FROM JOHN LORD HERVEY.1 Bath, October 28 [1728]. YOUR suspicions with regard to the Duchess of Marlborough are utterly groundless; she neither knew to whom I was writing, nor that I ever had the pleasure of a letter from you in my life. The speech you had cooked up for her was delightful, exactly her style, and word for word what she would infallibly have said, had she been in the situation you supposed. How far I made free with 'your letter I will nakedly confess: I read two or three things to her out of it, relating to the coronation; but upon my honour, without giving the least hint from whence it came, and by a thing she said three days afterwards, I found she guessed Lord Chesterfield to be my correspondent. If I went further in this step than you would have me, give me absolution upon my confession of my fault, and I will give you my word never to repeat it. This preliminary article settled, I beg for the future our commerce may be without any restraint; that you will allow me the liberty of communicating my thoughts naturally; and that you would conclude yourself safe in doing so to me, till I cease to have the least grain of natural, grateful, or political honesty in my whole composition. I will not make the common excuse for a dull letter, of writing from a dull place; it is one I never allowed, and one I never will make use of: if people have the gift of entertaining belonging to them, they must be so, writing to you, be it from what place it will; and when they fail of being so, it is no more for want of materials, than materials could make them so without genius. Boileau can write upon a Lutrin what one can read with pleasure a thousand times, and Blackmore cannot write upon the Creation anything that one shall not yawn ten times over, before one has read it once. You see I am arguing fairly, though against myself, and that if I am stupid I have at least candour enough to own it an inherent defect, and do not (as ill gamesters complain of their luck) impute the faults of my understanding to accident or 1 Indorsed by Mr. Wortley Montagu "Lord Hervey, from Bath.”—T. chance. I cannot say neither that my manner of passing my time here is at all disagreeable, for you must know I have an ungenteel happiness in my temper that gives me a propensity to being pleased with the people I happen to be with, and the things I happen to be doing. As to your manner of living at Twickenham, I entirely disapprove it. Nature never designed you to perform the offices of a groom and a nursery-maid; if you would be sincere, you must own, riding is inverting her dictates in your search of pleasure, or you must confess yourself an example of the maxim which I laid down, and you controverted so warmly two nights before I left London. I have met with several accumulated proofs since I saw you, that confirm me more and more in that faith; and begin to think it impossible I should change my religion, unless you will be so good to take my conversion into your own hands. I must tell you, too, that Thomas of Didymus and I are so alike in our way of thinking, that * * *****. I must be confuted in the same manner that Daphne, in the Aminta, says she was: "Mi mostrava più l'ombre d'una breve notte, che mille giorni di più chiari soli: e la più forte prova di quell' argumento si trova nelle parole, no, ma in silenzio." It is so long since I read this, that it is more than possible I may quote it false; but to speak in her Grace of Marlborough's style, you know what I mean. If you do not dislike long letters, and an unstudied galimatias of tout ce qui se trouve au bout de la plume (comme dit Madame de Sévigné), let me know it; and if you would not have me think it flattery when you tell me you do not, encourage the trade, not only by accepting my bills, but making quick returns. Adieu, I am stayed for to dinner; but if the omitting a respectful conclusion with three or four half lines to express warmth, truth, obedience, humility, &c., shocks your pride, give me a hint of it in your next, and I will take care never again to retrench those fees, due to ladies of your wit, beauty, and quality. SIR, I have this minute received your letter, and cannot remember I ever was so much surprised in my life; the whole contents of it being a matter of astonishment. I give you sincere and hearty thanks for your intelligence, and the obliging manner of it. I have ever valued you as a gentleman both of sense and merit, and will join with you in any method you can contrive to prevent or punish the authors of so horrid a villany. I am with much esteem, Your humble servant. TO DR. ARBUTHNOT. [October, 1730?] SIR, Since I saw you I have made some inquiries, and heard more, of the story you was so kind to mention to me. I am told Pope has had the surprising impudence to assert he can bring the lampoon when he pleases to produce it, under my own hand; I desire he may be made to keep to this offer. If he is so skilful in counterfeiting hands, I suppose he will not confine that great talent to the gratifying his malice, but take some occasion to increase his fortune by the same method, and I may hope (by such practices) to see him exalted according to his merit, which nobody will rejoice at more than myself. I beg of you, sir (as an act of justice), to endeavour to set the truth in an open light, and then I leave to your judgment the character of those who have attempted to hurt mine in so barbarous a manner. I can assure you (in particular) you named a lady to me (as abused in this libel) whose name I never heard before, and as I never had any acquaintance with Dr. Swift, am an utter stranger to all 2 1 This and the other letters to Arbuthnot in this section are given from the originals in the possession of W. H. Baillie, Esq.-T. 2 Although there is no date to this and the preceding letter, the affair to which they relate may be inferred with something like certainty. Young's "Two Epistles to Mr. A. Pope," published in 1730, were quickly followed by a scurrilous and indecent poem, entitled "One his affairs and even his person, which I never saw to my knowledge, and am now convinced the whole is a contrivance of Pope's to blast the reputation of one who never injured him. I am not more sensible of his injustice, than I am, sir, of your [sic] candour, generosity, and good sense I have found in you, which has obliged me to be with a very uncommon warmth your real friend, and I heartily wish for an opportunity of showing I am so more effectually than by subscribing myself your very Humble servant. Epistle to Mr. Alexander Pope, occasioned by Two Epistles lately published." This poem attacks with great bitterness not only Pope, but bis friends Arbuthnot, Gay, and Swift, and concludes with what is perhaps the earliest allusion in print to Swift's alleged liaison with Miss Vanhomrigh: "So when Vanessa yielded up her charms, * * * * Raptured he lies, deans, authors are forgot, The libel was afterwards attributed to the joint labours of Pope's enemies, Welsted and James Moore Smythe, and Pope is subsequently supposed to allude to it in the line: "Three thousand suns went down on Welsted's lie." But that he once suspected, or pretended to suspect, Lady Mary of having had a hand in it, there can be little doubt. The attacks in the "One Epistle" were replied to in an article in the Grub-street Journal, a paper which Pope is suspected of having projected, and to which he was at least a frequent contributor. The defence is long and elaborate, deals with facts which could scarcely have been known to any one but Pope himself, and employs language closely resembling passages in Pope's letters not then published. Among others, the writer ironically appeals to "a lady (supposed to have had some hand in this piece) who has confidently reported he was once whipped;" which clearly refers to Lady Mary, whom Pope accused of writing a narrative of a supposed whipping administered to the poet "in Ham Walks," entitled "A Pop upon Pope." Pope may possibly have been aware of some connexion between Lady Mary and J. Roberts, the publisher of the "One Epistle;" for Roberts, whether by her connivance or not, published in 1716 three of her Town Eclogues. He was also the publisher, in 1733, of the verses to the Imitator alluded to in the next letter; and when Lady Mary's son absconded from school in 1726, an advertisement in the newspapers, offering a reward of "Twenty pounds and reasonable charges" for his detection, directed all information to be forwarded "to Mr. James Roberts, near Stationers' Hall."-T. 1 FROM HENRY FIELDING. Wednesday evening. MADAM,—I have presumed to send your ladyship a copy of the play which you did me the honour of reading three acts of last spring, and hope it may meet as light a censure from your ladyship's judgment as then; for while your goodness permits me (what I esteem the greatest, and indeed only happiness of my life) to offer my unworthy performances to your perusal, it will be entirely from your sentence that they will be regarded, or disesteemed by me. I shall do myself the honour of calling at your ladyship's door to-morrow at eleven, which, if it be an improper hour, I beg to know from your servant what other time will be more convenient. I am, with the greatest respect and gratitude, madam, Your ladyship's most obedient, most devoted humble servant. FROM HENRY FIELDING." London, Sept. 4 [1731]. I HOPE your ladyship will honour the scenes, which I presume to lay before you, with your perusal. As they are written on a model I never yet attempted, I am exceedingly anxious lest they should find less mercy from you than my lighter productions. It will be a slight compensation to The Modern Husband, that your ladyship's censure will defend him from the possibility of any other reproof, since your least approbation will always give me pleasure, infinitely superior to the loudest applauses of a theatre. For whatever has past your judgment, may, I think, without any imputation of immodesty, refer want of success to want of judgment in an audience. I shall do myself the honour of waiting on your ladyship at Twickenham next Monday, to receive my sentence, and am, madam, with the most devoted respect, Your ladyship's most obedient, most humble servant. [The play was possibly "Love in Several Masques," Fielding's first comedy, produced 1727, published 1728, and dedicated to Lady Mary.] 2 I have not found the original of this letter.-T. |