LETTER XX 33 



your Vanity & your Virtue : All that greives me is, that I don't 

 recollect any attendant of their's to borrow a name of for John 

 Beckhurst.* Old MacClary, who is much more like Laertes than 

 I am, has sown ye Salsafi &c : which you was so kind as to leave 

 me, but it does not appear yet, so I can give You no farthur 

 Account. We have had Frosts and Blights since you went, so 

 that I may say that My Garden pines in your absence, but as 

 You are not a Lady, I shall not say that it pines for it. I wish 

 you Joy of ye arrival of ye Swallows & ye Swifts, & ye 

 Nightingales, who have been with us about a week or ten Days. 

 We have now a Glut of Eain attended wth thunder & 

 Lightning. I hope in Beturn for this important Account You 

 will send me word how your Nurseries go on, & the true State of 

 Selbourne Hanger, with ye delightfuU Hystory of ye Temple & 

 weathercock. 



I hope You find all Friends well at Selbourne & Bradly, & 

 that You paid my Eespects to them & will do so again on ye 

 Receipt of this. Have You heard or was You witness of ye 

 Receipt of Mrs Croke's Picture; Ned paid for it & took a 

 Receipt, but told me that in ye Place of ye Cow which you know 

 we chose, ye Dog drew a Goat, for which Bob Young would have 

 said He should have been beat 'till he cut a Caper. You remember 

 as we rode we agreed to lay all these Bagatelles upon poor Bob. 

 Your quaint Conclusion of your letter had, alass ! as much Truth 

 as Humour. I have no riding Genius when You are away ; 

 indeed I have been very ill with my old Complaint lately, & 

 have been confined, but am a good deal better than I was. I 

 have been once to Town since You left me, but it was ye most 

 sober week ! I went to no one Entertainment. I look'd in upon 

 Hogarth's March to Finchly Common, which You see advertiz'd, 

 but it did not answer my Expectation at all. It is only ye 

 pilfering & lewd Humours of a common March of Soldiers, & has 

 but little Reference to ye Rebellion. He is coming out wth a 

 new Set of Pieces called ye Happy Marriage, in Contrast to 

 Marriage a la Mode which promises well, for I saw but ye first 

 Sketch of it. It will be full of Figures well known. 



I hope You are writing out Heck's Sermon for us, for ye 

 Bishop is soon going down to Peterboro', & He wants to have it. 

 The Bishop loves you. I beleive my Father is come Home but I 

 have not heard yet. My Girl has been much out of order & is 

 gone with Captn Young to Rickmansworth, where He is now 

 settled. Jack Young is gone to Jamaica. — I hope ye Spring will 

 invite out a little of your Poetry. You know what Heck said, 

 that she would not have you always translate & imitate, but give 

 your own Invention scope, & I hope you observe what She saya. 



* A gardener at Selborne. 



