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over to France and deal in our counterfeit argenterie of Wolverhampton. When his wife found this to be the case, she fell into a deep melancholy, and a kind of despair, with terrible hysterics that took away her senses and reason, sometimes so long together, that I thought she would never more come to herself. Twice in these melancholy fits she took laudanum to end her life, and very hardly escaped by my being told of it once, and sus pecting it by her dozing stupidity and change of countenance, and getting a doctor at the next door to give her a strong vomit one time, and by my giving her two of Ward's pills at another. I comforted her all I could, assured her she should not want whilst I had any thing, &c. Thus I saved her life, and persuaded her to send for one of her sisters, to bear her company, and divert her melancholy. She did so, and her sister stayed with her one year, and part of another, and removing to Winchmorehill, where my landlord, Mr. Cooper, had two daughters, as good young women as ever lived, and who were under the same roof with us. Their company quite cured Mrs. Thompson's melancholy. This was no time for love, and all the while I was busy in writing my History, from four or five in the morning till ten at night, without the intermission of above half an hour to my dinner, so that really I had not so much as time to think of it. And I am very sure, if I wanted compurgators, all these persons would take their oaths in favour of my innocence; though they were morning, noon, and night every day in the house, whilst I staid at Winchmore-hill. When I removed to Tarriers, an honest Warwickshire man, son of an old friend, being forced to hide from his creditors, went down with Mrs. Thompson to put that house in order; she sent for another sister, who came, as did Miss Cooper and her sister, married lately to Mr. Bond, a young lawyer, of Took's-court, Cursitor-alley, to pass the vacation with me. This last set went away in October to London, and then a grave widow gentlewoman (the daughter of a Warwickshire clergyman, Mr. Wight, of Arley, who married a sister of Sir J. Woolrich of your county,) being in distress, came and staid there till now; and when I went to town, a young gentleman, about 30, who had served under the Duke of Berwick, well behaved, but in terrible want, so that it had like to have turned his brain, was invited thither by me, and has lain there six months in the house, to guard it and keep the women from their fears; and since I have been here, I am sure I have been busy in writing 12, 14, or 16 hours every day, having transcribed three volumes of 500 pages each in octavo, for the press, one of which is quite printed, a second printing, and the third will be sent to the press at Michaelmas; and in all this time Mrs. Thompson has never lain without her sister, one of the maids, or Mrs. Watkins with her. So that if I am a lover, I am the strangest that ever was, to be perfectly free from jealousy, and to bring needlessly such obstacles to my pleasures. But really I find no disposition that way.

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in myself, having every moment of my time employed. But idle people always judge of others by themselves, and because they cannot do without such amusements, fancy others cannot. I think it very hard, that after having passed all the youthful part of my life without an amour or even courtship, 1 should be suspected of one when I am past fifty; and have been so pressed in time to compose my History, every word of which was wrote after I first began to keep house, and every body about me knows this still to be the case, and yet I am sure no servant about me suspects the least of any such matter, though I have turned away three men-servants purely for their amours. But all this, Mr. Page, my neighbour, and Vicar of Penn, comes from an old gossip, his wife, who died the other day. He married her an old maid of 54, lived with her fourteen years: she came with him to visit Mrs. Thompson, when she came hither and was alone to put the house in order, and visiting her frequently purely to be a visitor in instructing her for settling, his wife took it into her head to be jealous of him with regard to Mrs. Thompson, as she had been before with regard to her own maid, an excellent servant, but the ugliest piece I ever saw. This jealousy made her say something against Mrs. Thompson, particularly to Mrs. Curzon and Mrs. Drake, both of whom would readily swallow any thing to my prejudice, though they knew Mr. Page had often stopped her, when she was relating scandals to persons, which (he said) she knew were false, and yet as soon as his back was turned would tell them out. This I knew nothing of till Easter, when, being told by my friend Mrs. Sancroft, one of Sir J. H. Curzon's sisters, of what Mrs. Curzon had heard from Mrs. Page, I asked Mr. Page about it. Mrs. Sancroft did me the justice to vindicate me, and told Mrs. Curzon that she was sure it was an idle tale, and that it was some distressed body that I had with me, to do the necessary office of my housekeeper: and I think I may expect the same justice from every body that knows me thoroughly; for 1 reserve all my severity for my own conduct, at the same time that I judge as candidly as any body of others; and I shall never do anything against my judgment, or have anything within to disturb me. I leave it to others to do good to persons with a view of corruption, there is nothing I detest more. But I have said enough upon the subject of this calumny.

"Mystreights have been represented enough to that noble peer, and he has always promised, but still it is not performed. I am sorry it is not in your power, for there are very few of whose friendship I have so good an opinion, as to ask such a favour to, "Dear Sir, your very obliged and obedient servant, "THOMAS CARTE." [To the preceding letter there is no date nor superscription, but Mr. Kynaston has endorsed upon it "Mr. Carte, July 1738."]

* All the preceding Letters are copied from Mr. Carte's own hand-writing. The following document, preserved among the papers of Mr. Kynaston, is from another pen:

"There is nothing more generally desired by all lovers of their Country than a good and instructive History of England*. The late modern compilers, who have attempted something of this kind, have generally confined themselves to the relation of those military exploits which are preserved in our ancient Chronicles, the works of Monks, and other well-meaning, but injudicious writers. These Chronicles, which have generally furnished most modern writers with their materials, might serve tolerably well for an account of such facts and events as passed openly in the sight of the world, but were not so well fitted to discover the more secret springs, causes, and occasions of those facts and events. M. Rapin de Thoiras indeed derived some advantages which his predecessors wanted, from the publishing of Rymer's Fœdera, but he never saw some hundred treaties between the kings of England, and foreign princes, that are still preserved in our archives, and have never yet been printed. It does not appear from his work that he took the pains of consulting that vast collection of materials for an English History, which are so easily to be seen in the Cotton Library, or that he ever read a Council book, the Rolls of Parliament, or the Journals of either House, wherein the greatest affairs that pass within the Nation are usually debated, and it is certain that he never saw the Paper Office, where all the letters of our Ambassadors abroad, and of our Secretaries of State at home, from the time of Edward the Fourth to the Revolution are kept in great order, materials very necessary for the right understanding of our negotiations and disputes with foreign princes. Being a foreigner himself, and unac quainted with the Antiquities and Customs of England, he was not qualified to give us the most interesting, and, if well executed, the most instructive part of our History, the Civil History of this Nation, its Laws and Constitution, Usages, Customs, and Manners, with the various alterations and revolutions that have happened in each of these in the course of time. This is a work still wanting, though there are an infinite number of materials for it, the Cotton Library alone affording more than any other Nation can boast of for its own History, and our records being kept in a better method, and more readily to be consulted than those of any other country in Europe. There are great quantities of other materials in private hands, which are every day perishing, being subject to many accidents, as well as to the same which did lately so much damage to the said library; but as the variety and multitude of these materials, the vast expence required for the procuring or consulting them, and the immense

*This seems to be the first germ of the more extended Proposals issued by Mr. Carte in an octavo pamphlet of considerable length. See further particulars in the Literary Anecdotes, vol. II. p. 484.

labour, however assisted by any method, necessary to be taken in order to compose a work of this nature, hath hitherto discouraged, rather than incited any person versed in the Antiquities, Laws, and Interests of this Kingdom, and acquainted with the Constitution, History, Interests, and Situation of adjoining Kingdoms (whose history is necessarily interwoven with our own), to attempt it, and are indeed too great for any private person to undergo, without the assistance of a public purse. We, desirous to encourage so useful a work as a complete History of England must be to the whole nation, do agree to contribute the respective sums set against our names, which we hereby oblige ourselves to pay annually into the hands of a Treasurer, to be by the majority of us appointed, from June 24, 1737, till the said work be finished, or till we withdraw our respective contributions, to be issued out, and paid in such manner and proportion, as shall be settled at a general meeting of the contributors; so much thereof as shall be settled at our general meeting to Mr. Thomas Carte, whom we conceive to be a proper person to undertake the said work, as well for his support whilst he is employed therein and dedicates his whole time thereunto, as for the charge of amanuenses, journeys, and correspondencies with learned men, which are necessary in such an undertaking; and the residue thereof to be employed in providing books, transcripts of foreign negotiations and records, and other materials for the said work. An account of the progress whereof, and of the said expences, shall be annually laid before a general meeting of us the Contributors, who have hereunto set our names, and specified the sums which we engage annually to contribute, till we shall respectively give notice, either to the said Thomas Carte, or at one of the said general meetings, that we think fit to withdraw the same."

The following names are not in Mr. Carte's hand-writing : Shaftesbury £21.

Orrery £21.

Arthur Onslow (Speaker)

Burlington £21.

Rutland £21.

Arran £21.

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Charles Leigh 10. 10s.
James Joyce £10. 10s.
William Wall £10. 10s.
J. Cotton 10. 10s.
Robert Pulleyn £10. 10s.
J. Cotton 10. 10s.
Charles Jennens 10. 10s.
George Bowes₤10, 10s.

Sir JOHN FENN, Knight.

This distinguished Antiquary and polite Scholar, sufficiently known to the Learned World by his creditable Illustrations of the "Paston Letters," received the honour of Knighthood in May 1787, on presenting to his late Majesty the two first volumes of that celebrated Work. He has been particularly noticed in the "Literary Anecdotes * ;” and some of his Letters shall here be copied.

1. TO RICHARD GOUGH, Esq.

"DEAR SIR, East Dereham, March 18, 1777. "On my return, last night, from attending our County Assizes, I found your packet. I will carefully examine it; what I can add (which, I fear, after what I have done, can be but little,) I certainly will. I will likewise make some enquiries after the papers in Mr. Hunt's hands.—The Thetford History was compiled from T. Martin's papers, in Mr. Worth's possession, by a Mr. Davis, a dissenting minister, who lived at Diss. I believe two or three sheets were printed by Crouse, of Norwich. I know he had four copper plates engraved for the work, which are likewise in Hunt's hands. I will send you an account of what they are. The merit of the work I cannot speak to, having never examined it. I believe the whole was ready for publication; what success he would have had with it, I cannot say. He had several subscribers, I know. The remains of Le Neve's original papers relative to the County of Norfolk, are now in my possession. They were Mr. Worth's: were not sold to Hunt, but were left with several other papers (now disposed of) to be sold to some public body. The gentleman who had the care of them, told me, about three months ago, he was at a loss how to dispose of them; as he feared, should they continue as they were, want of care, damp, &c. would destroy them. As an Antiquary I lamented their fate, and agreed with him for the purchase of them. They fill three boxes, and consist of upwards of twenty of the hundreds in this county, in separate bundles. Those now missing, I fear will not be easily discovered, being in T. Martin's time lent out, forgot, and probably now lost. I purchased them for no reason but to rescue them from destruction, and shall be ready at any time to dispose of them again to any Society or private person, that should choose to become a purchaser. I will take the first leisure time I have to look over and give you what fresh information I can, relative to books, prints, MSS. or drawings, relative to this county, and return your

* Sce vol. VI. 304; VIII. 139, 140. 685: IX. 185. 610. 686.

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