LETTER, III.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

IN my laft, and perhaps fome of my readers would wish it was my last, I forgot to afk which of the gods prefided over biography, that I might pay my respects to him.-In the reign of Saturn, much about the time that Nebuchadnezzar was fent to grafs, I am told that Mercury held it by patent as his godfhip and I are not on very good terms*, I do not think I fhould give myself the trouble to make any intereft with him; were this province but configned to fome of the goddeffes, there would be fome chance. Let no man ever talk against the indulgence of a female breast, that ever hung on one; and I believe I

*Had that rafcal been tried at the Old Bailey,

Botany Bay must have been his fate..

hung

hung on one as fair and as gentle as ever flowed with the milk of humanity-my own mother's, fhe that had beauty without pride, and vivacity without indifcretion; nor was my father as a man lefs beautiful; of this I am pretty certain, that if they had claimed the Dunmow flitch, it would have fallen to their lot not only twelve months, but even twelve years after their union; at the fame time I do not fay, that they would not have had a word or two about the dreffing of it; for you must know, that in fome articles of cookery fhe would not yield the prize to Lady de Coverly herself, especially in white-pot and hafty-pudding- the recipe of each was heretofore confidered as a noftrum in our family. It is not to be wondered at then, that this domeftic felicity fhould exift in the most refined degree, when it is known that fortune had nothing to say in bringing about the indiffoluble vow, nor yet exalted

birth,

birth, like Will Honeycomb's lady: it is true, fhe had as many ancestors as any other in the parish; like Virtue, my father wedded her for her own reward; and what greater dower could a worthy man receive, than the hand of a virtuous woman! for in thefe days, as well as in those of Solomon, in fpite of all the Smithfield bargains that have been ftruck, a virtuous woman, is a crown to her husband.

In the beginning I thought,-I fcarce believe that you once thought about the matter (afide)--to have confined myself foly to what regarded myfelf, but I cannot bear the idea of being entirely the hero of my own tale.-I hope then I fhall be indulged in faying a word or two of those whofe inftructions and example contributed to render that life fupportable, when it really was a burthen; and when I would have laid it down with the greatest chearfulness. I

think, I had better begin with my grandfather by the mother's fide, which is commonly called the fure fide of the houfe ;-he was bred and born in England, and to his last moments retained all the probity and courage of that enlightened nation, and above all that inherent love of liberty which once glowed in the breast of every Englishman, and that every Englishman looked on to be what in reality it is, the first of bleffings, and the greatest legacy that could be tranfmitted to his children. never was a greater advocate for religious than he was for national toleration; whenever a perfon's country came in queftion, he was fure to cite the faying of the Danish philofopher, that was upbraided on account of his, Patria mihi dedecus, fed dedecus patria*, or fome other faying at least as perti

Voltaire

*My country is a difgrace to me, but thou art a difgrace to thine.

VOL. I.

D

nent.

nent. In his earlier days he had borne arms, voluntarily, in defence of his native foil: Captain Sentry composed the principal part of his military character, with a dash or two of uncle Toby; the first on the breach, the last on the mine: obeyed by those he commanded, not through the fear of punishment, but through the fear of offending him; too much of a foldier to cheat a foldier, his courage and magnanimity derived from thought and reflexion. In his perfon he was well-proportioned and rather handfome; Lavater I am fure would have found a great deal of pleasure in the perufal of his countenance; he excelled in all the manly exercifes, particularly wrestling, infomuch that many imagined he had fallen heir to fome of Jacob's trips-as fond of hunting that he was fcarce ever known to be thrown out at eighty.—But Death, the mighty hunter, earths us all.I know very little of my paternal grand