Search -
English humorists of the eighteenth century
English humorists of the eighteenth century Author:Richard Steele Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE TATLER MR. BICKERSTAFF ON HIMSELF No. 89.] THURSDAY, November 3, 1709. [steele.] Rura mihi placeant, riguique in evalllbus amnes, Flumina amem sy... more »lvasque inglorius Virg. Georg. ii. 485. My next desire is, void of care and strife, To lead a soft, secure, inglorious life: A country cottage near a crystal flood, A winding valley, and a lofty wood. HAVE received this short epistle from an unknown hand. " Sib, — I have no more to trouble you with, than to desire you would in your next help me to some answer to the inclosed concerning yourself. In the mean time I congratulate you upon the increase of your fame, which you see has extended itself beyond the bills of mortality." " Sir, — That the country is barren of news has been the excuse, time out of mind, for dropping a correspondence with our friends in London; as if it were impossible out of a coffee-house to write an agreeable letter. I am too ingenuous to endeavour at the covering of my negligence with so common an excuse. Doubtless, amongst friends, bred, as we have been, to the knowledge of books as well as men, a letter dated from a garden, a grotto, a fountain, a wood, a meadow, or the banks of a river, may be more entertaining than one from Tom's, Will's, White's, or Saint James's. I promise, therefore, to be frequent for the future in my rural dates to you. But for fear you should, from what I have said, be induced to believe I shun the commerce of men, I must inform you, that there is a fresh topic of discourse lately arisen amongst the ingenious in ourpart of the world, and is become the more fashionable for the ladies giving into it. This we owe to Isaac Bickerstaff, who is very much censured by some, and as much justified by others. Some criticise his style, his humour, and his matter; othe...« less