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KNOW of nothing that will be fo Intereffing to you at prefent, as fome circumftances of the laft Act of that eminent Comic Poet, and our Friend, Wycherley. He had often told me, as I doubt not he did all his Acquaintance, that he would marry as foon as his Life was despaired of. Accordingly a few days before his

F

Death

Death he underwent the Ceremony: and joined together those two Sacraments, which wife Men fay fhould be the last we receive; for if you observe, Matrimony is plac'd after Extreme Unction in our Catechifm, as a kind of Hint of the Order of Time in which they are to be taken. The old Man then lay down, fatisfy'd in the Conscience of having, by this one Act, paid his juft Debts, obliged a Woman who (he was told) had Merit, and fhewn an heroic refentment of the ill ufage of his next Heir. Some hundred pounds which he had with the Lady, discharged those Debts; a Jointure of four hundred a year made her a Recompence; and the nephew he left to comfort himfelf, as well as he could, with the miferable Remains of a mortgaged Eftate. I faw our Friend twice after this was done, lefs peevish in his Sicknefs than he used to be in his Health; neither much afraid of dying, nor (which in him had been more likely) much afhamed of marrying. The Evening before he expired, he called his young Wife to the bed-fide, and earnestly entreated her not to deny him one requeft, the laft he fhould make. Upon her Affurances of confenting to it, he told her, My Dear, it is only this; that you will never marry an old Man again. I cannot help remarking, that Sickness which often destroys both Wit and Wisdom, yet feldom has power to remove that Talent which we call Humour. Mr Wycherley fhewed his even in this laft Compliment, tho' I think his request a little hard; for why fhould he bar her from doubling her Jointure on the fame eafy Terms.

So trivial as these Circumstances are, I fhould not be difpleas'd myfelf to know fuch Trifles, when they concern or characterise any eminent Perfon. The wifeft and wittieft of Men are feldom wifer

or

or wittier than others in these fober Moments. leaft our Friend ended much in the Character he had liv'd in, and Horace's Rule for a Play may as well be apply'd to him as a Playwright:

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Am juft return'd from the Country, whither Mr Rowe accompanied me, and pass'd a Week in the Foreft. I need not tell you how much a Man of his Turn entertain'd me; but I must acquaint you there is a Vivacity and Gaiety of Difpofition almoft peculiar to him, which make it impoffible to part from him without that Uneafinefs which generally fucceeds all our Pleafures. I have been just taking a folitary Walk by Moon-fhine, full of Reflexions on the tranfitory Nature of all human Delights; and giving my Thoughts a loose in the Contemplation of thofe Satisfactions which probably we may hereafter tafte in the Company of feparate Spirits, when we fhall range the Walks a bove, and perhaps gaze on this World at as vaft a Diftance as we now do on those Worlds. The Pleasures we are to enjoy in that Converfation must undoubtedly be of a nobler kind, and (not unlikely) F 2

may

may proceed from the Discoveries each fhall communicate to another, of God and of Nature: for the Happiness of Minds can furely be nothing but Knowledge.

The highest Gratification we receive from Company is Mirth, which at the beft is but a fluttering unquiet Motion, that beats about the Breaft for a a few Moments, and after leaves it void and empty.

Keeping good Company, even the best, is but a lefs fhameful Art of lofing Time.

What we here call Science and Study, are little better. The greater Number of Arts to which we apply ourselves are meer groping in the Dark; and even the Search of our most important Concerns in a future being, is but a needlefs, anxious, and uncertain Hafte to be knowing fooner than we can, what without all this Sollicitude we fhall know a little later. We are but Curious Impertinents in the Cafe of Futurity. 'Tis not our Bufinefs to be gueffing what the State of Souls fhall be, but to be doing what may make our own State happy: We cannot be Knowing, but we can be Virtuous.

If this be my Notion of a great part of that high Science, Divinity; you will be fo civil as to imagine I lay no mighty ftrefs upon the reft. Even of my darling Poetry I really make no other Ufe, than

s of the Bells that gingle about their Ears (tho' now and then they tofs their Heads as if they were proud of 'em) only to jogg on a little more merrily.

Your Obfervations on the narrow Conceptions of Mankind in the Point of Friendship, confirm me in what I was fo fortunate as at my firft Knowledge of you to hope, and fince fo amply to experience. Let me take fo much decent Pride and Dignity upon me, as to tell you, that but for Opinions like

thefe,

thefe, which I difcover'd in your Mind, I had never made the Trial I have done; which has fucceeded fo much to mine, and I believe not lefs to your Satisfaction: For if I know you right, your Pleafure is greater in obliging me, than I can feel on my part, till it falls in my Power to oblige you.

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Your Remark, that the Variety of Opinion in Politics or Religion is often rather a Gratification than Objection to People, who have Senfe enough to confider the beautiful Order of Nature in her Variations, makes me think you have not conftrued Joannes Secundus wrong, in the Verfe which preceeds that which you quote: Bene nota Fides, as I take it, does no ways fignify the Roman Catholic Religion, though Secundus was of it. I think it was a generous Thought, and one that flow'd from an exalted Mind, that it was not improbable but God might be delighted with the various Methods of worshipping him, which divided the whole World. I am pretty fure You and I fhould no more make good Inquifitors to the modern Tyrants in Faith, than we could have been qualify'd for Lictors to Procruftes, when he converted refractory Members with the Rack. In a Word, I can only repeat to you what I think I have formerly faid that I as little fear God will damn a Man who has Charity, as I hope that any Prieft can fave him without it.

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