Sept. 27. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



219 



worse, those loads will Ije upon my Shoulders as 

 long as I live. But 1 confess my self a little un- 

 grateful, because I cannot deny Your Ladyship to 

 have been the most constant of all my Goddesses, 

 as I am the most constant of all your Worshippers. 

 I hope the Carterets and the Worsleys are all happy 

 and in healtii, and You are obliged to let Sir 

 Robert Worsley know that I am liis most humble 

 Servant ; but You need say nothing of my being 

 so long his Rival. I hear my friend Harry is re- 

 turning from the fiery Zone, I hope with more 

 money than he knows what to do with ; but whe- 

 ther his vagabond Spirit will ever fix is a question. 

 I beg your Ladyship will prevail on S' Robert 

 Worsley to give me a Vicarage in the Isle of 

 Wight ; for I am weary of living at such a dis- 

 tance i'rom You. It need not be above forty 

 jxmnds a year. 



" As to Mrs. Barber, I can assure you she is but 

 one of four Poetesses in this town, and all Citizens' 

 wives ; but she has the voirue of beins; the best : 

 yet one of them is a Scholar, and hath published a 

 new edition of Tacitus, with a Latin dedication to 

 My Lord Carteret. 



" I require that Your Ladyship shall still pre- 

 serve me some little corner in your memory ; and 

 do not think to put me off onely with a Box, which 

 I can assure you will not contribute in the least 

 to * . . . my esteem and regard for Your Lady- 

 ship ... I have been alwaj's, and shall ever 

 remain, 



" Madam, 



" Your Lady . . . 

 " Obedient and . . 

 humble . 

 Jon'* .... 



"Dublin, May I'S 1731." 



As Lady Worsley's letter serves to explain several 

 allusions m Sivift's letters, and is obviously the one to 

 which the second letter we print is the reply, we here 

 insert it. 



" August 6th, 1732. 



" Sir, — I flatter myself, thnt if you had received my 

 last letter, you would have favoured me with an an- 

 swer; therefore I lake it for granted it is lost. 



" I was so proud of your commands, and so fearful 

 of being supplanted hy my daughter, lliat 1 went to 

 work immediately, that lier box might not keep her in i 

 your remembrance, while there was nothing to put 

 you in mind of an old friend and humble servant. ! 

 IJut Mrs. Barber's long stay here (who promised me 

 to convey it to you) has made me appear very negli- 

 gent. 1 doubt not but you think me unworthy of the 

 share (you once told me) I had in your heart. I am 

 yet vain enough to think 1 deserve it better than all 

 those flirting girls you coquet with. I will not yield 



• A small portion of the original letter has been 

 kwt. 



(even) to dirty Patty, whom I was the most jealous of 

 when you were last here. What if I am a great-grand- 

 mother, I can still distinguish your merit from all the 

 rest of the world ; but it is not consistent with your 

 good-breeding to put one in mind of it, therefore I am 

 determined not to use my interest with Sir Robert for 

 a living in the Isle of Wight*, though nothing else 

 could reconcile me to the place. But if I could make 

 you Archbishop of Canterbury, I should forget my re- 

 sentments, for the sake of the flock, who very much 

 want a careful shepherd. Are we to have the honour 

 of seeing you, or not ? I have fresh hopes given me ; 

 but I dare not please myself too much with them, lest 

 I shoidd be again disappointed. If I had it as much 

 in my power as my inclination to serve Mrs. Barber, 

 she should not be kept thus long attending ; but I 

 hope her next voyage may prove more successful. Slie 

 is just come in, and tells me you have sprained your 

 foot, which will prevent your journey till next summer ; 

 but assure yourself the 15atn is the only infallible cure 

 for such an accident If yon have any regard remain- 

 ing for me, you will shew it by taking my advice ; if 

 not, I will endeavour to forget you, if I can. But, till 

 that doubt is cleared, I am as much as ever, the Dean's 

 " Obedient humble Servant, 



-" F. Worsley." 



"Madam, — I will never tell, but I will always 

 remember how many years have run out since I had 

 first the honor and happiness to be known to Your 

 Ladyship, which however I have a thousand times 

 wished to have never happened, since it was fol- 

 lowed by the misfortune of being banished from 

 You for ever. I believe you are the onely Lady in 

 England that for a thousand years past hath so 

 long remembered a liseless friend in absence, which 

 is too great a load of favor lor me and all my 

 gratitude to siipport. 



"I can faithfully assure your Ladyship that I 

 never received from You more than one letter since 

 I saw you last ; and that I sent you a long answer. 

 I often forget what I did yesterday, or what passed 

 half an hour ago ; and yet I can well remember a 

 hundred particulars in Your Ladyship's company. 

 This is the memory of those who grow old. I 

 have no room left for new Ideas. I am oflended 

 with one passage in Your Ladyship's letter ; but I 

 will forgive You, because I do not believe the fiact, 

 and all mv actpiaintance here joyn with me in my 

 unbelief. You nuike excuses for not sooner sending 

 me the most agreeable present that ever was made, 

 whereas it is agreed ])y all the curious and skilfuU 

 of both sexes among us, that such a {)iece of work 

 could not be performed by the most dextrous 

 pair of hands and finest eyes in Christendom, in less 

 than a year and a half, at twelve hours a day. Yet 

 Mrs. Barber, corrupted by the obligations she hath 

 to you, would pretend that I over reckon six 

 months, and six hours a day. Be that as it will, 



* Where her husband. Sir Robert Worsley, possessed 

 the estate of Appiddcrcombc. 



