LETTER SIR, WE at it. CCCLXXIV. E returned your riddle by Mr. Symmons last night. We have all gueffed The witty Mrs. Aynfton* fays it is a fighting Mr. Harcourt, will appear by the following article: "Tuesday "morning, John Trevor, efq. youngest fon of the late Lord “Trevor, was married to Miss Steele, daughter of the late Sir "Richard Steele, knt. a young lady of fine accomplishments, "and very confiderable fortune." The Univerfal Spectator, June 3, 1732.-The degree of confanguinity between Mr. Trevor and the Marlborough family will appear by the following extract from the fame paper: "On Tuesday the Right Hon. "the Earl of Sunderland was married to Mifs Trevor, the only "daughter of the Right Hon. the Lord Trevor, an agreeable 66 young lady of 20,000l. fortune. The ceremony was per"formed at the Lord Trevor's feat at East Barnet." Ibid. May" 27, 1732.-The duel was between Mr. Philips and Mr. Harcourt; but I find no particulars of it in print.“ Two fools,” Lady Trevor has been often heard to say, "fought a battle for me at Lanfdown; for which reafon I would marry neither of "them." By the way, a mistake may here be corrected in Collins's Peerage, where Mr. Trevor's marriage is said to have been “May 31, 1731;" instead of “May 30, 1732.” * Steele's natural-daughter, by a relation of Tonfon the book. feller. She was a great favourite with her father; and, by every reprefentation we have heard, very deservedly fo. Steele had bestowed on her a molt accomplished education, and had once thought of giving her in marriage to Richard Savage, the illegitimate, unfortunate, imprudent, and vicious fon of Lord Rivers, with a fortune of a thousand pounds. But the ingratitude and ill-conduct of this profligate man, alienated the affection of his zealous and difinterested benefactor; and, it may be, fome dislike on the part of the Lady herself concurred with the untoward circumstances of her father, to fruftrate effectually this generous purpose. I fhall only add here, that her name was Elizabeth, $ 3 the fighting-cock; the ingenious Mrs. Beyans calls it a cock fight; the learned Mrs. Harris pronounces it a bee; but I, who have more fenfe than either of them, am very pofitive that it is the gentleman-ufher of the black rod. They exult mightily in their great fkill; but I do not doubt but that you are of the fame mind with your INFAL. CCCLXXV. Addreffed to a YOUNG LADY who had been abfent from Home. By Mrs. AYNSTON †. W ELCOME, dear Nymph, thrice welcome to your home, Your tender brothers joy to fee you come; They the fame as that of her eldeft legitimate fifter, which may have occafioned fome ambiguity in the reports of their various histories. In the following pages two flight fpecimens of Mrs. Aynfton's poetry will be given, with a more particular account of her, communicated by her grandfon. Thefe lines were written to Mifs Tonfon, afterwards the lady of Sir William Baker. See Letter CCCLXXIV.-Sir Richard, foon after his marriage with Mifs Scurlock, defired, if the was not engaged, the would accompany him on a vifit he intended making in the afternoon. The carriage was ordered, and, without acquainting his wife to whom the vifit was defigned, they drove to a boardingfchool in the environs of London, where they alighted, and prefently a young lady made her appearance, to whom Steele fhewed the greatest fondnefs, infomuch that his wife asked him, "if the " child was his ?" On his acknowledging that she was ;`“ then,” faid the Lady, "I beg the may be mine too." "She was accordingly taken home, and treated as their own; but, by the order of They joy to fee your charms by health renew'd; Which fprightly charms, no doubt, have hearts fubdued: But, if you 've brought them back your own dear heart, Let them figh on, nor once regard their moan, But that indeed's a fentence too fevere; For where can matchless merit find a peer? Good-fenfe, good-nature, and good-manners join'd. of the miftrefs of the family, fhe was called Mifs OUSLEY. In procefs of time he became the companion of their eldest daughter, Mifs E. Steele, who, piqued at the attention paid by her father and mother to Mifs Oufley, could not help fhewing it now and then in her behaviour to her companion; which was the reason fhe afterward gave for marrying a Mr. Aynfton, a worthy, reipectable man, who lived on a little patrimony at Amely near Hereford, and was concerned in a glove-manufactory there. Though this marriage was with the approbation of Sir Richard, Mr. Aynfton was not by any means a man whofe education and fituation in life was likely to be the choice of a young woman bred up as Mifs Ousley had been; yet, in point of circumstances, much more fo than if she had become the wife of Savage. Whether the reafon affigned for marrying Mr. Aynfton were real or imaginary, may be doubted, for Mils Steele never spoke of it without feeming to ridicule it, nor mentioned her husband without evident mark of diflike. To her fifter the continued every poffible token of friendfhip and tenderness after Sir Richard's death; and Mrs. Aynfton conftantly spent a few months with her every year. During one of thefe vifits to her in London the unfortunately died almost fuddenly. But her friend's regard ended not here; Mrs. Aynfton left an only daughter, whom Lady Trevor had taken under her protection fome time be fore the mother's death, and who continued the infeparable companion and intimate friend of her benefactress to the last moment of her Ladyfhip's life. When fuch a youth you meet, propitious be: May fuch, and only such, be blest with thee! CCCLXXVI. On receiving an Invitation from a YOUNG LADY, to vifit her in the Country. By the SAME. ENJOY, dear Nymph, thy fweet retreat, Nor think of one forlorn, Whose pleasure yet was ne'er compleat; But, fince you condefcend to fay * Mrs. Aynfton's daughter, afterwards Mrs. Thomas. See P. 263. † Near Hereford, Mrs. Aynfton's place of refidence. To CCCLXXVII. To the QUEEN's Moft Excellent Majesty*, The Humble Petition of CHARLES GILDON, SHEWETH, [1707.] HAT your Petitioner has, by an unhappy mistake, and not by any malicious defign THE against *This petition, in behalf of a brother Author under profecution for a libel, is in Steele's hand-writing. The pamphlet alluded to has never fallen within our notice; but the date may be pretty nearly ascertained by a reference to the Journals of the Houfe of Commons, for March 1705-6, vol. XV. p. 189; and the circumstances of the "high offence" are thus illuftrated by Macpherson: "Though the remaining part of the feffion was “distinguished with no business of importance, the animofities be"tween the two parties filled every debate with altercation and "noife. The people without doors were not difinterested specta"tors of the tranfactions within. They were roufed with libels and pamphlets, which zealots, on both fides, poured daily from "the prefs; and they fuffered themselves, as ufual, to be deceived "by the defigning, or inflamed by the violent and weak. Among "the publications concerning the proposed invitation of the pre"fumptive heir of the crown to England, one commanded the at"tention and incurred the cenfure of parliament. Sir Rowland “Gwynn, a busy, selfish, forward, and intriguing man; violent "in his principles, suspicious through weakness, deceiving others, "and, perhaps, deceived himself, by feeing objects through the muddy medium of a clouded understanding, had repaired to the "court of Hanover to gain the favour of the electoral family, by alarming their fears concerning the fucceffion of the British "crowns. Upon the fubject of the invitation to the Princefs So"phia, Gwynn wrote a letter to the Earl of Stamford, which "found its way to the prefs. This ill-worded, unmeaning, and "confused performance, though it feemed to approve of the prin"ciples of the Whigs, feverely cenfured that party for refufing "" their |