use to visit him after dinner, for he dines too late for my head:  then I went to visit poor Congreve, who is just getting out of a severe fit of the gout; and I sat with him till near nine o’clock.  He gave me a Tatler[9] he had written out, as blind as he is, for little Harrison.  It is about a scoundrel that was grown rich, and went and bought a coat of arms at the Herald’s, and a set of ancestors at Fleet Ditch; ’tis well enough, and shall be printed in two or three days, and if you read those kind of things, this will divert you.  It is now between ten and eleven, and I am going to bed.

14.  This was Mrs. Vanhomrigh’s daughter’s[10] birthday, and Mr. Ford and I were invited to dinner to keep it, and we spent the evening there, drinking punch.  That was our way of beginning Lent; and in the morning Lord Shelburne, Lady Kerry, Mrs. Pratt, and I, went to Hyde Park, instead of going to church; for, till my head is a little settled, I think it better not to go; it would be so silly and troublesome to go out sick.  Dr. Duke[11] died suddenly two or three nights ago; he was one of the wits when we were children, but turned parson, and left it, and never writ farther than a prologue or recommendatory copy of verses.  He had a fine living given him by the Bishop of Winchester[12] about three months ago; he got his living suddenly, and he got his dying so too.

15.  I walked purely to-day about the Park, the rain being just over, of which we have had a great deal, mixed with little short frosts.  I went to the Court of Requests, thinking, if Mr. Harley dined early, to go with him.  But meeting Leigh and Sterne, they invited me to dine with them, and away we went.  When we got into his room, one H——­, a worthless Irish fellow, was there, ready to dine with us; so I stepped out, and whispered them, that I would not dine with that fellow:  they made excuses, and begged me to stay; but away I went to Mr. Harley’s, and he did not dine at home; and at last I dined at Sir John Germaine’s,[13] and found Lady Betty but just recovered of a miscarriage.  I am writing an inscription for Lord Berkeley’s[14] tomb; you know the young rake his son, the new Earl, is married to the Duke of Richmond’s daughter,[15] at the Duke’s country house, and are now coming to town.  She will be fluxed in two months, and they’ll be parted in a year.  You ladies are brave, bold, venturesome folks; and the chit is but seventeen, and is ill-natured, covetous, vicious, and proud in extremes.  And so get you gone to Stoyte to-morrow.

16.  Faith, this letter goes on but slow; ’tis a week old, and the first side not written.  I went to-day into the City for a walk, but the person I designed to dine with was not at home; so I came back, and called at Congreve’s, and dined with him and Estcourt,[16] and laughed till six; then went to Mr. Harley’s, who was not gone to dinner; there I stayed till nine, and we made up our quarrel, and he has invited me to dinner to-morrow, which is the day of the week (Saturday) that Lord Keeper and Secretary St. John dine with him privately, and at last they have consented to let me among them on that day.  Atterbury and Prior went to bury poor Dr. Duke.  Congreve’s nasty white wine has given me the heart-burn.