“Thus far Lady Elizabeth’s own words.
“This, if required, I can solemnly attest was long before Mr Charles died; to the best of my remembrance it was in 1701 or 1702, I will not be positive which. But in 1703, Lady Elizabeth was seized with a nervous fever, which deprived her of her memory and understanding, (which surely may be termed a moral death,) though she lived some years after. But Mr Charles, in August 1704, was unhappily drowned at Windsor, as before recited. He had, with another gentleman, swam twice over the Thames; but venturing a third time, it was supposed he was taken with the cramp, because he called out for help, though too late.
I am, Sir, &c. Corinna.”
June 18, 1729.
Mr Charles Dryden’s Letter to Corinna.
’Madam,
’Notwithstanding I have been seized with a fever ever since I saw you last, I have this afternoon endeavoured to do myself the honour of obeying my Lady Chudleigh’s commands. My fever is still increasing, and I beg you to peruse the following verses, according to your own sense and discretion, which far surpasses mine in all respects. In a small time of intermission from my illness, I write these following:
Madam,
How happy is our British isle, to bear
Such crops of wit and beauty to the fair?
A female muse each vying age has blest,
And the last Phoenix still excels the rest:
But you such solid learning add to rhymes,
Your sense looks fatal to succeeding times;
Which, raised to such a pitch, o’erflows like Nile,
And with an after-dearth must seize our isle.
Alone of all your sex, without the rules
Of formal pedants, or the noisy schools,
(What nature has bestowed will art supply?)
Have traced the various tracts of dark philosophy.
What happy days had wise Aurelius seen,
If, for Faustina, you his wife had been!
No jarring nonsense had his soul oppressed,
For he with all he wished for had been blessed.