fuch) is, that the chief order of Denmark (now injurioufly call'd the order of the Elephant) was inftituted in memory of the fidelity of a dog, nam'd Wild-brat, to one of their Kings who had been deferted by his fubjects : he gave his Order this motto, or to this effect (which ftill remains) Wild-brat was faithful. Sir William Trumbull has told me a story * which he heard from one that was prefent: King Charles I. being with fome of his court during his troubles, a discourse arose what sort of dogs deferv'd pre-eminence, and it being on all hands agreed to belong either to the spaniel or grey-hound, the King gave his opinion on the part of the grey-hound, because (faid he) it has all the Good-nature of the other without the Fawning. A good piece of fatire upon his courtiers, with which I will conclude my difcourfe of dogs. Call me a Cynic, or what you please, in revenge for all this impertinence, I will be contented; provided you will but believe me, when I say a bold word for a Chriftian, that, of all dogs, you will find none more faithful Your, etc. than I LETTER XI. April 10, 1710. Had written to you fooner, but that I made fome fcruple of fending profane things to you in holy week. Befides, our family would have been fcandaliz'd to fee me write, who take it for granted I write nothing but ungodly verfes. I affure you, I am look'd upon in the neighbourhood for a very well-difpos'd person; no great Hunter indeed, but a great admirer of the noble fport, and only unhappy in my want of conftitution for that, and Drinking. They all fay, 'tis pity I am so fickly, and I think 'tis pity they are fo healthy. But I fay nothing that may deftroy their good opinion of me: I have not quoted one Latin author fince I came down, but have *Sir Philip Warwick tells this story in his Memoirs. VOL. III. learn'd learn'd without book a fong of Mr. Thomas Durfey's, who is your only Poet of tolerable reputation in this country. He makes all the merriment in our entertainments, and but for him, there would be fo miferable a dearth of catches, that, 1 fear, they would put either the Parfon or me upon making fome for 'em. Any man, of any quality, is heartily welcome to the best topingtable of our gentry, who can roar out fome Rhapfodies of his works fo that in the fame manner as it was faid of Homer to his detractors; What! dares any man speak against him who has given fo many men to eat? (meaning the Rhapfodifts who liv'd by repeating his verfes) thus may it be faid of Mr. Durfey to his detractors; Dares any one despise him, who has made so many men drink? Alas, Sir? this is a glory which neither you nor I must ever pretend to. Neither you with your Ovid, nor Í with my Statius, can amuse a board of justices and extraordinary fquires, or gain one hum of approbation, or laugh of admiration. These things (they would fay) are too ftudious, they may do well enough with fuch as love reading, but give us your ancient Poet Mr. Durfey ! 'Tis mortifying enough, it must be confefs'd; but however let us proceed in the way that nature has directed us-Multi multa fciunt, fed nemo omnia, as it is said in the almanack. Let us communicate our works for our mutual comfort: send me elegies, and you fhall not want heroics. At prefent, I have only thefe arguments in profe to the Thebaid, which you claim by promise, as I do your tranflation of Pars me Sulmo tenet, and the Ring; the reft 1 hope for as soon as you can conveniently tranfcribe them, and whatsoever orders you are pleas'd to give me fhall be punctually obey'd by Your, etc. LETTER I . Esq LETTER XII. May 10, 1710. I : Had not fo long omitted to exprefs my acknowledg· ments to you for fo much good-nature and friendship as you lately fhow'd me; but that I am but juft returned to my own hermitage, from Mr. C's, who has done me fo many favours, that I am almoft inclin'd to think my friends infect one another, and that your converfation with him has made him as obliging to me as yourself. can affure you, he has a fincere respect for you, and this I believe, he has partly contracted from me, who am too full of you not to overflow upon those I converse with. But I must now be contented to converfe only with the dead of this world, that is to fay, the dull and obfcure, every way obfcure, in their intellects as well as their perfons or else have recourfe to the living dead, the old authors with whom you are fo well acquainted, even from Virgil down to Aulus Gellius, whom I do not think a critic by any means to be compar'd to Mr. Dennis And I muft declare pofitively to you, that I will perfift in this opinion, till you become a little more civil to Atticus. Who could have imagin'd, that he, who had escap'd all the misfortunes of his time, unhurt even by the profcriptions of Antony and Auguftus, fhould in thefe days find an enemy more fevere and barbarous than those tyrants? and that enemy the gentleft too, the beft-natur'd of mortals, Mr. Cromwell, whom I must in this compare once more to Auguftus: who feem'd not more unlike himfelf, in the feverity of one part of his life and the clemency of the other, than you. I leave you to reflect on this, and hope that time (which mollifies rocks, and of ftiff things makes limber) will turn a refolute critic to a gentle reader; and instead of this pofitive, tremendous new-fashion'd Mr. Cromwell, reftore unto us our old acquaintance, the foft, beneficent, and courteous Mr. Cromwell. I expect much, towards the civilizing of you in your Z z 2 critical critical capacity, from the innocent air and tranquillity of our Foreft, when you do me the favour to visit it. In the mean time, it would do well by way of preparative, if you would duly and conftantly every morning read over a paftoral of Theocritus or Virgil; and let the lady Isabella put your Macrobius and Aulus Gellius fomewhere out of your way, for a month or fo. Who knows, but travelling and long airing in an open field, may contribute more fuccefsfully to the cooling a critic's severity, than it did to the affuaging of Mr. Cheek's anger, of old? In thefe fields you will be fecure of finding no enemy, but the most faithful and affectionate of your friends, etc. LETTER XIII, May 17, 1710. ITER I had recover'd from a dangerous illness which was first contracted in town, about a fortnight after my coming hither I troubled you with a letter, and * paper inclos'd, which you had been fo obliging as to defire a fight of when laft 1 faw you, promifing me in return fome tranflations of yours from Ovid. Since when, I have not had a fyllable from your hands, fo that 'tis to be fear'd that tho' I have escap'd death, I have not oblivion. I should at least have expected you to have finished that elegy upon me, which you told me, you was upon the point of beginning when I was fick in London; if you will but do fo much for me firft, I will give you leave to forget me afterwards; and for my own part will die at difcretion, and at my leifure. But 1 fear I must be forced, like many learned authors, to write my own epitaph, if I would be remembered at all. Monfieur de la Fontaine's would fit me to a hair; but it is a kind of facrilege (do you think it is not?) to fteal epitaphs. In my prefent living dead condition, nothing would be properer Verfes on Silence, in imitation of the Earl of Rochester's poem on Nothing; done at fourteen years old. than than Oblitufque meorum, oblivifcendus et illis, but that unluckily I can't forget my friends, and the civilities I received from yourself, and fome others. They fay indeed 'tis one quality of generous minds to forget the obligations they have conferred, and perhaps too it may be so to forget thofe on whom they conferr'd'em: Then indeed I must be forgotten to all intents and purpofes! I am, it must be own'd, dead in a natural capacity, according to Mr. Bickerstaff; dead in a poetical capacity, as a damn'd author; and dead in a civil capacity, as a useless member of the Commonwealth. But reflect, dear Sir, what melancholy effects may enfue, if dead men are not civil to one another! If he who has nothing to do himself, will not comfort and support another in his idleness: If those who are to die themselves, will not now and then pay the cha rity of vifiting a tomb and a dead friend, and ftrowing a few flowers over him: In the fhades where I am, the Inhabitants have a mutual compaffion for each other; being all alike Inanes; we faunter to one another's habitations, and daily affift each other in doing nothing at all. This I mention for your edification and example, that, all alive as you are, you may not fometimes difdain -defipere in loco. Tho' you are no papift, and have not so much regard to the dead as to address yourself to them (which I plainly perceive by your filence) yet I hope you are not one of thofe heterodox, who hold them to be totally infenfible of the good offices and kind wifhes of their living friends, and to be in a dull ftate of fleep, without one dream of those they left behind them. If you are, let this letter convince you to the contrary, which affures you I am ftill, tho' in a state of separation, Your, etc. P. S. This letter of deaths puts me in mind of poor Mr. Betterton's; over whom I would have this fentence of Tully for an epitaph, which will ferve him as well in his Moral, as his Theatrical capacity. Vita bene acta jucundiffima eft recordatio. LETTER |