it goes down. Look upon me, then, my dear Sir, in my proper light, and consider how necessary is to me, to hear from you as often as you can bestow an hour upon me. I flatter myself, your kindness will try to get the better of your indolence, when you reflect how cruelly alone I must be in the midst of that crowd! The remainder of this page I hope you will pardon me, if I dedicate to my good dear Mr. Mann. Sir, I had the pleasure of receiving your good dear letter, and only deferred thanking you till now, that I might be able to execute your little commission first, the contents of which I send to your Brother, along with this letter. But first let me enquire how you do? alas! Sir, you may call 'em Benevoli, or whatever soft names you please, but I much fear they don't understand their business, like our people with a thousand consonants. I perfectly believe Dr. Cocchis' good intentions, but he is not the executioner himself, and here it is not sufficient to wish well. If it were, I'm certain my wishes are fervent enough to be felt even at Florence, in spite of all the lands, and seas, and enemies that lie betwixt us. They are daily employed for your happiness, and will, I hope, be of more use to you, than they have been to myself. The Books I send you are the Etat de la France, 3 vol. fol. upon my word, an excellent book. He is a sensible, knowing Englishman, only had the misfortune to be born in France. Life of Ma homet by the same author, it is famous; you are desired to make no reflections, nor draw consequences, when you read it. Ld. Burleigh's Papers seem very curious, and well enough chose : by the way, they have lately published Thurlow's Papers here, in 7 vol. folio, out of which it would be hard to collect a Pocket volume worth having. Dr. Middleton's Cicero, 3 vol. and a letter on the Catholic religion worth your reading. Philip de Commines, 5 vol. the Louvre edition is much more splendid, but wants the supplement and notes, which are here. W. on the Ms. * a very impudent fellow, his dedications will make you laugh. Ludlow's Memoirs, 3 vol. as unorthodox in Politics, as the other in Religion. +2 lyttel Bookys tocheing Kyng James the Fyrst; very rare. Le Sopha, de Crebillon-Collect. of Plays, 10 vol. There are none of Shakspear, because you had better have all his works together, they come to about £7. 18s. 6d. the whole cargo. You will find among them 3 Parts of Marianne ‡ for Mr. Chute; if he has them already, how can I help it? why would he make no mention of Mad. de Thevire to one? And now let me congratulate you as no longer * Warburton, his Divine Legation of Moses, I suppose, is alluded to, or his Reflections on the Miraculous Powers. -Ed. + Perhaps Sir Auth. Weldon's Memoirs of the Court of James the First, ed. 1650, and Aulicus Coquinariæ, 1650. Probably the Marianne of Marivaux. a Min: but for del mondo veramente un Ministrone, and King of the Mediterranean. Pray your Majesty, give orders to your men of war, if they touch at Naples, to take care of ma collection, and be sure don't let them bombard Genoa. If you can bully the Pope out of the Apollo Belvidere, well and good: I'm not against it. I'm enchanted with your good sister, the Queen of Hungary; as old as I am, I could almost fight for her myself. See what it is to be happy. Every body will fight for those that have no occasion for them. Pray take care to continue so, but whether you do, or not, I am truly yours, July. London. T. G. The Parliament's up, and all the world are made V. MR. GRAY TO MR. WALPOLE. DEAR SIR, Cambridge, February 3, 1746. You are so good to enquire after my usual time of coming to town: it is a season when even you, the perpetual friend of London, will, I fear, hardly be in it-the middle of June: and I commonly return hither in September; a month when I may more probably find you at home. *Our defeat to be sure is a rueful affair for the honour of the troops; but the Duke is gone it seems with the rapidity of a cannon-bullet to undefeat us again.† The common people in town at least know how to be afraid: but we are such uncommon people here as to have no more sense of danger than if the battle had been fought when and where the battle of Cannæ was. The perception of these calamities, and of their consequences, that we are supposed to get from books, is so faintly impressed, that we talk of war, famine, and pestilence, with no more apprehension than of a broken head, or of a coach overturned between York and Edinburgh. I heard three people, sensible middle aged men (when the Scotch were said to be at Stamford, and actually were at Derby), talking of hiring a chaise to go to Caxton (a place in the high road) to see the Pretender and the Highlanders as they passed. I can say no more for Mr. Pope (for what you keep in reserve may be worse than all the rest). It is natural to wish the finest writer, one of them, we ever had, should be an honest man. It is for * Defeat at Falkirk, under General Hawley. V. Walpole's Letters to H. Mann, vol. ii. p. 120. See also Jacobite Memoirs, or Forbes' Papers, p. 89.-Ed. + The Duke is gone post to Edinburgh, where he hoped to arrive to-night, if possible to relieve Stirling.' V. H. Walpole's Let. to Mann, vol. ii. p. 121.-Ed. the interest even of that virtue, whose friend he professed himself, and whose beauties he sung, that he should not be found a dirty animal. But, however, this is Mr. Warburton's business, not mine, who may scribble his pen to the stumps and all in vain, if these facts are so. It is not from what he told me about himself that I thought well of him, but from a humanity and goodness of heart, ay, and greatness of mind, that runs through his private correspondence, not less apparent than are a thousand little vanities and weaknesses mixed with those good qualities, for nobody ever took him for a philosopher. If you know any thing of Mr. Mann's state of health and happiness, or the motions of Mr. Chute + homewards, it will be a particular favour to inform me of them, as I have not heard this half-year from them. I am sincerely yours, T. GRAY. * Afterwards Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany. + Mr. Chute appears to have returned to England in the Autumn of 1746, after a residence of several years at Florence. See Walpole's Letter to H. Mann, Oct. 2, 1746, (vol. ii. p. 181.) see his character drawn, p. 188, 230; for some verses by him, vide p. 360 of the same volume.-Ed. |