this I know nothing of; perhaps he may have opened to you: and if I know you right, you are of a temper to cement friendships, and not to divide them. I really much love Mr. Cromwell, and have a true affection for yourself, which, if I had any interest in the world, or power with those who have, I should not be long without manifesting to you. I desire you will not, either out of modesty, or a vicious distrust of another's value for you, (those two eternal foes to merit,) imagine that your letters and conversation are not always welcome to me. There is no man more entirely fond of good-nature or ingenuity than myself, and I have seen too much of those qualities in you to be any thing less than Your, &c. LETTER II. MR. POPE TO MR. GAY. Dec. 24, 1712. It has been my good fortune within this month past, to hear more things that have pleased me, than (I think) almost in all my time beside. But nothing upon my word has been so home-felt a satisfaction as the news you tell me of yourself: and you are not in the least mistaken, when you congratulate me upon your own good success: for I have more people out of whom to be happy, than any ill-natured man can boast of. I may with honesty affirm to you, that notwithstanding the many inconveniences and disadvantages they commonly talk of in the res angusta domi, I have never found any other, than the inability of giving people of merit the only certain proof of our value for them, in doing them some real service. For after all, if we could but think a little, self-love might make us philosophers, and convince us quantuli indiget Natura! Ourselves are easily provided for; it is nothing but the circumstantials, and the apparatus or equipage of human life, that costs so much the furnishing. Only what a luxurious man wants for horses and footmen, a good-natured man wants for his friends or the indigent. * I shall see you this winter with much greater pleasure than I could the last; and, I hope, as much of your time, as your attendance on the Duchess will allow you to spare to any friend, will not be thought lost upon one who is as much so as any man. I must also put you in mind, though you are now secretary to this lady, that you are likewise secretary to nine other ladies, and are to write sometimes for them too. He who is forced to live wholly upon those ladies' favours, is indeed in as precarious a condition as any he who does what Chaucer says for sustenance; but they are very agreeable companions, like other ladies, when a man only passes a night or so with them at his leisure, and away. I am your, &c. * Duchess of Monmouth, to whom he was just then made se cretary. Pope. DEAR SIR, LETTER III. MR. ROWE TO MR. POPE.* Thursday, May 20, 1713. I Do not know that I have a long time received a billet with greater pleasure than yours. Depend upon it, nothing could have been more agreeable but yourself. To do something then that is perfectly kind, come and eat a bit of mutton with me to-morrow at Stockwell. Bring whom you will along with you, though I can give you nothing "but the aforesaid mutton and a cup of ale." It is but a little mile from Fox-hall; and you do not know how much you will oblige Your, &c. LETTER IV. MR. POPE TO MR. GAY. August 23, 1713. JUST as I received yours, I was set down to write to you, with some shame that I had so long deferred it. But I can hardly repent my neglect, * It has been said on the authority of Spence, that Addison and Pope concurred in the opinion, that "Rowe maintained a decent character, but had no heart;" an imputation which cannot be admitted without throwing some share of disgrace on all the parties; but which cannot be true, as has already been sufficiently shewn in the Life of Pope, prefixed to the present edition, chap. v. when it gives me the knowledge how little you insist upon ceremony, and how much a greater share in your memory I have, than I deserve. I have been near a week in London, where I am like to remain, till I become, by Mr. Jervas's help, Elegans Formarum Spectator. I begin to discover beauties that were till now imperceptible to me. Every corner of an eye, or turn of a nose or ear, the smallest degree of light or shade on a cheek, or in a dimple, have charms to distract me. I no longer look upon Lord Plausible as ridiculous, for admiring a lady's fine tip of an ear and pretty elbow, (as the Plain Dealer has it,) but am in some danger even from the ugly and disagreeable, since they may have their retired beauties, in one trait or other about them. You may guess in how uneasy a state I am, when every day the performances of others appear more beautiful and excellent, and my own more despicable. I have thrown away three Dr. Swifts, each of which was once my vanity, two Lady Bridgwaters, a Duchess of Montague, besides half a dozen Earls, and one Knight of the Garter. I have crucified Christ over again in effigy, and made a Madonna as old as her mother St. Anne. Nay, what is yet more miraculous, I have rivalled St. Luke himself in painting, and as it is said an angel came and finished his piece, so you would swear a devil put the last hand to mine, it is so begrimed and smutted. However I comfort myself with a christian reflection, that I have not broken the commandment, for my pictures are not the likeness of any thing in heaven above, or in earth below, or in the water under the earth. Neither will any body adore or worship them, except the Indians should have a sight of them, who they tell us, worship certain idols purely for their ugliness. I am very much recreated and refreshed with the news of the advancement of the fan, which I doubt not will delight the eye and sense of the fair, as long as that agreeable machine shall play in the hands of posterity. I am glad your fan is mounted so soon, but I would have you varnish and glaze it at your leisure, and polish the sticks as much as you can. You may then cause it to be borne in the hands of both sexes, no less in Britain, than it is in China; where it is ordinary for a mandarin to fan himself cool after a debate, and a statesman to hide his face with it when he tells a grave lie. I am, &c. SIR, LETTER V. MR. POPE TO DR. SWIFT.* Binfield, Dec. 8, 1713. Nor to trouble you at present with a recital of all my obligations to you, I shall only * This is the opening of the correspondence between these celebrated men, which began in favours on Swift's part, and gratitude on that of Pope, and ended in the most strict friendship on |