378 TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY MR. ADDISON. 



et remissior, et ad omnetn suavitatem facilitatemque moruin 

 proclivior." If your Lordship understands the elegance and 

 sweetness of these words, you may assure yourself you are no 

 ordinary Latinist ; but if they have force enough to bring you 

 to Sandy-End, I shall be very well pleased. 



I am, my dear Lord, 

 Your Lordship's most affectionate and obedient, 



J. Addison. 



May 20, 1708. 



My dearest Lord, — I can't forbear being troublesome to 

 your Lordship whilst I am in your neighbourhood. The 

 business of this is to invite you to a concert of music, which I 

 have found out in a neighbouring wood. It begins precisely 

 at six in the evening, and consists of a blackbird, a thrush, a 

 robin-red-breast, and a bull-finch. There is a lark that, by 

 way of overture, sings and mounts till she is almost out of 

 hearing, and afterwards, falling down leisurely, drops to the 

 ground, or as soon as she has ended her song. The whole is 

 concluded by a nightingale, that has a much better voice than 

 Mrs. Tofts, and something of the Italian manner in her 

 divisions. If your Lordship will honour me with your com- 

 pany, I will promise to entertain you with much better music, 

 and more agreeable scenes, than you ever met with at the 

 Opera; and will conclude with a charming description of a 

 nightingale out of our friend Virgil : — 



Qualis populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra 

 Amissos queritur foetus, quos durus arator 

 Observans nido implumes detraxit, at ilia 

 Flet noctem, ramoque sedens, miserabile carmen 

 Integrat, et mcestis latfe loca questubus implet. 



So, close in poplar shades, her children gone, 



The mother nightingale laments alone : 



Whose nest some prying churl had found, and thence, 



By stealth convey'd th' unfeather'd innocence: 



But she supplies the night vvith mournful strains, 



And melancholy music fills the plains. 



Your Lordship's most obedient, 



J. Addison. 



Mail 27, 1708. 



