The letters dated from the continent, were written during his travels, and contain their own illustration.-G.]

HONORED SIR-I am now in a place where nothing is more usual than for mean people to press into the presence and conversation of great men, and where modesty is so very scarce, that I think I have not seen a blush since my first landing at Calais, which I hope may in some measure excuse me for presuming to trouble you with a letter. However, if I may not be allowed to improve a little in the confidence of the country, I am sure I receive in it such effects of your favour in the civilities my Lord Ambassador has been pleased to show me, that I cannot but think it my duty to make you acquainted with them; I am sorry my travels have not yet furnished me with any thing else worth your knowledge. As for the state of learning, there is no book comes out at present that has not something in it of an air of devotion. Dacier has been forced to prove his Plato a very good Christian before he ventures upon his translation, and has so far complied with the taste of the age, that his whole book is overrun with texts of scripture, and the notion of pre-existence, supposed to be stolen from two verses of the prophets. Nay, the humour is grown so universal that it is got among the poets, who are every day publishing lives of saints and legends in rhyme. My imperfect acquaintance with the French tongue makes me incapable of learning any particular news of this nature, so that I must end my letter as I begun it, with my most humble acknow. ledgments for all your favours. I am, &c.

To Charles Montagu, Esq., &

Paris, August, 1699

V.

[From the Guardian 101. Introductory Remarks.]

SIR-Since I had the happiness to see you last, I have encountered as many misfortunes as a knight-errant. I had a fall inte the water at Calais, and since that several bruises upon the land, lame post horses by day, and hard beds at night, with many other dismal adventures,

Quorum animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit.

At which my memory with grief recoils.

VIRG. N. ii. 12.

My arrival at Paris was at first no less uncomfortable, where I could not see a face nor hear a word that I ever met with before; so that my most agreeable companions have been statues and pictures, which are many of them very extraordinary; but what particularly recommends them to me is, that they do not speak French, and have a very good quality, rarely to be met with in this country, of not being too talkative.

I am settled for some time at Paris. Since my being here I have made the tour of all the king's palaces, which has been I think the pleasantest part of my life. I could not believe it was in the power of art, to furnish out such a multitude of noble scenes as I there met with, or that so many delightful prospects could lie within the compass of a man's imagination. There is every thing done that can be expected from a prince who removes mountains, turns the course of rivers, raises woods in a day's time, and plants a village or town on such a particular spot of ground only for the bettering of a view. One would wonder to see how many tricks he has made the water play for his diversion. It turns itself into pyramids, triumphal arches, glass bottles, imi tates a fire-work, rises in a mist, or tells a story out of Æsop.

VOL. II.-20

I do not believe, as good a poet as you are, that you can make finer landscapes than those about the king's houses, or with all your descriptions raise a more magnificent palace than Versailles. I am however so singular as to prefer Fontainebleau to all the rest. It is situated among rocks and woods, that give you a fine variety of savage prospects. The king has humored the genius of the place, and only made use of so much art as is necessary to help and regulate nature, without reforming her too much. The cascades seem to break through the clefts and cracks of rocks that are covered over with moss, and look as if they were piled upon one another by accident. There is an artificial wildness in the meadows, walks, and canals; and the garden, instead of a wall, is fenced on the lower end by a natural mound of rockwork tnat strikes the eye very agreeably. For my part, I think there is something more charming in these rude heaps of stones than in so many statues, and would as soon see a river winding through woods and meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles. To pass from works of nature to those of art. In my opinion, the pleasantest part of Versailles is the gallery. Every one sees on each side of it something that will be sure to please him. For one of them commands a view of the finest garden in the world, and the other is wainscoted with looking-glass. The history of the present king until the year 16- is painted on the roof by Le Brun, so that his majesty has actions enough by him to furnish another gallery much longer than the present.

The painter has represented his most Christian Majesty under the figure of Jupiter, throwing thunderbolts all about the ceiling, and striking terror into the Danube, and Rhine, that lie astonished and blasted with lightning above the cornice.

There are vast windows into the garden, and the same in lookingglass opposite to them, on the blank side, which produce a fine effect, for you see the garden on both sides of you as you walk along the gallery.

But what makes all these shows the more agreeable, is the great kindness and affability that is shown to strangers. If the French do not excel the English in all the arts of humanity, they do at least in the outward expressions of it. And upon this, as

well as other accounts, though I believe the English are a much wiser nation, the French are undoubtedly much more happy. Their old men in particular are, I believe, the most agreeable in the world. An antediluvian could not have more life and briskness in him at threescore and ten: for that fire and levity which makes the young ones scarce conversible, when a little wasted and tempered by years, makes a very pleasant and gay old age. Besides, this national fault of being so very talkative looks. natural and graceful in one that has gray hairs to countenance it. The mentioning this fault in the French must put me in mind to finish my letter, lest you think me already too much infected by their conversation; but I must desire you to consider, that travelling does in this respect lay a little claim to the privilege of old age. I am, sir, &c.

VI. TO LORD SOMERS.

(v. vol. 1, p. 148.)

MY LORD-I have now for some time lived on the effect of your Lordship's patronage, without presuming to return you my most humble thanks for it. But I find it no less difficult to suppress the sense I have of your Lordship's favor, than I do to represent it as I ought. Gratitude for a kindness received is generally as troublesome to the benefactor as the importunity in soliciting it; and I hope your Lordship will pardon me if I offend in one of these respects who had never any occasion or pretence to do it on the other. The only return I can make your Lordship will be to apply myself entirely to my business, and to take

such a care of my conversation, that your favors may not seem misplaced on my Lord, your Lordship's, &c.

To my Lord Chancellor.

Paris, September 1699.

VII. то MR. SANSOM.

[It is not known who this gentleman was.]

DEAR SIR-You may be sure I have not been in a little hurry at my first arrival in Paris, that I could so long forget returning you my thanks for your last kindness: and truly I think I have paid no small compliment to the shows of the place in letting them take up my thoughts so far as to make me deny myself the satisfaction of writing to you. Your letter to Mr. Breton has gained me the acquaintance of a gentleman who is in all respects such as I should have guessed Mr. Sansom's friend to have been; his conversation at Dover made my stay there very pleasant, as his interest in the officers made my departure easy. The great talk of this place at present is about the king's statue that is lately set up in the Place Vendôme.' It is a noble figure, but looks very naked without a square about it: for they have set up the furniture before the house is half built. If I meet with any thing here worth your knowledge, I will trouble you with the relation of it, and in the mean time, ain, dear sir, &c.

To John Sansom, Esq.

Paris, September, 1699.

VIII. TO COLONEJ

FROWDE.

[This gentleman was an Oxford friend, and is supposed to have afterwards filled the place of Comptroller of the Foreign Office at the Postoffice.-G.]

1 On the site now occupied by Napoleon's triumphal column.--G.