HISTORY OF HARTING. 143 



against the petty laws which prevented a Roman 

 Catholic from having a horse of more value than 5. 



The twelve dozen of good French wine ordered 

 from Lady Holt, were delivered to Pope in London 

 as seven dozen ; several of the bottles were broken, 

 and the Stanstead carrier, J. Hart by name, got his 

 scolding, but might doubtless plead bad packing, or 

 the roughness of the Sussex ways. However, Pope 

 paid for his not very honourable purchase, Dec. 28, 

 1717. " When Socrates lay a dying, some of his last 

 words were that he owed about nine pence to his friend 

 ^Esculapius. Now to compare myself in the only 

 instance that I can to that just man, I owe you for 

 seven dozen of wine and bottles." (Pope to Caryll.) 



But in 1718, the pleasant times at Lady Holt ceased, 

 and a bitter affliction befell the Squire. His son, 

 Jack (the fourth John Caryll of Harting), was, as the 

 Secretary noted, weak in his childhood, but at the 

 time of his marriage appeared to have been full of 

 vigour, and afterwards hunted the Harting hounds. 

 On the failure of the French Funds in which he had 

 invested, Pope playfully wrote that he thought he 

 should go and live upon Mr. John Caryll, but he adds, 

 " I have lost all my hope since he had a child, unless 

 he will maintain me as his huntsman." This child 

 was born, Dec. 13, 1713, as Mr. Tench enters in our 

 register, and the Carylls desiring to give a special 

 mark of their religion to the future heir of the house, 

 christened the boy "John Baptist Francis." Doubtless 

 the name " John Baptist," was in memory of " St. John 

 Baptist's Abbey of Durford, and of the Secretary's 

 title as Lord Durford." John Baptist lived only four 

 years. But in April, 1718, this sorrow was eclipsed 

 by one far greater. The scourge of the age, the 

 smallpox, had been fatal at Harting and Lady 

 Holt before ; Lady Holt well may have been in 

 fault as before, when a dead dog was fished up out 



