with this reflection. The death of M. de Longueville, de Guitry, de Nogent, and of feveral others; the wounds of the Prince Royal, Marcillac, Vivonne, Monrevel, Thevel, Count de Saux, Termes, and of a thoufand unknown perfons, have given me a frightful idea of war. I cannot understand the paffage of the Rhine by fwimming. To throw themselves in on horfeback, like dogs after a ftag, and neither be drowned nor killed in landing, furpaffes my imagination fo far, that the very thought of it is like to turn my brain. God has hitherto preferved my fon; but how uncertain is the life of a foldier! Adieu, my dear coufin; dinner waits me." that one often makes feveral campaigns without drawing a fword, and one is often in a battle without feeing an enemy. For example, when one is in the fecond line, or in the rear-guard, and the first line decides the conteft, as it happened in the battle of Dunes, in 1658. In a field engagement, the officers of the horfe ran the greateft hazard; and, in a fiege, the officers of foot are a thousand times more expofed. But, to divert your fears on this head, I fhall relate a faying of Maurice Prince of Orange, told me by Marfhal Turenne: Young girls think a lover is always ready, (en état) and churchmen that a foldier's sword is always in his hand. The concern you have in the army has produced the melancholy reflections you fent me. If your fon Count de Buffy to Madame de Se- had not been there you would have vigny. you, Ma "Chafeu, June 26, 1672. HOW many think like dam, that military men only are mortal! The truth however is, that war only haftens the death of fome who might perhaps have lived a little longer. For my own part, I have been prefent on feveral pretty perilous occafions, without having received a fingle wound. My misfortunes proceed from another fource; and, to fpeak freely, I am better pleafed to live lefs happy, than not to live at all. Many men have been killed in their first encounter, and as many in their fecond : Cofil' bà voluto il fato. "Such was the will of fate." But I fee you all in alarm: let me therefore affure you, Madam, confidered the paffage of the Rhine without emotion: it would have appeared lefs a rash than a bold action; and, like a thousand others, would foon have been forgot. Believe me, my dear coufin, things in general are neither great nor little but as the mind makes them fo. The fwimming over the Rhine is a gallant action, but by no means fo wonderful as you fuppofe. Two thoufand horfe pafs over to attack four or five hundred: the two thoufand are fupported by a large army, and the king in perfon; while the four or five hundred are troops intimidated by the vigorous manner in which we began the campaign. Had the Dutch been braver, they might indeed have killed a few more men in that rencounter ; but that would have been all: they must at last have been overpowered by numbers. Had the Prince of Orange been on the other fide of the the Rhine with his army, I am apt to think we should not have attempted to swim over in oppofition to him if we had, the fuccefs would have been more doubtful. That, however, would have been no more than what Alexander did in paffing the Granicus. He made good his paffage with forty thonfand men, in fpite of a hundred thoufand that oppofed him. Had he failed, it is true, the attempt would have been branded with folly; and its fuccefs only has made it be confidered as the most gallant action in war." "Chafeu, August 16, 1674° I heard you were very ill, my dear coufin; and, being in pain for the event, I confulted an able physician in this neighbourhood on your cafe. He tells me that women of a full habit, like you, who continue really widows, and confequently undergo fome degree of felf-denial, are fubject to the vapours. This dispelled my apprehenfions of a more dangerous malady; for, in fhort, the remedy being in your own hands, I flatter myself you neither hate life so much as not to use it, nor will make any hesitation in chufing between a gal Madame de Sevigny to Count de lant and an emetic. Buly. Monjou, July 22, 1672. ALL your reafonings are juft, my dear Count. Nothing is more true, than that the event of war conftitutes a madman or a hero. If the Count de Guiche had been repulfed in paffing the Rhine, he would have fuffered univerfal difgrace, as he was only defired to examine if the river was fordable. He wrote that it was, although it really was not fo; and it is only because the paffage fucceeded that he is covered with glory. The faying of the Prince of Orange pleafes me much. I believe in faith it is true; and that the greater part of girls flatter themfelves-I fay not how far, on the point in question. As to the churchmen, my opinion was not entirely the fame with theirs, but it was very little different. You did well to undeceive me. I begin to breathe again." You ought, my dear coufin, to follow my prefcription; and fo much the more fo as you cannot fufpect me of any interested views : for though you fhould agree to put the remedy in practice, a hundred leagues diftance will furely free me from the imputation of selfishness.” Madame de Sevigny to Count de "Paris, Sept. 5, 1674. YOUR phyfician, who fays that my diforder is the vapours, and you, who propofe the method of cure, are not the firft who have advifed me to a certain remedy; but the fame reafon that hindered me from preventing thefe vapours by fuch means, hinders me from curing them. That difintereftedness which you would have me admire, in the counfel you give me, is not fo meritorious as it would have been when we were twenty years younger: then, indeed, one might have va Count de Buffy to Madame de Se- lued it: but a hundred leagues, vigny. perhaps, would not fo completely N 2 have have afcertained its reality. Be that as it may, however, I am refolved to fuffer; and fhould I fall a martyr to this malady, my death at leaft will be glorious, and you shall be intrufted with the care of my epitaph. "Chaseu, Oct. 19, 1675. I received your letter yesterday, Madam, which gives me the pleafure that your letters are wont to give me. Your neice is on the point of paffing the threshold; the will foon find what the feeks. A propos of feeking; this brings Madame de Sevigny to Count de to my mind the poor Chevalier de Buffy. "Rochers, Oct. 9. 1675. SO the marriage of Mademoiselle de Buffy is fettled. Believe me, I am very happy at it. I have received a hand fome compliment on the occafion from M. de Colligny. You have not failed, I perceive, to tell him that I am your relation, and that my approbation is a thing which at least will do him no hurt. A propos of that, I will relate an anecdote which I heard the other day. A boy being accufed before a juftice of having got a girl with child, defended himself by faying, May it please your worship, I own I have been there; but the child is not mine; for I am fenfible I did not hurt her.' Pardon me, coufin, for this impertinence; I was pleafed with the fimplicity of the lad's anfwer; and if you have got a little anecdote to contraft it, be not under any reftraint. But to return to M. de Colligny, it is certain that my approbation will do him no hurt. His letter appears to me very good fenfe: and the man who has occafion to pay a compliment of that kind, fo fimple and so juft, ought to have both wit and understanding. I with him to have thefe, and more, for the fake of my niece, whom I love." Count de Bully to Madame de Sevigny. Rohan, who meeting fomewhat late one evening, at Fountainbleau, Madame de **** alone, whom he paf fed in one of the galleries, he afked her what he fought. Nothing," faid the. By G-d, Madam!' replied he, I fhould not wish to have loft what you feek.' This, Madam, is my little anecdote. You defired me to be under no conftraint, and I have taken the liberty you gave me. I found your's truly laughable. This I may fay with frankness, and without being fufpected of compliment, unless to myfelf; for it requires wit to discern its delicate pleafantry." I He thus defcribes his reception at court after his long exile, which fhews how much the fentiments of men are influenced by circumftances; "When the King permitted me to return to court, he faid to me, in a most gracious manner, am glad to fee you; it is long fince we have seen each other.' It is, not less than seventeen years, Sire; but I am overjoyed that from my return and your condefcending affability to me, I may conclude that all my mifdemeanors are forgotten.' - Yes, Buffy, all: I have been difpleafed with you, but that has been over for fome time.'——— It would never have been fo, Sire, if you could have feen the inward ardour and refpect of my heart for your Majefty. The King with a fmile fqueezed my shoulder, and went "TH Mr. Sterne. HE first time I have dipped my pen in the ink horn for this week paft is to write to you, and to thank you moft fincerely for your kind epiftle. Will this be a fufficient apology for my letting it be ten days upon my table without anfwering it? I truft it will: I am fure my own feelings tell me fo; because I felt it impoffible for me to do any thing that is ungracious towards you. It is not every hour, or day, or week of a man's life, that is a fit feafon for the duties of friendship. Sentiment is not always at hand; pride and folly, and what is called bafinefs, oftentimes keep it at a distance; and, without fentiment, what is friendship-a name! a fhadow! But to prevent a mifapplication of all this (though why fhould I fear it from fo kind and gentle a fpirit as yours) you must know, that by careleffnefs of my curate, or his wife, or his maid, or fome one within his gates, the parfonage houfe at-was about a fortnight ago burnt to the ground, with the furniture which belonged to me, and a pretty good collec tion of books. The lofs about three hundred and fifty pounds. The poor man, with his wife, took the wings of the next morning and fled away. This has given me real vexation; for fo much was my pity and efteem for him, that, as soon as I heard of this difafter, I fent to defire he would come and take up his abode with me till another habita tion was ready to receive him : but he was gone, and, as I am told, through fear of my perfecution. Heavens! how little did he know me, to fuppofe I was among the number of those wretches that heap misfortune upon misfortune! and when the load is almost infupportable, ftill add to the weight. it to be true, that I wish rather to God, who reads my heart, knows fhare than to increase the burden of the miferable; to dry up instead of adding a fingle drop to the ftream of forrow. As for the dirty trash of this world,I regard it not! the lofs of it does not coft me a figh; for, after all, I may fay with the Spanish captain, that I am as good a gentleman as the king, only not quite fo rich-But to the point. Shall I expect you here this fum. mer? I much, with that you may make it convenient to gratify me in a vifit for a few weeks: I will give you a roaft fowl for your dinner, and tell you a ftory by way of deand a clean table cloth every day, fert. In the heat of the day, we will fit in the fhade, and in the evening the fairest of all the milk. maids, who pafs by my gate, fhall weave a garland for you. If I fhould not be to fortunate as to fee you here, do contrive to meet me here the beginning of October. I fhail tay there about a fortnight, and then feek a kindlier climate. This plaguy cough of mine feems to gain ground, and will bring me at laft to my grave, in fpite of all I can do; but while I have ftrength to run away from it, I will-I have been wrestling with it for these N 3 twenty twenty years paft; and, what with laughter and good fpirits, have prevented it giving me a fall; but my antagonist preffes closer than ever upon me, and I have nothing left on my fide but another abroad. Apropos, are you for a fceme of that fort? If not, perhaps you will be fo good as to accompany me fo far as Dover, that we may laugh together on the beach, to put Neptune in a good humour before I embark. God bless you. Adieu. Petition of the late Lord Chesterfield. that he has, at leaff, a common claim to fuch a penfion: he has a vote in the most auguft affembly in the world; he has an eftate that puts him above wanting it; but he has, at the fame time, (though he fays it) an elevation of fentiment, that makes him not only defire, but (pardon, dread Sir, an expreffion you are ufed to) infift upon it. That your petitioner is little apt, and always unwilling, to fpeak advantageously of himself; but as, after all, fome juftice is due to one's felf, as well as to others, he begs leave to reprefent, That his L. STERNE." loyalty to your majesty has always been unfhaken, even in the worst of times; that, particularly, in the late unnatural rebellion, when the pretender advanced as far as Derby, at the head of at least three thousand undifciplined men, the flower of the Scottish nobility and gentry, your petitioner did not join him, as unquestionably he might have done, had he been fo inclined; but, on the contrary, raised fixteen companies, of one hundred men each, at the public expence, in fupport of your majefty's undoubted right to the im To the KING's most excellent The humble Petition of PHILIP, Sheweth, HAT your Petitioner being Trendered, by deafness, as ufe lefs and infignificant as most of his equals and cotemporaries are by nature, hopes, in common with them, to fhare YourMajefty's royal favour and bounty; whereby he may be enabled either to fave or fpend, as he fhall think proper, more than he can do at prefent. That your petitioner having had the honour of ferving your majefty in feveral very lucrative employments, feems thereby entitled to a lucrative retreat from bufinefs, and to enjoy otium cum dignitate; that is, leifure and large penfion. Your petitioner humbly prefumes, perial crown of these realms; which diftinguished proof of his loyalty is, to this hour, unrewarded. Your majesty's petitioner is well aware, that your Civil Lift muft, neceffarily, be in a very low and languid ftate, after the various, frequent, and profufe evacuations, which it has of late years undergone; but, at the fame time, he prefumes to hope, that this argument, which feems not to have been made ufe of against any other perfon what foever, fhall not, in his fingle cafe, be urged against him; and the lefs fo, as he has good reafons |