20 See Letter 7, note 31.
21 Swift is referring to St. John's defence of Brydges (see Letter 21, note
14.)
22 "He does not mean smoking, which he never practised, but snuffing up cut-
and-dry tobacco, which sometimes was just coloured with Spanish snuff; and
this he used all his life, but would not own that he took snuff" (Deane
Swift).
23 Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2).
24 Sir Alexander Cairnes, M.P. for Monaghan, a banker, was created a baronet
in 1706, and died in 1732.
25 See Letter 6, note 44 and Letter 17, note 4.
26 Isaac Manley (see Letter 3, note 3.)
27 Sir Thomas Frankland.
28 See Letter 5, note 8.
29 Hockley-in-the-Hole, Clerkenwell, a place of public diversion, was famous
for its bear and bull baitings.
30 Sir William Seymour, second son of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., of Berry
Pomeroy, retired from the army in 1717, and died in 1728 (Dalton's Army
Lists). He was wounded at Landen and Vigo, and saw much service between his
appointment as a Captain of Fusiliers in 1686 and his promotion to the rank of
Lieutenant-General in 1707.
31 No. 45.
32 "And now I conceive the main design I had in writing these papers is fully
executed. A great majority of the nation is at length thoroughly convinced
that the Queen proceeded with the highest wisdom, in changing her Ministry and
Parliament" (Examiner, No. 45).
33 Edward Harley (see Letter 13, note 17).
34 See Letter 24, note 2.
35 Tom Ashe was an elder brother of the Bishop of Clogher. He had an estate
of more than 1000 pounds a year in County Meath, and Nichols describes him as
of droll appearance, thick and short in person: "a facetious, pleasant
companion, but the most eternal unwearied punster that ever lived."
36 "Even Joseph Beaumont, the son, was at this time an old man, whose grey
locks were venerable; yet his father lived until about 1719" (Deane Swift).
Letter 25.
1 Sir William Wyndham, Bart. (1687-174O), was M.P. for Somerset. He was a
close partisan of Bolingbroke's, and in 1713 introduced the Schism Bill, which
drove Oxford from office. Wyndham became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was
afterwards a leading opponent of Walpole. His wife, Lady Catherine Seymour
(died 1713), was the second daughter of Charles, Duke of Somerset (see Letter
28, note 8).
2 Swift was afterwards President of this Club, which is better known as "the
Society."
3 Perhaps Daniel Reading, M.P. for Newcastle, Co. Dublin.
4 Afterwards Congreve formed a friendship with the Whigs; or, as Swift put it,
"Took proper principles to thrive,
And so might every dunce alive."
5 Atterbury.
6 This pamphlet, published in February 1712, was called "A Proposal for
Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue, in a Letter to
the. . . Lord High Treasurer."
7 No. 47
8 Francis Gastrell, Canon of Christ Church, was made Bishop of Chester in
1713. His valuable Notitia Cestriensis was published in 1845-50.
9 Near Fulham.
10 See Letter 12, note 21.
11 The daughters of Meinhardt Schomberg, Duke of Leinster, in Ireland, and
third Duke of Schomberg. Lady Mary married Count Dagenfeldt, and Lady
Frederica married, first, the Earl of Holderness, and, secondly, Earl Fitz
Walter.
12 Thomas Harley.
13 See Letter 19, note 3.
Letter 26.
1 The widow of Sir John Lyndon, who was appointed a justice of the Court of
King's Bench in Ireland in 1682, and died in 1699.
2 "Marmaduke Coghill, LL.D., was judge of the Prerogative Court in Ireland.
About this time he courted a lady, and was soon to have been married to her;
but unfortunately a cause was brought to trial before him, wherein a man was
sued for beating his wife. When the matter was agitated, the Doctor gave his
opinion, 'That although a man had no right to beat his wife unmercifully, yet
that, with such a little cane or switch as he then held in his hand, a husband
was at liberty, and was invested with a power, to give his wife moderate
correction'; which opinion determined the lady against having the Doctor. He
died an old man and a bachelor" (Deane Swift). See also Lascelles, Liber
Muner. Hibern., part ii. p. 80.
3 This was a common exclamation of the time, but the spelling varies in
different writers. It seems to be a corruption of "God so," or "God ho," but
there may have been a confusion with "cat-so," derived from the Italian
"cazzo."
4 See Letter 9, note 28. Mrs. Manley was now editing the Examiner.
5 Sir Henry Belasyse was sent to Spain as Commissioner to inquire into the
state of the English forces in that country. The son of Sir Richard Belasyse,
Knight of Ludworth, Durham, Sir Henry finished a chequered career in 1717,
when he was buried in Westminster Abbey (Dalton's Army Lists, ii. 228). In
his earlier years he served under the United Provinces, and after the
accession of William was made a Brigadier-General in the English army, and in
1694, Lieutenant-General. In 1702 he was second in command of the expedition
to Cadiz, but he was dismissed the service in consequence of the looting of
Port St. Mary. Subsequently he was elected M.P. for Durham, and in 1713 was
appointed Governor of Berwick.
6 Atterbury.
7 See Letter 3, note 20.
8 Sir John Powell, a Judge of the Queen's Bench, died in 1713, aged sixty-
eight. He was a kindly as well as able judge.
9 See June 7th, 1711.
10 This Tisdall has been described as a Dublin merchant; but in all
probability he was Richard Tisdall, Registrar of the Irish Court of Chancery,
and M.P. for Dundalk (1707-1713) and County Louth (1713-1727). He married
Marian, daughter of Richard Boyle, M.P., and died in 1742. Richard Tisdall
was a relative of Stella's suitor, the Rev. William Tisdall, and years
afterwards Swift took an interest in his son Philip, who became a Secretary of
State and Leader of the Irish House of Commons.
11 "In Ireland there are not public paths from place to place, as in England"
(Deane Swift).
12 See Letter 24, note 6.
13 Probably a son of John Manley, M.P. (see Letter 5, note 8).
14 See Letter 11, note 45.
15 Dr. George Stanhope, who was Vicar of Lewisham as well as of Deptford. He
was a popular preacher and a translator of Thomas a Kempis and other religious
writers.
16 See Letter 3, note 17.
17 A favourite word with Swift, when he wished to indicate anything obscure or
humble.
18 See Letter 17, note 11.
19 See June 7th, 1711 and notes.
20 See Letter 17, note 23.
21 Thomas Mills (1671-174O) was made Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in 17O8.
A man of learning and a liberal contributor to the cost of church
restorations, he is charged by Archbishop King with giving all the valuable
livings in his gift to his non-resident relatives.
22 Tooke was appointed printer of the London Gazette in 1711 (see Letter 3,
note 8).
23 See Letter 5, note 10
24 Lady Jane Hyde, the elder daughter of Henry Hyde, Earl of Rochester (see
Letter 5, note 11), married William Capel, third Earl of Essex. Her daughter
Charlotte's husband, the son of the Earl of Jersey, was created Earl of
Clarendon in 1776. Lady Jane's younger sister, Catherine, who became the
famous Duchess of Queensberry, Gay's patroness, is represented by Prior, in
The Female Phaeton, as jealous, when a young girl, of her sister, "Lady
Jenny," who went to balls, and "brought home hearts by dozens."
25 See Letter 3, note 2.
26 John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, had held the Privy Seal from 17O5, and was
regarded by the Ministers as a possible plenipotentiary in the event of their
negotiations for a peace being successful. He married Lady Margaret
Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish, second Duke of
Newcastle, and was one of the richest nobles in England. His death, on July
15, 1711, was the result of a fall while stag-hunting. The Duke's only
daughter married, in 1713, Edward, Lord Harley, the Earl of Oxford's son.
Letter 27.
1 Alexander Forbes, fourth Lord Forbes, who was afterwards attainted for his
share in the Rebellion of 1745.
2 Obscure (cf. Letter 7, note 30).
3 Jacob Tonson the elder, who died in 1736, outlived his nephew, Jacob Tonson
the younger, by a few months. The elder Tonson, the secretary of the Kit-Cat
Club, published many of Dryden's works, and the firm continued to be the chief
publishers of the time during the greater part of the eighteenth century.
4 John Barber.
5 By his will Swift left to Deane Swift his "large silver standish, consisting
of a large silver plate, an ink-pot, and a sand-box."
6 I.e., we are only three hours in getting there.
7 Cf. Letter 15, note 9.
8 The Examiner was revived in December 1711, under Oldisworth's editorship,
and was continued by him until 1714.
9 James Douglas, fourth Duke of Hamilton, was created Duke of Brandon in the
English peerage in September 1711, and was killed by Lord Mohun in a duel in
1712. Swift calls him "a worthy good-natured person, very generous, but of a
middle understanding." He married, in 1698, as his second wife, Elizabeth,
daughter and heiress of Digby, Lord Gerard, a lady to whom Swift often refers
in the Journal. She outlived the Duke thirty-two years.
10 See August 27th, 1711.
11 William Fitzmaurice (see Letter 11, note 19).
12 The Duke of Shrewsbury (see Letter 3, note 32) married an Italian lady,
Adelhida, daughter of the Marquis of Paliotti, of Bologna, descended
maternally from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's favourite.
Lady Cowper (Diary, pp. 8, 9) says that the Duchess "had a wonderful art of
entertaining and diverting people, though she would sometimes exceed the
bounds of decency; . . . but then, with all her prate and noise, she was the
most cunning, designing woman alive, obliging to people in prosperity, and a
great party-woman." As regards the name "Presto," see Letter 2, note 11.
13 Probably a cousin.
14 Presumptuous: claiming much.
15 See Letter 13, note 15. John Winchcombe, a weaver of Newbury, marched with
a hundred of his workmen, at his own expenses, against the Scots in 1513.
16 Thomas Coke, M.P., of Derbyshire, was appointed a Teller of the Exchequer
in 1704, and Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen in 1706. In 1706 he married--as
his second wife--Mrs. Hale, one of the maids of honour (Luttrell, v. 411, 423;
vi. 113, 462; Lady Cowper's Diary, 15, 16), a lady whose "piercing" beauty it
was, apparently, that Steele described under the name of Chloe, in No. 4 of
the Tatler. Jervas painted her as a country girl, "with a liveliness that
shows she is conscious, but not affected, of her perfections." Coke was the
Sir Plume of Pope's Rape of the Lock.
17 The committee of management of the Royal household.
18 Francesca Margherita de l'Epine, the famous singer, and principal rival of
Mrs. Tofts, came to England in 1692, and constantly sang in opera until her
retirement in 1718, when she married Dr. Pepusch. She died in 1746. Her
sister, Maria Gallia, also a singer, did not attain the same popularity.
19 Charles Scarborow and Sir William Foster were the Clerks of the Board of
Green Cloth.
20 See Letter 27, note 16 on Thomas Coke.
21 The Earl of Sunderland's second wife, Lady Anne Churchill, who died in
1716, aged twenty-eight. She was the favourite daughter of the Duke of
Marlborough, and was called "the little Whig." Verses were written in honour
of her beauty and talent by Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, Dr. Watts and
others, and her portrait was painted by Lely and Kneller.
22 Mary, daughter of Sir William Forester, of Dothill, Shropshire. In 1700,
at the age of thirteen, she had been secretly married to her cousin, George
Downing, a lad of fifteen. Three years later, Downing, on his return from
abroad, refused to acknowledge his wife, and in 1715 both parties petitioned
the House of Lords for leave to bring in a Bill declaring the marriage to be
void; but leave was refused (Lords' Journals, xx. 41, 45). Downing had become
Sir George Downing, Bart., in 1711, and had been elected M.P. for Dunwich; he
died without issue in 1749, and was the founder of Downing College, Cambridge.
23 In a discussion upon what would be the result if beards became the fashion,
Budgell (Spectator, No. 331) says, "Besides, we are not certain that the
ladies would not come into the mode, when they take the air on horseback.
They already appear in hats and feathers, coats and periwigs."
Letter 28.
1 Horse-racing was much encouraged by Charles II., who, as Strutt tells us,
appointed races to be made in Datchet Mead, when he was residing at Windsor.
By Queen Anne's time horse-racing was becoming a regular institution: see
Spectator, No. 173.
2 John Montagu, second Duke of Montagu, married Lady Mary Churchill, youngest
daughter of the Duke of Marlborough.
3 Of Clogher.
4 John Adams, Prebendary of Canterbury and Canon of Windsor. He was made
Provost of King's College, Cambridge, in 1712, and died in 1720.
5 The Hon. and Rev. George Verney, Canon of Windsor (died 1728), became fourth
Lord Willoughby de Broke on the death of his father (Sir Richard Verney, the
third Baron), in July 1711. Lord Willoughby became Dean of Windsor in 1713.
6 Thomas Hare, Under Secretary of State in Bolingbroke's office.
7 Richard Sutton was the second son of Robert Sutton, the nephew of the Robert
Sutton who was created Viscount Lexington by Charles I. Sutton served under
William III. and Marlborough in Flanders, and was made a Brigadier-General in
1710, in which year also he was elected M.P. for Newark. In 1711 he was
appointed Governor of Hull, and he died, a Lieutenant-General, in 1737
(Dalton's Army Lists, iii. 153)
8 Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset (1662-1748), known as "the proud
Duke of Somerset." Through the influence which his wife--afterwards Mistress
of the Robes (see Letter 17, note 10)--had obtained over the Queen, he bore no
small part in bringing about the changes of 1710. His intrigues during this
period were, however, mainly actuated by jealousy of Marlborough, and he had
really no sympathies with the Tories. His intrigues with the Whigs caused the
utmost alarm to St. John and to Swift.
9 The third and last reference to Vanessa in the Journal.
10 "Pray God preserve her life, which is of great importance" (Swift to
Archbishop King, Aug. 15, 1711). St. John was at this moment very anxious to
conciliate Mrs. Masham, as he felt that she was the only person capable of
counteracting the intrigues of the Duchess of Somerset with the Queen.
11 Pontack, of Abchurch Lane, son of Arnaud de Pontac, President of the
Parliament of Bordeaux, was proprietor of the most fashionable eating-house in
London. There the Royal Society met annually at dinner until 1746. Several
writers speak of the dinners at a guinea a head and upwards served at
Pontack's, and Swift comments on the price of the wine.
12 "His name was Read" (Scott).
13 Up to the end of 1709 the warrants for the payment of the works at Blenheim
had been regularly issued by Godolphin and paid at the Treasury; over 200,000
pounds was expended in this manner. But after the dismissal of the Whigs the
Queen drew tight the purse-strings. The 20,000 pounds mentioned by Swift was
paid in 1711, but on June 1, 1712, Anne gave positive orders that nothing
further should be allowed for Blenheim, though 12,000 pounds remained due to
the contractors.
14 The piercing of the lines before Bouchain, which Villars had declared to be
the non plus ultra of the Allies, one of the most striking proofs of
Marlborough's military genius.
15 See Letter 22, note 15.
16 A fashionable gaming-house in St. James's Street.
17 See Letter 6, note 15. The Grange, near Alresford, Hampshire, was Henley's
seat. His wife (see Letter 12, note 24) was the daughter of Peregrine Bertie,
son of Montagu Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey; and Earl Poulett (see Letter
20, note 7) married Bridget, an elder daughter of Bertie's.
18 William Henry Hyde, Earl of Danby, grandson of the first Duke of Leeds (see
Letter 8, note 22), and eldest son of Peregrine Osborne, Baron Osborne and
Viscount Dunblane, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1712. Owing to this young
man's death (at the age of twenty-one), his brother, Peregrine Hyde, Marquis
of Caermarthen, who married Harley's daughter Elizabeth, afterwards became
third Duke of Leeds.
19 See Letter 8, note 2.
20 See Letter 3, note 7.
21 William Gregg was a clerk in Harley's office when the latter was Secretary
of State under the Whig Administration. In 1707-8 he was in treasonable
correspondence with M. de Chamillart, the French Secretary of State. When he
was detected he was tried for high treason, and hanged on April 28. The Lords
who examined Gregg did their utmost to establish Harley's complicity, which
Gregg, however, with his dying breath solemnly denied.
22 By Swift himself. The title was, Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet entitled, A
Letter to the Seven Lords of the Committee appointed to examine Gregg.
23 See Letter 13, note 10. There is no copy in the British Museum.
24 Thomas Parnell, the poet, married, in 1706, Anne, daughter of Thomas
Minchin, of Tipperary. In 1711 Parnell was thirty-two years of age, and was
Archdeacon of Clogher and Vicar of Clontibret. Swift took much trouble to
obtain for Parnell the friendship of Bolingbroke and other persons of note,
and Parnell became a member of the Scriblerus Club. In 1716 he was made Vicar
of Finglas, and after his death in 1718 Pope prepared an edition of his poems.
The fits of depression to which Parnell was liable became more marked after
his wife's death, and he seems to have to some extent given way to drink. His
sincerity and charm of manner made him welcome with men of both parties.
25 Dr. Henry Compton had been Bishop of London since 1675. He was dangerously
ill early in 1711, but he lived until 1713, when he was eighty-one.
26 See Letter 26, note 10.
27 See Letter 7, note 21.
28 L'Estrange speaks of "a whiffling fop" and Swift says, "Every whiffler in a
laced coat, who frequents the chocolate-house, shall talk of the
Constitution."
29 Prior's first visit to France with a view to the secret negotiations with
that country which the Ministers were now bent on carrying through, had been
made in July, when he and Gaultier reached Calais in a fishing-boat and
proceeded to Fontainbleau under assumed names. He returned to England in
August, but was recognised at Dover, whence the news spread all over London,
to the great annoyance of the Ministers. The officer who recognised Prior was
John Macky, reputed author of those Characters upon which Swift wrote
comments. Formerly a secret service agent under William III., Macky had been
given the direction of the Ostend mail packets by Marlborough, to whom he
communicated the news of Prior's journey. Bolingbroke threatened to hang
Macky, and he was thrown into prison; but the accession of George I. again
brought him favour and employment.
30 See Letter 12, note 7.
Letter 29.
1 See Letter 3, note 4.
2 See Letter 6, note 4.
3 Edward Villiers (1656-1711), created Viscount Villiers in 1691, was made
Earl of Jersey in 1697. Under William III. he was Lord Chamberlain and
Secretary of State, but he was dismissed from office in 1704. When he died he
had been nominated as a plenipotentiary at the Congress of Utrecht, and was
about to receive the appointment of Lord Privy Seal. Lord Jersey married, in
1681, when she was eighteen, Barbara, daughter of William Chiffinch, closet-
keeper to Charles II.; she died in 1735.
4 Lord Paisley was the Earl of Abercorn's eldest surviving son (see Letter 17,
note 7).
5 The Hon. John Hamilton, the Earl's second surviving son, died in 1714.
6 Dr. John Robinson (1650-1723) had gone out as chaplain to the Embassy at the
Court of Sweden in 1682, and had returned in 1708 with the double reputation
of being a thorough Churchman and a sound diplomatist. He was soon made Dean
of Windsor, and afterwards Bishop of Bristol. He was now introduced to the
Council Board, and it was made known to those in the confidence of Ministers
that he would be one of the English plenipotentiaries at the coming Peace
Congress. In 1713 Dr. Robinson was made Bishop of London.
7 John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675-1732), who was attainted for his part in the
Rebellion of 1715. His first wife, Lady Margaret Hay, was a daughter of Lord
Kinnoull.
8 Thomas Hay, sixth Earl of Kinnoull (died 1719), a Commissioner for the
Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, and one of the Scotch
representative peers in the first Parliament of Great Britain. His son and
heir, Viscount Dupplin, afterwards Baron Hay (see Letter 5, note 34), who
married Harley's daughter Abigail, is often mentioned in the Journal.
9 See Letter 3, note 5.
10 The title of the pamphlet was, "A New Journey to Paris, together with some
Secret Transactions between the French King and an English Gentleman. By the
Sieur du Baudrier. Translated from the French."
11 See Letter 11, note 44.
12 See Letter 28, note 6.
13 The Earl of Strafford (see Letter 18, note 3) married, on Sept. 6, 1711,
Anne, only daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Johnson, of Bradenham,
Buckinghamshire, a wealthy shipbuilder. Many of Lady Strafford's letters to
her husband are given in the Wentworth Papers, 1883.
14 Samuel Pratt, who was also Clerk of the Closet.
15 Alice Hill, woman of the bed-chamber to the Queen, died in 1762.
16 Enniscorthy, the name of a town in the county of Wexford.
17 Scrambling.
18 "These words in italics are written in strange, misshapen letters,
inclining to the right hand, in imitation of Stella's writing" (Deane Swift).
[Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of this etext.]
19 Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
20 John Pooley, appointed Bishop of Raphoe in 1702.
21 "These words in italics are miserably scrawled, in imitation of Stella's
hand (Deane Swift). [Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of
this etext.]
22 See Letter 8, note 2.
Letter 30.
1 See Letter 25, note 1.
2 See Letter 9, note 22.
3 See Letter 29, note 10.
4 Cf. the entry on the 11th (note 3 above).
5 See Letter 6, note 4.
6 William, Lord Villiers, second Earl of Jersey (died 1721), a strong
Jacobite, had been M.P. for Kent before his father's death. He married, in
1704, Judith, only daughter of a City merchant, Frederick Herne, son of Sir
Nathaniel Herne, Alderman; she died in 1735. Lord Jersey, one of "the
prettiest young peers in England," was a companion of Bolingbroke, and stories
in the Wentworth Papers (pp. 149, 230, 395, 445), show that he had a bad
reputation.
7 See Letter 28, note 4.
8 The name of Arbuthnot's wife is not known: she died in 1730.
9 James Lovet, one of the "Yeomen Porters" at Court.
10 Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, who died without male issue in January
1712. Writing to Archbishop King on Jan. 8, Swift said, "Lord Ranelagh died
on Sunday morning; he was very poor and needy, and could hardly support
himself for want of a pension which used to be paid him."
11 Arabella Churchill, maid of honour to the Duchess of York, and mistress of
James II., afterwards married Colonel Charles Godfrey, Clerk Comptroller of
the Green Cloth and Master of the Jewel Office. Her second son by James II.
was created Duke of Albemarle.
12 See Letter 28, note 4.
13 The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of Dublin, elected in August 1711, "not being
approved of by the Government, the City was obliged to proceed to another
election, which occasioned a great ferment among the vulgar sort" (Boyer,
Political State, 1711, p. 500). After two other persons had been elected and
disapproved of, Alderman Gore was elected Lord Mayor, and approved (ib. pp.
612-17).
14 "These words in italics are written enormously large" (Deane Swift).
[Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of this etext.]
15 See Letter 3, note 39.
16 Henry Lowman, First Clerk of the Kitchen.
17 "The Doctor was always a bad reckoner, either of money or anything else;
and this is one of his rapid computations. For, as Stella was seven days in
journey, although Dr. Swift says only six, she might well have spent four days
at Inish-Corthy, and two nights at Mrs. Proby's mother's, the distance from
Wexford to Dublin being but two easy days' journey" (Deane Swift).
18 Mrs. Fenton.
Letter 31.
1 See Letter 10, note 31.
2 Charles Paulet, second Duke of Bolton, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland in 1717, and died in 1722. In a note on Macky's character of the
Duke, Swift calls him "a great booby"; and Lady Cowper (Diary, p. 154) says
that he was generally to be seen with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
3 Stella's maid.
4 See Letter 12, note 7.
5 Colonel Fielding (see Letter 16, note 21).
6 The envoys were Menager and the Abbe du Bois; the priest was the Abbe
Gaultier.
7 See Letter 18, note 3.
8 Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, General, who died in 1702, married Eleanor,
daughter of Richard Wall, of Rogane, Tipperary. She died in 1732, and Swift
described her as so "cunning a devil that she had great influence as a
reconciler of the differences at Court." One of her sons was General James
Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, and friend of Dr. Johnson.
9 "Worrit," trouble, tease.
10 Sir John Walter, Bart. (died 1722), was M.P. for the city of Oxford. He
and Charles Godfrey (see Letter 30, note 11) were the Clerks Comptrollers of
the Green Cloth.
11 See Letter 17, note 3.
12 No doubt one of the daughters of Mervyn Tuchet, fourth Earl of Castlehaven,
who died in 1686.
13 Henrietta Maria, daughter of Charles Scarborow (see Letter 27, note 19).
She married, in 1712, Sir Robert Jenkinson, Bart., M.P. for Oxfordshire, who
died without issue in 1717. See Wentworth Papers, 244.
14 In July 1712 a Commission passed empowering Conyers Darcy and George
Fielding (an equerry to the Queen) to execute the office of Master of the
Horse.
15 At Killibride, about four miles from Trim.
16 Swift's "mistress," Lady Hyde (see Letter 5, note 11), whose husband had
become Earl of Rochester in May 1711. She was forty-one in 1711.
17 See Sept. 19, 1711.
18 See Letter 29, note 14.
19 See Letter 22, note 3.
20 See Letter 27, note 9.
21 See Letter 26, note 10.
22 "This happens to be the only single line written upon the margin of any of
his journals. By some accident there was a margin about as broad as the back
of a razor, and therefore he made this use of it" (Deane Swift).
Letter 32.
1 Lieutenant-Colonel Barton, of Colonel Kane's regiment.
2 A nickname for the High Church party.
3 See Letter 29, note 10.
4 "From this pleasantry of my Lord Oxford, the appellative Martinus Scriblerus
took its rise" (Deane Swift).
5 Cf. the Imitation of the Sixth Satire of the Second Book of Horace, 1714,
where Swift says that, during their drives together, Harley would
"gravely try to read the lines
Writ underneath the country signs."
6 See Letter 23, note 15.
7 See Letter 18, note 4.
8 See Letter 23, note 17.
9 Lord Pembroke (see Letter 7, note 31) married, in 1708, as his second wife,
Barbara, Dowager Baroness Arundell of Trerice, formerly widow of Sir Richard
Mauleverer, and daughter of Sir Thomas Slingsby. She died in 1722.
10 Caleb Coatesworth, who died in 1741, leaving a large fortune.
11 Abel Boyer, Whig journalist and historian, attacked Swift in his pamphlet,
An Account of the State and Progress of the Present Negotiations for Peace.
Boyer says that he was released from custody by Harley; and in the Political
State for 1711 (p. 646) he speaks of Swift as "a shameless and most
contemptible ecclesiastical turncoat, whose tongue is as swift to revile as
his mind is swift to change." The Postboy said that Boyer would "be
prosecuted with the utmost severity of the law" for this attack.
12 The "Edgar." Four hundred men were killed.
13 William Bretton, or Britton, was made Lieutenant-Colonel in 1702, Colonel
of a new Regiment of Foot 1705, Brigadier-General 1710, and Colonel of the
King's Own Borderers in April 1711 (Dalton, Army Lists, iii. 238). In
December 1711 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia
(Postboy, Jan. 1, 1712), and he died in December 1714 or January 1715.
14 See Letter 24, note 14.
15 It is not clear which of several Lady Gores is here referred to. It may be
(1) the wife of Sir William Gore, Bart., of Manor Gore, and Custos Rotulorum,
County Leitrim, who married Hannah, eldest daughter and co-heir of James
Hamilton, Esq., son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and niece of Gustavus Hamilton,
created Viscount Boyne. She died 1733. Or (2) the wife of Sir Ralph Gore,
Bart. (died 1732), M.P. for County Donegal, and afterwards Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons. He married Miss Colville, daughter of Sir Robert
Colville, of Newtown, Leitrim, and, as his second wife, Elizabeth, only
daughter of Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher. Or (3) the wife of Sir Arthur Gore,
Bart. (died 1727), of Newtown Gore, Mayo, who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir
George St. George, Bart., of Carrick, Leitrim, and was ancestor of the Earls
of Arran.
16 "Modern usage has sanctioned Stella's spelling" (Scott). Swift's spelling
was "wast."
17 Mrs. Manley.
18 Swift's own lines, "Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition."
19 Thomas Coote was a justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, in Ireland, from
1692 until his removal in 1715.
20 Probably a relative of Robert Echlin, Dean of Tuam, who was killed by some
of his own servants in April 1712, at the age of seventy-three. His son John
became Prebendary and Vicar-General of Tuam, and died in 1764, aged eighty-
three. In August 1731 Bolingbroke sent Swift a letter by the hands of "Mr.
Echlin," who would, he said, tell Swift of the general state of things in
England.
21 "This column of words, as they are corrected, is in Stella's hand" (Deane
Swift).
Letter 33.
1 Swift's verses, "The Description of a Salamander," are a scurrilous attack
on John, Lord Cutts (died 1707), who was famous for his bravery. Joanna
Cutts, the sister who complained of Swift's abuse, died unmarried.
2 See Letter 6, note 5.
3 Fourteen printers or publishers were arrested, under warrants signed by St.
John, for publishing pamphlets directed against the Government. They appeared
at the Court of Queens Bench on Oct. 23, and were continued on their own
recognisances till the end of the term.
4 Robert Benson (see Letter 6, note 36).
5 "The South Sea Whim," printed in Scott's Swift, ii. 398.
6 See Letter 21, Apr. 24, 1711, Letter 22, Apr. 28, 1711, and Letter 34, 17
Nov. 1711.
7 Count Gallas was dismissed with a message that he might depart from the
kingdom when he thought fit. He published the preliminaries of peace in the
Daily Courant.
8 William, second Viscount Hatton, who died without issue in 1760. His half-
sister Anne married Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham, and Lord Hatton
was therefore uncle to his fellow-guest, Mr. Finch.
9 Crinkle or contract. Gay writes: "Showers soon drench the camblet's
cockled grain."
10 The Countess of Jersey (see Letter 30, note 6), like her husband, was a
friend of Bolingbroke's. Lady Strafford speaks of her having lately (November
1711) "been in pickle for her sins," at which she was not surprised. Before
the Earl succeeded to the title, Lady Wentworth wrote to her son: "It's said
Lord Villors Lady was worth fower scoar thoussand pd; you might have got her,
as wel as Lord Villors. . . . He [Lord Jersey) has not don well by his son,
the young lady is not yoused well as I hear amongst them, which in my openion
is not well." Wentworth Papers (pp. 214, 234).
11 Cf. Letter 9, Nov. 11, 1710, and Letter 9, note 3.
12 Charles Crow, appointed Bishop of Cloyne in 1702.
13 Swift.
14 Mrs. Manley.
15 The titles of these pamphlets are as follows: (1) A True Narrative of . .
. the Examination of the Marquis de Guiscard; (2) Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet
entitled, A Letter to the Seven Lords; (3) A New Journey to Paris; (4) The
Duke of Marlborough's Vindication; (5) A Learned Comment on Dr. Hare's Sermon.
16 See the pun this day above.
Letter 34.
1 See Letter 3, note 17.
2 See Letter 11, note 44.
3 Pratt (see Letter 2, note 14).
4 Stella and Dingley.
5 "Noah's Dove, an Exhortation to Peace, set forth in a Sermon preached on the
Seventh of November, 1710, a Thanksgiving Day, by Thomas Swift, A.M., formerly
Chaplain to Sir William Temple, now Rector of Puttenham in Surrey." Thomas
Swift was Swift's "little parson cousin" (see Letter 24, note 2).
6 See Letter 6, note 11. The book referred to is, apparently, An Impartial
Enquiry into the Management of the War in Spain, post-dated 1712.
7 Lord Harley (afterwards second Earl of Oxford) (see Letter 5, note 35)
married, on Oct. 31, 1713, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only daughter of
John Holles, last Duke of Newcastle of that family (see Letter 26, note 26).
8 Bolingbroke afterwards said that the great aim (at length accomplished) of
Harley's administration was to marry his son to this young lady. Swift wrote
a poetical address to Lord Harley on his marriage.
9 Thomas Pelham, first Baron Pelham, married, as his second wife, Lady Grace
Holles, daughter of the Earl of Clare and sister of the Duke of Newcastle.
Their eldest son, Thomas, who succeeded to the barony in 1712, was afterwards
created Earl of Clare and Duke of Newcastle,
10 Francis Higgins, Rector of Baldruddery, called "the Sacheverell of
Ireland," was an extreme High Churchman, who had been charged with sedition on
account of sermons preached in London in 1707. In 1711 he was again
prosecuted as "a disloyal subject and disturber of the public peace." At that
time he was Prebendary of Christ Church, Dublin; in 1725 he was made
Archdeacon of Cashel.
11 Swift's pamphlet, The Conduct of the Allies.
12 Lord Oxford's daughter Abigail married, in 1709, Viscount Dupplin,
afterwards seventh Earl of Kinnoull (see Letter 5, note 34). She died in
1750, and her husband in 1758, when the eldest son, Thomas, became Earl. The
second son, Robert, was made Archbishop of York in 1761.
13 Kensington Gravel Pits was then a famous health resort.
14 Draggled. Pope has, "A puppy, daggled through the town."
15 Writing of Peperharrow, Manning and Bray state (Surrey, ii. 32, 47) that
Oxenford Grange was conveyed to Philip Froud (died 1736) in 1700, and was sold
by him in 1713 to Alan Broderick, afterwards Viscount Midleton. This Froud
(Swift's "old Frowde") had been Deputy Postmaster-General; he was son of Sir
Philip Frowde, who was knighted in 1665 (Le Neve's Knights, Harleian Society,
p. 190), and his son Philip was Addison's friend (see Letter 8, note 13).
16 Probably the Charles Child, Esq., of Farnham, whose death is recorded in
the Gentleman's Magazine for 1754.
17 Grace Spencer was probably Mrs. Proby's sister (see Letter 19, note 3).
18 Cf. Shakespeare, As You Like It, v. 3: "Shall we clap into 't roundly,
without hawking or spitting, which are the only prologues to a bad voice?"
19 In the "Verses on his own Death," 1731, Swift says
"When daily howd'y's come of course,
And servants answer, 'Worse and worse!'"
Cf. Steele (Tatler, No. 109),
"After so many howdies, you proceed to visit or not, as you like the run of
each other's reputation or fortune,"
and (Spectator, No. 143),
"the howd'ye servants of our women."
Letter 35.
1 See Letter 31, note 8.
2 See Letter 14, note 9.
3 The Tories alleged that the Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Montagu,
Steele, etc., were to take part in the procession (cf. Spectator, No. 269).
Swift admits that the images seized were worth less than 40 pounds, and not
1000 pounds, as he had said, and that the Devil was not like Harley; yet he
employed someone to write a lying pamphlet, A True Relation of the Several
Facts and Circumstances of the Intended Riot and Tumult, etc.
4 A brother of Jemmy Leigh (see Letter 2, note 16), and one of Stella's card-
playing acquaintances.
5 Of The Conduct of the Allies (see Letter 34, Nov. 10, 1711, and Letter 35,
Nov. 24, 1711).
6 Sir Thomas Hanmer (see Letter 9, note 13) married, in 1698, Isabella, widow
of the first Duke of Grafton, and only daughter and heiress of Henry, Earl of
Arlington. She died in 1723.
7 James, Duke of Hamilton (see Letter 27, note 9), married, in 1698, as his
second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Digby, Lord Gerard. She
died in 1744.
8 The Conduct of the Allies.
9 See Letter 25, note 6.
10 Sir Matthew Dudley (see Letter 3, note 2) married Lady Mary O'Bryen,
youngest daughter of Henry, Earl of Thomond.
11 See Letter 31, note 10.
12 Sir John St. Leger (died 1743) was M.P. for Doneraile and a Baron of the
Exchequer in Ireland from 1714 to 1741. His elder brother, Arthur, was
created Viscount Doneraile in 1703.
13 "Relation of the Facts and Circumstances of the Intended Riot on Queen
Elizabeth's Birthday."
14 The Conduct of the Allies.
15 See Letter 9, note 18.
16 The first motto was "Partem tibi Gallia nostri eripuit," etc. (Horace, 2
Od. 17-24).
17 See Plautus's Amphitrus, or Dryden's Amphitryon.
18 It is not known whether or no this was Dr. William Savage, Master of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. No copy of the sermon--if it was printed--has
been found. See Courtenay's Memoirs of Sir William Temple.
19 Of The Conduct of the Allies, a pamphlet which had a very wide circulation.
See a paper by Edward Solly in the Antiquarian Magazine, March 1885.
20 Allen Bathurst, M.P. (1684-1775), created Baron Bathurst in December 1711,
and Earl Bathurst in 1772. His second and eldest surviving son was appointed
Lord Chancellor in the year preceding the father's death. Writing to her son
in January 1711 (Wentworth Papers, 173), Lady Wentworth said of Bathurst, "He
is, next to you, the finest gentleman and the best young man I know; I love
him dearly."
21 See Letter 9, note 17.
22 See Letter 16, note 20.
23 Swift is alluding to the quarrel between Lord Santry (see Letter 23, note
2) and Francis Higgins (see Letter 34, note 10), which led to Higgins's
prosecution. The matter is described at length in Boyer s Political State,
1711, pp. 617 seq.
24 See Letter 19, note 1.
25 No doubt the same as Colonel Newburgh (see Journal, March 5, 1711-12).
26 Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2 and Letter 26, Jul. 6, 1711).
27 See Letter 31, note 1.
28 Cf. Letter 15, Feb. 9, 1710-11.
29 See Letter 35, note 3.
Letter 36.
1 See Letter 34, note 15. Debtors could not be arrested on Sunday.
2 Sir George Pretyman, Bart., dissipated the fortune of the family. The title
became dormant in 1749.
3 See the Introduction.
4 For the Whites of Farnham, see Manning and Bray's Surrey, iii. 177.
5 The Conduct of the Allies.
6 The Percevals were among Swift's principal friends in the neighbourhood of
Laracor. In a letter to John Temple in 1706 (Forster's Life of Swift, 182)
Swift alludes to Perceval; in spite of different views in politics, "I always
loved him," says Swift, "very well as a man of very good understanding and
humour." Perceval was related to Sir John Perceval, afterwards Earl of Egmont
(see Letter 18, note 15).
7 See Letter 1, note 12.
8 See Letter 8, note 14.
9 The Examiner was resumed on Dec. 6, 1711, under Oldisworth's editorship, and
was continued by him until July 1714.
10 Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham, a staunch Tory, had quarrelled
with the Government and the Court. On Dec. 7, 1711, he carried, by six votes,
an amendment to the Address, to the effect that no peace would be acceptable
which left Spain in the possession of the House of Bourbon. Harley's counter-
stroke was the creation of twelve new peers. The Whigs rewarded Nottingham by
withdrawing their opposition to the Occasional Conformity Bill:
11 This "Song" begins:
"An orator dismal of Nottinghamshire,
Who had forty years let out his conscience for hire."
12 The Conduct of the Allies.
13 Robert Bertie, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and fourth Earl of Lindsey, was
created Marquis of Lindsay in 1706, and Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven in 1715.
He died in 1723.
14 Lady Sunderland (see Letter 27, note 21) and Lady Rialton, ladies of the
bed-chamber to the Queen.
15 Hugh Cholmondeley (died 1724), the second Viscount, was created Viscount
Malpas and Earl of Cholmondeley in 1706, and in 1708 was appointed Treasurer
of Her Majesty's Household, an office which he held until 1713, in spite of
his Whig sympathies. "Good for nothing, so far as ever I knew," Swift wrote
of him.
16 Prov. xxv. 3.
17 See Letter 31, note 8.
18 Thomas Parker, afterwards created Earl of Macclesfield, was appointed Lord
Chief-Justice in March 1710. In September 1711 he declined Harley's offer of
the Lord Chancellorship, a post which he accepted under a Whig Government in
the next reign.
19 The Bill against Occasional Conformity.
Letter 37.
1 The proposed visit to London of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the renowned
General, and friend of Marlborough, was viewed by the Government with
considerable alarm.
2 Swift's "An excellent new Song; being the intended Speech of a famous orator
against Peace," a ballad "two degrees above Grub Street" (see Letter 36, note
11).
3 Robert Walpole was then M.P. for King's Lynn, and Leader of the Opposition
in the House of Commons. He had been Secretary at War from February 1708 to
September 1710, and the Commissioners of Public Accounts having reported, on
Dec. 21, 1711, that he had been guilty of venality and corruption, he was
expelled from the House of Commons, and taken to the Tower.
4 William King, D.C.L., author of the Journey to London in 1698, Dialogues of
the Dead, The Art of Cookery, and other amusing works, was, at the end of the
month, appointed Gazetteer, in succession to Steele, on Swift's
recommendation. Writing earlier in the year, Gay said that King deserved
better than to "languish out the small remainder of his life in the Fleet
Prison." The duties of Gazetteer were too much for his easy-going nature and
failing health, and he resigned the post in July 1712. He died in the
following December.
5 At the bottom of St. James's Street, on the west side.
6 The Rev. John Shower, pastor of the Presbyterian Congregation at Curriers'
Hall, London Wall.
7 The Windsor Prophecy, in which the Duchess of Somerset (see Letter 17, note
10) is attacked as "Carrots from Northumberland."
8 Merlin's Prophecy, 1709, written in pseudo-mediaeval English.
9 See Letter 3, note 18.
10 Dorothy, daughter of Sir Edward Leach, of Shipley, Derbyshire.
11 Sir James Long, Bart. (died 1729), was at this time M.P. for Chippenham.
12 The number containing this paragraph is not in the British Museum.
13 Joseph Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2, Letter 26, Jul. 6, 1711 and Letter
35, note 26)
14 See Letter 4, note 13.
15 Apparently a misprint for "whether."
16 See Letter 32, note 19.
17 James Compton, afterwards fifth Earl of Northampton (died 1754), was
summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Compton in December 1711. Charles
Bruce, who succeeded his father as third Earl of Aylesbury in 1741, was
created Lord Bruce, of Whorlton, at the same time.
18 James, Lord Compton, eldest son of the Earl of Northampton; Charles, Lord
Bruce, eldest son of the Earl of Aylesbury; Henry Paget, son of Lord Paget;
George Hay, Viscount Dupplin, the son-in-law of the Lord Treasurer, created
Baron Hay; Viscount Windsor, created Baron Montjoy; Sir Thomas Mansel, Baron
Mansel; Sir Thomas Willoughby, Baron Middleton; Sir Thomas Trevor, Baron
Trevor; George Granville, Baron Lansdowne; Samuel Masham, Baron Masham; Thomas
Foley, Baron Foley; and Allen Bathurst, Baron Bathurst.
Letter 38.
1 Juliana, widow of the second Earl of Burlington, and daughter of the Hon.
Henry Noel, was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Anne. She died in 1750, aged
seventy-eight.
2 Thomas Windsor, Viscount Windsor (died 1738), an Irish peer, who had served
under William III. in Flanders, was created Baron Montjoy, of the Isle of
Wight, in December 1711. He married Charlotte, widow of John, Baron Jeffries,
of Wem, and daughter of Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
3 The Hon. Russell Robartes, brother of Lord Radnor (see Letter 3, note 7),
was Teller of the Exchequer, and M.P. for Bodmin. His son became third Earl
of Radnor in 1723.
4 Gay (Trivia, ii. 92) speaks of "the slabby pavement."
5 See Letter 17, note 1.
6 George Granville (see Letter 14, note 5), now Baron Lansdowne, married Lady
Mary Thynne, widow of Thomas Thynne, and daughter of Edward, Earl of Jersey
(see Letter 29, note 3). In October 1710 Lady Wentworth wrote to her son,
"Pray, my dear, why will you let Lady Mary Thynne go? She is young, rich, and
not unhandsome, some say she is pretty; and a virtuous lady, and of the
nobility, and why will you not try to get her?" (Wentworth papers, 149).
7 See Letter 24, note 4.
8 Harness.
9 On his birthday Swift read the third chapter of Job.
10 See Letter 33, note 12.
11 Sir George St. George of Dunmore, Co. Galway, M.P. for Co. Leitrim from
1661 to 1692, and afterwards for Co. Galway, died in December 1711.
12 See Letter 35, note 11 and Letter 31, note 10.
13 See Letter 4, note 16.
14 Dr. Pratt (see Letter 2, note 14).
15 King Henry VIII., act iv. sc. 2; "An old man broken with the storms," etc.
16 "These words in the manuscript imitate Stella's writing, and are sloped the
wrong way" (Deane Swift),
17 Archibald Douglas, third Marquis of Douglas, was created Duke of Douglas in
1703. He died, without issue, in 1761.
18 Arbuthnot and Freind.
Letter 39.
1 Sir Stephen Evance, goldsmith, was knighted in 1690.
2 Because of the refusal of the House of Lords to allow the Duke of Hamilton
(see Letter 27, note 9), a Scottish peer who had been raised to the peerage of
Great Britain as Duke of Brandon, to sit under that title. The Scottish peers
discontinued their attendance at the House until the resolution was partially
amended; and the Duke of Hamilton always sat as a representative Scottish
peer.
3 Sir William Robinson (1655-1736), created a baronet in 1689, was M.P. for
York from 1697 to 1722. His descendants include the late Earl De Grey and the
Marquis of Ripon.
4 See Letter 16, note 19. The full title was, Some Advice humbly offered to
the Members of the October Club, in a Letter from a Person of Honour.
5 See Letter 38, note 11.
6 "It is the last of the page, and written close to the edge of the paper"
(Deane Swift).
7 Henry Somerset, second Duke of Beaufort. In September 1711 the Duke--who
was then only twenty-seven--married, as his third wife, Mary, youngest
daughter of the Duke of Leeds. In the following January Lady Strafford wrote,
"The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort are the fondest of one another in the world;
I fear 'tis too hot to hold. . . . I own I fancy people may love one another
as well without making so great a rout" (Wentworth Papers, 256). The Duke
died in 1714, at the age of thirty.
8 "Upon the 10th and 17th of this month the Examiner was very severe upon the
Duke of Marlborough, and in consequence of this report pursued him with
greater virulence in the following course of his papers" (Deane Swift).
9 A term of execration. Scott (Kenilworth) has, "A pize on it."
10 See Letter 11, note 13.
11 In a letter to Swift of Jan. 31, 1712, Sacheverell, after expressing his
indebtedness to St. John and Harley, said, "For yourself, good Doctor, who was
the first spring to move it, I can never sufficiently acknowledge the
obligation," and in a postscript he hinted that a place in the Custom House
which he heard was vacant might suit his brother.
12 Thomas Yalden, D.D., (1671-1736), Addison's college friend, succeeded
Atterbury as preacher of Bridewell Hospital in 1713. In 1723 he was arrested
on suspicion of being involved in the Atterbury plot.
13 Tablets.
14 Sir Solomon de Medina, a Jew, was knighted in 1700.
15 Davenant had been said to be the writer of papers which Swift contributed
to the Examiner.
16 Henry Withers, a friend of "Duke" Disney (see Letter 16, note 20), was
appointed Lieutenant-General in 1707, and Major-General in 1712. On his death
in 1729 he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
17 See Letter 36, note 18.
18 Dyer's News Letter, the favourite reading of Sir Roger de Coverley
(Spectator, No. 127), was the work of John Dyer, a Jacobite journalist. In
the Tatler (No. 18) Addison says that Dyer was "justly looked upon by all the
fox-hunters in the nation as the greatest statesman our country has produced."
Lord Chief-Justice Holt referred to the News Letter as "a little scandalous
paper of a scandalous author" (Howell's State Trials, xiv. 1150).
Letter 40.
1 Dr. John Sharp, made Archbishop of York in 1691, was called by Swift "the
harmless tool of others' hate." Swift believed that Sharp, owing to his
dislike of The Tale of a Tub, assisted in preventing the bishopric of Hereford
being offered to him. Sharp was an excellent preacher, with a taste for both
poetry and science.
2 An edition of the Countess d'Aulnoy's Les Contes des Fees appeared in 1710,
in four volumes.
3 Francis Godolphin, Viscount Rialton, the eldest son of Sidney, Earl of
Godolphin, succeeded his father as second Earl on Sept. 15, 1712. He held 3
various offices, including that of Lord Privy Seal (1735-1740), and died in
1766, aged eighty-eight. He married, in 1698, Lady Henrietta Churchill, who
afterwards was Duchess of Marlborough in her own right. She died in 1733.
4 See Letter 26, note 24. Ladies of the bed-chamber received 1000 pounds a
year.
5 William O'Brien, third Earl of Inchiquin, succeeded his father in 1691, and
died in 1719.
6 Lady Catherine Hyde was an unmarried daughter of Laurence Hyde, first Earl
of Rochester (see Letter 8, note 22). Notwithstanding Swift's express
statement that the lady to whom he here refers was the late Earl's daughter,
and the allusion to her sister, Lady Dalkeith, in Letter 60, note 26, she has
been confused by previous editors with her niece, Lady Catherine Hyde (see
Letter 26, note 24), daughter of the second Earl, and afterwards Duchess of
Queensberry. That lady, not long afterwards to be celebrated by Prior, was a
child under twelve when Swift wrote.
7 Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), formerly Speaker of the House of Commons.
8 See Letter 11, note 44.
9 See Letter 34, note 10.
10 See Letter 23, note 2.
11 Charles Trimnel, made Bishop of Norwich in 1708, and Bishop of Winchester
in 1721, was strongly opposed to High Church doctrines.
12 Jibe or jest.
13 See Letter 22, note 4.
14 The treaty concluded with Holland in 1711.
15 Feb. 2 is the Purification of the Virgin Mary.
16 See Letter 29, note 7.
17 See Letter 11, note 53.
18 Lady Mary Butler (see Letter 7, note 2 and Letter 3, note 40), daughter of
the Duke of Ormond, who married, in 1710, John, third Lord Ashburnham,
afterwards Earl of Ashburnham.
19 See Letter 2, note 5.
20 See Letter 36, note 14.
21 Scroop Egerton, fifth Earl and first Duke of Bridgewater, married, in 1703,
Lady Elizabeth Churchill, third daughter of the Duke of Marlborough. She died
in 1714, aged twenty-six.
22 See Letter 30, note 6.
23 Heart.
24 Edward Fowler, D.D., appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 1691, died in 1714.
25 Isaac Manley (see Letter 3, note 3).
Letter 41.
1 This letter, the first of the series published by Hawkesworth, of which we
have the originals (see Preface), was addressed "To Mrs. Johnson at her
Lodgings over against St. Mary's Church, near Capell Street, Dublin, Ireland";
and was endorsed by her "Recd. Mar. 1st."
2 See Letter 10, note 28.
3 See Letter 12, note 22.
4 See Letter 23, note 2.
5 Charles Ross, son of the eleventh Baron Ross, was Colonel of the Royal Irish
Dragoons from 1695 to 1705. He was a Lieutenant-General under the Duke of
Ormond in Flanders, and died in 1732 (Dalton, ii. 212, iii. 34).
6 Charles Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, succeeded his father (see Letter 31,
note 2) as third Duke of Bolton in 1722. He married, as his second wife,
Lavinia Fenton, the actress who took the part of Polly Peacham in Gay's
Beggars Opera in 1728, and he died in 1754.
7 John Blith, or Bligh, son of the Right Hon. Thomas Bligh, M.P. of Rathmore,
Co. Meath (see Letter 4, note 22). In August 1713 he married Lady Theodosia
Hyde, daughter of Edward, third Earl of Clarendon. Lord Berkeley of Stratton
wrote, "Lady Theodosia Hyde. . . is married to an Irish Mr. Blythe, of a good
estate, who will soon have enough of her, if I can give any guess" (Wentworth
Papers, 353). In 1715 Bligh was made Baron Clifton, of Rathmore, and Earl of
Darnley in 1725. He died in 1728.
8 Obliterated.
9 Word obliterated; probably "found." Forster reads "oors, dee MD."
10 Words obliterated.
11 See Letter 31, note 1 and Letter 10, note 31.
12 See Letter 20, Apr. 13-14, 1711 and Letter 9, note 20.
13 Words obliterated. Forster reads "fourth. Euge, euge, euge."
14 Words obliterated; one illegible.
15 See Letter 2, note 14.
16 See Letter 1, note 12.
17 Service.
18 "Aplon"--if this is the right word--means, of course, apron--the apron
referred to on Letter 39, Jan. 25, 1711-12.
19 Words obliterated.
20 As the son of a "brother" of the Club.
21 The Archbishop, Dr. King.
22 See Tacitus, Annals, book ii. Cn. Calpurnius Piso, who was said to have
poisoned Germanicus, was found with his throat cut.
23 This satire on Marlborough concludes--
"And Midas now neglected stands,
With asses' ears and dirty hands."
24 Dr. Robinson, Bishop of Bristol.
25 Some Remarks on the Barrier Treaty.
26 Several words are obliterated. Forster reads "MD MD, for we must always
write to MD MD MD, awake or asleep;" but the passage is illegible.
27 See Letter 11, note 39 and Letter 61, note 5.
28 A long erasure. Forster reads "Go to bed. Help pdfr. Rove pdfr. MD MD.
Nite darling rogues."
29 Word obliterated. Forster reads "saucy."
30 Letter from.
31 Words partially obliterated.
32 Swift wrote by mistake, "On Europe Britain's safety lies"; the slip was
pointed out by Hawkesworth. All the verse is written in the MSS. as prose.
33 "Them" (MS.).
34 See Wyons Queen Anne, ii. 366-7.
35 A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue,
in a Letter to the Most Honourable Robert, Earl of Oxford, 1712.
36 "Help him to draw up the representation" (omitting every other letter).
37 See Letter 23, note 13.
38 Robert Benson.
39 The Story of the St. Albans Ghost, 1712.
40 "Usually" (MS.).
41 These words are partially obliterated.
42 This sentence is obliterated. Forster reads, "Farewell, mine deelest rife
deelest char Ppt, MD MD MD Ppt, FW, Lele MD, ME ME ME ME aden FW MD Lazy ones
Lele Lele all a Lele."
Letter 42.
1 Endorsed by Stella "Recd. Mar. 19."
2 "Would" (MS.).
3 Conversation.
4 John Guillim's Display of Heraldrie appeared first in 1610. The edition to
which Swift refers was probably that of 1679, which is wrongly described as
the "fifth edition," instead of the seventh.
5 "One of the horses here mentioned may have been the celebrated Godolphin
Arabian from whom descends all the blue blood of the racecourse, and who was
the grandfather of Eclipse" (Larwood's Story of the London Parks, 99).
6 See Letter 36, note 6.
7 Dorothea, daughter of James Stopford, of New Hall, County Meath, and sister
of Lady Newtown-Butler, was the second wife of Edward, fourth Earl of Meath,
who died without issue in 1707. She afterwards married General Richard Gorges
(see Journal, April 5, 1713), of Kilbrue, County Meath, and Swift wrote an
epitaph on them--"Doll and Dickey."
8 Here follow some obliterated words.
9 Barber (see Letter 12, note 6).
10 "The editors supposed Zinkerman (which they printed in capitals) to mean
some outlandish or foreign distinction; but it is the little language for
'gentleman'" (Forster).
11 The Hon. Charles Butler, second son of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, eldest son
of James, Duke of Ormond, was elevated to the peerage of Ireland in 1693 as
Earl of Arran, and was also created a peer of England, as Baron Butler. He
held various offices under William III. and Queen Anne, and died without issue
in 1759.
12 "They" (MS.).
13 See Letter 31, Jan. 12, 1711-12 and Letter 3, note 22.
14 See Letter 11, note 13.
15 Sir William Wyndham, Bart., of Orchard Wyndham, married Lady Catherine
Seymour, daughter of the sixth Duke of Somerset (see Letter 25, note 1).
Their eldest son, Charles, succeeded his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, as Earl
of Egremont; and the second son, Percy, was afterwards created Earl of
Thomond. The Wyndhams' house was in Albemarle Street; the loss was over
20,000 pounds; but they were "much more concerned for their servants than for
all the other losses" (Wentworth Papers, 274). The Duke of Ormond "worked as
hard as any of the ordinary men, and gave many guineas about to encourage the
men to work hard." The Queen gave the Wyndhams temporary lodgings in "St.
James's house."
16 See Letter 3, note 31.
17 What.
18 Devil's.
19 "To" (MS.).
20 See Letter 35, note 25.
21 See Letter 41, note 34.
22 See Letter 12, Jan. 1, 1710-11.
23 Peregrine Hyde Osborne, Earl of Danby, afterwards Marquis of Caermarthen
and third Duke of Leeds (see Letter 56, note 6). His sister Mary was married
to the Duke of Beaufort (see Letter 39, note 7).
24 See Letter 9, note 17.
25 Several undecipherable words. Forster reads, "Pidy Pdfr, deelest Sollahs."
26 "K" (MS.). It should, of course, be "Queen's."
27 See Letter 22, note 18.
Letter 43.
1 Addressed "To Mrs. Johnson, at her lodgings over against St. Mary's Church,
near Capel Street, Dublin, Ireland." Endorsed "Mar. 30."
2 See Letter 9, note 1.
3 The Mohocks succeeded the Scowrers of William III.'s reign. Gay (Trivia,
iii. 325) says
"Who has not heard the Scowrers' midnight fame?
Who has not trembled at the Mohocks' name?"
Lady Wentworth (Wentworth Papers, 277) says: "They put an old woman into a
hogshead, and rolled her down a hill; they cut off some noses, others' hands,
and several barbarous tricks, without any provocation. They are said to be
young gentlemen; they never take any money from any." See also the Spectator,
Nos. 324, 332, and 347 (where Budgell alludes to "the late panic fear"), and
Defoe's Review for March 15, 1712. Swift was in considerable alarm about the
Mohocks throughout March, and said that they were all Whigs. The reports that
numbers of persons, including men of figure, had joined together to commit
assaults in the streets, made many fear to leave their houses at night. A
proclamation was issued for the suppressing of riots and the discovery of
those guilty of the late outrages; but it seems probable that the disorders
were not more frequent than might be expected from time to time in a great
city.
4 Henry Davenant, son of Charles Davenant (see Letter 8, note 14), was
Resident at Frankfort. Macky described him as "very giddy-headed, with some
wit," to which Swift added, "He is not worth mentioning."
5 Thomas Burnet, youngest son of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, was at
this time a young man about town of no good reputation. Afterwards he turned
his attention to the law, and was appointed a judge of the Court of Common
Pleas in 1741. He was knighted in 1745, and died in 1753.
6 By Arbuthnot, written to recommend the peace proposals of the Government.
The full title was, Law is a Bottomless Pit. Exemplified in the case of the
Lord Strutt, John Bull, Nicholas Frog, and Lewis Baboon; who spent all they
had in a Law Suit.
7 See Letter 25, note 6 and Letter 41, note 35.
8 Our little language.
9 Forster reads, "two deelest nauty nown MD."
10 See Letter 6, note 12.
11 William Diaper, son of Joseph Diaper of Bridgewater, was sent to Balliol
College, Oxford, in 1699, at the age of fourteen. He entered the Church, and
was curate at Brent, Somerset; but he died in 1717, aged twenty-nine.
12 The Examiner (vol. ii. No. 15) complained of general bribery and oppression
on the part of officials and underlings in the public service, especially in
matters connected with the army; but the writer said that the head (Lord
Lansdowne) was just and liberal in his nature, and easy in his fortune, and a
man of honour and virtue.
13 Sealed documents given to show that a merchant's goods are entered.
14 Thomas Lawrence, First Physician to Queen Anne, and Physician-General to
the Army, died in 1714 (Gentleman's Magazine, 1815, ii. 17). His daughter
Elizabeth was second wife to Lord Mohun.
15 See Letter 17, note 11.
16 See Letter 26, note 2.
17 No officer named Newcomb appears in Dalton's Army Lists; but the allusion
to General Ross, further on in Letter 43, adds to the probability that Swift
was referring to one of the sons of Sir Thomas Newcomen, Bart., who was killed
at the siege of Enniskillen. Beverley Newcomen (Dalton, iii. 52, iv. 60), who
was probably Swift's acquaintance, was described in a petition of 1706 as a
Lieutenant who had served at Killiecrankie, and had been in Major-General
Ross's regiment ever since 1695.
18 Atterbury.
19 Evidently a familiar quotation at the time. Forster reads, incorrectly,
"But the more I lite MD."
20 See Letter 41, note 5.
21 See Letter 12, note 1.
22 In 1681, Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of John Ayres, of the City of
London, then aged about twenty, became the fourth and last wife of Heneage
Finch, Earl of Winchelsea, who died in 1689. She lived until 1745.
23 See Letter 23, note 17.
24 Enoch Sterne (see Letter 4, note 17).
25 Lieut.-Col. Robert Sterne was in Col. Frederick Hamilton's Regiment in
1695.
26 Letter.
27 See Letter 13, note 10.
28 The title was, John Bull in his Senses: being the Second Part of Law is a
Bottomless Pit.
29 See Letter 36, note 6.
30 Cf. note 9 above. Forster reads "nautyas," when the words would mean "as
naughty as nine," apparently.
31 See note 19 above.
32 In 1549, James, second Earl of Arran, was made Duke of Chatelherault by
Henry II. of France. His eldest son died without issue; the second, John,
became first Marquis of Hamilton, and was great-grandfather of Lady Anne
Hamilton (Duchess of Hamilton), mother of the Duke of Swift's Journal. The
Earl of Abercorn, on the other hand, was descended from Claud, third son of
the Earl of Arran, but in the male line; and his claim was therefore the
stronger, according to the French law of inheritance.
33 Madams.
34 This word is doubtful. Forster reads "cobbled."
35 A mistake, apparently, for "writing." The letter was begun on March 8.
36 Silly jade.
37 O Lord, what a clutter.
38 On the death of Dr. William Graham, Dean of Wells, it was reported that
Swift was to be his successor. Dr. Brailsford, however, received the
appointment.
39 Abel Roper (1665-1726), a Tory journalist, published, thrice weekly, the
Postboy, to which Swift sometimes sent paragraphs. Boyer (Political State,
1711, p. 678) said that Roper was only the tool of a party; "there are men of
figure and distinction behind the curtain, who furnish him with such
scandalous reflections as they think proper to cast upon their antagonists."
40 Joe Beaumont.
41 Beg your pardon, Madams, I'm glad you like your apron (see Letter 41, note
18).
42 This word was smudged by Swift.
43 I cannot find Somers in contemporary lists of officials. Cf. Letter 30,
note 16 and Letter 17, note 3.
44 Obliterated and doubtful.
45 Words obliterated and illegible. Forster reads, conjecturally, "Pray send
Pdfr the ME account that I may have time to write to Parvisol."
Letter 44.
1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Apr. 14."
2 "Is" (MS.).
3 The words after "yet" are partially obliterated.
4 See Letter 7, note 35.
5 John Cecil, sixth Earl of Exeter (died 1721).
6 See Letter 22, note 5.
7 Arbuthnot.
8 A resort of the Tories.
9 Deane Swift, a son of Swift's uncle Godwin, was a merchant in Lisbon.
