BC_1765_EMONTAGU_EV_1
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<Q A 1765 TC EV EMONTAGU> <X ELIZABETH MONTAGU> [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH VESEY. 1765 JUN 15. HUNTINGTON LIBRARY}] <P1> Sandleford y=e= 15=th= of june 1765 My dear Madam I imagine this will find you so busy in your sylpheries at Lucan you will hardly deign to look upon it. Some of your Cousins the zephyrs will be whispering (\des vrais douceurs\) through an orange tree to you; or your handmaids the Nairdes will be pointing out a crystal stream before you, or perhaps a wood nymph will have brought a basket of moss to adorn some favorite rock, & my poor letter will be thrown aside. I am not like a sylph ranging the air & commanding the elements, nor even like a Pastoraller, listening to the soft strains of a Corydin, but like the merest Country Gentleman you ever know & much unworthy to correspond with your divinity ship in the hallow'd bower of bliss at Lucan. I did not leave London till the 7=th= of june I found the Country, as Harlequin says, (^very green^) the air was soft, the birds were tunefull, & I rejoyced as one who had been long in populous City [\UNCLEAR/] at every rural sight, & rural sound. I resemble my favorites the dutch, in being well when I am not ill, pleased when I am not angry, & glad when I am not sorry, leaving (\les nuances\) in these matters to persons of finer feelings, or at least this is the disposition I wear in the Country <P2> No conversationes do I expeckt here, no stocking spun off the woof of philosophy. I have leisure & books, & if to these health & sunshine are added, I enjoy all I expect. I have lived entirely alone ever since I came hither, & I have had my health & eyes so good as not find any spirits fail, but the hours pass as those do chained to Auroras Car in the Picture of Guido, but of this peacefull life I cannot make you any amusement. It is impossible to transmit a Reverie, M=r= Bayes who could [\pen\] a whisper could not write a Reverie. If written it must be on the surface of a moving stream, where one part would vanish before the other appear'd, & each passing cloud threw a new tint upon it. However these reveries, the nightingale playing their symphony, & the stars or moon shedding soft uncertain light upon them, are very delightfull, & fun beyond the ordinary dull realities of life. How often had my imagination set sail for Ireland, & wafted me to Lucan; this reverie ended in a sigh, but I protest I think such an one as is preferable to any horselaugh that ever arose in the liberties of London & Westminster; so let my Lord Mayor of London, & the High Bailif of Westminster, take all the horse laughs as part of their Regalia. I envy them no more their broad mirth than I do their furr gowns on a midsummer day. I will own a horse laugh is very good to help to digest calipash & calipee, & all the green fat of Turtle, therefore at City feast be it ever served up! & grace the Grace <P3> cup that Toasts the City of London & the trade thereof. Let our spirits in absence gently meet in a sigh! as soon as you left London I was in a hurry to depart from it, no longer charm'd with a place where journey men Wearers mutiny through hunger, & journey men minister (for of late they are only hired by the day) rebell because they are waxed fat & full. I had the pleasure of Lord Lytteltons & S=r= James Macdonalds company [\two\] evenings after you left me. Lord Lyttelton is gone to Wolton & Stow I am inform'd. S=r= James Macdonald to the Country of Ossian for a few days, to see the zephirs sporting with the thistles beard, before he goes to the happy Lands where they play in Aromatick Groves. On the 22=d= of next month I am to go to Bullstrode for a few days. Lord Lytteltons new addition of Dialogue is come with four new ones which I am sure will charm you. I have not heard from our dear M=rs= Carter since I came hither. I sent her word of the nightingales you were transplanting to Ireland, & told her, I did not doubt but your gratefull Country would erect a Statue to you with a nightingale on your head, which I thought would Rival the Minerva of Athens. Indeed I like not the inflexible wise face of an Owl for a Woman, the bird that shuns the noise of folly is enough for [\WORD DELETED\] [\the fair/] , homely unpleasant & harsh wisdom should be left to the more boisterous sex. <P4> I have so much forgotten all I hear'd of the magnificence of the Birthday I cannot give you an account of it. Lady Northumberlands illuminations were very fine but tho the Kings birth [\day/] the Queens cradle (with the nursing Muses) was portray'd in a fine emblematica style, of which the gazeteer or chronicle will give you a better account than I can. My grey goose quill cannot soar to such sublime subjects. However you see Lady Northumberland (\ne boude pas\) . The ministers look very chagrin. The opposition not desponding. The people with expecting faces. I desire my best respects to M=rs= Delany & the Dean, & also to M=rs= Sandford & the Doctor when you see them, & pray tell M=rs= Delany I wish her joy of Lady Weymouths being Vice Reine of Ireland. Pray write to me often, & do not let M=r= Vesey & M=rs= Hancock forget me, assure them I am much their humble Servant. I do not know whether you have read (\l'expulsion des jesuites par\) M=r= d'alembert, if you have not, it is worth your reading. Prey persevere in D=r= Pringles prescription. [\&\] take care of your health for the sake of your friends, no one can be more tenderly [\interested\] in it than my dear Madam your most faithfull affectionate Humble Servant EMontagu