The Duke is well recovered of his paralytic attack, though it is still visible in his face when he speaks. It has been occasioned by the long intermission of his usual violent exercises, for he cannot ride or walk much on account of a dropsy confined to a certain part, and not dangerous in itself. Yet he appears at Newmarket, but in his chaise. Mason and Mr. Brown send their best services. Dr. Heberden enquires kindly after you, and has his good dinners as usual. Adieu, dear Sir, and present my compliments to Mrs. Wharton. I am ever Truly yours, T. G. LETTER XCIII. MR. GRAY TO DR. WHARTON. Pemb. Coll. Jan. 1761. DEAR DOCTOR, THE best piece of news I have to send you is, that Mason is Residentiary of York, which is worth near £200 a year. He owes it to our friend Mr. F. Montagu, who is Bro ther-in-Law to Dean Fountayne. The Precentorship (worth as much more) being vacant at the same time, Lord Holdernesse has obtained that too for him. But for this, he must come and kiss hands; and as the ceremony is not yet over, we do not proclaim it aloud for the present. He now, I think, may wait for Mr. Hutton's exit with great patience; and shut his insatiable repining mouth. I hope to see him here in his way to town. I pity your brother, and have little hope left of his wife's recovery; though I have been told that Dr. Lowth's, after she had continued for some years in that condition, was perfectly restored. It may be worth while to enquire in what method she was treated. The papers were to have been sent to Boswell Court, the week after I left London, to be seen, before they were packed up. Mr. Jonathan is perhaps unable to attend to it, but doubtless you have ordered somebody to hasten Bromwick, and see that the sets are right. I shall not be in London till the middle of March. My old friend Miss Speed has done what the world calls a very foolish thing. She has married the Baron de la Peyriere, son to the Sardinian Minister, the Comte de Viry. He is about 28 years old (ten years younger than herself) but looks nearer 40. This is not the effect of debauchery, for he is a very sober man, good-natured, and honest, and no conjurer. The estate of the family is about £4000 a year. The Castle of Viry is in Savoy, a few miles from Geneva, commanding a fine view of the Lake. What she has done with her money I know not, but (I suspect) kept it to herself. Her religion she need not change; but she must never expect to be well received at that Court till she does : and I do not think she will make quite a Julie in the country. The Heloïse cruelly disappointed me, but it has its partisans, among which we see Mason and Mr. Hurd. For me, I ad mire nothing but Fingal, (I conclude you have read it, if not Stonehewer can lend it you) yet I remain still in doubt about the authenticity of those poems, though inclining rather to believe them genuine in spite of the world. Whether they are the inventions of antiquity, or of a modern Scotchman, either case to me is alike unaccountable. Je m'y pers. I take no joy in the Spanish war, being too old to privateer, and too poor to buy stock: nor do I hope for a good end of any war, as it will be now probably conducted. Oh! that foolishest of Great Men that sold his inestimable diamond In a letter to another friend, informing him that he had sent Fingal downto him, he says, "For my part I will stick to my credulity, and if I am cheated, "think it is worse for him (the translator) than for me. The Epic Poem is "foolishly so called, yet there is a sort of plan and unity in it very strange "for a barbarous age; yet what I more admire are some of the detached pieces→ "the rest I leave to the discussion of antiquarians and historians; yet my curiosity is much interested in their decision." No man surely ever took more pains with himself to believe any thing, than Mr. Gray seems to have done on this occasion.-Mason. + Mr. Pitt. "As I cannot put Mr. Pitt to death (says Mr. Walpole in a Letter to Mr. Conway) at least I have buried him. Here is his Epitaph: Admire his eloquence. It mounted higher Than Attic purity, or Roman fire, Adore his services-our lions view, Ranging where Roman eagles never flew; Copy his soul supreme o'er Lucre's sphere -But oh! beware Three Thousand Pounds a year.'- "Pitt insisted on a war with Spain, was resisted, and last Monday resigned. The city breathed vengeance on his opposers, the Council quaked, and the Lord knows what would have happened. But yesterday, which was only Friday, as this giant was stalking to seize the Tower of London, he stumbled over a silver for a paltry peerage and pension: the very night it happened was I swearing it was a damned lie, and never could be. But it was for want of reading Thomas à Kempis, who knew mankind so much better than I. Young Pitt (whom I believe you have heard me mention), is returned to England. From him I hope to get much information concerning Spain, which nobody has seen. He is no bad observer. I saw a man yesterday who has been a-top of Mount Etna, and seen, the ruins of a temple at Agrigentum, whose columns (when standing) were 96 feet in height. A moderate man might hide himself in one of the flutings. By the way, there is a Mr. Phelps (now gone Secretary to the Embassy to Turin) who has been all over Sicily, and means to give us an account of its remains. There are two more volumes of Buffon (the 9th and 10th) arrived in England, and the two last Maps of D'Anville's Europe. One Mr. Needham, Tutor to a Lord Gormanstown, now on his travels, has made a strange discovery. He saw a figure of Isis at Turin, on whose back was a pilaster of antique characters, not hieroglyphics, but such as are sometimes seen on Egyptian statues. When penny, picked it up, carried it home to Lady Esther, and they are now as quiet good sort of people as my Lord and Lady Bath, who lived in the vinegarbottle.-In fact, Madam, this immaculate man, has accepted the Barony of Chatham for his wife, with a Pension of £3000 a year for three lives and though he has not quitted the House of Commons, I think my Lord A-, would be now as formidable there. The Pension he has left us is a war for 3000 lives, perhaps for twenty times three thousand lives! but Does this become a soldier? this become Whom armies followed, and a people loved? What! to sneak out of the scrape, prevent, peace and avoid the War! blast one's character, and all for the sake of a paltry annuity, a, long-necked Peeress, and a couple of Grenvilles !"-Ed. he came to Rome, in the Vatican Library, he was shewed a Glossary of the ancient Chinese Tongue. He was struck with the similitude of the characters, and on comparing them with an exact copy he had of the inscription, found that he could read it, and that it signified-(This statue of Isis is copied from another, in such a city; the original is so many measures in height, and so many in breadth.)—If this be true, it may open many new things to us. Deguignes some time ago wrote a dissertation to prove, that China was peopled from Egypt. I still flatter myself with the notion of seeing you in Summer; but God knows how it will be. I am persuading Mr. Brown to make a visit to Lady Strathmore (who has often invited him), and then you will see him too. He is at present not very well, having something of the Sciatica, which hangs about him. Present my best services to Mrs. Wharton. I am ever truly yours, T. G. P. S. The Queen is said here to be ill, and to spit blood, She is not with child, I am afraid. |