LETTER LXXVIII 133 



•' By Jove, I am not covetous of Gold ; 

 "Nor care I who doth feed upon my Cost ; 

 " It yerns me not if Men my Garments wear ; 

 " Such outward things dwell not in my desires : 

 " But if it be a Sin to covet Friendship, 

 *' I am the most offending Soul alive. — 



Of Consequence, I desire to hear from You & about You, 

 rather oft'ner than You have of late let me do. I have not 

 seen You within this Twelvemonth for above three or four Days, 

 & we are got into the Month of August. How long will this 

 Sequestration * last & how do You settle your Matters ? You 

 said You wished (without Prejudice to any Body) You was set 

 down upon the Living of Deane : I wish You was with all my 

 heart ; for ever since You mentioned the Isle of Wight, I have 

 been Sea-sick at the Thoughts of crossing the Water. And yet I 

 know it would be impossible for me not to come to see how You 

 would improve any Place that You was settled in : But pray, if 

 You can, let Fat-Goose Living be upon Terra firma. 



I wish You Joy of our Success at Louisbourgh, I suppose 

 You read the thanksgiving for it yesterday : I take it to come 

 from the Pen of our new Arch-Bishop. I wish we had occasion 

 for another for the Taking of Crown Point, but I do not despair 

 of it yet. Great Blame lights upon the Engineer Clark, at 

 Coffee Houses & Places of much Talk & little Wit, & some on 

 the General ; but the first has quitted all Scores by Death, & the 

 Other I hope will wipe out this Impression by Victory another 

 time. 



You will be surprized when I tell You that Mr Garrick & 

 Myself have bad a httle Correspondence. He is about to dedicate 

 his Temple to Shakespeare ; the Lines which I struck into my 

 head from Virgil seemed so very apposite to the Design, & so 

 descriptive of the Place wth a small alteration of the Names of 

 Thamesis for Mincius & Shakespearus for mihi Caesar, that I 

 could not resist the Inclination of giving them to Him for a 

 Scroll upon his Building — 



Viridi in Gampo Templum de Marmore ponam 

 Propter Aquam, tardis ingens ubi fiexibus errat 

 Mincius, et tenera praetexit arundine ripas, &c : 



I will show You how I prefaced this Citation to him when I 

 see You, & his polite Answer to it. But pray tell me if I am 

 right in conjecturing that tardis is an Epithet of commendation, 

 & not of dispraise ; considering that the other Elvers of Italy 

 run with too strong a Current to give the peaceful Otium to the 

 Imagination of a Poet. 



I must now speak of my Family : Mrs Mulso will be quite 



* Of the Vicarage of Selborne. 



