this evening to meet Mr. C. and I snatch a moment that you might not think me neglectful of you, which I certainly never will be. Adieu! Yours ever. Το GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq. Sunday evening. I LEAVE Mr. Müntz in commission to do the honours of Strawberry to you: if he succeeds well, will you be troubled with him in your chaise to London on Wednesday? He will tell you the history of queen Mab being attacked-not in her virtue, but in her very palace:-if all this does not fill up the evening, and you should have no engagement to your aunt Crosby, or to your grandmother, you know how welcome you will be at Clivden. Adieu. Το GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq. Dec. 23, 1757. You, who have always cultivated rather than stifled tender sensations, well know how to feel for me, who have at last lost my dear friend, Mr. Mann, not unexpectedly certainly; but I never could find that one grew indifferent to what pains, as one does to what pleases one! With all my consciousness of having been more obliged to your brother than I could possibly deserve, I think I should have trespassed on his kindness, and have asked him to continue his favours to Mr. Mann's son and brother, if I had not known that he was good beyond doubt : it is just necessary for me, as transferring my friendship to the family, to tell you, that if the contrary should be insinuated, they do continue the business. Had I any thing to tell you it would be unpardonable in me to communicate my grief to you and neglect your entertainment; but Mr. Pitt's gout has laid up the nation; we adjourn to-morrow for the holidays, and have not had a single division. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, France and the king of Prussia will not leave us idle much longer. Adieu! I am most unaffectedly grieved, and most unfeignedly yours. SIR, TO DR. DUCAREL.1 Arlington-street, Dec. 25, 1757. THE dean of Exeter having shewed me a letter in which you desire the name of the MS. which con Dr. Ducarel was librarian at Lambeth Palace. tains the illumination I wished to see, I take the liberty of troubling you with this. The book is called "The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers; translated out of Latyn into Frenshe, by Messire Jehande Jeonville; and from thence rendered into English, by earl Rivers." - I am perfectly ashamed, sir, of giving you so much trouble; but your extreme civility and good nature, and your great disposition to assist in any thing that relates to literature, encouraged me to make my application to you; and the politeness with which you received it I shall always acknowledge with the greatest gratitude. - The Dean desired me to make his excuses to you for not writing himself; and my lord Lyttelton returns you a thousand thanks for your kind offers of communication, and proposes to wait on you himself, and talk those matters over with you. I shall not fail of paying my respects to you on Friday next, at one o'clock; and am, sir, Your most obliged And most obedient servant. SIR, TO DR. DUCAREL. Arlington-street, January 12, 1758. I HAVE the pleasure to let you know, that his grace the archbishop has, with the greatest politeness and goodness, sent me word, by the dean of Exeter, that he gives me leave to have the illumination copied, either at your chambers, or at my own house, giving you a receipt for it. As the former would be so inconvenient to me as to render this favour useless, I have accepted the latter with great joy; and will send a gentleman of the exchequer, my own deputy, to you, sir, on Monday next, with my receipt, and shall beg the favour of you to deliver the MS. to him, Mr. Bedford. I would wait on you myself, but have caught cold at the visit I made you yesterday, and am besides going to Strawberry-hill, from whence I propose to bring you a little print, which was never sold, and not to be had from any body else; which is, the arms of the two Clubs at Arthur's;1 a print exceedingly in request last year. When I have more leisure, for at this time of the year I am much hurried, I shall be able, I believe, to pick you out some other curiosities; and am, sir, Your obedient servant. SIR, TO THE REV. DR. BIRCH. Arlington-street, May 4, 1758. I THOUGHT myself very unlucky in being abroad, when you was so good as to call here t'other day. I not only lost the pleasure of your company, but the opportunity of obtaining from you (what however I will not despair of,) any remarks you may have made on the many errors which I fear you found in my book. The hurry in which it was written, my natural carelessness and insufficiency, must have produced many faults and mistakes. As the curiosity of the world, raised I believe only by the smallness of the number printed, makes it necessary for me to provide another edition, I should be much obliged to whoever would be enough my friend to point out my wrong judgments and inaccuracies, - I know nobody, sir, more capable of both offices than yourself, and yet I have no pretensions to ask so great a favour, unless your own zeal for the cause of literature should prompt you to undertake a little of this task. I shall be always ready to correct my faults, never to defend them. I am, sir, Your most obedient servant. VOL. II. E |