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LETTER CXVIII.

Mr. Pope to Mr. Digby.

Sept. 1, 1722.

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DOCTOR Arbuthnot is going to Bath, and will ftay there a fortnight or more: perhaps you would be comforted to have a fight of him, whether you him or not. I think him as good a doctor as any man for one that is ill, and a better doctor for one that is well, He would do admirably for Mrs. Mary Digby: fhe needed only to follow his hints, to be in eternal bufinefs and amufement of mind, and even as active as she could defire. But indeed I fear fhe would outwalk him; for (as Dean Swift obferved to me the very first time I faw the docto "He is a man that can do every thi "but walk." His brother, who is ! ly come into England, goes alfo to Bath; and is a more extraordinar than he, worth your going thi purpose to know him. The philanthropy, fo long dead to o is revived in him: he is a phil of fire; fo warmly, nay fo w

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Pepeal diforder and ill health have

e years fo difguifed me, that I tes fear I do not to my best friends isappear what I really am. Sickis a great oppreffor; it does great

2257 to a zealous heart, ftifling its

322 2009. But, I hope, I fhall not me this complaint much longer., I

right, that he forces all rates are other hopes that please me too,

him to be fo too, and dra
his own vortex. He is a
as if it were all fire, but i
all gentle and beneficial
there be other men in
would ferve a friend,
one, I believe, that c
enemy ferve a friend.

As all human lif
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acquaintance of
loft another, a
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is certain, the
puts us natur
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the degree o ent. Nothi

lancholy a c fo foon rece our own de fpect of one round us! fole remair lumn of al

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ough not fo well grounded; thefe are. that you may yet make a journey weftward with Lord Bathurft; but of the probety of this I do not venture to reafon, ece I would not part with the pleaire of that belief. It grieves me to

ins how far I am removed from you, men that excellent Lord, whom I jove indeed I remember him, as one

has made fickness eafy to me, by of being with my infirmities in the fame manner that you have always done. I too conider him in other lights make him valuable to me.

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With

Ah, I know not by what connection,

we never fail to come into my mind, as you were infeparable. I have, as you mary philofophical reveries in the

of all the haces of Sir Walter Raleigh, of which

you are a great part. You generally enthere with me, and like a good gemang bendly mas, applaud and ftrengthen all my fenheriments that have honour in them. This all her good ofice, which you have often done rial care me unknowingly, I must acknowledge arvinding nos, that my own breaft may not reproach me with ingratitude, and dif qet me when I would mufe again in that folema fcene. I have not room now Rare in left to as you many questions I intended

about

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then you may reign for ever at Homlacy in fenfe and reafon triumphant? I appeal to a third lady in your family, whom I take to be the most innocent, and the least warped by idle fashion and to cuftom of you all; I appeal to her, if you are not every foul of you better peonow ple, better companions, and happier, ccoli where you are? I defire her opinion under her hand in your next letter, I mean Mifs Scudamore's *. I am confident, if the would or durft fpeak her fenfe, and employ that reafoning which God has given her, to infufe more thoughtfulness into you all; thofe arguments could not fail to put you to the blufh, and keep you out of town, like people fenfible of your own felicities. I am not without hopes. if the can detain a parliament-man and a lady of quality from the world one winter, that I may come upon you with fuch irrefiftible arguments another year, as may carry you all with me to Bermudast, the feat of all earthly happiness, and the new Jerufalem of the righteous.

ipell! how is parties t in the ames? I rs pafs, all of which I ther, but my My brother i fo my father oul here whofe iter will be yours an I add more ?

R CXXIII. to Mr. Digby.

October 10.

e point of taking a much. urney than to Bermudas, undiscovered country, from

Do not talk of the decay of the year, the feafon is good where the people are fo: it is the best time of the year for a painter; there is more variety of colours in the leaves, the profpects begin to open, through the thinner woods, over the vallies; and through the high canopies of trees to the higher arch of heaven: the dews of the morning impearl every thorn, and fcatter diamonds on the verdant mantle of the earth; the frofts are fresh and wholefome: what would you have? the moon fhines too, though not for lovers thefe cold nights, but for aftronomers.

Have ye not reflecting telescopes I, whereby ye may innocently magnify her fpots and blemishes? Content yourselves with them, and do not come to a place where your own eyes become reflecting telescopes, and where thofe of all others are equally fuch upon their neighbours. Stay you at leaft (for what I have faid before relates only to the ladies: do not imagine I will write about any eyes

to traveller returns! carried me on the high gallop for fix or seven days-but here me now, and that is all I fhall : fince which time an impertineness kept me at home twice as as if fate should fay (after the dangerous illness), "You fhall either go into the other world, nor any where you like in this." Elfe ao knows but I had been at Hom-lacy? I confpire in your fentiments, emulate your pleasures, with for your company. Your are all of one heart and one foul, as was faid of the primitive Chriftians: it is like the kingdom of the just upon earth; not a wicked wretch to interrupt you, but a fet of tried experienced friends and fellow-comforters, who have seen evil men and evil days; and have by a fuperior rectitude of heart fet yourselves above them, and reap your reward. Why About this time the Rev. Dean Berkley conwill you ever, of your own accord, end ceived his project of erecting a fettlement in Berfuch a millennary year in London ? tranf-mudas for the propagation of the Chriftian faith, and introduction of fciences into America. migrate (if I may fo call it) into other These in struments were just then brought to creatures, in that fcene of folly militant,

Afterwards Duchefs of Beaufort, at this time very young.

perfection,

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Aug. 12.

HAVE been above a month ftrolling about in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from garden to garden, but fill returning to Lord Cobham's with fresh fatisfaction. I fhould be forry to fee my Lady Scudamore's till it has had the full advantage of Lord B-'s improvements; and then I will expect fomething like the waters of Rifkins, and the woods of Oakley together, which (without flattery) would be at least as good as any thing in our world for as to the hanging gardens of Babylon, the paradife of Cyrus, and the Sharawaggi's of China, I have little or no ideas of them; but, I dare fay, Lord B- has, because they were certainly both very great and very wild. I hop Mrs. Mary Digby is quite tired of his Lordship's extravagante bergerie and that he is jult now fitting, or rather inclining on a bank, fatigued with over-much dancing and finging at his unwearied request and inftigation. I know your love of eafe fo well, that you might be in danger of being too quiet to enjoy quiet, and too philofophical to be a philofopher, were it not for the ferment Lord B-will put you into. One of his Lordship's maxims is, that a total abitinence from intemperance or bufinefs, is no more philofophy, than a total confopiation of the fenfes is repofe: one must feel enough of its contrary to have a relith of either. But, after all, let your temper work, and be as fedate and contemplative as you will, I will engage you fhall be fit for any of us, when you come to town in the winte:. Folly will laugh

you into all the cuftoms of the company here; nothing will be able to prevent your converfion to her, but indifpofition, which I hope will be far from you. I am telling the wort that can come of you; for as to vice, you are fafe; but folly is many an honeft man's, nay every good-humoured man's lot: nay, it is the feafoning of life; and fools (in one fenfe) are the falt of the earth: a little is excellent, though indeed a whole mouthful is justly called the devil.

So much for your diverfions next winter, and for mine. I envy you much more at prefent, than I fhall then: for if there be on earth an image of Paradite, it is in fuch perfect union and fociety as you all poffefs. I would have my intocent envies and wifhes of your state known to you all; which is far better than making you compliments, for it is inward approbation and esteem. My Lord Digby has in me a fincere fervant, or would have, were there any occafion for me to manifeft it.

LETTER CXXV. From the fame to the fam.

Dec. 28, 1724.

IT is now the feafon to wifh you a good

end of one year, and a happy beginning of another: but both thefe you know how to make yourself, by only continu ing fuch a life as you have been long ac cuftomed to lead. As for good works, they are things I dare not name, either to thofe that do them, or to those that do them not: the firit are too modeft, and the latter too felfish, to bear the mention of what are become either too old fashioned, or too private, to confitute any part of the vanity or reputa However, it tion of the prefent age. were to be wifhed people would now and then look upon good works as they do upon old wardrobes, merely in cafe ary of them fhould by chance come into fafhion again; as ancient fardingales revive in modern hooped petticoats (which may be properly compared to charities, as they cover a multitude of fins).

They tell me, that at Coleshill certain antiquated charities, and obfolete devotions, are yet fubfifting: that a thing called chriftian cheerfulness (not incompatible with chritmas pyes and plum

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broth), whereof frequent is the mention in old fermons and almanacks, is really kept alive and in practice: that feeding the hungry, and giving alms to the poor, do yet make a part of good houfe-keeping, in a latitude not more remote from London than four core miles and laftly, that prayers and roait-beef actuaily make fome people as happy as a whore and a bottle. But here in town, I affure you, men, women, and children have done with thefe things. Charity not only begins, but ends, at home. Inflead of the four cardinal virtues, now reign four courtly ones we have cunning for prudence, rapine for juftice, time-ferving for fortitude, and luxury for temperance. Whatever you may fancy where you live in a flate of ignorance, and fee nothing but quiet, religion, and good-humour, the cafe is juft as I tell you where people understand the world, and know how to live with credit and glory.

I with that Heaven would open the eyes of men, and make them fenfible which of thefe is right; whether, upon a due conviction, we are to quit faction, and gaming, and high feeding, and all manner of luxury, and to take to your country way? or you to leave prayers, and almígiving, and reading, and exercife, and come into our meafures? I wish (Ifay) that this matter were as clear to all men, as it is to your affectionate, &c.

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From the fame to the fame.

Dear Sir, April 21, 1726. HAVE a great inclination to write to you, though I cannot by writing, any more than I could by words, express what part I bear in your fufferings. Nature and esteem in you are joined to aggravate your affliction: the latter I have in a degree equal even to yours, and a tie of friendhip approaches near to the tenderness of nature: yet, God knows, no man living is lefs fit to comfort you, as no man is more deeply fenfible than myfelf of the greatnefs of the lofs. That very virtue which fecures his prefent ftate from all the forrows incident to curs, does but aggrandife our fenfation of its being removed from our fight, from our affection, and from our imitation; for the friendship and fociety of good men does not only make us happier, but it

makes us better. Their death does but complete their felicity before our own, who probably are not yet arrived to that degree of perfection which merits an im mediate reward. That your dear bro ther and my dear friend was fo, I take his very removal to be a proof; Providence would certainly lend virtuous men to a world that fo much wants them, as long as in its juftice to them it could spare them to us. May my foul be with thofe who have meant well, and have acted well to that meaning! and, I doubt not, if this prayer be granted, I shall be with him. Let us preferve his memory in the way he would beft like, by recollecting what his behaviour would have been, in every incident of our lives to come, and do. ing in each juft as we think he would have done; fo we fhall have him always before our eyes, and in our minds, and (what is more) in our lives and manners. I hope when we shall meet him next, we fhall be more of a piece with him, and confequently not to be evermore feparated from him. I will add but one word that relates to what remains of yourfelf and me, fince fo valued a part of us is gone; it is to beg you to accept, as yours by inheritance, of the vacancy he has left in a heart, which (while he could fill it with fuch hopes, withes, and affections for him as suited a mortal creature) was truly and warmly his; and fhall (I affure you in the fincerity of forrow for my own lo faithfully at your fervice while I continue to love his memory, that is, while I continue to be myself.

I

LETTER CXXVII. The Bishop of Rochester (Dr. Atterbury) to Mr. Pope. Dec. 1716. RETURN your preface*, which I have read twice with pleafure. The modefty and good fenfe there is in it, must pleafe every one that reads it: and fince there is nothing that can offend, I fee not why you should balance a moment about printing it-always provided, that there is nothing faid there which you may have occafion to unfay hereafter: of which you yourself are the beft and the only

first printed 1717, the year after the date of this *The general preface to Mr. Pope's poems, letter.

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