro- curing me the pictures. I received them both very &fe, as J have a pretty ftrong aiTurance \Jhcdl do moft M 3 articles 166 MR. SHENSTONE'S articles of which my fervant Tom has the care. He has punctuality and management, to atone for his impcrfeflions. He brought me thofe paper- fculled bufts from Wroxall entirely unhurt, contrary to the expectation of all that faw them; after which, he might undertake for almoft any thing. The por- trait is undoubtedly a good one. I mewed it to Mr. Smart (who is a painter himfelf, though a cler- gyman), and he allowed as much ; added alfo, that it had fomething of Sir Godfrey Kneller, as well as of Sir Peter Lely. The flower-piece is very good, fo far as relates to the flowers ; the dog and parrot abominable, and the grapes very exceptionable. 1 never confidered the two flower-pieces at Icheneton with attention enough to caufe a preference ; having never any thoughts that either would fall to my mare. I fhall add nothing with regard to your choice ; but that I fincerely hope yours is the better piece. I never heard of Cafkels, I own ; nor can I find his name in any of my accounts of the painters, though they take in pretty modern ones : but I can fay this for your comfort, that if he excelled in any thing, it was probably in flowers : for I fee his name at the bottom of thofe flower-pieces that I have in water colours, as the defigner of them ; and I think the defigns are good. Though I could wi(h neither the Cupid nor the fruit-piece had efcaped us, yet is there no blame to be laid at your door ; at leatt fuppofing that you are endowed with nothing more than ra- tional LETTERS. 167 tional conjecture, and that you are not gifted with prophefy. AND now, having fpoken, I think, to mift parts of your letter, 1 proceed to fay a word or two in the way of appendix. Firft then, after five or fix weeks work of mafons and carpenters, I plainly dif- cover that my houfe is an unfinifliable thing; and yet, I perfuade myfelf, there will never be wanting a room in it, where you may fpend an agreeable day with your undoubted friend. Did I ever tell you how unfeafonably the three fiddles ftruck up in my grove about an hour after you left me ; and how a fet of ten bells was heard from my wood the evening after? It might have palled for the harmony of fome aerial fpirit, who was a well-wimer to us poor mortals ; but that I think, had it been fo, it would have been addrefTed to the fatter fort, and of confequence have been heard whilft you were here, This by way of introduction to what I am going to tell you. Mr. Pixell has made an agreement with his club at Birmingham, to give me a day's mufic in fome part of my walks. The time is not yet fixed; but, if you were an Jdle man, and could be brought over at a day or two's notice, I would give it you, and be in hopes I could entertain you very agreeably. M 4 You i6S MR.. SH EN STONE'S YQJJ cannot think how much you gratified my vanity when you were here, by faying, that if this place were your?, you thought you fhould be lefs able to keep within the bounds of asconomy than my- fclf. God knows, it is pain and grief to me to obferve her rules at all', and righHy I never can. How is it pofiible to po fiefs impioveable fcenes, and uot wifh to improve them I and how is it pofiible, with ceccnomy, to be at the expenpe of improving them upon my fortune } To be continually in fear of excefs in perfecting every trifling defign, how irk- fome ! to be retrained from attempting any, how vexatious ! fo that I never can enjoy my fituation that is certain. Oeconomy, that invidious old ma- . tron ! oa occafion of every frivolous expence, makes luch a hellifh fquawling, that the murmur ofacaf- cade is utterly lofl to me. Often do I cry out with Cowley, " O rivers ! brooks ! when, when in you, {hall I " Myfelf, eas'd of un-peaceful thoughts, eipy ! " O woods and groves! when, when fhall I be " made " The happy tenant of your fhade \" PAPER fails: abruptly therefore, but fincerely and affeftionately, I am, dear Sir, Yours, W. SHEW STONE, LX, To , E T t E R S. 169 LX,To C - W - ,Efq. - Dear Sir, The Leafowes, Sept. 9, 1750.- PP. A Y, is lazinefs an excufe for not writing ? Tell me. However, if it be fo, I am afraid I {hall want an excufe for lazinefs ; like the philofopher, who, fuppofing the world might relt upon a tortoife's back, found himfelf no lefs embarrafled for a pedeftal to fupport his tortoife. I have, indeed, been pretty bufy at home in railing a pool-dam, and have interchanged a few vilits with fuch of my ac- quaintance as live within three miles. What then ? -rl abominate all excufes that are grounded upon the bufmefs or amufements of an idle man as if fuch a perfon's time was fo wholly filled up, that he could not find half an hour to write a line to his friend. It is beft to acknowledge lazinefs at firft, and that there are particular intervals, when one is much le-fs difpofed to write even a few lines than at others ; and then, as to lazinefs, one has nothing to do but to plead human frailty; which, if a perfon has not too many frailties befides, may perhaps be indulged him. However, " Veniam petimufque, " damufque," will not fail to weigh with every good- natured man. The chief dealing I have with Harris the Jew is, for the intelligence which he brings me concerning you and Mrj.W j but it feldom amounts to r; MR. S HENS TONE'S to much more than that you are well, and in your garden. HE is an Ebrew Jew, or he would tell me you had purchased a couple of genteel horfes, or a chaife and pair, and were coming over to The Leafowes to fpend a week with me. NEVERTHELESS, I hope to fee you foon : but en paj/ant I afTure you, I mall go in about a month to Mr. Jago's, and from thence to Mr. Miller's ; who, I believe I told you, was here, with Mr. Lyt- telton, Lady Aylefbury, Colonel Conway, &c. I think J never anfwered your query concerning Co- lonel Lyttelton. He is the fame perfon that you remember, and your prophefy concerning him has been licerally accomplifhed. He is a man of courage, genius, generofity, and politenefs ; has been for- tunate in the world; was made a Colonel at about fix and twenty; diftinguimed himfelf in feveral cam- paigns; married the Datchefs of Bridgewater; and had the other day about fixteen thoufand pounds left him by Colonel Jefferies, a very diftant rela- tion. He has a feat, and fpeaks, in the Houfe of Commons ; has bought a town and country-houfe, the latter of which he is ornamenting in the modern way. His Dutchefs the moft unceremonious even- tempered woman that lives. So enjoy the fpirit of prophefy, and exert it again. It needs little more than LETTERS. , 7 , than good fenfe. Which of the hiftorians is it, that foretold in his hiftory a very remarkable feries of events, by dint of this alone, and which were all accompli (hed ? Let me know what you are doing now. Have you repaired the farm-houfe you talked of? and have you remembered to make the man a couple of good large niches in his chimney cor- ner, where he and his family may fpend a more comfortable evening than was ever fpent by any firft minifter in Chriftendom perhaps alfo converfe more to the purpofe ? You tell me nothing of your Mr. Jago, Seignior Benedift, the new-married man. Tell him to leave his wife and family for a day or two, faddle his mule, and come over to The Leafowes. Tell him, all pleafures are heightened by a little difcontinuance. Tell him, did I fay? how can you for fliame advife him fo contrarily to your own practice ? Believe me, dear Sir, Very faithfully yours, W. SHENSTONE. LXI. To i 7 2 MR. SH EN STONE'S LXI. To the fame. The Leafowe*, Dear Sir, Nov. 2, 1750. IT never can be that I owe you for three letters ; as to two, I will agree with you ; one that I received together with my books, and the other foon after ; but that I am indebted for more thaR thefe " Credat Judseus Apella, ' Non ego." Even that fame c< Judaeus Apella" who affords me this very opportunity of fending my compliments to you and Mrs. W , and of afluring you, that if I had not purpofed to have feen you, I had wrote to you long ago. MASTER Harris talks very refpe&fully of your garden j and we have no difpute, lave only in one point he fays, that you labour very hard in your vocation ; whereas I am not willing to allow that all the work you ever did, or will do in it, is worth a fingle bunch of radifhes. However, I dare not contradict him too much, becaufe he waits for my letter. How happy are you, that can hold up your fpade, and cry, " Avaunt, Satan !" when a toyman offers yon LETTERS. I73f you his deceitful vanities ! Do not you rejoice in- wardly, and pride yourfelf greatly in your own phi- lofophy ? " 'Twas thus " The wife Athenian crofs'd a glitt'ring fair : " Unmov'd by tongues and fights he walk'd the- " plaee, " Thro' tape, tags, tinfel, gimp, perfume, and' " lace ; ** Then bends from Mars's Hill his awful eyes, " A'nd, " What a world I never want !" he cries." PAR NELL. Mean time, do not defpife others that can find? any needful amufement in what, I think, Bunyan very aptly calls Vanity. Fair ; I have been at it many times this feafon, and have bought many kinds of merchandize there. It is a part of philofophy, to- adapt one's paflions to one's way of life j and the folitary unfocial fphere in which I move makes me think it happy that I can retain a relilh for fuch trifles as I can draw into it. Mean time, I dare not reafon too much upon this head. Reafon, like the famous concave mirrour at Paris, would, in two minutes, vitrify all the Jew's pack : I mean, that it would immediately deftroy all the form, co- lour, and beauty, of every thing that is not merely ufeful. I;* MR. SHENSTONE'S wfeful. But I ramble too far, and you do not want fuch fpec illations. My, intent, when I fat down, was to tell you, that I lhall probably fee you very foon, and certainly remain in the mean time, and at all times, Sir, Your obliged aud very faithful fervant, W. SHENSTONE. L.XII. To a Friend, on various Subjects. " Dear Mr. , '117' I T H. the utmoft gratitude for the obfer- * * vations which you fent me, and with ths higheft opinion of their propriety in -genera], do I fit down to anfwer your obliging letter. You will not take it amifs, I know, if I fcribble broken hints, and trace out little fketches of my mind, jufl as I ftould go near to explain it if I were upon the fpot, as often as I think of you, which I beg leave to af- fure you happens many times in a day. They fay, " A word to the wife is enough ;" a word, there- fore, to a friend of undtrllanding may be fuppofed to be fome thing more than enough, becaufs it is probable he is acquainted with three parts of one's LETTERS. 1 7S mind before The cenfure you have pafled upon Milton's Lycidas, fo far as it regards the metre which he has chofen, is unexceptionably juft; and one would imagine, if that argument concerning the diftance of the rhimes were prelFed home in a pub- lic eflay, it mould be fufficient to extirpate that kind of verfe for ever. As to my opinion concerning the choice of Englilh metre, I dare not touch upon the fubjecl: ; and i will give you my reafon : I began upon it in a letter which I intended for you about a month ago; and I foon found that I had filled a fheet of paper with my diflertation, and left no room for other things which I had more mind to communicate. Befide, I found it fo blotted that I did not chufe to fend it ; and as the fubjecl is fo extremely co- pious, I fliall decline it entirely, till talking may prove as effe&ual as writing. As to your advice with regard to my publications, I believe it to be juft, and mall, in all probability, purfue it. I am afraid, by your account, that Dodfiey has published my name to " The School-miftrefi." I was a good deal difpleafed at his publifhing that poem without my knowledge, when he had fo many opportunities of giving me fome previous information ; but, as he would probably difregard my refentment, I chofe to tlifie it, and wrote to him directly upon the re- ceipt of yours, that I would be glad to furnifh him with an improved copy of" The School-miftrefs," &c. for his fecond edition. He accepts it with fom? 6 complaifance, i- 7 6 MR. SHENSTONE'S complaifance, defires it foon ; and I am at a fault to have the opinion of my friends, what alteration* or additions it will he proper to infert. I have fcrib- bled a copy, which I fend this day to Mr. Graves and Mr. Whiftler ; but I am greatly fearful I fliall not receive their criticifms time enough, and I fhall have the fame longing for yours. A journey to Whitchurch, which I have long propofed, might unite all thefe advantages ; and I heartily wifh 1 may be able to effec~b it without inconvenience. If I go thither, I call on you. I am, ever and entirely, yours, W. SHENSTONE, LXIII. To the fame. The Lcafowcs, Dear Sir, Mar. a8, 1754. H A T a ftupid fool was I, to mew you thofe letters of my friend Graves, wherein he de- clares himfelf fo freely againft a regular corre- fpondence ! See the effefts of it ! You have taken im- mediate advantage of his example, and I muft never more expeft an anfwer to any letter that I fend yon, L E T ,T E R S. 177 .in lefs than half a century. I wrote to you after I Came home, to thank you for all your kindneTs at I , &c. ; but not a fyllable have I been able to receive from you, or a word that I could hear concerning you. I could, however, very eafily con- vince you, that Mr. Graves (your precedent) is not altogether fo hardened an offender as you may ima- gine. His lad letter is a very affeftionate recan- tation. I inclofe that part of it which regards Mr. F . WHAT a number of fchemes nre irreparably broken by the fudden death of the Prince of Wales ! Yours, my good friend, which feems to be deilroyed amongit the reft, has> I think, of late given you no fo'icitude* Your intereft in Mr; N - will remain the fame, I fuppofc j and if he would but ferve you nearer home^ I will have no fort of quarrel with him that he did not tranfplant you into Cornwall. It is at leaft fome gratification to a perfon's felf-love, when one finds the more ambitious hopes of more a/firing people as liable to be fuddenly extinguished as one's own. However, the death of the Prince gave me a good deal of, concern,, though it noway affefted my par- ticular intereil, as he had all the humane, aftable, and generous qualities, which could recommend him, to one's afe&ion. VOL. III. N MR. 178 MR. S HENS TONE'S MR. Graves has fent me two copies of verfes. One on Medals, to Mr. Walker ; and the other, on the late Memoirs of the London Heroines, Lady V , Mrs. Pilkington, and Mrs. Phillips. Both good in their way, which you mall fee when you come over. HAVE you feen the firft books of "TheScribleriad," by Mr. Cambridge ? The "Verfes written in a Coun- " try Church-yard ?" Mr. W. Whitehead's " Ode to " the Nymph of Briftol Spring ?" or, what have you feen ? You live infinitely more in the world than I do ; who hear nothing, fee nothing, do nothing, and e.m nothing. Remedy this unhappinefs, by fending 'melomevvhat that may roufe my attention. I muft: except what I hear from my Lady Luxborough, who indulges me now and then with a letter in French. IF you mould think this letter more than ufually dull, you muft know, that, fince I faw you, I have been generally difpirited ; till about a fortnight ago I found fome nervous diforders that I greatly dif- liked, and upon examination was told I had a ner- vous fever. For this I have been taking faline draughts and bolus's, and hope I am fomething bet- ter ; though I am far from well. I would not in- deed have written to you at this time, but I chofe not to defer fending the inclofed pofticript. You who LETTERS. I?9 who have fhared many of my happieji hours, will ex- cufe the produce of a more than ordinarily dull one. MRS. Arnold comes up to enquire after my health, and wifhes I may get better, that I may ftir out and fee the pretty creatures in the barn. It feems, (he has a cow Or two that have calved fmce I kept my room. WHY fhould I prolong a letter that has no kind of chance to afford you any amufement ? Make my com- pliments to Mrs. , and believe me to be ever molt affectionately Yours, W. SHENSTONS. I HAVE juft taken and figned. a leafe for life of the terrace beyond my wood, for which I am to pay annually the fum of one milling. Am not I a man of great worldly importance, to purchafe ground and take leafes thus ? What matters it whether the articles that fecure the premifes to me would alfo cover them or not ? MY fervice to Mr. F t ; why will he not coma and fpend a week with me? I think you cannot both be abfent at a time. N 2 LXIV. To 180 MR. SHENSTONE'S LXIV. To Mr. GRAVES. The Leafowcg, Dear Mr. Graves, Feb. 16, 1750-1. SIN C E I received your letter, I have been a week at W . I believe 1 may have told you, that I never was fond of that place. There is too much trivial elegance, too much pundlilio for me; and perhaps, as you exprefs it, tco much /peculation. But I was fearful I might entirely lofe Mr. Whiftler's acquaintance, if I did not make an effort once in five years to return his vifit. Befides, I mould have had no hopes of feeing him at The Leafowes here- after ; and I am extremely defirous of feeing both him and you here, having made many alterations which I do not undertake but with an eye to the approbation of my more ingenious friends; but he feems, to my great furprize, to renounce the thing called tajie in buildings, gardens, &c. is grown weary of his own little embellifhments at W , and longs to fettle in London for the greater part of his time. This, I believe, he would put in execution immediately; but that he thinks it might give fome uneafinefs to his mother, if he mould quit the houfe that me with fo much difficulty obtained for him. /too am fick of the word tajle; but I think the thing itfelf the only proper ambition, and the fpecijic pkafure of all who have any mare in the faculty of imagination. I need not mention my reafons; you 3 will LETTERS. 181 will foon conceive them. And, however the cafe be, there is one branch of it which fo totally en- grofies the perfons with whom I principally con- verfe, that I was aftonifhed to hear him fpeak even with indifference concerning the reigning tafte for rural decorations. I could ill forbear telling Mr. Whiftler, that he was now litterally a beau in a band- box; but the freedom might have given more of- fence than the joke was worth. He has impro-ved the place extremely ; but I do not like his colon- nades. You know, nothing of that kind is tolera- ble, unlefs regularly executed in {lone : that is one thing. Another is, that colonnades are ornaments which will not bear to be very diminutive. Mr. (vvhofe houfe only I faw) has been at the expence of a large cornice round it, in moft elaborate brick- work ; but- with regard to his ftucco-work within doors, h e js quite extravagant. I mention thefe things uoon a fuppofition that you may like to hear any thing that regards the place ; but indeed they are fo mighty trifling, that I ought to doubt my fuppofition. I fupped with Mr. P 's fa- mily once at Mr. W 's, and once at Mr. W 's, and all was mighty well; only I happen to have a violent averfion to card-playing, and at W I think they do nothing^: fo that, on account of my ignorance at quadrille, or any creditable game, I was forced to lofe my money, and two evenings out of my feven, nt Pope Joan with Mr. N 3 P 's i*2 MR. SHENSTONE'S P 's children. Mr. W , to make me amends, invited me to breakfaft, and fhewed me your verfes. I affure you, you have no occafion for a better advocate than Mr. W ; whether with re- gard to his judgement, or his zeal in behalf of the iubjedl, the verfes, or the poet. I would fain have obtained a copy; but he did not care to give one without your coramiffioa. I hope you will oblige me fo far. I like them very inuch ; the fubjecl is genteel, and the verfes eafy and elegant. We agreed upon one or two different readings ; and one llanza that concerns cards fhould, I think, be cor- recled. Not that I would have you lefs fevere upon cards neither; I was even glad to find, that you gave them fo little quarter. I fometimes thought that Mr. W 's feeming fondnefs for them was a kind of contre-cceur. Be that as it will, his ob- j^ftion to the ftanza, as well as mine, was folely founded on the verification, not the /entiment. I liked his Latin verfes ; but they do not interfere with yours. Send me a copy, and "confine my ufe of it by what limitations you pleafe. My reigning toy at prefcnt is a pocket-book; and I glory as much in furnirtiing it with the verfes of my ac- quaintance, as others would with bank-bills. I did not know when I went to W , but I might have heard Mrs. G accufed of certain queflions touching tbeir law (I mean of forms and ceremonies) ; but I did not. On the contrary, I had the fatisfaclion of hearing LETTERS. 183 hearing her perfon, her temper, and her underftand- ing, much commended ; but this I did not want : the delicacy of your tafte is equal with me to a thoufand commendations. Mrs. W is- really fo much altered by her indifpofition, that I did not know her. She talks of going to Bath this feafon ; I talked of it too, and wifh it of all earthly things. You muft know, I could not have come to Claver- ton injlead qf going to W , as I did not determine on the expedition at home ; but at a friend's houfe, where I was betwixt twenty and thirty miles on my way thither. Beiides, I would allow myfelf more time when I turn my face towards Bath, than I could this winter. Your invitation, as it is very obliging, fo it has many concurring circumftances to recommend it at this time. I want to recover my health, which muft be recovered by Bath, or nothing ; I want to have you read fome trifles of mine, which muft be ratified by you, or no one-, but principally, and above all, do I long to fee you, my old friend, and Mrs. G , whom I expert you fhould render my new one. I am obliged for your charitable en- deavours to fupport my fpirits. Your company would do it effectually, but fcarce any thing lefs, in winter. Solitary life, limited circumftances, a phleg- matic habit, and difagreeable events, have given me a melancholy turn, that is hardly diffipated by the moft ferene fky ; but in a north-eaft wind is quite intolerable. After a long ftate of this kind, upon N 4 every 1 84 MR. S HENS TONE'S every accefs of amufement, one is apt to think it is not right to be happy ; chat it is one of Wollailon's implicit lyes; a t/eating things contrary to what they defcrve. Your fituation at Claverton is admired by moft people ; and, if you could connedl fome little matter in the neighbourhood, would be as furely envied. IT is now high time to releafe you. This is not a letter, but an olio. I defire my compliments to Mrs. G , and am aftedionately and invariably Yours, W. SHE::STONK. As I muft now ufe a frank, I will fend you a few infcriptions: your imagination will fupply the fcenery, on which what merit they may have de- pends. There ' Avoidinp- all the race that flies." My LETTERS. ift s My defign was only to convey fome pleafing ideas of things, which, though proper to the place, a Cfon might:" not chance to fee there once in twenty es. Mr. Lyttelton and Lady Ayleibury neccfft- tated me to give them copies, though they probably did it out of complaifance only: I gave them in the manner I fend them you. I hope you have not entirely dropt your love for rural fcenes, of which you were once fo fond. I will allow your tafte for medals to preponderate. I beg, dear Sir, you would neglect no opportunity of calling on me. I will come to Claverton when I can. LXV. To a Friend. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. G , Sept. 17, 1751. T A M very fenfibly obliged to you for the diligence ^~ and expedition which you have fliewn in anfwer- ing my late requeft : I cannot feel the very tender- fiefs of friendfhip to be at all abated in me by our long feparation ; nor will it at any time be poilible I mould, fo long as I receive fuch teftimonies of your ufual kindnefs and ingenuity. I have no fort of ex- ceptions to make again ft the province in which you were engaged at Cheltenham, nor the light in which you appeared. What you loft in any one's opinion of iS6 MR. SHpNSTONE'S of your independency, you would gain in their idea of your merit, genius, and learning j and then you had all thofe other advantages par deffu, As to the compliments that were paid to Mrs. G , you have fomething of the fame fort of reafon to be pleafed with them, that I have to be pleafed with thofe that are given to my place; which I confider as naturally poffefied of many beauties, each of them brought to light and perfected through my own difcernment, care, and cultivation. And then your pleafure ought to be fo much greater than mine, as you have a nobler fubjecl to enjoy. Mrs. G has too muchfenfe to objeft againfl the freedom of this fimilitude. I CANNOT help adding a few ftrokes to your picture of Mrs. S . I think her an extremelyy- ferfoial female-pedant : for, after an interval of many years fince I firft converfed with her at Mr. 's, I found her converfation turn folely upon the fame iop-cs, definitions, and quotations. I believe, I could cauly enough have recommended myfelf to a greater degree of her favour] but her vanity and affecta- tions were beyond what I could bear Your ac- count of is very piclurefque, and agreeable to the idea I always had of him ; but I believe that idea was perfe&ed by what obfervations I made when I had fome of his company at London, There was fomething accountable enough to me in their bur- lefquing LETTERS. 187 lefquing Mr. L 's monody. He is, you know, engaged in a party ; and his poem (though an ex- traordinary fine competition) was too tender for the public ear. It ftiould have been printed privately, and a number of copies difperfed only among their friends and acquaintance ; but even fo it would have been re-publifhed ; and it was too good to fupprefs. I wifla the burlefquers of fuch ingenuous profu fions could be punifhed, coniiftently with Eng- lilh liberty. " Where were ye, Mufes, &c." is imi- tated from Milton, and taken by Milton from Theo- critus. I write Greek wretchedly ; but you will re- member the paflage, Ha 'srox. p ^w wot, Ars^j'tf Irajalo ; vsa. aroxsc, I HEARD, once before, it was burlefqued under the title of " An Elegy on the Death of a favou- " rite Cat ;" but the burlefque will die, and the poem will furvive. You tell me, " The Author of " Peregrine Pickle fays, if you will flatter Mr, Lyt- " telton well, he will at laft make you a Middlefex " Juftice ;" and it happened oddly that, whilft I was reading your letter, a neighbour told me, I was put in the commiflion of the peace. I have never received a fingle line from Mr. Whiftler, and I be- lieve my journey to W has given the final blow to our friendmip. Pray was not Mr. Blandy fome relation of theirs, or only their attorney ? The af- fair i?8 MR. SHENSTONE'S fair is uncommonly (hocking ; and I fancy the ge- nuine accounts that Mr. W fends you will be cu- rious anecdotes at Bath. I fuppofe you have painted your room with oil colours, and made it really hand- fome. I drew out a feftoon and a medal fome time ago, for a pannel over Mr. P 's chimney ; but they knew not what to make of the medal, and had only the feftoon executed in ftone colour, by a common painter ; yours is better, and in character. I am a degree more frugal than you ; for I only ufe quick lime, and either blue or yellow fand, to- take away the objection which I have to whited wall*. i I PAID a vifit to Mr. Lyttelton, the Dean, ire. fir.ce he came down ; but had little of their com- pany, for they thought Sir Thomas was dying: however, by unparalleled ftrcngth of conftitution, he lingered in violent pain till lad Saturday, when he died, very much lamented. He had good na- tural parts, well improved by reading modern writers, and by the knowledge of the world: extremely pru- dent, confiderate, humane, polite, and chin table. I have jumbled his more obvious qualities together, that you may not think I am ufurping the province of a news-man. Sir George will lofe no time in building a new houfe, or doing what is more than HguivaJenJ to the old one. I WANT .LETTERS. j8 9 I WANT no temptation to come immediately to C . This is a melancholy feqfan with me always ; whe- ther it bs owing to the fcenes I fee, or to the ef- fedl of hazy Ikies upon an ill-perfpiring {kin. I can fay no mere at frrfejit, thau that I moil .ardently deilrc to fee you, and defire my humble fervice to Mrs. G . I have a chalybeat fpring in the mid- dle of my grotto : what think you of this infcrip- ticu ? " FON-S FKRRVCINEVS " DIVARVM OPTVMAS " SALVri SACR." Is it antique ? I am, dear Mr. G , Your molt afFe&ionate W. SHENSTONE. LXVI. To Mr: GRAVES, on the Death of Mr. SHENSTONE'S Brother. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Feb. 14, 1752. O U will be amazed at my long filence ; and it might reafonably excite fome difgult if my days had pafied of late in the manner they ufed to do : but I am not the man I was ; perhaps I never Jhall I 9 o MR. SHENSTONE'S Jhall be. Alas ! my deareft friend ! I have loft my only brother ! and, fince the fatal clofe of Novem- ber, I have had neither peace nor refpite from agoniz- ing thoughts ! You, I think, have feen my brother; but perhaps had no opportunity of diilinguifhing him from the groupe of others whom we call good-natured men. This part of his character was fo vifible in his countenance, that he was generally beloved at fight; /, who mufl be allowed to know him, do affure you, that his underftanding was no way inferior to his benevolence. He had not only a found judgement, but a lively wi and genuine humour. As thefe were many- times eclipfed by his native bamfulnefs, fo his benevolence only fuffered by being fliewn to an excefs. I here mean his giving too indifcrimi- rrately into thofe jovial meetings of company, where the warmth of a focial temper is difcovered with Icaft referve ; but the virtues of his head and heart would foon have {hone without alloy. The foibles of his youth were wearing oft"; and his affection for me and regard to my advice, with his own good fenfe, would foon have rendered him all that 1 could have wifhed in a fucceflbr. I never in my life knew a perfon more fincere in the expreffion of his love or diflike. But it was the firmer that fuited the propensity of his heart ; the latter was as tranfient as the ftarts of paffion that occafioned it. In fhort, with LETTERS. 191 with much true genius and real fortitude, he was, according to the Englijh acceptation, " a truly ho- " neft man ;" and 1 think I may alfo add, a truly Engliih character ; but " habeo, dixi ? immo kabui " fratrem & amicum, Chreme !" All this have I loft in him. He is new in regard to this world no more than a mere idea ; and this idea, therefore, though deeply tinged with melancholy, I muft, and furely ought to, cherilh and preferve. I BELIEVE I wrote you fome account of his illnefs laft fpring ; from which to all appearance he was tolerably well recovered. He took the air, and vifited about with me, during the warmer months offummer; but my pleafure was of ihort duration. " Haefit lateri lethalis arundo !" The peripneumony under which he laboured in the fpring had termi- nated in an adhefion of the lungs to the pleura, fo that he could, never lie but upon his right fide ; and this, as the weather grew colder, occafioned aa ob- ftru&ion that could never be furmounted. THOUGH my reafon forewarned me of the event, I was not the more prepared for it. Let me not dwell upon it. It is altogether infupportable in every refpefl ; and my imagination feems more af- fiduous in educing pain from this occafion, than f ever yet found it in adminiftering to my pleafure. This hurts me to no purpofe I know it ; and yet, when 192 MR. SHE N STONE'S when I have avocated my thoughts, and fixed them for a while upon common amufements, I fuffer the fame fort of confcioufnefs as if I were guilty of a crime. Believe me, this has been the molt fenfible affliction I ever felt in my life ; and you, who know my anxiety when I had far lefs reafon to complain, will more eafily conceive it now, than I am able to defcribe it. I CANNOT pretend to fill up my paper with my ufual fubjecls. I mould thank you for your re- marks upon my poetry ; but I defpife poetry : and I might tell you of all my little rural improve- ments ; but I hate them. What can I now expedl from my folitary rambles through them, but a fcries , of melancholy refle&ions and irkfome anticipations ? Even the pleafure I mould take in mewing them to you, the greateil they can afford me, muil be now greatly inferior to what it might formerly have been. How have I proftituted my forrow on occafions that little concerned me ! I am amamed to think of that idle " Elegy upon Autumm," when I have fo much more important caufe to hate and to con- demn, it now ; but the glare and gaiety of the Spring is what I principally dread ; when I mail find all things reilored but my poor brother, and fomething like .thofe lines of Milton will run for ever in my thoughts : " Thus, LETTERS. 193 " Thus, with the year, " Seafons return ; but not to me returns " A brother's cordial fmile, at eve or morn." I (hall then feem to wake from amufements, com- pany, every fort of inebriation with which I have been endeavouring to lull my grief afleep, as from a dream ; and I {hall feel as if I were, that inftant, defpoiled of all I have chiefly valued for thirty years together ; of all my prefent happinefs, and all my future profpecls. The melody of birds, which he no more mult hear ; the chearful beams of the fun, of which he no more muft partake ; every wonted pleafure will produce that fort of pain to which my temper is moft obnoxious. Do not consider this as poetry. Poetry on fuch occafions is no more than literal truth. In the prefent cafe it is left ; for half the tendernefs I feel is altogether lhapelefs and in- expreffible. AFTER all, the wifdom of the world may per- haps efteem me a gainer. Ill do they judge of this event, who think that any fhadow of amends can be made for the death of a brother, and the difappointr ment of all my fchemes, by the acceffion of fome fortune, which I never can enjoy ! THIS is a mournful narrative : I will not, there- fore, enlarge it. Amongil all changes and chances, I often think of you ; and pray there may be no VOL, III. O fufpicion i 9 MR. SHENSTONE'S fufpicion or jealoufy betwixt us during the reft of our lives. I am, dear Sir, moil affectionately yours, W. SHENSTONE. LXVII. To C W , Efq. ALAS! dear Mr. W ! the terrible event has happened ! I have loft the beft of brothers ; and you are to pity, not to condemn, your un- fortunate correfpondent. ABOUT the middle % of November I had prepared a letter for you, which lies now amongft my papers. At that time, amidft all my apprehenfions, I had fome hopes to fupport me ; but before I could fend it, my fituation was greatly altered, and the month did not wholly expire, till it had effectually render- ed me the moft wretched of mankind. THUS much it was neceffary I fhould tell you; you will pardon me, if 1 do not defcend any farther into an account of merit that is loft, and of forrow which is too apt to revive of itfelf. Be aflured, ic (s to me a lofs- which the whole world cannot com- penfate j LETTERS. j 95 penfate ; and an affliction which the longeft time I can live will not be able to erafe. You faid, you would let Matter W come and fpend a few days with me. I befeech you do. It will be fome relief to me; and, God knows, I have occafion enough for every afliftance that can be drawn from correfpondence, company, or amufe- ment. You, Sir, I prefume, proceed in the innocent re- creations of your garden, and thofe may at lealt prove a balance for any fmall difquiets that attend you. If greater ills befal you, you have perfons near you to alleviate them a wife, family, vifitants male and female, friends in abundance, and a table fuf- ficiently hofpitable to attract even your enemies. With me the cafe is otherwife. What I have un- dergone this winter, may you never feel fo much as in apprehenfion ! Believe me, my friend, affectionately and invariably yours, ix Kal. March, MDCCLII. W. SHENSTONE. O 2 LXVIII. To 196 MR. SH EN STONE'S LXVIII. To the fame. Dear Mr, W , July 22, 1752. ID O not know why I made you a promife of a pretty long letter. What I now write will be but a moderate one, both in regard to length and ftile ; yet write I muft, par maniere d' acquit, and you have brought four-pence expence upon yourfelf for a parcel of nonfenfe, and to no manner of purpole. This is not tautology, you muft obferve ; for non- fenfe fometimes anfwers very coafiderable purpofes. In love, it is eloquence itfelf. In friendmip, there- fore, by all the rules of found logic, you muft al- low it to be fcrrething ; what I cannot fay, " nequeo ' monftrare, & fentio tantura." The principal part of a correfpondenoe betwixt two idle men confifts in two important enquiries what we do, and how we do ; but as all perfons ought to give fatisfa&ion before they expect to receive it, I am to tell ycu in the full place, that my own health is tolerably good, or rather what I muft call good, being, I think, much better that it has been this laft half-year. Then as touching my occupation, alas ! " Othello'a oc- " cupation's gone !" I neither read nor write aught befides a few letters ; and I give myfelf up entirely to fcenes of dilTipation ; lounge at my Lord Dudley's for near a week together ; make dinners ; accept of invitations ; fit up till three o'clock in the morning with. LETTERS. ,97 with young Jprightly married women, over white port and . If you have not, be not precipitate in fpreading the ftory. They fay, he has fled into France on the occafion. What a {hocking affair is this ! fo early in life ! fo extenfive, fo lafting, fo irremediable in its confequences ! but, " Sic vifum Veneri ! cui placet impares " Formas atque animos, fub juga ahenea, " Saw mittere cum joco !" Your misfortunes and mine incline us, almoft, to love all people that are miferable; but how will the daughters of the Philiftines rejoice on the oc- cafion ; nay, almolt countenance another's lofs of virtue, by manifefting their own apparent want of humanity ! THERE is a moft admirable piece of allegory on this head in the Female Fables, by Brooks, if I miftake not ; to whom the author in his preface ac- knowledges himfelf greatly indebted. I AM truly forry to underftand how much you are alone ; I really imagined you were much happier in point of company than myfelf, as you live in a much politer neighbourhood j amonglt perfons of genius, learning, and humanity. And happier you are ; for however I make a ftiift te fcrape fome com- pany zo8 MR. SHE N STONE'S pany around me, they are fuch as can affect me with little elfe befides the fpleen. Do not dwell too much on fubjedls that make you thoughtful; fuperficial amufements are our point, till feme time hence : I am an ill advifer ; but I prefcribc you the methods which I have found moil effectual with myfelf. I HAVE not been forgetful of the tafk that you enjoined me, to give you my obfervations on the verfes which you inclofed. I will write my fen- timents on a feparate paper. Do not punifh me with filence and fufpence concerning you, but write. I can ardently defire what I but little deferve, being Your molt affectionate friend, W. S. LXXII. To the fame. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Feb. 27, 1753. T WROTE you fome account of myfelf, and in- *- clofed fome trivial criticifms, in a letter I Tent you about a fortnight ago, which I hope you have received. Tom comes now to enquire after your health, LETTERS. 309 health, and to bring back my " Ode to Colonel Lyt- " telton ;" in regard to which, I defire that you will not be fparing of your animadverfions. I whifpered my difficulties to Mr. Miller at Hagley, how delicate I found the fubjecl, and how hard it was to fatisfy either myfelfor others; in all which points he agreed with me. Neverthelefs, having twice broken my fromife of fending a corrected copy to Sir George, I was obliged to make my peace by a frejh one, which, I fuppofe, I muft of neceffity perform. Give me your whole fentiments hereupon, I befeech you ; in particular and in general, as a critic and as a friend. The bad ftate of fpirits which I complained of in lay lait, for a long time together made me utterly irrefolute : every thing occafioned me fuf- pence ; and 1 did nothing with appetite. This was owing in a great meafure to a flow nervous fever, as i have fince difcovered by many concurrent fym- ptoms. It is now, I think, wearing off by degrees. 1 ieem to anticipate a little of that " vernal delight" which Milton mentions, and thinks " Able to chafe " All fadnefs, but defpaif." At leaft, t begin to refume my filly clue of hopes and expectations ; which I know, however, 'Mill not guide me to any thing more fatisfaftory than before. VOL. III. P I HAVB 210 MR. SHENSTONE'S I HAVE read fcarce any new books this feafon. Voltaire's new Tragedy was fent rne from London ; but what has given me the moft amufement, has been the " Lettres de Madame de Maintenon." You have probably read them already in Englifh, and then I need not recommend them. The " Life of " Lord Bolingbroke" is entirely }\\s public life, and the book three parts filled with political remarks. As to writing, I have not attempted it this year and more ; nor do I know when I (hall again. How- ever, I would be glad to correft that " Ode to the " Dutchefs of Somerfet," when once I can find in whofe hands it is depofited. I was Jhewn a very elegant letter of hers, the other day ; wherein fhe aflcs for it with great politenefs : and as it includes nothing but a love of rural life, and fuch fort of amufements as me herfelf approves, I mall ftand a good chance of having it received with partiality. She lives the life of a religieufe. She has written my Lady Luxborough a very ferious letter of condolence upon the misfortune in her family ; and need enough has Lady Luxborough of fo unchangeable a friend ! for fure nothing could have happened to a perfon in her fituation more Specifically unfortunate. Mr. Reynolds has been at Barrels, I hear, and has brought her a machine that goes into a coat-pocket, yet an- fwers the end of " a jack for boots, a reading-delk, *' a cribbage-board, a pair of fnuiFers, a ruler, an " eighteen- LETTERS. M |.- " eighteen-inch-ruie, 'three pair of nut-cracks, a " lemon-fqueezer, two candlefticks, a picquat-board; " and the Lord knows what befide." Can you form an idea of it? if you can; do you not think it mud give me pain to reflect, .that I myfelf am ufeful for no fort of purpofe, when a paltry bit of wood can anfwer fo many ? but, indeed, whilil it pretendi to thefe exploits, it performs nothing well; and therein I agree with it. So 'true it is, with regard to me, what I told you long ago, " Multa & prteclara minantem " Vivere nee rede, nee fuaviter !" WE have a turnpike-bill upon the point of being brought into the Houfe of Commons : it will con- vey you about half the way betwixt Birmingham and Hales, and from thence to Hagley ; but, I truft, there will be a left-hand attraction, which will always make you deviate from the ftrait line. I SHOULD be amamed to reflefl how much I have dwelt upxui myfelf in this letter, but that I ferioufly approve ofegotifm in letters; and were I not to do fo, I fhould not have any other fubjecV. I have not a fmgle neighbour, that is either fraught with politenefs, literature, or intelligence ; much lefs have I a tide of fpirits to fet my invention afloat : but the lefs I am able to amufejiow, the more defirous am I of your letters ; which afford me the trueft en- P 2 tertainment, 212 MR. SHENSTONE'S tertainment, even when my fpirits are ever fo much depreffed. THAT univerfal chearfulnefs which is the lot of fome people, perfons that you and I may envy at the fame time that we delpife, is worth all that either fortune or nature can beflow. I am, with entire affeclion, Yours, W. SHENSTONE. LXXIII. To Mr. GRAVES. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Mar. 28, 1753. T A M vexed to find you have no copy of thofe -* verfes I mutt make a frefh enquiry ; and moald they happen to accompany this letter, as I fear they will not, be fo good as to aflift me all you can in the way of bints and corr-eSiom corrections of what is, and hints of what may be. I do not reckon much upon thefe verfes, or the patronage which you men- tion ; though the Dutchefs is a woman of high re- putation, and has as much benevolence as any woman upon earth. I DO LETTERS. 213 I DO not include the defign of vifiting Bath as a public place: I have long fmce given up fuch fchemes of gaiety and expence. I vifit you and Mrs. ; at the leaft, I mean to do fo. INOCULATION is a point on which I never fpeak a fyllable in the way of pro or con : I mean, not fo as to influence particulars ; for, in the general, I eileem it both right and falutary ; and even right becaufe we find it falutary. I DO not know whether I could not be#r the dijkzncur of friends or relations better than their death. It muft afford one no fmall fatisfadion to give them one's affeflion and afliftance under every frailty to which human nature is expofed ; at leaft, fo long as they are true to friendfhip. It is Mr. Whiiller's opinion, as well as mine. But Mr. - 's cafe is altogether different ; and I make no queftion that he thinks as you do upon the occafion. POOR Danvers's death affe&s me more than you would perhaps imagine. If you remember, I was at M - when the fcheme of his going abroad was in agitation. I think how this event muft affecl Mrs. T , whofe concern will not be leffened by her long feparation from him. I dare fay he reckon- ed upon his relations here as his beji ejiatf, what- ever he might gain elfewhere ; and, no doubt, the - P 3 hope M4 MR. S KEN STONE'S hope of retiring amongft them has been a conftant fpur to his diligence. The event was always un- certain, and has proved at la.il unfortunate ; yet, as Melmoth fays very juftly, " The courfe of human f ' affairs requires that we mould aft with vigour upon " very precarious contingencies." I defire you would give me a fight of the Latin infcription. I THINK it was the Gentleman's Magazine in which I was fhewn your verfes. .1 HAVE a particular and lively idea of your place ; though I do not remember to have feen even fuch parts of a fcene as I have united together in my ima- gina'-icn. I cannot think otherwife than that the front-door opens here, the garden-door there, the flream runs in this place, &c. &c. " Hac ibat Simois, haec eft Sigeia tellus." THE fight of the place could not imprefs my ima- gination more deeply ; though the impreflion I am to acquire will hardly leave one line of my prefent one remaining. Callage-garden orris is very high burlefque, and affe&s the improvements of your friend too nearly. LET me know in what manner Mrs. Graves and you are drawn. Be as particular as you pleafe. I COULD LETTERS. 215 1 COULD not be clear from your letter whether you had received the box or not. That, together with the tallies, lay on the table before me while I wrote to you laft ; and went with my letter to Bir- mingham, Pray fatisfy me direftly whether you received them. They are trifles indeed ; but, as they acquit me of my promife, they are virtually of confequer.ce. MR. Whifiler has not anfwered a letter which I fent him above two months ago : nay, I think, a quarter of a year. You are rich. I have only to wifh the continuance of your riches, with fome diminution of your fatigue. And yet the moft laborious man in the world is, I am fully afTured, more happy than the laxiejl. " THE Rival Brothers" has fome of Dr. Young's affectations ; and I quefUon if the moral be abfolute- ly true at leaft, Mr. Addifon is in fome meafure againft it : but, on the whole, I think it a noble Tragedy ; abounding as much with refined fenti- ments and elevated expreffions, as " The Gamefter" and " The Earl of EfTex" are deficient in both.. MY verfes are not yet fent to Sir George Lyttelton ; / flart new difficulties, and cannot make them to P 4 my 2i6 MR. S HEN STONE'S my mind : yet have promifed him a copy, and dif- appointed him thrice ; and can hardly defer it much longer without great offence. I HAVE fcarce been twenty yards from home this winter, kail night I vifited one of my neighbours; and what with wine, fitting up late, a perfeft flux of difcourfe, and a return home through the dark, found myfelf vertiginous before I was aware. Never did Prior's manly defcription, '* I drank, I liked it " not, &c." feem fo natural to me as it does to-day. I am abfolutely vile in my own fight, and I abhor myfelf in duft and afhes. I was never fo intoxicated as not to know what I faid, or to talk mere non- fenfe ; and yet how many things could 1 wifh unfaid that I let fall laft night ! WE are going to add two new bells to our prefent fet of fix ; to have a turnpike road from Hagley to Birmingham, through Hales; and to emerge a little from our obfcurity. I am, dear Sir, with compliments to Mrs. Graves, Ever mofl affectionately yours, W. SHENSTONE. LXXIV. To LETTERS. 217 LXXIV. To the fame, with Obfervations on Arms, Infciiptions, &c. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, July 15, 1753. T SEND you my Ode, as I fent it to the Dutchefs fome weeks ago. Why I pitched upon one read- ing fooner than another, I will not now explain : nor will I trouble you to make any frefti remarks upon it at prefent ; only, when you happen to read it over at your leifure, if any thing occurs to you that would tend to perfect it, I would beg you oc- cafionally to make fome memorandums. I have not yet received an anfwer ; but, as I accompanied the verfes with a letter, I fuppofe I (hall receive one in return. I alfo added, to fill a blank fpacc in my paper-book, a poem which I call The Vilta ;" and which you may perhaps recolleft : how pro- perly I know not, for I had the benefit of no perfon's judgement or advice. LORD Dudley made Mr. Dolman a prefent of a piece of plate, a large cup, in confideration of his fitter's being at Broom about half a year. There \vas on it, one fupporter awkwardly enough hold- ing up the coronet in his paw, and from the co- ronet proceeded a label, with " Amoris ergo Dud- f ley." I do not know who was the manager, or whence he had the infcription j but I think from 2 Dr. 218 MR. SHENSTONE'S Dr., H . This is elegant and enough. Neverthelefs, as thfere may be fome convenience in dazzling the eyes of the people where I dwell, and as futh eyes as theirs are nor to be dazzled, and hardly Jlruck, by thgance alone, I chofe the method that was mod magnificent. I wijh they are not invidious enough to fay, that his arms are engraved there for want of feme of my oivn : fo I would not be long before J remove their notable fuggeilion. I have truly fo Jow an opinion of arms fmce they became purchafea- ble by money, and fince the prefent unlimited ufe of them, that, were I to find a coat to my name in the office which I did not like, I would not ufe it ; l>at fubfiitute what was more agreeable : yet fome fort ofr;j/'vor cfaimis requifite to fatisfy one's de- iicacy with an opinion of property ; and indeed to ' fix one's choice? where one has the whole furniture of the univerfe for its object. After all, the vulgar are more flruck with arms than any thing ; " fiupet *' in tkulis & imaginibus ;" and, I believe, there were near two hundred people gathered round Lady Luxborough's landeau at Birmingham, and declaring her arms to be very noble, or otherwife. I do not, therefore, chufe to employ a vulgar mind about this matter. Were you to go to London, I mould gladly folicit you j or if you have any friend ycu cculd write to in town, to fearch the office ; for really I have none that I like for the purpofe. It will rot coft above a couple of millings. I will fend you a draught of LETTERS. 219 of the lid of my ftandifh when it arrives for I really do not know what Mr. Hylton will put upon it : I find, he confults with Dr. B , my Lord's phy- fician. " De Dudley" would run moft abomina- bly, and " Baro Dudley" may be authorized by the frequent practice of Maittaire. If it is infcribed ' Dudley" alone, I can add the reft if I fhould here- after think proper ; and I wifh it may be fo. MY verfes to the Colonel are not yet tranfcribed. I THINK the Latin infcription to your brother very elegant ; and I fhould not care to have any part of it omitted I would, by all means, have this little hiftory of his life perpetuated " His ," faltem, &c." And were you to put it into Eng- lifh, it would be too long for an infcription ; un- lefs you were, by means of a printed elegy with notes, or any other fuch method, to produce the fame effedt ; and then you might make the epitaph as fhort as you pleafed. After all, they?r/? method is perhaps as eligible. When the affair is nearer a conclufion, I fhould be glad to be of any fervice. I will think, and write again about it. AND now, having fpoke to fuch matters as have been the fubjeft of our late correfpondence, I am at liberty to diverfify my letter as I may. I fhould be glad to know ki your next, whether you have heard *zo MR. SHENSTONE'S heard of late from Mr. Whifller ; and whether he is confined at home as ufual by his mother's Hate of health. I almoit defpair of ever feeing him again at The Leafowes, though there is hardly any plea- fure I fo much covet as that of furprizing him with the aheraticns I have made* and the articles I have purchafed, during the five years fince he was in Shrop- fhire : add to this, the feveral acquaintances I have formed which he would like, and the amufing vifits I. could pay hereabouts with freedom. I do not know whether you faw Mr. Davenport and his fa- mily at Bath this fpring. He is laying out his environs; and lam by appointment to go over the week after next. He has alfo a painter at this time taking views round his houfe, which is one of the jnoft magnificent in our county ; yet I never leave home but with reludlance. I really love no PLACE fo well ; and it is a great favour in me to allot any one a week of my fummer. Add to this, that my confutation requires nurfjng ; and I am moll happy where I am moit_/K'?. It is in vain to fay, they allow you ail freedom, where you cannot allow it yourfelf. For this reafon, I never more enjoy myfelf, than I do at The Grange ; and yet this to lome may appear paradoxical. I YESTERDAY embeliimed my chalybeate fpring. The infcription that is cut on the ilone is as fol- lo-A's, viz. LETTERS. 22 i " FONS PERRVGINEVS. ' DIVAE QVAE SECESSV ISTO *' FRVI CONCED1T " SALVTI S," Yet I queftion whether Come of. the following be not preferable ; if they are, I beg you will tell me. One fhilling and fix-pence produces the alteration : " FONS FERRVGINEVS. " DIVAE PER QVAM LICET " HOC SECESSV'FRVI, ic. " SAL. &C." or, " DIVAE PER QVAM LATEBRAE " O^VAEVIS OBLECTANT " &C." ^ or, " DIVAE LOCORVM OMNIVM . '* COMMENDATRICI, &C." or, " DIVAE NIMIRVM RVSTICAE " SALVTI SACER." or, " DIVAE CVI DKBETVR " LOCORVM OMNIVM AMOENITAS " &C." or, " DIVAB PER QVAM LICET *' JNORNATQ RVRE LAETARI." BELIEVE 222 MR. SHE NS TONE'S BELIEVE me ever, with my beft compliments to Mrs. Graves, Your moft obliged and moft affectionate fervant, W. SHENSTONE; LXXV. To Mr. JAGO. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Jan. 29, 1754. T A M at a lofs how to begin this letter. I will *- not, however, after the ufual way, give you a tedious lift of apologies in the front of it. Some ac- count of my long filence you will find difperfed throughout the letter ; and as for what is deficient, I will depend upon your friend/hip. THERE has not been a perfon here, fince you left me, of whom I could obtain the leaft intelligence concerning you. And as an enquiry by the poft was my only obvious method, I do acknowledge my- felf to blame, notwithftanding all the excufes that I can make. AMIDST that conflux of vifitants whom I received this lafl feafon, I was hardly once Ji> happy as I was LETTERS. 223 was in your company : I was the happier m feeing you fo ; and, if you remember, I took notice at the time, how little your vivacity was impaired in com- parifon of my own. If I was tken but a dull con- panion, guefs whether folitude and winter were iik^!/ to make me a better correfpondent. That vein of gaiety and humour, which you were once fo partial as to difcover in my letters, will fcarce appear there any more : not even to the eyes of the moil partial friend I have. Should you deny what I affert, and impute it to a fit of fpleen, yet you may attoiv that it will fcarce enliven any letter tfyat I write in winter. Friendlhip (till remains ! Friendship, like the root of fome perennial flower, even then perhaps gathers ftrength in fecret, that it may afford a better difplay cf its colours in the fpring. I DO not pretend this to be an adequate apology. I know, my deareft friend, that you both like to lee and hear from me : it proves, however, that you. have no great lofs either of my letters or my com- pany. I AM, as the phrafe is, deeply penetrated by the civilities of your Mr. Miller. He took a fhort din- ner with me once this feafon, dropping Sir George at Mr. P 's. He could not have pleafed me bet- ter. Here he happened to meet Mr. Lyttelton and Captain Whood. He afterwards breakfailed here, and 224 MR. S HEN STONE'S and in general feemed glad of every occafion to bring me the genteeleft company. To him I owt Mifs Banks and Lord Temple. Can you think that Radway now, as well as Harbury, has no attra&ions for me ? You know me too well ; but I have not truly fuch a ftate of health as to dare to be from home. Friends will fay, " you may be as free at " our houfes as your own, &c." and they will mean as they fay ; but if you cannot make yourfelf fo, what is all this to the purpofe ? I CANNOT give you a detail of what has patted with me fince I favv you. Lord Dudley, with my- felf, made one vifit to Lord Plymouth's. We met Mr. and Mrs. Winnington. We took a trip to Mr. Vernon's, where we found Mr. Coventry and other company. The impreffions I received from them would afford fubjeft for convtffation betwixt you and me ; but I mult not affign too much of my paper to that purpofe. LORD Plymouth's piece of water mould have been a ferpentine river. I could give you ilrong reafons. I think my Lord fuch a character as will make a reputable figure in life beloved he is, and mujl be at firft fight.- Lady Plymouth is the mod amiable of women ; and, of all the world, the propereft per- fon that my Lord could have chofen. The plan for their houfe I think right j fuppofing it right to con- tinue LETTERS. 225 tinue It where it is. The park is capable of fome confiderable beauties. Lord Plymouth has been once here fmce, and talks of caufing me to come, and de- fign for his environs. I feem to be highly in his favour. I hope fome time to meet you there. MY Ode, after an afioniming delay, was prefented to the Dutchefs of Somerfet. It produced me two genteel letters from her Grace, I am well fatufied with the event, for dome reafbns which I will one day give you none of moment. Soon after this, Dodfley prefted me to contribute, as amply as I pleafed, to a fourth volume of his Mifcellanies. I at firft meant to do fo pretty largely ; I then changed my mind, and fent only fome little pieces. Part of thefe were my own ; part Mr. Whiltler's, Mr. Gravels, and fome accidental pieces of others, which I found in my bureau. I purpofed to fend fome- thing of yours too; of mtfelf, if I was hurried', elfe, not without your confent. What I thought of was, your Linnets. Laft week he writes me word, that the town will now be too much engrofled by the bufinefs of elections ; and that he does not proceed this winter. So that we {hall now, you fee, have time to meet, or write upon the fubjeft. MR. Graves fent me the inclofed little fable, for Dodiley, if I approved it. I made fome alterations, and fent it. Return it to me, if ycu pleaf?.^-It VOL. III. Q is zz6 MR. SHENSTONE'S is pretty ; but the infcription mufl be "To a " Friend." SOME correfpondence I have had this winter with Mr. Hylton, about toys and trinkets which he gets done for me in London. He is by far a better friend and correjpondent than a poet. Should you take a trip to town, he would be quite proud to fee you. JAM now, like the reft of the world, perufing Sir Charles Grandifon I know not whether that world joins me, in preferring ClarifTa. The author wants the art of abridgement in every thing that he has writ- ten, yet I am much his admirer. MY dear friend ! cherifh and preferve your own vivacity, and let not this phlegmatic epiftle impair it. If occafion offers, call on me for my own fake ; and believe you have not alive a more affedtienate friend. W. SHENSTONE. LXXVI. To LETTERS. 227 LXXVI. To Mr. GRAVES, on the Alternations of Pleafure and Pain. The Leafowey, Dear Mr. Graves, April 19, 1754. IT is a long, long time, according to the com- putation of friendihip, fmce I had the pleafure of a line from you ; and I write chiefly to remind you of it, not with any hopes of affording you the amufement of a fingl* minute. In truth, I have not fpirits for it. The feverity, the duration, the foli- tucle, of this winter have well-nigh exhaufied them. The fucccffion, the regular fucceffion, of pain and pleafure becomes every day more clear to me. It begins to feem as ordinary as the courfe of day and night. Thus my laft fummer was the moft amufing I ever faw j my winter the moft difagreeable al- low me to except one only : I mean, that ever- mournful winter which robbed me of my deareit relation. Sometimes this pain and pleafure are con- trafted within the compafs of a day ; fometimes in different weeks, &c. &c. However, do not think me fuperftitious ; there is hardly a perfon that is Jifs fo. Yet I am firmly perfuaded of the alternation, either in the mind, or in the events themfelves. My fummer, I faid before, was highly entertaining ; my winter rendered equally difagreeable, by a long-con- tinued fquabbls amongft our principal parishioners, and 22% MR. SHENSTONE'S and by the death of my beft-beloved and the moft accomplifiied of my relations, M D . She rifqued going to London for the fake of finding fomething vein ; was feized with the fmall-pox, and died in all her bloom. The natural confequence which we flrould draw from obfervations of this fort is, equa- nimity ; " a.-quam memento rebus, c." and again, *' fperat infeftis, metuit fecundis, &c." Enough of this, which I Giould not mention but that the faft itfelf fhikes me continually more and more; and were I to mark the pleafing and unpleafing parts of my exiftence in an almanac, as the Romans did their Fafli and Nefafti, I know not if, at the year's end, the black and white marks would not nearly balance each other. I HAVE bought " Hogarth's Analyfis :" it is really entertaining ; and has, in fome meafure, adjuiled my notions with regard to beauty in general. For in- ftance, were I to draw a fliield, I could give you reafons from hence why the fhape was pleafing or difagreeable. I would have you borrow and read GRANDISON I cannot think equal to Clarifia ; though, were merit in this age to be preferred, the author of it defer ves a biihopric. JAGO L E T T E R S. 229 JAGO has been fortunate for once ; but the value of his livings muft be exaggerated in the news- papers. IF Mr. Whiftler would give me a vifit in the height of my feafon this year, I mould look upon it as one of the moft pleafing events that could happen to the remainder of my life ; and I would not prefume to hope that fate .would , ever allow me a ^repetition of it. MY love of toys is not quite exhaufted I have purchafed, or rather renovated, fome that are both rich and beautiful, though fhort of what I meant them. I have amufed myfelf with defigning little ornaments this winter, fome of which may turn to account un- der the management of fome Birmingham mechanic. To atchieve eafe, an that feafon, is the moil that I can bofe ; and it ie more than I often obtaiv. EXCUSE this wor thick letter ; which muft coft yoa money, as they tell me franks are ufelefs. 1 could not avoid fome uneafmefs upon reflecting how long you have been filent. Prefent my beft compliments to Mrs. Graves ; and pay a tribute of one fingle half-meet to that affeftion with which I am ever Yours, W. SHENSTONE. <3 LXXVJI. To 23P MR. S HEN STONE'S LXXVII. To the fame, on the Death of Mr. WHISTLER. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, June 7, 1754. * | ^ H E melancholy account of our dear friend * "Whirtler's death was conveyed to me, at the fame inftant, by yours and by his brother's letter. I have written to his brother this poft ; though I am very ill able to write upon the fubjeft, and would willingly have waved it longer, but for decency. The triumvirate, which was the greateft happinefs and the greateft pride of my life, is broken ! The fabric of an ingenuous and difinterefted friendftup has loft a noble column ! yet it may, and ow'//, I trulr, endure till one of us be laid as low. In truth, one can fo little fatisfy one's felf with what we fay upon fuch fad occafions, that I made three or four etfhys before I could endure what I had written to his brother. Be fo good as excufe me to him as well as you can, and eftablifh me in the good opinion of him and Mr. \Valkcr. POOR Mr. "Whiftler ! how do all our little ftrifes and bickermenu appear to us at this time ! yet we may with comfort reflecl, that they were not of a fert that touched the 3 next autumn. Be affured, it. I EXPECT Dodfley every week. He will, I am convinced, be for publifhing his Mifcellany next wia^ ter. Would Mr. W , think you, agree, that you and I mould be allowed to publiih fuch of poor Mr. Whiftler's papers there, as we judged were moil like- ly to do credit to his memory ? ADIEU ! dear Mr. Graves. Let us reconcile our affections to the ordinary events of life ; and let us adopt my friend Jago into our fecond triumvirate. I am, however, always, with peculiar attachment, yours, W. SHENSTONS. MY beft compliments to Mrs. Graves. P. S. SINCE I wrote the foregoing, I have had Mr. Davenport of Davenport-houfe, with all his family. His brother, the clergyman, remembered you by your piclure. His wife is the fineft perfon* &c. I have feen here, except Lady Aylefbury in- genious, eafy- behaved, and of an excellent temper. They come to Bath in a fortnight. SINCE that time, Sir George Lyttelton, Mr. Lyt- telton, and Mifs Lyttelton. Sir George thinks fome alterations rcquifite in my verfes, to which I cannot eafily bring myfelf io conform but muft. 6 I LOOK ^6 MR. SHENSTONE'S I LOOK upon my fcheme of embellifliing my farm as the only lucky one I ever purfued in my life. My place now brings the world home to me, when I have too much indolence to go forth in queft of it. LXXIX. To the fame, on hearing that his Letters to Mr. WHISTLER were deftroyed. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, O6L 23, 1754. IT is certainly fome argument of a peculiarity in the efteem I bear you, that I feel a readinefs to acquaint you with more of my foibles than I care to truft with any other perfon. I believe nothing fhews us more plainly either the different degrees or kinds of regard that we entertain for our feveral friends {I may alfo add the difference of their cbaraflers}, than the ordinary ftyle and tenor of the letters we addrefs to them. I CONFESS tojwa, that I am confiderably mortified by Mr. John W 's conduct in regard to my letters to his brother; and, rather than they fhould have been fo unneceiTarily deftroyed, would have given more money than it is allowable for me to mention with decency. I look ugon my letters as fome of my chef-d'ceuvres j and, could I be fuppofed to have the leall pretenfions to propriety of ftyle or fenti- ment, LETTERS. 237 ment, I fhould imagine it muft appear, principally, in my letters to his brother, and one or two more friends. I confidered them as the records of zfrientt- Jhip that will be always dear to me, and as the bijiory of my mind for thefe twenty years laft paft. The amufement I mould have found in the perufal of them would have been altogether innocent ; and I would gladly have preferved them, if it were only to explain thofe which I fhall preferve of his bro- ther's. Why he mould allow either me or them fo very little weight as not to confult me with regard to them, I can by no means conceive. I fuppofe it is not un-cujlomary to return them to the furviving friend. I had no anfwer to the letter which I wrote Mr. J. W . I received a ring from him ; but as I thought it an inadequate memorial of the friend- fhip which his brother had for me, I gave it to my fervant the moment I received it ; at the fame time I have a neat fiandifh, on which I caufed the lines Mr. W left with it to be infcribed, and which appears to me a much more agreeable remembrancer. I HAVE read your new produ&ion with pleafure ; and as this letter begins with a confeflion of foibles, I will own, that through mere lazinefs I have fent you back your copy in which I have made fome erafe- ments, inrtead of giving you my reafons on which thofe erafements were founded. Truth is, it feems to me to want mighty few variations from what is now 2 .?3 MRi S H E N S T O N E ' S now the prefent text ; and that, upon one more pe-' rufal, you will be able to give it as much perfeflion as you mean it to have. And yet, did I fuppofe you would iufert it in Dodfiey's Collection, as 1 fee no reafon you have to the contrary, I would take any pains about it that you fhould defire me. I muil beg another copy, at your leiiure. . I SHOULD like the inscription you mention upon a real ftone-urn, which you purchafe very reafona- ble at Bath : but you mult not rifque it upon the vafe you mention, on any account whatever. Now I mention Bath, I muft acquaint you, that I have received intelligence from the younger Dod- fley, that his brother is now there, and that none of the papers I fent him are yet fent to prefs ; that he expects his brother home about the fourth or fifth of November, when he proceeds with his publication. Pofiibly you may go to Bath whilil he is there, and, if fo, may chuie to have an interview. I SHALL fend two or three little pieces of my own, in hopes that you will adjuft the reading, and return them as ibon as you conveniently can. All I can fend to-night is this " Ode to Memory." I {hail iu the lafl. place defire your opinion as to the runner of placing what is fent. The firit pages of his Amceliany muft be already fixed. I think to propofe 'LETTERS. 239 propofe ours for the laft ; but as to the order, it will depend entirely upon you. ADIEU! in other words, God blefs you! I have company at the table all the time I am writing. Your ever moll affectionate W. SHENSTONE. . LXXX. To Mr. JAGO. The Lesfowes, Dear Mr. Jago, June 16, 1754. "VXT'ERE I to pronounce my fentence upon the long fufpenfion of our correfpondence, I fliould impute the blame of it, in almofl equal meafure, to jourfelfand to me. To you, for an omiffion of the letter you promifed me when laft in town ; to me, for waiting in expectation of it, and for neglecting to do jujlice to the fentiments of my heart on the occafion of your late preferment. Great were the hopes I had indeed conceived, that your increafe of revenue had been accompanied with a place of re- fidence which was more to your mind than that where you at prefect abide ; but I do not find by any ac- counts that you purpofe to leave Harbury : for which, no doubt, you have reafons which I do not yet pe- netrate, but which may demand my affent the mo- ment you difcover them. I have but little to fay of the life I have led fince you received fome ac- count' z 4 o MR. SH EN STONE'S count of me from Mr. Hylton in London. The Win- ter, or at leail its minijlers, continued to tyrannize during the" minority of Spring ; and the Spring has alike been flow in giving up the reins to Summer. Of confequence, I feem in a fort of middle ftate, betwixt a dull half-animated grub and an infignifi- cant loco-motive fly. Neither in the one itate or ether am I of the leaft importance j but, from the advances which I have already made, you are fome- iv&at the more likely to find me in your garden. About a fortnight ago I received a line or two from our intimate acquaintance and fchool-fellow Mr. Hall. It was brought me by Sir Edward Boughton's gar- dener ; a fellow of good taile, to whom Mr. Hall defired I would caufe The Leafowes to be fhewn. I find you have delighted Mrs. Hall by fome altera- tions which you propofe for their environs, and which they thoroughly refolve to put in execution. When I come over into Warwkkfhire, as I hope to do foon, I fhall be very glad to make them a vifit in your company. My fpirits, though far from good, are better in the main than' they were in winter, and on fome peculiar days are raifed as high as to alacrity ; very felclom higher, feldom fo high. You muft (from hence at lead) take matters in the order or rather d'J'crder in which they occur : Mr. Miller I iaw on Wednefday lait in Lady Lyt- tekoa's coach, who Hepped two minutes at my gate on LETTERS. 241 on her return from London. I enquired concerning you ; but could gather no intelligence. Mr. Hylton, who is now in Warwickfliire (if he have not ftrolled to London), has been with me feveral months this fummer. He is adding a room or two to his place, which lies very near me ; and purpofes to refide there as foon as it is finished. The fituation is not void of beauties ; but, if you will pardon the vanity, mult veil its bonnet to mine. I have heard of plant- ing hollies, pyracanthas, and other berry-bearing greens, to attract thofe Blackbirds which you have fo effectually celebrated : it mall be my ambition to plant good neighbours ; and, what with Lord Dudley and his exotics, Mr. Hylton with his fofiils, and my- felf with my ferme onee, is there not fome room to ex- pect that we may attract the tafters this way ? but firft we muft take fome care to advertife them where their treafures lie. Another day is patted, and Mr. Miller, &c. has again been with me, and waked me out of a found fleep to breakfaft. He mentions with what reluctance he left a furveyor at Radway, em- ployed in taking plans of the field of battle r.ear Edge-hill. This he purpofes to enrich with a number of anecdotes, gleaned from his neighbourhood ; which muft probably render it extremely entertaining : and furely Edge-hill fight was never more unfortunate to the nation, than it was lucky for Mr. Miller! He prints, together with this plan, another meet of Rad- way Caftle. I approve his defign. He will, by this VOL. III. R means, 2^2 MR. SHENSTONE'S means, turn every bank and hillock of his eftate there, if not into claffical, at lealt into hiftorical ground. I HAVE done mighty little about my grounds fince laft winter. As indolence has on many occafions con- tributed to impair my finances, it is buft juft that it mould fometimes contribute to rejiore them. Yet I am not quite deflitute of fomething new for your amufement. OF late I have neither read nor written a fyllable. What pleafed me laft was " Hogarth's Analyfis." I expeft Dodfley down every week; and as he will fpend a few days with me, I could wi(h you were to meet him. His genius is truly poetical, and his fen- timents altogether liberal and ingenuous. I AM, at prefent, a furveyor of roads ; employed in repairing my lane to the turnpike. How glad mould I be to meet you, and to mew you its beaut'.et ! to mew you Mr. Hylton's new feries of coins ; his dejlgns as well as his performances at Lappa ! how glad mould I be to fee you 1 yea, I would hardly fail to return with you to Harbury ; were you to add this one obligation. I left Mr. Miller in doubt whether he would not fee me at Radway fome time next week. Evil and caprici- ous health (the particulars of which would make a de- tail of no importance) deftroys all my punctuality, and bids me promife with fear. You, I truft, are moftly LETTERS. 243 moftly at home ; and were you to be xt Snitterfield, I would follow you without reluctance. So, with hopes to fee you fhortly either in Warwickfliire or Shrop- fhire, I relinquifh the fubject. I HAVE referved a very melancholy fubjedt for the laft. May you, and Mr. Graves, and myfelf, ftand firm to fupport the fabric of friendfhip, which has loft a very beautiful column in poor Mr. Whiftler ! he died of a fore-throat, which in a few days time turn- ed to an inward mortification. I will fay no more on the occafion : very affecting has it been to me. God preferve your life, your happinefs, and your friendfhips ! and may you ever be affured of that with which I am, dear Sir, Your moft affectionate humble fervant, W. SHENSTONE. SHALL I beg a line from you, as foon as may be ? I do, moft earneftly. I AM given to underftand that I may expect a vifit this fummer from the Bilhop of Worcefter; from Lord Ward, Lord Coventry, and Lord Guern- fey. It may be fo ; but honours of this fort, which would formerly have affected me, perhaps too deeply, have now loft, much of their wonted poignancy. Can fucb perfons bear to fee the fcenes riant, and to find the owner gloomy ? Let them, as they are able, make / ; R 2 my* 244 MR. SHENSTONE'S my circumftances more affluent ; and they (hall find the reflection in my face and in their reception ; but, as this will never be, it is no compliment to declare, that an hour or two's interview with you or Mr. Graves outweighs the arrival of the whole Britifh Peerage. SOMETHING elfe I have to fay. Young Pixell laft winter told me, that the organiil of Worcefler had fet your Ode (The Blackbirds) to mufic ; that he liked the mufick ; and that he would ling it next evening at the Birmingham concert. I have not heard him mention it face, and I forgot to enquire ; but, if you happen to have the notes, I mould be glad if you would inclofe them for me. I HAVE been of late much bent upon the encreafe of horns in this neighbourhood. Do not interpret me pe r^erfely ; I mean French-horns only. My Lord Dudley has had a perfon to teach two of his fer- vants nothing at my inftigation ; but your old ac- quaintance Maurice, ivho lives at the corner of my cop- pice, will exceed them in a week by means of a good ear. I have borrowed a horn for him. Adieu ! LXXXI. To LETTERS. 245 LXXXI. ToC W , Efq. Dear Mr. W , July 6, 1754. "\7" O U do me juftice in believing that I am truly -*- forry you have not been well. A degree or two of regularity more than what you have already will, I fancy, reftore your health, and my fatisfaftion ; and I beg you will afford me the earlieft account of your recovery. I CONSIDERED Mafter W 's vifit as an abfolute engagement, and remained at home in conftant ex- pedlation of him for a fortnight together. I am, however, not forry, for his own fake, that he is gone to Oxford, efpecially as you feem to have an af- furance of its proving advantageous. Pray affiire him of my earneft wilhes for his happinefs, and that The Leafowes will be always at his fervice, whenever, through the ficklenefs of human nature, he thinks proper to give up a Mufe for a Water-nymph. I EXPECT Mr. Hylton daily. He was laft week in London, and is now, I believe, at Coventry. He will probably vifit you before he comes into this country. He talked of it when he left me. I am obliged to be brief. POST- WOMAN waits for me, " multa gemens." Podfley is the man for your purpofe He has, with R 3 Z 1 ** 246 MR. SHENSTONE'S good genius, a liberal turn of mind. I expeft him to fpend a few days here every week. I will, if he returns through Warwickfhire, occafion him to call upon you; but you know he is often lame with the gout, and will hardly be able 'to make any long di- greffion. YOUR cafe is exaftly mine. You fay, you cannot bear wrongs with patience, but you can fleep and forget them. So can I fo do I. Did I never tell you (if not, I do fo now) that indolence will, in a thoufand inftances, give one all the advantages of philofophy ? and pray, if you call me lazy any more, take care that you do not ufe an expreffion by way of dilparagement, which I consider as the higheft honour. I am a fool, however, for difcovering my fecret. What a number of compliments might you have made me unwittingly ! " Tacitus pafci fi poffet corvus, haberet " Plus dapis, & rixae minus invidiasque." HAD I time, I could comfort you under your ill- ufage, by difcovering to you the fimilitude of my own fituation. EXCUSE this fcrawl; accept my compliments ; car- ry them to Mrs. and Mifs W ; and believe me ever your obliged and moft obedient humble fervant, W. SHENSTONE. LXXXII. To LETTERS. 247 LXXXII. To Mr. JAGO, on their Contribution to DODSLEY'S Mifcellanies. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Jan. 22, 1755. I" A M fure you muft be puzzled how to account * for my filence, after the honour you have done me by your verfes, and the requefl you made that I would ^write, I am alfo as much at a lofs how to give a proper weight to my apology. To fay I have been ill, would perhaps imply too much; when I would only allude to that ftate of heavinefs and dd~ je&ion which is fo frequently my lot at this time of. the year ; and which renders me both a-verfe to wri- ting, and utterly diffatisfied with every thing that I do write. IF at any time my head grew a little lefs confufed than ordinary, I was obliged to devote my attention to the affair in which I had fo fooUJhly involved my- felf with Dodfley. You are unable to conceive what vexation it has given me : I could not endure to dlfappoint him : of confequence, it has been my lot to itudy the delicacies of poetry when my brain was not fufficient to indite a piece of common profe ; but as the moufe (by which I mean my own performances) will fo foon make its ridiculous appearance, it were totally impolitic in me to expatia:e on the labours of the mountain, The firit letter I received from you R 4 left 248 MR. SHENSTONE'S left me greatly diflatisfied. I was then to fend D myfrial inftru&ions in a poft or two. You took lit- tle notice of any query I made ; and intimated a dif- approbafion, which agreed too wet! with my own internal fentiments. I knew not but you were angry at the liberties I had taken ; though I could have fuppreffed any {ingle paper which I had then convey- ed to London. Little did I then imagine that it was in my power to have protradled the affair till now. Had that been the cafe, I mould have troubled you with repeated embaflies ; for I abhor the tedioufnefs of the poft, and my fervants do little at this time of the year that is of more importance than their mailer's poetry. YOUR next letter convinced me that you had taken no offence ; and fo far I was happy : but then I wanted to have your Goldfinches as correft as your Blackbirds j there were fame things I wifhed you to alter ; and others in regard to which I was defirous to fpeak my fentiments. Add to this, my own verfes, with which I was infinitely more diflatis- fied. Why then did I not write ? The true reafon was, that I was prefled by D to fend conclufions every poft ; and though I have had all this leifure (as it happens) fince you wrote, I never could depend upon more than the fpace of a day or two. Be- iides, criticifms in the way of letter are extremely tedious and difTatisfa&ory ; infomuch, that I am thoroughly LETTERS. 249 thoroughly determined never to print any thing for the future, unlefs I have the company of my friends when I fend to the prefs. Hurried as I then was, I fent up your two copies, and what I propofed for him of my own, with a kind of difcretionary power to fe- lecl the beit readings. How you would approve of this meafure I knew not ; but I had this to plead in my behalf, that D- was a perfon of talle himfelf\ that he had, as I imagined, many learned friends to affift him ; that his intercjl was concerned in the psr- fe&ion of his MiiceLany; and that I fubmitted my own pieces to the fame judgement. AFTER all, I am but indifferently fatisfied with the prefent ftate of thefe contributions. D writes juft fo much as he deems necejjary in the way of bufinefs, and paffcs by a thoufand points in my letters which deferve an anfwer. His laft acquaints me, that he has fpent a whole day in the arrangement of what I have fent him ; and that hs purpofes to fend me prcof-foeets before the clofe of this week, defiring 1 would fend them back by the return of the poft. Whether they arrive on Saturday or on Monday, I can keep them till the Thurfday follow- ing. AND this brings me, in the laft place, to the main purpofe of this letter. It is a requeft on which I lay great ftrefs ; and which you mult not refufe me upon 250 MR. SHENSTONE'S upon almoft any confideration. I beg, in fhort, that you would promife me the favour of your company on Monday (or even Tuefday) next, if poffible ; and let us jointly fix the readings of your pieces, of my tnun, and thofe of our common friends. You will immediately comprehend the expediency of this ; now, in particular, that our names are to appear. Some alterations I think neceffary in your Goldfinches, and there are two or three ftanzas which I think you might improve. Neverthelefs, I will not pretend that this journey is fo requijlte upon your own ac- count as mine ; and will recommend it upon no other footing than the pleafure you will receive by the obligation which you will confer. I THOUGHT to have concluded here; but, as an envelope is now become altogether neceflary, have a temptation to proceed which I did not fee before. IT is now become Friday the twenty- fourth of January. The packets I fend, and the requeft that I make upon fo little warning, will, at firft, aftonifh you. Unforefeen interruptions would not fufFer me to difpatch my courier fooner. What then remains, but that I endeavour to adjuft this affair agreeably to itspre/ent circumftances ? You will readily conceive, from what you obferve in my packets, how defireable your company is to -6 me LETTERS. 2Sl me at this junfture. Supposing it then in your power to come over on Monday, Tuefday, or even Wed- nefday, I am inclined to believe you tuilL Sup- pofing it not fo, I can forefee you will not have lei- fure to fatisfy my queries by the return of the bearer : and what I would next propofe is, that you would either fuffer me to fend again to you betwixt this time and Thurfday next ; or that you would yourfelf difpatch a purpofe-meffenger, and allow me to pay for his journey. In either of thefe latter cafes, I am fure you fo well know the nature of my prefent irrefolution, that you will endeavour to afford me all the affiftance you are able. ADIEU ! my dear friend ! and depend upon my beft fervices on every poffible occafion. I am ever your moft affectionate and moft obedient fervant, W. SHENSTONE. LXXXIII. To the fame, on the fame Subjedt. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Feb. 22, 1755. TRECEIVED a letter from Dodfley, dated the * fifteenth of February ; informing me that you were then in town, had been with him, and left your directions 252 MR. SHENSTONE'S directions whither he might fend you a fet of Mif- cellanies. FEBRUARY the twentieth, and not lefore, arrived young H with your letter ; very obligingly in- tended to give me previous notice of your journey; but which, by the iniquity of chance, tended only to acquaint me with an opportunity which 1 had loft. THERE is nothing could have been fo fortunate as your journey to London, had Mr. H thought proper to bring your letter in due time. What ex- cufe he made for his negleft, or whether he made any, I have really forgot. This I know, that the whole affair has been unlucky. There has been abundant time for confultation, and a perfedl feries of opportunities of which we have not been flittered to avail ourfelves. It is now three weeks or a month fince I corredied the proof-meets ; was fo hurried in the doing of it that I fcarce knew what 1 wrote ; and yet, in fpite of all this hurry, the book is hither- to unpublimed. Now, indeed, it muft be much too late for alterations, as D has given me fome room to expeft a book this very day. I know but little what he has done in confequence of that difcretiona- ry power with which I, through hafte, was obliged to ir.truft him : but in what I have done myfe/f, you may expect to find all the eiFctls of dulnefs precipi- tated. IT LETTERS. 2?3 IT is now the twenty-third of February, and I have received no frefh account of our friend Dod- fley's proceedings; nor am I able to trace them, as I expected, in the news-papers. As to your mare of this Mifcellany, you can have no caufe to be difTatisfied. After what manner he has thought proper to print Lady L 's verfes, I am a good deal uncertain ; but I apprehend he has not followed her own readings very precifely, and that the blame thereof is to be thrown upon me. I am concerned for the memory of my poor friend Whift- ler, and regret that his better pieces did not fall into my hands. I think that Dodfley, however, would have done him greater juftice, had he inferted his tranflation of" Horace and Lydia." It is true, the tranflations of that Ode are out of number ; but his y if I miltake not, had many beauties of its own. I do not know whether I ever hinted to you, that his genius and that of Ovid were apparently congenial. Had he cultivated his with equal care, perhaps the limilitude had been as obvious as that of your twin-daughters. Mr. Graves has one fmall well- polifhed gem in this collection ; his verfes upon Me- dals. His little conjugal Love-fong is alfo natural and eafy. I told you what I leaft difliked of my own puerilities. If the printing of my Rural Infcriptions be invidiottf, it was altogether owing to the infliga- 254 MR. S H E N S T O N E ' S tion of Sir G L . There are four or five little matters, which, if he have printed with my name, incorrect as they are, I (hall be utterly difconfolate ; at leaft, till I get fight of a fucceeding impreffion. For though I am not much felicitous about a poetical reputation (and indeed it is of little importance to fo domejlic an animal as myfelf), yet I could ill endure to pafs for an affecled, powerlefs pretender, AND now no more upon the fubjeft. I have no- thing to add that can the leaft amufe you. You, who have been converfant with all the bufy and the fplendid fcenes of life, can want no materials to make a letter entertaining. Indeed you never did. I (hall be glad, however, to receive a long one, upon what fubjefts you pleafe. I HAVE pafled a very dull and unamulive winter; my health indeed rather better than I experienced it laft year ; but my head as confufed, and my fpirits as low. I live in hopes of an opportunity of feeing you at Harbury ; but I begin now to receive vifits as an honeft beggar does an alms, with my humblefl thanks for the favour, and with a defpair of making PERHAPS my next letter may difcover fomewhat more refolution : inclination I never want ; being at all times with fingular affecHon yours, W. SHENSTONE. LXXXIV. To LETTERS. LXXXIV. To the fame. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Aprils, 1755. IH A V E fo long expe&ed the favour of a few lines from you, that I begin at lait to queftion whether you received the letter I fent you. It was inclofed in one to Mr. M , whom I requeued to further it with all convenient expedition. I am nei- ther able to recollecl the whole contents of it ; nor indeed, if I ivere, could I endure the thoughts of tranfcribing them. The chief intention of it, how- ever, was to acquaint you of Mr. H 's unhappy delay in the delivery of that letter with which you favoured me from Radway. WHAT confirms me in a fufpicion that my laft let- ter mifcarried is, that Mr. Wren lately acquainted me of your being at Wroxall upon bufinefs, and of your making fome flight mention of Mr. Dodfley's publication, without intimating that you difcovered any defign you had of writing to me. This is mere preamble and fluff: implying nothing more than the defire I have to hear from you, when it ought alfo to exprefs how impatiently I long to fee you. Worldly concerns and my winterly ftate of health have detained me at home for thefe many months paft : worldly concerns may have confined you like- wife j but as your health and fpirits are univerfally better 256 MR. SHENSTONE'S better than mine, and as you have much lefs diflike to travelling than myfelf, I would hope that my ab- fence from Harbury will never caufe you to negleQ any opportunity of coming hither. For my ewn part, I have been meditating upon a vifit to you all this winter ; and do, at this time, refolve moll ftrenuoufly to perform it before June. But the many fuch fehemes of pleafure in which I have been difappoinN- ed are a fort of check upon my exprefltons, and make me promife with fear. As to Dodfley's per- formance, which you muft have received before this time, I will make no obfervations till I have the pleafure of feeing you: and yet there are many points I would difcufs, and many accounts I want to give you. So many indeed, that they would furnifh out perhaps a fuperficial drawling letter ; but would i'erve infinitely better for converfation, with the book before us. The volume, I am told, is well received in town ; though political intellgience muft engrofs much of its prefent attention. MR. HYLTON is in my neighbourhood, and upon the point of fettling at his farm. Could you pof- fibiy fpend a week with us, we would try to make it agreeable. At all events, I beg to hear from you; and that, not merely as it will afford me great plea- fure, but as, at the fame time, it will eafe me of fome folicitude. I will not make this a long let- ter, though I wilh to receive a long one in return ; having LETTER S. 557 having a head very little qualified to add any thing that may amufe you, though a heart very fmcerely and aftedlionately at your fervice. W. SKEWS-TONE. LXXXV. To the fame. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Jago, Dec. 14, i 75 6. 'T^HOUGH the fllence that has prevailed for fo * long a time betwixt us be, I fear, to be placed to my account, yet dp I by no means imagine that you will defire me to fill half this letter with apo- logies. Suffice it, that I owe . all the world, at this time, either letters, vifits, or money : yet that my heart is as well difpofed in each of thefe refpec^s, as that of any one perfon who is infolvent. The regard indeed that I owe to yo'u has been a troublefome in- mate within my bofom for fome time paft ; making daily remonftrances againjft the injuilice which I have done it ; and urging me ftrenuoufly to take horfe, and make my perfonal apologies at Harbury. t I return you many thanks for Mr. S 's company, and for the fight of the manufcript which he mewed me. Alas ! that I cannoj fpare money to drain and to improve my lands, or to put almoft any part of his excellent rules in execution ! and yet that Mr. VOL. III. S Child 558 MR. SHENSTONE'S Childe of Kinlett (hearing my place always termed a farm) fhould come expe&ing to find all things managed here according to the perfection of bujbandry ! As little can I pretend to improve Mr. S 's trea- tife, as his treatife iv:V/ my farm : no farther at moft, than in what regards the file, or plan of his per- formance. Yet could I with to fee both it and him again before he prints it ; wiming him all the fuc- cefs which his very endeavour delerves. AfTuredly the prefent is not the time for his publication : more in:m;diate lemedies than can be derived from agricul- ture are become abfolutely requifite to relieve the fufierngs of this nation. I mould be extremely well- pleafed to viiit you at Harbury, but cannot even pro- pofs to myfdf that happinefs at prefent ; and were I even to frofitijc, have but too much reafon to know the m:ctria ; nty of my performance. Yet am I fenfible encrgh we ought to meet, if we purpofe that what we print mould have the advantage of our mutual criti- tifms. Let me' then conjure you to come over, at your convenience, for a fevv days, that we may agree at leall upcn fome general points, and make no worfe a figure in the future MiiceHany than we have done hrthe foregoing "*. But I have really more things to Jay thsn'I will pretend to fcravri upon paper ; nor can I endure to retail a few particulars, while I am im- patient to communicate the whole. : Ste the Edinburgh Review, NI LET L E T T -E- R S. zJ7 ' LET me acquaint you while I remember, that there is at this time a Mr. Duncombe 1 and his fon, clergy- men, that: are publifhing a new t ran flat ie 11 of Horace. Whatever you may think of their fuccefs, after Fraud's, I beFieve I may pronounce them men of rc-ul merit, and in- no- wife deititute. of learning or genius. They have requeued me to communicate any verfeon or' imitati'jn that I can furhiih, either of my own or of any friends ; wherefore, if you have any thing of this fort, I mould be glad if -you. would put it in my power to oblige them. The. fon has an " Ode to " Health" in the fourth volume of Dodfley's Mil- cellany. UNDER the head of intelligence, I have mighty little to convey. The houfe at Hagley is in a man- ner finilhed, fo far as concerns the fhell ; and wants nothing betides a portico- to be as compleal as moft in England. Pray remember me to Mr. Talbot,. Mr. Miller, and Mr. .Hoi beach ; fhould they ca-11 upon me next year, they will find my place better worth their notice. I AM, and have been ever, cordially and moft af- feclionately, Your moft obedient fervant, W. S 2 LXX5CVI. To 260 MR. SHEN STONE'S LXXXVI. To Mr. GRAVES, with fome Account of Politics and Poetry. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, April 4, 1755. "\/~ O U will be harraffed with my letters till you -*- 'condemn my exceifive leifure as loudly as I have lamented that you fhould ever feel the ^want of it. Nor is it a point fo eafily decided which of us may be the greater fujferer ; you through my offidouf- ne/s, or .1 by your long filence. Yet the partiality which you have ever fhewn me will, I think, difpofe you to receive my letters more patiently than it is in my power to fuftain the lofs of jours. After all, I mould not write at prefent, but that the Mifcel- J-anies with which Dodfley compliments us arrived la ft week at, The Leafowes. I defire therefore you would acquaint me, whether the fett that he means for you fliould remain here till' your arrival ; or if you chafe that I fhould fend it by the Birmirigham- ftage to Bath. Having made this enquiry, I was thinking to conclude ; but cannot reconcile myfelf to the novelty of fending you three empty pages. The Parliament will rife too foon for the publication cf my " Rural Elegante ;" and having performed my promife to Dodfley, I think no more about fuch laurels as the public can bellow upon me, but am giving all 'my attention to fuch as I can purchafe ofuny mirfery-man. I wifh, however, that the vo- 7 lume LETTERS. 2 6i lume may recompence Dodfley for his trouble : I may alfo add, for his ingenuity, and for his politenefs in giving each of us a compleat fett. They are elegant- ly bound, and all as much alike as poffible. THE prefent crifis of itate-affairs does not feem to favour his publication, as "the attention of the pub- lic muft lean greatly to that quarter. I faw a letter from Sir William M (who correfponds with Lady Luxborough), which placed the itruggles of the miniftry in a clearer light than they had yet appear- ed to me. It feems that perfons of all denomina- tions are for carrying on the war with vigour ; and the King's application for a Vote of Credit was re- ceived with general approbation. The zeal of the Parliament was indeed fo remarkable on this occa- fion, that, inftead of the 600,000 /. at firft intended, it was thought proper to propofe a million. But the fervices were afcertained, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer made accountable for the application of it. The augmentation of the fleet with 20,000 feamen ; the raifmg 5000 marines on a plan of di- .viding them into fmall companies, which will render them more ufeful both by fea and land ; the com- pletion and reinforcement of the Irith regiments ; arc the ufes to which this million is to be appro- priated. Mr. Fox and his land-war-party fat mute, whift Mr. Legge with great opennefs and perfpicuity explained the prefent fchemes ; as they were calcu- S 3 lated 262 M R. S HE N STONE'S lated, to exert our whole ftrength at Tea, and, if pof- iible, no where elfe. Mr. Dodington, who, it feems, has not fpoke of many years, charmed every body. His wit did not only entertain, but animate 'iind af- fect his hearers. " If 'were fatter, he h\&, than l-fe tf the dominion cftle Ocean, that the Ocean Jhould ond receiving the company that came to fee it. My principal LETTERS. 2 8i principal excurjlons have been to Enville, on Lord Grey's birth-day ; to Lord Ward's, upon another invitation ; and to the Worcefter Mufic-meeting. f need not mention what an appearance there was of company at Worcefter; dazzling enough, you may fuppofe, to a perfon who, like me, has not feen a public place thele ten years. Yet I made a fhift to enjoy the fplendour, as well as the mafic that was prepared for us. I prefume, nothing in the way of harmony can poflibly go further than the Oratorio 1 of " The Meffiah." It feems the beft compofer's beft compofition. Yet I fancied I could obferve fame parts in it, wherein Handel's judgement failed him ; where the mufic was not equal, or was even oppofite, to what the words required. Very many of the noblefTe, whom I had feen at The Leafowes, were as complaifant to me as poffible ; whereas it was my former fate, in public places, to be as little regarded as a journeyman moe-maker. There I firft faw our prefent Bifhop; alfo our late Biihop's monument, which is fine. Laftly, there I firft faw my Lady Coventry ; to whom, I believe, one muft allow all that the world allows in point of beauty. She Is certainly the moft unexceptionable figure of a woman I ever faw ; and made moft of the ladies there feem of almoft another fpecies. On the whole, I was not a little pleafed that I had made this excurfion ; and returned with double relifli to the enjoyment of my farm. It is now high time to take fome notice of your 2 Sz MR. SHEN STONE'S your obliging letter. I think I was not told the purport of the journey you made to London ; fo can only fay, I am very forry for the aggravating circum- ilances of your difappointment; and hope, long be- fore this time, that Mrs. Graves is quite recovered. Did I forget to make your excufes to Dodfiey or no ? he was here (as I remember) foon after, with Mr. Spence, in their way to Scotland Mr. Spence, the very manjou would like, and who would l'\kejou, pf all mankind. He took my Elegies into Scotland, and fcnt them back on his return, with a fheet or two of criticifms, and an handfome letter. How much am I interefted in the prefervation of his friend- ihip ! and yet, fuch is my dejiiny (for I can give it no other name), I have never wrote to him fence. This impartiality of my negleft, you muft accept your- jelf as fome apology : but to proceed; Mr. Spence chofe hitnfelf an oak here for a feat, which I have jnfcribed to him, (" EPENCE'S OAK.) " EXIMIO. NOSTRO. CRITON1. " CVI. UICARI. * VELLET. " MVSAP.VM. OMNIVM. ET. GRATIARVM. CHORVS. " DICAT. AMICITIA." I ABSOLUTELY forgot to talk to Dodfley about your , and I am vexed ; becaufe I could, with a fafe confcience, have raifed his idea of your * Subintellige SEDEM ISTAM (hanc). abilities. LETTERS. 283 abilities. However, it is not too late, even if you care to publifli it this winter. His play comes on (I fancy this 'very night) at Coven t-garden. What he fays in behalf of this ftep is, that there was no glimpfe of probability, that Garrick would ever ad- mit it at the other houfe*. Mrs. Bellamy is his Cleone, and fpeaks the epilogue, of which more anon. I fuppofe he adts by Lord Chefterfield's opinion : for I know, when lie was going to print it (fince he came home) with a proper dedication to Mr. Garrick, my Lord then prevented him, telling him, it ivould be afled one day or other. Did I ever fend you a copy of the epilogue, with all the additions and al- terations ? Dodfley firft liked, then difliked it, and lallly liked it again j only defiring me to foften the fatire, fhorten the whole (for it was upwards of fixty lines), and add a complimentary clofe to the bcxes. All this I have endeavoured, and fent it him !a(t Mon- day. You would not care to own it: and he would fain have me ; but I think neither of us mould run the rifque, where fo little honour is to be acquired; yet Mr. Melmoth's name to the prologue is an in- ducement. I was very near furprizing you at Cla- verton this autumn, with my friend young Knight, in his way to Mr. Bamfylde's ; but he goes again in fpring, and I mail certainly accompany him ; I have tefpokcj but not yet procured any, horfes for my chaife. * He ftys, the players liked it, and fecmed inclined to take pains with it. It 284 MR. S HEN STONE'S It is a neat one, you will find ; and I have made twp or three excursions in it. I faw Mr. Patchen's " To- " pographical Letters" foon after they were publifhed. If you continue tome the honour of a fhield ia your Gothic alcove, the field mould be either " Or, " three king-fimers proper," or, with the additioa of a chief guies, three trefoils argent no bar, che- veron bend, &c. More of this when I write again. MottO, FLV.MINA AMEM, SYLVASQ^VE INGLORIVS fcVRA MIHI. I CANNOT recolleft my company of the feafon, to tell it you. Sir Francis Dafinvood, Lord Litchfield, and Mr. Sheldon, were here together in the begin- ning of the autumn; and I have ftrong invitations to vilit them. I have a very genteel letter from Sir Francis, offering me gold-fifties ; and I have a double inducement to vint Mr. Sheldon, as he lives near Mickleton, and is the moft agreeable man alive. Your acquaintance Lord W dined and fpent good part of a day with me. Under a fort of gloomy ap- pearance, a man of admirable fenfe and fome hu- mour. I put him in mind of you, and the remarka- ble monument at Carabden. Mr. Thomas Warton was alfo here with Lord Donnegal, and has fince fcnt me his " Infcription?," which are rather too iimple, even for my taile. Biihop of Worcefter with his family and company Lord Willoughby Lord Po- le/ I jr.er.tion Lord Foley the rather, becaufe J mail LETTERS. 285 fliall call on your friend Dr. Charleton (who was alfo here) to pafs a day or two with me at Whitley. I fhall pafs alfo a day or two at our Rtlhop's, whom I met fmce at Enville. Thefe two (prepofn what I will befides) will probably be the principal, or only excursions that I (hall make this winter. God fend it may no more affeft my health than it has hitherto done. I urn at prefent tolerably well, and live more temperately than before. Would to God you could come over; go with me to Dr. Charleton's, and Lord Foley's, and Lord Stamford's, and pafs a week here ! I would meet you with my chaife at Worcefter, or even farther. I have finifhed a building oppofite to the new ftable, which I think you faw. They together give my houfe a degree of fplendour. Did you fee my Priory ? a tenant's houfe^ one room whereof is to have Gothic fhields round the cornice. [ am in fome doubt whether to make it an Houfe of Lords or Houfe of Commons,; if the former, my private friends will have fhields round my Gothic bed-chamber. The wretch is curfed that begins a letter with no better a pen than I fiwjh one with. My dear friend, write dire&ly a long letter. Keep me alive in the memory of Mrs. Graves, and believe me ever yours moft affectionately, W. SHENSTONK. I HAVE received a prefent of the Edinburgh Homer (2 vols. folio) from the Solicitor General, Mr. Pringle ; and many other books from other gentlemen of Scot- land. XCIV. To =86 MR. S H E N S T O N E ' S XCIV. To the fame, in Expectation of a Vifit. Dear Mr. Graves, Chriftmas, 1758. np HERE can be nothing more welcome to me -* than the intelligence which you give of your intended vifit at The Leafowes. God knows how few of thefe interviews may for the future be allot- ted to us ; and I mould be glad at lead to teftify the joy which they afford me, by meeting you at Bir- mingham, or elfewhere within one day's journey for my chaife. Pray be fo good as to give me one more letter before you fet out. Very glad fliould I be to pay my refpefts to your brother at Mickleton, for whoin I have the trueft refpeft ; but dare not give encouragement, for fear that aught ihould inter- fere. I have ten thoufand things to fay to you ; but will defer them, I think, all. I am pofitive your may be made advantageous to you by means of Dodfley ; and even reputable, if you fo pleafe. Will not Mrs. G accompany you ? pray convince her of my fincere regard. I WANT to congratulate you on your efcape from the fmall-pox, in a manner different from your or- dinary acquaintance ; yet am not able to exprefs my fentiments guefs the reft ; knowing, and fufficient- ly knowing, that I am, with conilancy and ardour, your molt aire&ionate friend, W. SHENSTONE. XCV. To LETTERS. 2 g 7 XCV. To Mr. JAGO. The Leafowej, Dear Mr. Jago, Jan. 6, 1759. T F you knew the maxims on which I conduct my- *- felf, you might call me perhaps unpolite ; but, I think, by no means unfriendly ; I mean with refpect to the ordinary congratulations on your marriage. Were you and I lefs intimate, lefs experienced, and lefs afiured friends, it had been no venial omiflion to have negle&ed fuch a ceremony. Perhaps I mould not have neglefted it ; but as I have the fatisfadlioa of believing that you would rejoice in any fuccefs of mine, fo I hope you would not diftruft my fenci- ments upon any change of your condition which you yourfelf efteemed for the better. I do indeed, my worthy friend, wifti you much joy, both noe arrfwered; that is certain. WHITFIELD'S Journal, I fear, is purged of its tnoft ridiculous pallages, Dodfley brought one down hither for Mr. Deane to fhew my Lord D th; but VOL. III. X he 3 o6 MR. SHENSTONE'S he tells me, there remains nothing of that grofs ab- furdity which I faw in your brother's at Mickleton. THE painter whom I juft mentioned to have taken fome portraits through my recommendation, and to have painted a ruin for my green-room, offers to give me my pifture if I chufe to fit. Were you here to lend me your afliftance, I mould certainly comply. Mean while, tell me what you think of fome of the attitudes that I inclofe. What I myfelf prefer at prefent is, to lejfen my dimenfans (which of itfelf gives a kind of beauty), and to appear in a kind of night-gown agreeable to the attitude mark- ed AA. The man evidently hits off likenefles, and is eileemed to Jbine among the painters of Birming- ham. I mail be forced to have your picture copied by him, which, by means of dampnefs, flies off the canvas ; fo that, on the whole, I fhall re-pay his compliment. This laft article puts me in mind that "I owe you my piclure, whenever you demand it j but I would chufe to defer it till the fpring, for fome certain reafons regarding oeconomy. Remember me aliuayi to good Mrs. j and believe me yours, with all poflible affeftion, W. SHKNSTONE. C. To LETTERS. 307 C. To the fame, with an Account of a Defign for his own Picture. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Jan. 8, 1760. ERE [to regulate my compliments by the arrival of times and feafons, I fliould congra- tulate you upon a correfyondence which now enters upon its three and twentieth year. Our // ienajhip ii of fomething older date ; and is not this an atcbievc- ment that deferves the honour of a triumph both for you and me too? More, I am fure, than the regular deilruction of fifteen or twenty thoufand wretches in the field ; confidering how uncommon we find friend- fhips of fo long a duration, and how cheap we find fuch victories, not only on the Pruffian, but on the Auftrian fide. MR. Cambridge (Sciinlerus), who called here this autumn, was confidering this maiTaere rather in a phi- lofophical than political view i and, indeed, it does not appear to me that plague, earthquake, or famine, are more pernicious to the human race, than what the world calls Heroes ; but enough of this. YOUR want of leifure gives me pain ; furely, if I may guefs by one or two of your laft letters, you have enlarged the number of your fcholars, and ex- tended your domeftic cares, beyond what your cir- cumftances require. X 2 You jo8 MR. S HEN STONE'S You mult not judge of my painter's abilities bv the fmall fketch 1 inclofe. I defired him to give me a flight one; and have, perhaps, ruined even that by endeavouring to bring it nearer to what the picture now is, wyfeif. It will give you a tolerable idea in moft points, except the Pan, which has his face turn- ed towards the front ; and is not near fo confidera- ble. I chofe to have this term introduced, not only as he carries my favourite reeds, but as he is the principal Jyl-van deity. The Water-nymph below has the word " Stour" on the mouth of her urn; which, in fome fort, rifes at The Leafowes. On the fcroll is, " Flumina amem fylvafque inglorius," al- luding to them both. The Pan, you will perhaps ob- ferve, hurts the fimflicity of the picture not much, as we have managed him ; and the intention here is, I think, a balance. . THE dog on the other fide is my faithful Lucy, which you perhaps remember ; and who tnuft be nearer the body than fhe perhaps would if we had more room. However, I believe, I ihall caufe her head to cut off that little duller of angles, where the baiuftrade joins the.bafe of the arch. The baluf- trade is an improvement we made the other day; it i?, 1 think, a great one; not only as it gives a fymmetry or balance to the curtain of which you complained, but as it extends the area on which i Hand, LETTERS. 309 Hand, and fliortens the length of this half-arch* The painter objected to a tree; I know not why ; unlefe that we could introduce vojlem without encroaching too much upon the landfcape : but the reafon he gave was, it would be an injury to the face. The con- fole is an Apollo's head. The impoit does not go further than the pilafter, which ends the corner; and here the drawing is erroneous. We are, I think, to have a carpet, though we know not well how to manage it. AND now, I rnuft tell .you, the dimenfrons. The figure itfelf is three feet, three inches and a half; he whole picture four feet, eleven inches, by three feet, two inches and three-quarters. The colour of the gown, a fea-green ; vvaiflcoat and breeches, buff- colour ; {lockings white, or rather pearl-colour ; cur- tain a terra-fienna, or very rich reddilh brown. I think the whole will have a good effeft ; but befeech you to fend me your opinion direQly. There are fonie things we can alter ; but there are others we mult not. You fhall have one of the fize you defire in the fpring ; but will you not calculate for fome one place in your room ? The painter takes very ftrong like- nefles ; is young ; rather daring than delicate in his manner, though he paints well in enamel; good- natured ; flovenly ; would improve much by applica- tion. Adieu ! W. S. X 3 CI. To 3 io M"R. SHENSTON-E'S CI. To the fame, on Fable, and other Articles of Tafte and Literature. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Feb. 9, 1760. T COULD not underftand, by Mr. Dodfley's laft - letter to me, that he had any fort of intention to publilh his Fables this winter. Prefuming upon this delay, and having neither had the leifure nor the jjrame of mind fit to take his preface into confidera- tion, I have hitherto deferred to do Ib ; and can only- fay in general, that I could wifti you had happened to be more copious in your obfervations. La Motte's Difcourfe on Fables is a molt excellent performance ; containing, as appears to me, all that need be faid upon the fubjeft, and this exprefled with all imagina- ble elegance and perfpicuity. I believe I fhall ad- vife our friend D to make more ample ufe of this diifertation. There is a tranilation of La Motte into froft, which is altogether below contempt', and yet, tor aught I know, the only one. The word tutive is very probably that for which he has fubftituted the word lively ; though by no means of fimilar import. Natural approaches nearer it ; but according to La Motte is not precife : and, as the words naif and Hiif-jtie leem cf late to become more in vogue, I will here give you an extract of what he fays upon the fubjtc"! : " Je ne fouhaiterois plus rien a 1'auteur " dc Fable?, f: ce nVft d'etre fidelc au fentiment, & "de L E T T E R S. 3 n " de le peiru're toujours avcc la M*wf*(|ttll ca- ', rafterife ; car j'oie encore diftinguer le nature] i le " nci/'. Le r.aturel renferme une idee plus vague, " & il eft oppofe en general au neclercbe, &uforci; " au lieu, que le naif 1'eft particullerement au refcchi t " & n'appartient qu'au Jentiment. " Ltfublime, felon cette idee, peut etre naif. La " reponfe du vieil Horace a la queftion qu'dn lui "fait fur la conduite de fonfils; que vouiiez-vous * qu'il fit centre trois ? Qu'il mourut. Cettc reponfe " eft naive ; parce que c'elt Pexpreflion toute nu^ du " fintiment de ce Remain j qui prefere la mort de fon ' fils a. fa honte. 11 ne ripor.d pas precifement a ce " qu'on lui demande : il dit feulement ce qu'il^/tf. " Ce n'efl que dans la vers fuivant que la refixion " fuccede a la nai-vete: " Ou qu'un beau defefpoir alors le fecourut. *' II raifonne dans ce vers j il n'a fait quey}//r dans " le premier. " LES occafions du naif font, peut-etre, plus fre- ' quences dans la Fable ; & 1'eloge de La Fountains " eft de n'en avoir gueres manquees ; dans la Fable " du Pot au Lait, le difcours qu'il prete a fa Latiere * eft un chef-d'ceuvre de nan-ete, d'autant plus fm- " gulier, que fous Fapparence du ralfonnemtnt le plus * fuivi, le fentiment fe montre dans toute fa force ; *' ou pour mieux dire, dans unite fon yvrtfl'e." X 4 AKD 311 MR. SHENSTONE'S ' AND now, let me know what Englifh word you would employ to interpret naif. Sentimental has feme pretenfions j but is not wholly to one's mind. I BOUGHT the quarto edition of La Motte's Fables, to which this eflay is prefixed ; though the vaunted cuts which tempted me to this extravagance did not anfwer my expectation. The author, with much addrefs, begs the Duke of Orleans to be at the expence of them ; which, to the beft of my remem- brance, was " deux mille ecus." MR. Hurd, you fee, is one of Dr. Warburton's Chaplains. I bought his '* Dialogues Moral and Po- " litical," almoft as foon they were published. Sir Edward Lyttekon told me, the introductory one would be omitted in the next edition. The three following are very ingenious ; but the two former are a little ambiguous in regard to his intended moral : the two laft are wholly political, and I have not yet perufed them, though elteemed the btft. HAVE you feen Dr. Smith's " Theory of Moral " Sentiments," which is prodigioufly commended, and which I have bought, but not read ? You will fee an account of this in the Monthly Review. I HAVE LETTERS. 3,3 I HAVE lately been reading one or two volumes of " The Rambler ;" who, excepting againft fome few hardnefTes in his manner*, and the want of more ex- amples to enliven, is one of the moft nervous, moft perfpicuous, moft concife, and moft harmonious profe- writers I know. A learned di&ion improves by time. ,'.. I AM forry to find no mention of your in all th,e -letters which I have received of late. Do not think of dropping or even delaying the publication of it; only, if you pleafe, before it goes to the prefs, let me perufe it once deliberately. What think you, if Dodfley approve it, of admitting cuts into your fcheme ? AND now, from cuts I proceed to figures. A!~ cock's portrait of me is in a manner finifhed ; and has been hung up for thefe nine days pad, in its carved frame, oppofite to the fire-place in my library. They fay it is a likenefs, allowing for the diminution of fize. Indeed, if I can conclude any thing from the ftrong refemblance which he has produced of ethers here, I may form fome conjefture that he has not failed in mine. Be this as it will, the picture is, upon the whole, a tolerably pleafmg one ; and this i * HE too often makes ufe cf the abftraft for the concrete. the 514. MR. SHENSTONE'S the mojl I muft dare to fay, confidering my own per- fon makes fo large a part of it. WHAT think you of a tawney or reddifh brown for the robe or night-gown, with black for the waift- coat and breeches, referving green for the curtain ? though green is, with me at lea ft, no very gay colour, nor has it that effecl which you apprehended in the drapery. Terra-fienna is a delightful colour; fo, I think, is Roman ocre burnt. Let me know then, what objections you have to the drapery jufl now propofed. Let me know alfo any defign that you think moft pleafing for a back-ground ; or any itory of two or three figures, that would be fuitable fora relievo. _ FROM piftures I proceed to painters. I believe, Alcock would go and fettle at Bath, if Amos Green could;;- induced to join him. Amos Green is the name of the painter whom I recommended to you befae my fiver* He is efteemed inferior to no one in England for fruit. He alfo paints flowers, in feels, and dead-game, w.ry well. To this he would adjoin the bufinefs of water-painting. Alcock would paint portraits in oil ; and to this he would add enamel- painting : both of them the beft-natured young fel- lows in the world. Now fuppofe them alfo ingenious, and tell me whether they would have a chance to thrive. You LETTERS. 315 You ought to have very confiderable amend-, if you are to be plagued with writing and with mufic- mailers. I believe I rate your time and trouble at a much higher price than you do yourfelf. DR. Blackftone has raifed himfelf to a very eminent figure indeed in the world of letters. I rejoice at it, without one particle of envy, both as he is your friend, and a perfon of merit. I believe no one be- fides yourfelf would have dreamt of your odd ana- logy betwixt him and me. 1 know not how they came to infert that infipid Song of mine in the Chronicle. What fenfation it caufed in me, was that of difapprobation ; as it looked like laying ftrefs on what one knows to be of no importance. THE chief points wherein my pifture varies from your drawing is in the corner below the bafe of the pedeilal ; where an antique vafe is introduced with a flower and two or three leaves of the fcarlet Gera- nium. The gilt vafe agrees well enough with the gold fringe on the edge of the curtain ; but the whole is fo fubdued, as not to catch the eye too ftrorgly. It was chiefly meant to obviate the difagreeablenefs of the parallel lines and angles occafioned by the Hep in that corner ; but it crowds that fide a little, if one lopk from top to bottom ; and, though a pleafing objetf, ji6 MR. S HEN STONE'S objeft, it is hard to fay whether it do more good or harm. IT is time now to take my leave, with my hearty refpefts to Mrs. Graves, and with the ufnal affuranc'e, that I remain your moft affectionate and faithful friend, W. SHENSTONE. Do write foon. CII. To the fame, on his neglecting his Correfpon- dence. The Leafowef, Dar Mr. Graves, July 7 , 1760. T MUST confefs that I do not altogether find * your argument conclulive.- An hurry of bufinefs may be neceflary, and fome\vhat inconfillent withire- quer.t correspondence ; but a ftate of leifnre, which } \vifhcd you, does not imply a courfe of (Hjfiptttion* which makes ycur prefcnt apology for not writirtg to me before. And fo, betwixt bufinefs at one time and diffipation at another, I am to be defrauded of a correfpondencethat is quite efiential to my well-being. Tardon me, if, on fuch occafion, you find me ex- tv:mcly cJear-fighted in the foibks of my friends ; and GO not fay with the man in Horace, " Cur in *' amicorum vitiis, &c." The matter is too important 'for-meto connive at any fort of fophifm. However, to LETTERS. 3,7 to fljake you eafy on this head, I am convinced the letter was owing to you ; for which I will draw my apology neither from bu/inefs nor diffipation : and yet how juftly might I palliate my long filence upon either footing ! Since I wrote to you, J, have been lufeed in bringing about a conclution with D The letters, journics, &c. previous and pojlerior to the exe- cution of articles, would afford me noble matter for excufe. The conftant attendance upon workmen (of which 1 have fourteen or fifteen this very day), mak- ing a piece of water below my Priory, would pro- duce more on the fcore of diffipatienyov remember the place. This, at prefent, is my chief employment, although Alcock is drawing on the fide of my table. I wonder you do not get fome little urns turned, in any fort of wood, about fourteen or fifteen inches high, and painted on the fule with figures, in the manner of fome antique bailo-relievo. He has done fomething of this fort for me. You may, if you fo pleafe, have the ground a dark bronze, and the figure* -a light one. I am of late grown fond of bronze (which you yourfelf may eafily execute), and I think it always was your tafle. Dodfley comes hither in about a fortnight, and prints one edition of his Fables by means of Buikerville's prefs and paper, Mean time, he is to give me his picture done by Rey- nolds ; and to fend me two bronzed plafter urns, of about twelve inches, with baflb-relievo ; and two Agures (ditto) of Homer and Virgil (of about t weary- 3 iS MR. SHENSTONE'S one inches) for two niches in my library. The parcel is to be pieced out with Ogilby's Virgil, which I want for the fake of the landfcapes. And now to the particulars of your letter. I CAN readily conceive how much greater pleafure you mufl receive from the retinue of your journey* than an Archbifhop can from all his equipage ; and I can truly aflure you, I find a pleafure in every plea- fure you enjoy. YOUR room, indeed, will be a noble one; but be fure remember the " Imploravit opes hominis, fraj- " numque recepit," and guard againfl it to fpeak my fcntiments, I think you will. I think with you in regard to Triltram Shandy ; fo does the author of the Monthly Review, you will fee. I bought Webb inftantly ; but have not read it. Lord Lyttehon is allowedly the author of thofe Dialogues ; whofe the very la't, I do not know. There is a noble fpecimen of Scotch poetry tranflated from the Erfe language I have had two copies fent me from Scotland ; and, had I two franks, would fend you one. " Chry- '* fal, or The Adventures of a Guinea" (real charac- ters intended), will amufe you. Something ever oc- curs that obftrudls my travelling at all and though I long ardently to viiit you, the Lord knows when it will be ; yet be it certainly will, when I accompany Mr.Knigfrt to Mr, Bamfylde's : where I am preflinglv invited LETTERS. yi 9 invited by that gentleman and his neighbours, Lady Egraont, Sir Charles Tynte, &c. I have about an hundred things more to fay ; which I muft defer till I have heard from you. God blefs you and yours. W. SHENSTONE. CHI. To the fame, on DODS LEY'S Fables, and other Literary Articles. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, Mar. i, 1761. A LTHOUGH this interval in our correfpon- *" dence mull be placed, I fear, to my account, you will hardly think it mends the matter to/// my pre- fent letter even with the beft-grounded apologies- I will only mention a bad ftate of health, which has been my lot this winter, as a general excufe for two or three months filence ; and then declare, as with, truth I may, that the efteem and afleclion which you have fo well deferred of me have never undergone the leaft diminution or abatement. It is with me a melancholy taflc, to write letters when I am not well; although it be the time, of all others, when it is moft neceffary for me to receive them. Our friend Dod- fley, I prefume, has fent you a book of his Fables before this time. What merit I have there, is in the SJ/ay ; in the original Fables, although I can hard- ly claim a fingle Fable as my own; and in the Index* which I caufed to be thrown into the form of Mora/f, aad j2o MR. SHENSTONE'S and which are almoft wholly mine. I wifh to God it may fell ; for he has been at great expence about it. The two rivals which he has to dread are, the editions of Richardfon and of Croxall. The Fables in Lroxall are tolerably written : his refietion< t little to the purpofe, either for boys or grown people. Richardfon's Improvement cfUEftrangi would be a bet- ter collection, both for the Tablet and the moral Re- Jltflions, had he not admitted, through an extravagant and miftaken love of drollery, that vulgarity of phrafe which in many places is not common Englijb. This I think a true ftate of the cafe : fay the belt you can in behalf of Dodfley. As to his cuts, though to kirn xpenfive, they will hardly, 1 fear, meet with much of your approbation the fcale is much too (mail and the emblematic prints which are larger will fcarce, I fear, be underftood. I procured a copy from .Baflc.erville before the plates were injertcd, and have caufed my painter (Alcock) to fupply the va- cancies with fome devices of my own fome account of which I fend you, as it may amufe you for a minute. I want one or two to compleat my fcheme, and Ihould be glad if you would propofe fome in your next letter. I return you my hearty thanks for the hints you gave for the Cambridge verfes; but when I received them it was too late, and I myfelf too much indif- pofed, either to throw them into proper form, or even to anfwtr that gentleman's letter, which I thought a very genteel one. 1 know not what he did LETTERS. 3 zi en that cccafion, having feen neither Cambridge nor Oxford verfes Mr. Dcdfley gave me " The En- " v irons of London." Between friends, I with he may find five thoufand readers, whom the manage- ment of that work pleafes more than me . I will try to get you fome of the cuts, if you deiire me to do fo, though it will refleft a kind of tacit diilike of the iubde performance. His brother publifties this winter " The Works of Soame Jenyns," in three pocket-volumes; and a Chinefe novel from a Mf. tranfiation, revifed, &c. by a friend of mine. You have perhaps heard me fpeak. of Mr. Percy he was In treaty with Mr. James Dodfley, for the publica- tion of our beft old ballads in three volumes. He lias a large folio Mf. of ballads, which he fhewed me, and which, with his own natural and acquired ta- lents, would qualify him for the purpofe as well as any man in England. I propofed the fcheme for him nyfelft wifliing to fee an elegant edition and good CollecYiori of this kind. I was alfo to have affifted him in fele&ing and rejecting ; and in fixing upon the beft readings: but my illr.efs broke ofFourcor- refponder.ee, the beginning of winter ; and I know- not what he has done fince. There is a New Peer- age going to be publifhed ; with, I believe, the draughts of the peers houfes Lightholer called here, and faid he had taken Lord Lyttekon's, and Lord Stamford's, for that purpofe; the latter of which he (hewed me. Thils I have told you what I hear of new VOL. III. Y fubiicationt. 3*2 MR. SHENSTONES publication^* As to what pafies in the bufy world, I know no more than the Chronicle informs me un> lefs when_ysar letters happen to be rounded * with lit- tle anecdotes from Bath. Have you feenBafkerville's new Prayer-books ? My Lord Dartmouth has under- taken to prefent two to the King and Princefs. Do, for charity's fake, make me fome amends for this long chafm in our correfpondence, by a very early and long letter. I am fick to hear from you ; being, with ardent and ilncere affeftion, your ever faithful friend and fervant, W. SHENSTONE. CiV. To the fame, with fome Political Anecdotes. The Leafowes, Dear Mr. Graves, May 2, 1761. I WILL, upon your lafl: ailurance, take it ever for granted, that you do not omit writing upon any fcore of ceremony. This will render your filence, at leaft in fome degree, lefs irkfome to me ; when I do not think it the effect of my own procraftination. Mr. Dodfley had fold two thoufand of his Fable* long ago ; but complained that he mould lofe thirty pounds by my neighbour Balkerville's impreffion; and that he fhculd not be more than ten pounds gainer * " Oi:r little life is rounded with a fleep." SHAKESPEARE.. upon .LETTERS. 323 upon the whole. I told him it was enough, in books of this furl, if the firil edition paved the way for their future eftablifhment in fchools. And furely fo it is : for a book of this kind, once eftablifhed, becomes an abfolute eftate for many years ; and brings in at leaft as certain and as regular returns. I would wijh him to give the polite world one more edition from Bafkerville's prefs ; admitting only a new fett of em- blematical top and tail-pieces ; and confining thofe empty cuts relating to each Fable to the cheap edition which he prints at London. A fecond edition of this latter fort will appear in a little time ; and if you have any improvements to propofe, he will very thankfully receive them. Mr. Spence offers him to write the life afrefh ; and Spence, Burke, Lowth, and Melmoth, advife him to difcard Italicks. I confefs he has ufed them to a very great excefs, but yet I do not think they fhould be utterly difcarded. I DID not intend that Mr. Davenport fhould ever hear of thofe verfes ; and how he came to do fo, is paft my comprehenfion. He feemed to me to have deferted Worfield, without any intention to return again. I therefore meant to infcribe them under my own Venus, in order to afford fome novelty, at an eafy rate, to thofe who are curious enough to repeat their vifits here. Pray, if you fee Mr. and Mrs. Davenport, prefent my bell refpe&s to them ; and as to the verfes, I will fend you a copy for them, if V 2 you 1 324 MR. S HEN STONE'S you defers or ad Mr. P continues in the mini dry. My Lord B 's pro- motion was, it feems, demanded by the D. of N and Mr. P , as they would not be expofed to bear the blame, while he was the chief mover behind the curtain. Thefe little particles of intelligence have, I believe, Sir for their author. I was told by another politician, the fame day, that we were not to expect a peace ; that the French, who might give up the Colonies, would not refign the Fifhery. MR. Knight, his mother and fitter, go through Bath to Mr. Bamfylde's in about three weeks, if no- thing intervene. I am teazed greatly to accompany them by my own inclination, I can affure you, as well as their importunity. I do not fay I will not, nor muft I ever promife you beforehand that I efall me. Pray write, be it ever fo carelefsly ; and believe me ever yours and Mrs. Jago's molt affectionate and faithful W. S. " The writer furvived the date of this letter but a fliort < time, his death happening on the t-leventh of the follow- VOL. III. A a " injj C 3*4 I ing month, to the inexpreilible- grief of his more inti- mate friends, and the generous concern of thofe, who, too late acquainted with his merit, were indulging them - felves in the pleafing thought of having provided for his future eafe, and tranquil enjoyment of life.'* CON- t 355 ] CONTENTS. Letter . I. J. O Mr. Jago, with a Song, and the Author's Sentiment! on Muftcal Compaction. 1739. p. I II, To the fame, in the Manner of Pamela. 1739. 4 III. To a Friend, too ceremonioujly declining to pur chafe a Horfe for him. 1739. 6 iv. To the fame, from Toivii. Tc the fame, from Tnvti) *with a Specimen of Plays and Politics. 1743. 64 xx VII I. To tht fame, with various Schemes of Compofi" lion. 1743. 67 x.y.\X.Tothefame. 1745. 70 xxx. To Mr. Jags, from London. 1743. 725 ^o the fame. 1743. 75 t, To Mr. Graves, defcrilir.g his Situation and State of Health, 13:. 7$ XXX 1 14. To CONTENTS. 357- To Mr. Jago, on the fame. 1743. 83 XXX iv. To Mr. Graves, written in Hay Harveft. 1743. 86 xxxv. To the fame, after the D'fappoixtment of a Vifit. 1743. 88 xxx vi. To the fame, on the Receipt of a Prefent of Prints. 1743. 91 XXXVII. To the fame, ivith ObfervatioKS en Hypocrify* &V. 1743. 94. xxxvui. 'To a Friend, with a Parody. 1744* 97 xxxix. To Mr. Graves, on 'Social Happinefs .1745. I oo XL. To the fame, ivith Ot>fer XL via. To the fame, ivith a Song. 1747- 128 Xlix. To the fame, afleraViJit. 1747. 133 I.. Te Mr. Jego, frem Tht Lra/wf;. 174;. 157 3 5 3 CONTENTS. LI. To Mr. , on his Marriage. 1748. 140 ill. To Mr. Jago, 'with an Invitation to 'The Lea- foiues. 1748. 144 tin. To thefame. 1748. 147 j. i v. To the fame, . 1755. 255 LXXXV. To the fame. 1756. 257 t xxxv i. To Mr. Graves, nuithfome Account of Politicks andPoetry. 1755. 260 LXXXV n. To the fame, with a Recommendation of Mr. Dodfiey to his Acquaintance. 1756. 264 LXXXV n i. 7*0 the fame, on Mr. Dodjley and his Works. 1757. 265 LXXXIX. To the fame. 1757. 269 xc. To the fame. 1757. 271 xci. To the fame. 1758. 274 xcn. To the fame. 1758. 278 xci n. To the fame, containing an Account of his Ex- tttrfions and Amufements. 1758. 280 cxiv. To 360 CONTENTS,. XCiv. To the fame, in Expectation of a Pi/it. 175.8. 286. xcv. To Mr. Jago. 1759. 287 xcvi. To Mr. Craw, on their federal Situations 'and Compojitions. 1759. 290 xcvn. To the fame, on Fabies, Mottoes* Urns, In- fcriptiens> &c. 1759. 295 xcviir. To the faflie. 1759. 29$ XCI'JC. 3"e tbfjame, on his Want ofLeifure. '759 303 C. Tc tie fame, luitb an Account of a Dfjignfor bis o 'tides. 1761. 319 civ. To the fame, with fame political Anecdotes. 1761. 322 cv. To the fame, on the intended Publication of bis Works. 1761. 326 cvi. To the fame, fuggffting to him a Subjeft for Poetry. 1-762. 332 evil. To the fame. 1763. 337 cvni. To Mr. Jago. 1762. 344 cix. To Sherrington Davenport, Efq. 1/63. 345 ex. To Mr. Jago. 1763. pxi. To the fame. 1763. THE END, University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY PR 3677 Al 1768 v.3 A 000017860 8