whom his club had long been at variance. I shall end this account with a letter to him from Pope and Gay, in which they endeavour to hasten him to finish that production. « DEAR SIR, «London, March 18. « I must own I have long owed you a letter, but you must own, you have owed me one a good deal longer. Besides, I have but two people in the whole kingdom of Ireland to take care of; the Dean and you: but you have several who complain of your neglect in England. Mr Gay complains, Mr Harcourt complains, Mr Jervas complains, Dr Arbuthnot complains, my Lord complains; I complain. (Take notice of this figure of iteration, when you make your next sermon.) Some say you are in deep discontent at the new turn of affairs; others, that you are so much in the archbishop's good graces, that you will not correspond with any that have seen the last Ministry. Some affirm you have quarrelled with Pope (whose friends they observe daily fall from him on account of his satirical and comical disposition); others, that you are insinuating yourself into the opinion of the ingenious Mr What-do-yecall-him. Some think you are preparing your sermons for the press; and others, that you will transform them into essays and moral discourses. But the only excuse that I will allow, is your attention to the Life of Zoilus. The frogs already seem to croak for their transportation to England, and are sensible how much that Doctor is cursed and hated, who introduced their species into your, nation; therefore, as you dread the wrath of St Patrick, send them hither, and rid the kingdom of those pernicious and loquacious animals. << I have at length received your poem out of Mr Ad dison's hands, which shall be sent as soon as you order it, and in what manner you shall appoint. I shall in the mean time give Mr Tooke a packet for you, consisting of divers merry pieces. Mr Gay's new farce, Mr Burnet's letter to Mr Pope, Mr Pope's Temple of Fame, Mr Thomas Burnet's Grumbler on Mr Gay, and the Bishop of Ailsbury's Elegy, written either by Mr Cary or some other hand. « Mr Pope is reading a letter; and in the mean time, I make use of the pen to testify my uneasiness in not hearing from you. I find success, even in the most trivial things, raises the indignation of Scribblers: for I, for my Whatd'ye-call-it, could neither escape the fury of Mr Burnet, or the German Doctor; then where will rage end, when Homer is to be translated? Let Zoilus hasten to your friend's assistance, and envious criticism shall be no more. I am in hopes that we may order our affairs so as to meet this summer at the Bath; for Mr Pope and myself have thoughts of taking a trip thither. You shall preach, and we will write lampoons; for it is esteemed as great an honour to leave the Bath for fear of a broken head, as for a Terræ Filius of Oxford to be expelled. I have no place at court; therefore, that I may not entirely be without one every where, show that I have a place in your remembrance. « Homer will be published in three weeks.» I cannot finish this trifle without returning my sincerest acknowledgments to Sir John Parnell, for the generous assistance he was pleased to give me, in furnishing me with many materials, when he heard I was about writing the life of his uncle; as also to Mr and Mrs Hayes, relations of our poet; and to my very good friend Mr Stevens, who, being an ornament to letters himself, is very ready to assist all the attempts of others. |