A series of genuine letters between Henry and Frances: ... [pt.1]

THE EDITOR TO THE PUBLICK.

_I Here present you with a genuine Correspondence, which passed, for several Years, between a Gentleman and Lady of the Kingdom of Ireland; tho' the Scene has been laid in England, by the Authors, when the first Copy was made out, as they designed to keep themselves unknown, for Reasons which may be collected from some Parts of this Address, and several Passages in their Letters.

I endeavoured to prevail on the Parties to take the Trouble of digesting this Collection into a more regular Series than they are, at present, offered to you in; but the various Business and family.

Concerns which they are engaged in, in the Country, would not afford them Leisure: And, indeed, there seems to obtain, in them both, a certain Indo|lence of Mind, proceeding from a phi|losophick Acquiesence in their very narrow Fortunes, which would prevent either of them from giving themselves so much Trouble as a Task of this Kind might require.

But tho' they would not condescend to be Compilers, even of their own Works, I was in Hopes that they might be prevailed upon to undertake a Work of Genius, by filling up the Chasms, which appear too often, in the Course of this Collection: But this too they refused me, from a certain Ingenuousness in their Natures, which proceeded so far, that tho' there were a good Number of entertaining Letters wrote, since the last of these, yet they would not suffer them to be inserted, because they were written since the first Design of publishing this Collec|tion; which, however, was not any Thought of theirs, during the whole Course of their Correspondence, but hinted to them by Lady O—, so often

mentioned, with Honour due, in these Letters, and who promised to prevail on Lord O—, a Nobleman of distinguish|ed Sense, Learning, and classical Taste, and who has sunk many eminent Titles of both Kingdoms, in the private Cha|racter of the Man, to revise and correct them for the Press; but as higher Avo|cations have prevented them from ap|pearing before the Publick, with that Honour and Advantage, I have obtain|ed Leave, after a Twelve-month's Solli|citation, to dispose of them after what Manner I please.

But I have been so just to the Au|thors, and to the Publick too, that I have not left out even the most trifling Letter, which came to my Hands; my Design being not merely to give you a Collection of Letters, but to present you with the genuine Pictures of two Persons, whose Sense, Wit, and uni|versal Benevolence do well intitle them to the publick Esteem, — (but their Characters are better described by their own Writings, than by any Thing I can say to recommend them) for which Reason I have not attempted to make a single Alteration, nor, upon comparing

these Letters with the Originals, which were sent me along with the Copy, do I find there has been any Alteration made, except the changing of one Word for another, shifting the Scene, as I hinted in the Beginning, and the leaving out whole Paragraphs, which related, as Henry has expressed it, in the foregoing Letter, to private History, or private Business.

The Editor of St. Evremond's Works speaks as follows, in Part of his Pre|face to the third Volume.

One of the Objections made to this Author is that odd Medley of serious and comical, of grave Matters and Trifles, which is to be met with in his Writ|ings. Would it not have been suffi|cient, say certain austere and difficult Persons, to have made a Collection of all that is good and solid? Why was not every. Thing left out, that is not only useless but waggish?

Those People who would have us apply ourselves only to useful Studies, ought to consider, that our Author is a Doctor, who writes to instruct and dogmatize, and that he is not a Man engaged by his Profes|sion

to give the Publick an Account of his Time and Studies. He is a Gen|tleman, who having much Leisure, seeks how to pass away the Time agreeably; who writes sometimes on one Subject, sometimes on another, only for his own Amusement. He is a Man of Wit, who proposes to di|vert himself, as well as certain Per|sons, with whom he converses: It would most certainly be unjust to judge of him with too much Rigour, and the Injustice would be yet greater, to oblige those, who publish his Works, to suppress all such as are purely diverting.

So much, by Way of Apology, both for my Authors and myself; for I think the above Quotation is applicable, thro' the Whole, to our Case.

As to the Chasms, I cannot barely say Nonnulla defunt, but Hiatus valdé deflendi; and when I declared my De|sign of publishing, and applied a second Time to have the Chain connected, I was told, by Henry, that he thought it not fair Dealing with the Publick; that besides, he thought they appeared, at present, more genuine than a com|plete

Suite of Letters would do; and farther said, that if the regular Series had been preserved from the Beginning, he would take out an Handful, here and there at random, and throw them into the Fire, lest it might be suspect|ed that they were wrote, or preserved, with a Design of publishing, as he was humble enough to think that they could have but very little Merit in this View: In Allusion to which, he told me a Story of a certain Lady, who, upon reading over a Letter she had wrote, about Business, to a Gentleman, and thinking it too Orthographical for a Woman, added an (e) to the Ende of severale Wordse, leste it should bee suspected that she had spelte by the Aid of a Dictionarye.

This Whim of his, which however may be justified from a thorough Know|ledge of Mankind, puts me in mind of the virtuoso Taste for mutilated Statues, and time eaten Coins, where the Parts which remain, rise in Value in Proportion to those which are lost; or to the Dutch device of burning half their Spices, in order to inhance the Price of the rest.

But I was, at length, of Opinion with him in not framing any Letters to supply the Chasms, because it would, as he observed, be disingenuous to give the Publick any Thing, in this Collec|tion, which was not Original; there|fore I have not, as I said before, even taken the Liberty, which the Authors paid me the high Compliment of in|dulging me in, of altering any one Sentence, which I thought might be better expressed; or displacing any Ar|gument which I presumed might, per|haps, be put in a stronger Light; for certainly any Person, of a curious Taste, would rather see a true Copy of any Classick's original Text, though incor|rect, than read all Bentleii Emenda|tiones.

However, I have thrown in a Note, here, and there, to explain the Occasion upon which some of the Letters were wrote, and to clear up some particular Passages or Allusions, which might not, perhaps, be intelligibe to every Reader: I have also arranged the Let|ters according to the Numbers, which are prescribed in the foregoing Letter, and these are all the Merits which I

claim to myself, except the Publication, in the Course of the following Collec|tion.

As I know nothing of the Lady, but from her Writings, I am not enabled to give any particular Account of her private History, except that she is of a Gentleman's Family, and had a very genteel Education, but was left, very young, without a Father, and without a Fortune. She is,—but Henry him|self will better tell you what she is; and making poetical Allowances for the Hyperbole of his warm Manner of ex|pressing himself in her Favour, I do not think he has at all exaggerated her Praise: And if his Writings do not suf|ficiently describe her Worth, I could supply their Deficiency to the entire Satisfaction of the World, if I was at Liberty to tell them who Lady O— is, and that she received her early into her Matronage and Friendship, from no other Tie or Attachment, but the Good|ness of her Character, and the Excel|lency of her Understanding.

Henry is a Person of as good a Fa|mily as any in this Kingdom, whose Patrimony was formerly looked upon

to be very considerable; but Losses and Misfortunes in his Family have reduced his Fortunes to a very moderate Com|petence at present.

His Education was unfortunately neglected, notwithstanding the early and continued fair Omens he always gave of the happy Issue, which might have been expected from it: While he was very young he essay'd his genius in Poetry, and wrote several Things, which I have been told were surprizing for one of his Years and untutored Mind.

He kept Copies of them for several Years, as he told me himself; 'till finding himself bereft at last, of all Hope of an Education, learned and polite enough to introduce him to Apollo's Court, he threw them into the Fire, and applied his Mind to graver Studies, saying, after his lively Manner, that a bad Shoe-maker was preferable to a bad Poet, for that it was better to coble for Bread, than coble to starve.

Being, at length, left upon the World at large, he had Sobriety and Address enough to introduce himself, by De|grees, into the genteelest and most re|putable

Company, but grew soon weary of the active Idleness, as he termed it, of a City Life, and retired upon a Vi|sit, to a near Relation in the Country, where he passed several Years in read|ing, teaching himself French, and stu|dying Husbandry philosophically: Then he engaged himself in a Farm and the Linen Manufacture, in the Ma|nagement of which, and reading, he has employed himself for several Years past, and where we shall now take our Leave of him for the Present.

His Acquaintance with Frances was accidental, and commenced, on his Part, as an Affair of Gallantry; but finding no Probability of Success, and being enamoured with her Writings, Conver|sation and Character, became, at last, a real and honourable Lover, but declin|ed Matrimony, for several Years, as she had no Fortune, and his Expecta|tions from his Father were much larger than they are likely to turn out: To which Consideration you may add his other Relations and Friends, whose In|terest he had great Prospects from, tho' 'tis probable he may, as he has hitherto been, be deceived in these too.

At length they married, and it would not be amiss, if the Reader, before he proceeded, should turn over to Letter ccxvi, where he will find the noblest and most rational Arguments given, for taking this Step, that ever justified an Action, which the World might deem imprudent; and if the Design of this Publication was merely to stamp a Cha|racter for my Friend, I need only print that Paper to his Praise: But as I am certain that the Publick will receive a very agreeable and improving Enter|tainment from the whole Collection, I shall detain them no longer from the Perusal of them, than while I sub|scribe myself, their unknown humble Servant.

The EDITOR.