man as Carter, a carrier, inning at the Bear and Ragged Staff in Smithfield, nor any one there ever heard of such a person; by which I ghess that some body has deceiv'd you with a counterfeited name. Yet my obligations are the same; and the favour shall be always own'd by, I HAVE reason to be pleas'd with writeing to you, because you are daily giveing me occasions to be infra dioc. Norwicensem, et alibi in diversis locis infra regnum Angliæ, multæ naves perierunt." Letter from Archdeacon Tanner to Dr. Arthur Charlett, August 11, 1709. Mss. Ballard. in Bibl. Bodl. iv. 52. 1 Our author sometimes spells his kinswoman's name Steward, and at others Stewart. I have followed the former mode, her husband's name being sa written in the London Gazette, when he was appointed Sheriff of the county of Northampton; and Mrs. Steward, I have been informed, always adhered to that orthography. pleas'd. The present which you made me this week, I have receiv'd; and it will be part of the treat I'am to make to three of my friends about Tuesday next: my cousin Driden,' of Chesterton, having been also pleas'd to add to it a turkey hen with eggs, and a good young goose; besides a very kind letter, and the news of his own good health, which I vallue more than all the rest; he being so noble a benefactor to a poor and so unundeserveing a kinsman, and one of another persuasion in matters of religion. Your enquiry of his welfare, and sending also mine, have at once oblig'd both him and me. I hope my good cousin Stewart will often visite him, especially before hunting goes out, to be a comfort to him in his sorrow for the loss of his deare brother,' who was a most extrordinary well-natur'd man, and much my friend. Exercise, I know, is my cousin Driden's life, and the oftner he goes out will be the better for his health.-We poor Catholiques daily expect a most severe Proclamation to come out against us; and at the same time are John Driden, Esq. his cousin-german. • See our author's Epistle to this gentleman: "With crowds attended of your ancient race, "You seek the champagne sports or sylvan chace," &c. Probably Bevil Driden, who died about this time. This severe Proclamation appeared in the London Gazette, No. 3476, Monday, March 6, 1698-9. It enjoined all Popish Recusants to remove to their respective places of abode; or if they had none, to the dwellings of satisfyed that the King is very unwilling to persecute us, considering us to be but an handfull, and those disarm'd; but the Archbishop of Canterbury is our heavy enemy, and heavy indeed he is in all respects.' This day was play'd a reviv'd comedy of Mr. Congreve's, call'd THE DOUBLE DEALER, which was never very takeing. In the play-bill was printed "Written by Mr. Congreve; with severall expressions omitted." What kind of expressions those were, you may easily ghess, if you have seen the Monday's Gazette, wherein is the King's order for the reformation of the stage: but the printing their fathers or mothers; and not to remove five miles from thence and it charged the Lord-Mayor of London, and all other Justices of Peace, to put the statute 1 William and Mary, c. 9. for amoving papists ten miles from London and Westminster, into execution, by tendering them the declaration therein mentioned; and also another Act of William and Mary, for disarming papists. Dr. Thomas Tennison, who succeeded to the See of Canterbury in 1694, on the death of Tillotson. He is thus sarcastically described by William Shippen, in FACTION DISPLAYED, a poem written a few years afterwards: "A pause ensued, till PATRIARCHO's grace "Was pleas'd to rear his huge unwieldy mass ; "A mass unanimated with a soul, "Or else he'd ne'er be made so vile a tool: an authour's name in a play-bill is a new manner of proceeding, at least in England.-When any So also Edmund Smith, in his elegant Ode,-CHAR. LETTUS PERCIVALLO SUO: "Scribe securus, quid agit Senatus, "Quid caput stertit grave Lambethanum, ་ Quid comes Guilford, quid habent novorum Yet Tennison's Review of Bacon's writings, which was published about twenty years before the date of this letter, is a judicious and useful tract, and ought to be prefixed every edition of his works, instead of Mallet's florid and empty Life of that great philosopher. to The London Gazette, No. 3474, Monday, Feb. 27, 1698-9, contains the Order alluded to: "His Majesty has been pleased to command that the following Order should be sent to both Playhouses: "His Majesty being informed that, notwithstanding an Order made the 4th of June, 1697, by the Earl of Sunderland, then Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold, to prevent the profaneness and immorality of the Stage, several plays have lately been acted, containing expressions contrary to religion and good manners: And whereas the Master of the Revels has represented, that, in contempt of the said Order, the Actors do often neglect to leave out such profane and indecent expressions as he has thought proper to be omitted: These are therefore signify his Majesties pleasure, that you do not hereafter presume to act any thing in any play, contrary to religion and good manners, as you shall answer it at your utmost peril. Given under my hand this 18th of February, 1698, in the eleventh year of his Majesties reign. to "PERE. BERTIE. An Order has been likewise sent by his Majesties VOL. I. PART II. g papers of verses in manuscript, which are worth your reading, come abroad, you shall be sure of them; because, being a poetess yourself, you like those entertainments. I am still drudging at a book of Miscellanyes,' which I hope will be well enough; if otherwise, threescore and seven may command, to the Master of the Revels, not to licence any plays containing expressions contrary to religion and good manners; and to give notice to the Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold, or in his absence, to the Vice-Chamberlain, if the players presume to act any thing which he has struck out." To this accomplished lady may be applied the following spirited lines in our author's Ode on Mrs. Anne Killigrew, who, like her, cultivated the sister-arts of Poesy and Painting: "Born to the spacious empire of the Nine, "One would have thought, she should have been content "To manage well that mighty government ; "But what can young ambitious souls confine? "Thus nothing to her genius was deny'd; "And her bright soul broke out on every side." Poetry seldom affords an image more happily illustrative than this. Our author evidently had a sky-rocket in his thoughts; which he has dignified, by avoiding the common and familiar terin. s His FABLES. "Our author here refers to his last birth-day in 1698, |