is certain even my pain is more supportable than it was.  I shall now often visit Marble Hill; my time is become very much my own, and I shall see it without the dread of being obliged to sell it to answer the engagement I had put myself under to avoid a greater evil.  Mr. H[oward] took possession of body and goods, and was not prevailed upon till yesterday to resign the former for burial.  Poor Lord Suffolk took so much care in the will he made, that the best lawyers say it must stand good.  I am persuaded it will be tried to the uttermost.

“I have at this time a great deal of business upon my hands, but not from my Court employment.  You must take as a particular favour.  The Duchess of Queensberry shall hear from me soon:  she has a most extraordinary way of making her peace; but she does tell truth, and I told a lie when I said I hated her; for nothing is more true than that I love her most sincerely.  However, I put it into your hands to tell her what you think proper; and if she can but feel half for me that I should for her under the same circumstances, it will be punishment sufficient for what I have suffered from her neglect of me.  I shall certainly see Highclere this summer, and shall expect some people to meet me there.  I hope the chairs will be done, for I do not know whether I ought to expect to be preferred before them.  If you find her inclined to think me wrong in any particular, desire her to suspend her judgment till then; and if not to please me, to satisfy her own curiosity, she may come.  I have taken care of what you desired me.  I have done my best; I hope, for my sake, it will succeed well, for I shall be more concerned, I dare say, if it should not than you would be.”

JOHN GAY TO THE COUNTESS OF SUFFOLK.

  July 8th, 1731.

“Your letter was not ill-bestowed, for I found in it such an air of satisfaction that I have a pleasure every time I think of it.  I fancy (though by her silence she seems to approve of your Ladyship’s conduct) the Duchess will meet you at Highclere; for those that have a real friendship cannot be satisfied with real relations; they want to inquire into the minutest circumstances of life, that they may be sure things are as happy as they appear to be, and that is a curiosity that is excusable.

“I do not like lawsuits; I wish you could have your right without them, for I fancy there never was one since the world began, that, besides the cost, was not attended with anxiety and vexation.  But as you descended from lawyers,[5] what might be my plague, perhaps may be only your amusement.  Nobody but yourself hath let us know anything about you.  Judge, then, how welcome your ladyship’s letter was to me.  I find this change of life of yours is a subject that I cannot so well write upon; it is a thing that one cannot so well judge of in general.  But as for your Ladyship’s conduct in this juncture, my approbation goes for nothing, for all the world knows that I am partial.