conjectures on the author's prefent condition, he would rather have had it faid of him that he had pray'd, Oh thou my voice infpire, Who touch'd Ifaiah's hallow'd lips with fire! I have turn'd to every verfe and chapter, and think you have preferv'd the fublime heavenly spirit throughout the whole, especially at- Hark a glad voice-and- The lamb with wolves shall graze There is but one line which I think below the original, He wipes the tears for ever from our eyes. You have exprefs'd it with a good and pious, but not fo exalted and poetical a fpirit as the prophet, The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. If you agree with me in this, alter it by way of paraphrafe or otherwife, that when it comes into a volume it may be amended. Your poem is already better than the Pollio. I am LETTER II. The Anfwer. Your, &c. June 18, 1712. OU have oblig'd me with a very kind letter, You Y by which I find you thift the fcene of your life from the town' to the country, and enjoy that mix'd ftate which wife men both delight in, and are qualified for. Methinks the moralifts and philofophers have generally run too much into extremes in commending entirely either folitude, or public life. In the former, men for the most part grow ufeless by too much reft, and in the latter are de N 3 ftroy'd ftroy'd by too much precipitation; as waters lying fill, putrify, and are good for nothing, and running violently on do but the more mischief in their paffage to others, and are fwallow'd up and loft the fooner themselves. Those indeed who can be useful to all states, fhould be like gentle streams, that not only glide thro' lonely valleys and forests amidst the flocks and the fhepherds, but vifit populous, towns in their course, and are at once of ornament and fervice to them. But there are another fort of people who feem defign'd for folitude, fuch, I mean, as have more to hide than to fhow. As for my own part, I am one of thofe of whom Seneca fays, Tam umbratiles funt, ut putent in turbido effe quicquid in luce eft. Some men, like fome pictures, are fitter for a corner than a full light; and, I believe, fuch as have a natural bent to folitude (to carry on the former fimilitude) are like waters, which may be forced into fountains, and exalted into a great height, may make a noble figure and a louder noife, but after all they would run more smoothly, quietly, and plentifully, in their own natural courfe upon the ground*. The confideration of this would make me very well contented with the poffeffion only of that Quiet which Cowley calls the companion of Obscurity. But whoever his the Mufes too for his companions, can never be idle enough, to be uneafy. Thus, Sir, you fee, I would flatter myself into a good opinion of my own way of living. Plutarch juft now told me, that 'tis in human life as in a game at tables, where a man may with for the higheft caft, but, if his chance be otherwife, he is e'en to play it as well as he can, and to make the beft of it. I am, Your, &c. *The foregoing Similitudes our Author had put into verfe fome years before, and inferted into Mr. Wycherley's poem on Mix'd Life. We find them in the verfification very diftinct from the reit of that poem. See his posthumous works, octavo, Page 3 and 4. P LET, You LETTER III. To Mr. STEEL E. July 15, 1712. formerly obferv'd to me, that nothing made a more ridiculous figure in a man's life, than the disparity we often find in him fick and well: thus one of an unfortunate conftitution is perpetually exhibiting a miferable example of the weakness of his mind, and of his body, in their turns. I have had frequent opportunities of late to confider myself in these different views, and, I hope, have receiv'd fome advantage by it, if what Waller fays be true, that The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light thro' chinks that time has made. Then furely fickness, contributing no less than old age to the fhaking down this fcaffolding of the body, may discover the inward ftructure more plainly. Sickness is a fort of early old age: it teaches us a diffidence in our earthly state, and infpires us with the thoughts of a future, better than a thousand volumes of philofophers and divines. It gives fo warning a concuffion to those props of our vanity, our strength and youth, that we think of fortifying ourselves within, when there is fo little dependance upon our out-works. Youth at the very beft is but a betrayer of human life in a gentler and fmoother manner than age: 'tis like a stream that nourishes a plant upon a bank, and caufes it to flourish and blossom to the fight, but at the fame time is undermining it at the root in fecret. My youth has dealt more fairly and openly with me, it has afforded feveral profpects of my danger, and given me an advantage not very common to young men, that N 4 the the attractions of the world have not dazzled me very much; and I begin, where most people end, with a full conviction of the emptinefs of all forts of ambition, and the unfatisfactory nature of all human pleafures. When a fmart fit of ficknefs tells me this fcurvy tenement of my body will fall in a little time, I am e'en as unconcern'd as was that honeft Hibernian, who being in bed in the great ftorm fome years ago, and told the houfe would tumble over his head, made anfwer, What care I for the houfe? I am only a lodger. I fancy 'tis the best time to die when one is in the best humour; and fo exceffively weak as I now am, I may fay with confcience, that I am not at all uneafy at the thought, that many men, whom I never had any efteem for, are likely to enjoy this world after me. When I reflect what an inconfiderable li tle atom every single man is, with respect to the whole creation, methinks, 'tis a fhame to be concern'd at the removal of fuch a trivial animal as I am The morning after my exit, the fun will rife as bright as ever, the flowers fmell as fweet, the plants fpring as green, the world will proceed in its old courfe, people will laugh as heartily, and marry as faft, as they were us'd to do. The memory of man, (as it is elegantly express'd in the Book of Wisdom) paffeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but one day. There are reasons enough, in the fourth chapter of the fame book, to make any young man contented with the profpect of death. "For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, or is mea❝ fur'd by number of years. But wisdom is the "grey hair to men, and an unfpotted life is old age. "He was taken away fpeedily, left wickedness "fhould alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his foul," &c. I am Your, &c. LET I LETTER IV. To Mr. STEELE. Nov. 7, 1712. Was the other day in company with five or fix men of fome learning; where chancing to mention the famous verfes which the Emperor Adrian spoke on his death-bed, they were all agreed that 'twas a piece of gaiety unworthy of that prince in thofe circumftances. I could not but differ from this opinion methinks it was by no means a gay, but a very serious foliloquy to his foul at the point of its departure; in which fenfe I naturally took the verfes at my first reading them, when I was very young, and before I knew what interpretation the world generally put upon them. Animula vagula, blandula, Nec (ut foles) dabis joca ! "Alas, my foul! thou pleasing companion of this body, thou fleeting thing that art now deserting it! whither art thou flying? to what unknown "scene? all trembling, fearful and penfive! what "now is become of thy former wit and humour ? "thou fhalt jeft and be gay no more.' I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the trifling in all this 'tis the most natural and obvious reflection imaginable to a dying man: and if we confider the Emperor was a heathen, that doubt concerning the future ftate of his foul will feem fo far from being the effect of want of thought, that 'twas scarce reasonable he should think otherwife; not to mention that here is a plain confeffion included of his |