His account will consist of many articles, pray God the balance may be right! I would have him think joy is for the pure of heart, and not giddily sacrifice the smallest part of integrity in hope of making large amends by deeds of estimation. But thus it is always with his sex, and a man thinks it is no more necessary to be as innocent as a woman, than to be as fair. Poor little man, may Heaven protect him! I wish he may be of as contented a spirit at the same age as his mother: and that his cheerfulness too may arise, not from love of himself, but from the possession of good and amiable friends. I would, to this purpose, wish him as many brothers, but I have some private objections arising from self-love against that wish, so I will leave that to his merit and discernment, which to me has arisen from accident. I ought to have epistolized you before I came so near the end of my journey, but we filled up our time with seeing all the places that lay within our route; the first was Oxford, which you know so well I shall say nothing about it, nor would the Muses permit my grey goose quill to describe their sacred haunt. From thence we went to Stowe, of which so much has been said and written. I shall only tell you how I was affected by the gardens, of which probably neither verse nor prose writer would ever inform you. It is indeed a princely garden, more like, I believe, to that where the sapient king held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse, than to Paradise, its beauties are the effects of expense and taste; the objects you see are various, yet the result is not variety. Lord Cobham has done by his garden as kings do by their subjects, made

difference by title and artificial addition, where nature made none; yet altogether it is a pleasing scene, where a philosophic mind would enjoy full happiness, the disappointed ambitious some consolation. The buildings are many of them censured by connoisseurs as bad; however, their intention and use is good; they are, for the most part, dedicated to the memory of the wise, the good, and great; so they raise in the ambitious a noble emulation, in the humble a virtuous veneration; kinds of homage that mend the heart that pays them. From Stowe we went to my brother Montagu's in Leicestershire, where we passed a week very agreeably. The next place we saw was T-; the house is large, but the company it has of late received makes one see it with prejudice; the luxury of a hog-stie must be disgustful; indeed I was glad to get out of the house, every creature in it and every thing one saw was displeasing; as to the park, it wants nature's cheerful livery, the sprightly green; the famous cascade did not please me, who have seen some made by the bounteous hand of Nature, to which man's magnificence is poor and chetive. From hence we came to York, where we have just been viewing the cathedral; of all the gothic buildings I ever saw, the most noble, taken together, or considered in parts. Gothic architecture, like gothic government, seems to make strength and power of resistance its chief pride; this noble cathedral looks as if it might defy the consuming power of all-devouring Time. We are to visit the fine assembly-room before we leave York, which, I hear, is built in the manner of an Egyptian hall, or banquetting

room. Dr. Shaw would tell us in what place Cleopatra would have chosen to sit. I must put an end to my letter, which has been something in the style of the raree-show man, you shall see what you shall see." I am, dear madam, your most sincere, and faithful humble servant,

66

E. MONTAGU.

LETTER XVIII.

LORD CHESTERFIELD TO DR. R. CHENEVIX, LORD BISHOP OF WATERFORD.

DEAR DOCTOR,

Spa, July 4, N. S. 1741. It was with real concern that I heard you were ill; and it is with equal truth that I hope this will find you perfectly recovered: that virtue, which makes you fit, and it may be willing, to die, makes those who are acquainted with it, as I am, unwilling you should; therefore take care of your health, and let it not be affected. by a too great sensibility of those misfortunes that inseparably attend our state here. Do all you can to prevent them, but, when inevitable, bear them with resolution; this is the part I take with relation to my own health: I do all I can to retrieve and improve it; and if I acquire it, I will do all I can to preserve it; my bodily infirmities shall as little as possible affect my mind, and so far at least I will lessen the weight of them.

These waters have already done me so much good, that I have reason to expect a great deal more from them; and I expect still more benefit

from passing my autumn afterwards in constant travelling through the south of France: thus you see I anticipate eventually the good, which is at least so much clear gain, let what will happen afterwards; do so too, dear doctor, and be as well, and as happy, as you are sincerely wished to be by your most faithful friend and servant, &c.

LETTER XIX.

FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME.

Hague, March 12, N. S. 1745.

I PUT nothing at the top of this letter, not knowing whether the familiar appellation of dear doctor would now become me; because I hope that, by the time you receive this letter, you will be, as it were, my lord of Clonfert. I have the pleasure of telling you, that I have this day recommended you to the king, for the bishopric of that name, now vacant by the translation of its last bishop to the see of Kildare. I hope my recommendation will not be refused, though I would not swear for it; therefore do not absolutely depend upon your consecration, and stay quietly where you are till you hear further from me. I assure you, I expect few greater pleasures in the remainder of my life, than that I now feel in rewarding your long attachment to me; and what I value still more, your own merits and virtues. Yours sincerely.

LETTER XX.

LORD CHESTERFIELD TO DR. R. CHENEVIX, LORD BISHOP OF WATERFORD.

MY DEAR LORD,

London, June 18, 1747. I THANK you for your letter and for your kind hint, and am heartily glad to hear that you have made up your affair with your predecessor's widow.

What becomes of your intended establishment at Waterford for the reception of foreigners*? Does it go on? It would be of great advantage to the town, and a good example to others. How does Mr. Smith's linen-manufacture flourish with you? If it prospers, I should think it would both invite and employ foreigners. I wish my countrypeople, for I look upon myself as an Irishman still, would but attend half as much to those useful objects, as they do to the glory of the militia and the purity of their claret. Drinking is a most beastly vice in every country, but it is really a ruinous one to Ireland. Nine gentlemen in ten in Ireland are impoverished by the great quantity of claret, which, from mistaken notions of hospitality and dignity, they think it necessary should be drank in their houses; this expense leaves them no room to improve their estates, by proper indulgence upon proper conditions to their tenants, who must pay them to the full, and upon the very day, that they may pay their wine-merchants.

*That scheme intended for the encouragement of French Protestants, did not answer the expectation of those who had formed it.