LETTER VII.

FROM JACOB TONSON TO JOHN DRYDEN, Esq.

SIR,

[Probably written in Jan. or Feb. 1692-3.]'

I HAVE here returned y Ovid, wch I read wth a great deal of pleasure, and think nothing can be more entertaining; but by this letter you find I am not soe well satisfied as perhaps you might think. I hope at y same time the matter of fact lay down in this letter will appear grounds for it, and wch I beg you wou'd concider of; and then I believe I shall at least bee excused.

You may please, S', to remember that upon my first proposal about y 3d Missellany, I offer'd fifty pounds, and talk'd of several authours, without naming Ovid. You ask'd if it shou'd not be guynneas, and said I shou'd not repent it; upon wch I imediately comply'd, and left it wholy to you what, and for y quantity too: and I declare it was the farthest in ye world from my thoughts that by leaving it to you I shoud have the less. Thus the case stood, when you went into Essex. After I came out of Northamptonshire I wrote to you, and reseived a Letter dated Monday Oct. 3o, 92,

4 The THIRD MISCELLANY, to which this letter seems to relate, was published in July, 1693. I suspect, when this letter was written, it had not yet appeared.

from wch letter I now write word for word what

followes :

"I am translating about six hundred lines, or "somewhat less, of y' first book of the Meta"morphoses. If I cannot get my price, wch shall "be twenty guynneas, I will translate the whole "book; wth coming out before the whole transla❝tion will spoyl Tate's undertakings. "Tis one of "the best I have ever made, and very pleasant. "This, wth Heroe and Leander, and the piece of "Homer, (or, if it be not enough, I will add more,) "will make a good part of a Missellany."

Those, S', are ye very words, and y" onely ones in that letter relating to that affair; and y monday following you came to town.-After your arrivall you shew'd Mr. Motteaux what you had done, (wh he told me was to ye end of ye Story of Daphnis,) [Daphne,] and demanded, as you mention'd in your letter, twenty guyneas, wch that bookseller refus'd. Now, S', I the rather believe there was just soe much done, by reason y number of lines you mention in yo' letter agrees wh y quantity of lines that soe much of y' first book makes; wch upon counting ye Ovid I find to be in y Lattin 566, in ye English 759; and y' Bookseller told me there was noe more demanded of him for it.-Now, S', what I entreat you wou'd please to consider of is this: that it is reasonable for me to expect at least as much favour from you as a strange bookseller; and I will never believe y' it can be in yo' nature to use one ye worse for leaveing it to you; and

if the matter of fact as I state it be true, (and upon my word what I mention I can shew you in yo' letter,) then pray, S', consider how much dearer pay then you offered it to y' other bookseller; for he might have had to y' end of y' Story of Daphnis for 20 guynneas, weh is in yo' translation

I

And then suppose 20 guyneas more

for the same number

759 lines;

759 lines,

that makes for 40 guyneas ...... 1518 lines; and all that I have for fifty guyneas are but 1446; soe that, if I have noe more, I pay 10 guyneas above 40, and have 72 lines less for fifty, in proportion, than the other bookseller shou'd have had for 40, at y' rate you offered him y' first part. This is, Sir, what I shall take as a great favour if you please to think of. I had intentions of letting you know this before; but till I had paid y' money, I would not ask to see y' book, nor count the lines, least it shou'd look like a design of not keeping my word. When you have looked over y rest of what you have already translated, I desire you would send it; and I own y' if you don't think fit to add something more, I must submit: 'tis wholly at yo' choice, for I left it intirely to you; but I believe you cannot imagine I expected soe little; for you were pleased to use me much kindlyer in Juvenall, wh is not reckon'd soe easy to translate as Ovid. S', I humbly beg yo' pardon for this long letter, and upon my word I had rather have yo' good will than any

ch

man's alive; and, whatever you are pleas'd to doe, will alway acknowledge my self, S',

Yo' most obliged humble Serv',

J. TONSON.

LETTER VIII.

TO MR. JACOB TONSON,'

MR. TONSON,

August 30. [1693.] I AM much asham'd of my self, that I am so much behind-hand with you in kindness. Above all things I am sensible of your good nature, in bearing me company to this place, wherein, besides the cost, you must needs neglect your own business; but I will endeavour to make you some amends; and therefore I desire you to command me something for your service. I am sure you thought my Lord Radclyffe wou'd have done something: I ghess'd more truly, that he cou'd not; but I was too far ingag'd to desist; though I was tempted to it, by the melancholique prospect I had of it. I have

The author was at this time in Northamptonshire. The particular place from which he writes, is not easily ascertained. It is not Oundle, nor Tichmarsh; nor was he at Canons-Ashby; for he was not on good terms with his kinsman, Sir Robert Driden.

The original has no date but August 30th; but the year is ascertained by the reference to the THIRD MISCELLANY, which was published in July, 1693.

6 To whom the THIRD MISCELLANY is dedicated.Some account of him may be found in vol. iii. p. 269.

translated six hundred lines of Ovid; but I believe I shall not compasse his 772 lines under nine hundred or more of mine.-This time I cannot. write to my wife, because he who is to carry my letter to Oundle, will not stay till I can write another. Pray, Sir, let her know that I am well; and for feare the few damsins shoud be all gone, desire her to buy me a sieve-full, to preserve whole, and not in mash.

I intend to come up at least a week before Michaelmass; for Sir Matthew is gone abroad, I suspect a wooeing, and his caleche is gone with him so that I have been but thrice at Tichmarsh, of which you were with me once. This dissappointment makes the place wearysome to me, which otherwise wou'd be pleasant.

About a fortnight ago I had an intimation from a friend by letter, that one of the Secretaryes, I suppose Trenchard,' had inform'd the Queen, that I had abus'd her Government, (those were the words) in my Epistle to my Lord Radcliffe; and that thereupon, she had commanded her Historiographer, Rymer, to fall upon my playes; which he assures me is now doeing. I doubt not his malice, from a former hint you gave me; and if he be employ'd, I am confident 'tis of his own secking; who, you know, has spoken slightly of me in his last

I have not been able to discover who was the person here meant. Our author writes perhaps from his house.

Sir John Trenchard, who was made one of the Secretaries of State, March 23, 1691-2, and held that office till his death, in April, 1695.