to injure? Salter's character is too well known to admit of much discussion; but it is an unfortunate necessity that may compel some one to rake into his grave. Whatever becomes of his veracity, his judgment rendered his reports far from indisputable; and his mental powers were far from excellent. Surely all this requires some little softening and apology; which I think may be done with an equal display of that ingenuous regard for truth which is so justly commended in Mr. Parker. I think also it may be done without injury to the memory of Dr. Salter, some way thus:

"The sudden warmth excited by an unkind and undeserved censure upon us, we fear has led to an unguarded statement in p. 157. Far from wishing to give undue weight to the oral report of Dr. Salter-who (as all men are liable to err) may inaccurately have remembered letters which he only perused, and never copied; and of which, after a lapse of many years, he thought he recollected the general purport, for it does not appear that he even retained the particular expressions-we desire not to fix on the memory of Swift any disreputable censure from said Report. All this a regard for justice and a love of truth incline us candidly to state to the public, and to leave them to judge of the evidence impartially.*

"Something like this, but better expressed, in your own manner, I think will do you great honour, and is certainly, in my humble opinion, a matter of duty.

"I understand that the many offensive Notes in the Tatler, Spectator, &c. (especially the Socinian attack on Christ's divinity, so absurdly introduced into Spect. 5, No. 327, 8vo., No. 291, Guardian, vol. II. 8vo. p. 43, &c. &c.) are raising a good deal of ferment, of which the proprietors may hear further, and which may probably be prevented or allayed by cancelling such pages as contain any Notes relating to the Controversy with the Dissenters, &c. before the proprietors are applied to in form about them. In which case I should point out some of them; † particularly the illiberal treatment of poor Miss * Mr. Nichols adopted Bishop Percy's suggestion; and these remarks on Dr. Salter appear in Gent. Mag. for 1790, p. 352.

+ In a rough draft of this letter the Bishop adds: "The names of many of my respectable friends are made answerable for little, trifling, petty anecdotes, that were not necessary to be supported by living vouchers; as in the account of Farquhar's Recruiting Officer,' a most respectable clergyman of Shrewsbury (the Rev. Mr. Blakeway), is made to answer by name for the application of the dramatis persone to families of note near that town. [The authority for Mr. Blakeway's application of the dramatis personæ in

Addison,* in vol. VI. No. 235, which is rendered still more injurious in the new 8vo. edition. I know a good deal of that poor lady, who, with every amiable quality, has been the object of compassion all her life, from severe fits, which have kept her a recluse in Warwickshire. I know a woman who had been many years in her service about her person, and she used to tell me, that the great support and consolation of the unhappy lady under her sufferings was the reflection on her father's shining talents and genius, and the pleasing perusal of his writings. This at least was thirty years ago; and now this poor lady cannot open her favourite Spectator without receiving a horrible stab to wound her fame and her peace! Surely this is diabolical cruelty. If the Annotator had consulted the feelings of humanity, he would have made a handsome apology for what had inadvertently escaped him in the first edition, and have removed whatever was offensive in the second edition; but he even aggravates the offence, by printing the passage in italics in the 8vo. edition.

"With regard to myself, I have not escaped much better; for (not to mention the wanton insertion of my respectable friends by name, as vouchers for any little anecdote they candidly imparted, &c.) in order to curry favour with the Minister (Mr. Pitt), by an affected zeal for his family (risum teneatis?) he undertakes to confute a charge which was never made in this world; and he is so good as to insinuate that I had first admitted the said charge, viz. that the vicious Aurungzebe, in the Tatler, was the famous Governor Pitt, who possessed the great diamond. I solemnly protest I never (so far as I recollect) even heard the imputation: I always heard that it was one of the persons whom he mentions, in a note, I think, in the Guardian, 8vo. edit. Such is the treatment I have met with from the Annotator; who has utterly spoiled the the "Recruiting Officer," was his own letter, printed in vol. V. of Literary Illustrations, p. 644.-N.] The names of Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hailes) and of John Orlebar (late Commissioner of the Excise, a most respectable gentleman), are treated with as little ceremony.-T. D."

She

Miss Addison died at Bilton, near Rugby, in the spring of 1797. Her character having been erroneously given in Gent. Mag. 1797, p. 256, a Correspondent, who signs H. R. in p. 385, gives a fair and just account of her. She was the only daughter of Addison by the Countess of Warwick. was born in London, and educated in Queen Square, and afterwards had a house of her own in Burleigh Street. Her memory was strong, but not marvellous; her understanding was good, but not great. She was fond of perusing her father's writings; and spoke French fluently. She was very deaf, but possessed her faculties tolerably well to the last part of her long life.

work, by making it the vehicle of petty malevolence and controversial bigotry, &c.; so that I think if my name should be mentioned concerning him or it, I hope you will vindicate me from any knowledge of his proceedings, as one who never was consulted by him in any one instance during his progress in the business, and also imagined he would, under your guidance, have avoided every thing that was illiberal or offensive, and simply have endeavoured to explain the obscure passages, as other commentators, &c. do in like undertakings; and that I myself have reason to complain as much as any body.

"I write all this in perfect confidence, and rely upon your probity, that I am not mentioned even on that or any other occasion without my consent and permission. With best compliments to you and yours (allow me to assume this signature for fear of miscarriage), I am, dear Sir, very truly yours, INCOG."

Mr. NICHOLS to Bishop PERCY. "MY GOOD Lord, April 30, 1790. "Perfectly sensible of your Lordship's kindness, and well aware that your advice is judicious, I have made use of the paragraph this month on the subject of Swift, and thank your Lordship for the hint. The wanton provocation in the Reliques,' you will allow, was sufficiently great to excite some warmth.

"With the new edition of the Tatler' and 'Spectator,' I had so little concern, that I neither printed them, nor saw the proof sheets. In the first edition I struck out abundantly, and have only to regret that I did not strike out much more. You knew perfectly our friend's religious prejudices, and his general attachment to whatever notions he once takes up. The edition is not large (only 750 copies), and the booksellers are now at liberty to expunge or reform whatever may be pointed out amiss.

"I have just purchased an invaluable copy of the Tale of a Tub, formerly Lady Betty Germain's, with MS.

notes.

"Your Lordship asks for Mr. Pinkerton's proper address. He lives in Mansfield-place, Kentish Town.

"Mr. Hoole is at present at No. 28, Pall Mall; but after this week will be at Abinger, near Dorking. "I am, your Lordship's greatly obliged and faithful humble servant, J. NICHOLS."

*Dr. Calder.

Bishop PERCY to Mr. NICHOLS.

"DEAR SIR, "Ecton, Sept. 18, 1800. "I have been inquiring of the editor of the British Critic' when justice would be done to your meritorious labours, and am concerned to find that, although the review of your third volume was finished before the end of last month, it cannot appear sooner than in the British Critic for October. But Mr. Nares has expressed so much regard for you, and assigned reasons which dispose me to acquiesce in the delay, so that we must excuse him. The interest I take in the work as a Leicestershire freeholder, and my personal regard for the public-spirited author, must be my excuse for giving you this trouble, who, I hope, will believe me to be very truly, dear Sir, your faithful and obedient servant, THO. DROмore. "P.S. My kind respects to my kinsman, your Son. Be pleased to tell Mr. Rivington, that the fourth volume of the Reliques, by my nephew, is obliged to be postponed."

Mr. NICHOLS to Bishop PERCY.

"MY GOOD Lord, Sept. 20, 1800. "This earliest opportunity is taken of acknowledging your kind letter of the 18th, and of thanking your Lordship for its contents. I am fully sensible of the favour. Your Lordship's message shall be communicated to Mr. Rivington, who has forwarded the three books for Edinburgh as directed, and has sent the volume you so kindly presented to my young daughter.

servant,

"I am your Lordship's greatly obliged and very faithful J. NICHOLS. "My Son feels much honoured by your Lordship's condescending remembrance of him.”

Bishop PERCY to Mr. NICHOLS.

Dromore House, Dec. 15, 1801.

"DEAR SIR, "As I wish that your valuable Miscellany should be the repository of every thing that is ingenious or curious, I send you the inclosed, which I received from my poetical neighbour Mr. Stott; and wishing it should be transmitted to you in his handwriting, with a few additions, which I know he will excuse (as I hope you will

* This alludes to an able and kind review of the " History of Leicestershire," in the British Critic for 1800, by Bp. Percy. See Literary Illustrations, vol. VII. p. 589.

† An article signed "Normannus," in defence of the Protestant Loyalists of Ireland, inserted in Gent. Mag. 1801, p. 1174.

the erasures, &c.) I have altered his address from myself to Mr. Urban.

66

"I am, with compliments and best wishes of the season. to you and your family, dear Sir, your faithful servant, "THO. DROMORE."

Mr. NICHOLS to BISHOP PERCY.

Dec. 13, 1808.

"MY DEAR LORD, "The kind solicitude you have at all times expressed for my welfare, and the friendly interest which you have taken in the concerns of my family, are indelibly impressed on my tenderest feelings. And I more particularly thank your Lordship for the generous intentions in your last, respecting my unfortunate loss in the History of Leicestershire' a loss, in that work alone, of not less than £5000 !

"Much indeed do I lament that your Lordship has not the whole of the volumes already published. Five of the Parts can never be reprinted. Of the Sixth I shall print 100 copies, as a small return of gratitude to the friends who have so liberally stepped forward to assist the expenses of the Seventh. These two last portions therefore (the Hundreds of Guthlaxton and Sparkenhoe) I hope to send to your Lordship, or to Mr. Isted.

"I am also to acknowledge the goodness of your Lordship in permitting Mr. Boyd to shew me the curious documents respecting the poor maniac Ritson-and the edition of Goldsmith.

"The copy of Surrey's Poems,' which was so fortunately preserved by being on a shelf in my dwelling-house, with a copy of Buckingham's Works,' as far as originally printed, and another of the 'Additions' printed by me, will be presented to your Lordship by Mr. Boyd. The melancholy fate of these valuable works adds considerably to my own personal anxieties.

"For more than ten years I had deposited them in a separate warehouse, which I hired for that express purpose, till the landlord wanting the room compelled me to pack them again in my own warehouses, from which not a single volume of any description whatever was preserved. But the subject is too dismal to dwell upon. I will not therefore further wound your Lordship's sensibility, but conclude, with the assurance that I am most truly, &c.

"J. NICHOLS."