would inspect into my Privacies then I was about to blot it out only that I fear'd would spoil the Phiz of my Billet so I resolved to let it stand as a mark of my Courage that I dare aâ— sometimes adventure to think Philaret false yea and that I was once bold enough to let you know it Well Philaret I shall one Day be even with you and it may be you may Repent when it may be too late to retrieve the slight Value you have had for the most sincere and cordial Friendship laid at your Feet by Sept. 2. 1698. Your ever faithful Dorinda POST-SCRIPT DIrect your Answer to me to be left at that which was St. Lawrences Coffee-House on Cork-hill under the borrowed Name of Captain Iohn Seamore and I will order it to be call'd for by one that will safely deliver it to Your own Dorinda if you please The First Answer to the Citizens-Wife SEpt. 5th 1698. I Received a Letter subscribed Dorinda but am wholly a Stranger both to your Person and Meaning your two Hours your Time and Place are Arabick to me who approve of no Assignations but what are Just and therefore 't is very certain your Letter was wrong directed and should have gone to some of your Leud Companions who in your Drink for there are such Monsters as drunken Women or by the likeness of Garb you mistook for me or perhaps you 're some Suburb Impudence who would abuse an Honest Man in hopes of getting a Penny to conceal your Slanders If this is your Design as I am told 't is usual with common Strumpets you are as much mistaken in my Humour as you are in my Person and therefore go about your Business for till you 're Vertuous I can't Love ye and 't is not in my Nature to fear any Thing But you say you 'l be even with me if I fly your Leud Embraces and that if I don't meet you I shall repent when 't will be too late the slight Value I have for you but I Thank God my Vertue is Proof against all your Charms and my Innocence such as I challenge you to do your worst But though the Repentance you threaten no ways affects me yet if you carry on your Jest farther 't will be fatal to Mr. S as he 's the only Person in Dublin that knows me by the Name of Philaret and must expect upon the least Occasion to bear the scandal of being your Friend As to your Care in concealing your Leudness for you say you 're afraid of your watchful Argus it no ways obliges me I should more rejoice to hear that such a wanton as your Billet shews you to be had broke the Devils Fetters and was kneeling to her Husband for Pardon though if he denies it you have no Reason to Pout for if Citizens Wives will C d their Husbands and invent new Fashions and frisking Strains of Disobedience which their Holy Ancestors and for ought we find in the Word even the worst of Women abhorr'd why should not their Husbands either send 'em to the House of Correction or suit 'em with new Forms of Discipline To what end else are they to dwell with 'em as Men of Knowledge Doth this Knowledge think ye import nothing but Pusillanimity and Patience Is the Husband God's Vicegerent for nothing And can he not be a Saint unless a Fool too But though the cold Water your Leudness has â—lung upon Argus Affection is enough to extinguish it yet the way to Amendment is never out of date and who knows if you prove as kind a Wife as you have been to the contrary but Argus may be yet Happy But he is Flesh and Blood as well as you and therefore except of a Wanton you become Chaste he were better Travel than live with a W r if you think of Amendment fling your self at your Husbands Feet Tears in your Eyes may carry the Cause where a Husband is Iudge Without this you do but dissemble with God and Man neither can Argus think you Repent till you discover your Leud Haunts and the Names of those that have defil'd his Bed to act thus is to shake Hands with your Master Sin which I find is Lust and in some measure to repair the Damage you have done to Religion by your Whorish Intreagues As this will prove your Sincerity so 't will make Argus forget your former Leudness and if he 's a generous Husband never to mention 'em more And Argus if she thus repents prithee receive her again for what knowest thou O Husband whether thou shalt save thy Wife Neither are these ungrateful Reflections my own Dorinda as you call your self for there is no Faith in Sin and I ought to slight a Friendship which can't be true and would end in the Ruine of Soul and Body Then go and Sin no more ben't dilatory in these Matters 't is ill vent'ring Eternity upon your last Breath nor suffer your Aversion to Argus to spread abroad for a Quarrel Conceal'd is half Cur'd I have only to add That I wish you Chaste and better Eyes for the Future and then Argus and you will fall a Loving again and remember at Parting 't is your Penitence and nothing else can set you right in the Opinion of c. Thus Sir I have given you a faithful Account of this New Temptation with which I have been Assaulted and of my Reply to this Female Aggressor I desire you to use your accustomed Freedom with me in your Remarks which shall always be taken in good Part by Sir Your very humble Servant John Dunton Remarks on the Billet Doux and I. D's Letter in Answer to it My Good Friend YOUR Last with the Billet Doux is more surprizing to me than any thing that happened in your Encounter with Patrick Campbel I cannot but bewail the hardness of your Fate that you should be condemn'd to Fight with Beasts of both Sexes I find Ireland cannot boast of her being free from the Seed of the Serpent whatever she may say as to her having none of those Creatures in Specie and were I to choose I should rather desire to Inhabit amongst Adders than Lewd Women Happy would it be for Ireland if she could make an exchange of the one for the other but so long as the Popish Clergy are suffered to Nestle in such Numbers there 't is in vain to hope for it Rome may well be call'd the Mother of Harlots when it is the Practice of her Sons to make as many such as ever they can I did not think however that the Art of writing Billet Douxes had been so well understood in Ireland Your Dorinda seems to be so very expert in her Trade That I fancy if there be any thing of Reality in it that is to say if there be not Masculine Knavery and Malice at the bottom of it She must be some Abdicated Retainer to our London Play-houses or perhaps the Off-cast of some Dead
be found in some whole Towns Leaving this Noble Seat after Peggy Corkran had shew'd me all the Rarities in it I return'd that Night to Kilkenny and from thence the following Monday took a New Ramble to view the Boyn and the antient Town of Droheda and whither I went afterwards you shall know in my Summer Ramble But Madam I ask your Pardon for I was going to leave Kilkenny before I had told ye of the chief Raritieâ— said to be in it which are that in this Town there is Fire without Smoke Water without Mud Air without Fogg I search'd into this Report and found it a real Truth and that the Fourth Element of Earth was also as pure I wou'd here describe the Town of Kilkenny and give a particular Character of Mr. Mukins the present Mayor of Mr. Philips the Mayor Elect the Recorder Aldermen and Common Council-men and several other remarkable things and Persons in this Place I wou'd also mention the odd Adventure of a Lieutenant that travelled with me to Kilkenny neither wou'd I omit to give you the heads of a remarkable Sermon I heard in St. Kenny Church where an Eminent Prelate told us That look into all Divisions of Religion as those of Rome and Geneva c. and you 'll find as they are against Monarchy that they have left the good Manners to the poor Church of England Madam I humbly conceive this Passage will deserve Remarks by a better Pen than mine as will several other not able strokes this good Bishop entertain'd his Auditory with but tho' they are noted down in my Iournal yet I reserve the rest for my Summer Ramble lest they make my Letter too voluminous So Madam at present I take my leave of Kilkenny with only telling ye that Morning I left it Dr. Wood writ an Answer to the Letter I brought him from my Dublin Friend which I 'll insert here as it further shews how Courteous the Dr. is to Strangers and to me in particular The Doctor 's Answer to the Letter I brought him from Dublin Dear Sir I Receiv'd yours by Mr. Dunton whose stay here is so short that I have not been able to shew him what Civility I wou'd especially being every day hurry'd with Country Business I hope to step to Dublin in a little time and to have the opportunity of drinking a Glass of Wine with you and him mean while a Letter now and then wou'd be acceptable to me when your leisure will permit I wish you all Happiness and am SIR Your Affectionate Servant NATH WOOD. And so good Doctor with Thanks for all your Favours I bid you and your Ingenious Lady Farewell Thus Madam you see by taking notice of Castles Gardens Antiquities Pictures Publick Fabricks the Rarities in Nature and the Civility I meet in my generous Friends that where e're I go I still learn somewhat worthy of my Knowledge neither do I in such Rambles omit any thing that may instruct or delight me and am much pleased with beholding the Beauty and Scituation of Places Neither did I in this Country Ramble meet with any Allay to my Pleasures by the dulness or decay of my Senses for I found them all in their perfect Vigor besides I found Travelling got me a Stomach which made me eat even courser fare with a better Appetite tho' I saw little of that here for the Kilkenny Claret is the best in Ireland and the Doctor 's Treats were still rich and noble Madam having said so much of Dr. Wood's Civilities to me perhaps you 'll expect I shou'd send you the Doctor 's Character which I 'll do and his Ladies too that you may see how happy I was in their Conversation Dr. Wood like Luke the Evangelist is the beloved Physician in these Parts and he really Merits that great Respect which the People give him he 's a compleat Gentleman very kind to Strangers and obliging to the last degree and I do think if I may believe my Eyes He 's the happiest Man except my self that ever entred into a married State Madam I own a kind Wife often makes an obliging Husband of one that wou'd otherwise be very indifferent but this is not the Doctor 's case for he 's a Man of that sweet Temper that the worst of Wives wou'd be kind to him but he has met with one of the best Then how happy is this Couple that seem to rival one another in Kindness This Madam will raise your Curiosity to know a little more of his Lady but I dare not attempt her Character but this I 'll say She looketh well to the ways of her Houshold and speaks not a foolish word and her Thoughts are so new so particular that they rais'd my wonder to a great height In the several Visits I made the Doctor of which more in my Summer Ramble I cou'd scarce speak for admiring at every thing she said or did I 'm sure Madam if you did but know her you 'd love Ireland tho' 't is a course Place purely for her sake But Madam the Coach stays for me so having left the Doctor and his good Lady suppose me now on the Road for Dublin and in my return thither I was blest with extraordinary Company they were these following viz. a French Brigadeer who gave largely to all the Pooâ— on the Road and I think had the Soul of an Emperor for he treated all the way from Kilkenny to Dublin and had he spoke a Language we had understood I doubt not but our Minds had far'd as well as our Bodies I. Sure there 's some wondrous Joy in doing good Immortal Joy that suffers no allay from fears Nor dreads the Tyranny of Years By none but its Possessors to be understood Else where 's the Gain in being great Kings would indeed be Victims of the State What can the Poets humble Praise What can the Poets humble Bays We Poets oft our Bays allow Transplanted to the Hero's Brow Add to the Victor's Happiness What do the Scepter Crown and Ball Rattles for infant Royalty to play withall But serve to adorn the Baby-dress Of one poor Coronation day To make the Pageant gay A three hours scene of empty Pride And then the â—oys are thrown aside II. But the delight of doing good Is fixt like fate among the Stars And deify'd in Verse 'T is the best Gem in Royaâ—ty The great distinguisher of Blood Parent of Valour and of Fame Which makes a God-head of a Name And is Cotemporary to Eternity This made the antient Romans to afford To Valour and to Vertue the same word To shew the Paths of both must be together trod Before the Hero can commence a God Madam having dedicated this Poem to the Memory of this great and generous Man whose Bounty we liv'd upon I proceed to acquaint ye we had also in Company a French Major a Gentleman of good Sense but a little passionate Our third Companion was Iohny Ferguson a very
be given will be delivered Gratis at Dick's Coffee-House the Place of Sale and at the Coffee-Houses in Limerick Corh Kilkenny Clonmel Wexford Galâ—â—y and other Places so that those that live at a distance may send their Commissions to their Relations in Dublin or to my Friend Mr. Richard Wilde and they shall have their Orders faithfully Executed for as this Countrey is obliged to his Vniversal Knowledge in Books for the goodness of this Collection so to his Care and Fidelity my Health calling me to Wexford to drink the Waters is committed the Charge of the whole Undertaking And I think I need add no more for tho' it has been Customary to Usher in Undertakings of this Nature with insignificant and tedious Commendations which served only to tire the Readers Patience and stagger his Belief and may perhaps be expected now upon a Collection which might justly Challenge the Precedence of what has ever been Exposed to Sale in Ireland yet being resolved to proceed in quite contrary Methods to what has been formerly used I 'll manage the whole with that Candor and Sincerity as shall leave no room for Exception For as Gentlemen come here supposing to buy a Pennyworth so I do assure 'em I think it unjust to advance the Rate upon 'em by any Vnderhand-Bidding And for every Penny I get that way I will restore a Pound neither did I suffer any of my scarce and valuable Pieces to be cull'd out from the rest tho' importun'd thereto by several Gentlemen and Booksellers that all might have equal Treatment and the greater Reason to attend my Auctions And I am very willing that the Ingenious and Learned should be their own Judges in this matter not doubting but upon an Impartial view of my Three Catalogues of which this is the first they will find not only such Variety of New Books as were never before in Ireland and scarce ones no where else to be purchased but such Curiosities in Manuscripts and Pamphlets of all sorts as will be sufficient to invite them to exert a Generosity as may further Encourage Dublin Iune 24. 1698. Your Humble Servant John Dunton SIR IF you 'l give me your Thoughts upon this Auction the Conditions of Sale and the Scuffle I 'm like to be ingaged in on the Account of this Undertaking I shall own it as a Mark of your Friendship Write as supposing me still on the Road I am yet on my Summers Ramble and to Morrow having met with agreeable Company shall set out for the Boyn Kilkenny Galway c. In order to view the Cabins Customs and Manners of the Wild Irish Direct your Answer to be left with my worthy Friend Dr. Wood at his House in Kilkenny for I design to make him a Visit when I leave Dublin Pray Sir write by the first Post for I intend your Answer shall come into my Summer-Ramble for my Method different from other Travellers is to get Remarks upon all I see but Six-pence Once Twice and the next Word is to assure you that I am Your very Humble Servant John Dunton Remarks on my First Letter SIR I Have receiv'd the Kindness of yours by which I perceive that neither distance of Place multiplicity of Business nor variety of Diversions and some times Distractions are able to divert the stream of solid Friendship but that you have still a Minute to spare in remembrance of your old Acquaintance I am glad to find you have Encouragement to go on with your generous Vndertaking of imparting to Ireland so many valuable Pieces of Learning I don't know why some of 'em may not be accounted Phoenixes as being reviv'd since the Fire of London or rather sprung up from its Ashes Time was when Ireland was famous for Learning and hence it came to be said of a certain Great Man whose Name does not now occur to me Ivit ad Hibernos Sophia mirabile claros But I am afraid the Case is much altered since Slavery and Popery have had so long and universal a Possession of that Countrey that the Spirits of the Native or Wild Irish at least are much degenerated so that we may now apply to them as a proper Reverse Vervecam in Patria crassoque sub aere Nati If your Design may be any way subservient to restore Learning among them you will have Cause to value your self upon it while you Live But my Friend I perceive by your Fears of a SCUFFLE that you will find it more difficult to Conquer their Prejudices at least of some of them than Richard Strongbow found it to make a Conquest of their Nation but I hope you are so much a Philosopher as to prepare your self before-hand for cross Emergents that you don't lose Courage on their approach Never was there that Great or Good Design yet in the World which did not meet with Opposition and if yours happen to be singular in this Respect it will be as remarkable a Passage as many that are recorded in the Irish Story You know I am no pretender to the Spirit of Prophecy but methinks I foresee a Storm coming upon you My Reason is this Whatever the Honesty of your Design and the fairness of your way of dealing may be and which I persuade my self the Irish Climate will never be able to alter yet you must expect that those of your own Calling will look upon you as an Interloper or perhaps a Fore-staller and Ingrosser If you can Convey Learning to Ireland thro' their Channels so as there may be some Gold-Dust left for themselves at the Bottom you may perhaps 'scape pretty well but if otherwise I am much mistaken if you don 't experimentally find the falshood of that old saying That Ireland entertains no venemous Creature I cannot but applaud your Honesty in promising not to advance the Prices upon Gentlemen that come to buy by Vnder-hand Bidding To do otherwise is not only to Act two different Parts with the Satyr in the Fable but according to the Northern Proverb To Play both the Thief and the Merchant and I wish you had left more of that sort of Honesty amongst some of your Brethren at home We have not so much of it our selves as to send such a Cargo of it at once to our Neighbours the worst I shall wish those Gentlemen who practise the contrary Method is that they may never have any other Buyers but their own Vnder-hand Bidders for that is the likeliest way to reform them But though I am Confident you will be as good as your Promise in this Matter yet all your Honesty will not be Armour of Proof against a Weapon you have put into the Hands of your Enemies which is that you Promise a Penny-worth to those that will buy at your Auction The Proposal is indeed as charitable as that of Selling below the Market-price to the starving Poor but you know those who practise this Method have as many Curses from the Ingrossers of Corn as
were gone is a clear Proof of his Cowardice his uttering such manifest Untruths is the like of his Falshood and his forbearing to Publish them seems to argue his being Conscious of his own Guilt Whatever Proof it might be to convince his Beautiful Wife she had Married a Wit it could be none that she had Married either a Wife or an Honest Man As to your Remark on his Education that might have been spar'd perhaps it was none of his Fault that it was not better and therefore he ought not to be upbraided with it except it proceeded from his own neglect His Malice is indeed very remarkable in designing to Publish such a false Libel against you and particularly in reflecting upon those you ordinarily Convers'd with for it appears plain enough by what I have heard from you before that you had the Honour to Converse with those that were far above Patricks Merit as being some of the greatest Note in Church and State but any Excuse is better than none I am glad however that your Scuffle with Patrick is ended at last both for your sake and my own for to be plain with you I have enough of it and I am sure whether you think so or not you have too much I am SIR Yours The Eleventh Letter SIR I Told ye in my last from Chester I had done Scuffling with Patrick Campbel but sure enough I am still fighting with Beasts at Ephesus For no sooner was my Scuffle with Patrick a little over but I was surrounded on every side First F a meager sort of an Animal threatens a Token in English a Warrant to fright me to a Compliance with unreasonable Rates for Binding but F saw he was in the Wrong-Box and found it his Interest to be Friends with me I was no sooner deliver'd from this Impertinence but a Young Stripling summons me before the Lord Mayor of Dublin he could not but think he was too rash and therefore had no stomach to argue before a Magistrate So honest Servant a true Lover of Peace gets us both to the Bull in Nicholas-street where the Lad saw his Error and we parted Friends and I 'le say that for TOM That tho' he is a little hasty yet he 's a very honest Fellow was very faithful in the Post I set him and writing an Extraordinary hand t is fit for a good place which he can't miss of in Dublin for he might be trusted with untold Gold But I must leave Nelson to speak of the Brass in Copper-Alley who is another Beast I am yet to fight with This Fellow serves me with a Token I told ye the English of it before and before the Lord Mayor I must go I was more ready to go then he was to have me for there needed nothing to plead for me but the bare stateing my Case when his Lordship heard my Defence he did me the Honour to say Mr. Wilde being then present that I had made my Adversary a very just Proposal My Proposal was that one of his own Trade and one concerned in the same Agreement should end the Controversie so that all that Brass got by his Token was to be hiss'd at by Honest Men and to be thought if it could be a little more Impudent then heretofore Sir you 'll find his Picture in the following Letters but more at large excepts he Repents in my Summer-Ramble I next encountr'd a Female Devil a Woman a thing in Petticoats her Contrivance was to C d her Husband and to tempt me to this Wickedness she sends me a Billet Doux a Copy of which you shall have hereafter and calls her self Dorinda had her Billet taken Effect her Smiles had been more fatal than Patricks Frowns but God preserv'd me in this Temptation I was no sooner deliver'd from this Syren but a Grave Ancient Don 〈◊〉 claim to a Quarto Manuscript that I purchas'd of Mr. Daniel but this Scuffle was very short for I no sooner Discoursed him but he honestly owns before Mr. A a giddy talking bauling Fellow my just right to the Copy and so we parted Friends over a Dish of Coffee There were other Beasts I contended with as the M of H the K of and the D of but I pass 'em by 'till I hear how they carry themselves Thus Sir have I given ye a further Account of my Dublin Enemies and the Scuffles I had with 'em in my next expect a Copy of my last Farewel to Ireland and with that Farewel I 'll conclude Scuffling in this Countrey In the mean time I desire your Thoughts on these New Encounters by which you 'll further oblige Your Humble Servant John Dunton Remarks on my Eleventh Letter SIR I Was in hopes that when your Scuffle with Patrick was over you should have had no Body else to Scuffle with but either your own Shadow or Don Quixots Wind-mill but it seems your Adversaries are of Hydra's breed no sooner is one Head cut off but two spring up in its stead Had Richard Strongâ—ow met with such obstinate and unwearied Opposition from the Irish for any thing I know Ireland had remain'd unconquer'd to this Day I perceive however that Patrick was tâ—â— Giant with the hundred Hands and having foil'd him it was scarcely worth your while to draw upon the rest the Grumbling of a Mastiff is enough to quell snarling Curs at any Time if he do but turn his Head they will be sure to turn their Tail and so I perceive it far'd with your other little Adversaries and therefore they deserve no further Regard neither from you nor me Nor were they worth your mentioning but that you had thereby an opportunity of my Lord Mayor of Dublin 's approving the fairness of your Proceedings and perhaps Patrick foresaw the like as to the Controversie betwixt you and him and therefore he would never appear with you before a Magistrate I had almost forgot the dangerous Assault made upon you by the Syren which to a Man of a Knight-Errant-like-Temper is the hardest thing in the World to resist and therefore I never admir'd the Heroes so much for spurning up Oaks with their Feet and blowing down Castles with their Breath as for resisting the Attacks of the Phyllis's and Dorinda's It s well you 're Married else such a Character as this might perhaps give the Fair Sex a bad Impression of you as a hard hearted Man the Consequences of which would be that you were not likely to find theirs very soft But you are out of the Power of such a Temptation and therefore there 's now no danger on that Head oâ— if there were you have a Golden Shower at command which would Conquer a Danae her self though you had no personal Merit Thus Sir I leave you to Glory in your Conquest and Dorinda to fret at her Disappointment when I see her Billet Doux I shall be more able to Judge whether she were a formidable Enemy or not But don't Publish your Conquest all at
day the Honour of Dining with her Grace the Dutchess of Ormond which led us to discourse of the matchless Vertues of that Noble Lady and other Subjects which I now forget Mr. Young also oblig'd me so far as to settle a particular Friendship with me and I wish I deserv'd the Honour he did me in that matter for he 's a Gentleman of great Humility and I believe if I may judge by those few Minutes I spent in his Conversation never read of a Vertue which he did not forthwith put into Practice One part of our Conversation related to the Ensign who though the Possessor of so many Excellencies yet continues a single Man which gave us occasion to wonder that none of the Dublin Ladies had ingross'd so rich a Treasure to themselves We had appointed another Meeting before I went away to drink my Boon Voyage but Wind and Tide which stays for no Man hurry'd me away so I was disappointed of my intended Happiness and forc'd to be so rude as to leave Dublin without taking leave of some other Friends Having left the Ensign and my new Friend Mr. Young I went next to pay my Respects to the Reverend Mr. Iohn Boyse whose ingenious Answer to Bishop King and several others of his curious Composures have so justly recommended his Learning and Piety to the World Madam I have already sent you this Gentlemans Character and shall speak further of him in my Summer Ramble He gave great Encouragement to my Auction as well for my own sake as he was pleas'd to tell me as for my Reverend Father-in-law Dr. Annesley's He is now Preaching on the Four last Things His Subject was Heaven when Mr. Larkin and I heard him and he Preach'd in such an extraordinary manner on that Subject as if with St. Paul he had been in the Third Heaven himself and was return'd to relate what he had seen I next Visited Mr. Sinclare another Nonconformist Minister in Dublin He is a most affectionate Preacher and a Person of a sweet Disposition and extreamly obliging He gave me a hearty welcome to his House having been before acquainted with me at Bristol Some Discourses we had about Persecution occasion'd him to tell me that a Nonconformist Meeting was supprest at Gallway by the Magistrates there whilst a Popish Meeting was suffer'd to be kept unmolested He spake very honourably of my Father-in-law Dr. Annesley And promis'd me if I came again I shou'd have all the Encouragement that he cou'd give me I heard him preach on the 30 th of September on Mark 9. 24. about Faith on which he made an Excellent Sermon Nor was my Happiness less in being acquainted with Mr. Emlyn who is Mr. Boyse's Assistant I met this Gentleman several times at my Auction so that I find he was one of my Benefactors He 's a very solid rational judicious Divine and lives the Doctrine he Preaches I heard his Sermon to the Society for Reformation at New-Row on 1 Sam. 2. 30. This Sermon is since Printed and I wish Madam I cou'd send it to ye for some that have read it say a better Sermon was never publish'd As to the Reverend Mr. Nathaniel Weld though I had no Personal Acquaintance with him yet I went several times with Mr. Larkin to hear him once more particularly when he preach'd on the 130 th Psalm about Forgiveness his whole Sermon was very excellent but I took more particular Notice of the following Passages We live upon Forgiveness every day What Ioy wou'd Forgiveness make in the black Regions The Devils nover had the offer of a Saviour but we are still in the Land of Hope Madam I have already given you a short Character of this Pious Learned and Excellent Preacher and shall say no more of him here but in my Summer Ramble I shall give his and his Brethrens Characters at large for Madam to confess the truth tho' I go now and then to hear a Divine of the Church of England as I told ye before yet that I more frequently hear the Dissenting Ministers I don't know how your Ladyship will relish this for I don't remember in any Discourses we had in Dublin where I had first the Honour of being known to you that you ever mention'd your going to any Meeting but whatever your Practice or thoughts are in this respect I must acquaint you that I practise nothing that I think unlawful and am very willing when your Ladyship has answer'd those Twelve Hundred uncommon diverting Subjects that I intend to send ye in so many distinct Letters to defend my Practice in this matter for Madam there are but Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England and the Presbyterians who are a Religious and Conscientious People approve of Thirty Six of 'em and the rest are justly call'd indifferent so that Madam if hereafter you 'll give me leave to write to ye on this Subject I shall endeavour to prove in several Letters that my going now and then to a Meeting is no unnecessary Separation or any departing from the True Church For such I esteem the Church of England Madam having visited the Nonconformists my next Ramble was to Mr. Harman a young Gentleman and Son to Collonel Harman a Member of the House of Commons In this Visit my Friend Mr. Larkin was with me where after mutual Salutations and sitting down by a good Fire we fell into a pleasant Chat first of Antipathles in Nature and here Mr. Harman told us a Story of a Gentleman that bought a Muff This Person had a natural Antipathy against Cats and therefore desir'd the Furrier who sold him the Muff that it shou'd not be lin'd with any Cat-skin which the Furrier who liv'd in Essex-street assur'd him it was not upon this the Gentleman bought it and design'd to wear it home but by that this he came to Crane-lane which was not above a Bow-shot from the Furriers the Gentleman fell into a Swoon and was taken up for dead but upon the taking away the Muff he came to himself again but fell into a great Rage against the Furrier threatning to kill him which he having notice of got out of the way Mr. Harman's Discourse being ended I next told the Story of my Aversion to Cheese when I was young and how my Father 's causing me to eat it unknown had like to have kill'd me which Aversion notwithstanding I afterwards overcame and now love Cheese aswell as any Man We then discours'd of the Antipathy that Cats have to Men and of their taking away Mens Breath when asleep with other things to that purpose This led us to talk of Sympathy and the Wonders thereof and more particularly of Sir Kenelm Dighy's Sympathetical Powder and the great Cures wrought by it From hence we fell to talk of a third Wonder in Nature viz. Mens walking in their Sleep of which Mr. Larkin gave a memorable Relation of a House supposed to be haunted which was only occasioned by
pleasant Fellow and one that did great Feats at the Boyn These three with my self were all the Men that were in the Coach but we were not without a She-Companion I mean the vertuous Mrs. Hawksworth who may pass for a Wit and if ever I go to Constantinople it shall be on purpose to visit her Ingenious Son and I must say if he takes after his Mother he 'll scarce meet his Fellow tho' he shou'd girdle the World The Time in such Company flew too fast and I began to wish the way to Dublin had been much longer In our way home we had debates concerning the Spider's Webb The curious work in a Turtles Nest The Government of Bees The love of a Spaniel-Dog to his Master and upon other Subjects but I wave them here designing all our Disputes in the Coach shall be part of my Summer Ramble I was no sooner come home and had given some necessary Orders about my Auction but I rambled to Drogheda and paid a Visit to the famous Boyn so memorable for the Victory King VVilliam there obtained over the Irish tho' they were Five to One and that nothing might 'scape my View that was worth seeing in Drogheda Mr. VVilde sent by me the following Letter To Mr. Iames Iackson Son to Alderman Iackson in Drogheda Mr. Jackson MR. Dunton being willing to see your Famous Town and the River Boyn where King William passed over I desire you will help him to an Horse and either go with him your self or prevail with some Friend of yours to go that knows Matters and Things I wou'd also have him go into a Currough that he may carry his Boat on his Arm afterwards I am Your Humble Servant Richard Wilde That Morning I rid to Drogheda the Air was sweet and kind the Fields were Trim and Neat the Sun benign and cherishing and from ev'ry thing I met I receiv'd a Civility and which added still to my Happiness I went in Company with the Minister of the Newry He 's a Divine of great Learning and Worth speaks admirably and inspired a Soul into all our Company and in my Summer Ramble I 'll attempt his Character at large He treated me that Night with a noble Supper not for any thing he found in me but as he express'd it for the sake of my being the Son of a Clergy-man When I had taken leave of this Generous Parson I went to lodge with one Mr. Watson an Apothecary in Drogheda I was hugely pleas'd with my new Quarters for my Landlady tho' a Roman Catholick was a very obliging generous Woman and for Mr. Watson I don't think there 's an honester Man in Drogheda I found him excellent Company and a very ingenious Man His Wit is ductile and pliable to all Inventions as well as to that of the Glister-pipe from a Pin to a Pillar nothing was so small but his Skill cou'd work nothing so great but his Industry cou'd Atchieve After I had convers'd a while with my new Landlord I went to Alderman Iackson's to deliver Mr. Wild's Letter before I came to Drogheda Mr. Wild told me what a courteous Person Mr. Iackson was and when I came to his Father's House He receiv'd me in such an obliging Manner that his Favours did transcend Report as much as they exceeded my Desert Madam this Gentleman resolves to live a Batchelor which I cou'd not but wonder at for doubtless Nature meant him a Conqueror over all hearts when she gave him such Sense and such Beauty for he 's a very handsome Man His Wit sparkles as well as his Eyes and his Discourse charms as well as his Beauty and I found by a little talking with him that his Mind is none of those narrow ones who know one thing and are ignorant of a thousand but on the contrary it is so very large that altho' it cannot be said Iackson knew euery thing equally well yet it is most certain he can give an excellent Account of all things but tho' his Soul is enrich'd with every Vertue yet I thought the most remarkable thing in him was his great Humility and readiness to serve a Stranger for I might pass as such having never seen him but a minute or two in London Madam meeting with such a Friend as this you may well think I cou'd never enough enjoy him so leaving his Father's House we went together to a Place in Drogheda where we fell into Company with several Gentlemen and particularly with Mr. Singleton He 's a young Sprigg of Divinity and might have stay'd at Jericho till his Beard was grown but when he speaks 't is off hand as they call it here so that Nature seems to have made a Present to him of whatever a long Study and Meditation gives out by degrees to others He preach'd in Drogheda Church upon this Text. And Jacob was a plain Man dwelling in Tents and I think 't was the most ingenious Sermon I ever heard But my Design here is only to hint at things so I leave this young Divine that I may come to acknowledge the generous Treatment I met in Drogheda from Mr. Kelsey for I don't forget the Token he sent by me to his Friend Sir Thomas Montgomery This Gentleman has a great deal of Wit and which is rare in witty People is Mastâ—r over himself walks according to the Rules of Vertue as the hours pass by the degrees of the Sun and being made of good humor his Life is a perpetual Harmony and by consequence is a great Blessing to his Wife and Children if he has any After Mr. Kelsey had given me a particular Relation of the Boyn Fight and we had drank a Health to his Friend in England Mr. Iackson carry'd me to visit the famous Walker the ingenious Translater of Epictetus He 's an universal Scholar and I do believe were all the Learning in Ireland lost it might be found again in this worthy Person and he 's as Pious as he 's Learned He prefers Conscience before Riches Vertue above Honour he desireth not to be Great but to do good and is so very exact in all he says that his words are Decrees of Wisdom When we came to this Gentleman's House his Scholars were acting Henry IV. and a Latin Play out of Terence they were all Ingenious Lads and perform'd their parts to a wonder but one Ellwood who acted Falstaffe bore away the Bell from the whole School But Thieves Thieves but no wonder for I 'm still in Ireland for I had no sooner left Mr. Walker's School but I lost my Cane and a Silver Box. But Madam as Thievish as Drogheda is I can't but think with pleasure of Ireland as 't was there I had the honour to be first known to your Ladyship But more particularly I love Drogheda where for two days the Tears I shed for the matchless D ne wou'd not suffer me to walk abroad Madam 't was here your Advice was so very seasonable and went