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nour of being efteemed the great master and improver of Roman eloquence, even to the glory of many triumphs.

But to add reafon to precedent, and to view this art in it's ufe as well as it's dignity; will it not be allowed of fome importance, when it is confidered,that eloquence is one of the most confiderable auxiliaries of truth? Nothing in deedcontributes more to fubdue the mind to the force of reafon, than her being fupported by the powerful affiftance of mafculine and vigorous oratory. As on the contrary the most legitimate arguments may be difappointed of that fuccefs they deferve, by being attended with a spiritJefs and enfeebled expreffion. Accordingly, that most elegant of writers, the inimitable Mr. Addifon, obferves, in one of his effays, That there is as much difference between comprehending a thought cloathed in Cicero's language and that of an ordinary writer, as between seeing an object by the light of a taper and the light of the fun.

It is furely then a very firange conceit of the celebrated Malbranche, who feems to think the pleafure which arifes from perufing a well-written piece, is of the criminal kind, and has it's fource in the weakness and effeminacy of the human heart. A man must have a very uncommon feverity of temper indeed, who can find any thing to condemn in adding charms to truth, and gaining the heart by captiva ing the ear; in uniting rofes with the thorns of fcience, and joining pleasure with inftruction.

The truth is, the mind is delighted

with a fine style, upon the fame principle that it prefers regularity to confufion, and beauty to deformity. A tafte of this fort is indeed fo far from being a mark of any depravity of our nature, that I should rather confider it as an evidence, in fome degree, of the moral rectitude of it's conftitution, as it is a proof of it's retaining fome relish at least of harmony and order.

One might be apt indeed to fufpe&t that certain writers amongst us had confidered all beauties of this fort in the fame gloomy view with Malbranche; or at least that they avoided every refinement in ftyle, as unworthy a lover of truth and philofophy. Their fentiments are funk by the lowest expreffions, and feem condemned to the first curfe, of creeping upon the ground all the days of their life. Others, on the contrary, mittake pomp for dignity; and, in order to raise their expreffions above vulgar language, lift them up beyond common apprehenfions, efteeming it (one fhould imagine) a mark of their genius, that it requires fome ingenuity to penetrate their meaning. But how few writers, like Euphronius, know to hit that true medium which lies between thofe diftant extremes? How feldom do we meet with an author, whofe expreffions, like thofe of my friend, are glowing, but not glaring; whofe metaphors are natural, but not common; whofe periods are har monious, but not poetical; in a word, whofe fentiments are well fet, and fhewn to the understanding in their truest and Stc. most advantageous luftre. I am,

LETTER LXII.

TO ORONTES.

Intended to have clofed with yoks propofal, and palled a few weeks with you at ***; but fome unlucky af. fairs have intervened, which will engage me, I fear, the remaining part of this feafon.

Timoclea was once a beauty; but ill health, and worfe fortune, have ruined thofe charms which time would yet have fpared. However, what has spoile ed her for a mistress, has improved her as a companion; and he is far more converfable now, as the has much less beauty, than when I used to see her oncea week triumphing in the drawingroom. For, as few women (whatever they may pretend) will value themselves upon their minds, while they can gain admirers by their perfons, Timoclea ne

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ver thought of charming by her wit, till fhe had no chance of making conquefts by her beauty. She has feen a good deal of the world, and of the beft company in it, as it is from thence he has derived whatever knowledge the poffeffes. You cannot, indeed, flatter her more, than by feeming to confider her as fond of reading and retirement. But the truth is, nature formed her for the joys of fociety, and the is never fo thoroughly pleafed as when she has a circle round her.

It is upon those occafions fhe appears to full advantage; as I never knew any perfon who was endued with the talents for converfation to a higher degree. If I were difpofed to write the characters of the age, Timoclea is the firft perfon in the world to whofe affiftance I should ap. py. She has the happiest art of marking out the diftinguishing caft of her acquaintance that I ever met with; and I have known her, in an afternoon's converfation, paint the manners with greater delicacy of judgment and ftrength

of colouring, than is to be found either in Theophraftus or Bruyere.

She has an inexhaustible fund of wit: but if I may venture to diftinguish, where one knows not even how to define, Ifhould fay, it is rather brilliant than strong. This talent renders her the terror of all her female acquaintance; yet the never facrificed the abfent, or mortified the prefent, merely for the fake of difplaying the force of her fatire: if any feel it's fting, it is thofe only who firft provoke it. Still however it must be owned, that her refentments are frequently without just foundation, and almost always beyond meafure. But though the has much warmth, the has great generofity in her temper; and with all her faults fhe is well worth your knowing.

And now, having given you this general plan of the ftrength and weakness of the place, I leave you to make your approaches as you fhall fee proper. I am, &c.

LETTER LXIII.

TO THE SAME.

I Look upon verbal criticifm, as it is generally exercifed, to be no better than a fort of learned legerdemain, by which the fenfe or nonfenfe of a paffage is artfully conveyed away, and fome other introduced in it's ftead, as best fuits with the purpose of the profound juggler, The differtation you recommended to my perufal has but ferved to confirm me in thefe fentiments: for though I admired the ingenuity of the artift, I could not but greatly fufpect the juftness of an art, which can thus prefs any author into the service of any hypothefis.

I have fometimes amused myself with confidering the entertainment it would afford to thofe antients, whose works have had the honour to be attended by our commentators, could they rife out of their fepulchres, and perufe fome of thofe curious conjectures that have been railed upon their respective compofitions. Were Horace, for inftance, to read over only a few of those numberless reftorers of his text, and expofitors of his meaning, that have infefted the republic of letters; what a fund of pleasantry might

he

extract for a fatire on critical erudition! how many harmless words would he fee cruelly banished from their rightful poffeffions, merely because they hap pened to disturb fome unmerciful philologift? On the other hand, he would undoubtedly fimile at that penetrating fa- · gacity, which has discovered meanings which never entered into his thoughts, and found out concealed allufions in his most plain and artlets expreffions.

One could not, I think, fet the general abfurdity of critical conjectures in a ftronger light, than by applying them to fomething parallel in our own writers. If the English tongue fhould ever become a dead language, and our befl authors be raifed into the rank of claffic writers; much, of the force and propriety of their expreffions, efpecially of fuch as turned upon humour, or alluded to any manners peculiar to the age, would inevitably be loft, or, at best, would be extremely doubtful. How would it puzzle, for inftance, future commentators to explain Swift's epigram upon our musical contefts? I imagine one might find them defcanting M

upon

upon that little humourous fally of our English Rabelais, in fome fuch manner as this

EPIGRAM

ON THE FEUDS BETWEEN HANDEL AND
BONONCINI.

Strange all this difference fhould be
Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!

NOTES OF VARIOUS AUTHORS.

TWEEDLE- dum and Tweedle-dee.] I am perfuaded the poet gave it Twiddle drum and Twiddle key. To twiddle fignifies to make a certain ridiculous motion with the fingers: what word, therefore, could be more proper to exprefs this epigram-writer's contempt of the performances of thofe muficians, and of the folly of his contemporaries in running into parties upon fo abfurd an occafion? The drum was a certain martial instrument ufed in thofe times; as the word key is a technical term in mufic, importing the fundamental note which regulates the whole compofition. It means alfo thofe little pieces of wood which the fingers ftrike against in an organ, &c. in order to make the inftrument found. The alteration here propofed is to obvious and natural, that I am furprifed none of the commentators hit upon it before. L. C. D.

Tweedle dum and Tweedle-dee.] Thefe words have greatly embarraffed the critics, who are extremely expert in finding a difficulty where there is none. Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee are most undoubtedly the names of the two muficians: and though they are filed by dif. ferent appellations in the title of this epigram, yet that is no objection; for it is well known that perfons in thofe times had more furnames than one. S. M.Abfort! here is evidently an error of the prefs, for there is not a fingle hint in all antiquity of the family of the Tweedle-dums and Tweedle dees. The Tearned S M therefore nodded when he undertook explain this paffage. The fente will be very pean if we read with a fmail alteration. Wheedle Tom and Waddie THE, THE being a known contraction for Theodore, as Tom is for

Thomas. Waddle and Wheedle are like-
wife claffical words. Thus Pope-
As when a dab-chick waddles thro' the copfe.
Dún. ii. 59.

Obliquely waddling to the mark in view.
Ib. ii. 150

And though indeed I do not recollect to have met with the verb to wheedle, in any pure author, yet it is plain that it was in fe, fince we find the participle wheeding in an antient tragedy compofed about thefe times

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Thomas and Theodore, therefore, were moft certainly the Chriftian names of there two musicians, to the contractions of which the words wheedle and waddle are added as characteristical of the perfons and difpofitions of the men; the former implying that Tom was a mean fycophant, and the latter that THE had an aukward and ridiculous gait. F. J. Z.

I know not, Orontes, how I fhall efcape your fatire, for venturing to be thus free with a fcience which is fometimes, I think, admitted into a share of your meditations: yet, tell me honestly, is not this a faithful fpecimen of the fpirit and talents of the general class of critig-writers? Far am I, however, from thinking irreverently of thofe useful members of the republic of letters, who with modefty and proper diffidence have offered their affiftance in throwing a light upon obfcure paffages in antient authors. Even when this spirit breaks out in it's higheft pride and petulance of reformation, if it confines itfelf to claffical enquiries, I can be contented with treating it only as an object of ridicule. But, I must confefs, when I find it, with an affired and confi lent air, fupporting religious or political doctrines upon the very uncertain foundation of various readings, forced analogies, and precarious conjectures, it is not without fome difficulty I can fupprefs my indignation. Farewel. I am, &c.

LET.

LETTER LXIV.

TO PHILOTES.

I Think I promised you a letter from this place: yet I have nothing more material to write than that I got fafe hither. Toany other man I should make an apology for troubling him with an information so trivial; but among true friends there is nothing indifferent, and what would feem of no confequence to others, has in intercourfes of this nature it's weight and value. A by-ftander, unacquainted with play, may fancy, perhaps, that the counters are of no more worth than they appear; but those who are engaged in the game, know they are to be confidered at a higher rate. You fee I draw my allufions from the feene before me: a propriety which the critics, I think, upon fome occafions recommend.

I have often wondered what odd whim could first induce the healthy to follow the fick into places of this fort, and lay the fcene of their diverfions amidst the moft wretched part of our fpecies: one fhould imagine an hofpital the latt fpot in the world, to which those who are in purfuit of pleasure would think of reforting. However, fo it is; and by this means the company here furnish out a tragi-comedy of the moft fingular kind. While fome are literally dying, others are expiring in metaphor; and in one fcene you are prefented with the real, and in another with the fantaftical pains of mankind. An ignorant spectator

TUNBRIDGE, AUGUST 4

might be apt to suspect, that each party was endeavouring to qualify itfelf for acting in the oppofite character: for the infirm cannot labour more earnefl; to recover the ftrength they have loft, than the robult to diffipate that which they poffefs. Thus the difeafed pass not more anxious nights in their beds, than the healthy at the hazard-tables; and I frequently fee a game at quadrille occafion as fevere difquietudes as a fit of the gout. As for myself, I perform a fort of middle part in this motley drama, and ani fometimes difpofed to join with the invalids in envying the healthy, and fometimes have fpirits enough to mix with the gay in pitying the fplenetic.

The truth is, I have found fome be nefit by the waters; but I fhall not be fo fanguine as to pronounce with certainty of their effects, till I fee how they enable me to pals through the approaching winter. That feafon, you know, is the time of trial with me; and if I get over the next with more eafe than the laft,

fhall think myfelf obliged to celebrate the nymph of these springs in grateful fonnet

But let times and easons operate as they may, there is one part of me over which they will have no power; and in all the changes of this uncertain conftitution, my heart will ever continue fixed and firmly yours. I am, &c.

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larged fortune: but to exercise that privilege in all it's generous refinements, is an inftance of the most uncommon elegance both of temper and understand. ing.

In the ordinary difpenfations of bounty, little addrefs is required: but when it is to be applied to thofe of a fuperior rank and more elevated mind, there is as much charity difcovered in the manner as in the measure of one's benevolence. It is fomething extremely mortifying to a well-formed fpirit, to see itfelf confidered as an object of compaffion; as it is the part of improved humanity to humour this honelt pride in our nature, and to relieve the neceffities without of fending the delicacy of the diftreffed.

I have feen charity (if charity it might be called) infult with an air of pity, and wound at the fame time that it healed. But I have feen too the highest munifi cence dispensed with the most refined tenderness, and a bounty conferred with as much address as the most artful would employ in foliciting one. Suffer me, Orontes, upon this fingle occafion, to gratify my own inclinations in violence to yours, by pointing out the particular inftance I have in my view; and allow me, at the fame time, to join my acknowledgments, with thofe of the unfortunate perfon I recommend to your protection, for the generous affiftance you lately afforded him. I am, &c.

LETTER LXVI.

TO CLEORA.

SHALL HALL Lown to you that I cannot repent of an offence which occafioned fo agreeable a reproof? A cenfure conveyed in fuch genteel terms, charms more than corrects, and tempts rather than reforms. I am fure, at least, though I should regret the crime, I fhall always admire the rebuke, and long to kils the hand that chafteneth in so pleasing a manner. However, I thall for the future strictly pursue your orders, and have fent you in this fecond parcel no other books than what my own library fupplied. Among thefe you will find a collection of letters: I do not recommend them to you, having never read them; nor indeed am I acquainted with their characters; but they prefented themselves to my hands as I was tumbling over fome others: fo I threw them in with the reft, and gave them a chance of adding to your amufement. I wish I could meet with any thing that had even the least probability of contributing to Thine. But

Forlorne of thee, Whither fhall I betake me, where subfift?

MILT.

Time, that reconciles one to most things, has not been able to render your absence in any degree lefs uneafy to me. I may rather be faid to haunt the houfe in which I live, than to make one of the family. I walk in and out of the rooms like a reftlefs fpirit: for I never speak

SEPTEMBER 5, 1737.

till I am spoken to, and then generally anfwer, like Banco's ghost in Macbeth, with a deep figh and a nod. Thus abftracted from every thing about me, I am yet quite ruined for a hernit, and find no more fatisfaction in retirement, than you do in the company of * *

How often do I with myfelf in poffeffion of that famous ring you were mentioning the other day, which had the property of rendering those who wore it invifible! I would rather be mafter of this wonderful unique, than of the kingdom which Gyges gained by means of it; as I might then attend you, like your guardian angel, without cenfure or obftruction. How agreeable would it be to break out upon you, like Eneas from his cloud, where you leaft expected me; and join again the dear companion of my fortunes, in fpight of that relentless power who has railed fo many cruel ftorms to deftroy us! But whilit I employed this extraordinary ring to thefe and a thousand other pleaf ing purposes, you would have nothing to apprehend from my being invetted with fuch an invifible faculty, That innocence which guards and adorns my Cleora in her moft gay and public hours, attends her, I well know, in her most private and retired ones; and the who always acts as under the eye of the best of Beings, has nothing to fear from the fecret infpection of any mortal. Adieu. I am, &c.

LET.

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