Sometimes he seems to have anticipated the fate of that obscure diligence which was pursuing discoveries reserved for others to use:—
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
| Fond treasurer of these stores, behold thy fate In Psalm the thirty-ninth, 6, 7, and 8. |
Sometimes he checks the eager ardour of his pen, and reminds himself of its repose, in Latin, Italian, and English.
| ————Non vi, sed sæpe cadendo. Assai presto si fa quel che si fa bene. Some respite best recovers what we need, Discreetly baiting gives the journey speed. |
There was a thoughtless kindness in honest Oldys; and his simplicity of character, as I have observed, was practised on by the artful or the ungenerous. We regret to find the following entry concerning the famous collector, James West:—
I gave above threescore letters of Dr. Davenant to his son, who was envoy at Frankfort in 1703 to 1708, to Mr. James West,[351] with one hundred and fifty more, about Christmas, 1746: but the same fate they found as grain that is sown in barren ground.
Such is the plaintive record by which Oldys relieved himself of a groan! We may smile at the simplicity of the following narrative, where poor Oldys received manuscripts in lieu of money:—
Old Counsellor Fane, of Colchester, who, in formâ pauperis, deceived me of a good sum of money which he owed me, and not long after set up his chariot, gave me a parcel of manuscripts, and promised me others, which he never gave me, nor anything else, besides a barrel of oysters, and a manuscript copy of Randolph’s poems, an original, as he said, with many additions, being devolved to him as the author’s relation.