Chapter THE SIXTH (2)

The result may be anticipated. Lame as he was, his lordship, with characteristic decision would hobble on to Shurland; his walk increased the inflammation; a flagon of _aqua vitæ_ did not mend matters. He was in a high fever; he took to his bed. Next morning the toe presented the appearance of a Bedfordshire carrot; by dinner-time it had deepened to beetroot; and when Bargrave, the leech, at last sliced it off, the gangrene was too confirmed to admit of remedy. Dame Martin thought it high time to send for Miss Margaret, who, ever since her mother's death, had been living with her maternal aunt, the abbess, in the Ursuline convent of Greenwich. The young lady came, and with her came one Master Ingoldsby, her cousin-german by the mother's side; but the Baron was too far gone in the deadthraw to recognise either. He died as he lived, unconquered and unconquerable. His last words were--"Tell the old hag to go to ----." Whither remains a secret. He expired without fully articulating the place of her destination.

But who and what was the crone who prophesied the catastrophe? Ay, "that is the mystery of this wonderful history."--Some said it was Dame Fothergill, the late confessor's mamma; others, St. Bridget herself; others thought it was nobody at all, but only a phantom conjured up by Conscience. As we do not know, we decline giving an opinion.

And what became of the Clerk of Chatham? Mr. Simpkinson avers than he lived to a good old age, and was at last hanged by Jack Cade, with his inkhorn about his neck, for "setting boys copies." In support of this he adduces his name "Emanuel," and refers to the historian Shakspeare. Mr. Peters, on the contrary, considers this to be what he calls one of Mr. Simpkinson's "Anacreonisms," inasmuch as, at the introduction of Mr. Cade's reform measure, the clerk would have been hard upon two hundred years old. The probability is, that the unfortunate alluded to was his great-grandson.

Margaret Shurland in due course became Margaret Ingoldsby, her portrait still hangs in the gallery at Tappington. The features are handsome, but shrewish, betraying, as it were, a touch of the old Baron's temperament; but we never could learn that she actually kicked her husband. She brought him a very pretty fortune in chains, owches, and Saracen ear-rings; the barony, being a male fief, reverted to the crown.

In the abbey-church at Minster may yet be seen the tomb of a recumbent warrior, clad in the chain-mail of the 13th century. His hands are clasped in prayer; his legs, crossed in that position so prized by Templars in ancient, and tailors in modern, days, bespeak him a soldier of the Faith in Palestine. Close to his great-toe, lies sculptured in bold relief a horse's head; and a respectable elderly lady, as she shows the monument, fails not to read her auditors a fine moral lesson on the sin of ingratitude, or to claim a sympathising tear to the memory of poor "Grey Dolphin!"

FRIAR LAURENCE AND JULIET.
BY THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY.

_Friar._
Who is calling Friar Laurence?
--Madam Juliet! how d'ye do?
Dear me--talk of the--beg pardon--
I've been talking about _you_.
Mistress Montagu, they tell me
You on Thursday mean to wed!
It is strange you never told me
That poor Mister M. was dead!

_Juliet._
M.'s alive! yet County Paris
I'm to marry, people say!
(I shall marry the whole county
If I go on in this way:)
Once you've wedded me already,
If I wed again, you see,
Though in _you_ a _little_ error,
'Twill be very _big o' me_.

_Friar._
'Pon my life, it's very awkward!
I'll on some expedient hit;
If you'll find me ready money,
I will find you ready wit:
I can't let you wed a second
Ere I know the first has died;
Think of faggots! for such deeds, ma'am,
Holy friars have been fried!

_Juliet._
'Tan't my wish, sir, nor intention,--
Any scheme of yours I'll hail;
To escape from County Paris,
Put me in the county jail:
Kill me dead! and make me food for
Earthworm, viper, toad, or rat;
Make a widower of Ro-me-
-O,--('twill _hurt_ me to do that!)

_Friar._
If you've really resolution
That your life-blood should be spilt,
I will save you, for I'll have you
Not quite killed, but merely _kilt_:
Could you in a vault be buried--
Horizontal--in a niche?
And of death so good a copy,
None could find out which is which?

_Juliet._
I would vault into a vault, sir,
With a dead man in his shroud;
I'd do any dirty work, sir,
Though my family's so proud!
I'll do whatsoe'er you bid me,
'Till you say I've done enough:
Nay, sir, much as I dislike it,
I'll take 'poticary's stuff!

_Friar._
Then go home, ma'am, and be merry;
Say that Paris you will wed;
Tell your nurse you've got a headache,
And go quietly to bed:
Ask for something warm,--some negus,
Grog, or gruel, or egg-flip,
Put in this, and then drink quickly,--
'Tis so nauseous if you sip.

_Juliet._
Give, oh! give me quick the phial,
From the trial I'll not shrink,--
Is it shaken when it's taken?
Gracious me! it's black as ink!
There's no fear, I trust, of failure?--
No--I doubt not its effect;
From your conversation's _tenor_
No base phial I expect.

_Friar._
You will have the bridegroom _follow_,
Where he generally _leads_;
'Stead of hymeneal flowers,
He will wear sepulchral weeds:
_I_ to Romeo will quickly
Write a letter by the post;
He will wake you, and should Paris
Meet you,--say you are your ghost!

_Juliet._
'Tis an excellent arrangement,
As you bid me I will act;
But within the tomb, dear friar,
Place a basket nicely pack'd;--
Just a loaf, a tongue, a chicken,
Port and sherry, and some plums;
It will _really_ be a comfort
Should I wake e'er Romeo comes!

CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF A STATESMAN,
BEING INEDITED LETTERS OF ADDISON.
NOW FIRST PRINTED FROM THE AUTOGRAPH ORIGINALS.

The following letters, which have never before been published, are exceedingly curious, as exhibiting Addison in a new point of view, and as displaying traits in that celebrated man's character, differing very materially from those which his biographers have recorded. They are addressed to Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax, and to Monsieur Robethon, secretary to the Elector of Hanover, afterwards George the First of England. They represent Addison as eager for place and pension, yearning after pecuniary reward, dwelling upon services unrequited, urging his utmost interest to procure some new emoluments, and discontentedly comparing his own condition with that of other more fortunate placemen. Leaving the letters to speak for themselves, it is only necessary to add that they are accompanied by a few notes which furnish some new data in the family history of the writer.

TO CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF HALIFAX.

Dublin Castle, May 7, 1709.
MY LORD,--I am glad of any occasion of paying my
duty to your lordship, and therefore cannot but lay
hold of this, in transmitting to your lordship our
Lord Lieutenant's[71] speech at the opening of the
parliament, with a couple of addresses from the House
of Commons upon that occasion. Your lordship will see
by them that all parties have set out in good-humour,
which is entirely owing to his excellency's conduct,
who has addressed himself so all sorts of men since
his arrival here, with unspeakable application. They
were under great apprehensions, at his first coming,
that he would drive directly at repealing the Test,
and had formed themselves into a very strong body for
its defence; but, as their minds are at present pretty
quiet upon that head, they appear willing to enter into
all other measures that he would have them. Had he
proceeded otherwise, it is easie to see that all things
would have been thrown into the utmost confusion, and
a stop put to all public business. His excellency,
however, gains ground daily; and I question not but in
a new parliament, where parties are not settled and
confirmed, he will be able to lead them into any thing
that will be for their real interests and advantage.

I have the happiness every day to drink
your lordship's health in very good wine,[72] and with
very honest gentlemen; and am ever, with the greatest
respect, my lord, Your lordship's most obedient and
most humble servant,
J. ADDISON.

[71] Thomas Wharton, Earl of Wharton, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, April 21, 1709. How Addison became the secretary of this Verres, as delineated by Swift,--or how Wharton, who professed to think virtue to be only a name, and would not have given a guinea as the purchase-price of the best reputation, obtained the appointment of the Queen's vicegerent in Ireland,--would be matters of perfect astoundment, were it not known that Wharton forced himself upon Lord Godolphin, by showing him a treasonable letter of that lord's to the abdicated family, of which he had contrived to become the possessor. Wharton's vice-regal power was but of short duration; he was recalled: Lords Justices were appointed in the September of the same year, and Wharton returned to England to make a bad use of the letter. Godolphin had, however, been too cunning for him, and procured an act of grace in his absence, which enabled him to set the vengeance of the Lord Lieutenant at defiance. As an apology for Addison's serving under such a man, it may be urged, that the acceptance of the office so proffered implied no approbation of his crimes; and that a subordinate officer is under no obligation to examine the opinions or conduct of those under whom he acts, excepting that he may not be made the actual tool of his atrocities or crimes.

[72] Addison's habitual taciturnity and fondness for the bottle are well known. There is a story, not yet forgotten, that the profligate Duke of Wharton, who was, perhaps, only the reputed or imputed son of this earl, afterwards Marquis of Wharton, once at table plied Addison so briskly with wine, in order to make him talk, that he could not retain it in his stomach. His grace is said to have observed, that "he could get wine, but not wit out of him."

TO M. DE ROBETHON, SECRETARY TO THE ELECTOR OF HANOVER.

St. James's, Sept. 4, 1714.
SIR,--I have been obliged to so close an attendance
on the Lords Justices, and have had so very little
time at my own disposal during my absence from their
excellencies, that I could not do myself the honour
before now, to assure you of my respects, and to
beg the continuance of that friendship which you
formerly honoured me with, at Hanover.[73] I cannot
but extremely rejoice at the occasion, which will give
me on opportunity of waiting on you in England, where
you will find a whole nation in the highest joy, and
thoroughly sensible of the great blessings which they
promise themselves from his Majesty's accession to the
throne.

I take the liberty to send you, enclosed,
a poem written on this occasion by one of our most
eminent hands, which is indeed a masterpiece in its
kind; and, though very short, has touched upon all
the topics which are most popular among us. I have
likewise transmitted to you, a copy of the preamble to
the Prince of Wales's patent, which was a very grateful
task imposed upon me by the Lords Justices. Their
excellencies have ordered that the lords and others who
meet his Majesty, be out of mourning that day, as also
their coaches; but all servants, except those of the
City magistrates, to be in mourning. The shortness of
the time, which would not be sufficient for the making
of new liveries, occasioned this last order.

The removal of the Lord Bolingbroke[74] has
put a seasonable check to an interest that was making
in many places for members in the next parliament; and
was very much relished by the people, who ascribed to
him, in a great measure, the decay of trade and public
credit.

You will do me a very great honour if you
find means submissive enough to make the humble offers
of my duty acceptable to his Majesty. May God Almighty
preserve his person, and continue him for many years
the blessing of these kingdoms! I am, with great esteem
and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
J. ADDISON.

[73] Lord Godolphin conferred on Addison, as a reward for his poem entitled _The Campaign_, commemorative of the battle of Blenheim, the place of Commissioner of Appeals, in the room of the celebrated Locke, who had been appointed a Lord of Trade. The year following, he attended Lord Halifax to Hanover; and, in the next, was appointed secretary to Sir Charles Hedges, and was continued in that office by his successor, Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland.

[74] Addison was a sound Whig. Bolingbroke records, that, after the peace which followed the ever memorable battle of Blenheim, he engaged with Addison in a two hours' conversation, and their politics differed _toto cælo_ from each other.

TO THE SAME.

St. James's, Sept 11.
SIR,--Though I am not without hopes of seeing you in
England before this letter comes to your hands, I
cannot defer returning you my thanks for the honour of
yours of the 17th N. S. which I received this morning.
I beg leave to send you the enclosed ceremonial for the
King's entry, published by the Earl of Suffolk, Deputy
Earl Marshal, as regulated by the Lords Justices and
privy council.[75] The Attorney-general is preparing a
proclamation, reciting the rewards set on the Pretender
by the late Queen and Parliament, with the security set
for the payment, as established by a clause in an act
passed since his Majesty's accession to the throne. As
such a proclamation is very requisite; so, perhaps, it
may come with a good grace from the Regents before his
Majesty's arrival. It will, I believe, be fixed up in
all the market-towns, especially among the highlands in
Scotland, where there has been some meetings, but, by
the care of the Regents, of no consequence.

[Subscribed in the same words as the preceding.]

TO THE EARL OF HALIFAX.

Oct. 17, 1714.
MY LORD,--I find by your lordship's
discourse that you have your reasons
for laying aside the thought of bringing me into a
part of Lowndes's place;[76] and, as I hope they do
not proceed from any change of goodwill towards me,
I do entirely acquiesce in them. I know that one in
your lordship's high station has several opportunities
of showing favour to your dependants, as one of your
generous temper does not want to be reminded of it when
any such offer. I must therefore beg your lordship to
believe that I think no more of what you were pleased
to mention in relation to the Treasury, though the
kind and condescending manner in which your lordship
was pleased to communicate yourself to me on that
subject, shall always raise in me the most constant and
unfeigned zeal for your honour and service.

I fancy, if I had a friend to represent to
his Majesty that I was sent abroad by King William,
and taken off from all other pursuits in order to be
employed in his service[77]--that I had the honour to
wait on your lordship to Hanover,--that the post I am
now in, is the gift of a particular lord [Sunderland],
in whose service I have been employed formerly,--that
it is a great fall, in point of honour, from being
secretary to the Regents, and that their request
to his Majesty still subsists in my favour,--with
other intimations that might perhaps be made to my
advantage,--I fancy, I say, that his Majestie, upon
such a representation, would be inclined to bestow on
me some mark of his favour. I protest to your lordship
I never gained to the value of five thousand pounds[78]
by all the business I have yet been in; and, out of
that, very near a fourth part has been laid out in my
elections.[79] I should not insist on this subject
so long, were it not taken notice of by some of the
Lords Justices themselves, as well as many others,
that his Majestie has yet done nothing for me, though
it was once expected he would have done something more
considerable for me than I can at present have the
confidence to mention. As I have the honour to write
to your lordship, whose favour I have endeavoured to
cultivate, and should be very ambitious of deserving,
I will humbly propose it to your lordship's thoughts,
whether his Majestie might not be inclined, if I was
mentioned to him, to put me in the Commission of Trade,
or in some honorary post about the Prince, or by some
other method to let the world see that I am not wholly
disregarded by him. I am ashamed to talk so long of
myself; but, if your lordship will excuse me this time,
I will never more erre on this side. I shall only
beg leave to add, that I mentioned your lordship's
kind intentions towards me only to two persons. One
of them was Phillips,[80] whom I could not forbear
acquainting, in the fulness of my heart, with the
kindness you had designed both him and me, which I take
notice of because I hope your lordship will have him in
your thoughts.

Though I put by several importunities which
are made me to recommend persons and pretensions to
your lordship, there are some which I cannot resist,
without declaring, what would go very much against
me, that I have no credit with your lordship. Of this
kind is a request made me yesterday by Lady Irby,
that I would mention her to your lordship as one who
might be made easy in her fortune if your lordship
would be pleased to procure for her the place of a
bedchamber-woman to the Princess. I told her that
places of that nature were out of your lordship's
province; but she tells me, as the proper persons are
not yet named to whom she should make her applications,
and as my Lord Townsend has gained the same favour for
Mrs. Selwyn, she hopes you will excuse her solicitation
upon this occasion.

My Lord Dorchester, from whom I lately
conveyed a letter to your lordship, has likewise
obliged me to speak in favour of Mr. Young, who marryed
a sister of Mr. Chetwynd's, and formerly was a clerk
under me in Ireland. He is now a man of estate, of
honest principles, and has been very serviceable to
Lord Dorchester in the elections at Salisbury.

I humbly beg leave to congratulate your
lordship upon the honours you have lately received; and
whenever your lordship will allow me to wait on you,
I shall always value the honour of being admitted to
your conversation more than any place that can be given
me. I am, with the greatest respect, my lord,
Your lordship's most devoted and most obedient servant,
J. ADDISON.

[75] Budgell has recorded that he attended Lord Halifax and Addison in a barge to Greenwich to meet George the First from Hanover. Halifax said he expected to have the Treasurer's staff, and to have great influence; that he would endeavour to avoid some of the errors of late reigns, and make his master a great king, and would recommend Addison to be a secretary of state. Addison, as Budgell says, blushed, and thanked him for such honourable friendship, but declared that his merits and ambition did not carry him to so high a place. Halifax was, however, circumvented in all his speculations: Walpole acquired more influence, or succeeded by intrigue; and the effects mortified Lord Halifax so acutely, that a pulmonary fever was the consequence, and death soon put a quietus upon his lordship's unsuccessful struggle for power.

[76] Lowndes was secretary to the Lords of the Treasury.

[77] Congreve first introduced Addison to the notice of lord Halifax while being educated at Oxford for the church, when his lordship is said to have dedicated Addison to the state, and avowed he would never do the church any other harm than in keeping him out of it. The post which Addison here alludes to, was that of secretary to Lord Sunderland, who was then appointed to the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, but never went to Dublin to assume the vice-regal dignity. Addison evidently deemed that appointment a degradation, and much inferior to that of being secretary to the Lords Regent of the kingdom till the arrival of the new King. As to his having been in Lord Sunderland's employ formerly, it has reference to his being his lordship's secretary upon the earl's succeeding Sir Charles Hedges, as Secretary of State, in 1706.

[78] This assertion seems strange, when it is known that in 1711, long prior to his marriage with the Countess of Warwick, Addison had expended ten thousand pounds upon the purchase of the Bilton estate, near Rugby, in Warwickshire: and Oldmixon, in his History, says, Addison left by his will, in 1719, to his daughter and to Lady Warwick, his fortune, which was about twelve thousand pounds. His daughter, who resided at Bilton till her death, in 1797, enjoyed an income of more than twelve hundred pounds per annum.

[79] Addison sat in the two last parliaments of Queen Anne. The Commons' Journals record that on a petition against his election for Lestwithiel, in 1708, he was found not duly elected; but by Lord Wharton's interest at the general election, he was chosen member for Malmesbury: indeed, as Swift wrote to Stella, so popular had Addison then become, that "if he had stood for the kingship, he would have been chosen."

[80] Ambrose Phillips, "one of the wits at Button's," and Addison's constant associate at that resort of the literati. In the latter part of Queen Anne's reign, being a Whig, he was secretary to the Hanover Club, and was, soon after the accession of George the First, put into the commission of the peace; and, in 1717, appointed one of the Commissioners of the Lottery. Paul Whitehead relates that when Addison became Secretary of State, Phillips applied to him for some preferment, but was coolly answered, that it was thought he was already provided for, by being made a justice for Westminster. To this observation Phillips with some indignation replied, "Though poetry was a trade he could not live by, yet he scorned to owe subsistence to another which he ought not to live by." Phillips will be long remembered by his translation from Racine of the tragedy of the "Distressed Mother." He died, struck with palsy, in Hanover-street, Hanover-square, June 18, 1749.

Oct. 24, 1714.
MY LORD,--Upon my coming home
this evening, I found a letter left for
me from your lordship which has raised in me a greater
satisfaction and sense of gratitude than I am able to
express. Nothing can be more acceptable to me than the
place which I hope your lordship has procured for me,
and particularly because it may put me in a way of
improving myself under your lordship's directions. I
will not pretend to express my thanks to your lordship
upon this occasion, but should be glad to employ my
whole life in it.
[Subscribed as before.]

Nov. 30, 1714.
MY LORD,--Finding that I have miscarried
in my pretensions to the Board
of Trade, I shall not trouble your lordship with the
resentments of the unhandsome treatment I have met with
from some of our new great men in every circumstance
of that affair; but must beg leave to express my
gratitude to your lordship for the great favour you
have shown me on this occasion, which I shall never
forget. Young Craggs[81] told me, about a week ago,
that his Majestie, though he did not think fit to
gratifie me in this particular, designed to give me a
recompense for my service under the Lords Justices, in
which case your lordship will probably be consulted.
Since I find I am never to rise above the station
in which I first entered upon public business, (for
I begin to look upon myself like an old serjeant or
corporal,) I would willingly turn my secretaryships,
in which I have served five different masters, to the
best advantage I can; and as your lordship is the
only patron I glory in, and have a dependence on,
I hope you will honour me with your countenance in
this particular. If I am offered less than a thousand
pounds, I shall beg leave not to accept it, since it
will look more like a clerk's wages than a mark of his
Majesty's favour. I verily believe that his Majesty
may think I had fees and perquisites belonging to me
under the Lords Justices; but, though I was offered a
present by the South Sea Company, I never took that,
nor anything else, for what I did, as knowing I had
no right to it. Were I of another temper, my present
place in Ireland[82] might be as profitable to me as
some have represented it. I humbly beg your lordship's
pardon for the trouble of such a letter, and do assure
your lordship that one of the greatest pleasures I
shall receive in whatever I get from the government
will be its enabling me to promote your honour and
interest more effectually. I am informed, Mr. Yard,
besides a place and an annual recompense for serving
the Lords Justices [of Ireland] under King William,
had considerable fees, and was never at the charge of
getting himself elected into the House of Commons.

I beg your lordship will give me leave to
add, that I believe I am the first man that ever drew
up a Prince of Wales's preamble without so much as a
medal for my pains.
[Subscribed as before.]

[81] Young Craggs was the son of a _barber_, who, by his merit, became Postmaster-general, and home-agent to the Duke of Marlborough; he was one of the first characters of the age, and had distinguished himself in the House of Commons. The classical names of Damon and Pythias, of Pylades and Orestes, of Nisus and Euryalus, are not oftener found conjoined in ancient story than those of Addison and Craggs in the real life of modern times. Addison, notwithstanding the discomfiture evinced in these letters, succeeded in procuring the appointment of a Lord Commissioner at the Board of Trade, which post he held till he was made Secretary of State, April 16, 1717. But Addison was then fast sinking into a bad habit of body: his great care was how to live, and, as Tacitus Gordon, his great admirer, used to relate, was then killing himself in drinking the widow Trueby's water, spoken of in the "Spectator." Unfit for the drudgery of a political life,--the pack-horse of the state,--he pleaded the being incapable of supporting the fatigues of his office, and resigned the seals in March 1718, upon a pension from the King of seventeen hundred pounds per annum. Craggs, who was his successor, died prematurely and unmarried, in his twenty-eighth year, in 1721.

[82] Queen Anne, to whom Addison had been recommended by the Duchess of Marlborough, on his appointment to be Secretary for Ireland, augmented the salary annexed to the place of Keeper of the Records in Birmingham Tower, to three hundred pounds per annum, and bestowed it on him.

MY LORD,--Your lordship having
given me leave to acquaint you with the names and
pretensions of persons who are importunate with me to
speak to your lordship in their behalf, I shall make
use of that liberty when I believe it may be of use to
your lordship, or when I cannot possibly resist the
solicitation. I presumed to write to your lordship in
favour of Mr. Hungerford, who purchased of me in the
commission of Appeals. All I aske is, that he may enjoy
the fruits of his purchase: as for his recommending
one to his place, I only hinted at it, if his coming
into the House might be of service to your lordship. I
would not have spoken of Mr. Wroth, had not he assured
me that he was first recommended to your lordship by my
Lord Cooper.[83] He tells me since, he had the honour
to be schoolfellow to your lordship, and I know has a
most entire respect for you, and I believe is able to
do his friends service.

The enclosed petition is of one who is
brother to a particular friend of mine at Oxford, and
brought me a letter in his behalf from Mr. Boscawen.
If your lordship would be pleased to refer it to
the Commissioners of Customs, it would give me an
opportunity of obliging one who may be of service to
me, and perhaps be a piece of justice to one who seems
to be a man of merit.

I must beg your lordship's patience for
one more, at the request of my Lord and Lady Warwick,
especially since I hear your lordship has formerly
promised to do something for him. His name is Edward
Rich: he is to succeed to the title of the Earl of
Warwick should the young lord have no heir of his
own.[84] He is in great want, writes an extraordinary
good hand, and would be glad of a small place. He
mentions in particular a King's tide-waiter. Capt.
Addison[85] tells me that he presumed to put your
lordship in mind of himself; but, as I hope to provide
for him in Ireland, I will not trouble you on his
account. I have another namesake, who is well turned
for greater business; but if he could have a stamper's
place, vacant by the death of one who was formerly my
servant, it would be a very great favour. I beg your
lordship to pardon this freedom, and I promise to use
it very sparingly hereafter.

When your lordship is at leisure, I
should be glad of a moment's audience: in the mean
time, I cannot conclude my letter without returning
your lordship thanks for all your favours, which have
obliged me, as long as I live, to be, in the most
particular manner, and with the utmost gratitude and
respect, my lord,
Your lordship's most devoted and Most obedient servant,
J. ADDISON.

[83] William, first Earl Cowper, Lord High Chancellor of England; he died Oct. 10, 1723.

[84] Addison, it is said, was first introduced into the Warwick family as tutor of the young lord here mentioned. The earl died soon after the date of this letter; and Addison, at forty-five, took great pains to woo the countess, who is described as being personally fraught with half the pride of the nation. They were married in August 1716, though not happily; for tradition reports they were seldom in each other's company. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter to Pope, written from the East, after this period, says, "I received the news of Addison's being declared Secretary of State with the less surprise, in that I knew that post was almost offered to him before. At that time he declined it; and I really believe he would have done well to have declined it now. Such a post as that, and such a wife as the countess, do not seem to be in prudence eligible for a man that is asthmatic; and we may see the day when he will be heartily glad to resign them both."

[85] Dean Addison, who died April 20, 1703, left four children: Joseph, the writer of these letters; Gulston, here spoken of as Captain Addison, who died governor of Fort St. George, in the West Indies; Dorothy, of whom Swift, in a letter dated October 25, 1710, says, "I dined to-day with Addison and Steele, and a sister of Addison's, who is married to Mons. Sartre, a Frenchman, prebendary of Westminster. Addison's sister is a sort of wit, very like him: I am not fond of her." She married, secondly, Daniel Combes, Esq. Addison bequeathed her in his will five hundred pounds, which she lived to enjoy till March 2, 1750. The "other namesake" was possibly Addison's other brother, Lancelot, who, Chalmers states, was fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and an able classical scholar.

April 28, 1715.
MY LORD,--I can only acknowledge
the receipt of your grace's[86] last
letters, without being able to return any satisfactory
answer to them, my Lord Lieutenant not being yet well
enough recovered to give any directions in publick
businesse. He has not found the desired effects from
the country air and remedies which he has taken; so
that he is at length prevailed upon to go to the Bath,
which we hope will set him right, if we may believe
the assurances given him by his physicians. Your grace
has, doubtlesse, heard many idle reports which have
been industriously spread abroad with relation to his
distemper, which is nothing else but the cholick,
occasioned by a too frequent use of vomits, to which
the physicians adde the drinking of small beer in too
great quantities when he has found himself a little
heated. I hope, before his excellency sets out for the
Bath, I shall receive his directions upon your grace's
letters, which I shall always execute with the greatest
pleasure and dispatch, being with all possible respect,
my lord,
Your grace's most obedient and Most humble servant,
J. ADDISON.

[86] The original of this letter having been forwarded in an envelope, and wanting the notation, at foot of the first page, of the name of the person to whom addressed, leaves it a conjecture who his grace was, whether Ormond or Grafton. Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, is the Lord Lieutenant whose illness Addison describes. The earl never went to Ireland to assume the vice-regal dignity; and, though this has never been satisfactorily accounted for, the real causes were, in all probability, his lordship's continued indisposition, and the death of Anne, Countess-dowager of Sunderland, his mother. Charles Duke of Grafton, and Henry Earl of Galway, were appointed Lords Justices of Ireland, Nov. 1, 1715.

REMAINS OF HAJJI BABA.