you will write [to] Mr. Millar how it may be sent you, you may command as many copies of it as you think proper. I should also be glad to learn in what manner a copy or two may be forwarded to Mr. Binnel, when I shall write a general apology. My ague still hangs about me, like Care in Horace; but as I am come to Ithaca at least for some weeks, I hope soon to shake it off.

"Direct to me at Blighborough, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire."

"DEAR PERCY, Walbrook, Jan, 10, 1759. "Having been longer detained in Lincolnshire than I expected, I did not receive your letter till lately, and since my arrival in town have been so wholly engrossed in little affairs of my own, that I had it not in my power sooner to sit down and thank you for the packet you sent inclosed. Last night I compared it accurately with the original, and was amazed to find it so exact, and at the same time so flowing and easy. What little inaccuracies I observed, or imagined I observed, I have sent you, and you may make what use of them you think proper. On Saturday last Millar waited on me, to tell me that our book was not condemned by the best judges; but Smollett has been at it in the Critical Review. He has a personal pique to me, which upon this occasion has betrayed him into many false criticisms, delivered in very illiberal expressions. My friends strongly solicit me to expose him, to which I have no other objection than the entering the lists with so unmannerly an adversary. Perhaps, however, I may give him a drubbing, which, if I stoop to, he shall remember it, and yet my severity even then will be somewhat abated, as he has allowed your vid's Elegy to be a good translation. The Notes the Doctor in particular falls foul of, calling them a parcel of learned trash. This has somewhat provoked me, for he has not excepted those which our friend† sent me from this general condemnation, which may give you a specimen of Smollett's abilities. I will readily grant him, that some of those now printed might be spared, and that some of the remainder might be shortened; but to pass a general anathema on them all was insufferable. I believe all Mr. Binnel's notes are marked; I cannot find one that is not. I wrote [to] that gentleman, and hope to hear from him at his leisure. Mr. Shenstone had a copy sent him; but, not having heard

* Version of Ovid's Epistle.

† Mr. Binnel.

from him, I do not know whether he received it. I am much his humble servant for the kind things he has wrote of Mr. Luard and me, and you may assure him that his conversation afforded me more pleasure than even the Leasowes, though that I esteem an earthly paradise. I presume his Miscellany is to consist wholly of his own things. I shall long to see it. You must pardon me if I have not yet called upon Osborn; but the truth is, as I said before, that I have not yet had a spare half-hour since I got here. I have considered your Lady's case; but you have no reason to apprehend bad consequences from it. Please make my compliments, and tell her, if you think proper, that I hope yet to see her surrounded by young Ovids and buxom Sulpicias? We do not We do not go abroad till April. Pray could you not spare one ten days to your friends in London before we set sail. Your barber lives in Lothbury, near St. Lawrence's church, and is

called Saint André.

"Doddy's Play I have not seen, but I read it last summer, and then it really made me weep. The fable, to be sure, is not unexceptionable, but it must and has raised pity. All the women love it."

"MY DEAR FRIEND, Walbrook, Feb. 17, 1759. "I have spoken both to Millar and Dodsley about Ovid, but neither of them seems inclined to make a purchase of the work. I doubt not, however, but that either of them would readily print the Epistles, and become joint partners with you in profit and loss. Perhaps, too, this would be your most profitable scheme, as I am confident your book, whenever it appears, will cut out both Dryden, and Barrett, who is neither a poet nor lover. Dodsley thinks well of the Novel,§ and I hope I shall bring him

* "Afterwards Mrs. Percy. She had a complaint in her breast." + Cleone, a tragedy, by Robert Dodsley; acted at Covent Garden in 1758. "Cleone was well acted by all the characters, but Miss Bellamy left nothing to be desired. I went the first night and supported it as well as I might; for Doddy, you know, is my patron, and I would not desert him. The play was very well received. Doddy, after the danger was over, went every night to the stage aside, and cried at the distress of poor Cleone." Dr. Johnson to B. Langton, 9th Jan. 1759.

Rev. Stephen Barrett, the friend of Dr. Johnson and Cave. He was master of Ashford School and rector of Hothfield in Kent, and died Nov. 26, 1801, aged 82. He was a learned writer of Latin verses, but was not considered fortunate in his translation of "Ovid's Epistles into English verse." See Literary Anecdotes, vol. IX. 672; and Gent. Mag, vol. LXXI. § Hau Kiou Choan, a Chinese History.

to bargain with you for it: next week I shall show him the specimen. Let me know what you expect for your labour.

"I propose leaving with you, my dear friend, a corrected copy of all my poems, to be disposed of as you shall think proper, in case I die abroad. I am confident you will never allow any thing of mine to see the light which might hurt my reputation with posterity. Tay and Earn are the two rivers, and Pitkethly is the fountain. Your other queries I must reserve."

"DEAR PERCY,

Walbrook, March 31, 1759.

"I am half dead with fatigue and low spirits. My books were all sent off this morning for Mr. Johnson's, so that at present I write to you in a chamber with no company but myself, and that, I assure you, is far from being agreeable. The nearer the hour of my departure approaches the more I find myself depressed. It gives pain to a social mind even to leave the hovel to which it has long been accustomed; what then must I feel upon leaving that earthly paradise London, where I have passed so many pleasing days and nights. Besides, my dear friend, I cannot expect to hear from you and my other literary correspondents above twice a-year, and then your letters will be subject to sea-accidents, &c. Inclosed you have Ovid's Epistles of Hero and Leander. Pray let them undergo your own correction and that of your friends, particularly Messrs. Shenstone and Binnel. As Ovid has done justice to these illustriously unfortunate lovers, I would wish to treat them with particular marks of distinction. It is not in my power to write out for you the poems you desire; but you shall have them from St. Kitt's. All happiness attend you and the beauteous Miss G. with whom I yet hope to pass some agreeable afternoons. I am hopeful change of life will render the use of my prescription less important for my fair patient, for whose health and felicity I am truly solicitous. Pray, Percy, make my compliments agreeable to her; and when you can think of me without being disloyal to her charms, remember me. All your packets to me must be sent to Mr. Luard's, in Copthall Court, Throgmorton Street; but as I do not leave London before Thursday, you may once more direct to me as usual.

"Yours, wherever I am,

"J.G."

"DEAR PERCY, Walbrook, Ap. 9, 1759. "In one short half hour I set out for Portsmouth, and if the wind continues fair we shall, in a few days, be plying in the Great Atlantic Ocean. This, therefore, comes to bid you, my dear friend, and Miss G. adieu, and I sincerely pray that every happiness the married state is capable of may attend your purposed union. I am no very violent friend to matrimony, yet, I think, without any pretences to divination, I may foretell your felicity. Pray remember, I am to stand godfather to a young Percy; though I think a combination of the two names, as it is not very probable I shall take any one now for better for worse, would still be better. Grainger-Percy, though it does not sound well, yet requires a masculine pronunciation, and suits the descendant of a northern race very well. Inclosed you have your two Epistles. Do not think of giving Ovid up. If you abandon him, I shall suspect that marriage has made you sick of love matters. You shall have the poems I promised you, eum zephyris et hirundine prima. Pray send me those poems of yours which you said you would send me; they must now come by the packet, or you may direct them for me at Mr. Luard's, in Copthall Court. Pray for my good voyage: the prayers of the righteous, the Scripture says, avail much.

"Yours, &c.

J. G. "When you write next to Mr. Shenstone or Mr. Binnel, assure them of the real satisfaction their esteem gives me. I hope we shall all meet together yet, when, perhaps, by way of variety, I may be able to entertain you with the American warhoop-rare harmony!"

(Copy.)

Dr. JAMES GRAINGER to Mr. BURT.

"I readily allow you that I am not worthy of your sister; but, Sir, I do not make this concession for the same reasons that may induce you to think me unworthy of her. Far be it from me to put myself upon a footing with the wealthy and the great! God knows, I am neither; but, since you have insinuated at a disparity, I

will for once so far master my modesty as to draw a comparison between you, Sir, the head of my wife's family, and her husband. You are the son of a Nevis planter, I am the son of a gentleman of Cumberland; your father was rescued from ruin by marrying into a rich and illustrious family; my father was ruined by his own extravagance, and that of his wives. You, Sir, was intended for the practice of physic, but before you well knew to mount a glyster-bag, you ran away from your master, and went to the West Indies. After being three years at the University, I was bound to an eminent surgeon-apothecary. I served my time out, and was then honoured with a commission in the army, where the King styled me Gentleman. I made the tour of Europe, and became a Licentiate of the College of Physicians, London, and have now the honour of being a Fellow of that of Edinburgh. On whose side does the preference lie? who has the best title to the name of gentleman of education, rank, or character? By the death of your father you became possessed of a plantation which your mother brought into your family, and which being left to you, left the rest of your family not greatly above want. I, when I sold out of the army, had but a few hundreds; but then I had experience of my business, I was known to understand it, there was no fear but I should always be able to live by it. My medical science was subject to no invasion, no beasts, no hurricanes, no villanous attornies, or more villanous agents. Who has the preference here? But, as manners as well as education constitute the gentleman, however loath, I must also here make a comparison. I defy candour to fix one crime upon me, it may fix many peccadilloes. These I repent not of, they were glorious deviations from the received rules of selfish discretion. I espoused the cause of my friend with too much warmth. Have you done so ? I have written, nay what is worse, have published rhymes. Can you do the same? I know you. Your treatment from me depends upon yourself. I had my information from no mercenary scribbler. What you know of me you must have heard from Smollett, the corrupted reservoir of intelligence. In what, then, am I your inferior? on whose side should objections rise to my marrying your sister? But, though I have made this parallel, I still own myself undeserving of your sister. She is all perfection;