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as a fine Woman, fpeaking of her Perfon, he takes Care to let her know, at the Conclufion of another of his Letters, that his Thoughts are turn'd quite another Way. There he says:

The Days of Beauty are as the Days of Greatnefs, and as long as your Eyes make their Sunshine, all the World are your Adorers: I am one of thofe unambitious People, who will love you forty Years hence, when your Eyes begin to twinkle in a Retirement, for your own Sake, and without the Vanity which every one now will take to be thought,

Dear Madam,

Your most devoted, &c.

While he was at Oxford, where he was us'd with the utmoft Civility, and courted from one College to another, he kept conftantly writing to Mrs. Blount, and the beginning to be fenfible of the Sincerity of his Profeffions, and to find a Pleafure in little other Company but his, occafion'd, when they were feparated, a great Intercourfe of Letters, in which, we make no doubt, there were fine Defcriptions of the Characters of the People then moft talk'd of; but as thofe Letters wrote to her, and hers to him, were all in her Hands, except a few that have efcap'd long fince by Chance, we cannot promife whether ever they will be produc'd to the Publick, or whether it is poffible, for many of them, if not all, are deftroy'd; however, thofe few we have ferve, and are greatly useful in many Refpects, and in particular in clearing up that Part of Mr. Pope's Will, which relates to Mrs Blount; for it might have furpriz'd fome People, to have feen the Bulk of his Fortune, and all his valuable Moveables (except a few Books, and tokens of Friendship) left to that Lady, had they

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not before known of the long Efteem, and loving Friendship fubfifting between them.

Before he left Oxford, he prepar'd her for his coming to Town, by a Letter which speaks of his Arrival there, and the Reception he met with, take it in his own Words:

OTHING could have more of that Melan

Ncholy which once us'd to please me, than my

laft Day's Journey; for after having pafs'd thro' my favourite Woods in the Foreft, with a thousand Reveries of paft Pleafures, I rid over hanging Hills, whofe Tops were edg'd with Groves, and whose Feet water'd with winding Rivers, liftening to the Falls of Cataracts below, and the murmuring of the Winds above: The gloomy Verdure of Stonor fucceeded to thefe; and then the Shades of the Evening oxertook me. The Moon rofe in the cleareft Sky I ever faw, by whose folemn Light I paced on flowly, without Company, or any Interruption, to the Range of my Thoughts. About a Mile before I reach'd Oxford, all the Bells toll'd in different Notes; the Clocks of every College answer'd one another, and founded forth (fome in deeper, fome in a fofter Tone) that it was eleven at Night. All this was no ill Preparation to the Life I have led fince, among thofe old Walls, memorable Galleries, Stone Portico's, ftudious Walks, and folitary Scenes of the University. I wanted nothing but a black Gown and a Salary, to be as meer a Book-Worm as any there. I conform'd * myself to College Hours, was roll'd up in Books, lay in one of the most antient dufky Parts of the Univerfity, and was as dead to the World as any Hermit of the Defart. If any Thing was alive or awake in mę, it was a little Vanity, fuch as even thofe good Men us'd to entertain, when the Monks of their own Order

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Order extoll'd their Pisty and Abftraction. For I found myself receiv'd with a Sort of Refpect, which the idle Part of Mankind, the Learned, pay to their own Species, who are as confiderable here, as the Bufy, the Gay, and the Ambitious are in your World.

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Indeed I was treated in fuch a Manner, that I could not but fometimes afk myself in my Mind, what College I was Founder of, or what Library I had built? Methinks I do very ill to return to the World again, to leave the only Place where I make a Figure, and from feeing myfelf feated with Dignity in the most confpicuous Shelves of a Library, put myself into the abject Pofture of lying at a Lady's Feet in St. James's Square.

I am,

Dear Madam, &c.

A Thoufand Women, notwithstanding the Ungenteelness and Homeliness, nay, almost Uglinefs of Mr. Pope's Perfon, would have thought themselves happy, in having so much of his Company and Converfation; but very few, if any, could have been capable of being fo agreeable to him, as this Lady: She was of an inquifitive Temper, both as to Learniug and Politicks; fhe had fomething of a Pleasure in thinking of publick Business, having been prefent at much political Difcourfe, with Company our Author us'd to keep, which could not be avoided, tho* Politicks was far from being his darling Topick: She was particularly concern'd at the Fall of the late Earl of Oxford, for whom the had the greatest Respect and Veneration imaginable, and fuffer'd very much with him, when he had the great Weight of Affiction to bear, both from princely Power and popular Hatred, nothing comforted her but the dauntless Conduct

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Conduct he fhew'd under it, tho' he then labour'd with the racking Pains of the Stone, one of which, a very confiderable one, he at that Time voided.

Mrs. Blount had always a very gallant Spirit, fhe would often wish to fee fuch Sights as Armies, Encampments, and Standards waving over her Brother's Grounds and Fields, and would talk of Battles and Bloodfhed as familiar as if he was no Ways afraid of them, which fome other Ladies us'd to call Barbarity, and wonder how fhe could talk, or even think of fuch cruel Things without Tears, and aking Heart; ob (fhe'd make Answer) it would be a glorious Sight; fo many fine Officers, fine Gentlemen, fine Soldiers, fine Colours, fine Horfes, 'twould be prodigious Pleafure to fee.

Our Author, in the Beginning of the Reign of the late King, knowing her Difpofition, gives her Notice to the Country where fhe was, of a Sight going to be, that must certainly please her. His Letter runs thus:

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HOSE Eyes that care not how much Mischief is done, or how great Slaughter committed, fo they have but a fine Show; thofe very female Eyes will be infinitely delighted with the Camp which is fpeedily to be form'd in Hyde-Park. The Tents are carried thither this Morning, new Regiments, with new Cloaths and Furniture (far exceeding the late Cloth and Linnen defign'd by his Grace for the Soldiery.) The Sight of fo many gallant Fellows, with all the Pomp and Glare of War yet undeform'd by Battle, thofe Scenes which England has for many Years only beheld on Stages, may poffibly invite your Curiofity to this Place.

Mrs. expects the Pretender at her Lodgings by Saturday fe'nnight. She has bought a Picture of

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Madam

Madam Maintenon to fet her Features by, against that Time. Three Priefts of your Acquaintance are very pofitive, by her Intereft, to be his Father Confeffor.

By our laft Accounts from Duke Street, Wejimin fter, the Converfion of T. G. Efq; is reported in a Manner fomewhat more particular: That upon the Seizure of his Flanders Mares, he feem'd more than ordinarily disturb'd for fome Hours, fent for his Ghoftly Father, and refolv'd to bear his Lofs like a Chriftian; till about the Hours of feven or eight the Coaches and Horfes of feveral of the Nobility paffing by his Window towards Hyde Park, he could no longer endure the Disappointment, but inftantly went out, took the Oath of Abjuration, and recover'd his dear Horfes which carried him in Triumph to the Ring. The poor diftrefs'd Roman Catholicks, now unhorfs'd and uncharioted, cry out with the Pfalmift, Some in Chariots and fome on Horfes, but we will invocate the Name of the Lord.

I am,

Dear Madam, &c.

You will understand by the latter Part of this Letter, that she is a Papift, which still made her more valuable in the Eyes of Mr. Pope; her whole Family was esteem'd by him, and that Efteem was reciprocal, he interested himself now more and more with it, and little was done without firft advising with him, yet it (i.e. her Family) was unhappily mention'd in the imprudent Affair at Prefton, tho' Mr. Pope had counfell'd fo as to avoid it, and at leaft thought it moft proper to wait a while; what was done is no Secret to the World, the Rebels were defeated, the Party among themselves difunited, there wanted Money and Difcretion, and every Thing, but Zeal in a few Defperadoes,

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