died July 12, 1652. Dorothy would call him Arundel Howard, to
distinguish him from the Earl of Berkshire's family.


SIR,--You have made me so rich as I am able to help my neighbours. There
is a little head cut in an onyx that I take to be a very good one, and
the dolphin is (as you say) the better for being cut less; the oddness
of the figures makes the beauty of these things. If you saw one that my
brother sent my Lady Diana last week, you would believe it were meant to
fright people withal; 'twas brought out of the Indies, and cut there for
an idol's head: they took the devil himself for their pattern that did
it, for in my life I never saw so ugly a thing, and yet she is as fond
on't as if it were as lovely as she herself is. Her eyes have not the
flames they have had, nor is she like (I am afraid) to recover them
here; but were they irrecoverably lost, the beauty of her mind were
enough to make her outshine everybody else, and she would still be
courted by all that knew how to value her, like _la belle aveugle_ that
was Philip the 2nd of France his mistress. I am wholly ignorant of the
story you mention, and am confident you are not well inform'd, for 'tis
impossible she should ever have done anything that were unhandsome. If I
knew who the person were that is concern'd in't, she allows me so much
freedom with her, that I could easily put her upon the discourse, and I
do not think she would use much of disguise in it towards me. I should
have guessed it Algernon Sydney, but that I cannot see in him that
likelihood of a fortune which you seem to imply by saying 'tis not
present. But if you should mean by that, that 'tis possible his wit and
good parts may raise him to one, you must pardon if I am not of your
opinion, for I do not think these are times for anybody to expect
preferment in that deserves it, and in the best 'twas ever too uncertain
for a wise body to trust to. But I am altogether of your mind, that my