or that you could poffibly have fent me fuch bad News, as that you could not comfort me at the fame Time.

I thought my Unhappiness at such a Point as could not admit of any Addition, and that fince you were able something to strengthen my Patience, to endure the Abfence of your Mother and you, there could not be any Misfortune, which you could not have encourag'd me to fuffer: But give me Leave to tell you, that I have found the contrary, in the Affliction I have for the Death of Mrs. A****, which hath heen heavy enough to crush me, and wanted not much to spend the Remainder of my Patience. You may eafily judge, Dear Madam, what an exceffive Grief it muft needs be to me to have loft a Friend fo good, fo fprightly, and fo accomplish'd as fhe, and one that having always given me fo many Expreffions of her Affection, would needs do fomething when fhe had not many Hours to continue here: But tho' I reflected not on my own Concernments, yet could I not but infinitely regret a Perfon by whom you were infinitely belov'd, and who among many particular Endowments, had that of knowing you as much as may be, and efteeming you above all Things; yet I muft confefs, if this Disturbance can admit of any Remiffion, it is to reflect on the Conftancy fhe exprefs'd, and the Fortitude wherewith fhe hath fuf›fer'd a Thing, whereof the Name would make her tremble at any Time.

I am extremely comforted to understand, that at her Death fhe had thofe Qualities fhe only wanted in her Life, and that the fo opportunely found Courage and Refolution: When I confider it ferioufly, it is fomewhat against my Confcience to bemoan her, and methinks, it shows an over-interested Affection to be fad, because she has left us to better her Condition,

and

and is gone into the other World, from whofe Bourne no Traveller returns, to find, that Quiet he could never meet with in this.

I very heartily entertain the Exhortations you give me thereupon, which is, often to con over a Lesson fo profitable and neceffary, and to prepare myself for the like one Day; I know how to make my Advantage of your Remonftrance: The Miferies we have run through all this while, is no fmall Preparation for it, there's no better Lecture to inftruct a Man how to die well, than not to take much Pleafure in living.

But if it be not impoffible for the Hopes that Fortune propofes to prove effectual, if after fo many Years, we may prefume to expect fome few fair Days, be pleas'd to give me Leave, Madam, to entertain Thoughts more diverting than thofe of Death, and if it be likely that we are fhortly to fee another, let me not fall out with my Life.

t

f

Where you fay, you think me deftin'd to great Things, you give fo great Security of my Life, and fo happy a Prefage of the Adventures that fhall happen to me, that I shall not be forry for its Continuance yet a while; for my Part, if Deftiny doth promife me any Thing that is good, I affure you I will do my utmost to get it; I will contribute all I can thereto, that your Prophecies may be fulfill'd. In the mean Time, I beseech you to be confident, that of all the Favours I can beg of Fortune, what I moft paffionately defire is, that the would do for you what he ought, and for myself, only afford me the Meansto acquaint you with the Paffion which obligés me to be fo much, Dearest Madam, &c.

So that thofe Invectives in the Poem aforemention'd,

tion'd, must at laft be only look'd on as the Sallies of a great, and then angry Wit."

Another Epistle of our Author's, which was exceedingly admir'd, was to Allen Lord Bathurst, of the Ufe of Riches: This Nobleman in another of the Epiftles, he takes the Liberty to call Philofopher and Rake, which Character had fo much Truth in it, and Mr. Pope fuch an unlimited Freedom with my Lord, that fo far from giving Offence, it was Matter of Mirth: This Gentleman truly Noble, has a more than common Regard for the Fair Sex, and having withal very great Vivacity, very fairly deferv'd the Name Mr. Pope has given him, there is none among the Nobility exceed him for Tafte, his is quite grand, he hates any Thing that's little, and not capable of filling the Mind, and fpends whole Days in his Wood, which is impoffible to be known but by the Eye, no Defcription would do it Juftice; it is just mentioned by Mr. Pope in a Letter to the Hon. Robert Digby, Efq; that Part relating to this Subject we have tranfcribd. Le g

"Mtold you are all upon Removal very fpeedily,

I'M

i

and that Mrs. Mary Dighy talks in a Letter to Lady Scudamore, of feeing my Lord Bathurst's Wood in her Way, How much I wish to be her Guide thro' that enchanted Foreft, is not to be expreft: I look upon myself as the Magician appropriated to the Place, without whom no Mortal can penetrate into the Receffes of thofe facred Shades I could pass whole Days, in only deferib<ing to her the future, and yet vifionary Beauties, that are to rife in thofe Scenes: The Palace that is to be built, the Pavilions that are to glitter, the Colonades that are to adorn them Nay more, the Meeting <of the Thames and the Severn, which (when the

noble

noble Owner has finer Dreams than ordinary) are to be led into each other's Embraces thro' fecret Ca

verns of not above twelve or fifteen Miles, till they rife and celebrate their Marriage in the Midft of an immenfe Amphitheatre, which is to be the Admiration of Pofterity a hundred Years hence. But till the deftin'd Time fhall arrive that is to manifest these Wonders, Mrs. Digby muft content herfelf with feeing what is at prefent no more than the fineft Wood in England.

There are few Virtues which do not attend this Nobleman, of his Foible we have fpoke; he is fo great an Oeconomist, that. Mr. Pope thought fit to write this Epiftle to him, where he afferts, and endeavours to prove that the true Ufe of Riches is known to few, moft falling into one of the Extremes, Avarice or Profufion; he ranks Mankind under two Claffes.

But when, by Man's audacious Labour won, Flam'd forth this Rival to its Sire the Sun, Then, in plain Profe, were made two Sorts of Men, To fquander fome, and fome to hide agen: of Like Doctors thus, when much Difpute has paft, We find our Tenets much the fame at laft. Both fairly owning, Riches in Effect

';

No Grace of Heav'n, or Token of the Elect; Giv❜n to thee Fool, the Mad, the Vain, the Evil, To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, or the Devil.

JOHN WARD of Hackney, Efq; Member of Parliament, being profecuted by the Dutchefs of Buckingham, and convicted of Forgery, was firft expell'd the House, and then flood in the Pillory on the 17th of March 1727. He was fufpected of joining in a Conveyance

Conveyance with Sir John Blunt to fecrete fifty thoufand Pounds of that Director's Estate, forfeited to the South Sea Company by Act of Parliament. The Company recover'd the fifty thousand Pounds againft Ward, but he fet up prior Conveyances of his real Estate to his Brother and Son, and conceal'd all his perfonal, which was computed to be one hundred and fifty thoufand Pounds: Thefe Conveyances being fet afide by a Bill in Chancery, Ward was imprifon'd, and hazarded the Forfeiture of his Life by not giving in his Effects till the last Day, which was that of his Examination. During his Confinement, his Amusement was to give Poison to Dogs and Cats, and fee them expire by flower or quicker Torments. To fum up the Worth of this Gentleman, at the several Æra's of his Life; at his ftanding in the Pillory he was worth above two hundred thousand Pounds; at his Commitment to Prison, he was worth one hundred and fifty thoufand, but has been fince fo far diminifh'd in his Reputation, as to be thought a worfe Man by fifty or fixty thhufand.

FR. CHARTRES, a Man infamous for all manner of Vices. When he was an Enfign in the Army, he was drumm'd out of the Regiment for a Cheat; he was next banifh'd Bruffels, and drumm'd out of Ghent on the fame Account. After a hundred Tricks at the Gaming Tables, he took to lending Money at exorbitant Intereft, and on great Penalties, accumulating Premium, Intereft, and Capital, into a new Capital, and feizing to a Minute when the Payments became due; in a Word, by a conftant Attention to the Vices, Wants, and Follies of Mankind, he acquir'd an immenfe Fortune. His House was a perpetual Bawdy-Houfe. He was twice condemn'd for Rapes, and pardon'd, but the laft Time not without Imprisonment in Newgate, and large Confisca