University of Virginia Library

Epistle II. To Clemens.

by Mr. Henley.

REGULUS has lost his Son; the only Evil he does not deserve, because I do not know, whether he thinks it an Evil. The Boy had an acute, but a doubtful Genius; yet one, that might pursue a right Path, if he did not resemble his Father. Regulus gave him a Manumission, that he might be his Mother's Heir; and, (as the common Report goes, founded upon the known Conduct of the Man) he wheedled him, after it, with a vile Dissimulation of Kindness unusual with Parents. This is scarcely credible, but consider it is Regulus. Yet on the Loss of him he mourns furiously. The Boy had a large set of Nags, some for Harness, others for Riding; he had a Kennel of Dogs, both of a larger and a lesser Size; a Parcel of Nightingales, Parrots and Black-birds; Regulus kill'd all of them about the Funeral Pile: This was not the Reality, but the Ostentation of Grief. The World gathers to him in a vast Concourse; they all curse and detest, but they run and resort to him as if they approv'd and lov'd him;

and to speak my Mind at once, to oblige Regulus, they copy him. He keeps himself in his Gardens, on the other side the Water, where a spacious Tract of Ground is taken up by Portico's immensly wide, as the Shore is by his Statues; as the Man is lavish in the midst of Avarice, and vain in the lowest Infamy. Thus he disturbs the Town in the most delightful of Times; and looks upon it as a Consolation, that he gives it the Trouble. He talks of marrying; this he does like all the rest, perversely enough. You will hear shortly the Match of this Mourner, this old Stager: In the former Respect unreasonable, in the latter, too late. Do you ask what Grounds I have for this Conjecture? Not because he affirms it himself, who is the falsest of Mankind, but because it is certain, that Regulus is inclined to do all that ought not to be undertaken.