T Mr. Pope to Dec. 12, 1718. HE old project of a Window in the bofom, to render the Soul of Man vilible, is what every honeft friend has manifold reafon to wish for ;. yet even that would not do in our cafe, while you are fo far feparated from me, and fo long. I bel gin to fear you'll die in Ireland, and that the Denunciation will be fulfilled upon you, Hibernus es, & in Hiberniam reverteris I hou'd be apt to think you in Sancho's cafe, fome Duke has made you Governor, of an Ifland, or wet place, and you are adminiftring Laws to the wild Irish. But I muft own, when you talk of Building and Planting, you touch my String; and I am as apt to pardon you, as the Fellow that thought himself Jupiter would have pardon'd the other Madman who call'd himfelf his Brother Neptune. Alas Sir, do you know whom you talk to? One that had been a Poet, was degraded to a Tranflator, and at last thro' meer dulnefs is turn'd an Architect. You know Martial's Cenfure-Praconem facito, vel Architectum. However I have one way left, to plan, to elevate, and to to Surprize (as Bays fays.) The next you may expect to hear, is that I am in Debt. The Hiftory of my Tranfplantation and Settlement which you defire, would require a Volume, were I to enumerate the many projects, difficulties, viciffitudes, and various fates attending that important part of my Life: Much more fhould I defcribe the many Draughts, Elevations, Profiles, Perfpectives, &c. of every Palace and Garden propos'd, intended, and happily raised, by the ftrength of that Faculty wherein all great Genius's excel, Imagination. At last, the Gods and Fate have fix'd me on the borders of the Thames, in the Districts of Richmond and Twickenham. It is here Í have paffed an entireYear of my life,without any fix'd abode in London, or more than cafting a tranfitory glance (for a day or two at molt in a Month) on the pomps of the Town. It is here I hope to receive you, Sir, return'd in triumph from Eternizing, the Ireland of this Age. For you my Structures rife; for you my Colonades extend their Wings; for you my Groves alpire, and Rofes bloom. And to fay truth, I hope Pofterity (which no doubt will be made. acquainted with all these things) will look upon it as one of the principal Motives of my Architecture, that it was a Manfion prepar'd to receive you, against your own fhould fhould fall to duft, " the Tomb of poor which is deftin'd to be and and the immortal Monument of the Fidelity of two fuch Servants, who have excell'd in Confancy the very Rats of your Family. What more my felf 2 can I tell you of fo much, and yet all put together fo little, that I fcarce care, or know, how to do it. But the very reasons that are against putting it upon Paper, are as ftrong for telling it you in Perfon; and I am uneafy to be fo long deny'd the fatisfaction of it. At prefent I confider you bound in by the Irish Sea, like the Ghofts in Virgil, -Trifti palus inamabilis unda Alligat, & novies Styx circumfufa coercet! and I can't exprefs how I long to renew our old intercourfe and converfation, our morning Conferences in bed in the fame Room, our evening Walks in the Park, our amufing Voyages on the Water, our philofophical Suppers, our Lectures, our Differtations, our Gravities, our Reveries, our Fooleries, our what not?--This awakens the memory of fome of those who have made a part in all these. Poor Parnelle Garth, Rowe! You juftly reprove me for not fpeaking of the Death of the laft Parnelle was too much in my mind,aton, whole whofe Memory I am erecting the best Mopument I can. What he gave me to publish, was but a fmall part of what he left behind him, but it was the beft, and I will not make it worfe by enlarging it. I'd fain know if he be buried at Chefter, or Dublin; and what care has been, or is to be taken for his Monument, c. Yet I have not neglected my Devoirs to Mr. Rowe; I am writing this very day his Epitaph for WestminsterAbbey- After thefe, the best natur'd of Men, Sir Samuel Garth, has left me in the trueft concern for his lofs. His Death was very Heroical, and yet unaffected enough to have made a Saint, or a Philofopher famous But ill Tongues, and worse Hearts have branded even his laft Moments, as wrongfully as they did his Life, with Irreligion. You must have heard many Tales on this Subject; but if ever there was a good Chriftian, without knowing himself to be fo, it was Dr. Garth. I am, &c. LETTERS LETTERS OF Mr. POPE to H. C. Efq From 1708, to 1711. I March 18, 1708. Believe it was with me when I left the Men when they leave the World, whofe lofs itself they do not fo much regret, as that of their Friends whom they leave behind in it. For I do not know one thing for which I can envy London, but for your continuing there. Yet I guess you R will |