which was not till the third Day after this melancholy Accident, his Body was found entire, and without any Marks of Violence upon it, exactly in the fame Pofture that he fell, and looking more like a Man afleep than dead. During all this time my Mother and I were at Mifenum. But as this has no Connection with your History, fo your Enquiry went no farther than concerning my Uncle's Death; with that therefore I will put an End to my Letter: Suffer me only to add, that I have faithfully related to you what I was either an Eye-witness of myfelf, or received immediately after the Accident happen'd, and before there was time to vary the Truth. You will chufe out of this Narrative fuch Circumftances as fhall be most suitable to your Purpose; for there is a great Difference between what is proper for a Letter, and an History; between writing to a Friend, and writing to the Public. Farewel.

LETTER VIII.

PLINY to ROMANUS FIR MUS.

S you are my Countryman, my Schoolfellow, and the earliest Companion of my Youth: as there was the ftricteft Friendship between my Mother and Uncle, and your Father; a Happiness which I alfo enjoy'd as far as the great Inequality of our Ages would admit: can I fail (biaffed as I am towards your Intereft by fo many ftrong and weighty Reafons) to contribute all in my Power to the Advancement of your Dignity? The Rank you bear in our Province as a Decurio, is a Proof that you are poffeffed at least of a hundred thousand Sefterces; but that we may also have the Pleafure of feeing you a Roman Knight, give me leave to present you with three hundred thoufand, in order to make up the Sum requifite to entitle you to that Dignity. The long Acquaintance we have had, leaves me no room to doubt you will ever be forgetful of this Inftance of my Friendship. And I need not advise you (what if I did not know your Difpofition I fhould) to enjoy this Honour with the Modefty that becomes one who received it from me; for the Dignity we poffefs by the good Offices of a Friend, is a kind of facred Truft, wherein we have his Judgment, as well as our own Character to maintain, and therefore to be guarded with peculiar Attention. Farewel.

LET

LETTER IX.

PLINY to MAXIMUS:

THINK I may claim a Right to afk the fame Services Friends, as I would offer to yours if I were in your Station. Arrianus Maturius is a Perfon of great Eminence among the Altinates. When I call him fo, it is not with refpect to his Fortunes (which however are very corfiderable;) it is in view to the Purity, the Integrity, the Prudence, and the Gravity of his Manners. His Counsel fteers me in my Affairs, and his Judgment directs me in my Studies; for Truth; Honour and Knowledge, are the fhining Qualities which mark his Character. He loves me (and I cannot express his Affection in ftronger Terms) with a Tenderness equal to yours. As he is a Stranger to Ambition, he is contented with remaining in the Equestrian Order, when he might eafily have advanced himself into a higher Rank. It behoves me however to take care his Merit be rewarded with the Honours it deferves; and I would fain without his Knowledge or Expectation, and probably too contrary to his Inclination, add to his Dignity. The Poft I would obtain for him fhould be fomething very honourable, and yet attended with no Trouble. I beg when any thing of that Nature offers you would think of him; it will be an Obligation, which both he and I fhall ever remember with the greatest Gratitude. For tho' he has no afpiring Wishes to fatisfy, he will be as fenfible of the Favour as if he had received it in confequence of his own Defires. Farewel.

LETTER X.

PLINY to CATILIUS.

Accept of your Invitation to Supper, but I muft make this Agreement before-hand, that you difmifs me foon, and treat me frugally. Let our Entertainment abound only in philofophical Converfation, and even that too with ModeThere are certain Midnight Parties, which Cato himfelf could not fafely fall in with: tho' I must confefs at the same

I 2

time,

time, that 7. Cæfar when he reproaches him upon that Head, exalts the Character he endeavours to expofe; for he describes those Persons who met this reeling Patriot, as blushing when they difcovered who he was; and adds, you would have thought that Cato had detected them, and not they Cato. Could he place the Dignity of Cato in a ftronger Light than by reprefenting him thus venerable even in his Cups? As for ourselves nevertheless, let Temperance not only speak our Table, but regulate our Hours: for we are not arrived at fo high a Reputation, that our Enemies cannot cenfure us but to our Honour. Farewel.

LETTER XI.

PLINY to TITIANUS.

WHAT are you doing? And what do you purpose to do? As for myself, I pafs my Life in the moft agreeable, that is, in the moft difengaged manner imaginable. I do not find myself therefore, in the Humour to write a long Letter, tho' I am to read one. I am too much a Man of Pleasure for the former, and juft idle enough for the latter: for none are more indolent, you know, than the voluptuous, or have more Curiofity than thofe who have nothing to do. Farewel.

LETTER XII.

To Monfieur DE LION NE at Rome.

SIR,

TH

HO' no Man treated me fo ill at Rome as yourself; and I muft place to your Account fome of the moft difagreeable Hours I paffed in all my Travels; yet be affured I never faw any Perfon in my Life that I had fo ftrong an Inclination to revifit, or to whom I would more willingly do the best Services in my Power. It is not very ufual to gain a Man's Friendship, at the fame time that one ruins his For

tune.

tune. This Succefs however you have had, and your Advantage was so much more confiderable than mine in all Refpects, that I had not the Power to defend myself against you in either of those Inftances, but you won both my Money and my Heart at the fame time. If I am fo happy as to find a Place in yours, I fhall efteem that Acquifition as an Over-balance to all my Loffes, and fhall look upon myfelf as greatly a Gainer in the Commerce that paffed between us. Tho' your Acquaintance, indeed, haft coft me pretty dear, I do not by any means think I have paid its full Value, and I would willingly part with the fame Sum to meet with a Man in Paris of as much Merit as yourself. This being the literal Truth, you may be well affured, Sir, that I fhall omit nothing in my Power to preferve an Honour I fo highly efteem; and that I fhall not very easily give up a Friend whom I purchased at so dear a Price. I have accordingly performed every thing you defired in the Affair about which you wrote to me; as I fhall obey you with the fame Punctuality in every other Inftance that you fhall command me. For I am with all the Affection that I ought,

Sir, Your, &c.

VOITURE.

LETTER XIII.

To the Marchionefs de RAMBOUILLET.

MADAM,

S

INCE I had the Honour of feeing you, I have fuffer'd greater Pains than I am able to exprefs. Still however, I did not forget to execute your Commands; and in paffing by Efpernay I attended, as your Proxy, the Funeral of the Marefchal Strozzi. His Tomb appear'd to me fo magnificent, that in the Condition I was in, and finding myself ready conveyed thither, I had a moft violent Inclination to be buried with him. But they made fome Difficulty of complying with my Propofal, as they found I had ftill some remaining Warmth left in me. I refolved therefore to have my

I 3

Body

Body tranfported to Nancy; where at length, Madam, it is arrived, but fo lean and worn out, that believe me, many a Corpfe is interr'd that is much lefs fo. Tho' I have been already here these eight Days, I have not yet been able to recover my Strength, and the longer I repofe, the more I find myself fatigued. In Truth I perceive fuch an infinite Difference between that Fortnight which I had the Honour of paffing with you, and the fame Space of Time which I have fpent fince, that I am aftonish'd how I have been able to fupport it; and I look upon myself and Monfieur Margonne, who teaches School in this Place, as two the most wretched Inftances in the World of the Inconftancy of Fortune. I am every Day attacked with a Shortness of Breath, and fainting Fits, without being able to meet with the leaft Drop of Treacle; and I am more indifpofed than ever I was in all my Life, in a Place where I cannot be fupplied with a proper Medicine. Thus, Madam, I much fear that Nancy will be as fatal to me as it was to the Duke of Bourgogne, and that after having like him, efcaped the greatest Dangers, and refifted the moft powerful Enemies, I am deftin❜d to end my Days in this Town. I shall struggle however against that Misfortune as much as poffible; for I muft confefs I am extremely unwilling to leave the World, when I reflect that I fhall by that means never have the Honour of feeing you again. Í fhould indeed exceedingly regret, that after having escaped Death by the Hands of the most amiable Woman in the Univerfe, and miffed fo many glorious Occafions of expiring at your Feet; I should come here at laft to be buried three hundred Leagues from your Prefence, and have the Mortification when I rife again, of finding myfelf once more in Lorrain.

I am, MADAM,

Your, &c.

VOITURE.

LET