Gems of epistolary correspondence : selected from the best English authors, from the time of Sir Philip Sidney to the present day

Front matter

Class J£^m£.

Book . \A)6 c o 10 y z-

GEMS

XXI. Anne Bullen to Henry VIII. .... 33

Sir Philip Sidney to his Brother. — Advice . 36

Lord Brooke to a Lady upon some conjugal Infelicities 4 1

Donne to a Friend. — Tenderness to his Wife . 50 To Sir H.(enry) G.(oodyere). — Letters . .51

To the Same. — Allusions to Himself . 52 Sir Walter Raleigh to his Wife, written the night before he expected to be beheaded at Winchester, 1603 55 Ben Jonson to the- Two Universities. — A Defence of

Poetry . . 58

Lord Bacon, after his disgrace, to James the First 63 James Howell to the Countess of Sutherland. — The

Assassination of Buckingham .... 68 Bishop Hall to Lord Denny. — An Account of his Manner of Life . ...••'» . . ... 71 Oliver Cromwell to Col. Hacker. — Religious Soldiers 75 Jeremy Taylor to John Evelyn. — Consoling him for

the loss of his Children 76

Cowley to Mr. S. L. — The Danger of Procrastination 79 Lord Rochester to the Honourable Henry Saville. —

Contradicting the report of his Death . . 83

Dry den to Dennis. — His own Character . . 84

Sir John Stickling to a Nobleman. — Compliments 88 Sir George Etheredge to the Duke of Buckingham. —

History of a German Widow .... 89 Sir William Temple to Lord Lisle. — Miscellaneous

Remarks 96

Lady Russell to the Bishop of Salisbury. — Loss of her

Sister 99

Sir Matthew Hale to his Children. — Directions for the

Employment of their Time . . . .101

Algernon Sidney to Mr. B. Furley. — His Self-Devotion 108

VI

CONTENTS.

Letter Page.

XXII. Richard Baxter to the Rev. Richard Allestree. —

Some passages in his own history . . 110

-£. XXIII. Sir Richard Steele to his Wife. — Her beauty and

affection eulogised . ... 115

XXIV. Evelyn to Wotton.— Notices of the Life of the Hon.

Robert Boyle . . . . . 118

XXV. John Norris to Mrs. Eliz. Cabel and Mrs. Mary

Prowse. — A Dedication . . . . 126

XXVI. Daniel De Foe to his Son-in-law, Mr. Baker.—

Pathetic complaints of the cruelty of his son 127

XXVII. Dean Berkeley to Pope. — Description of the Island

oflnarime 130

XXVIII. Gay to . A Thunder Storm in Autumn.—

The Village Lovers 134

XXIX. Gay to Swift. — With a Postscript by Pope, respect-

ing his Infirmities, &c. . . . . 136

XXX. Swift to Gay.— A Portrait .... 140 ^_ . XXXI. Swift to Lord Bolingbroke. — Ambitious Hopes;

Anecdote of his Early Days . . . 143

XXXII. Pope to Wycherley. — Of Dryden, his Character, and

Poetical Successors . . . . 146

XXXIII. To Steele, with Reflections upon Early Death, and

Allusions to his own Infirmities . . . 148

XXXIV. To a Friend. — Upon the Vanity of Human Learn-

ing and Ambition . . . . . 150

XXXV. To Swift.— On his departure from Twickenham 152

XXXVI. The Same to the Same.— Gulliver ; the Beggars'

Opera ; Old Age of his Mother ; The Dunciad . 154 XXXVII. Lord Bolingbroke to Swift.— The Tranquillity of a Philosopher ; with a Postscript by Pope respecting his Mother 157

XXXVIII. The Same to the Same.— A beautiful Picture of

Contemplative Life . . . . . 159 XXXIX. Warburton to Hurd.— A Voyage Round the Park 162 XL. Lady Montagu to her Sister. — A Visit to the Vizier's

Harem ; The beautiful Fatima . . . 167 XLI. Lord Hervey to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. —

Company at Bath . . . . . 173

XLII. Melmoth to a Friend. — Meditations in a Garden

upon a Spring Morning . . . . 174

XLIII. Matthew Prior to Swift.— A Letter upon Nothing 177

CONTENTS. Vll

Letter Page.

"- '■ — < XLIV. Gray to Walpole. — How he spends his time in the

country ; Southern, the Dramatic Poet 179

XLV. Gray to Wharton. — Account of the Trials of Lords

Kilmarnock, Cromartie, and Balmerino . 181

— _ XL VI. Gray to Nicholls. — Netley Abbey and Southampton.

—Beautiful Sunset 186

XL VII. Shenstone to Mr Jago. — Rural Occupations . 189 XL VIII. The Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset, to Lady Luxborough. — Spring- weather. —Thomson's Castle of Indolence. — Shenstone's

School-mistress 191

XLIX. Mrs. Montagu to the Duchess of Portland. — A Letter from the Shades ..... 193 L. The Poet Thomson to Mr. Paterson.— -News from

Home . 196

LI. Goldsmith to Daniel Hodson, Esq. at Lishoy, near Ballymahon, Ireland.— His Situation in London ; affecting remembrance of his native Village 200 LII. The Same to his Brother, the Rev. Henry Goldsmith. — Beginning Life at thirty-one ; The effects of sorrow upon his disposition . . . 204 ^ LIII. Johnson to Boswell. — The proper object of Letter-writing 209

LIV. To Mrs. Thrale.— Old Friends ... 212

LV. Horace "Walpole to George Montagu. — A Visit to

Vauxhall . . 214

LVI. The Same to the Same. — The Funeral of George the

Second 218

LVII. Sterne to Garrick. — Urging his return to the Stage 220 LVIII. The Earl of Chatham to his Nephew, Thomas Pitt. — How to conduct himself at Cambridge. — Religion the perfection and glory of human nature 222 LIX. Lord Chesterfield to his Son. — How to form a Latin Style. — Unchangeableness of Truth. — Berkeley's Theory of Matter ; Letter- writing . . 226

-_ - LX. To the Same. — Good-breeding ; a Courtier's Advice

how to rise in the world .... 233 LXI. Lowth to Warburton. — A Vindication of his Conduct 236 LXII. Beattie to the Hon. Charles Boyd. — His own character delineated. — Pope .... 242 LXIII. Hannah More to Mrs. Gwatkin. — Picture of Hamp-

CONTENTS.

ton Court.— Pope's Villa at Twickenham. — Garrick's House . . . , . . . . 246 LXIV. Miss Sally More to the Family at Home.— A Visit

to Dr. Johnson 251

LXV. Hannah More to her Sister. — Lord Spencer's Seat

at Wimbledon. — Anecdote of Lord Cobham 252

LXVI. Hannah More to her Sister. — The Author of Leo-

nidas and Lord Littelton. — Horace Walpole 255

«L, LXVII. Junius to the Duke of Bedford. — Indignant condemnation of his conduct .... 258

LXVIII. Edmund Burke to the Painter Barry. — Affectionate

interest in his welfare .... 266

LXIX. Burke to Robertson. — Acknowledging the Present

of his History of America . . . . 271

LXX. Sir William Jones to the Countess of Spencer. — A

Romance about Milton .... 274

LXXL The Historian Gibbon to Mrs. Porter ; giving a description of his manner of Life at Lausanne 278 LXXII. The Poet Burns to his Father.— Melancholy forebodings . . . . . . 283

LXXIII. The same to Mrs. Dunlop. — His situation and

prospects 285

LXXIV. Arbuthnot to Pope.— A Farewell ... 288 LXXV. James Barry to Burke. — A Sketch of his Journey

from Paris to Turin . . . . . 290 LXXVI. Cowper to the Rev. John Newton. — An Epistle in

LXXVII. The Same to the Rev. William Unwin. — His

Amusements 296

LXXVIII. The Same to the Same.— Writing upon anything 298 LXXIX. The Same to Lady Hesketh. — Delightful anticipations of her Visit. — Picture of his Green-house . 300 LXXX. William Wilberforce to his Sister.— A Sabbath in

the Country 303

LXXXI. Lord Edward Fitzgerald to his Mother. — A Night

Scene in an American Forest . . . 306 LXXXII. Charles James Fox to Gilbert Wakefield.— The

character of Cicero's Eloquence. — Genius of Ovid 310 LXXXIII. The Same to Mr. Grey.— The Note of the Nightingale 313

CONTENTS. IX

LXXXIV. Bishop Home" to a Lady, [uporfthe sudden death of

her Father 314

LXXXV. Dr. Parr to Mr. Thomas Moore.— The Boyhood of

Sheridan 317

LXXXVI. The Poet Crabbe to Burke.— -An Appeal to his

Generosity and Compassion . . . 320

LXXXVII. Lord Byron to his Mother.— Turkish Scenery ; Visit

to Ali Pacha . . . . . . 324

LXXXVIII. Nessy Heywood to her Brother. — Fervent Assurances of Love and Confidence . . . 330 LXXXIX. Bishop Heber to his Mother.— A Picture of Moscow 334 XC. Sir James Mackintosh to Robert Hall, upon his

recovery from severe indisposition . . 340

XCI. Lord Collingwood to his Daughter. — Suggestions

respecting her Education .... 345

XCII. The Same to Lady Collingwood. — Cherished hopes

of returning to his Family . . . . 348

XCIII. Robert Hall to Mr. Hewitt Fysh, upon the death of

his Wife 350

XCIV. Mrs. Inchbald to Mrs. Phillips. — Anecdote of

Madame de Stael . . . . . 353

XCV. Lord Exmouth to his Brother. — Battle of Algiers 355 XCVI. Charles Lamb to Mr. Manning. — A Journey to the Lakes ; Mountain Scenery at Night ; Coleridge's House . . . . . . . 358

XCYII. The Same to the Same. — Christmas in China; amusing Stories about his Friends . . . 362

XCVIII. William Beckford to . Rambles in the

Valley of Colares ; Elysian Scenery of Portugal ; Song of a female Peasant ; Rustic hospitality 365

XCIX. Sir Walter Scott to the Countess Purgstall. — Some

Account of Himself 371

C. Sir Stamford Raffles to the Duchess of Somerset. —

Cannibalism of the Battas .... 375

CI. Southey to Sir Egerton Brydges. —Affecting History

of the Poet Bampfylde . . . . 381

— i~ CII. "The Same to the Same. — Beautiful Criticisms upon

Old Authors. — Character of Leicester . * . 386 CIII. Sir Thomas to Lady Munro.— Delightful Picture of

Childhood 392

a 3

CONTENTS.

Letter Page.

CIV. The Same to the Same. — Affecting recollections of

domestic Happiness. — A solitary Home . 394

CV. The Same to the Same. — Thoughts in a deserted

Garden . 395

CVI. "William Wordsworth to Sir Walter Scott, upon

the genius of Dryden .... 398

CVII. Sir Humphry Davy to Mr. Poole, describing his situation at Ravenna. — Historical associations of

the place 403

CVIII. The Duke of Wellington, (then the Hon. A. Wellesley) to Lieutenant-Colonel Close. — Defeat of an Indian Freebooter •. . . . . 407 CIX. The Same to Lady Sarah Napier, informing her of a

wound received by her Son . . . 409

CX. The Same to Lord Somers. — Upon a similar occasion 410 CXI. The Same to Samuel Whitbread, Esq., acknowledging the retractation of Calumnies . . 411 CXLT. The same to a Correspondent, dissuading him from

attempting to describe the Battle of Waterloo, and » containing an outline of the principal circumstances in it 412

CXHI. The Same to Lord Beresford, upon the same subject. — Striking Picture of the Battle . 414 CXIV. S. T. Coleridge to Mr. Alsop.-— Affecting account of

his Hopes, Prospects, and Literary Projects 415

*4~ CXV. "Walter Savage Landor to Dr. Parr. — Indignant

Contempt of Criticism .... 427

CXVI. Mrs. Hemans to a Friend. — A Visit to the Poet

Wordsworth 430

CXVII. The Last Letter of L. E. L. - An African Home 432

ERRATA.

Page 130, for keep, read kiss ;— for Bathurste, read Bathurst.

— 155, for lenient acts, read lenient arts.

— 196, for Eleonoa, read Eleonora,

— 272 for is, read are.

A PKEFACE,

CRITICAL AND ANECDOTICAL.

A history of letters would be a picture of the heart, under all its various aspects of hope and fear, generosity and envy, love and hatred, ambition and contentment. The picture would have many shadows, yet brightened and relieved by the gleams which the familiar confessions of friendship shed over the sternest physiognomy. We forget the intemperate zeal of Calvin in the gentler tones of his domestic intercourse. Cowper has left behind him the most interesting of autobiographies without the name ; and a memoir of Petrarch might be composed from his poetry and his epistles. It is not from a single sketch, however, that our judgment should be formed ; but only, since every letter is a portrait, more hastily or more elaborately designed, from a careful examination and comparison of many. The letters of Erasmus paint not the man alone, but the century ; and the student of classical literature is ignorant of the mind of Scaliger and Casaubon, who has not seen it reflected in their correspondence *.

To trace the gradual progress of our language from its birth out of the Anglo-Saxon, through the numerous stages of its purification and embellishment by Chaucer, until its final completion in the golden age of Elizabethan literature, is the office of the historian. Nor is the task an easy or a satisfactory one. From the conquest until the reign of Edward III., French continued to be the dialect of fashion ; but letters were written in Latin, until

* If the reader would comprehend the style of communication between the scholars of an elder age, let him refer to Joseph Scaliger's letter to Casaubon upon his edition of Polybius, Epistolar. lib. ii., Epist. cxix., and to Epist. cxx. ; when he wrote it, he was recovering from indisposition. " Quid ad te scribam, equidem nescio. Scribere tamen volui, quamvis nullo argumento. Defunctus plane sum languore, qui diu me obsessum tenuit neque adhuc crura suum officium faciunt. Hoc heri in deambulatione pomeridiana expertus sum. Et fortasse merit setatis eXarrcofia, quamvis, defatigatio a morbo." See also Epist. cclxx., lib. 3.— Joanni Casellio.

the sudden introduction of French toward the close of the thirteenth century *. Before the fifteenth century, letters were usually transcribed upon vellum ; and specimens of the French and Latin letters of the beginning of the fourteenth century are contained in the Cottonian volumes t. But the investigation of this subject, in itself so curious and interesting, demands more space than a preface enables me to bestow^. One collection, however, of English letters may be noticed, both on account of their individual and historical interest.

"The Paston Letters," says Mr. Hallam, "are an important testimony to the progressive condition of society ; and come in as a precious link in the chain of the moral history of England, which they alone in this period supply. They stand, indeed, singly, as far as I know, in Europe ; fcr though it is highly probable, that in the Archives of Italian families, if not in France or Germany, a series of merely private letters, equally ancient, may be concealed, I do not recollect that any have been published. They are all written in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., except a few that extend as far as Henry VII., by different members of a wealthy and respectable, but not noble family ; and are, therefore, pictures of the life of the English gentry in that age§." The aid afforded to the historian by these letters, in fixing circumstances of literary interest, is frequent and important. The style of the correspondence is, for the period, remarkable; and, as Mr. Hallam observes, much less quaint and formal than the laboured

* Hallam.

t Sir Henry Ellis.

X There are collections extant of letters which throw full light on the state of manners in France, Italy, and England, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. For example, we have the letters of two bishops of Chartres, in the eleventh century, Bishop Fulbert, near the beginning, and Bishop Ivo, near the close of it; and subsequently those of Stephen, bishop of Tournay. Forjtaly we have Gerbert's Letters(Pope Silvester II.), at the very beginning of the eleventh (or rather the close of the tenth century) and then Cardinal Damiani's. The history of England and France is so mixed up, that what relates to one, relates to the other. We have Anselm's three books of letters, which give us Normandy and England perfectly in the time of William the Conqueror, and William Bufus ; John of Salisbury, who continues it at a later period, the reign of Henry II., which is most fully and perfectly illustrated by the most entertaining of all these letter-writers, Peter of Blois, Archdeacon of London. — Quarterly Review, No. CXVL, Ancient Collections of Private Letters.

§ Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 228.

imitations of modern novelists. One of the earliest examples " of female penmanship," is the letter from Lady Pelham to her husband, in 1399*.

The letters composing the present volume, have been chiefly selected either for their inherent beaut} 7- , or for the sake of the persons, and the subjects to which they relate. Illustrations of character and of intellect have been preferred to illustrations of history, or of manners ; and the sentiments of the philosopher and the poet, to those of the statesman or the politician. Few names will be found which have not become familiar to our lips as household words. The opening letter, from Anne Bullen (or Boleyn) to Henry the Eighth, will be remembered by every reader of Addison, or of Hume. To establish the authenticity of so affecting a document would be a very interesting achievement of antiquarian industry. Sir Henry Ellis considers it a genuine production, although the original no longer exists ; and his belief is grounded upon the hand- writing of the copy, preserved among Lord Cromwell's papers, which he assigns without hesitation to the time of Henry the Eighth. The suspicion of the letter having

* It was communicated to Mr Hallam by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, who had met with it in an old edition of Collins' Peerage. Collins copied it, Mr. Hallam observes, from the Archives of the Newcastle family.

My dear Lord,

I recommend me to your high lordship, with heart and body and all my poor might, and with all this I thank you as my dear lord — dearest and best-beloved of all earthly lords, say for me, and thank you my dear lord with all this, that I say before of your comfortable letter that ye sent me from Pontefract, that come to me on Mary Magdalene Day ; for, by my troth, I was never so glad as when I heard by your letter that ye were strong enough with the grace of God for to keep you from the malice of your enemies. And, dear lord, if it like to your high lordship, that as soon as ye might that I might hear of your gracious speed; which as God Almighty continue to increase. And, my dear lord, if it like you to know of my fare, I am here by laid in manner of a siege with the county of Sussex, Surrey, and a great parcel of Kent, so that I may nought out no none victuals get me, but with much hard. Wherefore my dear, if it like you by the advice of your wise counsel for to get remedy of the salvation of your castle, and withstand the malice of the shires aforesaid ; and also that ye be fully informed of their great malice workers in these shires, which that haves so despitefully wrought to you, and to your castle, to your men, and to your tenants, for this country have yai (sic) wasted for a great while. Farewell my dear lord, the Holy Trinity you keep from your enemies, and ever send me good tidings of you. Written at Pevensey, in the castle, on St. Jacob's day last past,

By your own poor,

To my true Lord. J. Pelham.

been prepared for Anne Bullen by any friend, seems to be refuted by Sir William Kyngston's testimony to the strictness of her imprisonment*.

In turning over the early pages of our literary history, the eye rests upon two names which we are accustomed to associate with Sir Philip Sidney,— Lord Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyatt. They both perished in the flower of their age ; Surrey in his thirtieth, and Wyatt in his thirty-ninth year ; but not before they had contributed to the decoration of our poetry, and the modulation of our language. They seem to have anticipated the learning and the virtues of Sidney ; to have lived with equal dignity, and to have died with equal respect. Sir Thomas Wyatt had an only son, to whom he addressed the following letter; and when we contrast its uncompromising spirit of Christian purity with the degrading counsels of that refined courtier, whom Cowper branded as the Petronius of his day, we may well look back with reverence to those gray Fathers of our literature.

" Inasmuch as now ye are come to some years of understanding, and that you should gather within yourself some fame of Honesty, I thought that I should not lose my labour wholly if now I did something advertise you to take the sure foundations and stablished opinions that leadeth to Honesty.

" And here, I call not Honesty that, men commonly call Honesty, as reputation for riches, for authority, or some like thing ; but that Honesty, that I dare well say your grandfather (whose soul God pardon), had rather left to me than all the lands he did leave me ; that was, Wisdom, Gentleness, Soberness, desire to do Good, Friendship to get the love of many, and Truth above all the rest. A great part to have all these things, is to desire to have them. And although glory and honest name are not the very ends wherefore these things are to be followed, yet surely they must needs follow them as light followeth fire, though it were kindled for warmth. Out of these things the chiefest and infallible ground is the dread and reverence of God, whereupon shall ensue the eschewing of the contraries of these said virtues ; that is to say, ignorance, unkindness, rashness, desire of harm, unquiet enmity, hatred, many and crafty falsehoods, the very root of all shame and dishonesty. I say, the only dread and reverence of God, that seeth all things, is the defence of the creeping in of all these mischiefs into you. And for my part, although I do well say there is no

* Letters Illustrative of English History, vol. ii., p. 53.

man that would wish his son better than I ; yet on my faith, I had rather have you lifeless, than subject to these vices.

" Think and imagine always that you are in presence of some honest men that you know ; as Sir John Russell your father-inlaw, your uncle Parson, or some other such, and ye shall, if at any time ye find a pleasure in naughty touches, remember what shame it were before these men to do naughtily. And sure this imagination shall cause you to remember that the pleasure of a naughty deed is soon past, and the rebuke, shame, and the note thereof shall remain ever. Then, if these things ye take for vain imaginations, yet remember that it is certain, and no imagination, that ye are always in the presence and sight of God ; and though you see Him not, so much is the reverence the more to be had, for that He seeth, and is not seen.

" Men punish with shame as greatest punishment on earth ; yea, greater than death ; but his punishment is first, the withdrawing of his favour and grace, and in leaving his hand to rule the stern, to let the ship run without guide to its own destruction ; and suffereth so the man that he forsaketh to run headlong, as subject to all mishaps, and at last, with shameful end, to everlasting shame and death. Ye may see continual examples both of one sort, and of the other • and the better, if ye mark them well that yourself are come of ; and consider well your good grandfather, what things there were in him, and his end. And they that knew him, noted him thus : first, and chiefly, to have a great reverence of God, and good opinion of godly things. Next, that there was no man more pitiful ; no man more true of his word ; no man faster to his friends ; no man diligenter or more circumspect, which thing, both the kings his masters noted in him greatly. And if these things, and especially the grace of God, that the fear of God always kept with him, had not been, the chances of this troublesome world that he was in, had long ago overwhelmed him. This preserved him in prison from the hands of the tyrant" 55 , that could find in his heart to see him racked ; from two years and more prisonment in Scotland in irons and stocks ; from the danger of sudden changes and commotions divers, till that well-beloved of many, hated of none, in his fair age, and good reputation, godly and Christianly he went to Him that loved him, for that he always had Him in reverence.

" And of myself, I may be a near example unto you of my folly

* Richard the Third.

and nothingness, that hath, as I well observed, brought me into a thousand dangers and hazards, enmities, hatreds, prisonments, despites, and indignations ; but that God hath of his goodness chastised me, and not cast me clean out of his favour; which thing I can impute to nothing but the goodness of my good father, that, I dare well say purchased with continual request of God, his grace towards me more than I regarded, or considered myself; and a little part to the small fear I had of God in the most of my rage, and the little delight that I had in mischief. You, therefore, if ye be sure, and have God in your sleeve to call you to his grace at last, venture hardily by mine example upon naughty unthriftiness, in trust of his goodness ; and besides the shame, I dare lay ten to one ye shall perish in the adventure : for trust me, that my wish or desire of God for you shall not stand you in as much effect, as I think my father's did for me. We are not all accepted of Him.

" Begin therefore betimes. Make God and goodness your foundations. Make your examples of wise and honest men : shoot at that mark : be no mocker : mocks follow them that delight therein. He shall be sure of shame that feeleth no grief in other men's shames. Have your friends in a reverence, and think unkindness to be the greatest offence, and least punished among men ; but so much the more to be dreaded, for God is Justiser upon that alone. Love well and agree with your wife ; for where is noise and debate in the house, there is unquiet dwelling : and much more when it is in one bed. Frame well yourself to love and rule well and honestly your wife as your fellow, and she shall love and reverence you as her head. Such as you are unto her, such shall she be unto you. Obey and reverence your father-in-law, as you would me ; and remember that long life followeth them that reverence their fathers and elders ; and the blessing of God, for good agreement between the wife and husband, is fruit of many children.

" Read oft this my letter, and it shall be as though I had often written to you ; and think that I have herein printed a fatherly affection to you. If I may see that I have not lost my pain, mine shall be the contentation, and yours the profit ; and upon condition that you follow my advertisement, I send you God's blessing and mine, and as well to come to honesty, as to increase of years."

1 he vein of pure and reflective sentiments, which is so apparent in this beautiful and earnest letter, pervades, also, Sir Philip Sidney's exhortations to his brother ; and may be discovered in the harmonious strains — alas, too few !-^of the melancholy Cowley.

Of this admirable writer and amiable man, the memorials are slight and unsatisfactory*. But every fragment of his prose is valuable ; and even the dust is full of gold. With this feeling, I may introduce a short letter to Evelyn, which might have been inserted in the volume. It is an acknowledgment of a present of seeds and other things, from that early friend of English horticulture.

Sir, Barn Elms, March 23, 1663.

There is nothing more pleasant than to see kindness in a person for whom we have great esteem and respect ; no, not the sight of your garden in May, or even the having such an one, which makes me more obliged to return you my most humble thanks for the testimonies I have lately received of you, both by your letter and your presents. I have already sowed such of your seeds as I thought most proper upon a hot-bed ; but cannot find in all my books a catalogue of these plants which require that culture, nor of such as must be set in pots ; which defects, and all others, I hope shortly to see supplied, as I hope shortly to see your work of horticulture finished and published ; and long to be in all things your disciple, as I am in all things now,

Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,

A. Cowley.

This little note, evidently written with haste, is not without the characteristic touches of Cowley. In no writer shall we find more frequent or more beautiful examples of that curious felicity of sentiment and expression -which has always been regarded as the greatest charm of composition. His essays are considered, with justice, to be models of easy and vigorous prose; and the preface to his poems is embellished by those Graces which are never found in the company of art. Alluding to a book of worthless verses, published under his name, he says : — " It was vain for me that I avoided censure by the concealment of my own -writings, if my reputation could be thus executed in effigy?' Of the poetical mind, he observes, — " It must, like the halcyon, have fair weather to breed in." He compares poetry in an American forest, to Donne's sun-dial in a grave ; and remarks, in reference to the classic mythology, — " I do not at all wonder that the old poets made such rich crops out of these grounds : the heart of the soil was not then wrought out with continual tillage. But what can