in comtemplating the Graces of your outward Form, you will have the greater Leifure to improve and embel, lifh those which are not fo eafily impaired. Let us pretend what we will, it is the Ambition of attracting Admirers, that renders Beauty of so much Value to all the Young and Gay; but, if we confider feriously, we fhall find that it is Virtue, good Senfe, Sweetness of Difpofition, and Complaifance, of which the Girdle of Cytherea fhould be compofed.The fineft Face in the World without them, will not long maintain its Empire over the Heart of a Man of Underftanding, as the Poet truly fays, "Beauty foon grows familiar to the Eye; "Virtue alone has Charms that never die. Do not think, however, that I am glad to find you are more on a Level, than before this Accident, with the greatest Part of our Sex; I confefs, the Beauties of the Perfon greatly contribute to fet off and render those of the Mind confpicuous, and for that Reafon should lament extremely any Defect in the one, if I were not certain you had enough, of the other to engrofs the whole Attention of as many as know you; and that they may every Day encrease in the Luftre of true Dignity, is the fincere With of, my dear Opelia, Yours,* SOPHRONIA. 3 The The COMPLETE LETTER-WRITER. PART VI. Elegant Letters on various Subjects, to improve the Stile and entertain the Mind; from eminent Authors. LETTER I. The following Letter, written by Mr. Gay, giving an Account of two Lovers who were ftruck dead by the fume Flash of Lightening, is reckoned a Mafter-Piece in epiftolary defcriptive Writing. Stanton Harcourt, Aug. 9, 1718. HE only News you can expect to have from me of the World, and there is fcarce any Thing can reach me, except the Noife of Thunder, which undoubtedly you have heard too. We have read in old Authors of high Towers levelled by it to the Ground, while the humble Vallies have escaped: The only Thing that is Proof against it is the Laurel, which, however, I take to be no great Security to the Brains of modern Authors. But to let you fee that the contrary to this often happens, I must acquaint you, that the highest and most extravagant Heap of Towers in the Univerte, which is in this Neighbourhood, ftands ftill undefaced, while a Cock of Barley in our next Field has been con confumed to Afhes. Would to God that this Heap of Barley had been all that had perifhed! But unhappily beneath this little Shelter fat two much more conftant Lovers than ever were found in Romance under the Shade of a Beach-Tree. John Hewit_was a well-fet Man of about five and twenty: Sarah Dew night be rather called comely than beautiful, and was about the fame Age: They had paffed through the various Labours of the Year together with the greatest Satisfaction; if the milked, 'twas his Morning and Evening Care to bring the Cows to her Hand. It was but laft Fair that he bought her a Prefent of green Silk for her Straw Hat; and the Pofey on her Silver Ring was of his chufing. Their Love was the Talk of the whole Neighbourhood; for Scandal never affirmed that they had any other Views than the lawful Poffeffion of each other in Marriage. It was that very Morning that he had obtained the Confent of her Parents, and it was but till the next Week that they were to wait to be happy. Perhaps in the Intervals of their Work they were now talking of their Wedding-Cloaths, and John was fuiting feveral Sorts of Poppies and Field-Flowers to her Complexion, to choose her a Knot for the Wedding-Day. While they were thus bufied (it was on the laft of July, between Two and Three in the Afternoon) the Clouds grew black, and fuch a Storm of Lightening and Thunder enfued, that all the Labourers made the best of their Way to what Shelter the Trees and Hedges afforded. Sarah was frightened, and fell down in a Swoon on a Heap of Barley: John, who never feparated from her, fat down by her Side, having raked tegether two or three Heaps, the better to fecure her from the Storm. Immediately there was heard fo loud a Crack, as if Heaven had split afunder; every one was folicitous for the Safety of his Neighbour, and called to one another throughout the Field. No Anfwer being returned to those who called to our Lovers, they stepped to the Place where they lay; they perceived the Barley all in a Smoak, and then fpied this faithful Pair. John with one Arm about Sarah's Neck, and the other held over her, as if to 1kreen her from the Lightening. They were both ftruck ftruck in this tender Pofture. Sarah's left Eyebrow was finged, and there appeared a black Spot on her Breaft; her Lover was all over black, but not the leaft Signs of Life were found in either. Attended by their melancholy Companions, they were conveyed to the Town, and the next Day interred in Stanton Harcourt ChurchYard. My Lord Harcourt, at Mr Pope's and my Requeit, has caused a Stone to be placed over them, upon Condition that we should furnish the Epitaph, which is as follows: When Eaftern Lovers feed the Funeral Fire, But my Lord is apprehenfive the Country People will not understand this; and Mr. Pope fays he'll make one with fomething of Scripture in it, and with as little Poetry as Hopkins and Sternhold. I am, &c. LETTER II. The following most charming and affectionate Letter, univerfally admired, was written by Mr. Pope, to the BiShop of Rochester, about a Month before his Banish ment. ON NCE more I write to you, as I promised, and this once I fear will be the laft; the Curtain will foon be drawn between my Friend and me, and nothing left but to wifh you a long good Night, may you enjoy a State of Repofe in this Life, not unlike that Sleep of the Soul which fome have believed is to fucceed it, where we lie utterly forgetful of that World from which we are gone, and ripening for that to which we are to go. If you retain any Memory of the paft, let it only image to you what has pleafed you beft; fometimes prefent a Dream of an abfent Friend, or bring you back an agreeable Converfation. But I upon upon the Whole, I hope you will think lefs of the Time paft than of the future; as the former has been lefs kind to you than the latter infallibly will be. Do not envy the World your Studies; they will tend to the Benefit of Men, against whom you can have no Complaint, I mean of all Pofterity: And perhaps at your Time of Life, nothing elfe is worth your Care. What is every Year of a wife Man's Life, but a Cenfure or Critic on the paft? Those whofe Date is the fhorteft, live long enough to laugh at one Half of it: The Boy defpites the Infant, the Man the Boy, the Philofopher both, and the Chriftian all. You may now begin to think your Manhood was too much a Puerility; and you will never fuffer your Age to be but a fecond Infancy. The Toys and Baubles of your Childhood are hardly now more below you, than thofe Toys of our riper and our declining Years, the Drums and Rattles of Ambition, and the Dirt and Bubbles of Avarice. At this Time, when you are cut off from a little Society, and made a Citizen of the World at large, you fhould bend your Talents not to ferve a Party, or a few, but all Mankind. Your Genius thould mount above that Mift, in which its Participation and Neighbourhood with Earth hath long involved it: To thine abroad and to Heaven, ought to be the Bufinefs and the Glory of your prefent Situation. Remember it was at fuch a Time that the greateft Lights of Antiquity dazzled and blazed the moft; in their Retreat, in • their Exile, or in their Death: But why do I talk of dazzling or blazing? it was then that they did good, that they gave Light, and that they became Guiders to Mankind. Thofe Aims alone are worthy of Spirits truly great, and fuch I therefore hope will be yours. Refentment indeed may remain, perhaps cannot be quite extinguished, in the nobleft Minds; but Revenge will never harbour there: Higher Principles than thofe of the first, and better Principles than thofe of the latter, will infallibly influence Men whofe Thoughts and whofe Hearts are enlarged, and caule them to prefer the whole to any Part of Mankind, especially to fo fmall a Part as one's fingle felf. Believe |