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Paper to you, and to tell you (what theft fort of People never tell but with Truth, and religious Sin cerity) that I am, and ever will be,

Dear SIR,

Your's, &c.

THE

To the fame.

HE fame reason that hinder'd your Writing, hinder'd mine; the pleafing expectation to fee you in Town. Indeed fince the willing Confinement I have lain under here with my Mother, (whom it is natural and reasonable I fhould rejoice with as well as grieve) I could the better bear your abfence from London, for I could hardly have feen you there; and it would not have been quite reafonable to have drawn you to a fick Room hither from the firft Embraces of your Friends. My Mother is now (I thank God) wonderfully recover. ed, tho' not fo much as yet to venture out of her Chamber, yet enough to enjoy a few particular Friends, when they have the good Nature to look upon her. I may recommend to you the Room we fit in, upon one (and that a favourite) Account, that it is the very warmest in the Houfe: We and our Fires will equally fmile upon your Face. There is a Perfian Proverb that fays, I think very prettily, The Converfation of a Friend brightens the Eyes. This I take to be a Splendor ftill more agreeable

agreeable than the Fires you fo delightfully defcribe.

That you may long enjoy your own Fire-fide, in the metaphorical Senfe, that is, all thofe of your Family who make it pleasing to fit and spend whole Wintry Months together, (a far more rational Delight, and better felt by an honeft Heart, than all the glaring Entertainments, numerous Lights, and falfe Splendors, of an Affembly of empty Heads, aching Hearts, and falfe Faces) This is my fincere Wifh to you and your's.

You fay you propofe much Pleasure in feeing fome few Faces about Town of my Acquaintance, I guess you mean Mrs Howard's and Mrs Blount's. And I affure you, you ought to take as much Pleafure in their Hearts, if they are what they fometimes express with regard to you.

Believe me, dear Sir, to you all a very faithful Servant.

To the fame.

October 10.

Dear Sir,

I Was upon the point of taking a much greater Journey than to Bermudas, even to that undif Covered Country, from whofe Bourn no. Traveller

returns!

A Fever carry'd me on the high Gallop towards it for fix or feven days But here have you now, and that's all I fhall fay of it. Since which

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time an impertinent Lameness kept me at home twice as long; as if Fate fhould fay (after the other dangerous Illnefs) You fhall neither go into the "other World, nor any where you like in "this." Elfe who knows but I had been at Hom-lacy?

I confpire in your Sentiments, emulate your Pleasures, wifh for your Company. You are all of one Heart and one Soul, as was faid of the Primitive Chriftians. 'Tis like the Kingdom of the Juft upon Earth; not a wicked Wretch to interrupt you; but a Set of try'd, experienc'd Friends, and fellow Comforters, who have feen Evil Men and Evil Days, and have, by a fuperior Rectitude of Heart, fet yourselves above them, and reap your Reward. Why will you ever, of your own accord, end fuch a Millenary Year in London? tranfmigrate (if I may fo call it) into other Creatures, in that Scene of folly Militant, when you may reign for ever at Hom-lacy in Senfe and Reafon Triumphant? I appeal to a third Lady in your Family, whom I take to be the moft Innocent, and the leaft warp'd by idle Fafhion and Custom, of you all; I appeal to Her, if you are not every Soul of you better People, better Companions, and happier, where you are? I defire her Opinion under her Hand in your next Letter, I mean Mifs Scudamore's ++ I'm confident if the would, or durft fpeak her Senfe, and employ that Reasoning which God has given her, to infuse more thoughtfulness into you all; thofe Arguments could not fail to put you to the blush, and keep you out of Town, like People fenfible of your own Felicities. I am not without hopes, if She can

tt Afterwards Duchefs of Beaufort. At this time about twelve Years old.

detain a Parliament-Man and a Lady of Quality from the World one Winter, that I may come upon you with fuch irrefiftable Arguments another Year, as may carry you all with me to Bermudas, the Seat of all Earthly Happiness, and the new Jerufalem of the Righteous.

Don't talk of the decay of the Year: the Seafon is good where the People are fo. 'Tis the best Time of the Year for a Painter: there is more Variety of Colours in the Leaves, the Profpects begin to open, thro' the thinner Woods, over the Vallies; and thro' the high Canopies of Trees to the higher Arch of Heaven. The Dews of the Morning impearl every Thorn, and scatter Diamonds on the verdant Mantle of the Earth. The Frofts are fresh and wholesome: What wou'd ye have? The Moon fhines too, tho' not for Lovers thefe cold Nights, but for Aftronomers.

Have ye not Reflecting Telescopes, whereby ye may innocently magnify her Spots and Blemishes? Content yourfelves with them, and do not come to a place where your own Eyes become Reflecting. Telefcopes, and where thofe of all others are equally fuch upon their Neighbours. Stay you, at leaft, (for what I've faid before relates only to the Ladics, don't imagine I'll write about any Eyes but theirs) Stay, I fay, from that idle, bufy-looking Sanhedrin, where Wisdom or No Wifdom is the Eternal Debate, not (as it lately was in Ireland) an Accidental one..

If after all, you will defpife good Advice, and fefolve to come to London; here you will find me,

About this time the Rev. Dean Berkeley conceived his Project of erecting a Settlement in Bermudas for the Propagation of the Chriftian Faith, and of Sciences, in America.

* These Inftruments were just then brought to perfection.

doing juft the things I fhould not, living where I fhould not, and as worldly, as idle; in a Word, as much an Anti-Bermudanift as any body. Dear Sir, make the Ladies know. I am their Servant, you know I am

Your's, &c.

To the fame.

August 12.

I Have been above a Month ftrolling about in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from Garden to Garden, but ftill returning to Lord Cobham's with fresh Satisfaction. I fhould be forry to fee my Lady Scudamore's, till it has had the full advantage of Lord Bathurst's Improvements; and then I will expect fomething like the Waters of Riskins, and the Woods of Oakley together, which (without flattery) would be at least as good as any thing in our World. For as to the hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Paradife of Cyrus, and the Sharawaggis of China, I have little or no Ideas of 'em; but I dare fay Lord B―t has, because they were certainly both very Great, and very Wild. I hope Mrs Mary Digby is quite tired of his Lordship's Extravagante Bergerie; and that she is just now fitting, or rather inclining, on a Bank, fatigued with over much Dancing and Singing at his uniwearied Request and Inftigation. I know your love of Eafe fo well, that you might be in danger

of

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