LETTER XIV.

From Dr. ARBUTHNOT.

London, Sept. 7, 1714.

Am extremely obliged to you for taking notice of a poor old diftreffed courtier, commonly the most defpifeable thing in the world. This blow has fo rous'd Scriblerus, that he has recover'd his fenfes, and thinks and talks like other men. From being frolickfome and gay, he is turn'd grave and morofe. His lucubrations lie neglected among old news-papers, cafes, petitions, and abundance of unanfwerable letters. I wish to God they had been among the papers of a noble Lord, fealed up. Then might Scriblerus have pafs'd for the Pretender; and it would have been a moft excellent and laborious work for the Flying Poft, or fome fuch author, to have allegoriz'd all his adventures into a plot, and found out myfteries fomewhat like the Key to the Lock. Martin's office is now the fecond door on the left hand in Doverftrect, where he will be glad to fee Dr. Parnelle, Mr. Pope, and his old friends, to whom he can ftill afford a half pint of claret. It is with fome pleasure that he contemplates the world still busy, and all mankind at work, for him. I have feen a letter from Dean Swift; he keeps up his noble spirit, and tho' like a man knock'd down, you may behold him ftill with a ftern countenance, and aiming a blow at his adverfaries. I will add no more, being in hafte, only, that I will never forgive you if you don't use my aforefaid houfe in Dover-ftreet with the fame freedom as you did that in St. James's; for as our friendship was not begun upon the relation of a courtier, fo I hope it will not end with it. I will always be proud to be reckon'd amongst the number of your friends and humble fervacts.

LET:

LETTER XV.

To Dr. ARBUTH NOT.

Sept. 10,

Am glad your Travels delighted you; improve you, I am fure they could not; you are not fo much a youth as that, tho' you run about with a King of fixteen, and (what makes him ftill more a child) a King of Frenchmen. My own time has been more melancholy, spent in an attendance upon death, which has feized one of our family: my mother is fomething better, though at her advanced age every day is a climacteric, There was joined to this an indifpofition of my own, which I ought to look upon as a flight one, compared with my mother's, because my life is not of half the confequence to any body that her's is to me. All these incidents have hinder'd my more speedy reply to your obliging letter,

The article you enquire of, is of as little concern to me, as you defire it fhould; namely, the railing papers about the Odyffey. If the book has merit, it will extinguish all such nafty scandal; as the Sun puts an end to ftinks, merely by coming out.

I wish I had nothing to trouble me more; an honest mind is not in the power of any difhoneft one. To break its peace, there must be fome guilt or confcioufnefs, which is inconfiftent with its own principles: not but malice and injustice have their day, like fome poor fhort-lived vermin that die in fhooting their own ftings, Falfhood is Folly (fays Homer) and liars and calumniators at laft hurt none but themselves, even in this world; in the next, 'tis charity to fay, God have mercy on them! they were the devil's vicegerents upon earth, who is the father of lies, and, I fear, has a right to difpofe of his children.

I've had an occafion to make thefe reflections of late more juftly than from any thing that concerns my writings, for it is one that concerns my morals, and (which

I ought to be as tender of as my own) the good character of another very innocent perfon, who, I'm fure, fhares your friendship no less than I do. No creature has better natural difpofitions, or would act more rightly or reasonably in every duty, did the act by herself, or from herself; but you know it is the misfortune of that family to be governed like a ship, I mean the Head guided by the Tail, and that by every wind that blows in it.

LETTER XVI.

Mr. POPE to the Earl of OXFORD.

MY LORD,

O&. 21, 1721.

YOUR Lordfhip may be furprized at the liberty I take

in writing to you; tho' you will allow me always to remember, that you once permitted me that honour, in conjunction with fome others who better deserved it. I hope you will not wonder I am ftill defirous to have you think me your grateful and faithful fervant; but, I own, I have an ambition yet farther, to have others think me fo, which is the occafion I give your Lordfhip the trouble of this. Poor Parnelle, before he died, left me the charge of publishing these few remains of his: I have a ftrong defire to make them, their author, and their publisher, more confiderable, by addreffing and dedicating them all to you. There is a pleafure in bearing teftimony to truth, and a vanity perhaps, which at least is as excusable as any vanity can be. I beg you, my Lord, to allow me to gratify it, in prefixing this paper of honest verfes to the book. 1 fend the book itself, which, I dare fay, you'll receive more fatisfaction in perufing, than you can from any thing written upon the fubject of yourfelf: therefore I am a good deal in doubt, whether you will care for fuch an addition to it. All I fhall fay for it is, that 'tis the only dedication I ever writ, and shall be the only one, whether you accept of it or not; for I will not bow the knee to a lefs man than my Lord Oxford, and I expect to fee no greater in my time.

I

After

After all, if your Lordship will tell my Lord Harley that I must not do this, you may depend upon a fuppreffion of these verfes (the only copy whereof I fend you) but you never shall suppress that great, fincere, and entire respect, with which I am always,

My Lord,

Your, etc.

I

LETTER XVII.

The Earl of OXFORD to Mr. PoP E.

SIR,

Brampton-Castle, Nov. 6, 1721. Received your packet, which could not but give me great pleasure, to fee you preferve an old friend in your memory; for it must needs be very agreeable to be remember'd by those we highly value. But then how much shame did it cause me, when I read your very fine verfes inclos'd? my mind reproach'd me how far short I came of what your great friendship and delicate pen would partially defcribe me. You ask my confent to publish it: to what ftraits doth this reduce me? I look back indeed to thofe evenings I have usefully and pleasantly spent, with Mr. Pope, Mr. Parnelle, Dean Swift, the Doctor, &c. I fhould be glad the world knew you admitted me to your friendship; and fince your affection is too hard for your judgment, I am contented to let the world know how well Mr. Pope can write upon a barren subject. I return you an exact copy of the verses, that I may keep the Original, as a teftimony of the only error you have been guilty of. I hope very speedily to embrace you in London, and to affure you of the particular efteem and friendship wherewith I am

Your, &c.

OXFORD.

LET

[94]

LET T TER S

TO AND FROM

EDWARD BLOUNT, Efq;

From the Year 1714 to 1725.

LETTER I.

Mr. POPE to EDWARD BLOUNT, Efq;

Auguft 27, 1714. Whatever ftudies on the one hand, or amusements on the other, it shall be my fortune to fall into, I fhall be equally incapable of forgetting you in any of them. The task I undertook, though of weight enough in itself, has had a voluntary increase by the inlarging my defign of the Notes; and the neceffity of confulting a number of books has carried me to Oxford: but I fear, thro' my Lord Harcourt's and Dr. Clark's means, I fhall be more converfant with the pleasures and company of the place, than with the books and manuscripts of it.

I find ftill more reafon to complain of the negligence of the Geographers in their maps of old Greece, fince I looked upon two or three more noted names in the public libraries here. But with all the care I am capable of, I have fome cause to fear the Engraver will prejudice me in a few fituations. I have been forced to write to him in fo high a ftyle, that, were my epiftle intercepted, it would raise no fmall admiration in an ordinary man, There is scarce an order in it of less importance, than to