me a thinking and ruminating upon the employments in which Men of wit exercife themselves. It was faid of Sir Charles, who breath'd his last in this room, } Sedley has that prevailing gentle art, This was an happy talent to a man of the Town, but I dare fay, without prefuming to make uncharitable conjectures on the author's prefent condition, he would rather have had it faid of him that he had pray'd, Oh thou my voice infpire, Who touch'd Isaiah's ballow'd lips with fire! I have turn'd to every verfe and chapter, and think you have preferv'd the fub lime heavenly fpirit throughout the whole, especially at Hark a glad voice and The lamb with wolves shall graze. There is but one line which I think below the original, He He wipes the tears for ever from our eyes. 6 You have express'd it with a good and pious, but not with so exalted and poetical a fpirit as the prophet. The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. If you agree with me in this, alter it by way of paraphrafe or otherwife, that when it comes into a volume it may be amended. Your Poem is already better than the Pollio. I am, Your, &c. Mr. POPE to Mr. STEELÉ. You June 18, 1712. OU have oblig'd me with a very kind letter, by which I find you fhift the scene of your life from the town to the country, and enjoy that mix'd ftate which wife men both delight in, and are qualify'd for. Methinks the Moralifts and Philofophers have generally run too much into extremes in commending intirely either folitude, or publick life. In the former, men for the moft part grow useless by too much reft, and in the latter are deftroy'd by too much precipitation; as waters lying ftill, putrify and are good for nothing, and D run running violently on do but the more mifchief in their paffage to others, and are fwallow'd up and loft the fooner themselves. Thofe indeed who can be useful to all ftates, fhould be like gentle ftreams, that not only glide thro' lonely valleys and forefts amidst the flocks and the fhepherds, but vifit populous towns in their courfe, and are at once of ornament and fervice to them. But there are another fort of people who feem defign'd for folitude, fuch I mean as have more to hide than to fhow: As for my own part, I am one of those of whom Seneca fays, Tam umbratiles funt, ut putent in turbido effe quicquid in luce eft. Some men like fome pictures, are fitter for a corner than a full light, and I believe fuch as have a natural bent to folitude (to carry on the former fimilitude) are like waters which may be forc'd into fountains and exalted into a great height, may make a noble figure and a louder noife, but after all they would, run more fmoothly, quietly and plentifully, in their own natural courfe upon the ground. The confideration of this would Thefe foregoing Similitudes our Author bad put into Verse some years before, and inferted into Mr Wycherleys's Poem on Mixt Life. We find him apparent y in the Verfification of them, as they are fince printed in Wycherley's eofthumous Works, 8o Page 3d and 4th. make make me very well contented with the poffeffion only of that Quiet which Cowley calls the Companion of obfcurity. But whoever has the Mufes too for his companions, can never be idle enough to be uneafy. Thus Sir, you fee I would flatter myself into a good opinion of my own way of living. Plutarch juft now told me, that 'tis in human life as in a game at tables, where a man may wish for the higheft caft, but if his chance be otherwife, he is even to play it as well as he can, and to make the best of it. I am, Your, &c. Mr. POPE to Mr. STEEL E. Yo June 15, 1712. OU formerly obferv'd to me, that nothing made a more ridiculous figure in a man's life, than the difparity we often find in him fick and well: Thus one of an unfortunate conftitution is perpetually exhibiting a miserable example of the weaknefs of his mind, and of his body, in their turns. I have had frequent opportunities of late to confider myfelf in thefe different views, and I hope have receiv'd some advan น advantage by it, if what Mr. Waller fays be true, that The foul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light thro' chinks that time has made. Then furely fickness, contributing no lefs than old age to the fhaking down this fcaffolding of the body, may discover the inward ftructure more plainly. Sickness is a fort of early old age; it teaches us a diffidence in our earthly ftate, and inspires us with the thoughts of a future, better than a thousand volumes of philofophers and divines. It gives fo warning a concuffion to thofe props of our vanity, our ftrength and youth, that we think of fortifying ourselves within, when there is fo little dependance upon our out-works. Youth at the very beft is but a betrayer of human life in a gentler and smoother manner than age: 'Tis like a ftream that nourishes a plant upon a bank, and caufes it to flourish and bloffom to the fight, but at the fame time is undermining it at the root in fecret. My youth has dealt more fairly and openly with me, it has afforded feveral Profpects of my danger, and given me an advantage not very common to young men, that the attractions of the world |