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good Parts of his Character, together with his Oddities. I believe the whole will take up a Sheet of Paper, for I have already confidered it. He has Good-Senfe, and Good-Nature at the Bottom; pity he fhould disguise the former by one continued Air of Buffoonry, and the latter by a total Neglect of common De

corum.

Since I came home, I have done little elfe but plant Bushes, Hazel, Hawthorn, CrabTree, Elder, &c. together with fome few flowering Shrubs that I have had given me. I think nothing remarkable has occurred; only one miferable tempeftuous Day, I had the Earl of STAMFORD called to fee my Walks, together with Mr. DOVEY, of Birmingham, and two other Gentlemen. My Lord promised to come again in Summer, and invited me to Enville. By the Way, he is now building a Gothic Green-Houfe, by Mr. M-'s Direction; and by all Accounts, the Place is worth your feeing, when you come into this Country; 'tis but about fix Miles diftant from hence. Pray do not you embroil me with Mr. M——, in MRegard to the Obfervations I made in his

I

Walks.

Walks. Remember there were not a few Things with which I was greatly delighted; and if there were a few that I lefs appeared to admire, it was owing to a Consciousness, that I was amongst Friends only, and that I thought it foolish to regulate my Expreffions by the fame Rules of Complaifance, which I ought to obferve in different Places. I fay, ought, for he has been exceeding favourable to me, in his Representations of the Leafowes. I hope to fee Mr. FANCOURT with you here this Spring, and why not your Brother? He can spend half a Week now and then at Wroxall. The Duke of S was treated with Cruelty by his Father till he was fixty-five, and afterwards scarce furvived him, to enjoy one Year's Profit of the Eftate. Such is the Tenure by which we hold our earthly Tenements!

LET

LETTER IV.

W. SHENSTONE, Efq. to Mr. WHISTLER.

Dear Mr. WHISTLER,

HIS is the first Evening I have had to

THIS

myself fince I left Cheltenham; and as one wants fome very favourite Subject to engrofs one's Thoughts a little, after a long Diffipation, I could think of nothing more effectual than a Letter to one who has fo large a Share in them; befide, they have given me your Letter from Bradfield, and I am in Pain till I have acknowledged fo affectionate and polite a Present. People, whofe very Foibles are fo many Elegancies, can fcarce write any Thing more agreeable than a plain, unaffected Account of them. I remember, I used to think this a Kind of Diftinction between Mr. GRAVES and you; that the one had the Knack of making his Virtues unenvied, and the other of rendering (what I perhaps unjustly termed) his Weakneffes enviable. I am al

most afraid of inferting this, left it should
feem to injure the fuperlative Efteem 1 have
of you:
but I must add, that I confider a
Mixture of Weakneffes, and an ingenuous Con-
feffion of them, as the most engaging and fo-
ciable Part of any Character; if I did not, I
could not allot them you, whose Manner is fo
diftinguifhedly amiable.

Since I left Cheltenham, I have been at Mr. B-'s, in Bishop's-Caftle. I rode one Morning with him about three Miles, that I might fay, I had been in Wales, and feen Brecon, Caderidis, and Plinlimmon, with an extenfive Chain of other Mountains, I called at a fmall Alehouse, where the People lived all the Winter without any Glafs in their Windows. I was wondering how they could live fo, in a more cold Country than you have, perhaps, experienced. The Wife faid, "True it was, fhe could like Glass very well." Yes," fays the Hufband, “Glass is very genteel, that it is.” “ Nay, fays the Wife, "not for the Gentleelness neither, though it is very genteel, that's the Truth This Circumftance ftruck me a good deal, that they should difcover the genteelness

on't."

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of Glazing, and never once think of its Expediency. Mr. B- is a Man you would like upon Acquaintance, though, as I remember, you had fome Objection to the Superfluity of his Wit. We fhall, in all Probability, have frequent Interviews with him at Bath, London, &c. He would fain have feduced me to have travelled into Portugal, &c. with himself, and one Mr. MOORE, his Neighbour; an agreeable, modest Man, and late Member for Bishop's-Castle. I declined it for two Reafons; firft, on Account of the Expence, and fecondly, that I could not think of spending two Years in this Part of my Life abroad; dead to one's own Country, and procuring, at beft, very perishable, and useless Friendships in another. If I could have ftaid, I was to have gone with him to a Welsh Seffions, fraught with Irafcibility. He is a Juftice of Peace there.

As to good Acquaintance, though I much defire it, I have as literally a Genius for avoiding, as any one ever had for procuring it. I cannot approach within fifty Yards of Servility for fear of it.

VOL. II.

C

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