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past, from the side of my aged nurseling, whom I so seldom leave, to the now frozen banks of Warwickshire's immortal stream; which, for the palm of poetic glory, vies, nay more than vies, with that of the Meles and the Mincio. Now, if you were a fellow of a college, you would probably most unpatriotically question at least the transcendency of the claim; but that is the scepticism of pedantry. I have observed that learning, freed from her spells by the power of genuine taste and sensibility, always allows it. I am afraid you do not love poetry enough to interest yourself in the question. Mrs Mompessan is the only instance I have ever met, where a strong understanding, a fine imagination, and a feeling heart, have not been poignantly alive to its charms. You, of all people, you to be this provoking unique, who, in history, chronology, memoir, and moral philosophy, are an absolute walking library! In the ordinarily furnished bosom, I expect to find a torpedo of this sort-but in yours! I am certainly very sweet-tempered not to lose my patience. Adieu !

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LETTER XXIII.

To MRS KNOWLES.

Coleshill, eight o'clock, Jan. 19, 1786.

I INTENDED long since to have acknowledged your last welcome letter, rich in the treasures of wit, and exhaustless fancy; but our purposes,

"Th' inaudible and pauseless foot of time

Steals, ere we can effect them."

I am returning home to my poor father, after an absence of three weeks, which I meant should have been only one. The good accounts I received of his precious, though feeble health, made me unable to resist the persuasions of the charming family I have left, to prolong my stay on the frozen banks of the Avon till this inauspicious morning, which slowly broke through the sleet and snows that have covered my chaise in a dreary journey; and here have I been waiting some hours for the arrival of post-horses, to convey me to the dear paternal arms.

At Buxton, August twelvemonth, I became acquainted with Mrs Granville of Calwich, once

past, from the side of my aged nurseling, whom I so seldom leave, to the now frozen banks of Warwickshire's immortal stream; which, for the palm of poetic glory, vies, nay more than vies, with that of the Meles and the Mincio. Now, if you were a fellow of a college, you would probably most unpatriotically question at least the transcendency of the claim ; but that is the scepticism of pedantry. I have observed that learning, freed from her spells by the power of genuine taste and sensibility, always allows it. I am afraid you do not love poetry enough to interest yourself in the question. Mrs Mompessan is the only instance I have ever met, where a strong understanding, a fine imagination, and a feeling heart, have not been poignantly alive to its charms. You, of all people, you to be this provoking unique, who, in history, chronology, memoir, and moral philosophy, are an absolute walking library! In the ordinarily furnished bosom, I expect to find a torpedo of this sort-but in yours!—I am certainly very sweet-tempered not to lose my patience. Adieu !

LETTER XXIII.

To MRS KNOWLES.

Coleshill, eight o'clock, Jan. 19, 1786.

. I INTENDED long since to have acknowledged your last welcome letter, rich in the treasures of wit, and exhaustless fancy; but our purposes,

"Th' inaudible and pauseless foot of time

Steals, ere we can effect them."

I am returning home to my poor father, after an absence of three weeks, which I meant should have been only one. The good accounts I received of his precious, though feeble health, made me unable to resist the persuasions of the charming family I have left, to prolong my stay on the frozen banks of the Avon till this inauspicious morning, which slowly broke through the sleet and snows that have covered my chaise in a dreary journey; and here have I been waiting some hours for the arrival of post-horses, to convey me to the dear paternal arms.

At Buxton, August twelvemonth, I became acquainted with Mrs Granville of Calwich, once

Harriet Delebere, the favourite friend of your heroic Jenny Harry, and worthy to have been so, for her mind is amiable, as her person is lovely; with her husband, a sensible and excellent man, who, for a large estate, has lately resigned the name of his fathers; and with his brother, Mr Dewes of Wellsburn, near Warwick, in whose house I have passed the last three weeks. This gentleman is a little thin valetudinarian bachelor, with the complexion and air of a Frenchman; polite, learned, intelligent, sincere, and pious. He has travelled, and been much in various and polished societies. I was invited to his villa, the abode of belles-lettres and the arts, to meet Mr and Mrs Granville, and his second brother, Mr B. Dewes, with their respective children. Mr B. Dewes has lost his lady. Christmas entertainments with the surrounding families; a regular morning concert, during two hours, between the three brothers, all musical, and performing on different instruments, with their friend, Mr Williams, the clergyman of the village, who plays a fine bass-viol; reading aloud from the poetic stores the remainder of the mornings, and in those evenings when we had no visitors; speeded the wintry hours of the day and night on smooth and rapid pinion. I took with me Cowper's Task, the first very distinguished fire of a star lately

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