LETTER XI. MR. WEST TO MR. GRAY. RECEIVING no answer to my last letter, which I writ above a month ago, I must own I am a little uneasy. The slight shadow of you I had in town, has only served to endear you to me the more. The moments I passed with you made a strong impression upon me. I singled you out for a friend, and I would have you know me to be yours, if you deem me worthy. Alas, Gray, you cannot imagine how miserable my time passes away. My health and nerves and spirits are, thank my stars, the very worst, I think, in Oxford. Four-andtwenty hours of pure unalloyed health together, are as unknown to me as the 400,000 characters in the Chinese vocabulary. One of my complaints has of late been so over-civil as to visit me regularly once a month— jam certus conviva. This is a painful nervous head-ach, which perhaps you have sometimes heard me speak of before. Give me leave to say, I find no physic comparable to your letters. If, as it is said in Ecclesiasticus," Friendship be the physic of the mind," prescribe to me, dear Gray, as often and as much as you think proper, I shall be a most obedient patient. Non ego Fidis irascar medicis, offendar amicis. I venture here to write you down a Greek Epigram2, which I lately turned into Latin, and hope you will excuse it. z Of Posidippus. Vide Anthologia, H. Stephan. p. 220. Mr. Gray in his MS. notes to this edition of the Anthologia (of which I shall give an account in a subsequent section) inserts this translation, and adds, "Descriptio pulcherrima et quæ tenuem illum Græco Perspicui puerum ludentem in margine rivi Languidus, æternum lumina composuit. Adieu! I am going to my tutor's lectures on one Puffendorff, a very jurisprudent author as you shall read on a summer's day. Christ Church, Dec. 2, 1738. Believe me yours, &c. LETTER XII. MR. GRAY TO MR. WEST. LITERAS mi Favonia! abs te demum, nudiustertius credo, accepi plane mellitas, nisi forte qua de ægritudine quadam tua dictum: atque hoc sane mihi habitum est non paulo acerbius, quod te capitis morbo implicitum esse intellexi; oh morbum mihi quam odiosum ! qui de industria id agit, ut ego in singulos menses, dii boni, quantis jucunditatibus orbarer! quam ex animo mihi dolendum est, quod -Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid. Salutem mehercule, nolo, tam parvipendas, atq; amicis tam improbe consulas: quanquam tute fortassis æstuas angusto limite mundi, viamq; (ut dicitur) affectas rum spiritum mirifice sapit ;" and in conclusion, "Posidippus inter principes Anthologiæ poetas emicat, Ptolemæi Philadelphi seculo vixit."-M. a Mr. Gray in all his Latin compositions, addressed to this gentleman, calls him Favonius, in allusion to the name of West.-M. Olympo, nos tamen non esse tam sublimes, utpote qui hisce in sordibus et fæce diutius paululum versari volumus, reminiscendum est: illæ tuæ Musæ, si te ament modo, derelinqui paulisper non nimis ægre patientur : indulge, amabo te, plusquam soles, corporis exercitationibus: magis te campus habeat, aprico magis te dedas. otio, ut ne id ingenium quod tam cultum curas, diligenter nimis dum foves, officiosarum matrum ritu, interimas. Vide quæso, quam laтρikäs tecum agimus, ηδ' ἐπιθήσω Φάρμαχ', ἅ κεν πάυσῃσι μελαινάων ὀδυνάων. si de his pharmacis non satis liquet; sunt festivitates meræ, sunt facetiæ et risus; quos ego equidem si adhibere nequeo, tamen ad præcipiendum (ut medicorum fere mos est) certe satis sim; id, quod poetice sub finem epistolæ lusisti, mihi gratissimum quidem accidit; admodum Latine coctum et conditum tetrasticon, Græcam tamen illam åøeλeíav mirifice sapit: tu quod restat, vide, sodes, hujusce hominis ignorantiam; cum, unde hoc tibi sit depromptum, (ut fatear) prorsus nescio: sane ego equidem nihil in capsis reperio quo tibi minimæ partis solutio fiat. Vale, et me ut soles, ama. A. D. 11 Kalend. Februar. LETTER XIII.b MR. WEST TO MR. GRAY. I OUGHT to answer you in Latin, but I feel I dare not enter the lists with you-cupidum, pater optime, b This was written in French, but as I doubted whether it would stand the test of polite criticism so well as the preceding would of vires deficiunt. Seriously, you write in that language with a grace and an Augustan urbanity that amazes me: your Greek too is perfect in its kind. And here let me wonder that a man, longe Græcorum doctissimus, should be at a loss for the verse and chapter whence my epigram is taken. I am sorry I have not my Aldus with me, that I might satisfy your curiosity; but he, with all my other literary folks, are left at Oxford, and therefore must still rest in suspense. I thank you you again and again for your medical prescription. I know very well that those "risus, festivitates, et facetiœ” would contribute greatly to my cure, but then you must be my apothecary as well as physician, and make up the dose as well as direct it: send me, therefore, an electuary of these drugs, made up secundum artem, "et eris mihi magnus Apollo," in both his capacities, as a god of poets and god of physicians. Wish me joy of leaving my college, and leave yours as fast as you I shall be settled at the Temple very soon. Dartmouth-street, Feb. 21, 1737-8. can. Ohe! amicule noster, et unde, sodes tu povσOTÁTAKTOG adeo repente evasisti? jam te rogitaturum credo. Nes learned, I chose to translate so much of it as I thought necessary, in order to preserve the chain of correspondence.-M. cA Saphic ode and Alcaic fragment, which this letter contained, may be seen arranged among the poetical works in the first volume. cio hercle, sic plane habet. Quicquid enim nugarum ènì σxoλãs inter ambulandum in palimpsesto scriptitavi, hisce te maxume impertiri visum est, quippe quem probare, quod meum est, aut certe ignoscere solitum probe novi: bona tua venia sit si forte videar in fine subtristior; nam risui jamdudum salutem dixi; etiam paulo mæstitiæ studiosiorem factum scias, promptumque, Kaiνοῖς παλαιὰ δακρύοις στένειν κακά. Sed de me satis. Cura ut valeas. Jun. 1738. LETTER XV. MR. WEST TO MR. GRAY. I RETURN you a thousand thanks for your elegant Ode, and wish you every joy you wish yourself in it. But, take my word for it, you will never spend so agreeable a day here as you describe: alas! the sun with us only rises to shew us the way to Westminsterhall. Nor must I forget thanking you for your little Alcaic fragment. The optic Naiads are infinitely obliged to you. I was last week at Richmond Lodge with Mr. Walpole, for two days, and dined with Cardinal Fleury: d as far as my short sight can go, the character of his great art and penetration is very just; he is indeed Nulli penetrabilis astro. d Sir Robert Walpole. |