LETTER XVIH '"^ 27 



I have not yet seen ye Provost's Book, but hear well of it. I 

 have read Church's answer to Middleton but not the Enquiry 

 itself, which is not quite fair, & is almost as bad as answering ye 

 Book before it came out.* I dare not think of Oxford, it is too 

 agreable a Thought to trust my Heart wth. I must not enhance 

 ye Grief of a second Disappointment. I am never at Home, yet 

 I don't walk very much. Jenny is a good walker, which I am 

 glad of & I believe you are so too. 



1 am afraid that I ought to be sorry that I must direct to You 

 at Bradly, yet I hope it is not that your Uncle is ill that you are 

 there. You don't say whether you have accepted ye Curacy. 

 My Hearty wishes of Health & many happy Years attend Mr & 

 Mrs White & all your Family. 



Beleive me to be, dear Gil, Your affte Friend 



J. Mulso. 



Letter 18. 



King Square Court. 



Janry 24, 1749-50. 

 Dear Gil : 



I thank You for intrusting me with Horace ;t I have long 

 expected his Coming, as I overheard several Hints from Him ye 

 last Time I saw You. I receiv'd Him at Sunbury, but brought 

 Him up to Town wth Me ; and wherever I have carried Him, it is 

 agreed that He is as well dress'd, & presents that easy wit & 

 Humour which He exhibited when Mr Pope brought Him and 

 iatroduc'd Him to ye Town some years ago. The Bp of Peter- 

 boro', who remembers Him in his Koman Dress, & indeed before 

 He could speak English, thinks it wonderfuU that He should be 

 so well reconcil'd to our Language & Manners ; He is perfectly 

 naturaliz'd. 



But to leave Personification, & speak of your Piece ; I like it 

 very much ; & so does ev'ry Body to whom I have show'd it ; 

 only Miss Hecky likes more that you should be indebted to No- • 

 body for your Plan, & is impatient to think that she loses an 

 opportunity of complimenting ye Justness of ye Imitation by not 

 understanding ye Latin : I think you have adapted your charac- 

 ters very happily. I don't know whether Orson would have 

 desir'd to recount a chase ; is not ye expression too courtly ? it 

 may be ye Term ; I don't know. Miss Hecky is offended at 

 ''E'en 'Midst ye Softness &c : " She is hurt in ye Ear; She 

 desires you never to leave out ye v in even ; & to let it be amidst 



* Thomas Church, divine and controversial writer, in 1750 published an 

 answer to Dr. Conyers Middleton's " Inquiry into the Mosaic Account of the 

 Fall," in vrhich the latter had attacked the scriptural story. 



t A traiislation of Ep : 1, 18. 



