his Plays; for I have a mind the publick should know it. I come now to your very agreeable and entertaining Letter. The Phænomenon of the young Lady* under twenty is indeed a very extraordinary one. But you forget to mention one particular, that perhaps is of more importance to her than all her Greek and Latin, that is, whether she be handsome. What a happy thing it would be if we could send over on a mission some of our hot zealots, to cool themselves in an Indian savanna * ! The fanaticism of some of these Missionaries gave birth to a very serious thought, which you will find in the second edition of the Divine Legation, now printing; therefore I shall not repeat it here. As to my second volume, I go on with it festinanter lentè. As the first volume contained a View of Pagan Religion and Philosophy, so the second will be of the Jewish, and the third of the Christian. I was told I could buy the late Edition of " Stephens's Latin Thesaurus" pretty cheap in town, especially if it could be contrived to buy six together. If this be so, and you would buy me one, the money should be thankfully returned by, dear Sir, your very affectionate and sincere friend and humble servant, W. WARBURTON. LETTER XVII. To the Rev. Mr. BIRCH. DEAR SIR, Sept. 16, 1738. I received the favour of your obliging Letter of the 7th instant. Your sentiments of the Methodists * Miss Elizabeth Carter, the ingenious Translator of Epictetus. See her Latin verses " In Birchium," Gent. Mag. vol. IX. p. 4. † Mr. Warburton enlarged this sentiment in a letter he wrote a few days after to Mr. Des Maiseaux; see before, p. 66. are are unquestionably right; and of their original, from a discountenanced party. Fanaticism rises from oppression ever. A couple of these Methodists, of which Wesley was one, travelling into this neighbourhood on foot, took up their lodging with a Clergyman of their acquaintance. The master of the house going into their chamber in the morning to salute them, perceived their chamber-pot full of blood; and, on asking the occasion, was told it was their method, when the blood grew rebellious, to draw it off, by breathing a vein, in this manner— that they had been heated with travel, and thought it proper to cool themselves. If common report may be credited, the men from whom they sprung, as Hickes and Collier, had a more natural way of evacuation. I was vastly pleased with so great a curiosity as the young Lady's Latin Letter: it is indeed very. pretty. Not long since I received a pamphlet from Mr. Baxter, of which only 30 copies have been printed at Edinburgh, intituled "Matho." It is a Latin Dialogue, between him and his Pupil concerning the true system of the Universe, and its close and immediate dependence on its Creator; in which he endeavours to bring down the Newtonian principles to the capacity of a boy of 12. You will judge such a capacity to be a prodigy. However, he has explained them in a wonderful familiar manner, and at the same time with vast clearness and precision. I hope he will make it more public; it is of great use to the young people of the Universities, most of whom, for want of applying to the mixt mathematics, never get any clear idea of the Newtonian system all their life long. In a word, it is a very beautiful thing, and worthy the Author. He tells me he has a Second Part of the " Inquiry," which concerns the soul's immortality; but he does not give me hopes of its speedy publication. *Miss Elizabeth Carter; see p. 94. I am very glad that the papers on Shakespeare please you. Inclosed you will receive a sheet more ; for, as this is designed as a kind of specimen, I thought it proper to give a taste of all the several kind of Notes. These are disposed in the same manner as the other; as notes on particular passages in Mr. Pope's Preface. You will see I struck out some after I reviewed the paper, merely because I would not swell it too much, and take up too much of your room. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate and obedient humble servant, W. WARBURTON. P. S. I desire you would alter and transpose the notes as you see proper; and be so kind to correct all the mistakes and bad language, which must be numerous, they being wrote in a great hurry. I have seen Whitefield's Journal, and read it with great curiosity. The poor man is quite mad. I could not but take notice of some very ridiculous expressions he uses: as that "the more you do for God, the more you may ;" and that " he never finds himself so well as when he is on the full stretch + ***** *- that the officers suffer him to put in a word for God." LETTER XVIII. To the Rev. Mr. BIRCH. DEAR SIR, Sept. 30, 1738. As I desired you would mention my intent of giving an edition of Shakespeare's Plays, of which I have a vast number of emendations and explanations, I thought it would not be improper to take notice what there would be in the Edition; besides, + The MS. is here torn. The Observations on Shakespeare, which occupy 21 folio pages, in Mr. Warburton's hand-writing, are preserved (among Dr. Birch's Letters) in the British Museum. it would shew at the same time how the correction I am, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend and obedient servant, LETTER XIX. To the Rev. Mr. BIRCH. DEAR SIR, Feb. 19, 1738-9. I received the favour of your last very kind Letter, in which you tell me the most agreeable piece of news I have heard this long time; and that is, that the men of Learning* have the sense to be desirous of revoking the destiny of your friends in your loss. I was glad to hear that any part of the affair rested with Mr. Gyles. I have wrote to him, and mentioned Thurloe's Papers as a piece of news I had heard of, and that Mr. Birch was likely to be employed in the publication, and what a pleasure it would be to me if it was so. I am almost ashamed to enter upon what I am now going to say. You know I lent you some shattered papers of Duke Wharton. They were given me, when I was last in town, by a relation of mine, Mr. Twells of Newarke, an Attorney, who was then in town with me. He had them from some AttorThe Society for the Encouragement of Learning. VOL. JI. H ney, ney, I know not whom. However, this Attorney now pretends he only lent them to him, and says, the Trustees of Lord Wharton's effects are to review all his papers, and that he shall want these. My Brother Twells says, he gave them to him. However, he thought them such trifling things, that he had a mind to oblige him with them again, and so spoke to me about them. I told him, I had given them away, and to whom. He asked me if the gentleman would let me have them again. I told him I believed yes; and, as he comes to town this spring, I would write to you about it. Now, if you have them, I should be obliged to you to let them have their trumpery again, if it be much pressed and desired; that is, so much as you care to part with: but, if there be any thing amongst them you have a mind to keep, the remainder, I suppose, would satisfy them; for, I dare say, these Attorneys remember no more than that there was in gross some Letters of Burnet's, some of Mrs. Wharton's, some Poems*; and, it is likely, above all, the Depositions about the young Duke's marriage. I was never more vexed at a trifle in my life. But this it is to have to do with Attorneys. It puts me so much out of humour, that I can say no more at present but that I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate and most faithful servant, W. WARBURTON. LETTER XX. For the Rev. Mr. BIRCH. DEAR SIR, March 9, 1738-9. The inclosed scrap is for your private perusal. I imagined it might be useful to you to know how you stand with Mr. Gyles, who I think is an honest *It is a little remarkable, that these Letters and Poems should, after an interval of nearly eighty years, have come into my hands, through a very different channel. See the Memoirs of William Hutchinson, esq. F. S. A. in the First Volume of this Work. man. |