lumnies, which a Man of any Genius or Merit is born to. I fhall never complain while I am happy in fuch noble Defenders, and in fuch contemptible Opponents. May their Envy and Ill-nature ever increafe, to the Glory and Pleasure of thofe they wou'd injure; may they reprefent me what they will, as long as you think me what I am,

Your, &c.

To the fame.

JULY 13, 1714.

YOU mention the Account I gave you fome time ago of the things which Philips faid in his Foolishness; but I can't tell from any thing in your Letter, whether you receiv'd a long one from me about a Fortnight fince. It was principally intended to thank you for the laft obliging Favour you did me and perhaps for that Reafon you pafs it in filence. I there launched into fome Account of my temporal Affairs, and intend now to give you fome Hints of my fpiritual. The Conclufion of your Letter draws this upon you, where you tell me, you pray'd for me: Your proceeding, Sir, is contrary to that of moft other Friends, who never talk of praying for a Man after they have done him a Service, but only when they will do him none. Nothing can be more kind than the Hint you give me of the Vanity of human Sciences, which I affure you I am daily more and more convinc'd of; and indeed I have for fome Years past, look'd upon all of 'em no better than Amusements. To make them the ultimate End of our Purfuit, is a miferable and fhort Ambition, which

will

will drop from us at ev'ry little Disappointments here, and even in case of no Disappointments here, will infallibly defert us hereafter. The utmost Fame they are capable of bestowing, is never worth the Pains they coft us, and the Time they lofe us. If you attain the Top of your Defires that way, all those who envy you will do you harm; and of thofe who admire you, few will do you good. The unfuccessful Writers are your declared Enemies, and probably the fuccessful your fecret ones: For those hate not more to be excelled, than these to be rivalled. And at the upshot, after a Life of perpetual Application, to reflect that you have been doing nothing for yourself, and that the fame or lefs Industry might have gain'd you a Friendship that can never deceive or end, a Satisfaction which Praise cannot bestow, nor Vanity feel, and a Glory which (though in one Respect like Fame, not to be had 'till after Death) yet fhall be felt and enjoy'd to Eternity. Thefe, dear Sir, are unfeignedly my Sentiments, whenever I think at all; for half the things that employ our Heads deferve not the Name of Thoughts, they are only ftronger Dreams or Impreffions upon the Imagination: Our Schemes of Government, our Systems of Philofophy, our golden Worlds of Poetry, are all but so many shadowy Images, and airy Profpects, which arise to us but so much the livelier and more frequent, as we are more o'ercaft with the Darknefs, and disturb'd with the Fumes of human Vanity.

The fame thing that makes old Men willing to leave this World, m kes me willing to leave Poe try, Long-Habit, and Wearinefs of the fame Track.. Homer will work a Cure upon me; fifteen thou fand Verses are equivalent to fourfcore Years, to make one old in Rhime: And I fhou'd be forry and afhamed, to go on jingling to the last Step, like a Waggoner's

Waggoner's Horfe, in the fame Road, and fo leave my Bells to the next filly Animal that will be proud of 'em. That Man makes a mean Figure in the Eyes of Reason, who is measuring Syllables and coupling Rhimes, when he should be mending his own Soul, and fecuring his own Immortality. If I had not this Opinion, I should be unworthy even of thofe small and limited Parts which God has given me; and unworthy of the Friendship of fuch a Man as you. I am

Your, &c.

I

To the fame.

JULY 25, 1714.

Have no better Excufe to offer you, that I have omited a Task naturally fo pleafing to me as converfing upon Paper with you; but that my Time and Eyes have been wholly employ'd upon Homer, whom I almoft fear I fhall find but one way of imitating, which is in his Blindness. I am perpetually afflicted with Headachs, that very much affect my Sight; and indeed fince my coming hither I have scarce pafs'd an Hour agreeably, except that in which I read your Letter. I would seriously have you think, you have no Man who more truly knows to place a right Value on your Friendship, than he who leaft deferves it on all other Accounts than his due Sense of it. But let me tell you, you can hardly guess what a Task you undertake, when you profefs yourself my Friend; there are fome Tories who will take you for a Whig; fome Whigs who will take you for a Tory; fome Proteftants who will efteem you a rank Papist, and fome Papifts who will account you a Heretic.

I

I find,

I find, by dear Experience, we live in an Age, where 'tis criminal to be moderate; and where no Man can be allow'd to be just to all Men. The Notions of Right and Wrong are fo far ftrain'd, that perhaps to be in the Right fo very violently, may be of worfe Confequence than to be eafily and quietly in the Wrong. I really with all Men fo well, that I am fatisfy'd but few can wifh me fo; but if those few are fuch as tell me they do, I am content, for they are the beft People I know: While you believe me what I profefs as to Religion, I can bear any thing the Bigotted may fay; while Mr Congreve likes my Poetry, I can endure Dennis and a thousand more like him; while the most honest and moral of each Party think me no ill Man, I can easily support it, tho' the most violent and mad of all Parties rofe up to throw Dirt

at me.

I must expect an hundred Attacks upon the Publication of my Homer. Whoever in our Times would be a Profeffor of Learning above his Fellows, ought at the very firft to enter the World with the Conftancy and Refolution of a primitive Chriftian, and be prepar'd to fuffer all forts of public Perfecution. It is certainly to be lamented, that if any Man does but endeavour to distinguish himself, or gratify others by his Studies, he is immediately treated as a common Enemy, inftead of being look'd upon as a common Friend; and affaulted as generally, as if his whole Design were to prejudice the State, and ruin the Public. I will venture to fay, no Man ever. rofe to any degree of Perfection in writing, but thro' Obftinacy and an inveterate Refolution against the Stream of Mankind; fo that if the World has receiv'd any Benefit from the Labours of the Learned, it was in it's own Defpite. For when firft they essay their Parts, all People in general are prejudic'd. against

against new Beginners; and when they have got a little above Contempt, then fome particular Perfons who were before unfortunate in their own Attempts, are fworn Foes to them, only because they fucceed.—-Upon the whole, one may fay of the best Writers, that they pay a fevere Fine for their Fame, which it is always in the Power of the most worthlefs Part of Mankind to levy upon them when they please.

I am, &c.

To Mr JERVA S.

JULY 28, 1714.

IAM juft enter'd upon the old Way of Life again, Sleep and mufing. It is my Employment to revive the Old of paft Ages to the prefent, as it is your's to tranfmit the Young of the prefent, to the future. I am copying the great Master in one Art, with the fame Love and Diligence with which the Painter hereafter will copy you in another.

Thus I fhould begin my Epiftle to you, if it were a dedicatory one. But as it is a friendly Letter, you are to find nothing mention'd in your own Praife but what only one in the World is witness to, your particular good-natur'd Offices to me. Whatever. Mankind in general would allow you, that I am not to give you to your Face; and if I were to do it in your Abfence, the World would tell me I am too partial to be permitted to pass any Judgment of you.

.

So you fee me cut out from any thing but common Acknowledgments, or common Difcourfe. The first you wou'd take ill, tho' I told you but half what I ought; fo, in fhort, the laft only remains.

I 2

And