Letters to and from Dr. ZACHARY GREY *.

From the Rev. Dr. FRANCIS ASTRY.

"REV. SIR, St. James's Place, March 22, 1739. "I give you this trouble, to thank you for your kind present; and withal to acquaint you with what you will be pleased with knowing, that I have the consent of the ladies who are executrices of Mrs. Barecock, that your curate Mr. Clark have part in that Charity; and that I have accordingly, at their request, undertaken to pay him 50l. before my return out of Bedfordshire.

"I take this occasion to say to you, that, when I was with the ladies, I took the liberty of recommending to them the case of Mr. Metcalfe's friend, I wish I could say with the same success; but, indeed, I am afraid they are not inclined to favour him, though I am not sure but their disposition may alter. In the mean time, I pray you to give my humble service to Mr. Metcalfe, and to assure him, and be assured yourself, that I spoke all I could think proper in his behalf. Mr. Metcalfe was so good as to call at my house when I was in Essex. I am, Sir, "Your affectionate humble servant,

"REV. SIR,

FRANCIS ASTRY." St. James's Place, Nov 28, 1741. "I am very much obliged and thankful to you for your kind present of mead, which my servant found at the Inn where you directed, and which we shall in due time spend in drinking health to the Founder.

"I have met with a little book, intituled, 'Select Proverbes, Italian, Spanish, French, English, Scotish, &c. chiefly moral.' It was printed in 1707, and is said to be the Collection of Dr. Mapletoft. If it may be of any probable use to you in your design upon Hudibras, my friend in whose closet it had a place, has promised me the loan of it for you, in case you direct me how it may be conveyed to you. Lam, Sir,

"Your very affectionate friend and humble servant, FRANCIS ASTRY." Jan. 5, 1747.

"DEAR SIR,

"I sent my friend's copy of the Speeches (on occasion of Sir Hans Sloane's present to the University of Oxford of an Owl) to you, as you desired, and ordered the bearer of it to leave it for you at Mrs. Hervey's at Ampthill, and to desire her to get it conveyed to Houghton. I doubt it has miscarried; but, if you have received it and have done with it, I should be glad if you would direct it to St. James's Place.

"Your faithful humble servant,

FRANCIS ASTRY."

* See the " Literary Anecdotes," vol. II. pp. 532-543. +Francis Astry, of Merton College, Oxford; M. A. 1702; B. and D. D. 1715; and Treasurer of St. Paul's in the same year He was in 1716 presented to the Rectory of St. Martin's, Ludgate, which he resigned in 1717. He printed "Humility recommended," a Sermon preached at St. Paul's, April 20, 1716; and a Spital Sermon in 1733; and a Fast Sermon before the Lord Mayor, at St. Paul's, 1760. He died Oct. 30, 1766, at the great age of 91.

VOL. IV.

R

From

From the Rev. MONTAGU BACON*.

"SIR,

[1745.] "I spent a good part of last Summer in examining your Hudibras, with much pleasure and instruction. I am sure you have cleared up a great many things to me; but likewise I found there remained a great many that puzzled me, and several of my learned acquaintance. I have made a pretty large collection of these, with the best interpretations I could get from all hands, not disdaining the meanest persons, viz. in their art. Amongst the rest of my difficulties, I find the word caldes'd. As it is a word I never met with any where else, I suppose it must be in that sham Hudibras of which you speak in your notes. As you quote something out of that sham Hudibras, I suppose you must have it by you. I would be glad to know whether it is there, or no. Our Author himself rarely uses any words that are not good English. Pernicion, I think, and one or two more may

be found.

"Whence he got the word capoch'd, I cannot conceive: it was o'erreach't in the first Edition.

"What cickle, spelt with a c, means, I can by no enquiry find out: Cickle, horse-shoe, hollow flint.'

Their Spiritual Judges of Divorces,' I cannot hear any account from any body.

This elegant scholar was the second of three sons of Nicholas Bacon, Esq. (son and heir of Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Shrubland Hall, in the parish of Coddenham, Suffolk, Knight of the Bath, 1661, at the Coronation of King Charles II.) by the Lady Catharine Montagu, youngest daughter of Edward first Earl Sandwich. (This lady was afterwards re-married to the Rev. Balthazar Gardemau, who was nearly 50 years Vicar of Coddenham. He died Dec.19, 1739, æt. 64; and she Jan. 15, 1757, at the advanced age of 96.)— Montagu Bacon, born in 1688, was admitted a Fellow-Commoner of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1704-5. What were the immediate objects of his study at the University do not appear; but that he had a taste for poetry, and that he possessed much natural acumen, is evident from three letters of his, dated from "Quarles's Coffee-house in Cambridge," in October and December 1732, to George Jeffrey, Esq. (his Fellow-Collegian), published by Mr. Duncombe in the second volume of "Letters of eminent Persons." In 1734 be addressed the following letter to the Rev. Philip Williams, at that time Public Orator in the University, previous to his taking the degree of M. A. per Literas Regias, in which he is styled "Edvardi primi Comitis de Sandwich ex filiâ nepos."

"SIR,

Monday morning (no other date). "As it is your post in the University to honour me with a few words to-morrow, I beg and most heartily intreat you, that they may be as few as you conveniently can. I am descended, on one side, from the Lord Keeper Bacon, who had so considerable a hand in the first establishment of the Church of England; and, on the other side, from the Earl of Sandwich, who, next to Monk, had, I believe, the chief hand in the Restoration; for King Charles, on his first landing, gave him an earldom, a garter, and 4,000l. a year in land, besides places to the value of about 10,0001. a year more. Now, as the Restoration of the Royal Family was likewise the restoring of the Church, I beg you would chiefly insist on

the

"I think you don't well explain Fisher Folly's Congregation. Again, as to the

- Drubs,

That wretches feel in powd'ring tubs.'

All Physicians agree there's no such thing used in fluxes.

"What St. Martin's beads, which, he says, the ladies lay on their lips for reds, are, I am not satisfied.

"There are two or three of your readings that are wrong, and some where the stops spoil the sense.

"You suppose the Epistle to Sidrophel to relate to Sir Paul Neal only; Sir Christopher Wren comes in for a great share, and the whole Society. The Transfusion of the Blood belongs to him, riz. Wren. I am promised some remarks on this part from the Records of the Society; and I have made some myself.

"A great many other difficulties I have cleared up.

"Pray don't make any public mention of this trouble I give you. 'Strange bilks in th' Almanack presage.'

"I wonder to see the word bilk brought to signify the mischances or calamities foretold in Almanacks. Bilking in the case of a hackney coachman I have heard of; but rarely upon other occasions.

"This is all I have to trouble you with, except my thanks for the great pleasure I have had in reading your book.

"I am, though without the least acquaintance with you, Sir, "Your most humble servant, M. BACON."

the service of my Family to the Church as our greatest honour; and, if you must say one word more of me, let it be, I intreat you, barely this— that I have always been a lover of Learning and learned men.

"I am, Sir, with great esteem, your humble servant, MONTAGU BACON." In 1743 he was presented to the Rectory of Newbold-Verdun in Leicestershire, then in the gift of the University of Cambridge (as it was again in 1749); Edward Howard Duke of Norfolk, the proper patron, not having taken the oaths of allegiance to render him capable of presenting. This preferment was particularly acceptable to Mr. Bacon. as his near relation James Montagu, esq. (another grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich) possessed a considerable estate, given to him in 1721 by Bishop Crewe, on which he spent the remainder of his days with such cheerfulness, freedom, and hospitality to the rich, and charity to the poor, that he was generally beloved; and where Montagu Bacon appears to have been himself a resident (perhaps as Curate) in 1732. But he did not long enjoy the Rectory; being soon after afflicted with a temporary derangement of intellect, which occasioned his removal to lodgings in Chelsea, for the convenience of proper medical assistance; and he relinquished his clerical garb, though he was permitted to retain the Rectory till his death, which happened at Chelsea, April 7, 1749.-See an interesting Note on this subject from my venerable friend the Rev. Thomas Martyn, the Botany Professor at Cambridge, in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VIII. p. 417.Mr. Bacon was author of "A Dissertation on Burlesque Poetry;" which passed through two Editions in his life-time; and a third Edition, with a "Supplement," appeared in 1752, an 8vo pamphlet of 60 pages. Some of his "Notes on Hudibras," which came into my possession by purchase, were given by me to the late Mr. Isaac Reed, and were by him communieated to the Rev. Dr. Nash.-It appears from the Registers of Coddenham, that Montagu Bacon was baptized there, Dec. 13, 1688: and buried April 19. 1749.-Nicholas, his elder brother, died April 22, 1767, æt. 81. R 2

SIR,

"SIR, April 3, 1746. "Besides the pleasure I have had from your work, I have that too of knowing that you are akin to my most agreeable cousin*, the lady that married Mr. Edward Montagu. I cannot, therefore, but be very much obliged to you for the kind notice you are pleased to take of me, and of the difficulties I put to you some time ago, which I have conquered long since. I should be very proud if any part of my idle time could be of use to you; but my notes and dissertations are grown to such a bulk, you will scarce think them worth your perusal. However, as I have heard so great a character of your honour and punctuality upon all occasions, I have e'en trusted you with my whole wealth with relation to Hudibras. Mr. Warcup has promised to send it safe to you to-morrow, being Friday,

"There is indeed a Preface, which, though it is the first thing in a man's thoughts, as containing the scheme of the whole, yet it is the last thing, you know, that must be completed. As soon as I have touched it over a little, I will send it you. I have a further design indeed; which is, to make a full comparison between Scarron and him; but that will be a perfect independent piece. I spent a great many leisure hours that way last Summer. This is the substance, Sir. I never intended to set up altar against altar, or any ways to blemish your Edition. I dare say you will not complain. Till I received your letter, I had not looked on those things these three quarters of a year-I mean what related solely to Hudibras; so that I have no longer that ardour that I had. So few people are judges, that it is very disheartening; and if it had not been for your Edition, I should never have thought of it, though not many English or Foreign Poets have escaped me. You will please to let me know what you intend as you go forward; and, if it should happen that these trifles of mine should be of use to you, I could wish you would let your cousin know it, Mr. Edward Montagu's lady. I would not have you understand but that I had studied Hudibras in my youth; and am, wishing you health and happiness, &c. MONT. BACON."

This was the lady who immortalized her name by "An Essay on the Genius of Shakspeare," and her Epistolary Correspondence. She was the daughter of Matthew Robinson, esq. and was married to Mr. Edward Montagu, a man eminent for his acquirements, particularly that of Husbandry. He succeeded in 1748 to the property of his brother James at Newbold Verdun at a period when Montagu Bacon held the Rectory; which, a few years before, his accomplished lady had thus described: "Aug. 9, 1744. On Saturday last we arrived at my brother Montagu's, who has made this place one of the most charming and pleasant I ever saw; the gardens are delightful, the park very beautiful, the house neat and agreeable, and every thing about it in an elegant taste. My brother has made great improvements. It was a very bad place when Lord Crewe left it to him, and had no ornament but fine wood. Now there is water in great beauty, grand avenues from every point, fine young plantations, and in short every thing that can please the eye. But nothing gives me so much pleasure as the obliging reception of the master, who has entertained us in a kind, an elegant, and a magnificent manner. It is delightful to observe the regularity and order of the family, and the happiness that appears in the countenance of every friend and servant."