_June_ 20, 1760.
I am obliged to you, Sir, for the volume of Erse poetry: all of it has
merit; but I am sorry not to see in it the six descriptions of night
with which you favoured me before, and which I like as much as any of
the pieces. I can, however, by no means agree with the publisher, that
they seem to be parts of an heroic poem; nothing to me can be more
unlike. I should as soon take all the epitaphs in Westminster Abbey, and
say it was an epic poem on the History of England. The greatest part are
evidently elegies; and though I should not expect a bard to write by the
rules of Aristotle, I would not, on the other hand, give to any work a
title that must convey so different an idea to every common reader. I
could wish, too, that the authenticity had been more largely stated. A
man who knows Dr. Blair's character will undoubtedly take his word; but
the gross of mankind, considering how much it is the fashion to be
sceptical in reading, will demand proofs, not assertions.
I am glad to find, Sir, that we agree so much on "The Dialogues of the
Dead;"[1] indeed, there are very few that differ from us. It is well for
the author, that none of his critics have undertaken to ruin his book
by improving it, as you have done in the lively little specimen you sent
me. Dr. Brown has writ a dull dialogue, called "Pericles and Aristides,"
which will have a different effect from what yours would have. One of
the most objectionable passages in Lord Lyttelton's book is, in my
opinion, his apologising for the _moderate_ government of Augustus. A
man who had exhausted tyranny in the most lawless and unjustifiable
excesses is to be excused, because, out of weariness or policy, he grows
less sanguinary at last!
[Footnote 1: "The Dialogues of the Dead" were by Lord Lyttelton. In an
earlier letter Walpole pronounces them "not very lively or striking."]
There is a little book coming out, that will amuse you. It is a new
edition of Isaac Walton's "Complete Angler,"[1] full of anecdotes and
historic notes. It is published by Mr. Hawkins,[2] a very worthy
gentleman in my neighbourhood, but who, I could wish, did not think
angling so very _innocent_ an amusement. We cannot live without
destroying animals, but shall we torture them for our sport--sport in
their destruction? I met a rough officer at his house t'other day, who
said he knew such a person was turning Methodist; for, in the middle of
conversation, he rose, and opened the window to let out a moth. I told
him I did not know that the Methodists had any principle so good, and
that I, who am certainly not on the point of becoming one, always did so
too. One of the bravest and best men I ever knew, Sir Charles Wager, I
have often heard declare he never killed a fly willingly. It is a
comfortable reflection to me, that all the victories of last year have
been gained since the suppression of the Bear Garden and prize-fighting;
as it is plain, and nothing else would have made it so, that our valour
did not singly and solely depend upon these two Universities. Adieu!
[Footnote 1: "The Complete Angler" is one of those rare books which
retain its popularity 250 years after its publication--not for the value
of its practical instructions to fishermen, for in this point of view it
is valueless (Walton himself being only a worm or livebait fisherman,
and the chapters on fly-fishing being by Cotton), but for its healthy
tone and love of country scenery and simple country amusements which are
seldom more attractively displayed.]
[Footnote 2: Afterwards Sir John Hawkins, the executor and biographer of
Dr. Johnson.]
_VISITS IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES--WHICHNOVRE--SHEFFIELD--THE NEW ART OF
PLATING--CHATSWORTH--HADDON HALL--HARDWICKE--APARTMENTS OF MARY QUEEN OF
SCOTS--NEWSTEAD--ALTHORP._