session of all his ground, has now given me possession of his library. An acquisition of great value to me, who never have been able to live without books since I first knew my letters, and who have no books of my own. By his means I have been so well supplied, that I have not yet even looked at the Lounger, for which however I do not forget that I am obliged to you. His turn comes next, and I shall probably begin him to-morrow.

Mr. George Throckmorton is at the Hall. I thought I had known these brothers long enough to have found out all their talents and accomplishments; but I was mistaken. The day before yesterday after having walked with us, they carried us up to the library, (a more accurate writer would have said conducted us) and then they shewed me the contents of an immense port-folio, the work of their own hands. It was furnished with drawings of the architectural kind, executed in a most masterly manner, and among others, contained outside and inside views of the Pantheon, I mean the Roman one. They were all, I believe, made at Rome. men may be estimated at a first interview, but the Throckmortons must be seen often and known long, before one can understand all their value.

Some

They often enquire after you, and ask me whether you visit Weston this autumn. I answer, yes; and I charge you, my dearest Cousin, to authenticate my information. Write to me, and tell us when

when we may expect to see you. We were disappointed that we had no Letter from you this morning. You will find me coated and buttoned according to your recommendation.

I write but little, because writing is become new to me; but I shall come on by degrees. Mrs. Unwin begs to be affectionately remembered to you. She is in tolerable health, which is the chief comfort here that I have to boast of.

Yours, my dearest Cousin, as ever.

LETTER LXXI.

W. C.

To Lady HESKETH.

MY DEAREST COZ.

of being always welcome.

The Lodge, Sept. 4, 1787

Come when thou canst come, secure

All that is here is thine, together with

the hearts of those who dwell here. I am only sorry that your journey hither is necessarily postponed beyond the time when I did hope to have seen you, sorry too, that my Uncle's infirmities are the occasion of it. But years will have their course, and their effect; they are happiest so far as this life is concerned, who like him escape those effects the longest, and who do not grow old before their time. Trouble and anguish do that for some, which only longevity does for others. A few months since I was older than

your Father

Father is now, and though I have lately recovered, as Falstaff says, some smatch of my youth, I have but little confidence, in truth none, in so flattering a change, but expect, when I least expect it, to wither again. The past is a pledge for the future.

Mr. G. is here, Mrs. Throckmorton's Uncle. He is lately arrived from Italy, where he has resided several years, and is so much the gentleman that it is impossible to be more so. Sensible, polite, obliging; slender in his figure, and in manner most engaging, every way worthy to be related to the Throckmortons.—I have read Savary's Travels into Egypt. Memoires du Baron de Tott. Fenn's original Letters, the Letters of Frederic of Bohemia, and am now reading Memoires d' Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise. I have also read Barclay's Argenis, a Latin Romance, and the best Romance that was ever written. All these, together with Madan's Letters to Priestly, and several pamphlets within these two months. So I am a great reader.

W. C.

LETTER LXXII.

To Lady HESKETH.

The Lodge, Sept. 15, 1787.

MY DEAREST COUSIN,

On Monday last I was invited to meet your friend Miss J, at the Hall, and there we found her. Her good nature, her humourous manner, and her good sense are

charming,

seen you,

- charming, insomuch that even I, who was never much addicted to speech-making, and who at present find myself particularly indisposed to it, could not help saying at parting, I am glad that I have and sorry that I have seen so little of We were you. sometimes many in company; on Thursday we were fifteen, but we had not altogether so much vivacity and cleverness as Miss J—, whose talent at mirth-making has this rare property to recommend it, that nobody suffers by it.

a warm

I am making a gravel walk for winter use, under a hedge in the orchard. It shall be furnished with a low seat for your accommodation, and if you do but like it, I shall be satisfied. In wet weather, or rather after wet weather, when the street is dirty, it will suit you well, for lying on an easy declivity, through its whole length, it must of course be immediately dry.

You are very much wished for by our friends at the Hallhow much by me I will not tell you till the second week in October.

W. C.

MY DEAR COZ.

LETTER LXXIII.

To Lady HESKETH.

The Lodge, Sept. 29, 1787.

I thank you for your political intelli

gence; retired as we are, and seemingly excluded from the world,

we

we are not indifferent to what passes in it; on the contrary, the arrival of a news-paper, at the present juncture, never fails to furnish us with a theme for discussion, short indeed, but satisfactory. for we seldom differ in opinion.

I have received such an impression of the Turks, from the Memoirs of Baron de Tott, which I read lately, that I can hardly help presaging the conquest of that empire by the Russians. The disciples of Mahomet are such babies in modern tactics, and so enervated by the use of their favorite drug, so fatally secure in their predestinarian dream, and so prone to a spirit of mutiny against their leaders, that nothing less can be expected. In fact, they had not been their own masters at this day, had but the Russians known the weakness of their enemies half so well as they undoubtedly know it now. Add to this, that there is a popular prophecy current in both countries, that Turkey is one day to fall under the Russian sceptre. A prophecy, which from whatever authority it be derived, as it will naturally encourage the Russians, and dispirit the Turks, in exact proportion to the degree of credit it has obtained on both sides, has a direct tendency to affect its own accomplishment. In the mean time, if I wish them conquered, it is only because I think it will be a blessing to them to be governed by any other hand than their own. For under Heaven has there never been a throne so execrably tyrannical as theirs. The heads of the innocent that have been cut off to gratify the humour or caprice of their

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