fhall here worship the echo at your eafe; indeed we are forced to do fo, because we cannot hear the first report, and therefore are obliged to listen to the fecond; which, for fecurity fake, I do not always believe neither. It is a great many years fince I fell in love with the character of Pomponius Atticus: I longed to imitate him a little, and have contrived hitherto to be, like him, engaged in no party, but to be a faithful friend to fome in both: I find myfelf very well in this way hitherto, and live in a certain peace of mind by it, which, I am perfuaded, brings a man more content than all the perquifites of wild ambition. I with pleafure join with you in wishing, nay I am not afhamed to fay, in praying for the welfare, temporal and eternal, of all mankind. How much more affectionately then fhall I do fo for you, fince I am in a moft particular manner, and with all fincerity, your, &c, LETTER XCVII. Mr. Pope to Edw. Blount, Efq. Jan. 21, 1715-16. KNOW of nothing that will be fo interefting to you at prefent, as fome cir. cumftances of the last act of that eminent comic poet, and our friend, Wycherley. He had often told me, as I doubt not he did all his acquaintance, that he would marry as foon as his life was defpaired of: accordingly, a few days before his death, he underwent the ceremony; and joined together thofe two facraments which, wife men fay, fhould be the last we receive; for if you obferve, matrimony is placed after extreme unction in our catechism, as a kind of hint of the order of time in which they are to be taken. The old man then lay down, fatiffied in the confcience of having by this one act paid his juft debts, obliged a woman who (he was told) had merit, and thewn an heroic refentment of the ill ufage of his next heir. Some hundred pounds which he had with the lady difcharged thofe debts; a jointure of four hundred a year made her a recompence; and the nephew he left to comfort himself as well as he could, with the miferable remains of a mortgaged eftate. I faw our friend twice after this was done, lefs peevith in his fickness than he used to be in his health; neither much afraid of dying, nor (which in him had been more likely) much afhamed of marrying. The evening before he expired, he called his young wife to the bedfide, and earnestly entreated her not to deny him one request, the laft he fhould make. Upon her affurances of confenting to it, he told her, " My dear, it is only this, that you will ne"ver marry an old man again." I cannot help remarking that ficknefs, which often destroys both wit and wisdom, yet feldom has power to remove that talent which we call humour; Mr. Wycherley fhewed his, even in this laft compliment; though I think his request a little hard, for why fhould he bar her from doubling her jointure on the fame easy terms? So trivial as thefe circumstances are, I I fhould not be displeased myself to know fuch trifles, when they concern or characterise any eminent perfon. The wifeft and wittieft of men are feldom wiser or wittier than others in these fober moments; at leaft, our friend ended much in the character he had lived in and Horace's rule for a play, may as well be applied to him as a play-wright, I whither Mr. Rowe accompanied me, AM just returned from the country, and paffed a week in the Forest. I need not tell you how much a man of his turn entertained me; but I must acquaint you there is a vivacity and gaiety of difpofition almoft peculiar to him, which make it impoffible to part from him without that uneafinefs which generally fucceeds all our pleafures. I have been just taking a folitary walk by moon-fline, full of reflections on the tranfitory nature of all human delights; and giving my thoughts a loofe in the contemplation of those fatiffactions which probably we may hereafter taite in the company of feparate fpirits, when we fhall range the walks above, and perhaps gaze on this world at as vaft a diftance as we now do on thofe worlds. The pleasures we are to enjoy in that con verfation verfation must undoubtedly be of a nobler kind, and (not unlikely) may proceed from the discoveries each fhall communicate to another, of God and of nature; for the happiness of minds can furely be nothing but knowledge. The higheft gratification we receive here from company is mirth, which at the best is but a fluttering unquiet motion, that beats about the breaft for a few moments, and after leaves it void and empty. Keeping good company, even the beft, is but a leis fhameful art of lofing time. What we here call fcience and ftudy, are little better: the greater number of arts to which we apply ourfelves are mere groping in the dark, and even the fearch of our molt important concerns in a future being, is but a needlefs, anxious, and uncertain hafte to be knowing, fooner than we can, what without all this folicitude we shall know a little later. We are but curious impertinents in the cafe of futurity. It is not our bufinefs to be guefling what the ftate of fouls fhall be, but to be doing what may make our own ftate happy; we cannot be knowing, but we can be virtuous. of If this be my notion of a great part that high fcience, divinity, you will be fo civil as to imagine I lay no mighty ftrefs upon the reit. Even of my darling poetry I really make no other ufe, than horfes of the bells that gingle about their ears (though now and then they tofs their heads as if they were proud of them), only to jog on a little more merrily. Your obfervations on the narrow conceptions of mankind in the point of friendfhip, confirm me in what I was fo fortunate as at my first knowledge of you to hope, and fince fo amply to experience. Let me take fo much decent pride and dignity upon me as to tell you, that but for opinions like thefe which I difcovered in your mind, I had never made the trial I have done; which has fucceeded fo much to mine, and, I believe, not lefs to your fatisfaction: for, if I know you right, your pleafure is greater in obliging me, than I can feel on my part, till it falls in my power to oblige you. Your remark, that the variety of opinions in politics or religion is often rather a gratification, than an objection, to people who have fenfe enough to confider the beautiful order of nature in her variations; makes me think you have not con ftrued Joannes Secundus wrong, in the verfe which precedes that which you quote: bene nota fides, as I take it, does no way fignify the Roman Catholic religion, though Secundus was of it. I think it was a generous thought, and one that flowed from an exalted mind, that it was not improbable but God might be delighted with the various methods of worthipping him, which divided the whole world. I am pretty fure you and I fhould no more make good inquifitors to the modern tyrants in faith, than we could have been qualified for Lictors to Procruftes, when he converted refractory members with the rack. In a word, I can only repeat to you what, I think, I have formerly faid; that I as little fear God will damn a man who has charity, as I hope that any prieft can fave him with out it. I am, &c. I Mr. Pope to Edw. Blount, Efq. March 20, 1715-15. FIND that a real concern is not only a hindrance to fpeaking, but to writing too: the more time we give ourselves to think over one's own or a friend's unhap pinefs, the more unable we grow to ex prefs the grief that proceeds from it. It is as natural to delay a letter at fuch a feafon as this, as to retard a melancholy vifit to a perfon one cannot relieve. One is afhamed in that circumftance to pre tend to entertain people with trifling, infignificant affectations of forrow on the one hand, or unfcafonable and forced gaieties on the other. It is a kind of profanation of things facred, to treat o folemn a matter as a generous voluntary fuffering with compliments, or heroic gallantries. Such a mind as your's has no need of being fpirited up into honour, or, like a weak woman, praifed into an opinion of its own virtue. It is enough to do and fuffer what we ought; and men fhould know, that the noble power of futfering bravely is as far above that of enterprising greatly, as an unbicmifhed confcience and inflexible refolution are above an accidental flow of fpirits, or a fudden tide of blood. If the whole re gious bufinefs of mankind be included in refignation to our Maker, and charity to our fellow-creatures, there are now fome people Sect. I. MODERN. people who give us as good an opportunity of practifing the one, as themfelves have given an inftance of the violation of the other. Whoever is really brave, has always this comfort when he is oppreffed, that he knows himself to be fuperior to thofe who injure him: for the greateft power on earth can no fooner do him that injury, but the brave man can make himself greater by forgiving it. If it were generous to feek for alleviating confolations in a calamity of fo much glory, one might fay, that to be ruined thus in the grofs, with the whole people, is but like perishing in the general conflagration, where nothing we can value is left behind us. Methinks, the most heroic thing we are left capable of doing, is to endeavour to lighten each other's load, and (oppreffed as we are) to fuccour fuch as are yet more oppreffed. If there are too many who cannot be affifted but by what we cannot give, our money; there are yet others who may be relieved by our counfel, by our countenance, and even by our cheerfulness. The misfortunes of private families, the misunderstandings of people whom distresses make fufpicious, the coldnefs of relations whom change of religion may difanite, or the neceflities of halfruined eftates render unkind to each other; thefe at least may be foftened, in fome degree, by a general well-managed humanity among ourfelves; if all thofe who have your principles of belief, had alfo your fenfe and conduct. But indeed most of them have given lamentable proofs of the contrary; and it is to be apprehended that they who want fenfe, are only religious through weakness, and good-natured through fhame. These are narrow-minded creatures that never deal in effentials, their faith never looks beyond ceremonials, nor their charity beyond relations. As poor as I am, I would gladly relieve any diftrefed, confcientious French refugee at this inftant: what must my concern then be, when I perceive fo many anxieties now tearing thofe hearts which I have defired a place in, and clouds of melancholy rifing .thofe faces which I have long looked upon with affection? I begin already to feel both what fome apprehend, and what others are yet too stupid to apprehend. I grieve with the old, for fo many additional inconveniences and chagrins, on 509 more than their fmall remain of life feem- you. I write this from Windfor-forest, of Perhaps, now I have learnt fo far as Nos dulcia linquimus arva, my next leffon may be Nos patriam fugimus. Let that, and all elfe, be as Heaven pleafes! I have provided just enough to keep me a man of honour. I believe other. I know I wish my country well, you and I fhall never be ashamed of each and, if it undoes me, it fhall not make me with it otherwife. faction, in the midt of a very der's your letters give me a gleam of fail and cloudy fituation of thoughts, willa This it would be more than human to be exempt from at this time, when our homes muft either be left, or be made too narrow for us to turn in. Poetically fpeaking, I fhould lament the lofs Windforforest and you fuftain of each other, but that, methinks, one cannot fay you are parted, because you will live by and in one another, while verfe is verfe. confideration hardens me in my opinion rather to congratulate you, fince you have the pleasure of the profpect whenever you take it from your shelf, and at the fame time the folid cafh you fold it for, of which Virgil in his exile knew nothing in thofe days, and which will make every place eafy to you. I, for my part, am not fo happy; my parva rura are faftened to me, fo that I cannot exchange them, as you have, for more portable means of fubfiftence; and yet I hope to gather enough to make the patriam fugimus fupportable to me it is what I am refolved on, with my penate. If therefore you ask me, to whom you fhall complain? I will exhort you to leave laziness and the elms of St. James's Park, and choose to join the other two proposals in one, fafety and friendship (the leaft of which is a good motive for most things, as the other is for almoft every thing), and go with me where war will not reach us, nor paultry conftables fummon us to veftries. The future epiftle you flatter me with, will find me ftill here, and I think I may be here a month longer. Whenever I go from hence, one of the few reafons to make me regret my home will be, that I fhall not have the pleafure of faying to you, Hic tamen lan. mecum poteris requif eve no&tem; which would have rendered this place more agreeable, than ever it elfe could be to me: for I proteft, it is with the utmoft fincerity that I affure you I am entirely, dear Sir, your, &c. happinefs, that I am obliged at this time to give my whole application to Homer when, without that employment, my thoughts must turn upon what is les agreeable, the violence, madness, and refentment of modern war-makers*. which are likely to prove (to fome people at least) more fatal, than the fame qualities in Achilles did to his unfortunate countrymen. Though the change of my fcene of life, from Windfor-foreft to the fide of the Thames, be one of the grand æras of my days, and may be called a notable period in fo inconfiderable a hiftory; yet you can fcarce imagine any hero pating from one ftage of life to another, with fo much tranquillity, fo eafy a tranfitior, and fo laudable a behaviour. I am become fo truly a citizen of the world (according to Plato's expreflion), that I look with equal indifference on what I have left, and on what I have gained. The times and amusements paft are not more like a dream to me, than thofe which are prefent: I lie in a refreshing kind of inaction, and have one comfort at least from obfcurity, that the darknes helps me to fleep the better. I now and then reflect upon the enjoyment of my friends, whom, I fancy, I remember much as feparate fpirits do us, at tender intervals, neither interrupting their own employments, nor altogether careless of ours, but in general constantly wishing w well, and hoping to have us one day in their company. To grow indifferent to the world, is to grow philofophical, or religious (which foever of thofe turns we chance to take), and indeed the world is fuch a thing, as one that thinks pretty much muft either laugh at or be angry with: but if we laugh at it, they fay we are proud; and if we are angry with it, they fay we are ill-natured. So the most politic way is to feem always better pleafed than one can be, greater admirers, greater lovers, and in fhort greater fools than we really are: fo fhall we live comfortably with our families, quietly with our neighbours, favoured by our mafters, and happy with our mistreffes. I have filled my paper, and fo adieu. This was written in the year of the affair at affairs may plead a lawful excufe in behalf of a negligent correfpondent, I have really a very good title to it. I Preston. cannot fay whether it is a felicity or un I From the fame to the fame. Sept. 8, 1717. THINK your leaving England was like a good man's leaving the world, with the bleffed confcience of having acted well in it; and I hope you have received your reward, in being happy where you are. I believe, in the religious country you inhabit, you will be better pleafed to find I confider you in this light, than if I compared you to thofe Greeks and Romans, whofe conftancy in fuffering pain, and whofe refolution in pursuit of a generous end, you would rather imitate than boast of. But I had a melancholy hint the other day, as if you were yet a martyr to the fatigue your virtue made you undergo on this fide the water. I beg, if your health be restored to you, not to deny me the joy of knowing it. Your endeavours of fervice and good advice to the poor papists, put me in mind of Noah's preaching forty years to thofe folks that were to be drowned at lait. At the worst I heartily with your ark may find an Arrarat, and the wife and family (the hopes of the good patriarch) land fafely after the deluge, upca the fhore of Totnefs. If I durft mix profane with facred hiftory, I would cheer you with the old tale of Brutus the wandering Trojan, who found on that very coat the happy end of his peregrinations and adventures. the Guelphs and Ghibellines are to the You will excufe all this trifling, or any thing else which prevents a fheet full of compliment: and believe there is nothing more true (even more true than any thing in Jeffery is falfe) than that I have a conftant affection for you, and am, &c. P. S. I know you will take part in rejoicing for the victory of Prince Eugene over the Turks, in the zeal you bear to the Chriftian intereft, though your coufin of Oxford (with whom I dined yesterday) fays, there is no other difference in the Chriftians beating the Turks, or the Turks beating the Chriftians, than whether the Emperor fhall firft declare war against Spain, or Spain declare it against the Emperor. That at prefent I am the most unfit HE question you propofed to me is man in the world to answer, by my lofs of one of the best of fathers. He had lived in fuch a courfe of temperance as was enough to make the longeft life agreeable to him, and in fuch a courfe of picty as fufficed to make the mot fullen death fo alfo. Sudden indeed it was: however, I heartily beg of God to give me fuch a one, provided I can lead fuch a life. I leave him to mercy of God, and to the piers of a the Egion that extends beyond the grates guast ca cara, kc. Thave very lately read Jeffery of Monmouth (to whom your Cornwall is not a little beholden) in the tranilation of a clergyman in my neighbourhood. The poor man is highly concerned to vindicate Jeffery's veracity as an hitorian; and told me, he was perfectly attended we of the Roman communion could doubt of the legends of his giants, wide we believe thofe of our faints. I am forced to make a fair compofition with him; and, by crediting fome of the wonders of Corinaus and Gogmagog, have brought him fo far already, that he speaks refpectfully of St. Chriftopher's carrying Christ, and the refufcitation of St. NE cholas Tolentine's chicken. Thus we almo ay thz 2 proceed apace in converting each other your abfence from all manner of infidelity. Ajax and Hector are no more to be compared to Corineus and Arther, than He has left me to the ment of fo r2row a cre falle Bep world ther is in that dispirited tion, which is the effect the lot of what is d really each of it fact an uncert time I can leer thas evers and is the mot face |