believe I shall go further, as far as Herefordshire; Mrs. Cæsar tells me I have got such a habit of Rambling, that she supposes I shall be like Teage, never stand still; she told me of your kind design of coming to Wimpole. I hope I shall return soon enough to have that pleasure before winter comes on. I had a letter lately from Dean Swift; he complains of his being very deaf, which makes him retire from company, he is else well. I hope Mrs. Pope is well, please to make my compliments to her.

I am,

Sr.

Your most

humble Servant,

OXFORD.

If you direct your letter to me in Queen Street, it will come to me where-ever I shall be, and it will be a great pleasure to me to hear from

you.

* He answered this letter on the 26th of July, and says:"I inquire of you sometimes of Dean Berkeley: I was sorry to hear that you were troubled with that melancholy distemper, the want of hearing, although in some cases it is good;

LETTER III.

Sr.

LORD BATHURST TO POPE.

To ALEXANDER POPE, Esq.

I will not fail to attend Mrs. Howard upon Marble Hill next tuesday, but Lady Bathurst is not able to come at this time, wch is no

but one would have it in one's power to hear or not hear, as it suited best with our inclinations.

"Pope I suppose is well, he is rambling about the country."

He also wrote to Swift on the same day that he addressed the above letter to Pope, but dates the letter from Dover-street, where he resided for many years before his death.

* Allen, Earl of Bathurst was the son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, of Pauls Perry, Northamptonshire. He was born in Westminster, 1684, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1705, he was chosen member for Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, which place he represented in the two following Parliaments. He joined the Tory party, by whom he was brought into the House of Peers in 1711, and strenuously opposed all the measures of Sir Robert Walpole. In 1742, he was admitted of the Privy Council; in 1757, he was appointed Treasurer to the Prince of Wales, and at his late Majesty's accession, received a pension of 2000l. a-year. In 1772, he was created Earl of Bathurst, and died three years after, aged ninety

one.

To this nobleman, Pope dedicated his third Moral Essay. Johnson observes upon this subject:

"To his latter works he took care to affix names dignified

1

small mortification to her. I hope I shall per

swade John Gay & y" to come hither to me, for I really think such a wintry sumer as this shou'd

with titles, but was not very happy in his choice; for except Lord Bathurst, none of his noble friends were such as that a good man would have his intimacy with them known to posterity: he can derive little honor from the notice of Cobham, Burlington, or Bolingbroke."

This Essay was originally published in the form of an Epistle. and Bathurst expressed himself displeased at its subsequent alteration to a Dialogue, in which he held so insignificant a part.

Pope frequently visited Lord Bathurst's country house, at Cirencester; this he mentions several times to Swift; and in October, 1716, he writes to Martha Blount, “I am with Lord Bathurst, at my Bower, in whose groves we had yesterday a dry walk of three hours. It is the place of all others I fancy, and I am not yet out of humour with it; though I have had it some months, it does not cease to be agreeable to me, so late in the season; the very dying of the leaves adds a variety of colors, that is not unpleasant." It is said by Mr. Bowles, that Pope's seat, at Cirencester, is still shown.

The following interesting account of this nobleman is taken from the notes to the Suffolk Correspondence :

"He was born Nov. 16, 1684, and died Sept. 16, 1775, retaining to the age of ninety-one, not his senses merely, but his wit, pleasantry and spirits. His son (whom he survived) was Lord Chancellor Apsley. Sometimes, when the Chancellor retired from his father's table, Lord Bathurst would say, "Come, now the old gentleman's gone, let us have another bottle." When George the Second, then Prince, quarrelled with his father, a kind of coalition took place be

be past altogether in Society by a Chimney-corner, but I believe I shou'd not lie if I assured y" yt I wou'd quit ye finest walk on ye finest day in ye finest Garden, to have y' Company at any time. this is saying a great deal more than is comonly understood by one.

I am,

Y' most faithfull

humble servt.

BATHURST.

tween his friends and the old tory opposition. This contributed to, if it did not produce Mrs. Howard's intimacy with Pope and Swift, Bolingbroke and Bathurst. The scandal of the day, however, hinted that her friendship for the latter was of a tenderer nature, and that the jealousy of the Prince was so far awakened as to forbid Lord Bathurst's visits. But the tone of all Lord Bathurst's letters seems to contradict this insinuation. We find he never gave up his intimacy with Mrs. Howard, and on one important occasion employed her mediation with George the Second; which is quite inconsistent with the supposition that his Majesty was jealous of his favour with the lady."

LETTER IV.

EARL OF PETERBOROUGH TO POPE.

Friday Night,

If you are not well enough to come hither, I will be with you to morrow morning, having something particular to say to you.

* In a pamphlet called "Remarks on the Characters of the Court of Queen Anne," this nobleman is represented under the following character :—

"He affects popularity, and loves to preach in coffee-houses, and public places; is an open enemy to revealed religion; brave in his person; has a good estate; does not seem expensive, yet always in debt, and very poor; a well-shaped thin man, with a very brisk look." Upon which Swift remarks, "this character is, for the most part, true." And in one of his letters he jocosely characterizes him as the "ramblingest lying rogue on earth."

6

"Johnson said one day to Lord Elliot, I know Harte was your lordship's tutor, and he was also tutor to the Peterborough family. Pray, my lord, do you recollect any particulars that he told you of Lord Peterborough? He is a favourite of mine, and is not enough known; his character has only been ventilated in party pamphlets.' Lord Elliot told him some few particulars, but said the best account of Lord Peterborough was in 'Captain Carleton's Memoirs." "

Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson.