obtained in converfation. All fcandal will fure be laid afide, for there can be no fuch disease any more as fpleen in this new Golden age. I am pleafed with the thoughts of feeing nothing but a general good humour when I come up to town; I rejoice in the univerfal riches I hear of, in the thought of their having this effect. They tell me, you was foon content; and that you cared not for fuch an increase as others wished you. By this account I judge you the richest man in the South-Sea, and congratulate you accordingly. I can wish you only an increase of health, for of riches and fame you have enough. Your, etc. LETTER VII. July 20, 1720. YOUR health OUR kind defire to know the state of my had not been unsatisfied fo long, had not that ill state been the impediment. Nor fhould I have feemed an unconcerned party in the joys of your family, which I heard of from Lady Scudamore, whose short Efchantillon of a letter (of a quarter of a page) I value as the short glimpse of a vision afforded to fome devout hermit; for it includes (as those revelations do) a promise of a better life in the Elyfian groves of Cirencester, whither, I could fay almost in the style of a fermon, the Lord bring us all, etc. Thither may we may tend, by various ways, to one blifsful bower: thither E 3 thither may health, peace, and good humour wait upon us as affociates; thither may whole cargoes of nectar, (liquor of life and longevity!) by mortals called Spa-water, be conveyed; and there (as Milton has it) may we, like the deities, On flow'rs repos'd, and with fresh garlands crown'd, When I speak of garlands, I should not forget the green vestments and fcarfs, which your fifters promised to make for this purpose: I expect you too in green, with a hunting-horn by your fide and a green hat, the model of which you may take from Ofborne's defcription of King James the First. What words, what numbers, what oratory, or what poetry, can fuffice to exprefs how infinitely I esteem, value, love, and defire you all, above all the great ones of this part of the world; above all the Jews, jobbers, bubblers, fubfcribers, projectors, directors, governors, treasurers, etc. etc. etc. in faecula faeculo rum. Turn your eyes and attention from this miferable mercenary period; and turn yourself, in a juft contempt of these fons of Mammon, to the contemplation of books, gardens, and marriage; in which I now leave you, and return (wretch that I am) to water-gruel and Palladio. I am, etc. LETTER VIII, FROM MR. DIGBY. Sherburne, July 30. I CONGRATULATE you*, dear Sir, on the return of the Golden age; for fure this must be fuch, in which money is fhowered down in fuch abundance upon us. I hope this overflowing will produce great and good fruits, and bring back the figurative moral Golden age to us. I have fome omens to induce me to believe it may; for when the mufes delight to be near a court, when I find you frequently with a Firstminister, I can't but expect from fuch an intimacy an encouragement and revival of the polite arts. I know, you defire to bring them into honour, above the golden Image which is fet up and worshipped; and, if you cannot effect it, adieu to all fuch hopes. You seem to intimate in yours another face of things from this inundation of wealth, as if beauty, wit, and valour would no more engage our paffions in the pleafurable pursuit of them, though affifted by this increase: If fo, and if monsters only as various as those of Nile arife from this abundance, who that has any spleen about him will not hafte to town to laugh? What will become of the play-house? who will go thither * Written during the delufion of the famous South-Sea scheme. thither while there is fuch entertainment in the streets? I hope we shall neither want good Satire nor Comedy; if we do, the age may well be thought barren of geniufes, for none has ever produced better fubjects. LETTER IX. FROM MR. DIGBY. Your, etc. I Coleshill, Nov. 12, 1720. heart that I have a taint of the cor FIND in my rupt age we live in. I want the public Spirit fo much admired in old Rome, of facrificing every thing that is dear to us to the commonwealth. I even feel a more intimate concern for my friends who have fuffered in the S. Sea, than for the public, which is faid to be undone by it. But, I hope, the reafon is, that I do not fee fo evidently the ruin of the public to be a confequence of it, as I do the lofs of my friends. I fear there are few befides yourself that will be perfuaded by old Hefiod, that half is more than the whole. I know not whether I do not rejoice in your fufferings; fince they have fhewn me your mind is principled with such a sentiment, I affure you I expect from it a performance greater ftill than Homer. * See Note on v. 139. of the fecond Satire, Book ii. of Horace. Homer. I have an extreme joy from your communicating to me this affection of your mind; Quid voveat dulci Nutricula majus alumno? Believe me, dear Sir, no equipage could fhew you to my eye in fo much fplendor. I would not indulge this fit of philofophy fo far as to be tedious to you, elfe I could profecute it with pleasure. I long to fee you, your Mother, and your Villa; till then I will fay nothing of Lord Bathurst's wood, which I faw on my return hither. Soon after Chriftmas I design for London, where I fhall mifs Lady Scudamore very much, who intends to stay in the country all winter. I am angry with her, as I am like to fuffer by this refolution, and would fain blame her, but cannot find a caufe. The man is curfed that has a longer letter than this to write with as bad a pen, yet I can use it with pleasure to fend my services to your good mother, and to write myself, LETTER X. Your, etc. Sept. 1, 1722. DOCTOR Perhaps you OCTOR Arbuthnot is going to Bath, and will ftay there a fortnight or more: would be comforted to have a whether you need him or not. fight of him, I think him as good |