I

510. TO MRS. TREVOR.

DEAR MRS. TREVOR,

MAY 10, 1733

HAVE ordered a bill to be sent you down for forty pounds, drawn upon the same persons as the

last, payable at six days' sight; if you want it sooner, it will be paid you. The best way will be to hire from Bath. A coach and four will be sufficient as the roads are now, and the journeys every day short. I hope dear continues mending.

Let me know if you set out for Blenheim.

Yours affectionately,

J. TREVOR.

I beg my respects to Mrs. Rachell, Mrs. Corbett, and Mrs. Aynston *.

neither of them." By the way, a mistake may here be corrected in Collins's Peerage, where Mr. Trevor's marriage is said to have been " May 31, 1731;" instead of " May 30, 1732."

* Soon after Steele's marriage with Miss Scurlock, he desired, if she was not engaged, she would accompany him on a visit he intended making in the afternoon. The carriage was ordered; and, without acquainting his wife to whom the visit was designed, they drove to a boarding-school in the environs of London, where they alighted; and presently a young lady made her appearance, to whom Steele shewed the greatest fondness, insomuch that his wife asked him, "if the child was his ?" On his acknowledging that she was; "Then," said the Lady, "I beg she may be mine too." She was accordingly taken home, and treated as their own; but, by the order of the mistress of the family, she was called Miss OUSLEY. In process of time she became the companion of their eldest daughter, Miss Elizabeth Steele; who, piqued at the attention paid by her father and mother to Miss Ousley, could not help shewing it now and then in her behaviour to her companion; which was the reason she afterward gave for marrying Mr. Aynston, a worthy, respectable

man,

511. MRS. AYNSTON TO MISS TONSON*

WHO HAD BEEN ABSENT FROM HOME.

WELCOME, dear Nymph, thrice welcome to

your home,

Your tender brothers joy to see you come;
They joy to see your charms by health renew'd ;
Which sprightly charms, no doubt, have hearts

subdued:

But, if you've brought them back your own dear heart,

Unhurt, and unsubdued by Cupid's dart,

Let them sigh on, nor once regard their moan,
Till one produces merit like your own.

man, who lived on a little patrimony at Amely near Hereford,
and was concerned in a glove-manufactory there. Though this
marriage was with the approbation of Sir Richard, Mr. Aynston
was not by any means a man whose education and situation in
life was likely to be the choice of a young woman bred up as
Miss Ousley had been; yet, in point of circumstances, much
more so than if she had become the wife of Savage. Whether
the reason assigned for marrying Mr. Aynston were real or ima-
ginary, may be doubted; for Miss Steele never spoke of it with-
out seeming to ridicule it, nor mentioned her husband without
evident mark of dislike. To her sister she continued every pos-
sible token of friendship and tenderness after Sir Richard's death;
and Mrs. Aynston constantly spent a few months with her every
year. During one of these visits to her in London she unfor-
tunately died almost suddenly. But her friend's regard ended
not here; Mrs. Aynston left an only daughter, whom Lady
Trevor had taken under her protection some time before the
mother's death, and who continued the inseparable companion
and intimate friend of her benefactress to the last moment of
her Ladyship's life. See the Preface, to this Volume, p. ix.
*Afterwards the lady of Sir William Baker.

But that indeed's a sentence too severe;
For where can matchless merit find a peer?
Let him at least complain, till you can find
Good-sense, good-nature, and good-manners join'd.
When such a youth you meet, propitious be:
May such, and only such, be blest with thee!
Adieu, dear Nymph! May Heaven thy choice
direct!

Believe my wishes flow from true respect.

512. LINES BY MRS. AYNSTON *, ON RECEIVING AN INVITATION FROM A YOUNG LADY, TO VISIT HER IN THE COUNTRY.

ENJOY, dear Nymph, thy sweet retreat,

Nor think of one forlorn,
Whose pleasure yet was ne'er compleat;
She's not for pleasure born.

But, since you condescend to say
"Twill add to your delight,
I'll wish the tedious hours away,

And long for Wednesday night;

66

* It does not appear either to or by whom the following short billet was written; but it characterizes Mrs. Aynston and some of her friends: Sir, we returned your riddle by Mr. Symmons last night. We have all guessed at it. The witty Mrs. Aynston says it is a fighting-cock; the ingenious Mrs. Bevans calls it a cock-fight; the learned Mrs. Harris pronounces it a bee but I, who have more sense than either of them, am very positive that it is the gentleman-usher of the black rod. They exult mightily in their great skill; but I do not doubt but that you are of the same mind with your

INFAL."

;

When

When to that sweet retreat I'll fly
Gladly to meet my dear,

Her friendship undisturb'd enjoy,
And tell her all my care.

For she is home, and Kitty *, too,
Till Amely I find;
Therefore, my dearest girl, adieu,
And bear me still in mind.

513. Mr. NEWCOMв, in a Satire published in 1712, under the title of "Bibliotheca; a Poem, occasioned by the sight of a Modern Library," after describing the progress of OBLIVION in a manner to which the Goddess of thE DUNCIAD bears a more than accidental resemblance, thus animatedly adds, "Still to proceed the Goddess try'd, Till STEELE's immortal Works espy'd; Trembling her dreaded Foe to view, She sunk, and silently withdrew.

*

While SARUM's labours, round her spread,
Sustain and prop her drowsy head.

Hail, mighty Name! of all thy pen
Has dropt, to charm both gods and men,
Time nor Oblivion ne'er shall boast
One line or single period lost!
Improving Youth, and hoary Age,
Are better'd by thy matchless page;

* Mrs. Aynston's daughter, afterwards Mrs. Thomas. See p.673.

+ Near Hereford, Mrs. Aynston's place of residence.

+ Bishop Burnet.

X X 2

And,

And, what no mortal could devise,
Women, by reading thee, grow wise;
Divines had taught, and husbands rav'd,
Now threaten'd, then as poorly crav'd,
But, spite of all, the stubborn dame
Remain'd our curse, and still the same;
Modish and flippant as before,

The smoothing paint and patch are wore;
Two hours each morning spent to dress,
And not one ounce of tea the less:
While the provoking idiot vows
Her lover fairer much than spouse.

The ladies, pleas'd with thee to dwell,
Aspire to write correct, and spell :
We scarce behold, though writ in haste,
Five letters in a score misplac'd;
Marshal'd in rank they all appear,
With no front vowels in the rear,
Nor any, out of shame or dread,
Skulking behind, that should have led;
In every line they now demur,
'Tis now no longer Wurthee Surr;
With half our usual sweat and pain,
We both unravel and explain,
Nor call-in foreign aid to find,
In mystic terms, the fair-one's mind.

Maintain, great Sage, thy deathless name, Thou canst no wider stretch thy fame,

Till, gliding from her native skies,
Virtue once more delighted flies;
By each adoring Patriot own'd,
And boasts herself by thee enthron'd!"