Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/102

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 B. iv. APML, ma.

by the study of Akenside, and, above all, of Shakespeare and Milton."

In the April number the review of ' Poems, Sacred and Moral,' by Thomas Gisborne, may be by Southey. The defence of Stoicism, of the system of Epictetus and Antoninus, against the misrepresentation of the poet, would be in keeping with Southey' s discipleship to these moralists :

" Twelve years ago I carried Epictetus in my pocket, till my very heart was ingrained -with it, as a pig's bones become red by feeding him upon madder. And the longer I live, and the more I learn, the more am I convinced that Stoicism, properly understood, is the best and noblest system of morals .... Books of morals are seldom good for anything ; the stoical books are an exception." ' Select Letters,' ed. Warter, i. 400.

And the writer is put down at last with the familiar phrases :

" This volume, on the whole, is highly creditable to the abilities, and, what he himself will receive and we consider as the higher praise, to the intentions of the author."

' Memoires Historiques de Stephanie - Louise de Bourbon Conti,' in the Appendix to vol. xxv. pp. 490-99, is by Southey (see Robberds, op. cit., i. 240). It is a sym- pathetic summary of a melancholy narra- tive : " Her consolation must be that there is a better world, and there must her hope be placed."

In May there are articles on Drake's ' Literary Hours ' and Isaac D' Israeli's ' Romances,' in both of which a considerable familiarity .is shown with Spanish and Portuguese literature. The kindly tone in both would not be unfavourable to the possibility of South ey's authorship, but there is not enough substance in them to speculate on.

The September number contains the admiring review of Landor's ' Gebir.' If we did not know that Southey had written it, there would be little to indicate its authorship. It co'nsists almost entirely of extracts. The comments are brief:

" The story of this poem is certainly ill chosen and not sufficiently whole ; and the language is frequently deficient in perspicuity. These are the faults of ' Gebir.' Of its beauties, our readers must already be sensible. They are of the first order ; every circumstance is displayed with a force and accuracy which painting cannot exceed.... We have read this poem repeatedly with more than common attention, and with far more than common delight."

JACOB ZEITLIN. University of Illinois.

(To be concluded.)

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF RICHARD EDWARDS, 1669-79.

(See 12 S. iii. I, 44, 81, 122, 161, 205, 244 r 262, 293, 323, 349, 377, 409, 439, 470, 498; iv. 39.)

LETTEII LXXX.

Thomas Pace to Richard Edwards^ (O.C 3636.).

[Thomas Pace was elected writer for Bengal on- Nov. 3, 1670, his securities being " Thomas Pace Senior of Battersea, gent., and Peter Decele of Norwich, vintner." He sailed to India in the East India Merchant, and reached Madras in 1671. Thence he was sent to Bengal,, and was employed at Balasor and HugH- In 1674 he was commended for his devotion to the Company's interest during the fire which partly consumed the factory at Balasor. In December, 1675, Mistress Mary Barker, " sent to be a wife for Mr. Thomas Pace," was permitted to sail to India in the Loyall Eagle* She travelled under the care of Mrs. Cole, who went out with her three daughters to join her husband Bobert Cole, a dyer in the Company's service. However, when Mary Barker arrived in India she found that her affianced husband had died in Balasor in the September before her departure from England. Administration of the effects of Thornas Pace was granted to his father on Sept. 12, 1677. Mary Barker lost no time in replacing her dead bridegroom, for she married John Davis, also a servant of the Company, within six weeks of her arrival in India. See ' Court Minutes,' vol. xxyii. p. 66 j O.C. 3575 ; ' Factory Records,' Hugli, vol. iv.,. Fort St. George, vol. xxviii. ; Letter -Book,, vol. v. ; P.C.C. Admons.]

Ballasore May 3d 1672 Mr Richard Edwards. Worthy Friend.

I Gladly received your letter of the 22d Aprill this day, wherein I would have you think that ayry Excuse for not writeing might well have been Spared. Thatt you writt Att All was Enough to Satisfy my hopes As I lay no blame upon you, Therefore fancy not, you have in the lost Offended Ag[ainst friendship, And Question not if Joyfull ne [torn away] to bee received with Eagerness [the greater part of the next four lines is torn away].

Indeed to [torn away] was with longing desires Expected [torn away] I considered the person failing I[t] was Sufficiently Evinced that there was reason for the Failure.

Your Correspondence is really wished and thoug [sic] I may Administer to its Con- tinuance and Improvement, I leave it to- you, as you mentioned in yours, to propose.