councils of the queen, and she had just withdrawn from the court. We may suppose the little clusters of various loungers and talkers would be surprised to see them in some one of the little local flying “Mercury’s” of the day where these verses appeared and were attributed to Watts; he appears to have felt it was an occasion for some apology for stepping into such a by-way; he does so in the following note, upon which fancy may a little divert itself as to the life he and others led at Tunbridge Wells: TO AMYNTAS. “Perhaps you were not a little surprised, my friend, when you saw some stanzas on the Lady Sunderland at Tunbridge Wells, and were told that I wrote them; but when I give you a full account of the occasion your wonder will cease. The Duke of Marlborough’s three daughters, namely, the Lady Godolphin, the Lady Sunderland, and the Lady Bridgewater, had been at the Wells some time when I came there; nor had I the honour of any more acquaintance with any of them than what was common to all the company in the Wells, that is, to be told who they were when they passed by. A few days afterwards they left that place, and the next morning there was found a copy of verses in the coffee-house, called the ‘Three Shining Sisters;’ but, the author being unknown, some persons were ready to attribute them to me, knowing that I had heretofore dealt in rhyme. I confess I was ashamed of several lines in that copy. Some were very dull, and others, as I remember, bordered upon profaneness. “That afternoon I rode abroad as usual for my health, and it came into my head to let my friends see that, if I would choose such a theme, I would write in another manner than that nameless author had done. Accordingly, as I was on horseback, I began a stanza on the ‘Three Shining Sisters,’ but my ideas, my rhyme, and the metre would not hit well while the words ran in the plural number; and this slight occurrence was the real occasion of turning my thoughts to the singular; and then, because the Lady Sunderland was counted much the finest woman of the three, I addressed the verses to her name. Afterwards when I came to the coffee-house, I entertained some of my friends with these lines, and they, imagining it would be no disagreeable thing to the company, persuaded me to permit them to pass through the press.” But here are the verses— ODE TO LADY SUNDERLAND, 1712. Fair nymph, ascend to Beauty’s throne, And rule that radiant world alone; Let favourites take thy lower sphere, No monarchs are thy rivals here. The court of Beauty built sublime, Defies all pow’rs but heaven and time; Envy, that clouds the hero’s sky, Aims but in vain her shafts so high.