past; avoid what is to come; assume a virtue, if you have it not." "Good night! and when you are desirous to be bless'd, I'll blessing beg of you." B. O. MY DEAR SIR, To JOHN BRITTON, Esq. Tavistock Place, April 14, 1821. I HAVE just received the enclosed from our eccentric friend, under the signature of Yorick. Alas! "it is not madness he has uttered!" Poor devil, he has been most vilely cheated, abused, and sadly treated. It is well worth reading, and deserves to be read attentively too. It is pregnant with satire; indeed, as much so as any thing Dean Swift ever wrote. I pity him sincerely, and am sorry for him. He is, in my opinion, as harmless as a worm; but yet a worm, when trod upon, will turn. "Wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice ?" "You may as well go stand upon the beech, and bid the main flood bate his usual height," as seek redress from those locusts of the state, "whose currish spirits are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous." "It is well to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core, as I do thee." There is a feast to-morrow 'Fore my friends: When thou art present, I pray thee Observe thine host: if thou dost find him wanting In the common observance of hospitality, Or wanting in attention to his guests, Then "whistle him off," from thy extreme regard, "To prey at fortune." B. O. To MRS. PARROTT. Tavistock Place, April 15, 1821. "I love thee, and it is my love that speaks." You have now, my dear Adriana, completed your thirtieth year, which brings to my recollection that day which first blessed me with an amiable child. I can run over the almost countless hours of time, with the pleasing remembrance of each day's delight you have afforded me, and say, no father ever experienced more heartfelt pleasure than I have, in the fond remembrance of your society, to the happy moment when, with regret and pleasure, I lost it. Can I then forget the anniversary of that joyous hour? Can I forget, or ever cease to wish, that every returning year may bring renewed delight and comfort to yourself, your virtuous husband, and your infant offspring? Accept then, dearest Adriana, the prayers and wishes of a fond father, for your happiness and welfare; and believe them to be the effusion of the warmest heart. U Need I say that your mamma and sisters join with me most cordially in this sentiment and hope: May all thy days and nights to come Find comfort in domestic home; Ever affectionately yours, To JOHN PARROTT, JUN. Esq. MY DEAR SIR, B. 0. April 15, 1821. I KNOW you will have very great pleasure in presenting the enclosed from a fond father to a beloved daughter. "Do not smile at me that I boast her off; for thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, and make it halt behind her." Yours always, B. 0. To JOHN GILL, ESQ. TAVISTOCK, DEVON. MY DEAR SIR, Tavistock Place, May 1, 1821. PERMIT me to thank you for your polite and hospitable attention to me during the short time I had the honour of being an inmate under your roof, for the pleasure I enjoyed with your amiable family. Do me the favour to offer my grateful acknowledgments to Mrs. Gill, to your lovely daughters, and to your intelligent and agreeable sons, and say how happy I shall be, at all times, to manifest my gratitude for their attentions. I request also, that you will present my compliments to your honest-hearted brother, (the enjoyment of whose company I greatly regret to have been so short), and to the very worthy Mr. Rundell. Believe me to be, &c. B. O. To J. W. HORSLEY, Esq. CHISWICK. Tavistock Place, May 12, 1821. "What is the reason that you use me thus? I lov'd you ever! But 'tis no matter." "When love begins to sicken and decay, It useth an enforced ceremony." Now, Horsley, thy neglecting makes my love sicken and decay, and urges me to use enforced ceremony. I have already given thee an invitation to my mental feasts, and thou requirest (I suppose) a repetition of the same ceremony of another asking. “I must speak by the card." I tell thee then, I tell thee then," thou art unfriendly, and I take it much amiss of thee, and begin to find myself fobbed; therefore assure yourself that I will seek satisfaction of you; and that what I say I protest intendment of doing." 66 Why, what a wretch and peasant slave art thou?" Is it not monstrous that thou shouldst be wasting thy time "in the desert air," propping up tulips, courting sweet marjoram, and paying love to gilliflowers, the dahlia, and anemone; denying with these, and all such like appearances to boot, thy company to a friend? "The man who is not pleased" with intellectual society, but is found "crawling between earth and heaven," fetching mad bounds about his flower-garden, and content with the soft dalliance of a grass plat, is fit for! No, -! No," the crime carries the punishment along with it." Now, "as the world hath noted the gravity and stillness of thy youth," and as thou mayest stand fair in my good opinion, I forgive thee, but upon condition that thou wilt dine with me on Tuesday next, at six o'clock. "It will be a night of revels," for " I expect some choice gallants; and if I can but fasten upon thee a few cups," I think thou wilt be delighted with their company. Your old friend John Saunders, G. Taylor, and the whole of the club of Architects and Antiquaries, dine with me: come, therefore, and join them; and “ will drink a measure" to the health of thy blooming tulip-bed, and success to all thy innocent and rational enjoyments. we Thine, B. O. |