CHAP, Hi.] ATTEMPT TO ISCAPE FROM LITERATURE.

lay beneath the greetings, was not to be concealed; else 1753.
had the words which cheerily rose above it been perhaps less
sincere. But see, and make profit of it,—how, depressed
by unavailing labours, and patiently awaiting the disastrous
issue of defeat and flight, he shows to the last a bright
and cordial happiness of soul, uneonquered and un-
conquerable.

" Dear Sir, I have heard it reniark'd," he begins (in a
letter also dated from the Temple coffee-house,* which
Mr. Prior obtained from Bryanton's son-in-law, the reverend
Doctor Handcock of Dublin, and in which, where the paper
is torn or has been worn away by time, there are several
erasures that the reader will easily supply),

" I believe by yourself, that they -who are drunk, or out of their
" wits, fancy every body else in the same condition: mine is a friend-
" ship that neither distance nor time can efface, which is probably the
u reason that, for the soul of me, I can't avoid thinking yours of the
" same complexion ; and yet I have many reasons for being of a con-
trary opinion, else why in so long an absence was I never made a
" partner in your concerns ? To hear of your successes would have
" given me the utmost pleasure ; and a communication of your very
" disappointments would divide the uneasiness I too frequently feel
" for my own. Indeed, my dear Bob, you don't conceive how unkindly
" you have treated one whose circumstances afford him few prospects
" of pleasure, except those reflected from the happiness of his friends.
" However, since you have not let me hear from you, I have in some
" measure disappointed your neglect by frequently thinking of you.
" Every day do I remember the calm anecdotes of your life, from the
" fireside to the easy-chair; recall the various adventures that first
" cemented our friendship,—the school, the college, or the tavern;
" preside in fancy over your cards; and am displeased at your bad
" play when the rubber goes against you, though not with all that
" agony of soul as when I once was your partner.

" Is it not strange that two of such like affections should be so much
" sepai'ated and so differently employed as we are 1 You seem placed

* August 14, 1758. paltry apology, excuse myself