FROM DR. ARBUTHNOT*. DEAR SIR, THE in my passage in Mr. Pope's letter about your health does not aların me: both of us have had the distemper these thirty years. I have found that steel, the warm gums, and the bark, all do good in it. Therefore, first take the vomit A; then, every day, the quantity of a nutmeg, in the morning, of the electuary, marked B; with five spoonfuls of the tincture marked D. Take the tincture, but not the electuary, in the afternoon. You may take one of the pills marked C, at any time when you are troubled with it, or thirty of the drops marked E, any vehicle, even water. I had a servant of own, that was cured merely with vomiting. There is another medicine not mentioned, which you may try; the pulvis rad. valerianæ sylvestris, about a scruple of it twice a day. How came you to take it in your head, that I was queen's physician? When I am so, you shall be a bishop, or any thing you have a mind to. Pope is now the great reigning poetical favourite. Your lord lieutenant has a mind to be well with you. Lady Betty Germain complains you have not writ to her since she wrote to you. I have showed as much civility to Mrs. Barber as I could, and she likewise to me. I have no more Endorsed," Received, Nov. 13, 1730." + The duke of Dorset. paper, paper, but what serves to tell you, that I am, with I recommended Dr. Helsham to be physician to the lord lieutenant. I know not what effect it will have. My respects to him, and Dr. Delany. A. R pulv. rad. ipecacoanæ, 9j. B. R conserv. flavedin. aurant. absynth. Rom. ana 3vj. rubigin. martis in pollin. redact. 3iij. syrup. e succo kermes, q. s. C. R as. fœtid. 3ij. tinctur. castor. q. s. M. fiant pilulæ xxiv. D. R cortic. peruviani elect. rubigin. martis ana gj. digere tepidè in vini alb. Gallic. bij per 24 horas: postea fiat colatura. E. R sp. cor. cerv. sp. lavendul. tinctur. castor. ana 3ij. misce. + As these receipts may possibly be useful to some person troubled with the dean's complaint of giddiness, Dr. Arbuthnot's receipt of bitters, for strengthening the stomach, is added. Take of zedoary root one drachm; galangal and Roman wormwood, of each two drachms; orange peel, a drachm; lesser cardamom seeds, two scruples. Infuse all in a quart of boiling spring water for six hours; strain it off, and add to it four ounces of greater compound wormwood water. DEAR SIR, FROM MR. GAY. AMESBURY, DEC. 6, 1730. Вотн received. You were mistaken as to my being in town; for I have been here ever since the beginning of May. But the best way is to direct your letters always to the duke's house in London; and they are sent hither by his porter. We shall stay here till after the holidays. You say, we deserve envy: I think, we do; for I envy no man, either in town or out of it. We have had some few visitors, and every one of them such, as one would desire to visit. The duchess is a more severe check upon my finances than ever you were; and I submit, as I did to you, to comply to my own good. I was a long time, before I could prevail with her to let me allow myself a pair of shoes with two heels; for I had lost one, and the shoes were so decayed that they were not worth mending. You see by this, that those, who are the most generous of their own, can be the most covetous for others. I hope you will be so good to me, as to use your interest with her, (for, whatever she says, you seem to have some) to indulge me with the extravagance suitable to my for tune. The lady you mention, that dislikes you, has no discernment. I really think, you may safely venture to Amesbury, though indeed the lady here likes to have her own way as well as you; which may sometimes occasion disputes: and I tell you beforehand, VOL. XII. В в that that I cannot take your part. I think her so often in the right, that you will have great difficulty to persuade me she is in the wrong. Then, there is another thing, that I ought to tell you, to deter you from this place; which is, that the lady of the house is not given to show civility to those she does not like. She speaks her mind, and loves truth. For the uncommonness of the thing, I fancy your curiosity will prevail over your fear; and you will like to see such a woman. But I say no more till I know whether her gace will fill up the rest of the paper. FROM THE DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY. WRITE I must, particularly now, as I have an opportunity to indulge my predominant passion, contradiction. I do, in the first place, contradict most things Mr. Gay says of me, to deter you from coming here; which if you ever do, I hereby assure you, that unless I like my own way better, you shall have -yours; and in all disputes you shall convince me, if you can. But, by what I see of you, this is not a misfortune that will always happen; for I find you are a great mistaker. For example, you take prudence for imperiousness: it is from this first, that I determined not to like one, who is too giddyheaded for me to be certain whether or not I shall ever be acquainted with. I have known people take great delight in building castles in the air; but I should choose to build friends upon a more solid foundation. I would fain know you; for I often hear more good likcable things than it is possible any one can deserve. Pray come, that I may find out something wrong; for I, and I believe most women, have an inconceivable pleasure to find out any faults, except their own. Mr. Cibber is made poet laureat. I am, sir, as much your humble servant as I can be to any person I do not know, c. Q. Mr. Gay is very peevish that I spell and write ill; but I do not care for neither the pen nor I can do better. Besides, I think you have flattered me, and such people ought to be put to trouble. MR. GAY'S POSTSCRIPT. Now I hope you are pleased, and that you will allow for so small a sum as two hundred pounds, you have a lumping pennyworth. FROM LORD CHESTERFIELD. SIR, HAGUE, DEC. 15, 1730. YOU OU need not have made any excuses to me for your solicitation: on the contrary, I am proud of being the first person, to whom you have thought it worth your while to apply, since those changes, which, you say, drove you into distance and obscurity. I very well know the person you recommend to me, having lodged at his house a whole summer at Richmond. I have always heard a very good character of him, which alone would incline me to serve him but your recommendation, I can assure you, will make me impatient to do it. However, that he may not again meet with the common fate of court suitors, nor I lie under the imputati |