You ask me, what I would answer in case any one should ask me a certain Question concerning You. In my Conscience, I should say, Yes; & the readier as I have had a Revelation about it: 'twas in a Dream that told me you had taken a Fancy to one of the four last Letters in the Alphabet. I think it can't be X, nor Z (for I know of no female Zeno, or Xenophon) it may be Y perhaps, but I have somehow a secret Partiality for W. am I near it, or no? by this Time I suppose, 'tis almost a done Thing. there is no struggling with Destiny, so I acquiesce. thus far only I should be glad to know with Certainty, whither it be likely [you] should continue in Statu Quo, till the Commencement (wch I dont conceive) for o[therwise] I should think it rather better for [T:] to give up his Pretensions with a good Grace, than to wait the Pleasure of those dirty Cubs, who will infallibly prefer the first that offers of their own People. but I submit this to your Judgement, who (as you first made him a Competitor) ought to determine at what Time he may most decently withdraw. I have some Uneasiness too on Brown's Account, who has sacrificed all his Interests with so much Frankness, & is still so resolute to do every Thing for us without Reserve, that I should see him with great Concern under the Paw of a fell Visitor, & exposed to the Insolence of that old Rascal, the Master. Tr:pe (if you remember) would engage himself no longer than the end of this Year? 'tis true he has never said any thing since, tending that Way; but he is not unlikely to remember it at a proper Time. and as to Sm:, he must necessarily be abîmé, in a very short Time. his Debts daily increase (you remember the State they were in, when you left us) Addison, I know, wrote smartly to him last Week; but it has had no Effect, that signifies. only I observe he takes Hartshorn from Morning to Night lately: in the mean time he is amuseing himself with a Comedy of his own Writeing, wch he makes all the Boys of his Acquaintance act, & intends to borrow the Zodiack Room, & have it performed publickly. our Friend Lawman, the mad Attorney, is his Copyist; & truly the Author himself is to the full as mad as he. his Piece (he says) is inimitable, true Sterling Wit, & Humour by God; & he can't hear the Prologue without being ready to die with Laughter. he acts five Parts himself, & is only sorry, he can't do all the rest. he has also advertised a Collection of Odes; & for his Vanity & Faculty of Lyeing, they are come to their full Maturity. all this, you see, must come to a Jayl, or Bedlam, & that without any help, almost without Pity. by the Way now I talk of a Jayl, please to let me know, when & where you would have me pay my own Debts.

Chapman (I suppose you know) is warm in his Mastership. soon after his Accession I was to see him: there was a very brillant (Cambridge) Assembly, Middleton, Rutherforth, Heberden, Robinson, Coventry, & various others. he did the Honours with a great Deal of comical Dignity, assisted by a Bedmaker in greasy Leather Breeches & a Livery, & now he is gone to Town to get Preferment. but what you'll wonder at & what delights me, Coventry is his particular Confident (tho' very disagreeably to himself) he can't open his Door, but he finds the Master there, who comes to set with him at all Hours, & brings his Works with him, for he is writeing a great Book on the Roman Constitution. well, upon the Strength of this I too am grown very great with Coventry, & to say the Truth (bateing his Nose, & another Circumstance, wch is nothing to me) he is the best Sort of Man in this Place. M:n has publish'd a small Oct:vo on the Roman Senate, well enough, but nothing of very great Consequence, & is now gone to be inducted into a Sine-Cure (not £100 a-Year) that Sr J: Frederick gave him. what's worse, for the Sake of this little nasty Thing (I am told) he is determined to suppress a Work, that would have made a great Noise, or publish it all mangled & disfigured, & this when he has (I am assured) near 700£ a-year of his own already, & might live independent, & easy, and speak his Mind in the Face of the whole World Clerical and Laïcal. such a Passion have some Men to lick the Dust, & be trampled upon. the Fellow-Com[mo]ners (the Bucks) are run mad, they set Women upon their Heads in the Streets at [noon] day, break open Shops, game in the Coffee-houses on Sundays, & in short act after my [own] Heart.

My Works are not so considerable as you imagine. I have read Pausania[s and Athe]næus all thro', & Æschylus again. I am now in Pindar & Lysias: for I take Verse and Prose together, like Bread & Cheese. the Chronology is growing daily. the most noble of my Performances latterly is a Pôme on the uncommon Death of Mr W:s Cat. wch being of a proper Size & Subject for a Gentleman in your Condition to peruse (besides that I flatter myself, Miss — will give her Judgement upon it too), I herewith send you. it won't detain you long.