head by the 30th instant. Lady Wharton stays in England. I suppose you know that I obeyed yours, and the Bishop of Clogher's commands, in relation to Mr. Smith; for I desired Mrs. Dawson to acquaint you with it. I must beg my most humble duty to the Bishop of Clogher. I heartily long to eat a dish of bacon and beans in the best company in the world. Mr. Steele and I often drink your health.

I am forced to give myself airs of a punctual correspondence with you in discourse with your friends at St. James's coffeehouse, who are always asking me questions about you, when they have a mind to pay their court to me, if I may use so magnificent a phrase. Pray, dear doctor, continue your friendship toward me, who love and esteem you, if possible, as much as you deI am ever, dear sir, Yours entirely,

serve.

J. ADDISON.

LXV. TO DR. SWIFT.

Dublin, June 3, 1710.

DEAR SIR-I am just now come from Finglass, where I have been drinking your health, and talking of you, with one who loves and admires you better than any man in the world, except your humble servant. We both agree in a request, that you will set out for Dublin as soon as possible. To tell you truly, I find the place disagreeable, and cannot imagine why it should appear so now more than it did last year. You know I look upon every thing that is like a compliment as a breach of friendship; and therefore shall only tell you, that I long to see you; without assuring you, that I love your company and value your conversation more than any man's or that I am, with the most inviolable sincerity and esteem, dear sir, your most faithful, most humble, and inost obedient servant,

J. ADDISON

LXVI.

[The following letter explains itself. It was, I believe, originally printed in Rede's Anecdotes; but there is no date nor name, and I am not aware that the subject has ever attracted the attention of Addison's biog raphers.-G.]

MADAM-It would be ridiculous in Lae, after the late intimation you were pleased to favor me with, to affect any longer an ignorance of your sentiments, however opposite an approbation of them must be to the dictates of reason and justice. This expression I am sensible may appear inconsistent in the mouth of a polite man, but I hope it is no disgrace to a sincere one. In matters of importance, delicacy ought to give way to truth, and ceremony must be sacrificed to candor. An honest freedom is the privilege of ingenuity; and the mind, which is above the practice of deceit, can never stoop to be guilty of flattery upon such a point.

Give me leave, madam, to remark, that the connection subsisting between your husband and myself is of a nature too strong for me to think of injuring him in a point where the happiness of his life is so materially concerned. You cannot be insensible of his goodness or my obligations; and suffer me to observe, that, were I capable of such an action, how much soever my behavior might be rewarded by your passion, I must be despised by your reason, and, though I might be esteemed as a lover, I should be hated as a man. Highly sensible of the power of your beauty, I am determined to avoid an interview where my peace and honor may be for ever lost. You have passions, you say, madam; give me leave to answer, you have understanding also; you have a heart susceptible of the tenderest impressions, but a soul, if you would choose to awaken it, beyond an unwarrantable indulgence of them; and let me entreat you, for your own sake,

to resist any giddy impulse or ill-placed inclination w.ich shall induce you to entertain a thought prejudicial to your own honor, and repugnant to your virtue.

I too, madam, am far from being insensible. I, too, have passions; and would my situation, a few years ago, have allowed me a possibility of succeeding, I should legally have solicited that happiness which you are now ready to bestow. I had the honor of supping at Mr. D.'s, where I first saw you; and I shall make no scruple in declaring, that I never saw a person so irresistibly beautiful, nor a manner so excessively engaging; but the superiority of your circumstances prevented any declaration on my side, although I burnt with a flame as strong as ever fired the human breast. I labored to conceal it. Time and absence at length abated a hopeless passion, and your marriage with my patron effectually cured it. Do not, madam, endeavor to rekindle that flame; do not destroy a tranquillity I have just begun to taste, and blast your own honor, which has been hitherto unsullied. My best esteem is yours; but should I promise more, consider the fatal necessity I should be under, of removing myself rom an intercourse so dangerous. In any other commands, dispose of, Madam, Your humble servant.

LXVII. TO AMBROSE PHILIPS.

April 25, 1710.

DEAR SIR-Upon the receipt of your first letter I consulted with Mr. Pulteney, who is very much your friend, and extremely desirous to serve you, but as the province to which Muscovy belongs is under Mr. Boyle, he did not think it proper for me to move any one else in that affair, designing to mention you to the secretary, who you know is his intimate friend, upon the first favorable opportunity. Since that I have received your second

and have got Mr. Hopkins to join with me in the affair of Geneva to my Lord Sunderland, but his Lordship tells us that Dairolle has been named to that post for some time. I knew the Marquis du Caen applied to the Duke of Marlborough upon the same account. I have been several times to speak to my Lord Sommers upon this occasion, but could not find him at home till about three days ago, and then he was just going out with Lord Oxford. However, I took his Lordship aside, and upon my telling him your desire in regard to Geneva, his Lordship promised that he would move in it. I told him at the same time what I had heard of Dairolle, and that probably you would be very well pleased to succeed Dairolle at the Hague. I likewise told his Lordship of the vacancy that might possibly happen in Muscovy, and begged his Lordship to turn it in his thoughts to your advantage. He was very particularly attentive to me, and by the very kind manner that he received what I had to say, and that he formerly has spoken to me of you, I promise myself that something may rise out of it for your good. I intend to mention you once more to his Lordship before I go for Ireland, and I believe it would not be amiss for you to ground a letter of thanks upon the gracious hearing he has already given me. I must beg you to present my most humble respects to Mr. Pulteney, and I hope you have already let him know how much I love and honor him. Farewell, dear Philips, and believe me to be more than I am able to express, your most affectionate and most faithful humble servant, J. ADDISON.

Dick Steele and I remember you once a day. Little Thom son is the same excellent youth he was.a

■ From the original MS. in the possession of John Scott, Esq., Westminster

LXVIII. TO THE SAME.

[Without date, but evidently from Ireland from the allusion to the Pastorals-between 1709-10.-G.]

DEAR SIR-I am very much obliged to you for sending me my letters from Mr. Vandewaters, but more for the copy of your pastoral. I have read it over with abundance of pleasure, and like extremely well the alterations you have made in it. You have an admirable hand at a sheep-crook, though I must confess the conclusion of your poem would have pleased me better had it not been for that very reason that it was the conclusion of it. I hope you will follow the example of your Spenser and Virgil in making your pastorals the prelude of something greater. He that can bewail Stella's death in so good a copy of verses would be able to anatomize her after it in a better. I intend for England within a day or two, and should be very glad if I could be any way serviceable to you there.

Your faithful, humble servant,

J. ADDISON.

[Addressed to Ambrose Philips.]

From "The Autograph Portfolio." London, 1837, 4to. Literatim.

LXIX. TO MR. KEALLY, A FRIEND IN IRELAND.

London, April 13, 1710.

SIR-We are here in a great puzzle of politics. Little Ben' winks, speaks half sentences, and grows more mysterious than ever. Dick Steele is entirely yours. Lord Halifax, after having talked of you in a friendly manner, desired me to give you his humble service when I wrote to you, &c.

1 Little Ben-Mr., afterwards Bishop, Hoadley. He had recently been recommended to the Queen by the House of Commons for writing against Bishops Bramhall and Atterbury.-G.