"We are ignorant of Middleton's new book except "from the advertisement. I have not seen one "Greek author, nor is there one single topic which " is common to you, and me, where I now am. What "care you for craggy Tors, and the rapid streams " of the Peak? or the more civilized prospects, "the rich meadows, and shaded cliffs in this coun"try? Shall I talk of Hermitages to you, and of "crucifixes cut in the sides of rocky hills; or de"scribe the Manifold, gushing out, at once a hand"some river in the midst of a garden? These are "entertainments for a man, "Qui nec partem solido demere de die "who is quite satisfied if he has air, and sun, " and who does not think a morning thrown away "when passed among picturesque views. "All this you will treat with indifference, perhaps with contempt; yet, though I reverence the "deeper studies which you cultivate, and the higher "cast of amusements in which you are conversant, I "would fain persuade you to loiter upon your horse now and then, to relish the occasional power of looking about you. My advice has had some effect upon Mr. "Charles, and you see how much better he looks "for it; but I dare you to say that he talks, or that " he writes, a bit the worse for it. "You have not indeed such temptations to ramble "in the tedious, and flat scenery of Cambridge, as "are in these Apennines of England. But health "and spirits are to be found in every field, and as well " at Orwell Windmill, as at Matlock, or Tusculum. "Your ever devoted and faithful, "D. WRAY." Two Letters of this period, which tempt me to copy them, are no less amusing from their vivacity; but one of them presents him again to the reader as an acute, and sagacious critic of classical writers. This indeed seems to have been his forte, and the writers of the" Athenian Letters" (Mr. Yorke especially) appear to have made him their classical Trebatius. He calls himself their "licenser," and gives out his imprimatur with an air of oracular solemnity. It surely affords in itself a signal proof to the extent of his talents, that he should be an admirable critic, a most profound scholar in book-learning, a connoisseur in vertú, a man of ready wit and humour, an elegant and graceful writer of Letters, a deep and zealous Antiquary, a Philosopher, a Poet, and one of the most luminous Accomptants in a public office of Revenue. "Great Queen Street, Aug. 11, 1742. «*** You may think it a most violent pro"lepsis to talk of Cambridge before I am there; "but I am there in spirit. If my horse was to be "lame, why not at Old Windsor, to give me a "colour, and pretence for prolonging my happiness "there? Believe me, that love of change, which I "fear is to be counted as one of my passions, was thoroughly subdued, when you turned your horse, "and left me to the world and Sunbury Common. "If it had not been for shame, I would have turned "back and followed you non quia Mæcenas, &c.; "not because you feasted me with Chancellors and "Secretaries of State; with melons, and with Dutch "beef (et est quædam tamen his quoque virtus) "-no, what I regret, are the morning rides, "the gentle walks, not always to the top of the "hill in the afternoon-your Horace, the arch" ness of your conceits, and the encouragement you gave to mine. "It is true that we have rides, and walks, and "books, and jokes, in other places to which I. "am going. Salter is a wit, and thinks me one. "Charles is, in all senses, your simile, et secundum. "The peculiar excellence of Kempingham is the "Ladies, of whom I was just going to say something "extremely extremely fine; but John Lawry* and John Plump"tre come in most inopportunely to cut the line of "these panegyrical images. "They are gone, the Johns I mean; but, upon "recollection, I am not sure if I ought to thank the "Ladies for the delight which their conversation gave to me, as it has left a taste which is very "inconvenient. I shall hereafter despise those male "societies in which I live, as being extremely "imperfect, and as wanting not only those varieties, "but that eloquence, and peculiar delicacy which " are introduced by sensible women." "Queen's College, Cambridge, Oct. 7, 1742. "I so utterly detest all compliments, that I have "contracted an awkwardness in giving utterance to the "debts of honour in gratitude, and in esteem, which I mean, and wish to pay. I am puzzled very often to say what I have most at heart, in addressing an "agreeable friend, or a fine woman. "I am determined in future to reform in style, "and have some complaisant phrases for pocketmoney upon occasion. I find they are necessary; "and, without being more civil, I cannot be sincere. "In the mean time, till I am perfect in the new "dialect, I must throw myself upon the fertile ima"gination of those who love me, and who will, in their "benevolence, add the lumina orationis in their due "places. "I took up lately Petronius; and the further I "went with him, the more do I wonder how critics "(I do not mean the literal, the word-catchers, "but those majorum gentium who talk of spirit, "of taste, and of sense,) came to allow him so Originally of Christ's College; but afterwards of Bene't; M. A. 1739. He was a writer in the " Athenian Letters." + Madame de Sévigné says, "the best company is the worst ;" and gives the same reason. I dare affirm that a more elegant paragraph, and more ingeniously turned, cannot be discovered in English prose. His observations "high a rank in their order. "relative to the art are by no means uncommon; " and they are seldom accurately deduced, or clearly expressed. Indeed they are but few, and come "in-one can scarce tell how. 66 "The book is a novel, formed upon low and grossly debauched characters, which, for aught I "know, may be well enough marked out and pre"served. The distance of time, and the difference "of manners, throw obscurity over such writings; " and the text is often corrupt, as well as mutilated. "But I cannot, and will not suppose that it could, " even to a Roman of his day, have more of enter"tainment than we allow to the Polite Conversation "of Swift. They are pictures of objects which "deserve no attention. say nothing to the obsce"nity, as it certainly was in more general fashion "at Rome, than as yet it is with us. In a little time, "perhaps, we shall be ancients in this particular: "our leaders at Paris are so already. You, "I should mention the verses, which I think are "admired. There is now and then a good line, "but they are most unequal in the same copy; "some are bombast, others quite insipid. "who are so covetous of your time, will abuse me "for throwing away mine. But the Author's repu"tation tempted me page after page. Hope whis"pered the good that was to come at last. In truth, "I have been too much in motion, and my thoughts "continue to vibrate. I endeavour to fix them, but "hitherto in vain; so His me consolor. I amuse, if "I cannot content myself." But I hasten to his wit and humour: with some few specimens of them I shall close my work. The choice here is very difficult, and, as children say, one likes all of them best. "Dec. 21, 1742. "I hope Charles acknowledges the service he "received at my hands in the affair of his treat. I ❝ sent "sent our Master that very day to Hetherington's. "T. C. and P. B. I tempted out of town with "rumours of small-pox. I invented a most urbane way of un-inviting Lord A.; and I managed a hoarseness for myself. 66 By the help of these deductions the company "fitted the Hall. I do not hear of much wit, but "it was clearly a select meeting of ingenious men. "Coventry keeps the state of a Persian* Monarch "after paying his devotions to the Sun in the Garden "of his palace. The rest of the day he gives audi❝ence to us who are his Satraps." To this Letter is annexed a jeu d'esprit too ingenious to be overlooked, and withheld from the Reader: "To the Right Hon. the Lord D'Arcy: the "humble Petition of Daniel Wray, of Queen's College, in the University of Cambridge : "Sheweth, That Petitioner has entirely employed the former part of his life in endeavouring to form a sett of his friends who might be "agreeable, and useful to him. your "That to this end he has been at the pains of "reading, of writing, of talking, of drinking, of "travelling, and of getting himself elected into the "Royal Society. "That these, his honest endeavours met with "suitable success; and the acquaintance he had "established was such, both in its number, and in ❝its value, as not only contented him, but conferred "honour upon him. tr "That, in the space of these three years last past, many of his said acquaintance have entered into "the state of matrimony; your Petitioner having "in vain forewarned them of the danger they ran of "giving up their old friends which they all of them * This alludes to the part he took in the Persian correspondence of the "Athenian Letters." "readily |