LETTER XVII.

From Mr. CROMWELL,

Aug. 5, 1710.

OOKING among some French rhymes, I L was agreeably furpriz'd to find in the Rondeau of a Pour le moins- -your Apoticaire and Lavemant, which I took for your own; so much is your Muse of intelligence with the wits of all languages. You have refin'd upon Voiture, whofe Où vous favez is much inferior to your You know where-You do not only pay your club with your author (as our friend fays) but the whole reckoning; who can form fuch pretty lines from fo trivial a hint.

For my b Elegy; 'tis confefs'd, that the to

makes but an

Your couplet

may

be too

pography of Sulmo in the Latin awkward figure in the verfion. of the dog-ftar is very fine, but fublime in this place. I laugh'd heartily at your note upon paradife; for to make Ovid talk of the garden of Eden, is certainly most abfurd; but Xenophon in his Oeconomics, fpeaking of a garden finely planted and watered (as is here described) calls it Paradifos: 'Tis an interpolation indeed, and ferves for a gradation to the

a In Voiture's Poems. P.

Ovid's Amorum, 1. ii. el. xvi. Pars me Sulmo, &c. P.

I 4.

celestial

celestial orb; which expreffes in fome fort the Sidus Cafloris in parte cali-How trees can enjoy, let the naturalifts determine; but the poets make them fenfitive, lovers, batchelors, and married. Virgil in his Georgics, lib. ii. Horace Ode xv. lib. ii. Platanus cælebs evincet ulmos. Epod ii. Ergo aut adulta vitium propagine Altas maritat populos. Your critique is a very Dolcepiccante; for after the many faults you justly find, you fmooth your rigour: but an obliging thing is owing (you think) to one who fo much efteems and admires you, and who fshall ever be

Your, &c.

LETTER XVIII.

Auguft 21, 1710.

OUR Letters are a perfect charity to a man in retirement, utterly forgotten of all his friends but you; for fince Mr. Wycherley left London, I have not heard a word from him; tho' just before, and once fince, I writ to him, and tho' I know myself guilty of no offence but of doing fincerely juft what he a bid me-Hoc mibi libertas, hoc pia lingua dedit! But the greatest injury he does me is the keep

a Correcting his verfes. See | following years, of Mr. Wythe letters in 1706, and the cherley and Mr. Pope. P.

ing me in ignorance of his welfare, which I am
always very folicitous for, and very uneafy in
the fear of any indifpofition that may befal
him. In what I fent you fome time ago, you
have not verse enough to be fevere upon, in
revenge for my last criticism: In one point I
must persist, that is to fay, my dislike of your
Paradise, in which I take no pleasure; I know
very well that in Greek 'tis not only us'd by
Xenophon, but is a common word for any gar-
den; but in English it bears the fignification
and conveys the Idea of Eden, which alone is
(I think) a reafon against making Ovid use it;
who will be thought to talk too much like a
Christian in your version at least, whatever it
might have been in Latin or Greek. As for
all the rest of my remarks, fince you do not
laugh at them as at this, I can be fo civil as not
to lay any stress upon them (as, I think, I told
you before) and in particular in the point of trees
enjoying, you have, I must own, fully fatisfied
me that the expreffion is not only defenfible,
but beautiful. I fhall be very glad to fee your
tranflation of the elegy, Ad amicam navigantem,
as foon as you can; for (without a compli-
ment to you) every thing you write, either in
verse or profe, is welcome to me; and you may
be confident, (if my opinion can be of
any fort
of confequence in any thing). that I will never

be

be unfincere, tho' I may be often mistaken. To ufe fincerity with you is but paying you in your own coin, from whom I have experienced fo much of it; and I need not tell you how much I really efteem you, when I esteem nothing in the world fo much as that quality. I know, you fometimes fay civil things to me in your epiftolary ftyle, but thofe I am to make allowance for, as particularly when you talk of admiring; 'tis a word you are fo us'd to in converfation of Ladies, that it will creep into your discourse, in spite of you, even to your friends. But as women, when they think themselves fecure of admiration, commit a thousand negligences, which fhow them fo much at difadvantage and off their guard, as to lofe the little. real love they had before: fo when men imagine others entertain fome esteem for their abilities, they often expose all their imperfections and foolish works, to the difparagement of the little wit they were thought mafters of. I am going to exemplify this to you, in putting into your hands (being encouraged by fo much indulgence) fome verfes of my youth, or rather childhood; which (as I was a great admirer of Waller) were intended in imitation of his manner a; and are, perhaps, fuch imitations, as those

a One or two of thefe | other Imitations done in his were fince printed among youth. P.

you

you fee in aukward country dames, of the fine and well-bred ladies of the court. If you will take them with you into Lincolnshire, they may fave you one hour from the converfation of the country gentlemen and their tenants (who differ but in dress and name) which, if it be there as bad as here, is even worfe than my poetry. I hope your ftay there will be no longer than (as Mr. Wycherley calls it) to rob the country, and run away to London with your money. In the mean time I beg the favour of a line from you, and am (as I will never cease to be)

Your, &c.

LETTER XIX.

Oct. 12, 1710.

I

Deferr'd answering your laft, upon the advice I receiv'd, that you were leaving the town for fome time, and expected your return with impatience, having then a design of seeing my friends there, among the firft of which I have reafon to account yourself. But my almoft continual illneffes prevent that, as well as most other fatisfactions of my life: However, I may fay one good thing of fickness, that it is the beft cure in nature for ambition, and defigns upon the world or fortune: It makes a man

pretty