for my own part, I like none fo well as Mr. Poyntz's in All your friends Your, etc. LETTER XXIV. I From Mr. GAY to Mr. P o PE. Oct. 7, 1732. Am at laft returned from my Somerfetfhire expedition, but fince my return I cannot fo much boaft of my health as before I went, for I am frequently out of order with my colical complaints, fo as to make me uneafy and difpirited, tho' not to any violent degree. The reception we met with, and the little excurfions we made were every way agreeable. I think the country abounds with beautiful profpects. Sir William Wyndham is at present amu→ fing himself with fome real improvements, and a great many vifionary castles. We were often entertained with fea-views and fea-fish, and were at fome places in the neighbourhood, among which I was mightily pleased with Dunftar-Caftle near Minehead. It ftands upon a great eminence, and hath a profpect of that town, with an extenfive view of the Briftol Channel, in which are feen two fmall islands call'd the Steep Holmes and Flat Holmes, and on t'other fide we could plainly diftinguifh the divifions of fields on the Welch coaft. All this journey I perform'd on horseback, and am very much difappointed that at prefent I feel myself fo little the better for it. I have indeed followed riding and exercise for three months fucceffively, and really think I was as well without it; fo that I begin to fear the illness I have fo long and fo often complain'd of, is inherent in my conftitution, and that I have nothing for it but patience *. Mr. Gay died the November following at the Duke of Queensberry's houfe in London, aged 46 years. Cc 2 As As to your advice about writing Panegyric, 'tis what I have not frequently done. I have indeed done it fometimes against my judgment and inclinations, and I heartily repent of it. And at prefent, as I have no defire of reward, and fee no juft reafon of praife, I think I had better let it alone. There are flatterers good enough to be found, and I would not interfere in any Gentleman's profeffion. I have feen no verfes on thefe fublime occafions; so that I have no emulation: Let the patrons enjoy the authors, and the authors their patrons, for I know myself unworthy. I am, etc. LETTER XXV. Mr. CLELAND to Mr. GAY *. Decemb. 16, 1731. I Am aftonifh'd at the complaints occafioned by a late Epiftle to the Earl of Burlington; and should be afflicted were there the leaft juft ground for them. Had the writer attacked Vice, at a time when it is not only tolerated but triumphant, and fo far from being conceal'd as a Defect, that it is proclaimed with oftentation as a Merit; I fhould have been apprehenfive of the confequence: Had he fatirized Gamefters of a hundred thousand pounds fortune, acquir'd by fuch methods as are in daily practice, and almoft univerfally encouraged; had he over warmly defended the Religion of his country againft fuch books as come from every prefs, are publicly vended in every fhop, and greedily bought by almost every rank of men : or had he called our excellent weekly writers by the fame names which they openly beftow on the greatest men in the Miniftry, and out of the Miniftry, for which they are all unpunished, and moft rewarded in any of thefe cafes, indeed, I might have judged him too prefumptuous, and perhaps have trembled for his rafhness. I could not but hope better for this fmall and modeft Epiftle, which attacks no one Vice whatsoever; which deals only in Folly, and not Folly in general, but a fingle fpecies of it; that only branch, for the oppofite excellency of which, the Noble Lord to whom it is written muft neceffarily be celebrated. I fancied it might efcape cenfure, This was written by the fame hand that wrote the Letter to the Publisher, prefixed to the Dunciad, efpecially efpecially feeing how tenderly these follies are treated, and really lefs accufed than apologized for. Yet hence the Poor are cloath'd, the Hungry fed, Is this fuch a crime, that to impute it to a man must be a grievous offence? 'Tis an innocent Folly, and much more. beneficent than the want of it; for ill Taste employs more hands, and diffufes expence more than a good one. Is it a moral defect? No, it is but a natural one; a want of tafte. It is what the beft good man living may be liable to. The worthieft Peer may live exemplarily in an ill-favour'd houfe, and the beft reputed citizen be pleafed with a vile garden. I thought (I fay) the author had the common liberty to obferve a defect, and to compliment a friend for a quality that diftinguifhes him which I know not how any quality fhould do, if we were not to remark that it was wanting in others. : But, they fay, the fatire is perfonal. I thought it could not be fo, because all it's reflections are on things. His reflections are not on the man, but his houfe, garden, etc. Nay, he refpects (as one may fay) the Perfons of the Gladiator, the Nile, and the Triton; he is only forry to see them (as he might be to fee any of his friends) ridiculous by being in the wrong place, and in bad company. Some fancy, that to fay, a thing is Perfonal, is the fame as to fay, it is unjuft, not confidering, that nothing can be just that is not perfonal. I am afraid that "all writings and difcourfes as touch no man, will mend no man." The good-natured, indeed, are apt to be alarmed at any thing like fatire; and the guilty readily concur with the weak for a plain reafon, because the vicious look upon folly as their frontier: Jam proximus ardet No wonder thofe who know ridicule belongs to them, find an inward confolation in removing it from themselves as far as they can; and it is never fo far, as when they can get it fixed in their befc characters. No wonder those who are Food for Satirifts fhould rail at them as creatures of prey; every beast born for our use would be ready to call a man fo. I know no remedy, unless people in our age would as little little frequent the theatres, as they begin to do the churches; unless comedy were forfaken, fatire filent, and every man left to do what feems good in his own eyes, as if there were no King, no Prieft, no Poet, in Ifrael. But I find myself obliged to touch a point, on which I must be more ferious; it well deferves I fhould: I mean the malicious application of the character of Timon, which, I will boldly fay, they would impute to the perfon moft different in the world from a Man-hater, to the perfon whose taste and encouragement of wit have often been fhewn in the righteft place. The author of that epiftle must certainly think fo, if he has the fame opinion of his own merit as authors generally have; for he has been diftinguifhed by this very perfon. Why, in God's name, muft a Portrait, apparently collected from twenty different men, be applied to one only? Has it his eye? no, it is very unlike. Has it his nofe or mouth? no, they are totally differing. What then, I beseech you? Why, it has the mole on his chin. Very well; but muft the picture therefore be his, and has no other man that blemish? Could there be a more melancholy inftance how much the tafte of the public is vitiated, and turns the most falutary and feasonable phyfick into poison, than if amidst the blaze of a thousand bright qualities in a great man, they fhould only remark there is a fhadow about him; as what eminence is without? I am confident the author was incapable of imputing any fuch to one, whose whole life (to ufe his own expreffion in print of him) is a continued feries of good and generous actions. I know no man who would be more concerned, if he gave the leaft pain of offence to any innocent perfon; and none who would be lefs concerned, if the fatire were challenged by any one at whom he would really aim at. If ever that happens, I dare engage, he will own it, with all the freedom of one whofe cenfures are juft, and who fets his name to them. LETTER My LORD, LETTER XXVI. To the Earl of BURLINGTON. March 7, 1731. THE clamour rais'd about my Epiftle to you, could not give me fo much pain, as I receiv'd pleasure in feeing the general zeal of the world in the caufe of a Great man who is beneficent, and the particular warmth of your Lordfhip in that of a private man who is innocent. It was not the Poem that deferv'd this from you; for as I had the honour to be your Friend, I could not treat you like a Poet; but fure the writer deserved more caneven from those who knew him not, than to promote á report which, in regard to that noble perfon, was im¬ pertinent, in regard to me, villainous. Yet I had no great caufe to wonder, that a character belonging to twenty fhould be applied to one; fince, by that means nineteen would efcape the ridicule. I was too well content with my knowledge of that noble perfon's opinion in this affair, to trouble the public about it. But fince Malice and Mistake are fo long a dying, I have taken the opportunity of a third edition to declare his belief, not only of my innocence, but of their malignity; of the former of which my own heart is as confcious, as, I fear, fome of theirs must be of the latter. His humanity feels a concern for the injury done to me, while his greatnefs of mind can bear with indifference the infult offered to himself *. However, my Lord, I own that critics of this fort can intimidate me, nay half incline me to write no more : That would be making the Town a compliment which, I think, it deferves; and which fome, I'am fure, would take very kindly. This way of Satire is dangerous, as long as flander rais'd by fools of the lowest rank, can find any countenance from thofe of a higher. Even from the conduct fhewn on this occafion, I have learnt there are fome who would rather be wicked than ridiculous; and therefore it may be safer to attack Vices than Follies. I will therefore leave my betters in the quiet poffeffion of their Idols, their Groves and their High-places; and change my fubject from their pride to their meannefs, * Alludes to the Letter the Duke of Ch* wrote to Mr. Pope on this occa fion. from |