have not Oblivion. I fhou'd at least have expected you to have finifh'd that Elegy upon me, which you told me you was upon the point of beginning when I was fick in London; if you will but do fo much for me first, I will give you leave to forget me afterwards; and for my own part will die at difcretion, and at my leifure. But I fear I must be forc'd like many learned Authors, to write my own Epitaph, if I would be remember'd at alĺ. Monfieur de la Fontaine's wou'd fit me to a Hair, but it is a kind of Sacrilege, (do you think it is not?) to steal Epitaphs. In my prefent, living dead condition, nothing would be properer than Oblitufque meorum, oblivifcendus & illis, but that unluckily I can't forget my Friends, and the Civilities I receiv'd from yourself, and fome others. They fay indeed 'tis one quality of generous Minds to forget the Obligations they have conferr'd, and perhaps too it may be fo to forget thofe on whom they conferr'd'em? Then indeed I must be forgotten to all intents and purpofes! I am, it must be own'd, dead in a natural Capacity, according to Mr BickerStaff; dead in a poetical Capacity, as a damn'd Author; and dead in a civil Capacity, as a useless Member of the Common-wealth. But reflect, dear Sir, what melancholy Effects may enfue, if dead Men are not civil to one another? If he who has nothing to do himself, will not comfort and fupport another in his Idleness? If thofe who are to die themselves, will not now and then pay the Charity of vifiting a Tomb and a dead Friend, and ftrowing a few Flowers over him? In the Shades where I am, the Inhabitants have a mutual Compaffion for each other: Being all alike Inanes, and Umbratiles, we faunter to one another's Habitations, and daily affift each other in doing nothing at all; this I mention for your Edification and Example ample, that Tout plein du vie as you are, yet you may not sometimes difdain-defipere in loco. Tho you are no Papift, and have not fo much regard to the dead as to addrefs yourself to them, (which I plainly perceive by your Silence) yet I hope you are not one of thofe Heterodox, who hold them to be I totally infenfible of the good Offices and kind Wishes of their living Friends, and to be in a dull State of Sleep, without one Dream of those they left behind them? If you are, let this Letter convince you to the contrary, which affures you, I am still, tho' in a State of Separation, Your, &c. P. S. This Letter of Deaths, puts me in mind. of poor Mr Betterton's; over whom I would have this Sentence of Tully for an Epitaph. Vita bene alta jucundiffima eft Recordatio. June 24, 17.10. TIS very natural for a young Friend, and a young Lover, to think the Perfons they love have nothing to do but to please them; when perhaps they, for their parts, had twenty other Engagements before. This was my Cafe when I wonder'd I did not hear from you; but I no fooner receiv'd your fhort Letter, but I forgot your long Silence; and fo many fine Things as you faid of me cou'd not but have wrought a Cure on my own Sicknefs, if it had not been of the Nature of that, which is deaf to the Voice of the Charmer. 'Twas impoffible you could have better tim'd your Compliment on my Philofophy; it was certainly properest to to commend me for it just when I moft needed it, and when I cou'd leaft be proud of it; that is, when I was in Pain. 'Tis not eafy to exprefs what an Exaltation it gave to my Spirits, above all the Cordials of my Doctor; and 'tis no Compliment to tell you, that your. Compliments were fweeter than the fweeteft of his Juleps and Syrups.. But if you will not believe so much, Pour le moins, votre Compliment Nevertheless I wou'd not have you entirely lay afide the Thoughts of my Epitaph, any more than I do thofe of the probability of my becoming ('ere long) the Subject of one. For Death has of late been very familiar with fome of my Size; I am told my Lord Lumley and Mr Litton are gone before me ; and tho' I may now without vanity esteem myself the least thing like a Man in England, yet I can't but be forry, two Heroes of fuch a Make wou'd die inglorious in their Beds; when it had been a Fate more worthy our Size, had they met with theirs from an irruption of Cranes, or other warlike Animals, thofe antient Enemies to our Pygmaan Ancestors! You of a fuperior Species little regard what befals us Homunciolos Sefquipedales; however you have no reason to be fo unconcern'd, fince all Phyficians agree there is no greater fign of a Plague among Men, than a Mortality among Frogs. I was the other Day in Company with a Lady, who rally'd my Perfon fo much, as to cause a total fubverfion of my Countenance: Some Days after, to be reveng'd on her, I prefented her among other other Company the following Rondeau on that Occafion, which I defire you to show Sapho. You know where you did defpife You know where. You, 'tis true, have fine black Eyes, You know where. This fort of Writing call'd the Rondeau is what I never knew practis'd in our Nation, and I verily believe it was not in ufe with the Greeks or Romans, neither Macrobius nor Hyginus taking the leaft Notice of it. 'Tis to be obferv'd, that the vulgar fpelling and pronouncing it. Round O, is a manifeft Corruption, and by no means to be allow'd of by Critics. Some may mistakenly imagine that it was a fort of Rondeau which the Gallic Soldiers fung in Cæfar's Triumph over Gaul.-Gallias Cæfar fubegit, &c. as it is recorded by Suetonius in Julio, and fo derive it's Original from the antient Gauls to the modern French: but this is erroneous; Words there not being rang'd according to the Laws of the Rondeau, as laid down by Clement Marot. If you will fay, that the Song of the Soldiers might be only the rude beginning of this kind of Poem, and fo.confequently imperfect, neither Heinfius nor I can be of that Opinion; and fo I conclude, that we know nothing of the Matter. the But, But, Sir, I ask your Pardon for all this Buffoonry, which I could not addrefs to any one fo well as to you, fince I have found, by Experience, you muft eafily forgive my Impertinences. 'Tis only to fhow you, that I am mindful of you at all times; that I write at all times; and as nothing I can fay can be worth your reading, fo I may as well throw out what comes uppermoft, as ftudy to be dull.. I am, &c. Mr C to Mr POP E. - July 15, 1710. AT laft I have prevail'd over a lazy humour to transcribe this Elegy: I have chang❜d the Situation of fome of the Latin Verfes, and made fome Interpolations, but I hope they are not abfurd, and foreign to my Author's Senfe and Manner; but they are referr❜d to your Cenfure, as a Debt; whom I efteem no lefs a Critic than a Poet: I expect to be treated with the fame Rigour as I have practis'd to Mr Dryden and you, -Hanc veniam petimufq; damufq; viceffim. I defire the Favour of your Opinion, why Priam, in his Speech to Pyrrhus, in the fecond Eneid, fays this to him, At non ille fatum quo te mentiris, Achilles. He wou'd intimate (I fancy by Pyrrhus's Answer) only his Degeneracy: but then these following |