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all motives) to the aid of reformation. Every vicious man makes the cafe his own; and that is the only way by which fuch men can be affected, much less deterr'd. So that to chaftife, is to reform. The only fign by which I found my writings ever did any good, or had any weight, has been that they rais'd the anger of bad. men. And my greatest comfort, and encouragement. to proceed, has been to fee, that thofe who have no fhame, and no fear of any thing elfe, have appear'd touch'd by my Satires.

As to your kind concern for my Safety, I can guess. what occafions it at this time. Some Characters * I have drawn are fuch, that, if there be any who deferve them, 'tis evidently a fervice to mankind to point. those men out; yet fuch as, if all the world gave them, none, I think, will own they take to themfelves. But if they should, thofe of whom all the world think in fuch a manner, must be.men I cannot fear. Such in. particular as have the meanness, to do mifchiefs in the dark, have feldom the courage to justify them in the face of day; the talents that make a Cheat or a Whifperer, are not the fame that qualify a man for an Infulter; and as to private villainy, it is not fo fafe to join in an Affaffination, as in a Libelt. I will confuit my fafety fo far as I think becomes a prudent man; but not fo far as to omit any thing which I think becomes an honest one. As to perfonal attacks beyond. the law, every man is liable to them as for danger.

The Character of Sporus in the Epiftle to Dr Arbuthnot.
Sce the following Letter to a noble Lord..

within the law, I am not guilty enough to fear any. For the good opinion of all the world, I know, it is not to be had: for that of worthy men, I hope, I fhall not forfeit it: for that of the Great, or those in power, I may wish I had it; but if thro' misrepresentations (too common about perfons in that station) I have it not, I fhall be forry, but not miferable in the want of it.

It is certain, much freer Satirifts than I, have enjoy'd the encouragement and protection of the Princes under whom they lived. Auguftus and Mecenas made Horace their companion, though he had been in arms on the fide of Brutus; and, allow me to remark, it was out of the fuffering Party too, that they favour'd and distinguish'd Virgil. You will not suspect me of comparing myfelf with Virgil and Horace, nor even with another Court favourite, Boileau *. I have always been too modeft to imagine my Panegyrics were Incenfe worthy of a Court; and that, I hope, will be thought the true reason why I have never offer'd any. I would only have obferv'd, that it was under the greatest Princes and beft Ministers, that moral Satirifts were most encouraged; and that then Poets exercised the fame jurifdiction over the Follies, as Hiftorians did over the Vices of men. It may alfo be worth confidering, whether Auguftus himself makes the greater figure in the writings of the former, or of the latter? and whether Nero and Domitian do not appear as ridiculous for their falfe Tafte and Affectation, in Perfi

* See Letter c 111. to Mr Warburton.

us and Juvenal, as odious for their bad Government in Tacitus and Suetonius? In the first of these reigns it was, that Horace was protected and carefs'd; and in the latter that Lucan was put to death, and Juvenal banish'd.

I would not have faid fo much, but to fhew you my whole heart on this fubject; and to convince you, I am deliberately bent to perform that Requeft which you make your last to me, and to perform it with Temper, Justice, and Refolution. As your Approbation (being the testimony of a found head and an honeft heart) does greatly confirm me herein, I wish you. may live to see the effect it may hereafter have upon me, in something more deferving of that approbation. But if it be the Will of God, (which, I know, will alfo be yours) that we must separate, I hope it will be better for You than it can be for me. You are fitter to live, or to die, than any man I know. Adieu, my dear friend! and may God preserve your life easy, or make your death happy *.

*This excellent perfon died Feb. 27. 1734-5.

The CHARACTER of

KATHARINE,

LATE

Duchefs of Buckinghamshire and Normanby.

By the late Mr POPE.

HE was the daughter of James the second, and of

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the Countess of Dorchester, who inherited the Integrity and Virtue of her father with happier fortune. She was married first to James earl of Anglefey; and, fecondly, to John Sheffield duke of Buckinghamshire and Normanby; with the former fhe exercised the virtues of Patience and Suffering, as long as there was any hopes of doing good by either; with the latter all other Conjugal virtues. The man of fineft fenfe and. fharpeft difcernment, fhe had the happiness to please; and in that, found her only pleasure. When he died, it seemed as if his spirit was only breathed into her, to fulfil what he had begun, to perform what he had concerted, and to preferve and watch over what he had left, his only fon; in the care of whofe Health, the forming of whofe Mind, and the improvement of whose Fortune, fhe acted with the conduct and fenfe of the Father, foften'd, but not overcome, with the tendernefs of the Mother Her Understanding was such as must have made a figure, had it been in a man; but

the modefty of her sex threw a veil over its luftre, which nevertheless fupprefs'd only the expreffion, not the exertion of it; for her Senfe was not fuperior to her Refolution, which, when once he was in the right, preferv'd her from making it only a tranfition to the wrong, the frequent weakness even of the best women. She often followed wife counfel, but fometimes went before it, always with fuccefs. She was poffeffed of a fpirit, which affifted her to get the better of thofe ac. cidents which admitted of any redress, and enabled her to fupport outwardly, with decency and dignity, thofe which admitted of none; yet melted inwardly, through almost her whole life, at a fucceffion of 'melancholy and affecting objects, the lofs of all her Children, the misfortunes of Relations and Friends, public and private, and the death of those who were deareft to her. Her heart was as compaffionate as it was great: her Affections warm even to folicitude: her 'Friendship not violent or jealous, but rational and perfevering: her Gratitude equal and constant to the living; to the dead boundless and heroical. What perfon foever she found worthy of her efteem, the would not give up for any power on earth; and the greatest on earth whom he could not esteem, obtain'd from her no farther tribute than Decency. Her Good-will was wholly directed by merit, not by accident; not measured by the regard they profefs'd for her own defert, but by her idea of theirs: And as there was no merit which she was not able to imitate, there was none which fhe could envy; therefore her Converfa

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