the Hope and Wish of our Author, that he might be fix'd in the fame Degree of Efteem with that Lady, as fhe was with him, though as yet she knew of no particular Regard he had for her; the imagin'd his Civility arofe from his Youth, Complaifance to her Sex, and Refpect to her Family, all which were us'd as Pleas for more frequent Opportunities of converfing with her; but this was now put an End to for the prefent, if fhe went a little unwillingly from the Town it is no Wonder, for fhe was a great Admirer of Mufick, and the publick Diversions, (as moft at the Age fhe was then at do) and the Place fhe went to was as retir'd and little vifited, or lefs than a Nunnery, with no Company in the scatter'd Neighbourhood, that could give the least Relief to the Solitude: On the contrary, Mr. Pope, who could with great Delight have enjoy'd that very Solitude, (without enquiring who was his Neighbours) was by reafon of tranfacting fome Affairs, under an Obligation of being in Town: He conceal'd his real Concern for this Separation, and wrote Mifs Blount a Letter, being the fecond he had wrote to her in Verfe, wherein he confeffes, (without seeming te do it formally) that she is seldom or ever out of his Thoughts: It has a great deal of Liveliness and Spirit in it, and is very fine Poetry, though he has taken the Liberty (a poetical Liberty perhaps rather too great in a Poem of this Kind) of making Ufe of double Rhymes in more Places than one; to be fure it gives a greater Air of Freedom, but then it takes. from the Exactnefs, the Neatness he should have appear'd in before that Lady. However, gentle Reader, judge thou.

AS

S fome fond Virgin, whom her Mother's Care
Drags from the Town to wholfom Country Air,

Juft

Juft when the learns to roll a melting Eye,
And hear a Spark, yet think no Danger nigh;
From the dear Man unwilling fhe muft fever,
Yet takes one Kifs before fhe parts for ever.
Thus from the World fair Zephalinda flew,
Saw others happy, and with Sighs withdrew;
Not that their Pleafures caus'd her Discontent,
She figh'd not that they stay'd, but that she went.
She went to Plain-work and to purling Brooks,
Old fashion'd Halls, dull Aunts, and croaking Rooks,
She went from Op'ra, Park, Affembly, Play,
To Morning Walks, and Pray'rs three Hours a Day;
To part her Time 'twixt Reading and Bohea,
To mufe, and fpill her folitary Tea,

Or o'er cold Coffee trifle with the Spoon,
Count the flow Clock, and dine exact at Noon
Divert her Eyes with Pictures in the Fire,
Hum half a Tune, tell Stories to the Squire;
Up to her godly Garret after fev❜n,

There ftarve and pray, for that's the Way to Heav'na
Some Squire, perhaps, you take Delight to rack;
Whofe Game is Whisk, whofe Treat a Toaft in Sack,
Who vifits with a Gun, prefents you Birds,

Then gives a fmacking Bufs, and cries-No Words !
Or with his Hound comes hallowing from the Stable,
Makes Love with Nods, and kneels beneath a Table;
Whofe Laughs are hearty, tho' his Jefts are coarse,
And loves you beft of all Things-but his Horfe.

In fome fair Evening, on your Elbow laid,
You dream of Triumphs in the rural Shade,
In penfive Thought recall the fancy'd Scene,
See Coronations rife on ev'ry Green,
Before you pass th' imaginary Sights

Of Lords, and Earls, and Dukes, and garter'dKnights,
While the spread Fan o'erfhades your clofing Eyes;
Then give one Flirt, and all the Vision flies:

Thus

Thus vanish Sceptres, Coronets, and Balls,
And leave you in lone Woods or empty Walls.
So when your Slave, at fome dear, idle Time,
(Not plagu'd with Headachs, or the Want of Rhime)
Stands in the Streets, abftracted from the Crew,
And while he seems to study, thinks of you:
Juft when his Fancy points your fprightly Eyes,
Or fees the Blufh of Partheniffa rife,

Gay pats my Shoulder, and you vanifh quite ;
Streets, Chairs, and Coxcombs, rufh upon my Sight;
Vext to be ftill in Town, I knit my Brow,
Look fow'r, and hum a Song-as you may now.

Her Return to London was very great Matter of Confolation to Mr. Pope, he now began publickly to avow a lafting Love and Friendship for her, and writing to his very dear and valuable *Correspondent, October 21, 1721, he fays,

Believe, dear Sir, I truly love and value you; let Mrs. Blount know that she is in the Lift of my Memento Domine's Famulorum Famularumque's, &c.

And in a Letter to her, wrote by the Way as he went to Oxford, fairly protefts, that he loves no Woman but her and prefers her, in a genteel Com→ parison, to a Dutchess.

You U can't be furpriz'd to find him a dull Cor

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refpondent whom you have known fo long for a dull Companion. And tho' I am pretty fenfible, that if I have any Wit, I may as well write to fhow it, as not; (because any Lady that has once feen me, will naturally afk, what I can fhow that is better?) yet I'll content myself with giving you as plain a Hiftory of my Pilgrimage, as Purchas himself, or VOL. II.

* Mr. Blount.

D

as

as John Bunyan could do of his walking through the Wilderness of the World.

Firft then I went by Water to Hampton-Court, unattended by all but my own Virtues; which were not of fo modeft a Nature as to keep themselves, or me, conceal'd: For I met the Prince with all his Ladies on Horfeback, coming from Hunting. Mrs. Bellenden and Mrs. Lepell took me into Protection (contrary to the Laws againft harbouring Papists) and gave me a Dinner, with fomething I lik'd better, an Opportunity of Converfation with Mrs. Howe. We all agreed, that the Life of a Maid of Honour, was of all Things the most miferable; and wifh'd that every Woman who envy'd it had a Specimen of it. To eat Weftphalia-Ham in a Morning, ride over Hedges aud Ditches on borrow'd Hacks, come home in the Heat of the Day with a Fever, and, (what is worse a hundred Times) with a red Mark in the Forehead from an uneafy Hat; all this may qualify them to make excellent Wives for Fox-Hunters, and bear Abundace of ruddy complexion'd Children. As foon as they can wipe off the Sweat of the Day, they muft fimper an Hour, and catch cold, in the Princess's Apartment; from thence (as Shakespear has it) To Dinner, with what Appetite they may

and after that, 'till Midnight, walk, work, or think, which they pleafe? I can easily believe no Lone-Houfe in Wales, with a Mountain and Rookery, is more contemplative than this Court; and as a Proof of it I need only tell you Mrs. Lepell walk'd alone with me three or four Hours by Moonlight, and we met no Creature of any Quality but the King, who. gave Audience to the Vice Chamberlain, all alone, under the Garden Wall.

In short, I heard of no Ball, Affembly, BaffetTable, or any Place where two or three were ga

thered

gathered together, except Madam Kilmanfegg's, to which I had the Honour to be invited, and the Grace to stay away.

I was heartily tired, and pofted to Bushey Park: There we had an excellent Difcourfe of Quackery; Dr. Shadwell was mention'd with Honour. Lady A. walk'd a whole Hour abroad without dying after it, at least in the Time I flay'd, tho' fhe feem'd to be fainting, and had convulfive Motions feveral Times in her Head.

This Day I receiv'd a Letter with certain Advices where Women were to be met with at Oxford. I defy them and all their Works: I love no Meat but Ortolans, and no Women but you: Tho' indeed that's no proper Comparison, but for fat Dutcheffes; for to love you, is as if one fhould wish to eat Angels, or to drink Cherubim Broth.

I arriv'd in the Foreft by Tuesday Noon, and pafs'd the rest of the Day in thofe Woods where I have fo often enjoy'd a Book and a Friend. I made a Hymn as I pafs'd thro', which ended with a Sigh that I will not tell you the Meaning of.

Your Doctor is gone the Way of all his Patients, and was hard put to it how to dispose of an Estate miferably unweildy, and fplendidly unuseful to him. Sir Samuel Garth fays, that for Radcliffe to leave a Library, was as if an Eunuch fhould found a Seraglio. Dr. Shadwell lately told a Lady he wonder'd how the could be alive after him; fhe made Answer fhe wonder'd at it for two Reasons, becaufe Dr. Radcliffe was dead and becaufe Dr. Shadwell was living.

Lam, Dear Madam,
Your, &c.

Further, as an Affurance that his Paffion (for now it admits of that Name) was not meerly fix'd on her