MY DEAREST COZ.

LETTER CXXXV.

To Lady HESKETH,

The Lodge, May 28, 1790.

I thank thee for the offer of thy best services on this occasion, but Heaven guard my brows from the wreath you mention, whatever wreath beside may hereafter adorn them! It would be a leaden extinguisher, clapped on all the fire of my genius, and I should never more produce a line worth reading. To speak seriously, it would make me miserable, and therefore I am sure that thou, of all my friends, wouldst least wish me to wear it.

Adieu, ever thine-in Homer-hurry,

LETTER CXXXVI.

W.C

To Lady HESKETH.

June 3, 1790.

You will wonder when I tell you,

that I, even I, am considered by people, who live at a great distance, as having interest and influence sufficient to procure a place at Court, for those who may happen to want one. I have accordingly been applied to within these few days by a Welchman, with

a wife and many children, to get him made Poet-Laureat as fast as possible. If thou wouldst wish to make the world merry twice a year, thou canst not do better than procure the office for him. I will promise thee that he shall afford thee a hearty laugh in return every birth-day, and every new-year. He is an honest man.

waste time and paper in mentioning them, but will only say, that added to those with which you are acquainted, I have had other hinderances, such as business, and a disorder of my spirits, to which I have been all my life subject. At present I am, thank God! perfectly well, both in mind and body. Of you I am always mindful, whether I write or not, and very desirous to see you, You will remember, I hope, that you are under engagements to us, and as soon as your Norfolk friends can spare you, will fulfil them. Give us all the time you can, and all that they can spare

to us.

You

Con

You never pleased me more, than when you told me you had abandoned your mathematical pursuits. It grieved me to think that you were wasting your time merely to gain a little Cambridge fame, not worth your having. I cannot be contented that your renown should thrive no where but on the banks of the Cam. ceive a nobler ambition, and never let your honour be circumscribed by the paltry dimensions of an University. It is well that you have already, as you observe, acquired sufficient information in that science to enable you to pass creditably such examinations as I suppose you must hereafter undergo. Keep what you have gotten, and be content. More is needless.

You could not apply to a worse than I am to advise you concerning your studies, I was never a regular student myself; but lost the most valuable years of my life in an Attorney's office, and in the Temple. I will not therefore give myself airs, and affect to know what I know not. The affair is of great importance to you, and you should be directed in it by a wiser than I. To speak however, in very general terms on the subject, it seems to me, that your chief concern is with History, Natural Philosophy, Logic, and Divinity. As to Metaphysics I know little about them, but the very little that I do know, has not taught me to admire them. Life is too short to afford time even for serious trifles; pursue what you know to be attainable, make truth your object, and your studies will make you a wise man. Let your Divinity, if I may advise, be

the

374

the Divinity of the glorious Reformation: I mean in contradistinction to Arminianism, and all the isms that were ever broached in this world of error and ignorance.

The Divinity of the Reformation is called Calvinism, but injuriously; it has been that of the Church of Christ in all ages; it is the Divinity of St. Paul, and of St. Paul's master, who met him in his way to Damascus.

I have written in great haste, that I might finish, if possible, before breakfast. Adieu! let us see you soon; the sooner the better. Give my love to the silent lady, the Rose, and all my friends around you.

LETTER CXXXVIII.

To SAMUEL ROSE, Esqr.

W. C.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

The Lodge, June 8, 1790.

Among the

many

who love and esteem you, there is none who rejoices more in your felicity than myself; far from blaming, I commend you much for connecting yourself, young as you are, with a well chosen companion for life. Entering on the state with uncontaminated morals, you have the best possible prospect of happiness, and will be secure against a thousand and ten

thousand

thousand temptations to which, at an early period of life, in such a Babylon as you must necessarily inhabit, you would otherwise have been exposed. I see it too in the light you do, as likely to be advantageous to you in your profession. Men of business have a better opinion of a candidate for employment who is married, because he has given bond to the world, as you observe, and to himself, for diligence, industry, and attention. It is altogether therefore a subject of much congratulation, and mine (to which I add Mrs. Unwin's) is very sincere. Samson, at his marriage, proposed a riddle to the Philistines. I am no Samson, neither are you a Philistine, yet expound to me the following, if you can.

What are they, which stand at a distance from each other, and meet without ever moving?

Should you be so fortunate as to guess it, you may propose it to the company, when you celebrate your nuptials, and if you can win thirty changes of raiment by it, as Samson did by his, let me tell you, they will be no contemptible acquisition to a young beginner.

You will not, I hope, forget your way to Weston, in consequence of your marriage, where you, and yours, will be always welcome.

W. C.

LETTER