moft aufpicious; and if fhe happens to go aftray, let her blame her ftars,

A neighbouring princefs to his throne
That father newly brought,
The jealous mother, pregnant grown,
The life of Urmor fought.

Fierce in the chafe, one fatal day,
The youthful bridegroom rode,
And, heated with the fweltering ray,
Embrac'd the cooling flood:

He plung'd, the fever fhooting fire
Ran madding thro' his frame,
And charg'd with many a danger dire
Strong burn'd th' unconquer'd flame.

Yet drugs at length, of virtue bland,
The fervid veins afsuage,

And Ella's more than healing hand
Abates the furious rage.

Now, cry'd the proud ambitious dame,
The precious pledge I bear,
The crown of Iflatone fhall claim
His father's lawful heir.

Urmor the cup of death fhall taste
With deadlieft poifon fraught,
And Ella's fond officious hafte,
Adminifter the draught.

as

Then

as many a fair one has done before her on the fame occafion.

And in order to diffuse the streams of happiness thro' as many channels as poffible, I fhall ftudy to carry it to the meanest of my cottagers: he that cannot read of a wet day fhall be indulged in fomething else, perhaps as congenial to his tafte; and if in my power not one of the four domeftic evils which Hedfeldius has enumerated fhall haunt the lowlieft ftrawbuilt fhed: * the poet fhall pay his quit-rent with a fong, and I hope to be able to fend you fome excellent ones, as this country boafts, the offfpring of many, particularly one, who raised devotion to rapture, and taught

Then poifon mix'd of hemlock made,
And plac'd by Urmor's fide:
Take this and live, fair Ella faid;
He tafted, bow'd-and dy'd.

* Sunt mala terna domus imber, mala fœmina, fumus quartum, cum mane furgunt pueri fine

pane.

C 2

the

the very
rocks to melt at the name of
difaftrous love-he never committed
any thing to paper.-As foon as that
tyrant Death transferred the war-
bling measures of his breath, a neat
marble flab was placed over the spot
which holds his remains. The curate of
the parish has written thefe lines, which
I intend to have engraved on it:

Ye gentle nymphs,your own fam'd SILAS mourn,
And annual ftrew fresh roses on his urn;
To your foft bofoms he his verse configns,
And makes your heart the tablet of his lines;
Thus fhall his numbers live, tho' void of art,
While there remains in Cara one soft heart.

But why do I talk of " graves, of epitaphs, of worms and tombs ?" Write forrow in the duft; let us be merry, caper and dance, to fomething elfe, in the hop and jump way.

As I am but a new beginner, in the line of letter-writing efpecially, I feel the neceffity of taking fome one for my guide, who is allowed to have excelled therein. What do you

think of Bolingbroke? You might as well, my dear friend, bid me paint the water of a diamond! Balzac then;-that indeed, as Johnson fays,. would be to catch the gentle agitation of a grove in a gentle form; and indeed I think I could as foon catch a comet by the tail. There's your favourite Swift.-'Tis not even expected that Weft fhould paint the odour of a rofe; and as to Sterne-I might as well imitate nature at once. Nay, the truth is, I dare not fo much as read a line of thofe writers, left it fhould put me out of all conceit with myself; and what would be the confequence, if I even fhould fucceed in this refpect? at best I fhould be but an imitator, Heaven forbid that ever I fhould be claffed with one of the fervile herd! as to quotations, I think myself pretty fairly entitled to them. But the truth is, I would much rather have a guinea of guinea of my own. than be indebted to Child, or even Hope,

c 3

Hope, in the fam of five hundred.With regard to plagirifm a writer may as well steal as not, for he is fure to be accused of it; but it is not every one that poffeffes the dexterity of a Barrington.

But after all, I don't say that I won't take advice, provided it falls in with my own opinion: I know there are rules in abundance laid down for letter-writing, even by those that knew they could not follow them. Heaven blefs you, there are as many rules for letterwriting, as there are cures for the tooth-ach-but as I neither eat, drink, walk, talk, nor fpeak by rule, I do not fee that I fhould write by it. Thank our stars, we are not all of one opinion. A great critic on this fubject has furnifhed a lift of writers, which should abfolutely be read by every letter-writer in the bills of mortality*. One advises

you

* Conduct of the Dutchefs of Marlborough, in Sheets Prefervative againft Poetry-The Art of