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of liberty so well against a perpetual dictator.* The Whigs are unwilling to be distanced this way, and therefore design a present to the same Cato very speedily; in the mean time they are getting ready as good a sentence as the former on their side: so betwixt them, it is probable that Cato (as Dr. Garth expressed it) may have something to live upon, after he dies. I am your, &c.

LETTER VII.

FROM SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL.

Easthamstead, Feb. 22, 1714-15.

I AM sensibly obliged, dear Sir, by your kind present of the Temple of Fame, into which you are already entered, and I dare prophesy for once (though I am not much given to it) that you will continue there, with those,

Who ever new, not subject to decays,

Spread and grow brighter with the length of days.

There was nothing wanting to complete your obliging remembrance of me, but your accompanying it with your poem; your long absence being much the severest part of the winter. I am truly sorry that your time, which you can employ so much better, should be spent in the drudgery of

* Alluding to the Duke of Marlborough; who had displayed considerable earnestness in obtaining a patent to appoint him Captain-General for life. V. Coxe's Life D. of Marl.vol. v. p. 116.

* correcting the printers; for as to what you have done yourself, there will nothing of that nature be necessary. I wish you could find a few minutes' leisure to let me hear from you sometimes, and to acquaint me how your Homer draws on towards a publication, and all things relating thereunto.

I intreat you to return my humble service to Mr. Jervas. I still flatter myself that he will take an opportunity, in a proper season, to see us, and review his picture, and then to alter some things so as to please himself; which I know will not be, till every thing in it is perfect; no more than I can be, till you believe me to be with that sincerity and esteem, that I am, and will ever continue, your most faithful friend.

LETTER VIII.

TO SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL.

December 16, 1715.

Ir was one of the Enigmas of Pythagoras, "When the winds rise, worship the echo." A modern writer explains this to signify, "When popular tumults begin, retire to solitudes, or such places where echos are commonly found, rocks, woods, &c." I am rather of opinion it should be interpreted, "When rumours increase, and when there is abundance of noise and clamour, believe the second report." This I think agrees more exactly with the echo, and is the more natural ap

plication of the symbol.* However it be, either of these precepts is extremely proper to be followed at this season; and I cannot but applaud your resolution of continuing in what you call your cave in the forest, this winter; and preferring the noise of breaking ice to that of breaking statesmen, the rage of storms to that of parties, the fury and ravage of floods and tempests, to the precipitancy of some and the ruin of others, which, I fear, will be our daily prospects in London.

I sincerely wish myself with you, to contemplate the wonders of God in the firmament, rather than the madness of man on the earth. But I never had so much cause as now to complain of my poetical star, that fixes me, at this tumultuous time, to attend the jingling of rhymes and the measuring of syllables; to be almost the only trifler in the nation; and as ridiculous as the poet in Petronius, who, while all the rest in the ship were either labouring or praying for life, was scratching his head in a little room, to write a fine description of the tempest.

You tell me, you like the sound of no arms but those of Achilles: for my part I like them as little as any other arms. I listed myself in the battles of Homer, and I am no sooner in war, but, like most other folks, I wish myself out again.

I heartily join with you in wishing quiet to our

* This idea recurs in the correspondence with Mr. Blount, Letter III. These Letters shew the agitation that prevailed during the unhappy commotions in 1715.

native country; quiet in the state, which, like charity in religion, is too much the perfection and happiness of either, to be broken or violated, on any pretence or prospect whatsoever. Fire and sword, and fire and faggot, are equally my aversion. I can pray for opposite parties, and for opposite religions, with great sincerity. I think to be a lover of one's country is a glorious elogy, but I do not think it so great an one as to be a lover of mankind.

I sometimes celebrate you under these denominations, and join your health with that of the whole world; a truly catholic health, which far excels the poor, narrow-spirited, ridiculous healths now in fashion, to this church or that church. Whatever our teachers may say, they must give us leave at least to wish generously. These, dear Sir, are my general dispositions; but, whenever I pray or wish for particulars, you are one of the first in the thoughts and affections of

Your, etc.

LETTER IX.

FROM SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL.

January 19, 1715-16.

SHOULD be ashamed of my long idleness, in not acknowledging your kind advice about Echo, and your most ingenious explanation of it relating to popular tumults, which I own to be

very useful; and yet give me leave to tell you, that I keep myself to a shorter receipt of the same Pythagoras, which is Silence; and this I shall observe, if not the whole time of his discipline, yet at least till your return into this country. I am obliged further to this method, by the most severe weather I ever felt; when, though I keep as near by the fire-side as may be, yet gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis; and often I apprehend the circulation of the blood begins to be stopped. I have further great losses (to a poor farmer) of my poor oxen. Intereunt pecudes, stant circumfusa pruinis Corpora magna boûm, etc.

Pray comfort me if you can, by telling me that your second volume of Homer is not frozen; for it must be expressed very poetically, to say now, that the presses sweat.

I cannot forbear to add a piece of artifice I have been guilty of on occasion of my being obliged to congratulate the birth-day of a friend of mine; when finding I had no materials of my own, I very frankly sent him your imitation of Martial's epigram on Antonius Primus.* This

* Jam numerat placido felix Antonius ævo, etc.

At length my friend (while time with still career
Wafts on his gentle wing his eightieth year)
Sees his past days safe out of fortune's pow'r,
Nor dreads approaching Fate's uncertain hour;
Reviews his life, and in the strict survey
Finds not one moment he could wish away,
Pleas'd with the series of each happy day.

VOL. VIII.

C

Such,

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