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the strongest injunctions not to let any body fee them, left they should be thought too rapturous; but as I conclude the would not have included you among thofe from whom he meant they should be concealed, I will have them copied, if you defire it.

I thank God all my family, except myfelf, are in perfect health, and I am myfelf much better than in the winter, only that I have ftill a fhortness of breath, which makes walking up ftairs, or any afcent, very painful to me; but as I have a better appetite, I have recovered fome of my flesh, and a little of my natural colour. My Lord and Betty are in London, fo that my fon and his governor are my only companions at prefent; but we pafs our time agreeably enough between reading, walking, and fuch other amufements as the place in which we are and the feafon of the year afford us. We have been lately reading Leonidas, in which I think there are many fine thoughts, but I hear the town are much divided in their fentiments about it, fince one part of them are for preferring it to Milton, and others for levelling it to the lowest rank of poetry. I confcis neither of these appear to me a just reprefentation of it. If you have read it, I thall be glad to know your thoughts of it.

I own I find a pleasure in thinking that I perceive dawnings of an honeft heart and tolerable reafoning in Lord Beauchamp, and his governor; and I Batter ourfelves that we fee a clearness of judgment and diftinctnefs of ideas in the themes he compofes, which are infinitely the favourite part of his ftudies, and always performed with good humour, though he is obliged to write them in three languages, English, Latin, and French. He is by no means good at getting things by heart, for which reafon Mr. Dalton is very favourable in his impofitions of that kind, which he feldom gives him, and in fmall quantitics. Now I have faid fo much of my fon, I fhould be unjust to his fifter if I did not tell you that I have the happiness to see her a very good-natured, fenfible young woman, with a fincere fenfe of religion and virtue, and the fame obfervance from affection to my Lord and me, at almoft one and twenty years old, that the had in her earliest childhood. You fee, Sir,

I take the privilege of a friend, and fat ter myself that you will not be tired with a detail of my family comforts, for the enjoyment of which I hope I am thankful as I ought to be, and moft partic larly fo that my Lord is fo entirely re covered as to allow me to hope his children will long have the bleifing of the tendereft father, and myself of the be hufband I ever faw. You will forgat the length of this letter, and believe me, with the trueft efteem, Sir, your, &.

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OTHING but my own very bad fr NOT of health, and the confinement i have had with my Lord, who is ja covering from a fevere fit of the ge fhould to long have hindered me f acknowledging the receipt of your letter, and the papers inclofed with it, partic larly the letter which you were to go as to defign to prefix to Mrs. Rowe's Meditations. I can with the fricteft t affirin, that I do not know any dine. tion upon earth that I could feel a tr pleafure in receiving, were I defen of it; but, as I am forced to fee how much I fall below the idea which the be nevolence of your nature has formed me, it teaches me to humble myself ty that very incident which might admi iter a laudable pride to a more wor. perfon. If I am contrained to ack ledge this mortifying truth, you may b lieve there are many people in the we who look upon me with more impar eyes than felf-love will allow me to d and others, who perhaps think I ear more of this world's goods than I I eide merit, or than falls to the common le look at me with envious and malign views, and are glad of every opport ty to debafe me, or thofe who they b lieve entertain a favourable opinion

me.

I would hope that I have ter done any thing, wilfully I am fare! have not, to raise any fuch fentiments t the breaft of the meaneft perfon upc earth, but yet experience has convince me that I have not been happy enca to escape them. For theie realch

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Sir, I muft deny myself the pleasure and the pride I fhould have in fo public a mark of your friendship and candour, and beg that, if you will defign me the honour of joining any addrefs to me with thofe valuable remains of Mrs. Rowe, that you will either retrench the favourable expreffions you intended to infert, or elfe give me no other title at the top of it than that of a friend of your's and her's, an appellation which, in the fincerity of my foul, I am prouder of, than I could be of the most pompous name that human grandeur can lay claim to. My Lord and his children defire me to affure you of their fervice and beft wishes. I inclofe you a copy of the letter which Mrs. Rowe left for me, and am glad of every opportunity to repeat that I am, with the greatest esteem, Sir, your, &c.

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This is the laft letter you will ever receive from me, the last affurance I fhall give you on earth of a fincere and stedfaft friendship; but, when we feet again, I hope it will be in the heights of immortal love and extaíy. Mine, perhaps, may be the firft glad fpirit to congratulate your fafe arrival on the happy hores. Heaven can witness how fincere my concern for your happiness is. Thither I

have fent my ardent withes that you may be fecured from the flattering delufion of the world, 2nd, after your pious example has been long a bleffing to mankind, may you calmly refign your breath, and enter the confines of unmolested joy!

I am now taking my farewel of you here, but it is a fhort adieu, for I die with full perfuafion that we fhall meet again. But, O, in what elevation of happinets in what enlargement of mind, and perfection of every faculty! What tranfporting reflections fhall we make on the advantages of which we shall feel ourselves eternally poffeft!

To Him that loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood, we fhall afcribe immortal giory, dominion, and praife for ever. This is all my falvation, and all my hope. That name in whom the gentiles truft, in whom all the families on earth are blefied, is now my glorious, my unfail ing confidence; in his merits alone I expect to ftand juftified before infinite purity and justice. How poor were my hopes if I depended on those works, which my own vanity, or the partiality of men, have called good, and which, if examined by Divine purity, would prove perhaps but fpecious fins? The best actions of my life would be found defective, if brought to the teft of that unblemished holiness in whofe fight the heavens are not clean.-Where were my hopes but for a Redeemer's merits and atonement?-How defperate, how undone my condition?-With the utmoft advantage I can boat I should start back and trem

Sir,

LETTER LXXIX. From the fame to the fame.

Marlborough, August 17, 1737.

HE fincere eftcem I have for you,

T makes it very difficult for me to oppofe any thing you defire †, and it is doubly fo in an inftance where I might have an opportunity of indulging fo juftifiable a pride as I fhould feel in letting the public fee this fresh mark of your partiality to me; but as I am apprehenfive that the envy fuch a diftinction would raife against me might draw fomne vexation with it, I hope you will have the goodness to change the dedication into a letter to a friend, without giving me any other appellation.

I have been fo ill as to keep my chamber, and almoft my bed, fince I received the firft of your letters, and my Lord has had a return of the gout. Nothing else fhould have made me so long delay owning the receipt of it, and affuring you that I am, with the greateft efteem, Sir, your, &c.

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thee!

What a dream is mortal life!-What fhadows are the objects of fenfe!-All the glories of mortality, my much-beloved friend, will be nothing in your view at the awful hour of death, when you must be feparated from the whole creation, and enter on the borders of the immaterial world.

Something perfuades me that this will be my laft farewell in this world. Heaven forbid that it fhould be an everlafting parting!-May that Divine protection, whofe care I implore, keep you ftedfaft in the faith of chriftianity, and guide your fteps in the ftrictest paths of virtue! Adieu, my moft dear friend, till we meet in the paradife of ELIZABETH ROWE.

God.

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firft. You have in your preface taken the kindest and most judicious care to excufe fome expreffions in them which I must confefs appear to me to ftand in need of fome apology, but upon the whole I think there are feveral excellent fentiments in them, which I think cannot fail of doing good, especially to thofe who, by their acquaintance with her, know how fincerely they came from her heart. Lady Betty returns her thanks for the book you fent her, and fays the fhall always value it as being written by Mrs. Rowe, and as a mark of your kind regard to herself. I have many acknowledgments to make you for the honour you have done me in your dedication*, which by your kindnefs in fuppreffing my name, gives me an unmixed pleafure, by affording me the fatisfaction of receiving fuch a mark of your partiality without the hazard of raifing the public envy.

My Lord and my fon prefent their fervices to you, and I am, with the fincereft gratitude and efteem, Sir, &c.

LETTER LXXXI. Frances Countess of Hartford, afterwards Dutchess of Somerset, to Dr. 1.Watts. Sir,

I

St. Leonard's Hill, June 6, 1738. HAD the pleasure on Saturday to receive the book 4, and the kind letter you were fo good as to fend me. I dare fay I fhall go through the book with a great deal of pleasure. I have already read part of it, and find nothing as yet to give me any apprehenfions that I the find it dry or unpleasant. I am fure the fubject is of importance, and is rendered moft particularly fo at this time, when the polite part of the world look on the Sabbath as an old-fashioned intitution, from which they would gladly be releafel. I inclofe you fome verfes which, thongh perhaps not ftrictly right as to the rules of poetry, I believe you will

This declaration of her Ladyship, and what the fays in the two foregoing letter, make it exicent to whom the Doctor incribed Mrs. Rowe's Medators, though the name is concealed in the dedication. The whole of it agrees to her L.dyfhip, and thows what a high opinion and efteem Le entertained concern ng ber.

+ Undoubtedly Lie Ditcafes on the Hol'nef, of Tinos, Place, - ` .. ; published in 1738.

But I

excufe for the piety of the fentiments. They were fent me by a friend of mine who lives at Gloucefter, and the fays were written by a young gentleman there. I thought it very long fince I had heard from you, and fhould without ceremony have written again, but I have laboured under a very painful diforder in my head and face, which has of late made writing very difficult to me. I thank God it is now a little better, though so far from well as to hinder me of the pleafures of riding and walking, to which the feafon of the year would na turally invite me, and which are general ly more beneficial to my health than any medicine in the difpenfary. ought not to repine at thefe little incon veniences, which are fo far leis afflicting than I deferve, while I have the bleaing to fee my Lord and my children en joy a perfect ftate of health; for though I doubt I muit never hope to fee my Lord able to walk again, he is otherwi in as good health and fpirits as ever he was fince I knew him. He and my daughter are this day going to Lenin to stay till Thursday or Friday, but my fon and I remain here. They all art you of their beft withes. It is comfen able to find that there are fill enough ef fich well-diipofed minds as to encourage Mrs. Rowe's Meditations, which certaine ly breathe as fincere a fpirit of piety can be met with in any writing. I afraid I have tired you with this leag reminds me that it is time to concludes letter, and indeed the pain of my eyes by alluring you that I am, with the grea eft efteem, Sir, your, &c.

I

LETTER LXXXII.
From the fame to the jame.

Sir, St. Leonard's Hill, Aug. S, 173 WOUD much fooner have thanked you for the favour of your last letter, but have been hindered by my attendance on my Lord in a fevere fit of the gout, though, I thank Ged, it has been ony in his limbs, and not affected either his head or forach.

I think every body muft with a mutỜ like Mr. Pope's were more inclined w exert itself on divine and good-natured bjects; but I am afraid Tatire is his

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highest talent; for I think his Univerfal Prayer is by no means equal to fome other of his works; and I think his tenth ftanza an inftance how blind the wifeft men may be to the errors of their own hearts; for he certainly did not mean to imprecate fuch a proportion of vengeance on himself, as he is too apt to load thofe with whom he diflikes; nor would he wish to have his own failings exposed to the eye of the world with all the invective and ridicule, with which he publishes thofe of his fellow-creatures.

I have lately met with fome riddles which we think pretty enough in their way, and, as I remember you once told me you thought them tolerable amufements, I will inclose you one or two of them, and, if they do not difplease you, can furnish you with a few more, which we do not think bad ones. My Lord and our young people affure you of their fervices. I am, Sir, with the fincereft esteem, your, &c.

I

Sir,

LETTER LXXXIII.

From the fame to the fame.

Jan. 17, 1739. AM truly forry to find you complain of any decay, but I am fure if you have any it must be bodily, and has no other effect than that, which both Mr. Waller and yourself have fo happily defcribed as letting in light upon the foul.

I never read any thing in my life that pleafed me better than your meditations on Revelation 10th, and I hope I fhall not only delight in reading the words, but lay the fubftance of it to my heart, to which end allow me to beg your prayers as an affiftance.

My dear Lord's itate of fuffering (for he is again confined to his bed by the gout) gives me little opportunity and lefs inclination to lofe much time in the gay amusements which are apt to divert other people from the thoughts of their diffolution; but I am not fure that a life of care and anxiety has not as bad an effect, by fixing the mind too attentively on the prefent gloom, which obfcures every

Teach me to feel another's woe,

To hide the fault I fee;

That mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me.

597

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old woman, who is declining apace, to I am importuned by a very valuable beg your prayers. She took me from my nurfe, and, if I have any good in me, I owe it to her. She was trusted by my mother with the care both of my fifter and myself, and has lived with me ever fince. But now, though past 70, fhe cannot meet death without terror, and yet I believe I may venture to answer, that he has always lived under the ftri&teft fenfe of religion, but lownefs of fpirit thed darknefs on the moft cheerful minds, joined to many bodily infirmities will and her's never was of that caft. I fear he has very few months (if weeks) to come on earth, and a notice that you will grant her requeft would make her I believe pass them with more comfort.

I am forced to take another page to thofe of my young people; the two lataffure you of my Lord's compliments, and ter are very well. I have no other view in fending the above verses, but to prove that my confidence in your friendship has of time which has paffed fince I had an received no alteration from the length opportunity of affuring you in perfon with how true a regard I am, Sir, your, &c.

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excuse for the piety of the
They were fent me by a fr
who lives at Gloucefter,
were written by a young
I thought it very
heard from you, and
remony have writ
laboured under a
my head and
made writing.
thank God
though so f
of the plez
to which
turally i
ly mor
medic'
ough
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firft. You have in your preface taken
the kindest and most judicious care to ex-
cufe fome expreffions in them which I
must confefs appear to me to ftand in
need of fome apology, but upon the
whole I think there are feveral excellent
fentiments in them, which I think can-
not fail of doing good, especially to thofe
who, by their acquaintance with her,
know how fincerely they came from her
heart. Lady Betty returns her thanks
for the book you fent her, and fays the
fhall always value it as being written by
Mrs. Rowe, and as a mark of your kind
regard to herself. I have many acknow-
ledgments to make you for the honour
you have done me in your dedication *,
which by your kindnefs in fuppreffing my
name, gives me an unmixed pleasure, by
affording me the fatisfaction of receiving
fuch a mark of your partiality without i
the hazard of raifing the public envy.

My Lord and my fon prefent their fervices to you, and I am, with the fincereft gratitude and esteem, Sir, &c.

LETTER LXXXI.

Frances Countess of Hartford, after
Dutchefs of Somerfet, to Dr. I.U

I

Sir, St. Leonard's Hill, June HAD the pleafure on Satur ceive the book †, and the you were fo good as to fend fay I fhall go through the great deal of pleafure. T read part of it, and find to give me any appreher find it dry or unpleafant fubject is of importance moft particularly fo the polite part of t Sabbath as an old from which they v ed. I inclofe y though perhaps the rules of p

* This decla fhe fays in the dent to whom Meditations, dedication. ship, and th entertained

+ Und Times, !

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of my eyenve days, and, we prepared to e we have only beca e have been the impeave kept me filent at a ad the strongest inclination after you, and affure you of eft wishes and prayers for your recovery.

ave the pleasure of finding my gar extremely improved in the two years have been abfent from it. Some little alterations I had ordered are completed. The trees which I left fmall ones are grown to form an agreeable fhade, and I have reafon to blefs God for the pleafantnefs of the place which is allotted me to pass many of my retired hours ir. May I make use of them to fit me for my last, and that I may do fo allow me to beg the continuation of your prayers!

My poor old woman is got hither, cortrary to her own, and all our expecta barnt by the tions. She has the deepest gratitude for executioner at your goodnefs to her, and begs you w who wrote it ba- accept her thanks. She is ftill very weak.

armal

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retraction and I fancy will hardly get over the as

very plain by the tumn. My Lord and Betty defire to f

either in jet or fure you of their compliments. I am, means wanting of Sir, with the trueft efteem, your, &c. from a fyftem of only recommend and fubfcribe my

Sir,

LETTER LXXXVI.

From the fame to the fame.

June 10, 1759.

THOUGH I troubled you with a letter fo lately I cannot difpenfe with my impatience to thank you for the valuable prefent you have made me of one of the

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