L E T. XI.

TO MRS J----.

_Vienna, Sept_. 26. O. S. 1716.

I WAS never more agreeably surprised than by your obliging letter.
'Tis a peculiar mark of my esteem that I tell you so; and I can
assure you, that if I loved you one grain less than I do, I should be
very sorry to see it so diverting as it is. The mortal aversion I
have to writing, makes me tremble at the thoughts of a new
correspondent; and I believe I have disobliged no less than a dozen
of my London acquaintance by refusing to hear from them, though I did
verily think they intended to send me very entertaining letters. But
I had rather lose the pleasure of reading several witty things, than
be forced to write many stuped (sic) ones. Yet, in spite of these
considerations, I am charmed with the proof of your friendship, and
beg a continuation of the same goodness, though I fear the dulness of
this will make you immediately repent of it. It is not from Austria
that one can write with vivacity, and I am already infected with the
phlegm of the country. Even their amours and their quarrels are
carried on with a surprising temper, and they are never lively but
upon points of ceremony. There, I own, they shew all their passions;
and 'tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at
night, the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of
which should go back, sat there, with equal gallantry till two in the
morning, and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot
rather than yield, in a point of that importance, that the street
would never have been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had