, 186 on characteristic mifsive letters. Dees 53 
_ being intermingled with other matter ; these he thinks 
fhould in general be publifhed in a separate collection by 
themselves, which, may; be bought by those only who 
with to enter deeply into researches of the kind at 
these serve to elucidate. 
The following fhort letter, which has tines brought ta 
light by the laudable research of lord Hailes, to whom 
the literary world lies under the highest obligations, de- 
serves a place in ePeny repository, for the clafsic purity of 
‘the stile, the genuine politenefs which it polsefses, and 
fine taste it displays. 
—_— 
The dutche/s dowager of Lenox ta king Fames*, 
My soverzicn Lorn, \ 
“ According to your majesty’s gracious pleasure signi- 
fied unto me, i have sent a young man to attend you, ac+ 
companied with a widow’s prayers and tears, that he may 
wax old in your majesty’s service; and in his fidelity and 
affection may equal his ancestors departed: so fhall he 
find grace and favour in the eyes of my lord the king; 
which will revive the dying hopes, and raise the dejected 
spirits, of a comfortlefs mother, Your majesty’s most , 
humble servant,” Ka. Lenox. 
It has been often remarked with great justice that la- 
dies write with much more elegance and ease than men; 
and this letter, if compared with others at the same peri- 
od, will be admitted as a proof of it. The following let- 
ter, written by the wife of the famous duke of Bucking- 
ham to the same king, will serve as a foil to it. ; 
* James the first of England. This dutchefs of Lenox was ‘the 
daughter and heir of Gervase, lord Lethington, the: widow of Esme, thitd 
auke of Lenox, and the mother of miny her es, Wore of lord Hailes, 
