I wish Lord Northumberland would also become a planter there; and I will undertake, with 30,000l., to put his Lordship in possession of an estate, which, in a few years, by my management, shall nett him between four and five thousand a year. Would not this be a noble provision for a younger son? Could his Lordship be prevailed upon to think seriously of this affair, I will quit my profession here, and devote the whole of my time to his service, and he shall have any security he may judge necessary for my faithfully discharging my duty.

"I have laid aside all thoughts of purchasing on the Neutral Islands, because, I am persuaded, the first adventurers there will all be ruined. Don't you recollect to have read some queries relative to those islands in the English newspapers? They are of my writing, and contributed not a little to open people's eyes with regard to the disadvantageous mode of their settlement.

"I am, at present, wholly undetermined, whether I shall continue in the West Indies or return to England. What my brother left me is not sufficient to maintain my family without business; and, I do not know how far I should be able to get into any, should I again make London the place of my abode. It is certain I can not only live here, but also save some small matter yearly by my profession. But then I am lost, murdered, for want of company, and with all my sweat I never can expect to make an independent fortune by physic. Pray write me your sentiments on this head."

"DEAR PERCY,

Dec. 4, 1766, Basseterre, St. Kitt's.

"I have not had the pleasure of receiving one single line from you these eight months, although I have wrote you two pretty long letters (at least for one of my avowed laziness in writing) during that period. Indeed they both went by out-port ships, one by Bristol and the other by Liverpool; and therefore they may never have come to your hand. This, however, I know will, as it goes by my old friend Capt. Calfe, by whom I now send you a fat West India barrow, fed chiefly on sugar cane, two pots of sweetmeats, a bottle of Cayenne pepper, and a carved cocoa-nut. If he does not send to you at Northumberland House, you will be sure to hear of him at Lloyd's.

"I congratulate you again on the success of your 'Ancient Ballads;' though great, it is not more than they

deserve, and I sincerely rejoice with you on the occasion. How came it about that no notice was taken of the Sugar Cane in the last year's Register? Dr. Cullen writes me from Edinburgh, that it has been greatly applauded at Paris by the authors of the Gazette Litteraire de l'Europe. Have you seen their work? They are patronised by the ministry, and therefore may be impartial.

"I am truly pleased to find that our old friend Mr. Lye* has been at last encouraged to give his great work to the public; and I beg that you will take care to have my name inserted among his subscribers. Whatever you advance on that score shall be thankfully repaid.

"Friend Samuel † has indeed been abused; but has he succeeded much better than some of his predecessors? I have lost my own subscription for Shakespeare, but Mr. Johnson will readily let me have the book upon your applying to him for me.

"I have not seen Miss Williams's Miscellany. Books of that kind seldom visit these islands. Magazines, newspapers, and the Court Register are the sum total of our reading here. I hope she had a numerous subscription. If I am not mistaken I subscribed a great many years ago.

"I have at last got into a house of my own, and I now write you in a library thirty-six feet long and twenty wide. It is at the end of a very pretty little garden, and commands a complete prospect of the bay and beautiful vale of Basseterre, which is, at this moment, more verdant than any English meadow in the_month of May. From this you will easily conclude that I mean to remain some years longer in the torrid zone.

"I have some thoughts of sending to England my eldest daughter next year. Might I presume to recommend her to your and Mrs. Percy's care? I beg you will be explicit with me on the subject, for I well know the importance of the favour I ask of you. She is a charming child, and I hope will be a comfort to me in my old age.‡

"For God's sake what is become of poor James White? *The Rev. Edward Lye, vicar of Yardley Hastings, near Castle Ashby, and a neighbour of Mr. Percy, at Easton Mauduit. His great work was his Saxon Dictionary, of which he lived to see only 30 sheets printed, as he died Aug. 16, 1767, in his 73d year; but that valuable work was completed and published by his friend the Rev. Owen Manning in 1772. See Literary Anecdotes, IX. 751-753.

† Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Dr. Grainger survived the writing of this letter only twelve days.

I, in vain, endeavoured to get a living for him here. What does he do? How does he live? One Mr. Woodley comes out here our General in the spring of the year. Perhaps your great friends may know him. Would to God he were settled in this island!

"If Lord or Lady Northumberland are curious in West India productions, I should think myself highly honoured in executing their commands. My wife joins in love to Mrs. Percy and the children; and I am, as usual, dear Percy, "Your friend,

"JAS. GRAINGER. "Rev. Thomas Percy, Northumberland House, London.”

Mrs. GRAINGER to Dr. PERCY.

Exeter, Jan. 27, 1771.

"DEAR SIR, “**** I fear you never will forgive me were I not to let you know the likeness of dear Dr. Grainger is in a picture at Sir George Chambers's, painter, in Edinburgh; a circumstance I never heard till very lately. I am sure it cuts me to my very heart and soul that it is not in my power to send for it; nor do I dare to ask for it for my children. ***. Your affectionate friend,

"DANIEL MATHEW GRAINGer."

Mr. ALLEN to Dr. PERCY.

"REVEREND SIR,

London, January 15, 1774. "Your first receipt for Mrs. Percy's pension was readily admitted, and the money accordingly paid. The account you sent me in a former letter relative to Dr. Grainger I got inserted in the Whitehall Evening Post of Thursday last, and for which you have the thanks of many in rescuing from the fangs of detraction the character of so worthy a man, and his surviving family. As I threatened them with a prosecution for defamation, they readily inserted it without any fee. I have reserved two papers for your use, as you desired me. I have this day taken up one of your drafts for £10, the other I expect will be brought in on Monday. I beg mine and Mrs. A's compliments to Mrs. Percy.

"I am, Reverend Sir, your most obedient humble servant, E. ALLEN."*

Mr. Edward Allen was a printer in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and the friend of Dr. Johnson, Bp. Percy, &c. He died Dec. 28, 1780. See Lit. Anecdotes, II. 552, VIII, 417.

Mrs. GRAINGER to Dr. PERCY.

Near Bethun, in Flanders, July 19th, 1779.

"It is impossible, my dear Sir, to express the many obligations I have to you for your many kind acts of friendship to me. Your last letter to me I received, and return you my most grateful thanks for it. Your affection and love for my dear Grainger makes the strongest impression on me, and also the kind and tender account you are so good as to give me of my dear little girl; that she may possess the goodness of her dear father is my daily prayer to Heaven. I beg, good Sir, you will be so kind as to make my most affectionate love to Mrs. Percy, and assure her it is a pleasure to me to hear of her health and your dear children. I showed your kind letter to Mr. Tuite, and I have the satisfaction to tell you it had the desired effect. God forgive Mrs. Canvan; it was very cruel of her. I beg, my dear Sir, once more to ask a favour of you, which is in behalf of my good friend Mr. Tuite. He is a most worthy man, with a large family of children, and but a small fortune to provide for them. He now has four sons, young men, to provide for, and they are very desirous to serve his Majesty; one of them is very fond of going to sea, the other two in the army. As his family is very large and fortune small, it is out of his power to provide for them as he could wish, or as they merit. You are not unacquainted with the very great expense necessary to fit out a young man to make a proper appearance in the world. By your kind recommendation, of them to his grace the Duke, and your other good friends Lord Percy and Lord Algernon, I flatter myself you will be able to provide for them without putting the father to any great expense. The young men in question are just come from college, and the eldest is 22 and the other two 21 and 19; very good young men, robust, and very fond of the service. In such a disagreeable war as we are engaged in at present, I hope my application will be attended with success, as I flatter myself your friendship for me will prompt you to use your interest with the family for the sons of my friend, who I shall be happy, through your means, to be of service to. I beg you to excuse the liberty I take in requesting this favour; but the friendship that you have ever professed for me will, I have no reason to doubt, prove a sufficient excuse

for the liberty. It is now more than two years that I have lived with Mr. Tuite's family, and have experienced from them the utmost friendship and attention. They keep but little company, and that of the very best, and, this I will say, they never go out without me. He has two very fine daughters, young women; the youngest is most beautiful. She is as respectful to me as if I was her mother. I hope, good Sir, to have the pleasure of hearing from you soon, and at the same time some news for my young friends; the one for the sea will be glad to get out as soon as he can. I wish it was in my power to write you something to amuse you; the only thing I have seen that I think you will like to hear is the account of a feast I was at a few weeks ago. The Prince de Ghistelles, a grandee of Spain, of the first class, and a person of distinction in this country, of the house of Melun, and uncle to the Princess of Stalburg, wife to the Prince Charles, (commonly called the Pretender) has given an elegant fête at his chateau. It is a custom in many parts of France for the seigneurs of a village to reward their young parishioners, in order to inspire in them good and virtuous sentiments; for this purpose a feast was instituted by St. Medard, formerly Bishop of Noyon, who was the patron and founder of the Rose of Sulaney, a village near Noyon, in the province of, I am not sure where; you may find his name in the Bede Roll of saints in the Romish calendar. The seigneur or lord of the manor sends for the old men of the village, and begs them to fix on a young woman born of honest parents, remarkable for her prudence and good behaviour, as a proper candidate for the rose. When the choice is made, her cottage is ornamented with festoons of flowers and other rural ornaments, and on the appointed day she is crowned with a wreath of roses, and the seigneur presents her with a silver medal, which she wears pendant to a blue ribbon till the day of marriage. On one side is engraven The Reward of Virtue,' on the reverse the name of the seigneur, and on the day of marriage he makes her a present towards housekeeping. The whole ceremony is formed into an opera, and translated from the French by a gentleman of my acquaintance, which I hope you will soon see represented on the English theatre, under the title of the Rose of Winstay. As a compliment to Sir Watkin Wynne, the author means to dedicate this performance to Lady Wynne. I will now pro