open LETTER IV To the Same [1740.] I HAVE offended her whom I so tenderly love!-what could tempt me to it! but if a beggar was to knock at thy gate, wouldst thou not the door and be melted with compassion? I know thou wouldst, for Pity has erected a temple in thy bosom. Sweetest, and best of all human passions! let thy web of tenderness cover the pensive form of affliction, and soften the darkest shades of misery! - I have reconsidered this apology, and, alas! what will it accomplish? Arguments, however finely spun, can never change the nature of things very true very trueso a truce with them. I have lost a very valuable friend by a sad accident, and what is worse, he has left a widow and five young children to lament this sudden stroke. If real usefulness and integrity of heart could have secured him from this, his friends would not now be mourning his untimcly fate. These dark and seemingly cruel dispensations of Providence, often make the best of human hearts complain. Who can paint the distress of an affectionate mother, made a widow in a moment, weeping in bitterness over a numerous, helpless, and fatherless offspring! God! these are thy chastisements, and require (hard task!) a pious acquiescence. Forgive me this digression, and allow me to drop a tear over a departed friend; and what is more excellent, an honest man. My L.! thou wilt feel all that kindness can inspire in the death of thy gentle spirit that account. The event was sudden, and would be more alarmed on But, my L., thou hast less to lament, as old age was creeping on, and her period of doing good, and being useful, was nearly over. - At sixty years of age the tenement gets fast out of repair, and the lodger with anxiety thinks of a discharge. — In such a situation the poet might well say, "The soul uneasy, &c." may My L. talks of leaving the country. a kind angel guide thy steps hither!— Solitude at length grows tiresome. - Thou sayest thou wilt quit the place with regret - I think so too. Does not something uneasy mingle with the very reflection of leaving it? It is * Pope's Essay on Man, I. 97. like parting with an old friend, whose temper and company one has long been acquainted with. I think I see you looking twenty times a day at the house-almost counting every brick and pane of glass, and telling them at the same time with a sigh, you are going to leave them. Oh happy modification of matter! they will remain insensible of thy loss. But how wilt thou be able to part with thy garden? - The recollection of so many pleasing walks must have endeared it to you. The trees, the shrubs, the flowers, which thou reared with thy own hands will they not droop and fade away sooner upon thy departure? Who will be thy successor to nurse them in thy absence?— Thou wilt leave thy name upon the myrtletree. If trees, and shrubs, and flowers, could compose an elegy, I should expect a very plaintive one upon this subject. Adieu, adieu! Believe me ever, ever thine, L. STERNE. LETTER V To the Reverend Mr. Blackburne, Archdeacon of Cleveland, at Richmond DEAR SIR, SUTTON, November 3, 1750. Being Last Thursday at York to preach The Dean's Turn, Hilyard the Bookseller who had spoke to me last Week about Preaching Yrs In Case You should not come Yrself Told me, He had Just got a Letter from You directing him to get It supplied - But with an Intimation, That if I undertook it, That it might be done in such a Way, as that it might not Disoblige your Friend the Precentor. If my Doing it for You in any Way Could possibly have endangerd that, My Regard to You on all Accounts is such, That You may depend upon it, No Consideration whatever would have made me offer my Services, nor would I upon any Invitation have accepted it, Had You incautiously press'd it upon me; And therefore that my Undertaking it at all upon Hilyards telling me He Should want a Preacher, was from a Knowledge, That as it could not in Reason, So it would not in Fact, give the least Handle to what You apprehended. I would not Say this from bare Conjecture, but known Instances, having preachd for so many of Dr Sternes most Intimate Friends since our Quarrel without their Feeling the Least Marks or most Distant Intimation That He took it unkindly. In which You will the readier believe Me, from the following convincing Proof, That I have preached the 29th of May, the Precentor's own Turn, for these two last Years together (not at his Request, for we are not upon Such Terms) But at the Request of Mr Berdmore whom He desired to get them taken Care of, which He did, By applying Directly to me without the least Apprehension or Scruple And If my preaching it the first Year had been taken Amiss, I am morally certain That Mr Berdmore who is of a gentle and pacific Temper would not have ventured to have askd me to preach it for him the 24 Time, which I did without any Reserve this last Summer. The Contest between Us, no Doubt, has been Sharp, But has not been made more so, by bringing our mutual Friends into it, Who in all Things, (except Inviting us to the same Dinner) have generally bore them |