[426a]See p.424, note 1.
[426b]In 1549, James, second Earl of Arran, was made Duke of Chatelherault by HenryII. of France. His eldest son died without issue; thesecond, John, became first Marquis of Hamilton, and was great-grandfather of Lady Anne Hamilton (Duchess of Hamilton), mother of the Duke of Swift’sJournal. The Earl of Abercorn, on the other hand, was descended from Claud,thirdson of the Earl of Arran, but in the male line; and his claim was therefore the stronger, according to the French law of inheritance.
[426c]Madams.
[427a]This word is doubtful. Forster reads “cobbled.”
[427b]A mistake, apparently, for “writing.” The letter was begun on March 8.
[427c]Silly jade.
[427d]O Lord, what a clutter.
[427e]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.
[427f]Abel Roper (1665–1726), a Tory journalist, published, thrice weekly, thePostboy, 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.”
[427g]Joe Beaumont.
[428a]Beg your pardon, Madams, I’m glad you like your apron (see p.402).
[428b]This word was smudged by Swift.
[429a]I cannot find Somers in contemporary lists of officials. Cf. pp.159,298.
[429b]Obliterated and doubtful.
[429c]Words obliterated and illegible. Forster reads, conjecturally, “Pray send Pdfr the ME account that I may have time to write to Parvisol.”
[429d]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Apr. 14.”
[430a]“Is” (MS.).
[430b]The words after “yet” are partially obliterated.
[431a]See p.53.
[431b]John Cecil, sixth Earl of Exeter (died 1721).
[432a]See p.206.
[432b]Arbuthnot.
[433a]A resort of the Tories.
[433b]Deane Swift, a son of Swift’s uncle Godwin, was a merchant in Lisbon.
[433c]Winces. Lyly says, “Rubbe there no more, least I winch.”
[433d]Probably William Whiston, who was deprived of the Lucasian professorship at Cambridge in 1710 for his heterodox views. Parliament having offered a reward for the discovery of means of finding the longitude, Whiston made several attempts (1714 and 1721).
[434a]Word obliterated.
[434b]Distilled water prepared with rosemary flowers. In Fielding’sJoseph Andrews, a lady gives up to a highway robber, in her fright, a silver bottle which, the ruffian said, contained some of the best brandy he had ever tasted; this she “afterwards assured the company was a mistake of her maid, for that she had ordered her to fill the bottle with Hungary water.”
[435a]As I hope to be saved.
[435b]Added on the fourth page, as the letter was folded.
[436a]Addressed to “Mrs. Johnson,” etc. Endorsed “May 1st.”
[436b]A kind of clover, used for soothing purposes.
[437a]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “May 15.”
[437b]Madam Ayris.
[437c]Simpleton.
[437d]Robert Benson (see p.41).
[437e]See pp.407,420.
[438a]The title was,An Appendix to John Bull still in his Senses:or,Law is a Bottomless Pit.
[438b]Arbuthnot.
[438c]Enquiries by servants.
[438d]See p.160.
[438e]Sick.
[439a]Afterwards Rector of Letcombe, Berks. It was to his house that Swift repaired a few weeks before the Queen’s death. On June 8, 1714, he wrote, “I am at a clergyman’s house, whom I love very well, but he is such a melancholy, thoughtful man, partly from nature, and partly by a solitary life, that I shall soon catch the spleen from him. His wife has been this month twenty miles off at her father’s, and will not return these ten days, and perhaps the house will be worse when she comes.” Swift spells the name “Geree”; later on in theJournalhe mentions two of Mr. Gery’s sisters, Betty (Mrs. Elwick) and Moll (Mrs. Wigmore); probably he made the acquaintance of the family when he was living with the Temples at Moor Park (see p.502).
[439b]Because she is a good girl in other things.
[439c]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “June 5.”
[439d]Sice, the number six at dice.
[440a]At Laracor Swift had “a canal and river-walk and willows.”
[440b]Splenetic fellow.
[440c]One of them was by Oldmixon:Reflections on Dr. Swift’s Letter to the Earl of Oxford.
[440d]Beg your pardon.
[440e]See p.239.
[440f]On May 28, Lord Halifax moved an Address to the Queen that the instructions given to the Duke of Ormond might be laid before the House, and that further orders might be issued to him to act offensively, in concert with the Allies. Wharton and Nottingham supported the motion, but it was negatived by 68 votes against 40. A similar motion in the House of Commons was defeated by 203 against 73.
[440g]See p.335.
[441a]See p.217.
[441b]Some Reasons to prove that no Person is obliged by his Principles,as a Whig,to oppose Her Majesty:in a Letter to a Whig Lord.
[441c]Several words obliterated.
[441d]Several words obliterated.
[441e]The bellman.
[442a]This present writing.
[442b]Please.
[442c]Addressed to “Mrs. Rebecca Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “June 23d.”
[443a]Mr. Ryland reads “second.”
[443b]As I hope to be saved.
[444a]See p.295.
[444b]Glad at heart.
[445a]The threepenny pamphlet mentioned on p.441.
[445b]I.e., for.
[445c]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley.” Endorsed “July 8.”
[445d]See p.277.
[446a]See p.76.
[446b]See p.9.
[446c]See pp.295,444.
[446d]Dr. William Lloyd—one of the Seven Bishops of 1688—was eighty-four years of age at this time; he died five years later. He was a strong antipapist, and a great student of the Apocalypse, besides being a hard-working bishop. A curious letter from him to Lord Oxford about a coming war of religion is given in the Welbeck Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) v. 128.
[447a]Toland’s Invitation to Dismal to dine with the Calf’s Head Club. The Earl of Nottingham (Dismal) had deserted the Tories, and Swift’s imitation of Horace (Epist. I. v.) is an invitation from Toland to dine with “his trusty friends” in celebration of the execution of Charles I. The Calf’s Head Club was in the habit of toasting “confusion to the race of kings.”
[447b]Bolingbroke.
[447c]George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland (died 1716), a natural son of CharlesII., was also Viscount Falmouth and Baron of Pontefract. SeeNotes and Queries, viii. i. 135.
[447d]Enoch Sterne.
[448a]Templeoag (p.443).
[448b]Swift probably was only repeating an inaccurate rumour, for there is no evidence that Steele was arrested. His gambling scheme was withdrawn directly an information was laid under the new Act of Parliament against gambling (Aitken’sLife of Steele, i. 347).
[448c]Dr. William Moreton (1641–1715), Swift’s diocesan, was translated from the see of Kildare to that of Meath in 1705.
[448d]Words obliterated. Forster reads conjecturally, “when ME wants me to send. She ought to have it,” etc.
[449a]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “July 23.”
[449b]“N. 33” seems a mistake. Letter No. 32 was received after Swift had left Kensington and gone to Windsor; see pp.452,456(Ryland).
[450a]Dr. Moreton (see p.448).
[450b]Memoranda.
[450c]Again.
[450d]O Lord, drunken slut.
[450e]There’s for you now, and there’s for your letter, and every kind of thing.
[450f]Bolingbroke.
[451a]See p.120.
[451b]Grub Street pamphlet. The title was,A Supposed Letter from the Pretender to another Whig Lord.
[451c]Arnold Joost Van Keppel, created Earl of Albemarle in 1697. He died in 1718. The action referred to was at Denain, where the Dutch were defeated by Villars.
[452a]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Aug. 14.”
[452b]Perhaps this was influenza.
[453a]By the Stamp Act passed on June 10, 1712—which was repealed in 1859—a duty of one halfpenny was levied on all pamphlets and newspapers contained in half a sheet or less, and a duty of one penny on those of more than half but not exceeding a whole sheet. Swift opposed the idea in January 1711 (see p.138), and Defoe argued against the Bill in theReviewfor April 26, 1712, and following numbers. Addison, in theSpectator, No. 445, spoke of the mortality among authors resulting from the Stamp Act as “the fall of the leaf.”
[453b]The title is,Lewis Baboon turned honest,and John Bull politician.Being the Fourth Part of Law is a Bottomless Pit. This pamphlet—really the fifth of the series—appeared on July 31, 1712.
[453c]Poor Laracor.
[454a]See p.104.
[454b]On the death of the third Earl in 1712, the title of Earl of Winchelsea passed to his uncle, Heneage Finch, who had married Anne, daughter of Sir William Kingsmill (see p.227).
[454c]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Oct. 1st. At Portraune” [Portraine].
[455a]Oxford and Bolingbroke.
[455b]Including Hester Vanhomrigh.
[456a]He died on Sept. 15, 1712.
[456b]Elizabeth Villiers, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Villiers, Knight Marischal of England, and sister of the first Earl of Jersey. In 1695 she married Lord George Hamilton (son of Lord William Douglas, afterwards Duke of Hamilton), who was raised to the peerage of Scotland in 1696 as Earl of Orkney. WilliamIII. gave her an Irish estate worth £26,000 a year. Swift’s opinion of her wisdom is confirmed by Lord Lansdowne, who speaks, in hisProgress of Poetry, of
“Villiers, for wisdom and deep judgment famed,Of a high race, victorious beauty bringsTo grace our Courts, and captivate our Kings.”
“Villiers, for wisdom and deep judgment famed,Of a high race, victorious beauty bringsTo grace our Courts, and captivate our Kings.”
The “beauty” seems a poetic licence; Swift says the lady squinted “like a dragon.”
[456c]Cliefden.
[456d]See p.106.
[456e]Swift’s sister (see p.74).
[457a]Forster reads “returned.”
[457b]See Swift’s letter to General Hill of Aug. 12, 1712
[457c]Swift’s housekeeper at Laracor.
[457d]I.e., be made freemen of the City.
[458]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Octr. 18. At Portraune.”
[459a]“Sometimes, when better company was not to be had, he [Swift] was honoured by being invited to play at cards with his patron; and on such occasions Sir William was so generous as to give his antagonist a little silver to begin with” (Macaulay,History of England, chap. xix.).
[459b]The History of the Works of the Learned, a quarto periodical, was published from 1699 to 1711.
[459c]See p.343.
[459d]See p.277.
[460a]Lady Elizabeth Savage, daughter of Richard, fourth Earl Rivers (see p.88), was the second wife of James Barry, fourth Earl of Barrymore. Of Earl Rivers’ illegitimate children, one, Bessy, married (1) Frederick Nassau, third Earl of Rochford, and (2) a clergyman named Carter; while another, Richard Savage, was the poet. Earl Rivers’ successor, John Savage, the fifth Earl, was a Roman Catholic priest, the grandson of John, first Earl Rivers. On his death in 1728 the title became extinct.
[460b]No. 32.
[460c]Very sick.
[460d]From “but I” to “agreeable” is partially obliterated.
[460e]Mrs. Swanton was the eldest daughter of Willoughby Swift, and therefore Swift’s second cousin. In her will Esther Johnson left to Swift “a bond of thirty pounds, due to me by Dr. Russell, in trust for the use of Mrs. Honoria Swanton.”
[460f]This sentence is partially obliterated.
[460g]See p.452.
[461a]See p.25.
[461b]The latter half of this sentence is partially obliterated.
[462a]Partly obliterated.
[462b]See p.54.
[462c]Wise.
[462d]Partly obliterated.
[462e]See p.43.
[462f]This sentence is almost obliterated.
[463a]The MS. of this letter has not been preserved.
[463b]See p.245.
[463c]Swift’s friend, Dr. Pratt (see p.5), was then Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
[463d]Samuel Molyneux, then aged twenty-three, was the son of William Molyneux (1656–1698), M.P. for Dublin University, a writer on philosophical and scientific subjects, and the friend of Locke. Samuel Molyneux took his M.A. degree in Dublin in 1710, and in 1712 visited England. He was befriended by the Duke of Marlborough at Antwerp, and in 1714 was sent by the Duke on a mission to the Court of Hanover. He held office under George I., but devoted most of his attention to astronomical research, until his death in 1728.
[464a]ProbablyThe Case of Ireland’s being bound by Acts of Parliament in England stated(1698).
[464b]Oxford and Bolingbroke.
[464c]See p.360.
[464d]See p.453.
[464e]George Ridpath (died 1726), a Whig journalist, of whom Pope (Dunciad, i. 208) wrote—
“To Dulness Ridpath is as dear as Mist.”
“To Dulness Ridpath is as dear as Mist.”
He edited theFlying Postfor some years, and also wrote for theMedleyin 1712. In September William Hurt and Ridpath were arrested for libellous and seditious articles, but were released on bail. On October 23 they appeared before the Court of Queen’s Bench, and were continued on their recognizances. In February 1713 Ridpath was tried and, in spite of an able defence by leading Whig lawyers, was convicted. Sentence was postponed, and when Ridpath failed to appear, as ordered, in April, his recognizances were escheated, and a reward offered for his discovery; but he had fled to Scotland, and from thence to Holland.
[466a]See p.456.
[466b]Lady Orkney’s sister, Barbara Villiers, who married John Berkeley, fourth Viscount Fitz-Hardinge, had been governess to the Duke of Gloucester, Queen Anne’s son. She died in 1708, in her fifty-second year; and on her husband’s death four years later the peerage became extinct.
[466c]For the street criers, see theSpectator, No. 251.
[466d]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley.” Endorsed “Nov. 26, just come from Portraine”; and “The band-box plot—D: Hamilton’s murther.”
[467a]Charles Mohun, fifth Baron Mohun, had been twice arraigned of murder, but acquitted; and during his short but turbulent life he had taken part in many duels. Even Burnet could say nothing in his favour.
[467b]This duel between the Duke of Hamilton (see p.262) and Lord Mohun, who had married nieces of Lord Macclesfield, had its origin in a protracted dispute about some property. The challenge came from Lord Mohun, and the combatants fought like “enraged lions.” Tory writers suggested that the duel was a Whig conspiracy to get rid of the Duke of Hamilton (Examiner, Nov. 20, 1712). The whole subject is discussed from the Whig point of view in Boyer’sPolitical Statefor 1712, pp. 297–326.
[467c]“Will” (MS.).
[467d]See p.262, note 2.
[467e]George Maccartney (see pp.89,387) fought at Almanza, Malplaquet, and Douay. After the duel, Maccartney escaped to Holland, but on the accession of George I. he returned to England, and was tried for murder (June 1716), when Colonel Hamilton gave evidence against him. Hamilton’s evidence was discredited, and he found it necessary to sell his commission and leave the country. Maccartney was found guilty as an accessory, and “burnt” in the hand. Within a month he was given an appointment in the army; and promoted to be Lieutenant-General. He died in 1730.
[467f]Colonel John Hamilton, of the Scots Guards. He surrendered himself, and was tried at the Old Bailey on Dec. 12, 1712, when he was found guilty of manslaughter, on two indictments; and on the following day he was “burnt” in the hand. Hamilton died in October 1716, soon after Maccartney’s trial, from a sudden vomiting of blood.
[467g]“That” (MS.).
[468a]The story (as told in the ToryPostboyof Nov. 11 to 13) was that on Nov. 4 a bandbox was sent to the Earl of Oxford by post. When he began to open it he saw a pistol, whereupon a gentleman present [Swift] asked for the box, and opening it, by the window, found powder, nails, etc., so arranged that, if opened in the ordinary way, the whole would have been fired, and two barrels discharged different ways. No doubt a box so packed was received, but whether anything serious was intended, or whether it was a hoax, cannot be said with any certainty. The Earl of Oxford is said to have met allusions to the subject with a smile, and Swift seems to have been annoyed at the reports which were put into circulation.
[468b]“We have received a more particular account relating to the box sent to the Lord Treasurer, as mentioned in our last, which is as follows,” etc. (Evening News, Nov. 11 to 13, 1712).
[468c]EitherA Letter to the People,to be left for them at the Booksellers,with a word or two of the Bandbox Plot(by T. Burnet), 1712, orAn Account of the Duel. . .,with Previous Reflections on Sham Plots(by A. Boyer), 1712. Swift’s connection with the Bandbox Plot was ridiculed in theFlying Postfor Nov. 20 to 22.
[468d]Cf. p.154.
[469a]This sentence is partially obliterated.
[469b]Part of this sentence has been obliterated.
[470a]See p.427. I have not been able to find a copy of the paper containing Swift’s paragraph.
[470b]This sentence is partially obliterated.
[471a]See p.104.
[471b]Apparently Humphrey Griffith, who was one of the Commissioners of Salt; but Swift gives the name as “Griffin” throughout.
[471c]See pp.25,461.
[471d]For these shorter letters Swift folded the folio sheet before writing.
[472a]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Decr. 18.”
[472b]Vengeance.
[472c]Charles Connor, scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, who took his B.A. degree in the same year as Swift (1686), and his M.A. degree in 1691.
[472d]The History of the Peace of Utrecht.
[473a]See p.467, note 6.
[473b]Lord Oxford’s daughter Elizabeth married, on Dec. 16, 1712, Peregrine Hyde, Marquis of Caermarthen, afterwards third Duke of Leeds (see pp.226,417). She died on Nov. 20, 1713, a few days after the birth of a son. Swift called her “a friend I extremely loved.”
[473c]“Is” (MS.).
[473d]Disorders.
[473e]See p.335.
[473f]John Francis, Rector of St. Mary’s, Dublin, was made Dean of Leighlin in 1705.
[473g]See p.67.
[473h]Possibly “have.”
[473i]See p.468.
[474]This clause is omitted by Mr. Ryland.
[475a]See p.304.
[475b]See p.466.
[475c]Thomas Jones, Esq., was M.P. for Trim in the Parliament of 1713–4.
[476a]A Dutch agent employed in the negotiations with LewisXIV.
[476b]When I come home.
[476c]Addressed to “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Jan. 13.”
[477a]“Ay, marry, this is something like.” The earlier editions give, “How agreeable it is in a morning.” The words in the MS. are partially obliterated.
[477b]In this letter (Dec. 20, 1712) Swift paid many compliments to the Duchess of Ormond (see p.160): “All the accomplishments of your mind and person are so deeply printed in the heart, and represent you so lively to my imagination, that I should take it for a high affront if you believed it in the power of colours to refresh my memory.”
[478a]Tisdall’sConduct of the Dissenters in Ireland(see p.517).
[478b]See pp.73,192–3.
[478c]Monteleon.
[479a]See pp.7,24.
[479b]Utrecht, North and South Holland, and West Frieseland.
[479c]See p.439.
[479d]See p.439.
[479e]On Queen Anne’s Peace.
[479f]See p.422. The poem wasDryades,or the Nymph’s Prophecy.
[480a]See p.343.
[480b]See p.159.
[480c]Dr. Tobias Pullen (1648–1713) was made Bishop of Dromore in 1695.
[480d]Lord Charles Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, died unmarried in 1739. When his father, William, first Earl of Selkirk, married Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, the Duchess obtained for her husband, in 1660, the title of Duke of Hamilton, for life. JamesII. conferred the Earldom of Selkirk on his Grace’s second and younger sons, primogenitively; and the second son having died without issue, the third, Charles, became Earl. The fifth son, George, was created Earl of Orkney (see p.456). The difference between Lord Selkirk and the Earl of Abercorn (see p.86) to which Swift alludes was in connection with the claim to the Dukedom of Chatelherault (see p.426).
[481a]Heart.
[481b]This sentence is almost illegible.
[481c]A reward of £500 was offered by the Crown for Maccartney’s apprehension, and £200 by the Duchess of Hamilton.
[482]In the proposedHistory of the Peace of Utrecht.
[483a]Mr. Ryland’s reading. Forster has “Iss.” These words are obliterated.
[483b]Hoist. Cf. “Hoised up the mainsail” (Acts xxvii. 40).
[483c]It was afterwards found that Miss Ashe was suffering from smallpox.
[484a]See p.101. We are told in theWentworth Papers, p. 268, that the Duchess of Shrewsbury remarked to Lady Oxford, “Madam, I and my Lord are so weary of talking politics; what are you and your Lord?” whereupon Lady Oxford sighed and said she knew no Lord but the Lord Jehovah. The Duchess rejoined, “Oh, dear! Madam, who is that? I believe ’tis one of the new titles, for I never heard of him before.”
[484b]A thousand merry new years. The words are much obliterated.
[484c]Lady Anne Hamilton, daughter of James, first Duke of Hamilton, became Duchess on the death of her uncle William, the second Duke, at the battle of Worcester.
[485a]The quarrel between Oxford and Bolingbroke.
[485b]See p.276.
[485c]Burnet (History, iv. 382) says that the Duc d’Aumont was “a goodnatured and generous man, of profuse expense, throwing handfuls of money often out of his coach as he went about the streets. He was not thought a man of business, and seemed to employ himself chiefly in maintaining the dignity of his character and making himself acceptable to the nation.”
[486a]Partially obliterated.
[486b]For the most part illegible. Forster reads, “Go, play cards, and be melly, deelest logues, and rove Pdfr. Nite richar MD, FW oo roves Pdfr. FW lele lele ME ME MD MD MD MD MD MD. MD FW FW FW ME ME FW FW FW FW FW ME ME ME.”
[486c]On the third page of the paper.
[486d]See p.44.
[487a]To “Mrs. Dingley,” etc. Endorsed “Feb. 4.”
[487b]This sentence is scribbled over. Forster reads the last word as “lastalls,”i.e.rascals, but it seems rather to be “ledles.”
[488a]Dr. Peter Brown was appointed Bishop of Cork in 1709.
[488b]See p.26.
[488c]See p.23.
[489a]See p.24, note 4.
[489b]Dr. H. Humphreys, Bishop of Hereford, died on Nov. 20, 1712. His successor was Dr. Philip Bisse (1667–1721), Bishop of St. David’s (see p.14).
[490a]Thomas Keightley, a Commissioner of the Great Seal in Ireland.
[490b]Nearly obliterated. Mr. Ryland reads, “deelest MD.”
[490c]See p.480.
[490d]In theExaminerfor Jan. 5 to 9, 1712[–13], there is an account of the game of Similitudes. One person thinks of a subject, and the others, not knowing what it is, name similitudes, and when the subject is proclaimed, must make good the comparisons. On the occasion described, the subject chosen was Faction. The prize was given to a Dutchman, who argued that Faction was like butter, because too much fire spoiled its consistency.
[490e]Earl Poulett (see p.190).
[491a]“Say” (MS.).
[491b]Dr. Pratt.
[491c]See p.120.
[492a]This sentence is partially obliterated.
[492b]See pp.305,308.
[493a]Cf. the account of Beatrix’s feelings on the death of the Duke inEsmond, book iii. chaps. 6 and 7.