four weeks: and if the Secretary takes a house there, I
shall be sometimes with him. But how affectedly Ppt talks of my being
here all the summer; which I do not intend: nor to stay one minute
longer in England than becomes the circumstances I am in. I wish you
would go soon into the country, and take a good deal of it; and where
better than Trim? Joe will be your humble servant, Parvisol your slave,
and Raymond at your command, for he piques himself on good manners. I
have seen Dilly's wife--and I have seen once or twice old Bradley(4)
here. He is very well, very old, and very wise: I believe I must go see
his wife, when I have leisure. I should be glad to see Goody Stoyte and
her husband; pray give them my humble service, and to Catherine, and to
Mrs. Walls--I am not the least bit in love with Mrs. Walls--I suppose
the cares of the husband increase with the fruitfulness of the wife. I
am grad at halt(5) to hear of Ppt's good health: pray let her finish it
by drinking waters. I hope DD had her bill, and has her money. Remember
to write a due time before ME money is wanted, and be good galls,
dood dallars, I mean, and no crying dallars. I heard somebody coming
upstairs, and forgot I was in the country; and I was afraid of a
visitor: that is one advantage of being here, that I am not teased with
solicitors. Molt, the chemist, is my acquaintance. My service to Dr.
Smith. I sent the question to him about Sir Walter Raleigh's cordial,
and the answer he returned is in these words: "It is directly after Mr.
Boyle's receipt." That commission is performed; if he wants any of it,
Molt shall use him fairly. I suppose Smith is one of your physicians.
So, now your letter is fully and impartially answered; not as rascals
answer me: I believe, if I writ an essay upon a straw, I should have a
shoal of answerers: but no matter for that; you see I can answer without
making any reflections, as becomes men of learning. Well, but now for
the peace: why, we expect it daily; but the French have the staff
in their own hands, and we trust to their honesty. I wish it were
otherwise. Things are now in the way of being soon in the extremes of
well or ill. I hope and believe the first. Lord Wharton is gone out of
town in a rage, and curses himself and friends for ruining themselves
in defending Lord Marlborough and Godolphin, and taking Nottingham into
their favour. He swears he will meddle no more during this reign; a
pretty speech at sixty-six, an