Soe 
hufband for has been in arrear fome time. 
i thought it right to inquire into the 
eaule of it, and, from the bett intelligence 
I can get from thofe whom I have con- 
verfed with, I havereafon to believe it 
impomible in the nature of things it 
flould be otherwife. For I find it is not 
the practice of farmers on fuch a rent to 
keep a maid, and for this good reafoa, that 
the profitswon’tfusportone. Yourdaughter, 
therefore, mult keep a maid, and the rent. 
not be paidi; or fhe muft work her- 
felf at all the drudgery (without excep- 
tion) of the~farm, which, by all accounts 
indeed, fhe is willing etough todo; but. 
neither do I believe that fhe is able, nor 
indeed can I perfuade myfclf a mother 
wou'd defire it, her health being already, 
to appearance, impair d. 
T have been told, that it has been put 
in their power to mend themfelves, by the 
hufband’s figning fome inftrument, the 
purport of which was to prevent his rela- 
tions from ever being benefited by your 
money. If I have been rightly intormed 
in this, nothing can be more-reafonable. 
But I do affure you, you may venture to 
do fémething for them at prefent, bay, if 
it fhould be fo put into your heart, even 
to fix a fmall annual income upon them, 
without the leaft hazard of his relations 
having any benefit from the overflowings. 
From the Port-folio of a Man of Letters 
. + 
[ Jan. IZ 
I am informed he is fo ignorant and obs 
ftinate, he will not fign this or any thibg 
elfe. I beg you to confider how long fhe - 
has been receiving the punifhment due to 
her fault, and fay, if you wifh her now fo. 
begin to fuffer for fis. I entreat you to 
remember, fhe is your daughter, and turfi 
it in your own mind, if it can be of an ilt 
example to thow fome mercy, fome charity, 
yea, to give alms to a diftrefs’d child. 
Confider, for a moment, the difficulty the 
labours under between her two duties. £ 
cou’d not but perceive it, and obferve the 
hefitation with which fhe mentioned her 
hufband’s faults, and her filence regarding 
you, except in expreffions of refpect and 
gratitude for what you have done; nor 
did the, as I expected, defire my. interfer- 
ing in the cafe, fo that if I have done 
wrong, I have no excufe to’plead, but 
muft rely on your candour in the cafe. 
The ovvious way of accounting for my 
medling is that I am interefted: and if 
you can think that is my motive, tho” com 
cern’d that you fhould, I fhall not fet 
about to juftify myfeif. . 
I have been already too tong, to add to 
your trouble any farther, than afluring 
you, that Tam, with more meaning than 
the words commonly imply, Madam, 
Your faithful, humble fervanz, 
G. SAVILE. 
Extraéis from the Port-Fclio of a Man of Letters. 
—asae 
BRUNET LATIN ¢@ GUIDO CAVELCANT, 
DiTEOR GREIGNOR, (4 célebrated 
POET) af FLORENCE. 
MESSENGER going from hence 
£\ with difpatches to our Holy Father 
‘the Pope, on the bufinefs of Holy 
Church, (fainte ygiife) ; hath afforded me 
an opportunity of conveying a letter to 
ou. | 
i If you afk me, why I that aman Italian 
write to you, who are an Italian likewife, 
in the Romance according to the idiom of 
France; [ex Romans felonc le Patois de’ 
France|; Ireply that I have tworeafons 
ior it, befides that it is equally familiar 
to you; the cone, that it is. conftantly 
fpoken here in the Court of London; the 
other, becaufe the Romance language is 
the moft deleStable tongue I know, -and 
afimilates beft with all others... [ Porce 
gue la parleure off plus delitable & plus 
comune atox lenguages.} 
You will expe& from me fome particu- 
lass of the ftate of learning in England, 
and more efpecially of poetry. For the _ 
prefent I can iuft acquaint you, that at 
Oxford and Cambridge there are fome 
who underftand Greek, but their number 
is very {mall indeed.. There are very few 
Greek books to be found in the Englith 
monafteries, as Iam informed. A fhort 
time fince, a Greek book was found on 
board a fhip taken in the Mare Egeum, 
which was brought to Court, and has 
been interpreted by a learned monk of 
Weftminfter. It appears to.be a Collec- 
tion of Fables, the compofition of a 
Phrygian flave named Efopus, who, after 
receiving great honours for his wifdom and 
integrity, was defpitefully thrown from a 
fteep rock at Delphos. Another learned 
monk has put many of thefe Fables into 
Englith rhyme. Thefe monks are not of 
the clafs that indulge their carnal appetites 
like many great clerks of thefe times. 
[Que amoient que deliter luer chaitive, 
charroigne com font les grans P's de ceft 
tems. | me . 
I fend 
