HISTORY OF HARTING. 137 



for Caryll's revision in 1713,* while the same copy was 

 sent as bran new to Steele in 1730. So the "Thoughts 

 on the Vanity of Man," " Good God ! what an in- 

 congruous animal," &c., were sent as an ordinary letter 

 to " J. C." in 1713, and afterwards to Addison. Caryll 

 and Lady Holt are Pope's first thoughts after the loss 

 of his mother, at which the latter was much touched, 

 twenty years after ; and it is to Caryll that he defends 

 the infidel doubt which he had written to please 

 Bolingbroke : 



" If to be happy in a certain state 

 What matter here or there, or soon or late ;" 



suggesting that " if " here does not imply a doubt, but 

 assuredness, and that thus it is equivalent to "since." 



It is said that there are three who should never give 

 witness of a man his parson, lawyer, and physician, 

 for they respectively see him only at his best, worst, 

 and weakest. To judge from the letters of Pope to 

 Caryll, Pope in them always appeared at his best ; and 

 if Pope ever had an approach to a confessor, it would 

 be John Caryll our Squire. 



In the letters of Pope that have been preserved he 

 has recorded four visits to Lady Holt, extending over 

 a space of twenty years ; but there is evidence that he 

 was a constant visitor, expected usually via the "Three 

 Tuns," at which hotel in Guildford (now the market- 

 place) the Lady Holt coach met him. Sometimes he 

 would plan twice in a year for a Sussex holiday, and 

 " the serenity and lively good humour " of the country- 

 seat of his oldest and best friend. 



The " Squire's " son, " Little Jack," married Lady 

 Mary Mackenzie, on I5th July, 1712. The bride and 

 bridegroom were honoured by a visit from Pope, who 



* Pope tells Caryll, to whom he sends "Vital Spark" for 

 criticism, that it was " struck off at a heat one morning in Dec., 

 1712." It was clearly suggested by the " Spectator " of Nov. 10, 

 1712, No. 532, which contains a prose translation of these Latin 

 lines of the Emperor Adrian. 



