HONNORED SIR, Ascension Day, [1682.] I hope I need use noe other argument to you in excuse of my sonn for not coming to church to Westminster then this, that he now lies at home, and thearfore cannot esilly goe soe far backwards and forwards. His father and I will take care, that he shall duely goe to church heare, both on holydayes and Sundays, till he comes to be more nearly under your care in the college. In the mean time, will you pleas to give me leave to accuse you of forgetting your prommis conserning my eldest sonn, who, as you once assured me, was to have one night in a weeke alowed him to be at home, in considirasion both of his health and cleanliness. You know, Sir, that prommises mayd to women, and espiceally mothers, will never faille to be cald upon; and thearfore I will add noe more, but that I am, at this time, your remembrancer, and allwayes, honnord Sir, Your humble servant, E. DRYDEN. [71] His eldest son Charles, as Mr Malone supposes. [72] In the hall of the college of Westminster, when the boys are at dinner, it is, _ex officio_, the place of the second boy, in the second election, to keep order among the two under elections; and if any word, after he has ordered silence, be spoken, except in Latin, he says to the speaker, _tu es_ CUSTOS; and this term passes from the second speaker to the third, or more, till dinner is over. Whoever is then _custos_, has an imposition. It is highly probable, (adds the very respectable gentleman, to whom I am indebted for this information,) that there had formerly been _a tessera_, or _symbolum_ delivered from boy to boy, as at some French schools now, and that _custos_ meant _custos tesseræ, symboli_, &c.; but at Westminster, the symbol is totally unknown at present. MALONE. [73] Dr John Dolben, then Bishop of Rochester, afterwards of York. See Vol. IX. p. 303. [74] Mr Malone says, “The person meant was Robert Morgan, who was elected with Charles Dryden into the college of Westminster, in 1680, and is the only one of those then admitted, who was elected to Oxford in 1682. That circumstance, therefore, ascertains the year when this letter was written.” [75] The two last letters are printed from Mr Malone’s copy, to whom the originals were communicated by Mr John Nichols, author of the History of Leicestershire. [76] To this curious and valuable letter, Mr Malone has added the address to Rochester and the date, both of which are conjectural. Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was made first commissioner of the treasury in 1679, and continued prime minister till September 1684. Let it be remembered by those men of talents, who may be tempted to engage in the sea of politics, that Dryden thus sued for what was his unquestionable due, within two years after having written “Absalom and Achitophel,” and “The Medal,” in defence of the government, to whom he was suppliant for so small a boon.