therefore not always interesting to the public, Having left the Rev. Dr. Gunning's hospitable mansion at Farnborough, he, on the 22d of August, 1789, sent the following letter to his amiable correspondent, Mrs. Gunning: "22d Aug. 1789. "As every man is to himself of vast importance, he is mighty apt to think he must be so to every body else, and that others must be as anxious about him, as he is about himself. Upon this principle, I conclude you must be miserable till you know how I conducted myself after the various methods proposed for accomplishing my journey; and therefore it is highly proper I should be no less miserable till I have set your heart at rest upon that subject. Instead then of sending Jenny (his horse) before, or leaving her to follow after, we took our departure together about five o'clock in the morning, and travelled on very composedly to Devizes, where we arrived by eight o'clock, and resumed our course, after having ate our breakfast, and completed our journey of near fifty miles by one o'clock. A notable exploit, let me tell you, for a poor crazy creature, and might be told to his children's children, if he had any! "And now, dear Madam, having previously acquainted you with my moral aversion to writing, I am thinking what eternal obligations you will consider yourself as under for this letter, and how ready you will be to pour forth libations of whipt-syllabubs in testimony of your gratitude, or rather I am felicitating myself on the volumes of letters, it may lead to my receiving; for however I may have lost my taste for reading; for the productions of your pen, I shall ever have the highest relish, and however indifferent I may be to buildings, to plants, to pictures, to medals; at which you know you expressed your surprise; the house of your building up, the plants of your raising, the portraits of your tempered his instructive admonitions, that virtue and religion were in him peculiarly attractive, and he became the blessed means of turning many to the ways of righteousness. His remarks on the passing events of life, though never ill-natured, were always important, and to the point; and though he hated disputation and violent argument, yet towards the close of a conversation, he would sometimes introduce such a strong observation as to silence the combatants, and put a satisfactory close to the debate. In short, in the intercourses of social life, playfulness and humour were to the last his prominent qualities: he was a great laugher at any neat or smart observation, and would stamp his feet in the exuberance of his mirth: he had no objection to a quiet rubber at whist, but rather enjoyed it; and in short, even to the last week of his life, he did not think it unbecoming his character to mix in all the innocent cheerfulness of domestic life. He, by the lustre of his own example, proved religion to be what experience will ever convince those who will but try the experiment that it is, a source of pleasantness and peace. Happier hours than the writer of this work has passed in the company of this extraordinary man, (though above thirty years older than himself) he never expects to see in this world: they are now gone, but have left a delightful fragrance behind them, and the remembrance of them is sweet. That his good humour, playfulness, and affectionate attention to his friends, were not confined to personal intercourse, will appear from the following letters to some of his friends who have favoured me with them: and though I have seldom published the whole of a letter, it has been either because the part omitted was not applicable to the point for which the letter was referred to; or be cause it was of a private domestic nature, relating either to the writer or the person add therefore not always interesting to the public. * 22d Aug. 1789. fore it is highly proper I should be no #25 In or leaving her to follow after, we u Va "And now, dear Matar your pen, 11 t .* in if, er ains the iter inan, 4 can the drawing, and the medals bearing your image and superscription will never be indifferent to me; and therefore with my most cordial respects to your coadjutor, worthy Peter, (Dr. Gunning) as well as my best acknowledgments for his friendly entertainment, and hearty wishes for your health and happiness, believe, "Dear Madam, "Ever your's, affectionately." In another Letter, where it appears Bishop Horne was at Bath for his health the year before he died, he writes thus to the same lady: "London, May 24, 1791. "If you are vain enough to suppose I must follow your example, you are mistaken. It will not do: you shall not be so gratified. I'll take none of your broad hints. I am determined to have my revenge; and for your long silence, incessantly plague you with my nonsense. "Your report of our Bishop, (for which, however, I will acknowledge myself obliged to you) accords very exactly with that of Nurse Jones (whose intelligence, I believe, is rather the freshest of the two, as she did not leave his Lordship till Tuesday, and you do not appear to have seen him so lately) I agree with you that he ought not to want any thing this world can give him; and much less the attendance of Nurse Stevens †, if he wished it; but between you and me, I have no great opinion of that old woman's abilities in any way; she is a heavy soul, as Sam Johnson used to say of Bishop ; and from what I saw of her at Bath last winter, I question whether she was not rather a trouble to his Lordship than of any use to him. A younger nurse would be more active and answer his purpose better. Suppose you were to The Rev. Wm. Jones, of Nayland. † Himself. undertake the charge; from that hearty, cordial shaking of the hands you mention, there is no doubt you would be acceptable. 6 "I am sorry you were disappointed of the pleasure you expected from the conversation of Mr. Jones. I, who have no music in myself, and am not moved with the concord of sweet sounds,' have often been chagrined by having the whole time engrossed with discourse about tweedle dum and tweedle dee, and it seems that you, with a soul full of harmony, were disconcerted. From the bandying of civilities between the Professors, it was rather an uncivil business to the rest of the company; and Mr. Jones's voluntary seems to have been so much of an involuntary, that I am afraid he did not appear so much to advantage as I could have wished him to have done. I certainly received a parcel addressed to me at Messrs. Sykes, Snaith, and Co. which I understood to be from Mrs. Gunning, and on opening it wondered how you came to send me Dean Digby's Lectures; but your letter has unravelled the mystery, and taught me that the parcel was for and not from Mrs. Gunning. It shall be taken care of, and accompany me on my journey. Having taken ample revenge, and let fly my volley of nonsense full in your face, I now bear no malice nor hatred in my heart, but am in perfect charity with you, and will conclude myself, as usual, with most cordial remembrances to Peter and the rest of the family, "Your truly affectionate." The following letter to Mrs. Gunning contains such an agreeable mixture of the lively and the grave, particularly in his description of his interview in a stage coach with a young clergyman, who certainly took Mr. Stevens for one, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of transcribing the whole : |