[164b]See Nos. 27 and 29, by Swift himself.
[164c]“Print cannot do justice to whims of this kind, as they depend wholly upon the awkward shape of the letters” (Deane Swift).
[165a]See p.54.
[165b]“Here is just one specimen given of his way of writing to Stella in these journals. The reader, I hope, will excuse my omitting it in all other places where it occurs. The meaning of this pretty language is: ‘And you must cry There, and Here, and Here again. Must you imitate Presto, pray? Yes, and so you shall. And so there’s for your letter. Good-morrow’” (Deane Swift). What Swift really wrote was probably as follows: “Oo must cly Lele and Lele and Lele aden. Must oo mimitate Pdfr, pay? Iss, and so oo sall. And so lele’s fol oo rettle. Dood-mallow.”
[166a]Lady Catherine Morice (died 1716) was the eldest daughter of Thomas Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and wife of Sir Nicholas Morice, Bart., M.P. for Newport.
[166b]Perhaps Henry Arundell, who succeeded his father as fifth Baron Arundell of Wardour in 1712, and died in 1726.
[166c]Antoine, Abbé de Bourlie and Marquis de Guiscard, was a cadet of a distinguished family of the south of France. He joined the Church, but having been driven from France in consequence of his licentious excesses, he came to England, after many adventures in Europe, with a recommendation from the Duke of Savoy. Godolphin gave him the command of a regiment of refugees, and employed him in projects for effecting a landing in France. These schemes proving abortive, Guiscard’s regiment was disbanded, and he was discharged with a pension of £500 a year. Soon after the Tories came to power Guiscard came to the conclusion that there was no hope of employment for him, and little chance of receiving his pension; and he began a treacherous correspondence with the French. When this was detected he was brought before the Privy Council, and finding that everything was known, and wishing a better death than hanging, he stabbed Harley in the breast. Mrs. Manley, under Swift’s directions, wrote aNarrative of Guiscard’s Examination, and the incident greatly added to the security of Harley’s position, and to the strength of the Government.
[166d]Harley’s surgeon, Mr. Green.
[167a]See p.73.
[167b]Mrs. Walls’ baby (see p.185).
[168a]The phrase had its origin in the sharp practices in the horse and cattle markets. Writing to Arbuthnot in 1727, Swift said that Gay “had made a pretty good bargain (that is a Smithfield) for a little place in the Custom House.”
[168b]“There.”
[169a]See Swift’s paper in theExaminer, No. 32, and Mrs. Manley’s pamphlet, already mentioned.
[169b]Presumably Mrs. Johnson’s palsy-water (see p.25).
[170a]Thomas Wentworth, Baron Raby (1672–1739), was created Viscount Wentworth and Earl of Strafford in June 1711. Lord Raby was Envoy and Ambassador at Berlin for some years, and was appointed Ambassador at the Hague in March 1711. In November he was nominated as joint Plenipotentiary with the Bishop of Bristol to negotiate the terms of peace. He objected to Prior as a colleague; Swift says he was “as proud as hell.” In 1715 it was proposed to impeach Strafford, but the proceedings were dropped. In his later years he was, according to Lord Hervey, a loquacious and illiterate, but constant, speaker in the House of Lords.
[170b]A beauty, to whom Swift addressed verses in 1708. During the frost of January 1709 Swift wrote: “Mrs. Floyd looked out with both her eyes, and we had one day’s thaw; but she drew in her head, and it now freezes as hard as ever.” She was a great friend of Lady Betty Germaine’s.
[170c]Swift never had the smallpox.
[170d]See p.116.
[171a]Heart.
[171b]The first number of theSpectatorappeared on March 1, 1711.
[172a]In one of his poems Swift speaks of Stella “sossing in an easy-chair.”
[172b]See p.21.
[173a]“It is reasonable to suppose that Swift’s acquaintance with Arbuthnot commenced just about this time; for in the original letter Swift misspells his name, and writes it Arthbuthnet, in a clear large hand, that MD might not mistake any of the letters” (Deane Swift). Dr. John Arbuthnot had been made Physician in Ordinary to the Queen; he was one of Swift’s dearest friends.
[173b]Clobery Bromley, M.P. for Coventry, son of William Bromley, M.P. (see p.70), died on March 20, 1711, and Boyer (Political State, i. 255) says that the House, “out of respect to the father, and to give him time, both to perform the funeral rites and to indulge his just affliction,” adjourned until the 26th.
[174a]See p.23.
[174b]See p.163.
[175a]Sir John Perceval, Bart. (died 1748), was created Baron Perceval 1715, Viscount Perceval 1722, and Earl of Egmont 1733, all in the Irish peerage. He married, in 1710, Catherine, eldest daughter of Sir Philip Parker A’Morley, Bart., of Erwarton, Suffolk; and his son (born Feb. 27, 1710–11) was made Baron Perceval and Holland, in the English peerage, in 1762.
[175b]This report was false. The Old Pretender did not marry until 1718, when he was united to the Princess Clementina Maria, daughter of Prince James Sobieski.
[176a]John Hartstonge, D.D. (died 1717), was Bishop of Ossory from 1693 to 1714, when he was translated to Derry.
[176b]See p.145.
[176c]Thomas Proby was Chirurgeon-General in Ireland from 1699 until his death in 1761. In hisShort Character of Thomas,Earl of Wharton, Swift speaks of him as “a person universally esteemed,” who had been badly treated by Lord Wharton. In 1724 Proby’s son, a captain in the army, was accused of popery, and Swift wrote to Lord Carteret that the charge was generally believed to be false: “The father is the most universally beloved of any man I ever knew in his station. . . . You cannot do any personal thing more acceptable to the people of Ireland than in inclining towards lenity to Mr. Proby and his family.” Proby was probably a near relative of Sir Thomas Proby, Bart., M.P., of Elton, Hunts, at whose death in 1689 the baronetcy expired. Mrs. Proby seems to have been a Miss Spencer.
[176d]Meliora, daughter of Thomas Coningsby, Baron of Clanbrassil and Earl of Coningsby, and wife of Sir Thomas Southwell, afterwards Baron Southwell, one of the Commissioners of Revenue in Ireland, and a member of the Irish Privy Council. Lady Southwell died in 1736.
[176e]Lady Betty Rochfort was the daughter of Henry Moore, third Earl of Drogheda. Her husband, George Rochfort, M.P. for Westmeath, was son of Robert Rochfort, an Irish judge, and brother of Robert Rochford, M.P., to whose wife Swift addressed hisAdvice to a very Young Lady on her Marriage. Lady Betty’s son Robert was created Earl of Belvedere in 1757.
[177]See p.166. Mr. Bussiere, of Suffolk Street, had been called in directly after the outrage, but Radcliffe would not consult him.
[178a]The letter from Dr. King dated March 17, 1711, commenting on Guiscard’s attack upon Harley.
[178b]See p.147.
[178c]The word “trangram” or “tangram” ordinarily means a toy or gimcrack, or trumpery article. Cf. Wycherley (Plain Dealer, iii. 1), “But go, thou trangram, and carry back those trangrams which thou hast stolen or purloined.” Apparently “trangum” here means a tally.
[178d]See p.104.
[179a]Swift means Godolphin, the late Lord Treasurer.
[179b]Sir John Holland (see p.11).
[179c]“It caused a violent daub on the paper, which still continues much discoloured in the original” (Deane Swift).
[180a]“He forgot here to say, ‘At night.’ See what goes before” (Deane Swift).
[180b]See p.158.
[180c]Irishman. “Teague” was a term of contempt for an Irishman.
[180d]To Mr. Harley,wounded by Guiscard. In this piece Prior said, “Britain with tears shall bathe thy glorious wound,” a wound which could not have been inflicted by any but a stranger to our land.
[181a]Sir Thomas Mansel married Martha, daughter and heiress of Francis Millington, a London merchant.
[181b]Slatterning, consuming carelessly.
[181c]“The candle grease mentioned before, which soaked through, deformed this part of the paper on the second page” (Deane Swift).
[182a]Harcourt.
[182b]William Rollinson, formerly a wine merchant, settled afterwards in Oxfordshire, where he died at a great age. He was a friend of Pope, Bolingbroke, and Gay.
[184]In relation to the banknote (see p.163).
[185a]“Swift was, at this time, their great support and champion” (Deane Swift).
[185b]See p.134.
[185c]See p.167.
[185d]“Stella, with all her wit and good sense, spelled very ill; and Dr. Swift insisted greatly upon women spelling well” (Deane Swift).
[185e]“The slope of the letters in the wordsthis way,this way, is to the left hand, but the slope of the wordsthat way,that way, is to the right hand” (Deane Swift).
[186a]See p.167.
[186b]See pp.24,85.
[186c]By the Act 9 Anne, cap. 23, the number of hackney coaches was increased to 800, and it was provided that they were to go a mile and a half for one shilling, two miles for one shilling and sixpence, and so on.
[187]See p.95.
[188a]In a letter to Swift, of March 17, 1711, King said that it might have been thought that Guiscard’s attack would have convinced the world that Harley was not in the French interest; but it did not have that effect with all, for some whispered the case of Fenius Rufus and Scevinus in the 15th book of Tacitus: “Accensis indicibus ad prodendum Fenium Rufum, quem eundem conscium et inquisitorem non tolerabant.” Next month Swift told King that it was reported that the Archbishop had applied this passage in a speech made to his clergy, and explained at some length the steps he had taken to prevent the story being published in thePostboy. King thanked Swift for this action, explaining that he had been arguing on Harley’s behalf when someone instanced the story of Rufus.
[188b]A Tory paper, published thrice weekly by Abel Roper.
[189]Sir Charles Duncombe, banker, died on April 9, 1711. The first wife of the Duke of Argyle (see p.101) was Duncombe’s niece, Mary Browne, daughter of Ursula Duncombe and Thomas Browne, of St. Margaret’s, Westminster. Duncombe was elected Lord Mayor in 1700, and was the richest commoner in England.
[190a]The Rev. Dillon Ashe (see p.117).
[190b]John, fourth Baron Poulett, was created Earl Poulett in 1706, after serving as one of the Commissioners for the Treaty of Union with Scotland. From August 1710 to May 1711 he was First Lord of the Treasury, and from June 1711 to August 1714 he was Lord Steward of the Household.
[190c]Lost or stupid person.
[191a]Sir William Read, a quack who advertised largely in theTatlerand other papers. He was satirised in No. 547 of theSpectator. In 1705 he was knighted for his services in curing many seamen and soldiers of blindness gratis, and he was appointed Oculist in Ordinary to the Queen. Read died in 1715, but his business was continued by his widow.
[191b]General John Webb was not on good terms with Marlborough. He was a Tory, and had gained distinction in the war at Wynendale (1708), though the Duke’s secretary gave the credit, in the despatch, to Cadogan. There is a well-known account of Webb in Thackeray’sEsmond. He was severely wounded at Malplaquet in 1709, and in 1710 was given the governorship of the Isle of Wight. He died in 1724.
[191c]Henry Campion, M.P. for Penryn, is mentioned in thePolitical Statefor February 1712 as one of the leading men of the October Club. Campion seems to have been Member, not for Penryn, but for Bossiney.
[192a]See p.12.
[192b]Sir George Beaumont, Bart., M.P. for Leicester, and an acquaintance of Swift’s mother, was made a Commissioner of the Privy Seal in 1712, and one of the Lords of the Admiralty in 1714. He died in 1737.
[192c]Heneage Finch, afterwards second Earl of Aylesford, was the son of Heneage Finch, the chief counsel for the seven bishops, who was created Baron Guernsey in 1703, and Earl of Aylesford in 1714.
[192d]James, Lord Compton, afterwards fifth Earl of Northampton, was the eldest son of George, the fourth Earl. He was summoned to the House of Lords in December 1711, and died in 1754.
[193]See p.89.
[194]In 1670 Temple thanked the Grand Duke of Tuscany for “an entire vintage of the finest wines of Italy” (Temple’sWorks, 1814, ii. 155–56).
[195a]Mrs. Manley (see p.166).
[195b]Charles Cæsar, M.P. for Hertford, was appointed Treasurer of the Navy in June 1711, in the room of Robert Walpole.
[196]Joseph I. His successor was his brother Charles, the King of Spain recognised by England.
[197]Simon Harcourt, M.P. for Wallingford. He married Elizabeth, sister of Sir John Evelyn, Bart., and died in 1720, aged thirty-five, before his father. He was secretary to the society of “Brothers,” wrote verses, and was a friend of the poets. His son Simon was created Earl Harcourt in 1749, and was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
[199a]Doiley, a seventeenth-century linen-draper,—probably “Thomas Doyley, at the Nun, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden,”—invented stuffs which “might at once be cheap and genteel” (Spectator, No. 283).
[199b]A special envoy. The Resident from Venice in 1710 was Signor Bianchi.
[199c]See p.160.
[199d]Nanfan Coote, second Earl of Bellamont, who died in 1708, married, in 1705, Lucia Anna, daughter of Henry de Nassau, Lord of Auverquerque, and sister of Henry, first Earl of Grantham. She died in 1744.
[200a]“Farnese” (Deane Swift).
[200b]See p.188.
[200c]Swift’s changes of residence during the period covered by theJournalwere numerous. On Sept. 20, 1710, he moved from Pall Mall to Bury Street, “where I suppose I shall continue while in London.” But on Dec. 28 he went to new lodgings in St. Albans Street, Haymarket. On April 26, 1711, he moved to Chelsea, and from there to Suffolk Street, to be near the Vanhomrighs. He next moved to St. Martins Street, Leicester Fields; and a month later to Panton Street, Haymarket. In 1712 he lodged for a time at Kensington Gravel Pits.
[201a]At raffling for books.
[201b]James Brydges, Paymaster-General, and afterwards Duke of Chandos (see p.12).
[202a]Thomas Foley, M.P. for Worcestershire, was created Baron Foley in December 1711, and died in 1733.
[202b]See pp.198,200.
[202c]See p.176.
[202d]Charles Dering, second son of Sir Edward Dering, Bart., M.P. for Kent, was Auditor of the Exchequer in Ireland, and M.P. for Carlingford.
[202e]See p.97.
[203a]See pp.43,160.
[203b]A Whig paper, for the most part by Mainwaring and Oldmixon, in opposition to theExaminer. It appeared weekly from October 1710 to August 1711.
[203c]See p.166.
[203d]SeeSpectator, No. 50, by Addison.
[203e]In all probability a mistake for “Wesley” (see p.2).
[205a]Lord Paisley (see p.161).
[205b]See p.88.
[206a]Sir Hovenden Walker. The “man midwife” was Sir Chamberlen Walker, his younger brother. The “secret expedition” against Quebec conveyed upwards of 5000 soldiers, under the command of General John Hill (see p.76), but owing to the want of due preparations and the severe weather encountered, the fleet was compelled to return to England without accomplishing anything.
[206b]Robert Freind, elder brother of John Freind, M.D. (see p.66), became headmaster of Westminster School in 1711, and held the appointment until 1733. He was Rector of Witney, and afterwards Canon of Windsor, Prebendary of Westminster, and Canon of Christ Church. He died in 1751, aged eighty-four.
[206c]Christopher Musgrave was Clerk of the Ordnance.
[207a]Atterbury’s wife, Katherine Osborn, has been described as “the inspiration of his youth and the solace of his riper years.”
[207b]The original Chelsea Bun House, in Jew’s Row, was pulled down in 1839. Sir R. Philips, writing in 1817, said, “Those buns have afforded a competency, and even wealth, to four generations of the same family; and it is singular that their delicate flavour, lightness, and richness have never been successfully imitated.”
[208a]See p.60. King wrote to Swift (May 15, 1711), “The death of the Earl of Rochester is a great blow to all good men, and even his enemies cannot but do justice to his character. What influence it will have on public affairs God only knows.”
[208b]See p.89.
[210a]See p.160.
[210b]See p.170.
[210c]See p.192.
[211a]Swift’s curate at Laracor.
[211b]Queen Anne was the last sovereign who exercised the supposed royal gift of healing by touch. Dr. Johnson was touched by her, but without effect.
[212a]Richard Thornhill was tried at the Old Bailey on May 18, 1711, for the murder of Sir Cholmley Dering, M.P. for Kent, and found guilty of manslaughter only; but he was shortly afterwards assassinated (seeJournalfor Aug. 21, 1711;Spectator, No. 84). The quarrel began on April 27, when they fell to blows, and Thornhill being knocked down, had some teeth struck out by Sir C. Dering stamping on him. The spectators then interfered, and Dering expressed himself as ready to beg pardon; but Thornhill not thinking this was sufficient satisfaction, gave Dering the lie, and on May 9 sent him a challenge.
[212b]Tothill Fields, Westminster, was a favourite place for duels in the seventeenth century.
[212c]See p.124.
[213]Benjamin Burton, a Dublin banker, and brother-in-law of Swift’s friend Stratford (see p.10). Swift says he hated this “rogue.”
[214]The day on which the Club met. See letter from Swift to St. John, May 11, 1711.
[215a]Henry Barry, fourth Lord Barry of Santry (1680–1734), was an Irish Privy Councillor, and Governor of Derry. In 1702 he married Bridget, daughter of Sir Thomas Domville, Bart., and in an undated letter (about 1735) to Lady Santry Swift spoke of his esteem for her, “although I had hardly the least acquaintance with your lord, nor was at all desirous to cultivate it, because I did not at all approve of his conduct.” Lord Santry’s only son and heir, who was born in 1710, was condemned to death for the murder of a footman in 1739, when the barony became extinct by forfeiture. See B. W. Adams’sHistory of Santry.
[215b]Probably Captain Cammock, of theSpeedwell, of 28 guns and 125 men (Luttrell, vi. 331), who met on July 13, 1708, off Scotland, two French privateers, one of 16, the other of 18 guns, and fought them several hours. The first privateer got off, much shattered; the other was brought into Carrickfergus.
[215c]See50.
[215d]See p.120.
[216a]This valuable pamphlet is signed “J.G.,” and is believed to be by John Gay.
[216b]Edmund Curll’s collection of Swift’sMiscellanies, published in 1711, was an expansion of a pamphlet of 1710,A Meditation upon a Broomstick,and somewhat beside,of the same Author’s.
[217a]“In this passage DD signifies both Dingley and Stella” (Deane Swift).
[217b]Sir Henry Craik’s reading. The old editions have, “It would do: DD goes as well as Presto,” which is obviously corrupt.
[217c]Cf.Journal, June 17, 1712.
[217d]Cf. “old doings” (see p.73.)
[217e]See p.163.
[217f]Rymer’sFœdera, in three volumes, which Swift obtained for Trinity College, Dublin.
[217g]See pp.43,145.
[218a]Stephen Colledge, “the Protestant joiner,” was hanged in 1681. He had published attacks on the Roman Catholics, and had advocated resistance to CharlesII.
[218b]See p.14.
[218c]Mitford Crowe was appointed Governor of Barbados in 1706, and before his departure for that island went to Spain, “to settle the accounts of our army there, of which he is paymaster” (Luttrell, vi. 104). In 1710 charges of bribery brought against him by merchants were inquired into by the Privy Council, but he seems to have cleared himself, for in June 1711 Swift speaks of him as Governor of Jamaica. He died in 1719.
[219]See p.60.
[220a]Swift’s uncle Adam “lived and died in Ireland,” and left no son. Another daughter of his became Mrs. Whiteway.
[220b]William Lowndes, M.P., secretary to the Treasury, whom Walpole called “as able and honest a servant as ever the Crown had.”
[220c]The Lord Treasurer’s staff: since the dismissal of Godolphin, the Treasurership had been held in commission.
[221]“As I hope to be saved.”
[222]Stella’s maid.
[223]See letter from King to Swift, May 15, 1711. Alderman Constantine, a High Churchman, indignant at being passed over by a junior in the contest for the mayoralty, brought the matter before the Council Board, and produced an old by-law by which aldermen, according to their ancientry, were required to keep their mayoralty. King took the side of the city, but the majority was for the by-law, and disapproved of the election; whereupon the citizens repealed the by-law and re-elected the same alderman as before.
[224]The Lord Treasurer’s staff.
[225a]Swift’s “little parson cousin,” the resident chaplain at Moor Park. He pretended to have had some part inThe Tale of a Tub, and Swift always professed great contempt for him. Thomas Swift was son of an Oxford uncle of Swift’s, of the same name, and was at school and college with Swift. He became Rector of Puttenham, Surrey, and died in 1752, aged eighty-seven.
[225b]The Duke of Ormond’s daughter, Lady Mary Butler (see p.44).
[225c]Thomas Harley, the Lord Treasurer’s cousin, was secretary to the Treasury.
[226a]Lord Oxford’s daughter Elizabeth married, in 1712, the Marquis of Caermarthen.
[226b]Henry Tenison, M.P. for County Louth, was one of the Commissioners of the Revenue in Ireland from 1704 until his death in 1709 (Luttrell, v. 381, vi. 523). Probably he was related to Dr. Tenison, Bishop of Meath, who died in 1705.
[227a]Anne Finch (died 1720), daughter of Sir William Kingsmill, and wife of Heneage Finch, who became fourth Earl of Winchelsea in 1712. Lady Winchelsea published a volume of poems in 1713, and was a friend of Pope and Rowe. Wordsworth recognised the advance in the growth of attention to “external nature” shown in her writings.
[227b]See pp.223,297.
[227c]This was a mistake. Charles Hickman, D.D., Bishop of Derry, died in November 1713.
[227d]“These words in italics are written in a large round hand” (Deane Swift).
[229a]“This entry is interlined in the original” (Deane Swift).
[229b]Colonel James Graham (1649–1730) held various offices under JamesII., and was granted a lease of a lodge in Bagshot Park. Like his brother, Viscount Preston, he was suspected of treasonable practices in 1691, and he was arrested in 1692 and 1696. Under Queen Anne and George I., Colonel Graham was M.P. for Appleby and Westmorland.
[229c]Mr. Leslie Stephen has pointed out that this is the name of an inn (now the Jolly Farmer) near Frimley, on the hill between Bagshot and Farnborough. This inn is still called the Golden Farmer on the Ordnance map.
[229d]“Soley” is probably a misreading for “sollah,” a form often used by Swift for “sirrah,” and “figgarkick” may be “pilgarlick” (a poor creature) in Swift’s “little language” (cf. 20th Oct. 1711).
[230a]See p.134.
[230b]Probably a misprint for “Bertie.” This Mr. Bertie may have been the Hon. James Bertie, second son of the first Earl of Abingdon, and M.P. for Middlesex.
[230c]Evelyn Pierrepont, fifth Earl of Kingston, was made Marquis of Dorchester in 1706. He became Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1715, and died in 1726. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was his daughter.
[231a]See p.116.
[231b]Sir Thomas Thynne, first Viscount Weymouth, who died in 1714, aged seventy-four, married Frances, daughter of Heneage Finch, second Earl of Winchelsea.
[231c]See p.52.
[232a]Swift is referring to St. John’s defence of Brydges (see p.201.)
[232b]“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).
[232c]Beaumont (see p.1).
[232d]Sir Alexander Cairnes, M.P. for Monaghan, a banker, was created a baronet in 1706, and died in 1732.
[233a]See pp.43,160.
[233b]Isaac Manley (see p.7.)
[233c]Sir Thomas Frankland.
[233d]See p.24.
[234a]Hockley-in-the-Hole, Clerkenwell, a place of public diversion, was famous for its bear and bull baitings.
[234b]Sir William Seymour, second son of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., of Berry Pomeroy, retired from the army in 1717, and died in 1728 (Dalton’sArmy 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.
[234c]No. 45.
[235a]“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).
[235b]Edward Harley (see p.124).
[235c]See p.225.
[235d]Tom Ashe was an elder brother of the Bishop of Clogher. He had an estate of more than £1000 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.”
[235e]“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).
[236]Sir William Wyndham, Bart. (1687–1740), 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 p.270).
[237a]Swift was afterwards President of this Club, which is better known as “the Society.”
[237b]Perhaps Daniel Reading, M.P. for Newcastle, Co. Dublin.
[238a]Afterwards Congreve formed a friendship with the Whigs; or, as Swift put it,
“Took proper principles to thrive,And so might every dunce alive.”
“Took proper principles to thrive,And so might every dunce alive.”
[238b]Atterbury.
[238c]This pamphlet, published in February 1712, was calledA Proposal for Correcting,Improving,and Ascertaining the English Tongue,in a Letter to the. . .Lord High Treasurer.
[238d]No. 47
[238e]Francis Gastrell, Canon of Christ Church, was made Bishop of Chester in 1713. His valuableNotitia Cestriensiswas published in 1845–50.
[239]Near Fulham.
[240a]See p.116.
[240b]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.
[241]Thomas Harley.
[242]See p.176.
[245a]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.
[245b]“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.
[246]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.”
[247a]See p.92. Mrs. Manley was now editing theExaminer.
[247b]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’sArmy 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.
[248]Atterbury.
[249a]See p.10.
[249b]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.
[250a]See p.235.
[250b]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.
[251]“In Ireland there are not public paths from place to place, as in England” (Deane Swift).
[252a]See p.226.
[252b]Probably a son of John Manley, M.P. (see p.24).
[253a]See p.97.
[253b]Dr. George Stanhope, who was Vicar of Lewisham as well as of Deptford. He was a popular preacher and a translator of Thomas à Kempis and other religious writers.
[253c]See p.10.