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diff --git a/old/4208.txt b/old/4208.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..857cef7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4208.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22927 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal to Stella, by Jonathan Swift + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Journal to Stella + +Author: Jonathan Swift + +Release Date: July, 2003 [Etext #4208] +Posting Date: January 28, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JOURNAL TO STELLA *** + + + + +Produced by Les Bowler + + + + + +THE JOURNAL TO STELLA + +By Jonathan Swift + +With preface, introduction and notes by George A. Aitken. + +(Numbers thus (5) refer to the Notes at the end, which are arranged by +"Introduction" or by "Letter 'number'".) + + + + +PREFACE + + +The history of the publication of the Journal to Stella is somewhat +curious. On Swift's death twenty-five of the letters, forming the +closing portion of the series, fell into the hands of Dr. Lyon, a +clergyman who had been in charge of Swift for some years. The letters +passed to a man named Wilkes, who sold them for publication. They +accordingly appeared in 1766 in the tenth volume of Dr. Hawkesworth's +quarto edition of Swift's works; but the editor made many changes in +the text, including a suppression of most of the "little language." The +publishers, however, fortunately for us, were public-spirited enough to +give the manuscripts (with one exception) to the British Museum, where, +after many years, they were examined by John Forster, who printed in his +unfinished "Life of Swift" numerous passages from the originals, showing +the manner in which the text had been tampered with by Hawkesworth. +Swift himself, too, in his later years, obliterated many words and +sentences in the letters, and Forster was able to restore not a few of +these omissions. His zeal, however, sometimes led him to make guesses at +words which are quite undecipherable. Besides Forster's work, I have had +the benefit of the careful collation made by Mr. Ryland for his edition +of 1897. Where these authorities differ I have usually found myself in +agreement with Mr. Ryland, but I have felt justified in accepting some +of Forster's readings which were rejected by him as uncertain; and the +examination of the manuscripts has enabled me to make some additions and +corrections of my own. Swift's writing is extremely small, and abounds +in abbreviations. The difficulty of arriving at the true reading is +therefore considerable, apart from the erasures. + +The remainder of the Journal, consisting of the first forty letters, +was published in 1768 by Deane Swift, Dr. Swift's second cousin. These +letters had been given to Mrs. Whiteway in 1788, and by her to her +son-in-law, Deane Swift. The originals have been lost, with the +exception of the first, which, by some accident, is in the British +Museum; but it is evident that Deane Swift took even greater liberties +with the text than Hawkesworth. He substituted for "Ppt" the word +"Stella," a name which Swift seems not to have used until some years +later; he adopted the name "Presto" for Swift, and in other ways tried +to give a greater literary finish to the letters. The whole of the +correspondence was first brought together, under the title of the +"Journal to Stella", in Sheridan's edition of 1784. + +Previous editions of the Journal have been but slightly annotated. +Swift's letters abound with allusions to people of all classes with whom +he came in contact in London, and to others known to Esther Johnson in +Ireland; and a large proportion of these persons have been passed over +in discreet silence by Sir Walter Scott and others. The task of +the annotator has, of course, been made easier of late years by the +publication of contemporary journals and letters, and of useful works +of reference dealing with Parliament, the Army, the Church, the Civil +Service, and the like, besides the invaluable Dictionary of National +Biography. I have also been assisted by a collection of MS. notes kindly +placed at my disposal by Mr. Thomas Seccombe. I have aimed at brevity +and relevance, but it is hoped that the reader will find all the +information that is necessary. Here and there a name has baffled +research, but I have been able to give definite particulars of a very +large number of people--noblemen and ladies in society in London or +Dublin, Members of Parliament, doctors, clergymen, Government officials, +and others who have hitherto been but names to the reader of the +Journal. I have corrected a good many errors in the older notes, but in +dealing with so large a number of persons, some of whom it is difficult +to identify, I cannot hope that I myself have escaped pitfalls. + +G. A. A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +When Swift began to write the letters known as the Journal to Stella, he +was forty-two years of age, and Esther Johnson twenty-nine. Perhaps the +most useful introduction to the correspondence will be a brief setting +forth of what is known of their friendship from Stella's childhood, the +more specially as the question has been obscured by many assertions and +theories resting on a very slender basis of fact. + +Jonathan Swift, born in 1667 after his father's death, was educated +by his uncle Godwin, and after a not very successful career at Trinity +College, Dublin, went to stay with his mother, Abigail Erick, at +Leicester. Mrs. Swift feared that her son would fall in love with a girl +named Betty Jones, but, as Swift told a friend, he had had experience +enough "not to think of marriage till I settle my fortune in the world, +which I am sure will not be in some years; and even then, I am so hard +to please that I suppose I shall put it off to the other world." Soon +afterwards an opening for Swift presented itself. Sir William Temple, +now living in retirement at Moor Park, near Farnham, had been, like his +father, Master of the Irish Rolls, and had thus become acquainted with +Swift's uncle Godwin. Moreover, Lady Temple was related to Mrs. Swift, +as Lord Orrery tells us. Thanks to these facts, the application to +Sir William Temple was successful, and Swift went to live at Moor Park +before the end of 1689. There he read to Temple, wrote for him, and kept +his accounts, and growing into confidence with his employer, "was +often trusted with matters of great importance." The story--afterwards +improved upon by Lord Macaulay--that Swift received only 20 pounds +and his board, and was not allowed to sit at table with his master, is +wholly untrustworthy. Within three years of their first intercourse, +Temple had introduced his secretary to William the Third, and sent +him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial +Parliaments. + +When Swift took up his residence at Moor Park he found there a little +girl of eight, daughter of a merchant named Edward Johnson, who had died +young. Swift says that Esther Johnson was born on March 18, 1681; in +the parish register of Richmond,(1) which shows that she was baptized on +March 20, 1680-81, her name is given as Hester; but she signed her +will "Esther," the name by which she was always known. Swift says, "Her +father was a younger brother of a good family in Nottinghamshire, her +mother of a lower degree; and indeed she had little to boast in her +birth." Mrs. Johnson had two children, Esther and Ann, and lived at +Moor Park as companion to Lady Giffard, Temple's widowed sister. Another +member of the household, afterwards to be Esther's constant companion, +was Rebecca Dingley, a relative of the Temple family.(2) She was a year +or two older than Swift. + +The lonely young man of twenty-two was both playfellow and teacher +of the delicate child of eight. How he taught her to write has been +charmingly brought before us in the painting exhibited by Miss Dicksee +at the Royal Academy a few years ago; he advised her what books to read, +and instructed her, as he says, "in the principles of honour and virtue, +from which she never swerved in any one action or moment of her life." + +By 1694 Swift had grown tired of his position, and finding that Temple, +who valued his services, was slow in finding him preferment, he left +Moor Park in order to carry out his resolve to go into the Church. He +was ordained, and obtained the prebend of Kilroot, near Belfast, where +he carried on a flirtation with a Miss Waring, whom he called Varina. +But in May 1696 Temple made proposals which induced Swift to return +to Moor Park, where he was employed in preparing Temple's memoirs and +correspondence for publication, and in supporting the side taken by +Temple in the Letters of Phalaris controversy by writing The Battle of +the Books, which was, however, not published until 1704. On his return +to Temple's house, Swift found his old playmate grown from a sickly +child into a girl of fifteen, in perfect health. She came, he says, to +be "looked upon as one of the most beautiful, graceful, and agreeable +young women in London, only a little too fat. Her hair was blacker than +a raven, and every feature of her face in perfection." + +On his death in January 1699, Temple left a will,(3) dated 1694, +directing the payment of 20 pounds each, with half a year's wages, to +Bridget Johnson "and all my other servants"; and leaving a lease of some +land in Monistown, County Wicklow, to Esther Johnson, "servant to my +sister Giffard." By a codicil of February 1698, Temple left 100 pounds +to "Mr. Jonathan Swift, now living with me." It may be added that by her +will of 1722, proved in the following year, Lady Giffard gave 20 pounds +to Mrs. Moss--Mrs. Bridget Johnson, who had married Richard Mose or +Moss, Lady Giffard's steward. The will proceeds: "To Mrs. Hester (sic) +Johnson I give 10 pounds, with the 100 pounds I put into the Exchequer +for her life and my own, and declare the 100 pounds to be hers which I +am told is there in my name upon the survivorship, and for which she has +constantly sent over her certificate and received the interest. I give +her besides my two little silver candlesticks." + +Temple left in Swift's hands the task of publishing his posthumous +works, a duty which afterwards led to a quarrel with Lady Giffard and +other members of the family. Many years later Swift told Lord Palmerston +that he stopped at Moor Park solely for the benefit of Temple's +conversation and advice, and the opportunity of pursuing his studies. At +Temple's death he was "as far to seek as ever." In the summer of 1699, +however, he was offered and accepted the post of secretary and chaplain +to the Earl of Berkeley, one of the Lords Justices, but when he reached +Ireland he found that the secretaryship had been given to another. He +soon, however, obtained the living of Laracor, Agher, and Rathbeggan, +and the prebend of Dunlavin in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. The +total value of these preferments was about 230 pounds a year, an +income which Miss Waring seems to have thought enough to justify him in +marrying. Swift's reply to the lady whom he had "singled out at first +from the rest of women" could only have been written with the intention +of breaking off the connection, and accordingly we hear no more of poor +Varina. + +At Laracor, a mile or two from Trim, and twenty miles from Dublin, Swift +ministered to a congregation of about fifteen persons, and had abundant +leisure for cultivating his garden, making a canal (after the Dutch +fashion of Moor Park), planting willows, and rebuilding the vicarage. As +chaplain to Lord Berkeley, he spent much of his time in Dublin. He was +on intimate terms with Lady Berkeley and her daughters, one of whom is +best known by her married name of Lady Betty Germaine; and through them +he had access to the fashionable society of Dublin. When Lord Berkeley +returned to England in April 1701, Swift, after taking his Doctor's +degree at Dublin, went with him, and soon afterwards published, +anonymously, a political pamphlet, A Discourse on the Contests and +Dissentions in Athens and Rome. When he returned to Ireland in September +he was accompanied by Stella--to give Esther Johnson the name by which +she is best known--and her friend Mrs. Dingley. Stella's fortune was +about 1500 pounds, and the property Temple had left her was in County +Wicklow. Swift, very much for his "own satisfaction, who had few +friends or acquaintance in Ireland," persuaded Stella--now twenty years +old--that living was cheaper there than in England, and that a better +return was obtainable on money. The ladies took his advice, and made +Ireland their home. At first they felt themselves strangers in Dublin; +"the adventure looked so like a frolic," Swift says, "the censure held +for some time as if there were a secret history in such a removal: which +however soon blew off by her excellent conduct." Swift took every +step that was possible to avoid scandal. When he was away, the ladies +occupied his rooms; when he returned, they went into their own lodgings. +When he was absent, they often stopped at the vicarage at Laracor, but +if he were there, they moved to Trim, where they visited the vicar, Dr. +Raymond, or lived in lodgings in the town or neighbourhood. Swift was +never with Stella except in the presence of a third person, and in 1726 +he said that he had not seen her in a morning "these dozen years, except +once or twice in a journey." + +During a visit to England in the winter of 1703-4 we find Swift in +correspondence with the Rev. William Tisdall, a Dublin incumbent whom he +had formerly known at Belfast. Tisdall was on friendly terms with Stella +and Mrs. Dingley, and Swift sent messages to them through him. "Pray put +them upon reading," he wrote, "and be always teaching something to +Mrs. Johnson, because she is good at comprehending, remembering and +retaining." But the correspondence soon took a different turn. Tisdall +paid his addresses to Stella, and charged Swift with opposing his suit. +Tisdall's letters are missing, but Swift's reply of April 20, 1704, +puts things sufficiently clearly. "My conjecture is," he says, "that +you think I obstructed your inclinations to please my own, and that my +intentions were the same with yours. In answer to all which I will, upon +my conscience and honour, tell you the naked truth. First, I think I +have said to you before that, if my fortunes and humour served me to +think of that state, I should certainly, among all persons upon earth, +make your choice; because I never saw that person whose conversation I +entirely valued but hers; this was the utmost I ever gave way to. And +secondly, I must assure you sincerely that this regard of mine never +once entered into my head to be an impediment to you." He had thought +Tisdall not rich enough to marry; "but the objection of your fortune +being removed, I declare I have no other; nor shall any consideration +of my own misfortune, in losing so good a friend and companion as her, +prevail on me, against her interest and settlement in the world, since +it is held so necessary and convenient a thing for ladies to marry, and +that time takes off from the lustre of virgins in all other eyes but +mine. I appeal to my letters to herself whether I was your friend or not +in the whole concern, though the part I designed to act in it was purely +passive." He had even thought "it could not be decently broken," without +disadvantage to the lady's credit, since he supposed it was known to the +town; and he had always spoken of her in a manner far from discouraging. +Though he knew many ladies of rank, he had "nowhere met with an humour, +a wit, or conversation so agreeable, a better portion of good sense, or +a truer judgment of men or things." He envied Tisdall his prudence and +temper, and love of peace and settlement, "the reverse of which has been +the great uneasiness of my life, and is likely to continue so." + +This letter has been quoted at some length because of its great +importance. It is obviously capable of various interpretations, and +some, like Dr. Johnson, have concluded that Swift was resolved to keep +Stella in his power, and therefore prevented an advantageous match +by making unreasonable demands. I cannot see any ground for this +interpretation, though it is probable that Tisdall's appearance as +a suitor was sufficiently annoying. There is no evidence that Stella +viewed Tisdall's proposal with any favour, unless it can be held to +be furnished by Swift's belief that the town thought--rightly or +wrongly--that there was an engagement. In any case, there could be no +mistake in future with regard to Swift's attitude towards Stella. She +was dearer to him than anyone else, and his feeling for her would not +change, but for marriage he had neither fortune nor humour. Tisdall +consoled himself by marrying another lady two years afterwards; and +though for a long time Swift entertained for him feelings of dislike, +in later life their relations improved, and Tisdall was one of the +witnesses to Swift's will. + +The Tale of a Tub was published in 1704, and Swift was soon in constant +intercourse with Addison and the other wits. While he was in England in +1705, Stella and Mrs. Dingley made a short visit to London. This and a +similar visit in 1708 are the only occasions on which Stella is known to +have left Ireland after taking up her residence in that country. Swift's +influence over women was always very striking. Most of the toasts of the +day were his friends, and he insisted that any lady of wit and quality +who desired his acquaintance should make the first advances. This, he +says--writing in 1730--had been an established rule for over twenty +years. In 1708 a dispute on this question with one toast, Mrs. Long, +was referred for settlement to Ginckel Vanhomrigh, the son of the house +where it was proposed that the meeting should take place; and by the +decision--which was in Swift's favour--"Mrs. Vanhomrigh and her fair +daughter Hessy" were forbidden to aid Mrs. Long in her disobedience +for the future. This is the first that we hear of Hester or Esther +Vanhomrigh, who was afterwards to play so marked a part in the story +of Swift's life. Born on February 14, 1690, she was now eighteen. Her +father, Bartholomew Vanhomrigh, a Dublin merchant of Dutch origin, +had died in 1703, leaving his wife a fortune of some sixteen thousand +pounds. On the income from this money Mrs. Vanhomrigh, with her two +daughters, Hester and Mary, were able to mix in fashionable society in +London. Swift was introduced to them by Sir Andrew Fountaine early in +1708, but evidently Stella did not make their acquaintance, nor indeed +hear much, if anything, of them until the time of the Journal. + +Swift's visit to London in 1707-9 had for its object the obtaining for +the Irish Church of the surrender by the Crown of the First-Fruits and +Twentieths, which brought in about 2500 pounds a year. Nothing came +of Swift's interviews with the Whig statesmen, and after many +disappointments he returned to Laracor (June 1709), and conversed with +none but Stella and her card-playing friends, and Addison, now secretary +to Lord Wharton.(4) Next year came the fall of the Whigs, and a request +to Swift from the Irish bishops that he would renew the application for +the First-Fruits, in the hope that there would be greater success with +the Tories. Swift reached London in September 1710, and began the series +of letters, giving details of the events of each day, which now form the +Journal to Stella. "I will write something every day to MD," he says, +"and make it a sort of journal; and when it is full I will send it, +whether MD writes or no; and so that will be pretty; and I shall always +be in conversation with MD, and MD with Presto." It is interesting to +note that by way of caution these letters were usually addressed to Mrs. +Dingley, and not to Stella. + +The story of Swift's growing intimacy with the Tory leaders, of the +success of his mission, of the increasing coolness towards older +acquaintances, and of his services to the Government, can best be read +in the Journal itself. In the meantime the intimacy with the Vanhomrighs +grew rapidly. They were near neighbours of Swift's, and in a few weeks +after his arrival in town we find frequent allusions to the dinners at +their house (where he kept his best gown and periwig), sometimes with +the explanation that he went there "out of mere listlessness," or +because it was wet, or because another engagement had broken down. Only +thrice does he mention the "eldest daughter": once on her birthday; once +on the occasion of a trick played him, when he received a message that +she was suddenly very ill ("I rattled off the daughter"); and once to +state that she was come of age, and was going to Ireland to look after +her fortune. There is evidence that "Miss Essy," or Vanessa, to give her +the name by which she will always be known, was in correspondence with +Swift in July 1710--while he was still in Ireland--and in the spring of +1711;(5) and early in 1711 Stella seems to have expressed surprise at +Swift's intimacy with the family, for in February he replied, "You say +they are of no consequence; why, they keep as good female company as +I do male; I see all the drabs of quality at this end of the town +with them." In the autumn Swift seems to have thought that Vanessa was +keeping company with a certain Hatton, but Mrs. Long--possibly meaning +to give him a warning hint--remarked that if this were so "she is not +the girl I took her for; but to me she seems melancholy." + +In 1712 occasional letters took the place of the daily journal to "MD," +but there is no change in the affectionate style in which Swift wrote. +In the spring he had a long illness, which affected him, indeed, +throughout the year. Other reasons which he gives for the falling off in +his correspondence are his numerous business engagements, and the hope +of being able to send some good news of an appointment for himself. +There is only one letter to Stella between July 19 and September 15, +and Dr. Birkbeck Hill argues that the poem "Cadenus and Vanessa" was +composed at that time.(6) If this be so, it must have been altered next +year, because it was not until 1713 that Swift was made a Dean. Writing +on April 19, 1726, Swift said that the poem "was written at Windsor near +fourteen years ago, and dated: it was a task performed on a frolic among +some ladies, and she it was addressed to died some time ago in Dublin, +and on her death the copy shewn by her executor." Several copies were in +circulation, and he was indifferent what was done with it; it was "only +a cavalier business," and if those who would not give allowances were +malicious, it was only what he had long expected. + +From this letter it would appear that this remarkable poem was written +in the summer of 1712; whereas the title-page of the pamphlet says it +was "written at Windsor, 1713." Swift visited Windsor in both years, +but he had more leisure in 1712, and we know that Vanessa was also at +Windsor in that year. In that year, too, he was forty-four, the +age mentioned in the poem. Neither Swift nor Vanessa forgot this +intercourse: years afterwards Swift wrote to her, "Go over the scenes +of Windsor.... Cad thinks often of these"; and again, "Remember the +indisposition at Windsor." We know that this poem was revised in 1719, +when in all probability Swift added the lines to which most exception +can be taken. Cadenus was to be Vanessa's instructor:-- + + "His conduct might have made him styled + A father, and the nymph his child." + +He had "grown old in politics and wit," and "in every scene had kept +his heart," so that he now "understood not what was love." But he +had written much, and Vanessa admired his wit. Cadenus found that her +thoughts wandered-- + + "Though she seemed to listen more + To all he spoke than e'er before." + +When she confessed her love, he was filled with "shame, disappointment, +guilt, surprise." He had aimed only at cultivating the mind, and had +hardly known whether she was young or old. But he was flattered, and +though he could not give her love, he offered her friendship, "with +gratitude, respect, esteem." Vanessa took him at his word, and said she +would now be tutor, though he was not apt to learn:-- + + "But what success Vanessa met + Is to the world a secret yet. + Whether the nymph to please her swain + Talks in a high romantic strain; + Or whether he at last descends + To act with less seraphic ends; + Or, to compound the business, whether + They temper love and books together, + Must never to mankind be told, + Nor shall the conscious Muse unfold." + +Such is the poem as we now have it, written, it must be remembered, for +Vanessa's private perusal. It is to be regretted, for her own sake, that +she did not destroy it. + +Swift received the reward of his services to the Government--the +Deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin--in April 1713. Disappointed at what he +regarded as exile, he left London in June. Vanessa immediately began to +send him letters which brought home to him the extent of her passion; +and she hinted at jealousy in the words, "If you are very happy, it is +ill-natured of you not to tell me so, except 'tis what is inconsistent +with my own." In his reply Swift dwelt upon the dreariness of his +surroundings at Laracor, and reminded her that he had said he would +endeavour to forget everything in England, and would write as seldom as +he could. + +Swift was back again in the political strife in London in September, +taking Oxford's part in the quarrel between that statesman and +Bolingbroke. On the fall of the Tories at the death of Queen Anne, he +saw that all was over, and retired to Ireland, not to return again +for twelve years. In the meantime the intimacy with Vanessa had been +renewed. Her mother had died, leaving debts, and she pressed Swift for +advice in the management of her affairs. When she suggested coming to +Ireland, where she had property, he told her that if she took this +step he would "see her very seldom." However, she took up her abode at +Celbridge, only a few miles from Dublin. Swift gave her many cautions, +out of "the perfect esteem and friendship" he felt for her, but he often +visited her. She was dissatisfied, however, begging him to speak kindly, +and at least to counterfeit his former indulgent friendship. "What can +be wrong," she wrote, "in seeing and advising an unhappy young woman? +You cannot but know that your frowns make my life unsupportable." +Sometimes he treated the matter lightly; sometimes he showed annoyance; +sometimes he assured her of his esteem and love, but urged her not +to make herself or him "unhappy by imaginations." He was uniformly +unsuccessful in stopping Vanessa's importunity. He endeavoured, she +said, by severities to force her from him; she knew she was the cause of +uneasy reflections to him; but nothing would lessen her "inexpressible +passion." + +Unfortunately he failed--partly no doubt from mistaken considerations +of kindness, partly because he shrank from losing her affection--to take +effective steps to put an end to Vanessa's hopes. It would have been +better if he had unhesitatingly made it clear to her that he could +not return her passion, and that if she could not be satisfied with +friendship the intimacy must cease. To quote Sir Henry Craik, "The +friendship had begun in literary guidance: it was strengthened by +flattery: it lived on a cold and almost stern repression, fed by +confidences as to literary schemes, and by occasional literary +compliments: but it never came to have a real hold over Swift's heart." + +With 1716 we come to the alleged marriage with Stella. In 1752, seven +years after Swift's death, Lord Orrery, in his Remarks on Swift, said +that Stella was "the concealed, but undoubted, wife of Dr. Swift.... +If my informations are right, she was married to Dr. Swift in the year +1716, by Dr. Ashe, then Bishop of Clogher." Ten years earlier, in 1742, +in a letter to Deane Swift which I have not seen quoted before, Orrery +spoke of the advantage of a wife to a man in his declining years; "nor +had the Dean felt a blow, or wanted a companion, had he been married, +or, in other words, had Stella lived." What this means is not at all +clear. In 1754, Dr. Delany, an old friend of Swift's, wrote, in comment +upon Orrery's Remarks, "Your account of his marriage is, I am satisfied, +true." In 1789, George Monck Berkeley, in his Literary Relics, said +that Swift and Stella were married by Dr. Ashe, "who himself related +the circumstances to Bishop Berkeley, by whose relict the story was +communicated to me." Dr. Ashe cannot have told Bishop Berkeley by +word of mouth, because Ashe died in 1717, the year after the supposed +marriage, and Berkeley was then still abroad. But Berkeley was at +the time tutor to Ashe's son, and may therefore have been informed by +letter, though it is difficult to believe that Ashe would write about +such a secret so soon after the event. Thomas Sheridan, on information +received from his father, Dr. Sheridan, Swift's friend, accepted the +story of the marriage in his book (1784), adding particulars which are +of very doubtful authenticity; and Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, +says that Dr. Madden told him that Stella had related her "melancholy +story" to Dr. Sheridan before her death. On the other hand, Dr. Lyon, +Swift's attendant in his later years, disbelieved the story of the +marriage, which was, he said, "founded only on hearsay"; and Mrs. +Dingley "laughed at it as an idle tale," founded on suspicion. + +Sir Henry Craik is satisfied with the evidence for the marriage. Mr. +Leslie Stephen is of opinion that it is inconclusive, and Forster could +find no evidence that is at all reasonably sufficient; while Mr. Stanley +Lane-Poole, Mr. Churton Collins, and others are strongly of opinion +that no such marriage ever took place. A full discussion of the evidence +would involve the consideration of the reliability of the witnesses, and +the probability of their having authentic information, and would be out +of place here. My own opinion is that the evidence for the marriage is +very far from convincing, and this view seems to be confirmed by all +that we know from his own letters of Swift's relations with Stella. It +has been suggested that she was pained by reports of Swift's intercourse +with Vanessa, and felt that his feelings towards herself were growing +colder; but this is surmise, and no satisfactory explanation has been +given to account for a form of marriage being gone through after so +many years of the closest friendship. There is no reason to suppose that +there was at the time any gossip in circulation about Stella, and if her +reputation was in question, a marriage of which the secret was carefully +kept would obviously be of no benefit to her. Moreover, we are told that +there was no change in their mode of life; if they were married, what +reason could there be for keeping it a secret, or for denying themselves +the closer relationship of marriage? The only possible benefit to +Stella was that Swift would be prevented marrying anyone else. It is +impossible, of course, to disprove a marriage which we are told was +secretly performed, without banns or licence or witnesses; but we may +reasonably require strong evidence for so startling a step. If we +reject the tale, the story of Swift's connection with Stella is at least +intelligible; while the acceptance of this marriage introduces many +puzzling circumstances, and makes it necessary to believe that during +the remainder of Stella's life Swift repeatedly spoke of his wife as a +friend, and of himself as one who had never married.(7) What right have +we to put aside Swift's plain and repeated statements? Moreover, his +attitude towards Vanessa for the remaining years of her life becomes +much more culpable if we are to believe that he had given Stella the +claim of a wife upon him.(8) + +From 1719 onwards we have a series of poems to Stella, written chiefly +in celebration of her birthday. She was now thirty-eight (Swift says, +"Thirty-four--we shan't dispute a year or more"), and the verses abound +in laughing allusions to her advancing years and wasting form. Hers was +"an angel's face a little cracked," but all men would crowd to her door +when she was fourscore. His verses to her had always been + + "Without one word of Cupid's darts, + Of killing eyes, or bleeding hearts; + With friendship and esteem possessed, + I ne'er admitted Love a guest." + +Her only fault was that she could not bear the lightest touch of blame. +Her wit and sense, her loving care in illness--to which he owed that +fact that he was alive to say it--made her the "best pattern of true +friends." She replied, in lines written on Swift's birthday in 1721, +that she was his pupil and humble friend. He had trained her judgment +and refined her fancy and taste:-- + + "You taught how I might youth prolong + By knowing what was right and wrong; + How from my heart to bring supplies + Of lustre to my fading eyes; + How soon a beauteous mind repairs + The loss of changed or falling hairs; + How wit and virtue from within + Send out a smoothness o'er the skin + Your lectures could my fancy fix, + And I can please at thirty-six." + +In 1723 Vanessa is said to have written to Stella or to Swift--there are +discrepancies in the versions given by Sheridan and Lord Orrery, both +of whom are unreliable--asking whether the report that they were married +was true. Swift, we are told, rode to Celbridge, threw down Vanessa's +letter in a great rage, and left without speaking a word.(9) Vanessa, +whose health had been failing for some time, died shortly afterwards, +having cancelled a will in Swift's favour. She left "Cadenus and +Vanessa" for publication, and when someone said that she must have been +a remarkable woman to inspire such a poem, Stella replied that it was +well known that the Dean could write finely upon a broomstick. + +Soon after this tragedy Swift became engrossed in the Irish agitation +which led to the publication of the Drapier's Letters, and in 1726 he +paid a long-deferred visit to London, taking with him the manuscript +of Gulliver's Travels. While in England he was harassed by bad news of +Stella, who had been in continued ill-health for some years. His letters +to friends in Dublin show how greatly he suffered. To the Rev. John +Worrall he wrote, in a letter which he begged him to burn, "What you +tell me of Mrs. Johnson I have long expected with great oppression +and heaviness of heart. We have been perfect friends these thirty-five +years. Upon my advice they both came to Ireland, and have been ever +since my constant companions; and the remainder of my life will be a +very melancholy scene, when one of them is gone, whom I most esteemed, +upon the score of every good quality that can possibly recommend a human +creature." He would not for the world be present at her death: "I should +be a trouble to her, and a torment to myself." If Stella came to Dublin, +he begged that she might be lodged in some airy, healthy part, and not +in the Deanery, where too it would be improper for her to die. "There +is not a greater folly," he thinks, "than to contract too great and +intimate a friendship, which must always leave the survivor miserable." +To Dr. Stopford he wrote in similar terms of the "younger of the two" +"oldest and dearest friends I have in the world." "This was a person +of my own rearing and instructing from childhood, who excelled in every +good quality that can possibly accomplish a human creature.... I know +not what I am saying; but believe me that violent friendship is much +more lasting and as much engaging as violent love." To Dr. Sheridan he +said, "I look upon this to be the greatest event that can ever happen +to me; but all my preparation will not suffice to make me bear it like +a philosopher nor altogether like a Christian. There hath been the most +intimate friendship between us from our childhood, and the greatest +merit on her side that ever was in one human creature towards +another."(10) Pope alludes in a letter to Sheridan to the illness of +Swift's "particular friend," but with the exception of another reference +by Pope, and of a curiously flippant remark by Bolingbroke, the subject +is nowhere mentioned in Swift's correspondence with his literary and +fashionable friends in London. + +Swift crossed to Ireland in August, fearing the worst; but Stella +rallied, and in the spring of 1727 he returned to London. In August, +however, there came alarming news, when Swift was himself suffering from +giddiness and deafness. To Dr. Sheridan he wrote that the last act of +life was always a tragedy at best: "it is a bitter aggravation to have +one's best friend go before one." Life was indifferent to him; if he +recovered from his disorder it would only be to feel the loss of "that +person for whose sake only life was worth preserving. I brought both +those friends over that we might be happy together as long as God should +please; the knot is broken, and the remaining person you know has ill +answered the end; and the other, who is now to be lost, is all that was +valuable." To Worrall he again wrote (in Latin) that Stella ought not +to be lodged at the Deanery; he had enemies who would place a bad +interpretation upon it if she died there. + +Swift left London for Dublin in September; he was detained some days at +Holyhead by stress of weather, and in the private journal which he kept +during that time he speaks of the suspense he was in about his "dearest +friend."(11) In December Stella made a will--signed "Esther Johnson, +spinster"--disposing of her property in the manner Swift had suggested. +Her allusions to Swift are incompatible with any such feeling of +resentment as is suggested by Sheridan. She died on January 28, 1728. +Swift could not bear to be present, but on the night of her death he +began to write his very interesting Character of Mrs. Johnson, from +which passages have already been quoted. He there calls her "the truest, +most virtuous and valuable friend that I, or perhaps any other person, +was ever blessed with." Combined with excellent gifts of the mind, "she +had a gracefulness, somewhat more than human, in every motion, word, and +action. Never was so happy a conjunction of civility, freedom, easiness, +and sincerity." Everyone treated her with marked respect, yet everyone +was at ease in her society. She preserved her wit, judgment, and +vivacity to the last, but often complained of her memory. She chose +men rather than women for her companions, "the usual topic of ladies' +discourse being such as she had little knowledge of and less relish." +"Honour, truth, liberality, good nature, and modesty were the virtues +she chiefly possessed, and most valued in her acquaintance." In some +Prayers used by Swift during her last sickness, he begged for pity for +"the mournful friends of Thy distressed servant, who sink under the +weight of her present condition, and the fear of losing the most +valuable of our friends." He was too ill to be present at the funeral at +St. Patrick's. Afterwards, we are told, a lock of her hair was found in +his desk, wrapped in a paper bearing the words, "Only a woman's hair." + +Swift continued to produce pamphlets manifesting growing misanthropy, +though he showed many kindnesses to people who stood in need of help. He +seems to have given Mrs. Dingley fifty guineas a year, pretending that +it came from a fund for which he was trustee. The mental decay which he +had always feared--"I shall be like that tree," he once said, "I shall +die at the top"--became marked about 1738. Paralysis was followed by +aphasia, and after acute pain, followed by a long period of apathy, +death relieved him in October 1745. He was buried by Stella's side, in +accordance with his wishes. The bulk of his fortune was left to found a +hospital for idiots and lunatics. + +There has been much rather fruitless discussion respecting the reason or +reasons why Swift did not marry Stella; for if there was any marriage, +it was nothing more than a form. Some have supposed that Swift resolved +to remain unmarried because the insanity of an uncle and the fits and +giddiness to which he was always subject led him to fear insanity in his +own case. Others, looking rather to physical causes, have dwelt upon his +coldness of temperament and indisposition to love; upon the repugnance +he often showed towards marriage, and the tone of some of the verses +on the subject written in his later years. Others, again, have found a +cause in his parsimonious habits, in his dread of poverty, the effects +of which he had himself felt, and in the smallness of his income, at +least until he was middle-aged.(12) It may well be that one or all of +these things influenced Swift's action. We cannot say more. He himself, +as we have seen, said, as early as 1704, that if his humour and means +had permitted him to think of marriage, his choice would have been +Stella. Perhaps, however, there is not much mystery in the matter. Swift +seems to have been wanting in passion; probably he was satisfied with +the affection which Stella gave him, and did not wish for more. Such an +attachment as his usually results in marriage, but not necessarily. +It is not sufficiently remembered that the affection began in Stella's +childhood. They were "perfect friends" for nearly forty years, and her +advancing years in no way lessened his love, which was independent +of beauty. Whether Stella was satisfied, who shall say? Mrs. Oliphant +thought that few women would be disposed to pity Stella, or think her +life one of blight or injury. Mr. Leslie Stephen says, "She might +and probably did regard his friendship as a full equivalent for the +sacrifice.... Is it better to be the most intimate friend of a man of +genius or the wife of a commonplace Tisdall?" Whatever we may surmise, +there is nothing to prove that she was disappointed. She was the one +star which brightened Swift's storm-tossed course; it is well that she +was spared seeing the wreck at the end. + + +The Journal to Stella is interesting from many points of view: for its +bearing upon Swift's relations with Stella and upon his own character; +for the light which it throws upon the history of the time and upon +prominent men of the day; and for the illustrations it contains of the +social life of people of various classes in London and elsewhere. The +fact that it was written without any thought of publication is one of +its greatest attractions. Swift jotted down his opinions, his hopes, his +disappointments, without thought of their being seen by anybody but his +correspondents. The letters are transparently natural. It has been said +more than once that the Journal, by the nature of the case, contains +no full-length portraits, and hardly any sketches. Swift mentions the +people he met, but rarely stops to draw a picture of them. But though +this is true, the casual remarks which he makes often give a vivid +impression of what he thought of the person of whom he is speaking, and +in many cases those few words form a chief part of our general estimate +of the man. There are but few people of note at the time who are not +mentioned in these pages. We see Queen Anne holding a Drawing-room in +her bedroom: "she looked at us round with her fan in her mouth, and once +a minute said about three words to some that were nearest her." We see +Harley, afterwards the Earl of Oxford, "a pure trifler," who was always +putting off important business; Bolingbroke, "a thorough rake"; the +prudent Lord Dartmouth, the other Secretary of State, from whom Swift +could never "work out a dinner." There is Marlborough, "covetous as +Hell, and ambitious as the prince of it," yet a great general and unduly +pressed by the Tories; and the volatile Earl of Peterborough, "above +fifty, and as active as one of five-and-twenty"--"the ramblingest lying +rogue on earth." We meet poor Congreve, nearly blind, and in fear +of losing his commissionership; the kindly Arbuthnot, the Queen's +physician; Addison, whom Swift met more and more rarely, busy with the +preparation and production of Cato; Steele, careless as ever, neglecting +important appointments, and "governed by his wife most abominably"; +Prior, poet and diplomatist, with a "lean carcass"; and young +Berkeley of Trinity College, Dublin, "a very ingenious man and great +philosopher," whom Swift determined to favour as much as he could. Mrs. +Masham, the Duchess of Somerset, the Duchess of Shrewsbury, the Duchess +of Hamilton, Lady Betty Germaine, and many other ladies appear with more +or less distinctness; besides a host of people of less note, of whom we +often know little but what Swift tells us. + +Swift throws much light, too, on the daily life of his time. The bellman +on his nightly rounds, calling "Paaast twelvvve o'clock"; the dinner +at three, or at the latest, four; the meetings at coffee-houses; the +book-sales; the visit to the London sights--the lions at the Tower, +Bedlam, the tombs in Westminster Abbey, and the puppet-show; the +terrible Mohocks, of whom Swift stood in so much fear; the polite +"howdees" sent to friends by footmen; these and more are all described +in the Journal. We read of curious habits and practices of fashionable +ladies; of the snuff used by Mrs. Dingley and others; of the +jokes--"bites," puns, and the like--indulged in by polite persons. +When Swift lodged at Chelsea, he reached London either by boat, or +by coach,--which was sometimes full when he wanted it,--or by walking +across the "Five Fields," not without fear of robbers at night. The +going to or from Ireland was a serious matter; after the long journey +by road came the voyage (weather permitting) of some fifteen hours, +with the risk of being seized or pursued by French privateers; and when +Ireland was reached the roads were of the worst. We have glimpses of +fashionable society in Dublin, of the quiet life at Laracor and Trim, +and of the drinking of the waters at Wexford, where visitors had to put +up with primitive arrangements: "Mrs. Dingley never saw such a place in +her life." + +Swift's own characteristics come out in the clearest manner in the +Journal, which gives all his hopes and fears during three busy years. He +was pleased to find on his arrival in London how great a value was set +on his friendship by both political parties: "The Whigs were ravished to +see me, and would lay hold on me as a twig while they are drowning;" +but Godolphin's coldness enraged him, so that he was "almost vowing +vengeance." Next day he talked treason heartily against the Whigs, their +baseness and ingratitude, and went home full of schemes of revenge. "The +Tories drily tell me I may make my fortune, if I please; but I do not +understand them, or rather, I DO understand them." He realised that the +Tories might not be more grateful than others, but he thought they were +pursuing the true interests of the public, and was glad to contribute +what was in his power. His vanity was gratified by Harley inviting him +to the private dinners with St. John and Harcourt which were given on +Saturdays, and by their calling him Jonathan; but he did not hope too +much from their friendship: "I said I believed they would leave me +Jonathan, as they found me... but I care not." + +Of Swift's frugal habits there is abundant evidence in the Journal. +When he came to town he took rooms on a first floor, "a dining-room and +bed-chamber, at eight shillings a week; plaguy dear, but I spend nothing +for eating, never go to a tavern, and very seldom in a coach; yet after +all it will be expensive." In November he mentions that he had a fire: +"I am spending my second half-bushel of coals." In another place +he says, "People have so left the town, that I am at a loss for a +dinner.... It cost me eighteenpence in coach-hire before I could find +a place to dine in." Elsewhere we find: "This paper does not cost me a +farthing: I have it from the Secretary's office." He often complains +of having to take a coach owing to the dirty condition of the streets: +"This rain ruins me in coach-hire; I walked away sixpennyworth, and came +within a shilling length, and then took a coach, and got a lift back for +nothing."(13) + +Swift's arrogance--the arrogance, sometimes, of a man who is morbidly +suspicious that he may be patronised--is shown in the manner in which +he speaks of the grand ladies with whom he came in contact. He calls the +Duke of Ormond's daughters "insolent drabs," and talks of his "mistress, +Ophy Butler's wife, who is grown a little charmless." When the Duchess +of Shrewsbury reproached him for not dining with her, Swift said that +was not so soon done; he expected more advances from ladies, +especially duchesses. On another occasion he was to have supped at Lady +Ashburnham's, "but the drab did not call for us in her coach, as she +promised, but sent for us, and so I sent my excuses." The arrogance was, +however, often only on the surface. It is evident that Swift was very +kind in many cases. He felt deeply for Mrs. Long in her misfortunes, +living and dying in an obscure country town. On the last illness of the +poet Harrison he says, "I am very much afflicted for him, as he is my +own creature.... I was afraid to knock at the door; my mind misgave me." +He was "heartily sorry for poor Mrs. Parnell's death; she seemed to be +an excellent good-natured young woman, and I believe the poor lad +is much afflicted; they appeared to live perfectly well together." +Afterwards he helped Parnell by introducing him to Bolingbroke and +Oxford. He found kind words for Mrs. Manley in her illness, and Lady +Ashburnham's death was "extremely moving.... She was my greatest +favourite, and I am in excessive concern for her loss." Lastly, he was +extraordinarily patient towards his servant Patrick, who drank, stopped +out at night, and in many ways tried Swift's temper. There were good +points about Patrick, but no doubt the great consideration which Swift +showed him was due in part to the fact that he was a favourite of the +ladies in Dublin, and had Mrs. Vanhomrigh to intercede for him. + +But for the best example of the kindly side of Swift's nature, we +must turn to what he tells us in the Journal about Stella herself. The +"little language" which Swift used when writing to her was the language +he employed when playing with Stella as a little child at Moor Park. +Thackeray, who was not much in sympathy with Swift, said that he knew of +"nothing more manly, more tender, more exquisitely touching, than some +of these notes." Swift says that when he wrote plainly, he felt as if +they were no longer alone, but "a bad scrawl is so snug it looks like +a PMD." In writing his fond and playful prattle, he made up his mouth +"just as if he were speaking it."(14) + +Though Mrs. Dingley is constantly associated with Stella in the +affectionate greetings in the Journal, she seems to have been included +merely as a cloak to enable him to express the more freely his +affection for her companion. Such phrases as "saucy girls," "sirrahs," +"sauceboxes," and the like, are often applied to both; and sometimes +Swift certainly writes as if the one were as dear to him as the other; +thus we find, "Farewell, my dearest lives and delights, I love you +better than ever, if possible, as hope saved, I do, and ever will.... +I can count upon nothing, nor will, but upon MD's love and kindness.... +And so farewell, dearest MD, Stella, Dingley, Presto, all together, +now and for ever, all together." But as a rule, notwithstanding +Swift's caution, the greetings intended for Stella alone are easily +distinguishable in tone. He often refers to her weak eyes and delicate +health. Thus he writes, "The chocolate is a present, madam, for Stella. +Don't read this, you little rogue, with your little eyes; but give it to +Dingley, pray now; and I will write as plain as the skies." And again, +"God Almighty bless poor Stella, and her eyes and head: what shall we do +to cure them, poor dear life?" Or, "Now to Stella's little postscript; +and I am almost crazed that you vex yourself for not writing. Can't you +dictate to Dingley, and not strain your dear little eyes? I am sure +'tis the grief of my soul to think you are out of order." They had been +keeping his birthday; Swift wished he had been with them, rather than +in London, where he had no manner of pleasure: "I say Amen with all my +heart and vitals, that we may never be asunder again ten days together +while poor Presto lives." A few days later he says, "I wish I were at +Laracor, with dear charming MD," and again, "Farewell, dearest beloved +MD, and love poor poor Presto, who has not had one happy day since he +left you." "I will say no more, but beg you to be easy till Fortune +takes his course, and to believe MD's felicity is the great goal I aim +at in all my pursuits." "How does Stella look, Madam Dingley?" he asks; +"pretty well, a handsome young woman still? Will she pass in a crowd? +Will she make a figure in a country church?" Elsewhere he writes, on +receipt of a letter, "God Almighty bless poor dear Stella, and send her +a great many birthdays, all happy and healthy and wealthy, and with +me ever together, and never asunder again, unless by chance.... I can +hardly imagine you absent when I am reading your letter or writing to +you. No, faith, you are just here upon this little paper, and therefore +I see and talk with you every evening constantly, and sometimes in the +morning." The letters lay under Swift's pillow, and he fondled them as +if he were caressing Stella's hand. + +Of Stella herself we naturally have no direct account in the Journal, +but we hear a good deal of her life in Ireland, and can picture what she +was. Among her friends in and about Trim and Laracor were Dr. Raymond, +the vicar of Trim, and his wife, the Garret Wesleys, the Percevals, and +Mr. Warburton, Swift's curate. At Dublin there were Archdeacon Walls and +his family; Alderman Stoyte, his wife and sister-in-law; Dean Sterne +and the Irish Postmaster-General, Isaac Manley. For years these friends +formed a club which met in Dublin at each other's houses, to sup and +play cards ("ombre and claret, and toasted oranges"), and we have +frequent allusions to Stella's indifferent play, and the money which +she lost, much to Mrs. Dingley's chagrin: "Poor Dingley fretted to +see Stella lose that four and elevenpence t'other night." Mrs. Dingley +herself could hardly play well enough to hold the cards while Stella +went into the next room. If at dinner the mutton was underdone, and +"poor Stella cannot eat, poor dear rogue," then "Dingley is so vexed." +Swift was for ever urging Stella to walk and ride; she was "naturally a +stout walker," and "Dingley would do well enough if her petticoats were +pinned up." And we see Stella setting out on and returning from her +ride, with her riband and mask: "Ah, that riding to Laracor gives me +short sighs as well as you," he says; "all the days I have passed here +have been dirt to those." + +If the Journal shows us some of Swift's less attractive qualities, it +shows still more how great a store of humour, tenderness, and affection +there was in him. In these letters we see his very soul; in his literary +work we are seldom moved to anything but admiration of his wit and +genius. Such daily outpourings could never have been written for +publication, they were meant only for one who understood him perfectly; +and everything that we know of Stella--her kindliness, her wit, her +vivacity, her loyalty--shows that she was worthy of the confidence. + + + + +JOURNAL TO STELLA + + + + +LETTER 1.(1) + +CHESTER, Sept. 2, 1710. + +Joe(2) will give you an account of me till I got into the boat; after +which the rogues made a new bargain, and forced me to give them two +crowns, and talked as if we should not be able to overtake any ship: but +in half an hour we got to the yacht; for the ships lay by (to) wait for +my Lord Lieutenant's steward. We made our voyage in fifteen hours +just. Last night I came to this town, and shall leave it, I believe, on +Monday. The first man I met in Chester was Dr. Raymond.(3) He and Mrs. +Raymond were here about levying a fine, in order to have power to sell +their estate. They have found everything answer very well. They both +desire to present their humble services to you: they do not think of +Ireland till next year. I got a fall off my horse, riding here from +Parkgate,(4) but no hurt; the horse understanding falls very well, and +lying quietly till I get up. My duty to the Bishop of Clogher.(5) I saw +him returning from Dunleary; but he saw not me. I take it ill he was not +at Convocation, and that I have not his name to my powers.(6) I beg you +will hold your resolution of going to Trim, and riding there as much as +you can. Let the Bishop of Clogher remind the Bishop of Killala(7) to +send me a letter, with one enclosed to the Bishop of Lichfield.(8) Let +all who write to me, enclose to Richard Steele, Esq., at his office at +the Cockpit, near Whitehall.(9) But not MD; I will pay for their letters +at St. James's Coffee-house,(10) that I may have them the sooner. My +Lord Mountjoy(11) is now in the humour that we should begin our journey +this afternoon; so that I have stole here again to finish this letter, +which must be short or long accordingly. I write this post to Mrs. +Wesley,(12) and will tell her, that I have taken care she may have her +bill of one hundred and fifteen pounds whenever she pleases to send for +it; and in that case I desire you will send it her enclosed and sealed, +and have it ready so, in case she should send for it: otherwise keep it. +I will say no more till I hear whether I go to-day or no: if I do, the +letter is almost at an end. My cozen Abigail is grown prodigiously old. +God Almighty bless poo dee richar MD; and, for God's sake, be merry, and +get oo health. I am perfectly resolved to return as soon as I have done +my commission, whether it succeeds or no. I never went to England with +so little desire in my life. If Mrs. Curry(13) makes any difficulty +about the lodgings, I will quit them and pay her from July 9 last, and +Mrs. Brent(14) must write to Parvisol(15) with orders accordingly. The +post is come from London, and just going out; so I have only time to +pray God to bless poor richr MD FW FW MD MD ME ME ME. + + + + +LETTER 2. + +LONDON, Sept. 9, 1710. + +Got here last Thursday,(1) after five days' travelling, weary the first, +almost dead the second, tolerable the third, and well enough the rest; +and am now glad of the fatigue, which has served for exercise; and I am +at present well enough. The Whigs were ravished to see me, and would +lay hold on me as a twig while they are drowning,(2) and the great men +making me their clumsy apologies, etc. But my Lord Treasurer(3) received +me with a great deal of coldness, which has enraged me so, I am almost +vowing revenge. I have not yet gone half my circle; but I find all my +acquaintance just as I left them. I hear my Lady Giffard(4) is much at +Court, and Lady Wharton(5) was ridiculing it t'other day; so I have +lost a friend there. I have not yet seen her, nor intend it; but I will +contrive to see Stella's mother(6) some other way. I writ to the Bishop +of Clogher from Chester; and I now write to the Archbishop of Dublin.(7) +Everything is turning upside down; every Whig in great office will, to a +man, be infallibly put out; and we shall have such a winter as hath not +been seen in England. Everybody asks me, how I came to be so long in +Ireland, as naturally as if here were my being; but no soul offers to +make it so: and I protest I shall return to Dublin, and the Canal at +Laracor,(8) with more satisfaction than ever I did in my life. The +Tatler(9) expects every day to be turned out of his employment; and the +Duke of Ormond,(10) they say, will be Lieutenant of Ireland. I hope you +are now peaceably in Presto's(11) lodgings; but I resolve to turn you +out by Christmas; in which time I shall either do my business, or find +it not to be done. Pray be at Trim by the time this letter comes to +you; and ride little Johnson, who must needs be now in good case. I have +begun this letter unusually, on the post-night, and have already written +to the Archbishop; and cannot lengthen this. Henceforth I will write +something every day to MD, and make it a sort of journal; and when it +is full, I will send it, whether MD writes or no; and so that will +be pretty: and I shall always be in conversation with MD, and MD with +Presto. Pray make Parvisol pay you the ten pounds immediately; so I +ordered him. They tell me I am grown fatter, and look better; and, +on Monday, Jervas(12) is to retouch my picture. I thought I saw Jack +Temple(13) and his wife pass by me to-day in their coach; but I took no +notice of them. I am glad I have wholly shaken off that family. Tell the +Provost,(14) I have obeyed his commands to the Duke of Ormond; or let +it alone, if you please. I saw Jemmy Leigh(15) just now at the +Coffee-house, who asked after you with great kindness: he talks of going +in a fortnight to Ireland. My service to the Dean,(16) and Mrs. Walls, +and her Archdeacon.(17) Will Frankland's(18) wife is near bringing +to-bed, and I have promised to christen the child. I fancy you had my +Chester letter the Tuesday after I writ. I presented Dr. Raymond to Lord +Wharton(19) at Chester. Pray let me know when Joe gets his money.(20) +It is near ten, and I hate to send by the bellman.(21) MD shall have +a longer letter in a week, but I send this only to tell I am safe in +London; and so farewell, etc. + + + + +LETTER 3. + +LONDON, Sept. 9, 1710. + +After seeing the Duke of Ormond, dining with Dr. Cockburn,(1) passing +some part of the afternoon with Sir Matthew Dudley(2) and Will +Frankland, the rest at St. James's Coffee-house, I came home, and writ +to the Archbishop of Dublin and MD, and am going to bed. I forgot to +tell you, that I begged Will Frankland to stand Manley's(3) friend with +his father in this shaking season for places. He told me, his father +was in danger to be out; that several were now soliciting for Manley's +place; that he was accused of opening letters; that Sir Thomas +Frankland(4) would sacrifice everything to save himself; and in that, I +fear, Manley is undone, etc. + +10. To-day I dined with Lord Mountjoy at Kensington; saw my mistress, +Ophy Butler's(5) wife, who is grown a little charmless. I sat till ten +in the evening with Addison and Steele: Steele will certainly lose his +Gazetteer's place, all the world detesting his engaging in parties.(6) +At ten I went to the Coffee-house, hoping to find Lord Radnor,(7) whom I +had not seen. He was there; and for an hour and a half we talked treason +heartily against the Whigs, their baseness and ingratitude. And I +am come home, rolling resentments in my mind, and framing schemes of +revenge: full of which (having written down some hints) I go to bed. +I am afraid MD dined at home, because it is Sunday; and there was the +little half-pint of wine: for God's sake, be good girls, and all will be +well. Ben Tooke(8) was with me this morning. + +11. Seven, morning. I am rising to go to Jervas to finish my picture, +and 'tis shaving-day, so good-morrow MD; but don't keep me now, for I +can't stay; and pray dine with the Dean, but don't lose your money. I +long to hear from you, etc.--Ten at night. I sat four hours this morning +to Jervas, who has given my picture quite another turn, and now approves +it entirely; but we must have the approbation of the town. If I were +rich enough, I would get a copy of it, and bring it over. Mr. Addison +and I dined together at his lodgings, and I sat with him part of this +evening; and I am now come home to write an hour. Patrick(9) observes, +that the rabble here are much more inquisitive in politics than +in Ireland. Every day we expect changes, and the Parliament to be +dissolved. Lord Wharton expects every day to be out: he is working like +a horse for elections; and, in short, I never saw so great a ferment +among all sorts of people. I had a miserable letter from Joe last +Saturday, telling me Mr. Pratt(10) refuses payment of his money. I +have told it Mr. Addison, and will to Lord Wharton; but I fear with no +success. However, I will do all I can. + +12. To-day I presented Mr. Ford(11) to the Duke of Ormond; and paid my +first visit to Lord President,(12) with whom I had much discourse; but +put him always off when he began to talk of Lord Wharton in relation +to me, till he urged it: then I said, he knew I never expected anything +from Lord Wharton, and that Lord Wharton knew that I understood it so. +He said that he had written twice to Lord Wharton about me, who both +times said nothing at all to that part of his letter. I am advised not +to meddle in the affair of the First-Fruits, till this hurry is a little +over, which still depends, and we are all in the dark. Lord President +told me he expects every day to be out, and has done so these two +months. I protest, upon my life, I am heartily weary of this town, and +wish I had never stirred. + +13. I went this morning to the city, to see Mr. Stratford the Hamburg +merchant, my old schoolfellow;(13) but calling at Bull's(14) on Ludgate +Hill, he forced me to his house at Hampstead to dinner among a great +deal of ill company; among the rest Mr. Hoadley,(15) the Whig clergyman, +so famous for acting the contrary part to Sacheverell:(16) but +tomorrow I design again to see Stratford. I was glad, however, to be +at Hampstead, where I saw Lady Lucy(17) and Moll Stanhope. I hear very +unfortunate news of Mrs. Long;(18) she and her comrade(19) have broke up +house, and she is broke for good and all, and is gone to the country: I +should be extremely sorry if this be true. + +14. To-day, I saw Patty Rolt,(20) who heard I was in town; and I dined +with Stratford at a merchant's in the city, where I drank the first +Tokay wine I ever saw; and it is admirable, yet not to the degree +I expected. Stratford is worth a plum,(21) and is now lending the +Government forty thousand pounds; yet we were educated together at the +same school and university.(22) We hear the Chancellor(23) is to be +suddenly out, and Sir Simon Harcourt(24) to succeed him: I am come early +home, not caring for the Coffee-house. + +15. To-day Mr. Addison, Colonel Freind,(25) and I, went to see the +million lottery(26) drawn at Guildhall. The jackanapes of bluecoat boys +gave themselves such airs in pulling out the tickets, and showed white +hands open to the company, to let us see there was no cheat. We dined +at a country-house near Chelsea, where Mr. Addison often retires; and +to-night, at the Coffee-house, we hear Sir Simon Harcourt is made +Lord Keeper; so that now we expect every moment the Parliament will be +dissolved; but I forgot that this letter will not go in three or four +days, and that my news will be stale, which I should therefore put in +the last paragraph. Shall I send this letter before I hear from MD, +or shall I keep it to lengthen? I have not yet seen Stella's mother, +because I will not see Lady Giffard; but I will contrive to go there +when Lady Giffard is abroad. I forgot to mark my two former letters; but +I remember this is Number 3, and I have not yet had Number 1 from MD; +but I shall by Monday, which I reckon will be just a fortnight after you +had my first. I am resolved to bring over a great deal of china. I loved +it mightily to-day.(27) What shall I bring? + +16. Morning. Sir John Holland,(28) Comptroller of the Household, has +sent to desire my acquaintance: I have a mind to refuse him, because he +is a Whig, and will, I suppose, be out among the rest; but he is a man +of worth and learning. Tell me, do you like this journal way of writing? +Is it not tedious and dull? + +Night. I dined to-day with a cousin, a printer,(29) where Patty Rolt +lodges, and then came home, after a visit or two; and it has been a very +insipid day. Mrs. Long's misfortune is confirmed to me; bailiffs were +in her house; she retired to private lodgings; thence to the country, +nobody knows where: her friends leave letters at some inn, and they +are carried to her; and she writes answers without dating them from any +place. I swear, it grieves me to the soul. + +17. To-day I dined six miles out of town, with Will Pate,(30) the +learned woollen-draper; Mr. Stratford went with me; six miles here is +nothing: we left Pate after sunset, and were here before it was dark. +This letter shall go on Tuesday, whether I hear from MD or no. My health +continues pretty well; pray God Stella may give me a good account +of hers! and I hope you are now at Trim, or soon designing it. I was +disappointed to-night: the fellow gave me a letter, and I hoped to +see little MD's hand; and it was only to invite me to a venison pasty +to-day: so I lost my pasty into the bargain. Pox on these declining +courtiers! Here is Mr. Brydges,(31) the Paymaster-General, desiring my +acquaintance; but I hear the Queen sent Lord Shrewsbury(32) to assure +him he may keep his place; and he promises me great assistance in the +affair of the First-Fruits. Well, I must turn over this leaf to-night, +though the side would hold another line; but pray consider this is +a whole sheet; it holds a plaguy deal, and you must be content to +be weary; but I'll do so no more. Sir Simon Harcourt is made +Attorney-General, and not Lord Keeper. + +18. To-day I dined with Mr. Stratford at Mr. Addison's retirement near +Chelsea; then came to town; got home early, and began a letter to the +Tatler,(33) about the corruptions of style and writing, etc., and, +having not heard from you, am resolved this letter shall go to-night. +Lord Wharton was sent for to town in mighty haste, by the Duke of +Devonshire:(34) they have some project in hand; but it will not do, for +every hour we expect a thorough revolution, and that the Parliament will +be dissolved. When you see Joe, tell him Lord Wharton is too busy to +mind any of his affairs; but I will get what good offices I can from +Mr. Addison, and will write to-day to Mr. Pratt; and bid Joe not to +be discouraged, for I am confident he will get the money under any +Government; but he must have patience. + +19. I have been scribbling this morning, and I believe shall hardly +fill this side to-day, but send it as it is; and it is good enough for +naughty girls that won't write to a body, and to a good boy like Presto. +I thought to have sent this to-night, but was kept by company, and could +not; and, to say the truth, I had a little mind to expect one post more +for a letter from MD. Yesterday at noon died the Earl of Anglesea,(35) +the great support of the Tories; so that employment of Vice-Treasurer of +Ireland is again vacant. We were to have been great friends, and I could +hardly have a loss that could grieve me more. The Bishop of Durham(36) +died the same day. The Duke of Ormond's daughter(37) was to visit me +to-day at a third place by way of advance,(38) and I am to return +it to-morrow. I have had a letter from Lady Berkeley, begging me for +charity to come to Berkeley Castle, for company to my lord,(39) who +has been ill of a dropsy; but I cannot go, and must send my excuse +to-morrow. I am told that in a few hours there will be more removals. + +20. To-day I returned my visits to the Duke's daughters;(40) the +insolent drabs came up to my very mouth to salute me. Then I heard the +report confirmed of removals; my Lord President Somers; the Duke of +Devonshire, Lord Steward; and Mr. Boyle,(41) Secretary of State, are all +turned out to-day. I never remember such bold steps taken by a Court: I +am almost shocked at it, though I did not care if they were all hanged. +We are astonished why the Parliament is not yet dissolved, and why they +keep a matter of that importance to the last. We shall have a strange +winter here, between the struggles of a cunning provoked discarded +party, and the triumphs of one in power; of both which I shall be an +indifferent spectator, and return very peaceably to Ireland, when I have +done my part in the affair I am entrusted with, whether it succeeds +or no. To-morrow I change my lodgings in Pall Mall for one in Bury +Street,(42) where I suppose I shall continue while I stay in London. If +anything happens tomorrow, I will add it.--Robin's Coffee-house.(43) We +have great news just now from Spain; Madrid taken, and Pampeluna. I am +here ever interrupted. + +21. I have just received your letter, which I will not answer now; +God be thanked all things are so well. I find you have not yet had my +second: I had a letter from Parvisol, who tells me he gave Mrs. Walls a +bill of twenty pounds for me, to be given to you; but you have not sent +it. This night the Parliament is dissolved: great news from Spain; +King Charles and Stanhope are at Madrid, and Count Staremberg has taken +Pampeluna. Farewell. This is from St. James's Coffee-house. I will begin +my answer to your letter to-night, but not send it this week. Pray tell +me whether you like this journal way of writing.--I don't like your +reasons for not going to Trim. Parvisol tells me he can sell your horse. +Sell it, with a pox? Pray let him know that he shall sell his soul as +soon. What? sell anything that Stella loves, and may sometimes ride? It +is hers, and let her do as she pleases: pray let him know this by the +first that you know goes to Trim. Let him sell my grey, and be hanged. + + + + +LETTER 4. + +LONDON, Sept. 21, 1710. + +Here must I begin another letter, on a whole sheet, for fear saucy +little MD should be angry, and think MUCH that the paper is too LITTLE. +I had your letter this night, as told you just and no more in my last; +for this must be taken up in answering yours, saucebox. I believe I told +you where I dined to-day; and to-morrow I go out of town for two days to +dine with the same company on Sunday; Molesworth(1) the Florence Envoy, +Stratford, and some others. I heard to-day that a gentlewoman from Lady +Giffard's house had been at the Coffee-house to inquire for me. It was +Stella's mother, I suppose. I shall send her a penny-post letter(2) +to-morrow, and contrive to see her without hazarding seeing Lady +Giffard, which I will not do until she begs my pardon. + +22. I dined to-day at Hampstead with Lady Lucy, etc., and when I got +home found a letter from Joe, with one enclosed to Lord Wharton, which I +will send to his Excellency, and second it as well as I can; but to talk +of getting the Queen's order is a jest. Things are in such a combustion +here, that I am advised not to meddle yet in the affair I am upon, which +concerns the clergy of a whole kingdom; and does he think anybody will +trouble the Queen about Joe? We shall, I hope, get a recommendation from +the Lord Lieutenant to the trustees for the linen business, and I hope +that will do; and so I will write to him in a few days, and he must have +patience. This is an answer to part of your letter as well as his. I +lied; it is to-morrow I go to the country, and I won't answer a bit more +of your letter yet. + +23. Here is such a stir and bustle with this little MD of ours; I must +be writing every night; I can't go to bed without a word to them; I +can't put out my candle till I have bid them good-night: O Lord, O +Lord! Well, I dined the first time to-day, with Will Frankland and his +fortune: she is not very handsome. Did I not say I would go out of town +to-day? I hate lying abroad and clutter; I go tomorrow in Frankland's +chariot, and come back at night. Lady Berkeley has invited me +to Berkeley Castle, and Lady Betty Germaine(3) to Drayton in +Northamptonshire; and I'll go to neither. Let me alone, I must finish my +pamphlet. I have sent a long letter to Bickerstaff:(4) let the Bishop +of Clogher smoke(5) it if he can. Well, I'll write to the Bishop of +Killala; but you might have told him how sudden and unexpected my +journey was though. Deuce take Lady S---; and if I know D---y, he is a +rawboned-faced fellow, not handsome, nor visibly so young as you say: +she sacrifices two thousand pounds a year, and keeps only six hundred. +Well, you have had all my land journey in my second letter, and so much +for that. So, you have got into Presto's lodgings; very fine, truly! We +have had a fortnight of the most glorious weather on earth, and still +continues: I hope you have made the best of it. Ballygall(6) will be a +pure(7) good place for air, if Mrs. Ashe makes good her promise. Stella +writes like an emperor: I am afraid it hurts your eyes; take care of +that pray, pray, Mrs. Stella. Can't you do what you will with your own +horse? Pray don't let that puppy Parvisol sell him. Patrick is drunk +about three times a week, and I bear it, and he has got the better of +me; but one of these days I will positively turn him off to the wide +world, when none of you are by to intercede for him.--Stuff--how can +I get her husband into the Charter-house? get a ---- into the +Charter-house.--Write constantly! Why, sirrah, don't I write every day, +and sometimes twice a day to MD? Now I have answered all your letter, +and the rest must be as it can be: send me my bill. Tell Mrs. Brent what +I say of the Charter-house. I think this enough for one night; and so +farewell till this time to-morrow. + +24. To-day I dined six miles out of town at Will Pate's, with Stratford, +Frankland, and the Molesworths,(8) and came home at night, and was weary +and lazy. I can say no more now, but good-night. + +25. I was so lazy to-day that I dined at next door,(9) and have sat at +home since six, writing to the Bishop of Clogher, Dean Sterne, and Mr. +Manley: the last, because I am in fear for him about his place, and have +sent him my opinion, what I and his other friends here think he ought +to do. I hope he will take it well. My advice was, to keep as much in +favour as possible with Sir Thomas Frankland, his master here. + +26. Smoke how I widen the margin by lying in bed when I write. My bed +lies on the wrong side for me, so that I am forced often to write when +I am up. Manley, you must know, has had people putting in for his place +already; and has been complained of for opening letters. Remember that +last Sunday, September 24, 1710, was as hot as midsummer. This was +written in the morning; it is now night, and Presto in bed. Here's a +clutter, I have gotten MD's second letter, and I must answer it here. +I gave the bill to Tooke, and so--Well, I dined to-day with Sir John +Holland the Comptroller, and sat with him till eight; then came home, +and sent my letters, and writ part of a lampoon,(10) which goes on very +slow: and now I am writing to saucy MD; no wonder, indeed, good boys +must write to naughty girls. I have not seen your mother yet; my +penny-post letter, I suppose, miscarried: I will write another. Mr. +S---- came to see me; and said M---- was going to the country next +morning with her husband (who I find is a surly brute); so I could only +desire my service to her. + +27. To-day all our company dined at Will Frankland's, with Steele and +Addison too. This is the first rainy day since I came to town; I cannot +afford to answer your letter yet. Morgan,(11) the puppy, writ me a long +letter, to desire I would recommend him for purse-bearer or secretary to +the next Lord Chancellor that would come with the next Governor. I +will not answer him; but beg you will say these words to his father +Raymond,(12) or anybody that will tell him: That Dr. Swift has received +his letter; and would be very ready to serve him, but cannot do it in +what he desires, because he has no sort of interest in the persons to +be applied to. These words you may write, and let Joe, or Mr. +Warburton,(13) give them to him: a pox on him! However, it is by these +sort of ways that fools get preferment. I must not end yet, because I +cannot say good-night without losing a line, and then MD would scold; +but now, good-night. + +28. I have the finest piece of Brazil tobacco for Dingley that ever +was born.(14) You talk of Leigh; why, he won't be in Dublin these two +months: he goes to the country, then returns to London, to see how the +world goes here in Parliament. Good-night, sirrahs; no, no, not night; +I writ this in the morning, and looking carelessly I thought it had +been of last night. I dined to-day with Mrs. Barton(15) alone at her +lodgings; where she told me for certain, that Lady S---- was with +child when she was last in England, and pretended a tympany, and saw +everybody; then disappeared for three weeks, her tympany was gone, and +she looked like a ghost, etc. No wonder she married when she was so ill +at containing. Connolly(16) is out; and Mr. Roberts in his place, who +loses a better here, but was formerly a Commissioner in Ireland. That +employment cost Connolly three thousand pounds to Lord Wharton; so he +has made one ill bargain in his life. + +29. I wish MD a merry Michaelmas. I dined with Mr. Addison, and Jervas +the painter, at Addison's country place; and then came home, and writ +more to my lampoon. I made a Tatler since I came: guess which it is, and +whether the Bishop of Clogher smokes it. I saw Mr. Sterne(17) to-day: he +will do as you order, and I will give him chocolate for Stella's health. +He goes not these three weeks. I wish I could send it some other way. +So now to your letter, brave boys. I don't like your way of saving +shillings: nothing vexes me but that it does not make Stella a coward +in a coach.(18) I don't think any lady's advice about my ear signifies +twopence: however I will, in compliance to you, ask Dr. Cockburn. +Radcliffe(19) I know not, and Barnard(20) I never see. Walls will +certainly be stingier for seven years, upon pretence of his robbery. So +Stella puns again; why, 'tis well enough; but I'll not second it, +though I could make a dozen: I never thought of a pun since I left +Ireland.--Bishop of Clogher's bill? Why, he paid it to me; do you think +I was such a fool to go without it? As for the four shillings, I will +give you a bill on Parvisol for it on t'other side of this paper; and +pray tear off the two letters I shall write to him and Joe, or let +Dingley transcribe and send them; though that to Parvisol, I believe, he +must have my hand for. No, no, I'll eat no grapes; I ate about six +the other day at Sir John Holland's; but would not give sixpence for a +thousand, they are so bad this year. Yes, faith, I hope in God Presto +and MD will be together this time twelvemonth. What then? Last year I +suppose I was at Laracor; but next I hope to eat my Michaelmas goose +at my two little gooses' lodgings. I drink no aile (I suppose you mean +ale); but yet good wine every day, of five and six shillings a bottle. +O Lord, how much Stella writes! pray don't carry that too far, young +women, but be temperate, to hold out. To-morrow I go to Mr. Harley.(21) +Why, small hopes from the Duke of Ormond: he loves me very well, I +believe, and would, in my turn, give me something to make me easy; and I +have good interest among his best friends. But I don't think of anything +further than the business I am upon. You see I writ to Manley before +I had your letter, and I fear he will be out. Yes, Mrs. Owl, Bligh's +corpse(22) came to Chester when I was there; and I told you so in my +letter, or forgot it. I lodge in Bury Street, where I removed a week +ago. I have the first floor, a dining-room, and bed-chamber, at eight +shillings a week; plaguy deep, but I spend nothing for eating, never +go to a tavern, and very seldom in a coach; yet after all it will +be expensive. Why do you trouble yourself, Mistress Stella, about my +instrument? I have the same the Archbishop gave me; and it is as good +now the bishops are away. The Dean friendly! the Dean be poxed: a +great piece of friendship indeed, what you heard him tell the Bishop of +Clogher; I wonder he had the face to talk so: but he lent me money, and +that's enough. Faith, I would not send this these four days, only for +writing to Joe and Parvisol. Tell the Dean that when the bishops send me +any packets, they must not write to me at Mr. Steele's; but direct +for Mr. Steele, at his office at the Cockpit, and let the enclosed be +directed for me: that mistake cost me eighteenpence the other day. + +30. I dined with Stratford to-day, but am not to see Mr. Harley till +Wednesday: it is late, and I send this before there is occasion for the +bell; because I would have Joe have his letter, and Parvisol too; which +you must so contrive as not to cost them double postage. I can say no +more, but that I am, etc. + + + + +LETTER 5. + +LONDON, Sept. 30, 1710. + +Han't I brought myself into a fine praemunire,(1) to begin writing +letters in whole sheets? and now I dare not leave it off. I cannot tell +whether you like these journal letters: I believe they would be dull +to me to read them over; but, perhaps, little MD is pleased to know how +Presto passes his time in her absence. I always begin my last the same +day I ended my former. I told you where I dined to-day at a tavern with +Stratford: Lewis,(2) who is a great favourite of Harley's, was to have +been with us; but he was hurried to Hampton Court, and sent his excuse; +and that next Wednesday he would introduce me to Harley. 'Tis good to +see what a lamentable confession the Whigs all make me of my ill +usage: but I mind them not. I am already represented to Harley as a +discontented person, that was used ill for not being Whig enough; and +I hope for good usage from him. The Tories drily tell me, I may make +my fortune, if I please; but I do not understand them--or rather, I do +understand them. + +Oct. 1. To-day I dined at Molesworth's, the Florence Envoy; and sat this +evening with my friend Darteneuf,(3) whom you have heard me talk of; +the greatest punner of this town next myself. Have you smoked the Tatler +that I writ?(4) It is much liked here, and I think it a pure(5) one. +To-morrow I go with Delaval,(6) the Portugal Envoy, to dine with Lord +Halifax near Hampton Court.(7) Your Manley's brother, a Parliament-man +here, has gotten an employment;(8) and I am informed uses much interest +to preserve his brother: and, to-day, I spoke to the elder Frankland +to engage his father (Postmaster here); and I hope he will be safe, +although he is cruelly hated by all the Tories of Ireland. I have almost +finished my lampoon, and will print it for revenge on a certain great +person.(9) It has cost me but three shillings in meat and drink since I +came here, as thin as the town is. I laugh to see myself so disengaged +in these revolutions. Well, I must leave off, and go write to Sir John +Stanley,(10) to desire him to engage Lady Hyde as my mistress to engage +Lord Hyde(11) in favour of Mr. Pratt.(12) + +2. Lord Halifax was at Hampton Court at his lodgings, and I dined +with him there with Methuen,(13) and Delaval, and the late +Attorney-General.(14) I went to the Drawing-room before dinner (for +the Queen was at Hampton Court), and expected to see nobody; but I +met acquaintance enough. I walked in the gardens, saw the cartoons +of Raphael, and other things; and with great difficulty got from Lord +Halifax, who would have kept me to-morrow to show me his house and park, +and improvements. We left Hampton Court at sunset, and got here in a +chariot and two horses time enough by starlight. That's something charms +me mightily about London; that you go dine a dozen miles off in October, +stay all day, and return so quickly: you cannot do anything like this in +Dublin.(15) I writ a second penny post letter to your mother, and hear +nothing of her. Did I tell you that Earl Berkeley died last Sunday was +se'nnight, at Berkeley Castle, of a dropsy? Lord Halifax began a health +to me to-day; it was the Resurrection of the Whigs, which I refused +unless he would add their Reformation too and I told him he was the only +Whig in England I loved, or had any good opinion of. + +3. This morning Stella's sister(16) came to me with a letter from her +mother, who is at Sheen; but will soon be in town, and will call to see +me: she gave me a bottle of palsy water,(17) a small one, and desired I +would send it you by the first convenience, as I will; and she promises +a quart bottle of the same: your sister looked very well, and seems a +good modest sort of girl. I went then to Mr. Lewis, first secretary to +Lord Dartmouth,(18) and favourite to Mr. Harley, who is to introduce +me to-morrow morning. Lewis had with him one Mr. Dyot,(19) a Justice of +Peace, worth twenty thousand pounds, a Commissioner of the Stamp Office, +and married to a sister of Sir Philip Meadows,(20) Envoy to the Emperor. +I tell you this, because it is odds but this Mr. Dyot will be hanged; +for he is discovered to have counterfeited stamped paper, in which he +was a Commissioner; and, with his accomplices, has cheated the Queen of +a hundred thousand pounds. You will hear of it before this come to you, +but may be not so particularly; and it is a very odd accident in such a +man. Smoke Presto writing news to MD. I dined to-day with Lord Mountjoy +at Kensington, and walked from thence this evening to town like an +emperor. Remember that yesterday, October 2, was a cruel hard frost, +with ice; and six days ago I was dying with heat. As thin as the town +is, I have more dinners than ever; and am asked this month by some +people, without being able to come for pre-engagements. Well, but +I should write plainer, when I consider Stella cannot read,(21) and +Dingley is not so skilful at my ugly hand. I had tonight a letter from +Mr. Pratt, who tells me Joe will have his money when there are trustees +appointed by the Lord Lieutenant for receiving and disposing the linen +fund; and whenever those trustees are appointed, I will solicit whoever +is Lord Lieutenant, and am in no fear of succeeding. So pray tell or +write him word, and bid him not be cast down; for Ned Southwell(22) +and Mr. Addison both think Pratt in the right. Don't lose your money at +Manley's to-night, sirrahs. + +4. After I had put out my candle last night, my landlady came into my +room, with a servant of Lord Halifax, to desire I would go dine with him +at his house near Hampton Court; but I sent him word, I had business +of great importance that hindered me, etc. And to-day I was brought +privately to Mr. Harley, who received me with the greatest respect and +kindness imaginable: he has appointed me an hour on Saturday at four, +afternoon, when I will open my business to him; which expression I would +not use if I were a woman. I know you smoked it; but I did not till I +writ it. I dined to-day at Mr. Delaval's, the Envoy for Portugal, with +Nic Rowe(23) the poet, and other friends; and I gave my lampoon to be +printed. I have more mischief in my heart; and I think it shall go +round with them all, as this hits, and I can find hints. I am certain I +answered your 2d letter, and yet I do not find it here. I suppose it was +in my 4th: and why N. 2d, 3d; is it not enough to say, as I do, 1, 2, 3? +etc. I am going to work at another Tatler:(24) I'll be far enough but +I say the same thing over two or three times, just as I do when I am +talking to little MD; but what care I? they can read it as easily as I +can write it: I think I have brought these lines pretty straight again. +I fear it will be long before I finish two sides at this rate. Pray, +dear MD, when I occasionally give you any little commission mixed with +my letters, don't forget it, as that to Morgan and Joe, etc., for I +write just as I can remember, otherwise I would put them all together. +I was to visit Mr. Sterne to-day, and give him your commission about +handkerchiefs: that of chocolate I will do myself, and send it him when +he goes, and you'll pay me when the GIVER'S BREAD,(25) etc. To-night I +will read a pamphlet, to amuse myself. God preserve your dear healths! + +5. This morning Delaval came to see me, and we went together to +Kneller's,(26) who was not in town. In the way we met the electors for +Parliament-men:(27) and the rabble came about our coach, crying, "A +Colt, a Stanhope," etc. We were afraid of a dead cat, or our glasses +broken, and so were always of their side. I dined again at Delaval's; +and in the evening, at the Coffee-house, heard Sir Andrew Fountaine(28) +was come to town. This has been but an insipid sort of day, and I have +nothing to remark upon it worth threepence: I hope MD had a better, with +the Dean, the Bishop, or Mrs. Walls.(29) Why, the reason you lost four +and eightpence last night but one at Manley's was, because you played +bad games: I took notice of six that you had ten to one against you: +Would any but a mad lady go out twice upon Manilio; Basto, and two small +diamonds?(30) Then in that game of spades, you blundered when you had +ten-ace; I never saw the like of you: and now you are in a huff because +I tell you this. Well, here's two and eightpence halfpenny towards your +loss. + +6. Sir Andrew Fountaine came this morning, and caught me writing in bed. +I went into the city with him; and we dined at the Chop-house with +Will Pate,(31) the learned woollen-draper: then we sauntered at +China-shops(32) and booksellers; went to the tavern, drank two pints of +white wine, and never parted till ten: and now I am come home, and must +copy out some papers I intend for Mr. Harley, whom I am to see, as I +told you, to-morrow afternoon; so that this night I shall say little to +MD, but that I heartily wish myself with them, and will come as soon as +I either fail, or compass my business. We now hear daily of elections; +and, in a list I saw yesterday of about twenty, there are seven or eight +more Tories than in the last Parliament; so that I believe they need +not fear a majority, with the help of those who will vote as the Court +pleases. But I have been told that Mr. Harley himself would not let +the Tories be too numerous, for fear they should be insolent, and +kick against him; and for that reason they have kept several Whigs +in employments, who expected to be turned out every day; as Sir John +Holland the Comptroller, and many others. And so get you gone to your +cards, and your claret and orange, at the Dean's; and I'll go write. + +7. I wonder when this letter will be finished: it must go by Tuesday, +that's certain; and if I have one from MD before, I will not answer it, +that's as certain too. 'Tis now morning, and I did not finish my papers +for Mr. Harley last night; for you must understand Presto was sleepy, +and made blunders and blots. Very pretty that I must be writing to young +women in a morning fresh and fasting, faith. Well, good-morrow to +you; and so I go to business, and lay aside this paper till night, +sirrahs.--At night. Jack How(33) told Harley that if there were a lower +place in hell than another, it was reserved for his porter, who tells +lies so gravely, and with so civil a manner. This porter I have had to +deal with, going this evening at four to visit Mr. Harley, by his own +appointment. But the fellow told me no lie, though I suspected every +word he said. He told me his master was just gone to dinner, with much +company, and desired I would come an hour hence: which I did, expecting +to hear Mr. Harley was gone out; but they had just done dinner. Mr. +Harley came out to me, brought me in, and presented to me his son-in-law +Lord Doblane(34) (or some such name) and his own son,(35) and, among +others, Will Penn(36) the Quaker: we sat two hours drinking as good wine +as you do; and two hours more he and I alone; where he heard me tell my +business; entered into it with all kindness; asked for my powers, and +read them; and read likewise a memorial(37) I had drawn up, and put it +in his pocket to show the Queen; told me the measures he would take; +and, in short, said everything I could wish: told me, he must bring Mr. +St. John(38) (Secretary of State) and me acquainted; and spoke so many +things of personal kindness and esteem for me, that I am inclined half +to believe what some friends have told me, that he would do everything +to bring me over. He has desired to dine with me (what a comical mistake +was that!). I mean he has desired me to dine with him on Tuesday; and +after four hours being with him, set me down at St. James's Coffee-house +in a hackney-coach. All this is odd and comical, if you consider him and +me. He knew my Christian name very well. I could not forbear saying thus +much upon this matter, although you will think it tedious. But I'll tell +you; you must know, 'tis fatal(39) to me to be a scoundrel and a prince +the same day: for, being to see him at four, I could not engage myself +to dine at any friend's; so I went to Tooke,(40) to give him a ballad, +and dine with him; but he was not at home: so I was forced to go to +a blind(41) chop-house, and dine for tenpence upon gill-ale,(42) bad +broth, and three chops of mutton; and then go reeking from thence to the +First Minister of State. And now I am going in charity to send Steele +a Tatler, who is very low of late. I think I am civiller than I used +to be; and have not used the expression of "you in Ireland" and "we +in England" as I did when I was here before, to your great +indignation.--They may talk of the you know what;(43) but, gad, if it +had not been for that, I should never have been able to get the access I +have had; and if that helps me to succeed, then that same thing will be +serviceable to the Church. But how far we must depend upon new friends, +I have learnt by long practice, though I think among great Ministers, +they are just as good as old ones. And so I think this important day has +made a great hole in this side of the paper; and the fiddle-faddles of +tomorrow and Monday will make up the rest; and, besides, I shall see +Harley on Tuesday before this letter goes. + +8. I must tell you a great piece of refinement(44) of Harley. He charged +me to come to him often: I told him I was loth to trouble him in so much +business as he had, and desired I might have leave to come at his levee; +which he immediately refused, and said, that was not a place for friends +to come to. 'Tis now but morning; and I have got a foolish trick, I must +say something to MD when I wake, and wish them a good-morrow; for this +is not a shaving-day, Sunday, so I have time enough: but get you gone, +you rogues, I must go write: Yes, 'twill vex me to the blood if any +of these long letters should miscarry: if they do, I will shrink to +half-sheets again; but then what will you do to make up the journal? +there will be ten days of Presto's life lost; and that will be a sad +thing, faith and troth.--At night. I was at a loss today for a dinner, +unless I would have gone a great way, so I dined with some friends +that board hereabout,(45) as a spunger;(46) and this evening Sir Andrew +Fountaine would needs have me go to the tavern; where, for two bottles +of wine, Portugal and Florence, among three of us, we had sixteen +shillings to pay; but if ever he catches me so again, I'll spend as many +pounds: and therefore I have it among my extraordinaries but we had a +neck of mutton dressed a la Maintenon, that the dog could not eat: and +it is now twelve o'clock, and I must go sleep. I hope this letter will +go before I have MD's third. Do you believe me? and yet, faith, I long +for MD's third too and yet I would have it to say, that I writ five for +two. I am not fond at all of St. James's Coffee-house,(47) as I used to +be. I hope it will mend in winter; but now they are all out of town at +elections, or not come from their country houses. Yesterday I was going +with Dr. Garth(48) to dine with Charles Main,(49) near the Tower, who +has an employment there: he is of Ireland; the Bishop of Clogher knows +him well: an honest, good-natured fellow, a thorough hearty laugher, +mightily beloved by the men of wit: his mistress is never above a +cook-maid. And so, good-night, etc. + +9. I dined to-day at Sir John Stanley's; my Lady Stanley(50) is one +of my favourites: I have as many here as the Bishop of Killala has in +Ireland. I am thinking what scurvy company I shall be to MD when I come +back: they know everything of me already: I will tell you no more, or +I shall have nothing to say, no story to tell, nor any kind of thing. +I was very uneasy last night with ugly, nasty, filthy wine, that turned +sour on my stomach. I must go to the tavern: oh, but I told you that +before. To-morrow I dine at Harley's, and will finish this letter at my +return; but I can write no more now, because of the Archbishop: faith, +'tis true; for I am going now to write to him an account of what I have +done in the business with Harley:(51) and, faith, young women, I'll tell +you what you must count upon, that I never will write one word on the +third side in these long letters. + +10. Poor MD's letter was lying so huddled up among papers, I could not +find it: I mean poor Presto's letter. Well, I dined with Mr. Harley +to-day, and hope some things will be done; but I must say no more: and +this letter must be sent to the post-house, and not by the bellman.(52) +I am to dine again there on Sunday next; I hope to some good issue. And +so now, soon as ever I can in bed, I must begin my 6th to MD as gravely +as if I had not written a word this month: fine doings, faith! Methinks +I don't write as I should, because I am not in bed: see the ugly wide +lines. God Almighty ever bless you, etc. + +Faith, this is a whole treatise; I'll go reckon the lines on the other +sides. I've reckoned them.(53) + + + + +LETTER 6. + +LONDON, Oct. 10, 1710. + +So, as I told you just now in the letter I sent half an hour ago, I +dined with Mr. Harley to-day, who presented me to the Attorney-General, +Sir Simon Harcourt, with much compliment on all sides, etc. Harley told +me he had shown my memorial to the Queen, and seconded it very heartily; +and he desires me to dine with him again on Sunday, when he promises +to settle it with Her Majesty, before she names a Governor:(1) and I +protest I am in hopes it will be done, all but the forms, by that time; +for he loves the Church. This is a popular thing, and he would not have +a Governor share in it; and, besides, I am told by all hands, he has a +mind to gain me over. But in the letter I writ last post (yesterday) to +the Archbishop, I did not tell him a syllable of what Mr. Harley said to +me last night, because he charged me to keep it secret; so I would not +tell it to you, but that, before this goes, I hope the secret will be +over. I am now writing my poetical "Description of a Shower in London," +and will send it to the Tatler.(2) This is the last sheet of a whole +quire I have written since I came to town. Pray, now it comes into my +head, will you, when you go to Mrs. Walls, contrive to know whether +Mrs. Wesley(3) be in town, and still at her brother's, and how she is +in health, and whether she stays in town. I writ to her from Chester, +to know what I should do with her note; and I believe the poor woman is +afraid to write to me: so I must go to my business, etc. + +11. To-day at last I dined with Lord Mountrath,(4) and carried Lord +Mountjoy, and Sir Andrew Fountaine with me; and was looking over them +at ombre till eleven this evening like a fool: they played running ombre +half-crowns; and Sir Andrew Fountaine won eight guineas of Mr. Coote;(5) +so I am come home late, and will say but little to MD this night. I have +gotten half a bushel of coals, and Patrick, the extravagant whelp, had +a fire ready for me; but I picked off the coals before I went to bed. It +is a sign London is now an empty place, when it will not furnish me with +matter for above five or six lines in a day. Did you smoke in my last +how I told you the very day and the place you were playing at ombre? But +I interlined and altered a little, after I had received a letter from +Mr. Manley, that said you were at it in his house, while he was writing +to me; but without his help I guessed within one day. Your town is +certainly much more sociable than ours. I have not seen your mother yet, +etc. + +12. I dined to-day with Dr. Garth and Mr. Addison, at the Devil +Tavern(6) by Temple Bar, and Garth treated; and 'tis well I dine every +day, else I should be longer making out my letters: for we are yet in a +very dull state, only inquiring every day after new elections, where +the Tories carry it among the new members six to one. Mr. Addison's +election(7) has passed easy and undisputed; and I believe if he had a +mind to be chosen king, he would hardly be refused. An odd accident has +happened at Colchester: one Captain Lavallin,(8) coming from Flanders or +Spain, found his wife with child by a clerk of Doctors' Commons, whose +trade, you know, it is to prevent fornications: and this clerk was the +very same fellow that made the discovery of Dyot's(9) counterfeiting the +stamp-paper. Lavallin has been this fortnight hunting after the clerk, +to kill him; but the fellow was constantly employed at the Treasury, +about the discovery he made: the wife had made a shift to patch up the +business, alleging that the clerk had told her her husband was dead +and other excuses; but t'other day somebody told Lavallin his wife had +intrigues before he married her: upon which he goes down in a rage, +shoots his wife through the head, then falls on his sword; and, to make +the matter sure, at the same time discharges a pistol through his own +head, and died on the spot, his wife surviving him about two hours, but +in what circumstances of mind and body is terrible to imagine. I have +finished my poem on the "Shower," all but the beginning; and am going on +with my Tatler. They have fixed about fifty things on me since I came: I +have printed but three.(10) One advantage I get by writing to you daily, +or rather you get, is, that I shall remember not to write the same +things twice; and yet, I fear, I have done it often already: but I will +mind and confine myself to the accidents of the day; and so get you gone +to ombre, and be good girls, and save your money, and be rich against +Presto comes, and write to me now and then: I am thinking it would be a +pretty thing to hear sometimes from saucy MD; but do not hurt your eyes, +Stella, I charge you. + +13. O Lord, here is but a trifle of my letter written yet; what shall +Presto do for prattle-prattle, to entertain MD? The talk now grows +fresher of the Duke of Ormond for Ireland; though Mr. Addison says he +hears it will be in commission, and Lord Galway(11) one. These letters +of mine are a sort of journal, where matters open by degrees; and, as I +tell true or false, you will find by the event whether my intelligence +be good; but I do not care twopence whether it be or no.--At night. +To-day I was all about St. Paul's, and up at the top like a fool, with +Sir Andrew Fountaine and two more; and spent seven shillings for my +dinner like a puppy: this is the second time he has served me so; but +I will never do it again, though all mankind should persuade me, +unconsidering puppies! There is a young fellow here in town we are +all fond of, and about a year or two come from the University, one +Harrison,(12) a little pretty fellow, with a great deal of wit, good +sense, and good nature; has written some mighty pretty things; that in +your 6th Miscellanea,(13) about the Sprig of an Orange, is his: he +has nothing to live on but being governor to one of the Duke of +Queensberry's(14) sons for forty pounds a year. The fine fellows are +always inviting him to the tavern, and make him pay his club. Henley(15) +is a great crony of his: they are often at the tavern at six or seven +shillings reckoning, and he always makes the poor lad pay his full +share. A colonel and a lord were at him and me the same way to-night: I +absolutely refused, and made Harrison lag behind, and persuaded him not +to go to them. I tell you this, because I find all rich fellows have +that humour of using all people without any consideration of their +fortunes; but I will see them rot before they shall serve me so. Lord +Halifax is always teasing me to go down to his country house, which will +cost me a guinea to his servants, and twelve shillings coach-hire; and +he shall be hanged first. Is not this a plaguy silly story? But I am +vexed at the heart; for I love the young fellow, and am resolved to stir +up people to do something for him: he is a Whig, and I will put him upon +some of my cast Whigs; for I have done with them; and they have, I hope, +done with this kingdom for our time. They were sure of the four members +for London above all places, and they have lost three in the four.(16) +Sir Richard Onslow,(17) we hear, has lost for Surrey; and they are +overthrown in most places. Lookee, gentlewomen, if I write long letters, +I must write you news and stuff, unless I send you my verses; and some I +dare not; and those on the "Shower in London" I have sent to the Tatler, +and you may see them in Ireland. I fancy you will smoke me in the Tatler +I am going to write; for I believe I have told you the hint. I had a +letter sent me tonight from Sir Matthew Dudley, and found it on my table +when I came in. Because it is extraordinary, I will transcribe it from +beginning to end. It is as follows: "Is the Devil in you? Oct. 13, +1710." I would have answered every particular passage in it, only I +wanted time. Here is enough for to-night, such as it is, etc. + +14. Is that tobacco at the top of the paper,(18) or what? I do not +remember I slobbered. Lord, I dreamt of Stella, etc., so confusedly last +night, and that we saw Dean Bolton(19) and Sterne(20) go into a shop: +and she bid me call them to her, and they proved to be two parsons I +know not; and I walked without till she was shifting, and such stuff, +mixed with much melancholy and uneasiness, and things not as they should +be, and I know not how: and it is now an ugly gloomy morning.--At night. +Mr. Addison and I dined with Ned Southwell, and walked in the Park; and +at the Coffee-house I found a letter from the Bishop of Clogher, and +a packet from MD. I opened the Bishop's letter; but put up MD's, and +visited a lady just come to town; and am now got into bed, and going to +open your little letter: and God send I may find MD well, and happy, and +merry, and that they love Presto as they do fires. Oh, I will not open +it yet! yes I will! no I will not! I am going; I cannot stay till I turn +over.(21) What shall I do? My fingers itch; and now I have it in my left +hand; and now I will open it this very moment.--I have just got it, and +am cracking the seal, and cannot imagine what is in it; I fear only some +letter from a bishop, and it comes too late; I shall employ nobody's +credit but my own. Well, I see though-- Pshaw, 'tis from Sir Andrew +Fountaine. What, another! I fancy that's from Mrs. Barton;(22) she told +me she would write to me; but she writes a better hand than this: I wish +you would inquire; it must be at Dawson's(23) office at the Castle. +I fear this is from Patty Rolt, by the scrawl. Well, I will read MD's +letter. Ah, no; it is from poor Lady Berkeley, to invite me to Berkeley +Castle this winter; and now it grieves my heart: she says, she hopes my +lord is in a fair way of recovery;(24) poor lady! Well, now I go to MD's +letter: faith, it is all right; I hoped it was wrong. Your letter, N.3, +that I have now received, is dated Sept. 26; and Manley's letter, that +I had five days ago, was dated Oct. 3, that's a fortnight difference: +I doubt it has lain in Steele's office, and he forgot. Well, there's +an end of that: he is turned out of his place;(25) and you must desire +those who send me packets, to enclose them in a paper directed to Mr. +Addison, at St. James's Coffee-house: not common letters, but packets: +the Bishop of Clogher may mention it to the Archbishop when he sees him. +As for your letter, it makes me mad: slidikins, I have been the best +boy in Christendom, and you come with your two eggs a penny.--Well; but +stay, I will look over my book: adad, I think there was a chasm between +my N.2 and N.3. Faith, I will not promise to write to you every week; +but I will write every night, and when it is full I will send it; that +will be once in ten days, and that will be often enough: and if you +begin to take up the way of writing to Presto, only because it is +Tuesday, a Monday bedad it will grow a task; but write when you have +a mind.--No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no--Agad, agad, agad, agad, +agad, agad; no, poor Stellakins.(26) Slids, I would the horse were in +your--chamber! Have not I ordered Parvisol to obey your directions about +him? And han't I said in my former letters that you may pickle him, and +boil him, if you will? What do you trouble me about your horses for? +Have I anything to do with them?--Revolutions a hindrance to me in +my business? Revolutions to me in my business? If it were not for +the revolutions, I could do nothing at all; and now I have all hopes +possible, though one is certain of nothing; but to-morrow I am to have +an answer, and am promised an effectual one. I suppose I have said +enough in this and a former letter how I stand with new people; ten +times better than ever I did with the old; forty times more caressed. +I am to dine to-morrow at Mr. Harley's; and if he continues as he has +begun, no man has been ever better treated by another. What you say +about Stella's mother, I have spoken enough to it already. I believe she +is not in town; for I have not yet seen her. My lampoon is cried up to +the skies; but nobody suspects me for it, except Sir Andrew Fountaine: +at least they say nothing of it to me. Did not I tell you of a great man +who received me very coldly?(27) That's he; but say nothing; 'twas +only a little revenge. I will remember to bring it over. The Bishop of +Clogher has smoked my Tatler,(28) about shortening of words, etc. But, +God So!(29) etc. + +15. I will write plainer if I can remember it; for Stella must not spoil +her eyes, and Dingley can't read my hand very well; and I am afraid my +letters are too long: then you must suppose one to be two, and read them +at twice. I dined to-day with Mr. Harley: Mr. Prior(30) dined with us. +He has left my memorial with the Queen, who has consented to give the +First-Fruits and Twentieth Parts,(31) and will, we hope, declare it +to-morrow in the Cabinet. But I beg you to tell it to no person alive; +for so I am ordered, till in public: and I hope to get something of +greater value. After dinner came in Lord Peterborow:(32) we renewed our +acquaintance, and he grew mightily fond of me. They began to talk of a +paper of verses called "Sid Hamet." Mr. Harley repeated part, and then +pulled them out, and gave them to a gentleman at the table to read, +though they had all read them often. Lord Peterborow would let nobody +read them but himself: so he did; and Mr. Harley bobbed(33) me at every +line, to take notice of the beauties. Prior rallied Lord Peterborow for +author of them; and Lord Peterborow said he knew them to be his; and +Prior then turned it upon me, and I on him. I am not guessed at all +in town to be the author; yet so it is: but that is a secret only to +you.(34) Ten to one whether you see them in Ireland; yet here they run +prodigiously. Harley presented me to Lord President of Scotland,(35) and +Mr. Benson,(36) Lord of the Treasury. Prior and I came away at nine, and +sat at the Smyrna(37) till eleven, receiving acquaintance. + +16. This morning early I went in a chair, and Patrick before it, to Mr. +Harley, to give him another copy of my memorial, as he desired; but he +was full of business, going to the Queen, and I could not see him; +but he desired I would send up the paper, and excused himself upon his +hurry. I was a little baulked; but they tell me it is nothing. I shall +judge by next visit. I tipped his porter with half a crown; and so I am +well there for a time at least. I dined at Stratford's in the City, and +had Burgundy and Tokay: came back afoot like a scoundrel: then went with +Mr. Addison and supped with Lord Mountjoy, which made me sick all night. +I forgot that I bought six pounds of chocolate for Stella, and a little +wooden box; and I have a great piece of Brazil tobacco for Dingley,(38) +and a bottle of palsy-water(39) for Stella: all which, with the two +handkerchiefs that Mr. Sterne has bought, and you must pay him for, +will be put in the box, directed to Mrs. Curry's, and sent by Dr. +Hawkshaw,(40) whom I have not seen; but Sterne has undertaken it. The +chocolate is a present, madam, for Stella. Don't read this, you little +rogue, with your little eyes; but give it to Dingley, pray now; and I +will write as plain as the skies: and let Dingley write Stella's part, +and Stella dictate to her, when she apprehends her eyes, etc. + +17. This letter should have gone this post, if I had not been taken +up with business, and two nights being late out; so it must stay till +Thursday. I dined to-day with your Mr. Sterne,(41) by invitation, and +drank Irish wine;(42) but, before we parted, there came in the prince +of puppies, Colonel Edgworth;(43) so I went away. This day came out the +Tatler, made up wholly of my "Shower," and a preface to it. They say it +is the best thing I ever writ, and I think so too. I suppose the Bishop +of Clogher will show it you. Pray tell me how you like it. Tooke is +going on with my Miscellany.(44) I'd give a penny the letter to the +Bishop of Killaloe(45) was in it: 'twould do him honour. Could not you +contrive to say, you hear they are printing my things together; and that +you with the bookseller had that letter among the rest: but don't say +anything of it as from me. I forget whether it was good or no; but only +having heard it much commended, perhaps it may deserve it. Well, I have +to-morrow to finish this letter in, and then I will send it next day. I +am so vexed that you should write your third to me, when you had but my +second, and I had written five, which now I hope you have all: and so I +tell you, you are saucy, little, pretty, dear rogues, etc. + +18. To-day I dined, by invitation, with Stratford and others, at a young +merchant's in the City, with Hermitage and Tokay, and stayed till nine, +and am now come home. And that dog Patrick is abroad, and drinking, and +I cannot I get my night-gown. I have a mind to turn that puppy away: he +has been drunk ten times in three weeks. But I han't time to say more; +so good-night, etc. + +19. I am come home from dining in the city with Mr. Addison, at a +merchant's; and just now, at the Coffee-house, we have notice that the +Duke of Ormond was this day declared Lord Lieutenant at Hampton Court, +in Council. I have not seen Mr. Harley since; but hope the affair is +done about First-Fruits. I will see him, if possible, to-morrow morning; +but this goes to-night. I have sent a box to Mr. Sterne, to send to you +by some friend: I have directed it for Mr. Curry, at his house; so you +have warning when it comes, as I hope it will soon. The handkerchiefs +will be put in some friend's pocket, not to pay custom. And so here ends +my sixth, sent when I had but three of MD's: now I am beforehand, and +will keep so; and God Almighty bless dearest MD, etc. + + + + +LETTER 7. + +LONDON, Oct. 19, 1710. + +Faith, I am undone! this paper is larger than the other, and yet I am +condemned to a sheet; but, since it is MD, I did not value though I were +condemned to a pair. I told you in my letter to-day where I had been, +and how the day passed; and so, etc. + +20. To-day I went to Mr. Lewis, at the Secretary's office, to know when +I might see Mr. Harley; and by and by comes up Mr. Harley himself, and +appoints me to dine with him to-morrow. I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh,(1) +and went to wait on the two Lady Butlers;(2) but the porter answered +they were not at home: the meaning was, the youngest, Lady Mary, is +to be married to-morrow to Lord Ashburnham,(3) the best match now in +England, twelve thousand pounds a year, and abundance of money. Tell me +how my "Shower" is liked in Ireland: I never knew anything pass better +here. I spent the evening with Wortley Montagu(4) and Mr. Addison, over +a bottle of Irish wine. Do they know anything in Ireland of my greatness +among the Tories? Everybody reproaches me of it here; but I value them +not. Have you heard of the verses about the "Rod of Sid Hamet"? Say +nothing of them for your life. Hardly anybody suspects me for them; only +they think nobody but Prior or I could write them. But I doubt they +have not reached you. There is likewise a ballad full of puns on the +Westminster Election,(5) that cost me half an hour: it runs, though it +be good for nothing. But this is likewise a secret to all but MD. If you +have them not, I will bring them over. + +21. I got MD's fourth to-day at the Coffee-house. God Almighty bless +poor, dear Stella, and her eyes and head! What shall we do to cure them? +poor, dear life! Your disorders are a pull-back for your good qualities. +Would to Heaven I were this minute shaving your poor, dear head, either +here or there! Pray do not write, nor read this letter, nor anything +else; and I will write plainer for Dingley to read from henceforward, +though my pen is apt to ramble when I think whom I am writing to. I will +not answer your letter until I tell you that I dined this day with Mr. +Harley, who presented me to the Earl of Stirling,(6) a Scotch lord; and +in the evening came in Lord Peterborow. I stayed till nine before Mr. +Harley would let me go, or tell me anything of my affair. He says the +Queen has now granted the First-Fruits and Twentieth Parts; but he will +not give me leave to write to the Archbishop, because the Queen designs +to signify it to the Bishops in Ireland in form; and to take notice, +that it was done upon a memorial from me; which, Mr. Harley tells me he +does to make it look more respectful to me, etc.; and I am to see him +on Tuesday. I know not whether I told you that, in my memorial which was +given to the Queen, I begged for two thousand pounds a year more, though +it was not in my commission; but that, Mr. Harley says, cannot yet be +done, and that he and I must talk of it further: however, I have started +it, and it may follow in time. Pray say nothing of the First-Fruits +being granted, unless I give leave at the bottom of this. I believe +never anything was compassed so soon, and purely done by my personal +credit with Mr. Harley, who is so excessively obliging, that I know not +what to make of it, unless to show the rascals of the other party that +they used a man unworthily who had deserved better. The memorial given +to the Queen from me speaks with great plainness of Lord Wharton. I +believe this business is as important to you as the Convocation disputes +from Tisdall.(7) I hope in a month or two all the forms of settling this +matter will be over; and then I shall have nothing to do here. I will +only add one foolish thing more, because it is just come into my head. +When this thing is made known, tell me impartially whether they give +any of the merit to me, or no; for I am sure I have so much, that I will +never take it upon me.--Insolent sluts! because I say Dublin, Ireland, +therefore you must say London, England: that is Stella's malice.--Well, +for that I will not answer your letter till to-morrow-day, and so and +so: I will go write something else, and it will not be much; for 'tis +late. + +22. I was this morning with Mr. Lewis, the under-secretary to Lord +Dartmouth, two hours, talking politics, and contriving to keep Steele in +his office of stamped paper: he has lost his place of Gazetteer, three +hundred pounds a year, for writing a Tatler,(8) some months ago, against +Mr. Harley, who gave it him at first, and raised the salary from sixty +to three hundred pounds. This was devilish ungrateful; and Lewis was +telling me the particulars: but I had a hint given me, that I might save +him in the other employment: and leave was given me to clear matters +with Steele. Well, I dined with Sir Matthew Dudley, and in the evening +went to sit with Mr. Addison, and offer the matter at distance to him, +as the discreeter person; but found party had so possessed him, that +he talked as if he suspected me, and would not fall in with anything I +said. So I stopped short in my overture, and we parted very drily; and +I shall say nothing to Steele, and let them do as they will; but, if +things stand as they are, he will certainly lose it, unless I save him; +and therefore I will not speak to him, that I may not report to his +disadvantage. Is not this vexatious? and is there so much in the proverb +of proffered service? When shall I grow wise? I endeavour to act in the +most exact points of honour and conscience; and my nearest friends will +not understand it so. What must a man expect from his enemies? This +would vex me, but it shall not; and so I bid you good-night, etc. + +23. I know 'tis neither wit nor diversion to tell you every day where I +dine; neither do I write it to fill my letter; but I fancy I shall, +some time or other, have the curiosity of seeing some particulars how +I passed my life when I was absent from MD this time; and so I tell you +now that I dined to-day at Molesworth's, the Florence Envoy, then +went to the Coffee-house, where I behaved myself coldly enough to Mr. +Addison, and so came home to scribble. We dine together to-morrow and +next day by invitation; but I shall alter my behaviour to him, till he +begs my pardon, or else we shall grow bare acquaintance. I am weary of +friends; and friendships are all monsters, but MD's. + +24. I forgot to tell you, that last night I went to Mr. Harley's, +hoping--faith, I am blundering, for it was this very night at six; and I +hoped he would have told me all things were done and granted: but he +was abroad, and came home ill, and was gone to bed, much out of order, +unless the porter lied. I dined to-day at Sir Matthew Dudley's, with Mr. +Addison, etc. + +25. I was to-day to see the Duke of Ormond; and, coming out, met Lord +Berkeley of Stratton,(9) who told me that Mrs. Temple,(10) the widow, +died last Saturday, which, I suppose, is much to the outward grief and +inward joy of the family. I dined to-day with Addison and Steele, and +a sister of Mr. Addison, who is married to one Mons. Sartre,(11) a +Frenchman, prebendary of Westminster, who has a delicious house and +garden; yet I thought it was a sort of monastic life in those cloisters, +and I liked Laracor better. Addison's sister is a sort of a wit, very +like him. I am not fond of her, etc. + +26. I was to-day to see Mr. Congreve,(12) who is almost blind with +cataracts growing on his eyes; and his case is, that he must wait two or +three years, until the cataracts are riper, and till he is quite blind, +and then he must have them couched; and, besides, he is never rid of the +gout, yet he looks young and fresh, and is as cheerful as ever. He is +younger by three years or more than I; and I am twenty years younger +than he. He gave me a pain in the great toe, by mentioning the gout. I +find such suspicions frequently, but they go off again. I had a second +letter from Mr. Morgan,(13) for which I thank you: I wish you were +whipped, for forgetting to send him that answer I desired you in one of +my former, that I could do nothing for him of what he desired, having +no credit at all, etc. Go, be far enough, you negligent baggages. I have +had also a letter from Parvisol, with an account how my livings are set; +and that they are fallen, since last year, sixty pounds. A comfortable +piece of news! He tells me plainly that he finds you have no mind to +part with the horse, because you sent for him at the same time you sent +him my letter; so that I know not what must be done. It is a sad thing +that Stella must have her own horse, whether Parvisol will or no. So now +to answer your letter that I had three or four days ago. I am not now in +bed, but am come home by eight; and, it being warm, I write up. I never +writ to the Bishop of Killala, which, I suppose, was the reason he had +not my letter. I have not time, there is the short of it.--As fond as +the Dean(14) is of my letter, he has not written to me. I would only +know whether Dean Bolton(15) paid him the twenty pounds; and for the +rest, he may kiss--And that you may ask him, because I am in pain about +it, that Dean Bolton is such a whipster. 'Tis the most obliging thing +in the world in Dean Sterne to be so kind to you. I believe he knows it +will please me, and makes up, that way, his other usage.(16) No, we +have had none of your snow, but a little one morning; yet I think it +was great snow for an hour or so, but no longer. I had heard of Will +Crowe's(17) death before, but not the foolish circumstance that hastened +his end. No, I have taken care that Captain Pratt(18) shall not suffer +by Lord Anglesea's death.(19) I will try some contrivance to get a copy +of my picture from Jervas. I will make Sir Andrew Fountaine buy one as +for himself, and I will pay him again, and take it, that is, provided I +have money to spare when I leave this.--Poor John! is he gone? and +Madam Parvisol(20) has been in town! Humm. Why, Tighe(21) and I, when he +comes, shall not take any notice of each other; I would not do it +much in this town, though we had not fallen out.--I was to-day at Mr. +Sterne's lodging: he was not within; and Mr. Leigh is not come to town; +but I will do Dingley's errand when I see him. What do I know whether +china be dear or no? I once took a fancy of resolving to grow mad for +it, but now it is off; I suppose I told you in some former letter. And +so you only want some salad-dishes, and plates, and etc. Yes, yes, you +shall. I suppose you have named as much as will cost five pounds.--Now +to Stella's little postscript; and I am almost crazed that you vex +yourself for not writing. Cannot you dictate to Dingley, and not strain +your little, dear eyes? I am sure it is the grief of my soul to think +you are out of order. Pray be quiet; and, if you will write, shut your +eyes, and write just a line, and no more, thus, "How do you do, Mrs. +Stella?" That was written with my eyes shut. Faith, I think it is better +than when they are open: and then Dingley may stand by, and tell you +when you go too high or too low.--My letters of business, with packets, +if there be any more occasion for such, must be enclosed to Mr. Addison, +at St. James's Coffee-house: but I hope to hear, as soon as I see Mr. +Harley, that the main difficulties are over, and that the rest will be +but form.--Take two or three nutgalls, take two or three----galls, stop +your receipt in your--I have no need on't. Here is a clutter! Well, so +much for your letter, which I will now put up in my letter-partition in +my cabinet, as I always do every letter as soon as I answer it. Method +is good in all things. Order governs the world. The Devil is the author +of confusion. A general of an army, a minister of state; to descend +lower, a gardener, a weaver, etc. That may make a fine observation, +if you think it worth finishing; but I have not time. Is not this a +terrible long piece for one evening? I dined to-day with Patty Rolt at +my cousin Leach's,(22) with a pox, in the City: he is a printer, and +prints the Postman, oh hoo, and is my cousin, God knows how, and he +married Mrs. Baby Aires of Leicester; and my cousin Thomson was with us: +and my cousin Leach offers to bring me acquainted with the author of the +Postman;(23) and says he does not doubt but the gentleman will be glad +of my acquaintance; and that he is a very ingenious man, and a great +scholar, and has been beyond sea. But I was modest and said, may be the +gentleman was shy, and not fond of new acquaintance; and so put it off: +and I wish you could hear me repeating all I have said of this in its +proper tone, just as I am writing it. It is all with the same cadence +with "Oh hoo," or as when little girls say, "I have got an apple, miss, +and I won't give you some." It is plaguy twelvepenny weather this last +week, and has cost me ten shillings in coach and chair hire. If the +fellow that has your money will pay it, let me beg you to buy Bank Stock +with it, which is fallen near thirty per cent. and pays eight pounds per +cent. and you have the principal when you please: it will certainly soon +rise. I would to God Lady Giffard would put in the four hundred pounds +she owes you,(24) and take the five per cent. common interest, and give +you the remainder. I will speak to your mother about it when I see her. +I am resolved to buy three hundred pounds of it for myself, and take +up what I have in Ireland; and I have a contrivance for it, that I hope +will do, by making a friend of mine buy it as for himself, and I will +pay him when I can get in my money. I hope Stratford will do me that +kindness. I'll ask him tomorrow or next day. + +27. Mr. Rowe(25) the poet desired me to dine with him to-day. I went to +his office (he is under-secretary in Mr. Addison's place that he had +in England), and there was Mr. Prior; and they both fell commending my +"Shower" beyond anything that has been written of the kind: there never +was such a "Shower" since Danae's, etc. You must tell me how it is liked +among you. I dined with Rowe; Prior could not come: and after dinner +we went to a blind tavern,(26) where Congreve, Sir Richard Temple,(27) +Estcourt,(28) and Charles Main,(29) were over a bowl of bad punch. The +knight sent for six flasks of his own wine for me, and we stayed till +twelve. But now my head continues pretty well; I have left off my +drinking, and only take a spoonful mixed with water, for fear of the +gout, or some ugly distemper; and now, because it is late, I will, etc. + +28. Garth and Addison and I dined to-day at a hedge(30) tavern; then I +went to Mr. Harley, but he was denied, or not at home: so I fear I +shall not hear my business is done before this goes. Then I visited Lord +Pembroke,(31) who is just come to town; and we were very merry talking +of old things; and I hit him with one pun. Then I went to see the Ladies +Butler, and the son of a whore of a porter denied them: so I sent them a +threatening message by another lady, for not excepting me always to the +porter. I was weary of the Coffee-house, and Ford(32) desired me to sit +with him at next door; which I did, like a fool, chatting till twelve, +and now am got into bed. I am afraid the new Ministry is at a terrible +loss about money: the Whigs talk so, it would give one the spleen; and I +am afraid of meeting Mr. Harley out of humour. They think he will never +carry through this undertaking. God knows what will come of it. I should +be terribly vexed to see things come round again: it will ruin the +Church and clergy for ever; but I hope for better. I will send this on +Tuesday, whether I hear any further news of my affair or not. + +29. Mr. Addison and I dined to-day with Lord Mountjoy; which is all the +adventures of this day.--I chatted a while to-night in the Coffee-house, +this being a full night; and now am come home, to write some business. + +30. I dined to-day at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and sent a letter to poor Mrs. +Long,(33) who writes to us, but is God knows where, and will not tell +anybody the place of her residence. I came home early, and must go +write. + +31. The month ends with a fine day; and I have been walking, and +visiting Lewis, and concerting where to see Mr. Harley. I have no news +to send you. Aire,(34) they say, is taken, though the Whitehall letters +this morning say quite the contrary: 'tis good, if it be true. I dined +with Mr. Addison and Dick Stewart, Lord Mountjoy's brother;(35) a treat +of Addison's. They were half-fuddled, but not I; for I mixed water with +my wine, and left them together between nine and ten; and I must send +this by the bellman, which vexes me, but I will put it off no longer. +Pray God it does not miscarry. I seldom do so; but I can put off little +MD no longer. Pray give the under note to Mrs. Brent. + +I am a pretty gentleman; and you lose all your money at cards, sirrah +Stella. I found you out; I did so. + +I am staying before I can fold up this letter, till that ugly D is dry +in the last line but one. Do not you see it? O Lord, I am loth to leave +you, faith--but it must be so, till the next time. Pox take that D; I +will blot it, to dry it. + + + + +LETTER 8. + +LONDON, Oct. 31, 1710. + +So, now I have sent my seventh to your fourth, young women; and now I +will tell you what I would not in my last, that this morning, sitting +in my bed, I had a fit of giddiness: the room turned round for about a +minute, and then it went off, leaving me sickish, but not very: and so I +passed the day as I told you; but I would not end a letter with telling +you this, because it might vex you: and I hope in God I shall have no +more of it. I saw Dr. Cockburn(1) to-day, and he promises to send me the +pills that did me good last year; and likewise has promised me an oil +for my ear, that he has been making for that ailment for somebody else. + +Nov. 1. I wish MD a merry new year. You know this is the first day of +it with us.(2) I had no giddiness to-day; but I drank brandy, and have +bought a pint for two shillings. I sat up the night before my giddiness +pretty late, and writ very much; so I will impute it to that. But I +never eat fruit, nor drink ale; but drink better wine than you do, as I +did to-day with Mr. Addison at Lord Mountjoy's: then went at five to +see Mr. Harley, who could not see me for much company; but sent me his +excuse, and desired I would dine with him on Friday; and then I expect +some answer to this business, which must either be soon done, or begun +again; and then the Duke of Ormond and his people will interfere for +their honour, and do nothing. I came home at six, and spent my time in +my chamber, without going to the Coffee-house, which I grow weary of; +and I studied at leisure, writ not above forty lines, some inventions +of my own, and some hints, and read not at all, and this because I would +take care of Presto, for fear little MD should be angry. + +2. I took my four pills last night, and they lay an hour in my throat, +and so they will do to-night. I suppose I could swallow four affronts +as easily. I dined with Dr. Cockburn to-day, and came home at seven; but +Mr. Ford has been with me till just now, and it is near eleven. I have +had no giddiness to-day. Mr. Dopping(3) I have seen; and he tells me +coldly, my "Shower" is liked well enough; there's your Irish judgment! +I writ this post to the Bishop of Clogher. It is now just a fortnight +since I heard from you. I must have you write once a fortnight, and then +I will allow for wind and weather. How goes ombre? Does Mrs. Walls(4) +win constantly, as she used to do? And Mrs. Stoyte;(5) I have not +thought of her this long time: how does she? I find we have a cargo of +Irish coming for London: I am sorry for it; but I never go near them. +And Tighe is landed; but Mrs. Wesley,(6) they say, is going home to her +husband, like a fool. Well, little monkeys mine, I must go write; and so +goodnight. + +3. I ought to read these letters I write, after I have done; for, +looking over thus much, I found two or three literal mistakes, which +should not be when the hand is so bad. But I hope it does not puzzle +little Dingley to read, for I think I mend: but methinks, when I write +plain, I do not know how, but we are not alone, all the world can see +us. A bad scrawl is so snug, it looks like a PMD.(7) We have scurvy +Tatlers of late: so pray do not suspect me. I have one or two hints I +design to send him, and never any more: he does not deserve it. He is +governed by his wife most abominably,(8) as bad as ----. I never saw +her since I came; nor has he ever made me an invitation: either he dares +not, or is such a thoughtless Tisdall(9) fellow, that he never minds(10) +it. So what care I for his wit? for he is the worst company in the +world, till he has a bottle of wine in his head. I cannot write +straighter in bed, so you must be content.--At night in bed. Stay, let +me see where's this letter to MD among these papers? Oh! here. Well, I +will go on now; but I am very busy (smoke the new pen.) I dined with Mr. +Harley to-day, and am invited there again on Sunday. I have now leave +to write to the Primate and Archbishop of Dublin, that the Queen has +granted the First-Fruits; but they are to take no notice of it, till a +letter is sent them by the Queen's orders from Lord Dartmouth, Secretary +of State, to signify it. The bishops are to be made a corporation, to +dispose of the revenue, etc.; and I shall write to the Archbishop of +Dublin to-morrow (I have had no giddiness to-day). I know not whether +they will have any occasion for me longer to be here; nor can I judge +till I see what letter the Queen sends to the bishops, and what they +will do upon it. If despatch be used, it may be done in six weeks; but +I cannot judge. They sent me to-day a new Commission, signed by the +Primate and Archbishop of Dublin,(11) and promise me letters to the two +archbishops here; but mine a ---- for it all. The thing is done, and has +been so these ten days; though I had only leave to tell it to-day. I had +this day likewise a letter from the Bishop of Clogher, who complains of +my not writing; and, what vexes me, says he knows you have long letters +from me every week. Why do you tell him so? 'Tis not right, faith: but +I won't be angry with MD at distance. I writ to him last post, before I +had his; and will write again soon, since I see he expects it, and that +Lord and Lady Mountjoy(12) put him off upon me, to give themselves ease. +Lastly, I had this day a letter from a certain naughty rogue called MD, +and it was N. 5; which I shall not answer to-night, I thank you. No, +faith, I have other fish to fry; but to-morrow or next day will be time +enough. I have put MD's commissions in a memorandum paper. I think I +have done all before, and remember nothing but this to-day about glasses +and spectacles and spectacle cases. I have no commission from Stella, +but the chocolate and handkerchiefs; and those are bought, and I expect +they will be soon sent. I have been with, and sent to, Mr. Sterne, two +or three times to know; but he was not within. Odds my life, what am I +doing? I must go write and do business. + +4. I dined to-day at Kensington, with Addison, Steele, etc., came home, +and writ a short letter to the Archbishop of Dublin, to let him know +the Queen has granted the thing, etc. I writ in the Coffee-house, for +I stayed at Kensington till nine, and am plaguy weary; for Colonel +Proud(13) was very ill company, and I will never be of a party with him +again; and I drank punch, and that and ill company has made me hot. + +5. I was with Mr. Harley from dinner to seven this night, and went to +the Coffee-house, where Dr. Davenant(14) would fain have had me gone and +drink a bottle of wine at his house hard by, with Dr. Chamberlen,(15) +but the puppy used so many words, that I was afraid of his company; and +though we promised to come at eight, I sent a messenger to him, that +Chamberlen was going to a patient, and therefore we would put it off +till another time: so he, and the Comptroller,(16) and I, were prevailed +on by Sir Matthew Dudley to go to his house, where I stayed till twelve, +and left them. Davenant has been teasing me to look over some of his +writings that he is going to publish; but the rogue is so fond of his +own productions, that I hear he will not part with a syllable; and he +has lately put out a foolish pamphlet, called The Third Part of Tom +Double; to make his court to the Tories, whom he had left. + +6. I was to-day gambling(17) in the City to see Patty Rolt, who is going +to Kingston, where she lodges; but, to say the truth, I had a mind for a +walk to exercise myself, and happened to be disengaged: for dinners are +ten times more plentiful with me here than ever, or than in Dublin. I +won't answer your letter yet, because I am busy. I hope to send this +before I have another from MD: it would be a sad thing to answer two +letters together, as MD does from Presto. But when the two sides are +full, away the letter shall go, that is certain, like it or not like it; +and that will be about three days hence, for the answering-night will be +a long one. + +7. I dined to-day at Sir Richard Temple's, with Congreve, Vanbrugh, +Lieutenant-General Farrington,(18) etc. Vanbrugh, I believe I told you, +had a long quarrel with me about those verses on his house;(19) but we +were very civil and cold. Lady Marlborough used to tease him with them, +which had made him angry, though he be a good-natured fellow. It was a +Thanksgiving-day,(20) and I was at Court, where the Queen passed us by +with all Tories about her; not one Whig: Buckingham,(21) Rochester,(22) +Leeds,(23) Shrewsbury, Berkeley of Stratton, Lord Keeper Harcourt, Mr. +Harley, Lord Pembroke, etc.; and I have seen her without one Tory. The +Queen made me a curtsey, and said, in a sort of familiar way to Presto, +"How does MD?" I considered she was a Queen, and so excused her.(24) I +do not miss the Whigs at Court; but have as many acquaintance there as +formerly. + +8. Here's ado and a clutter! I must now answer MD's fifth; but first +you must know I dined at the Portugal Envoy's(25) to-day, with Addison, +Vanbrugh, Admiral Wager,(26) Sir Richard Temple,(27) Methuen,(28) etc. I +was weary of their company, and stole away at five, and came home like a +good boy, and studied till ten, and had a fire, O ho! and now am in bed. +I have no fireplace in my bed-chamber; but 'tis very warm weather when +one's in bed. Your fine cap,(29) Madam Dingley, is too little, and too +hot: I will have that fur taken off; I wish it were far enough; and my +old velvet cap is good for nothing. Is it velvet under the fur? I was +feeling, but cannot find: if it be, 'twill do without it else I will +face it; but then I must buy new velvet: but may be I may beg a piece. +What shall I do? Well, now to rogue MD's letter. God be thanked for +Stella's eyes mending; and God send it holds; but faith you writ too +much at a time: better write less, or write it at ten times. Yes, faith, +a long letter in a morning from a dear friend is a dear thing. I smoke +a compliment, little mischievous girls, I do so. But who are those WIGGS +that think I am turned Tory? Do you mean Whigs? Which WIGGS and WAT do +you mean? I know nothing of Raymond, and only had one letter from him a +little after I came here.(Pray remember Morgan.) Raymond is indeed +like to have much influence over me in London, and to share much of +my conversation. I shall, no doubt, introduce him to Harley, and Lord +Keeper, and the Secretary of State. The Tatler upon Ithuriel's spear(30) +is not mine, madam. What a puzzle there is betwixt you and your +judgment! In general you may be sometimes sure of things, as that about +STYLE,(31) because it is what I have frequently spoken of; but guessing +is mine a----, and I defy mankind, if I please. Why, I writ a pamphlet +when I was last in London, that you and a thousand have seen, and never +guessed it to be mine. Could you have guessed the "Shower in Town" to be +mine? How chance you did not see that before your last letter went? but +I suppose you in Ireland did not think it worth mentioning. Nor am I +suspected for the lampoon; only Harley said he smoked me; (have I told +you so before?) and some others knew it. 'Tis called "The Rod of Sid +Hamet." And I have written several other things that I hear commended, +and nobody suspects me for them; nor you shall not know till I see you +again. What do you mean, "That boards near me, that I dine with now and +then?" I know no such person: I do not dine with boarders. What the pox! +You know whom I have dined with every day since I left you, better than +I do. What do you mean, sirrah? Slids, my ailment has been over these +two months almost. Impudence, if you vex me, I will give ten shillings +a week for my lodging; for I am almost st--k out of this with the sink, +and it helps me to verses in my "Shower."(32) Well, Madam Dingley, what +say you to the world to come? What ballad? Why go look, it was not good +for much: have patience till I come back: patience is a gay thing as, +etc. I hear nothing of Lord Mountjoy's coming for Ireland. When +is Stella's birthday? in March? Lord bless me, my turn at Christ +Church;(33) it is so natural to hear you write about that, I believe +you have done it a hundred times; it is as fresh in my mind, the verger +coming to you; and why to you? Would he have you preach for me? O, pox +on your spelling of Latin, Johnsonibus atque, that is the way. How did +the Dean get that name by the end? 'Twas you betrayed me: not I, faith; +I'll not break his head. Your mother is still in the country, I suppose; +for she promised to see me when she came to town. I writ to her four +days ago, to desire her to break it to Lady Giffard, to put some money +for you in the Bank, which was then fallen thirty per cent. Would to God +mine had been here, I should have gained one hundred pounds, and got +as good interest as in Ireland, and much securer. I would fain have +borrowed three hundred pounds; but money is so scarce here, there is no +borrowing, by this fall of stocks. 'Tis rising now, and I knew it would: +it fell from one hundred and twenty-nine to ninety-six. I have not heard +since from your mother. Do you think I would be so unkind not to see +her, that you desire me in a style so melancholy? Mrs. Raymond,(34) +you say, is with child: I am sorry for it; and so is, I believe, her +husband. Mr. Harley speaks all the kind things to me in the world; and, +I believe, would serve me, if I were to stay here; but I reckon in time +the Duke of Ormond may give me some addition to Laracor. Why should +the Whigs think I came to England to leave them? Sure my journey was no +secret. I protest sincerely, I did all I could to hinder it, as the Dean +can tell you, although now I do not repent it. But who the Devil cares +what they think? Am I under obligations in the least to any of them all? +Rot 'em, for ungrateful dogs; I will make them repent their usage before +I leave this place. They say here the same thing of my leaving the +Whigs; but they own they cannot blame me, considering the treatment I +have had. I will take care of your spectacles, as I told you before, +and of the Bishop of Killala's; but I will not write to him, I have not +time. What do you mean by my fourth, Madam Dinglibus? Does not Stella +say you have had my fifth, Goody Blunder? You frighted me till I looked +back. Well, this is enough for one night. Pray give my humble service to +Mrs. Stoyte and her sister, Kate is it, or Sarah?(35) I have forgot her +name, faith. I think I will even (and to Mrs. Walls and the Archdeacon) +send this to-morrow: no, faith, that will be in ten days from the last. +I will keep it till Saturday, though I write no more. But what if a +letter from MD should come in the meantime? Why then I would only say, +"Madam, I have received your sixth letter; your most humble servant to +command, Presto"; and so conclude. Well, now I will write and think a +little, and so to bed, and dream of MD. + +9. I have my mouth full of water, and was going to spit it out, because +I reasoned with myself, how could I write when my mouth was full? Han't +you done things like that, reasoned wrong at first thinking? Well, I was +to see Mr. Lewis this morning, and am to dine a few days hence, as he +tells me, with Mr. Secretary St. John; and I must contrive to see Harley +soon again, to hasten this business from the Queen. I dined to-day at +Lord Mountrath's,(36) with Lord Mountjoy,(37) etc.; but the wine was not +good, so I came away, stayed at the Coffee-house till seven, then came +home to my fire, the maidenhead of my second half-bushel, and am now +in bed at eleven, as usual. 'Tis mighty warm; yet I fear I should catch +cold this wet weather, if I sat an evening in my room after coming from +warm places: and I must make much of myself, because MD is not here to +take care of Presto; and I am full of business, writing, etc., and do +not care for the Coffee-house; and so this serves for all together, not +to tell it you over and over, as silly people do; but Presto is a wiser +man, faith, than so, let me tell you, gentlewomen. See, I am got to +the third side; but, faith, I will not do that often; but I must say +something early to-day, till the letter is done, and on Saturday it +shall go; so I must leave something till to-morrow, till to-morrow and +next day. + +10. O Lord, I would this letter was with you with all my heart! If it +should miscarry, what a deal would be lost! I forgot to leave a gap +in the last line but one for the seal, like a puppy; but I should have +allowed for night, goodnight; but when I am taking leave, I cannot leave +a bit, faith; but I fancy the seal will not come there. I dined to-day +at Lady Lucy's, where they ran down my "Shower"; and said, "Sid Hamet" +was the silliest poem they ever read; and told Prior so, whom they +thought to be author of it. Don't you wonder I never dined there before? +But I am too busy, and they live too far off; and, besides, I do not +like women so much as I did. (MD, you must know, are not women.) I +supped to-night at Addison's, with Garth, Steele, and Mr. Dopping; and +am come home late. Lewis has sent to me to desire I will dine with +some company I shall like. I suppose it is Mr. Secretary St. John's +appointment. I had a letter just now from Raymond, who is at Bristol, +and says he will be at London in a fortnight, and leave his wife behind +him; and desires any lodging in the house where I am: but that must not +be. I shall not know what to do with him in town: to be sure, I will +not present him to any acquaintance of mine; and he will live a delicate +life, a parson and a perfect stranger! Paaast twelvvve o'clock,(38) and +so good-night, etc. Oh! but I forgot, Jemmy Leigh is come to town; +says he has brought Dingley's things, and will send them with the first +convenience. My parcel, I hear, is not sent yet. He thinks of going for +Ireland in a month, etc. I cannot write tomorrow, because--what, because +of the Archbishop; because I will seal my letter early; because I am +engaged from noon till night; because of many kind of things; and yet +I will write one or two words to-morrow morning, to keep up my journal +constant, and at night I will begin my ninth. + +11. Morning by candlelight. You must know that I am in my nightgown +every morning between six and seven, and Patrick is forced to ply me +fifty times before I can get on my nightgown; and so now I will take my +leave of my own dear MD for this letter, and begin my next when I come +home at night. God Almighty bless and protect dearest MD. Farewell, etc. + +This letter's as long as a sermon, faith. + + + + +LETTER 9. + +LONDON, Nov. 11, 1710. + +I dined to-day, by invitation, with the Secretary of State, Mr. St. +John. Mr. Harley came in to us before dinner, and made me his excuses +for not dining with us, because he was to receive people who came to +propose advancing money to the Government: there dined with us only +Mr. Lewis, and Dr. Freind(1) (that writ "Lord Peterborow's Actions in +Spain"). I stayed with them till just now between ten and eleven, and +was forced again to give my eighth to the bellman, which I did with my +own hands, rather than keep it till next post. The Secretary used me +with all the kindness in the world. Prior came in after dinner; and, +upon an occasion, he (the Secretary) said, "The best thing I ever read +is not yours, but Dr. Swift's on Vanbrugh"; which I do not reckon so +very good neither.(2) But Prior was damped, until I stuffed him with two +or three compliments. I am thinking what a veneration we used to have +for Sir William Temple, because he might have been Secretary of State at +fifty; and here is a young fellow, hardly thirty, in that employment.(3) +His father is a man of pleasure,(4) that walks the Mall, and frequents +St. James's Coffee-house, and the chocolate-houses; and the young son is +principal Secretary of State. Is there not something very odd in that? +He told me, among other things, that Mr. Harley complained he could keep +nothing from me, I had the way so much of getting into him. I knew that +was a refinement; and so I told him, and it was so: indeed, it is hard +to see these great men use me like one who was their betters, and the +puppies with you in Ireland hardly regarding me: but there are some +reasons for all this, which I will tell you when we meet. At coming +home, I saw a letter from your mother, in answer to one I sent her two +days ago. It seems she is in town; but cannot come out in a morning, +just as you said; and God knows when I shall be at leisure in an +afternoon: for if I should send her a penny-post letter, and afterwards +not be able to meet her, it would vex me; and, besides, the days are +short, and why she cannot come early in a morning, before she is wanted, +I cannot imagine. I will desire her to let Lady Giffard know that she +hears I am in town; and that she would go to see me, to inquire after +you. I wonder she will confine herself so much to that old beast's +humour. You know I cannot in honour see Lady Giffard, and consequently +not go into her house. This I think is enough for the first time. + +12. And how could you write with such thin paper? (I forgot to say this +in my former.) Cannot you get thicker? Why, that's a common caution that +writing-masters give their scholars; you must have heard it a hundred +times. 'Tis this: + + "If paper be thin, + Ink will slip in; + But, if it be thick, + You may write with a stick."(5) + +I had a letter to-day from poor Mrs. Long,(6) giving me an account of +her present life, obscure in a remote country town, and how easy she +is under it. Poor creature! 'tis just such an alteration in life, as if +Presto should be banished from MD, and condemned to converse with Mrs. +Raymond. I dined to-day with Ford, Sir Richard Levinge,(7) etc., at a +place where they board, hard by. I was lazy, and not very well, sitting +so long with company yesterday. I have been very busy writing this +evening at home, and had a fire: I am spending my second half-bushel of +coals; and now am in bed, and 'tis late. + +13. I dined to-day in the City, and then went to christen Will +Frankland's(8) child; and Lady Falconbridge(9) was one of the +godmothers: this is a daughter of Oliver Cromwell, and extremely like +him by his pictures that I have seen. I stayed till almost eleven, and +am now come home and gone to bed. My business in the City was, to thank +Stratford for a kindness he has done me, which now I will tell you. I +found Bank Stock was fallen thirty-four in the hundred, and was mighty +desirous to buy it; but I was a little too late for the cheapest time, +being hindered by business here; for I was so wise to guess to a day +when it would fall. My project was this: I had three hundred pounds in +Ireland; and so I writ to Mr. Stratford in the City, to desire he would +buy me three hundred pounds in Bank Stock, and that he should keep the +papers, and that I would be bound to pay him for them; and, if it +should rise or fall, I would take my chance, and pay him interest in the +meantime. I showed my letter to one or two people who understand those +things; and they said money was so hard to be got here, that no man +would do it for me. However, Stratford, who is the most generous man +alive, has done it: but it costs one hundred pounds and a half, that is, +ten shillings; so that three hundred pounds cost me three hundred pounds +and thirty shillings. This was done about a week ago, and I can have +five pounds for my bargain already. Before it fell, it was one hundred +and thirty pounds; and we are sure it will be the same again. I told +you I writ to your mother, to desire that Lady Giffard would do the same +with what she owes you; but she tells your mother she has no money. +I would to God all you had in the world was there. Whenever you lend +money, take this rule, to have two people bound, who have both visible +fortunes; for they will hardly die together; and, when one dies, you +fall upon the other, and make him add another security: and if Rathburn +(now I have his name) pays you in your money, let me know, and I will +direct Parvisol accordingly: however, he shall wait on you and know. So, +ladies, enough of business for one night. Paaaaast twelvvve o'clock. I +must only add, that, after a long fit of rainy weather, it has been fair +two or three days, and is this day grown cold and frosty; so that you +must give poor little Presto leave to have a fire in his chamber morning +and evening too; and he will do as much for you. + +14. What, has your Chancellor(10) lost his senses, like Will Crowe?(11) +I forgot to tell Dingley that I was yesterday at Ludgate, bespeaking the +spectacles at the great shop there, and shall have them in a day or two. +This has been an insipid day. I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, and came +gravely home, after just visiting the Coffee-house. Sir Richard Cox,(12) +they say, is sure of going over Lord Chancellor, who is as arrant a +puppy as ever ate bread: but the Duke of Ormond has a natural affection +to puppies; which is a thousand pities, being none himself. I have been +amusing myself at home till now, and in bed bid you good-night. + +15. I have been visiting this morning, but nobody was at home, Secretary +St. John, Sir Thomas Hanmer,(13) Sir Chancellor Cox-comb, etc. I +attended the Duke of Ormond with about fifty other Irish gentlemen at +Skinners' Hall, where the Londonderry Society laid out three hundred +pounds to treat us and his Grace with a dinner. Three great tables +with the dessert laid in mighty figure. Sir Richard Levinge and I got +discreetly to the head of the second table, to avoid the crowd at the +first: but it was so cold, and so confounded a noise with the trumpets +and hautboys, that I grew weary, and stole away before the second course +came on; so I can give you no account of it, which is a thousand pities. +I called at Ludgate for Dingley's glasses, and shall have them in a day +or two; and I doubt it will cost me thirty shillings for a microscope, +but not without Stella's permission; for I remember she is a virtuoso. +Shall I buy it or no? 'Tis not the great bulky ones, nor the common +little ones, to impale a louse (saving your presence) upon a needle's +point; but of a more exact sort, and clearer to the sight, with all its +equipage in a little trunk that you may carry in your pocket. Tell me, +sirrah, shall I buy it or not for you? I came home straight, etc. + +16. I dined to-day in the city with Mr. Manley,(14) who invited Mr. +Addison and me, and some other friends, to his lodging, and entertained +us very handsomely. I returned with Mr. Addison, and loitered till nine +in the Coffee-house, where I am hardly known, by going so seldom. I am +here soliciting for Trounce; you know him: he was gunner in the former +yacht, and would fain be so in the present one if you remember him, +a good, lusty, fresh-coloured fellow. Shall I stay till I get another +letter from MD before I close up this? Mr. Addison and I meet a little +seldomer than formerly, although we are still at bottom as good friends +as ever, but differ a little about party. + +17. To-day I went to Lewis at the Secretary's office; where I saw and +spoke to Mr. Harley, who promised, in a few days, to finish the rest of +my business. I reproached him for putting me on the necessity of minding +him of it, and rallied him, etc., which he took very well. I dined +to-day with one Mr. Gore, elder brother to a young merchant of my +acquaintance; and Stratford and my other friend merchants dined with us, +where I stayed late, drinking claret and burgundy; and am just got to +bed, and will say no more, but that it now begins to be time to have a +letter from my own little MD; for the last I had above a fortnight ago, +and the date was old too. + +18. To-day I dined with Lewis and Prior at an eating-house, but +with Lewis's wine. Lewis went away, and Prior and I sat on, where we +complimented one another for an hour or two upon our mutual wit and +poetry. Coming home at seven, a gentleman unknown stopped me in the Pall +Mall, and asked my advice; said he had been to see the Queen (who was +just come to town), and the people in waiting would not let him see her; +that he had two hundred thousand men ready to serve her in the war; that +he knew the Queen perfectly well, and had an apartment at Court, and +if she heard he was there, she would send for him immediately; that she +owed him two hundred thousand pounds, etc., and he desired my opinion, +whether he should go try again whether he could see her; or because, +perhaps, she was weary after her journey, whether he had not better stay +till to-morrow. I had a mind to get rid of my companion, and begged +him of all love to go and wait on her immediately; for that, to my +knowledge, the Queen would admit him; that this was an affair of great +importance, and required despatch: and I instructed him to let me know +the success of his business, and come to the Smyrna Coffee-house, where +I would wait for him till midnight; and so ended this adventure. I would +have fain given the man half a crown; but was afraid to offer it him, +lest he should be offended; for, beside his money, he said he had a +thousand pounds a year. I came home not early; and so, madams both, +goodnight, etc. + +19. I dined to-day with poor Lord Mountjoy, who is ill of the gout; and +this evening I christened our coffee-man Elliot's(15) child, where the +rogue had a most noble supper, and Steele and I sat among some scurvy +company over a bowl of punch; so that I am come home late, young women, +and can't stay to write to little rogues. + +20. I loitered at home, and dined with Sir Andrew Fountaine at his +lodging, and then came home: a silly day. + +21. I was visiting all this morning, and then went to the Secretary's +office, and found Mr. Harley, with whom I dined; and Secretary St. John, +etc., and Harley promised in a very few days to finish what remains +of my business. Prior was of the company, and we all dine at the +Secretary's to-morrow. I saw Stella's mother this morning: she came +early, and we talked an hour. I wish you would propose to Lady Giffard +to take the three hundred pounds out of her hands, and give her common +interest for life, and security that you will pay her: the Bishop of +Clogher, or any friend, would be security for you, if you gave them +counter-security; and it may be argued that it will pass better to be +in your hands than hers, in case of mortality, etc. Your mother says, +if you write, she will second it; and you may write to your mother, and +then it will come from her. She tells me Lady Giffard has a mind to see +me, by her discourse; but I told her what to say, with a vengeance. She +told Lady Giffard she was going to see me: she looks extremely well. I +am writing(16) in my bed like a tiger; and so good-night, etc. + +22. I dined with Secretary St. John; and Lord Dartmouth, who is t'other +Secretary, dined with us, and Lord Orrery(17) and Prior, etc. Harley +called, but could not dine with us, and would have had me away while I +was at dinner; but I did not like the company he was to have. We stayed +till eight, and I called at the Coffee-house, and looked where the +letters lie; but no letter directed for Mr. Presto: at last I saw a +letter to Mr. Addison, and it looked like a rogue's hand; so I made the +fellow give it me, and opened it before him, and saw three letters all +for myself: so, truly, I put them in my pocket, and came home to my +lodging. Well, and so you shall hear: well, and so I found one of +them in Dingley's hand, and t'other in Stella's, and the third in +Domville's.(18) Well, so you shall hear; so, said I to myself, What now, +two letters from MD together? But I thought there was something in the +wind; so I opened one, and I opened t'other; and so you shall hear, one +was from Walls. Well, but t'other was from our own dear MD; yes it was. +O faith, have you received my seventh, young women, already? Then I must +send this to-morrow, else there will be old(19) doings at our house, +faith.--Well, I won't answer your letter in this: no, faith, catch me +at that, and I never saw the like. Well; but as to Walls, tell him +(with service to him and wife, etc.) that I have no imagination of Mr. +Pratt's(20) losing his place: and while Pratt continues, Clements is in +no danger; and I have already engaged Lord Hyde(21) he speaks of, for +Pratt and twenty others; but, if such a thing should happen, I will +do what I can. I have above ten businesses of other people's now on my +hands, and, I believe, shall miscarry in half. It is your sixth I now +have received. I writ last post to the Bishop of Clogher again. Shall I +send this to-morrow? Well, I will, to oblige MD. Which would you rather, +a short letter every week, or a long one every fortnight? A long one; +well, it shall be done, and so good-night. Well, but is this a long one? +No, I warrant you: too long for naughty girls. + +23. I only ask, have you got both the ten pounds, or only the first; I +hope you mean both. Pray be good housewives; and I beg you to walk when +you can, for health. Have you the horse in town? and do you ever ride +him? how often? Confess. Ahhh, sirrah, have I caught you? Can you +contrive to let Mrs. Fenton(22) know, that the request she has made me +in her letter I will use what credit I have to bring about, although I +hear it is very difficult, and I doubt I shall not succeed? Cox is not +to be your Chancellor: all joined against him. I have been supping with +Lord Peterborow at his house, with Prior, Lewis, and Dr. Freind. 'Tis +the ramblingest lying rogue on earth. Dr. Raymond is come to town: 'tis +late, and so I bid you good-night. + +24. I tell you, pretty management! Ned Southwell told me the other day +he had a letter from the bishops of Ireland, with an address to the Duke +of Ormond, to intercede with the Queen to take off the First-Fruits. I +dined with him to-day, and saw it, with another letter to him from the +Bishop of Kildare,(23) to call upon me for the papers, etc.; and I had +last post one from the Archbishop of Dublin, telling me the reason of +this proceeding; that, upon hearing the Duke of Ormond was declared Lord +Lieutenant, they met; and the bishops were for this project, and talked +coldly of my being solicitor, as one that was favoured by t'other party, +etc., but desired that I would still solicit.(24) Now the wisdom of this +is admirable; for I had given the Archbishop an account of my reception +from Mr. Harley, and how he had spoken to the Queen, and promised it +should be done; but Mr. Harley ordered me to tell no person alive. Some +time after, he gave me leave to let the Primate and Archbishop know that +the Queen had remitted the First-Fruits; and that in a short time they +should have an account of it in form from Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of +State. So while their letter was on the road to the Duke of Ormond and +Southwell, mine was going to them with an account of the thing being +done. I writ a very warm answer(25) to the Archbishop immediately; and +showed my resentments, as I ought, against the bishops; only, in good +manners, excepting himself. I wonder what they will say when they hear +the thing is done. I was yesterday forced to tell Southwell so, that +the Queen had done it, etc.; for he said, my Lord Duke would think of +it some months hence, when he was going for Ireland; and he had it three +years in doing formerly, without any success. I give you free leave to +say, on occasion, that it is done; and that Mr. Harley prevailed on the +Queen to do it, etc., as you please. As I hope to live, I despise the +credit of it, out of an excess of pride; and desire you will not give +me the least merit when you talk of it; but I would vex the bishops, and +have it spread that Mr. Harley had done it: pray do so. Your mother +sent me last night a parcel of wax candles, and a bandbox full of small +plumcakes. I thought it had been something for you; and, without opening +them, sent answer by the maid that brought them, that I would take care +to send the things, etc.; but I will write her thanks. Is this a long +letter, sirrahs? Now, are you satisfied? I have had no fit since the +first: I drink brandy every morning, and take pills every night. Never +fear, I an't vexed at this puppy business of the bishops, although I was +a little at first. I will tell you my reward: Mr. Harley will think he +has done me a favour; the Duke of Ormond, perhaps, that I have put a +neglect on him; and the bishops in Ireland, that I have done nothing at +all. So goes the world. But I have got above all this, and, perhaps, I +have better reason for it than they know: and so you shall hear no more +of First-Fruits, dukes, Harleys, archbishops, and Southwells. + +I have slipped off Raymond upon some of his countrymen, to show him the +town, etc., and I lend him Patrick. He desires to sit with me in the +evenings; upon which I have given Patrick positive orders that I am not +within at evenings. + + + + +LETTER 10. + +LONDON, Nov. 25, 1710. + +I will tell you something that's plaguy silly: I had forgot to say on +the 23d in my last, where I dined; and because I had done it constantly, +I thought it was a great omission, and was going to interline it; but at +last the silliness of it made me cry, Pshah, and I let it alone. I was +to-day to see the Parliament meet; but only saw a great crowd; and Ford +and I went to see the tombs at Westminster, and sauntered so long I +was forced to go to an eating-house for my dinner. Bromley(1) is chosen +Speaker, nemine contradicente: Do you understand those two words? +And Pompey, Colonel Hill's(2) black, designs to stand Speaker for the +footmen.(3) I am engaged to use my interest for him, and have spoken to +Patrick to get him some votes. We are now all impatient for the Queen's +speech, what she will say about removing the Ministry, etc. I have got +a cold, and I don't know how; but got it I have, and am hoarse: I don't +know whether it will grow better or worse. What's that to you? I won't +answer your letter to-night. I'll keep you a little longer in suspense: +I can't send it. Your mother's cakes are very good, and one of them +serves me for a breakfast, and so I'll go sleep like a good boy. + +26. I have got a cruel cold, and stayed within all this day in my +nightgown, and dined on sixpennyworth of victuals, and read and writ, +and was denied to everybody. Dr. Raymond(4) called often, and I was +denied; and at last, when I was weary, I let him come up, and asked him, +without consequence, how Patrick denied me, and whether he had the +art of it? So by this means he shall be used to have me denied to him; +otherwise he would be a plaguy trouble and hindrance to me: he has sat +with me two hours, and drank a pint of ale cost me fivepence, and smoked +his pipe, and it is now past eleven that he is just gone. Well, my +eighth is with you now, young women; and your seventh to me is somewhere +in a post-boy's bag; and so go to your gang of deans, and Stoytes, and +Walls, and lose your money; go, sauceboxes: and so good-night, and be +happy, dear rogues. Oh, but your box was sent to Dr. Hawkshaw by Sterne, +and you will have it with Hawkshaw, and spectacles, etc., etc. + +27. To-day Mr. Harley met me in the Court of Requests,(5) and whispered +me to dine with him. At dinner I told him what those bishops had done, +and the difficulty I was under. He bid me never trouble myself; he would +tell the Duke of Ormond the business was done, and that he need not +concern himself about it. So now I am easy, and they may hang themselves +for a parcel of insolent, ungrateful rascals. I suppose I told you in +my last, how they sent an address to the Duke of Ormond, and a letter to +Southwell, to call on me for the papers, after the thing was over; but +they had not received my letter, though the Archbishop might, by what +I writ to him, have expected it would be done. Well, there is an end of +that; and in a little time the Queen will send them notice, etc. And +so the methods will be settled; and then I shall think of returning, +although the baseness of those bishops makes me love Ireland less than I +did. + +28. Lord Halifax sent to invite me to dinner; where I stayed till six, +and crossed him in all his Whig talk, and made him often come over to +me. I know he makes court to the new men, although he affects to talk +like a Whig. I had a letter to-day from the Bishop of Clogher; but +I writ to him lately, that I would obey his commands to the Duke of +Ormond. He says I bid him read the London "Shaver," and that you both +swore it was "Shaver," and not "Shower."(6) You all lie, and you are +puppies, and can't read Presto's hand. The Bishop is out entirely in his +conjectures of my share in the Tatlers.--I have other things to mind, +and of much greater importance;(7) else I have little to do to be +acquainted with a new Ministry, who consider me a little more than Irish +bishops do. + +29. Now for your saucy, good dear letter: let me see, what does it +say? come then. I dined to-day with Ford, and went home early; he +debauched(8) me to his chamber again with a bottle of wine till twelve: +so good-night. I cannot write an answer now, you rogues. + +30. To-day I have been visiting, which I had long neglected; and I dined +with Mrs. Barton alone; and sauntered at the Coffee-house till past +eight, and have been busy till eleven, and now I'll answer your letter, +saucebox. Well, let me see now again. My wax candle's almost out, but +however I'll begin. Well then, do not be so tedious, Mr. Presto; +what can you say to MD's letter? Make haste, have done with your +preambles--Why, I say I am glad you are so often abroad; your mother +thinks it is want of exercise hurts you, and so do I. (She called here +to-night, but I was not within, that's by the bye.) Sure you do not +deceive me, Stella, when you say you are in better health than you were +these three weeks; for Dr. Raymond told me yesterday, that Smyth of the +Blind Quay had been telling Mr. Leigh that he left you extremely ill; +and in short, spoke so, that he almost put poor Leigh into tears, and +would have made me run distracted; though your letter is dated the 11th +instant, and I saw Smyth in the city above a fortnight ago, as I passed +by in a coach. Pray, pray, don't write, Stella, until you are mighty, +mighty, mighty, mighty well in your eyes, and are sure it won't do you +the least hurt. Or come, I'll tell you what; you, Mistress Stella, shall +write your share at five or six sittings, one sitting a day; and then +comes Dingley all together, and then Stella a little crumb towards +the end, to let us see she remembers Presto; and then conclude with +something handsome and genteel, as your most humblecumdumble, or, etc. +O Lord! does Patrick write word of my not coming till spring? Insolent +man! he know my secrets? No; as my Lord Mayor said, No; if I thought my +shirt knew, etc. Faith, I will come as soon as it is any way proper for +me to come; but, to say the truth, I am at present a little involved +with the present Ministry in some certain things (which I tell you as a +secret); and soon as ever I can clear my hands, I will stay no longer; +for I hope the First-Fruit business will be soon over in all its forms. +But, to say the truth, the present Ministry have a difficult task, +and want me, etc. Perhaps they may be just as grateful as others: +but, according to the best judgment I have, they are pursuing the true +interest of the public; and therefore I am glad to contribute what is +in my power. For God's sake, not a word of this to any alive.--Your +Chancellor?(9) Why, madam, I can tell you he has been dead this +fortnight. Faith, I could hardly forbear our little language about a +nasty dead Chancellor, as you may see by the blot.(10) Ploughing? A pox +plough them; they'll plough me to nothing. But have you got your money, +both the ten pounds? How durst he pay you the second so soon? Pray be +good huswifes. Ay, well, and Joe, why, I had a letter lately from Joe, +desiring I would take some care of their poor town,(11) who, he says, +will lose their liberties. To which I desired Dr. Raymond would return +answer, that the town had behaved themselves so ill to me, so little +regarded the advice I gave them, and disagreed so much among themselves, +that I was resolved never to have more to do with them; but that +whatever personal kindness I could do to Joe, should be done. Pray, when +you happen to see Joe, tell him this, lest Raymond should have blundered +or forgotten--Poor Mrs. Wesley!--Why these poligyes(12) for being +abroad? Why should you be at home at all, until Stella is quite +well?--So, here is Mistress Stella again, with her two eggs, etc. My +"Shower" admired with you; why, the Bishop of Clogher says, he has seen +something of mine of the same sort, better than the "Shower." I suppose +he means "The Morning";(13) but it is not half so good. I want your +judgment of things, and not your country's. How does MD like it? and do +they taste it ALL? etc. I am glad Dean Bolton(14) has paid the twenty +pounds. Why should not I chide the Bishop of Clogher for writing to the +Archbishop of Cashel,(15) without sending the letter first to me? It +does not signify a ----; for he has no credit at Court. Stuff--they are +all puppies. I will break your head in good earnest, young woman, for +your nasty jest about Mrs. Barton.(16) Unlucky sluttikin, what a word is +there! Faith, I was thinking yesterday, when I was with her, whether she +could break them or no, and it quite spoilt my imagination. "Mrs. Walls, +does Stella win as she pretends?" "No indeed, Doctor; she loses always, +and will play so VENTERSOMELY, how can she win?" See here now; an't +you an impudent lying slut? Do, open Domville's letter; what does it +signify, if you have a mind? Yes, faith, you write smartly with your +eyes shut; all was well but the _n_. See how I can do it; MADAM STELLA, +YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT.(17) O, but one may look whether one goes crooked or +no, and so write on. I will tell you what you may do; you may write with +your eyes half shut, just as when one is going to sleep: I have done +so for two or three lines now; it is but just seeing enough to go +straight.--Now, Madam Dingley, I think I bid you tell Mr. Walls that, in +case there be occasion, I will serve his friend as far as I can; but I +hope there will be none. Yet I believe you will have a new Parliament; +but I care not whether you have or no a better. You are mistaken in all +your conjectures about the Tatlers. I have given him one or two +hints, and you have heard me talk about the Shilling.(18) Faith, these +answering letters are very long ones: you have taken up almost the room +of a week in journals; and I will tell you what, I saw fellows wearing +crosses to-day,(19) and I wondered what was the matter; but just this +minute I recollect it is little Presto's birthday; and I was resolved +these three days to remember it when it came, but could not. Pray, drink +my health to-day at dinner; do, you rogues. Do you like "Sid Hamet's +Rod"? Do you understand it all? Well, now at last I have done with your +letter, and so I will lay me down to sleep, and about, fair maids; and I +hope merry maids all. + +Dec. 1. Morning. I wish Smyth were hanged. I was dreaming the most +melancholy things in the world of poor Stella, and was grieving and +crying all night.--Pshah, it is foolish: I will rise and divert myself; +so good-morrow; and God of His infinite mercy keep and protect you! +The Bishop of Clogher's letter is dated Nov. 21. He says you thought of +going with him to Clogher. I am heartily glad of it, and wish you would +ride there, and Dingley go in a coach. I have had no fit since my first, +although sometimes my head is not quite in good order.--At night. I was +this morning to visit Mr. Pratt, who is come over with poor, sick Lord +Shelburne: they made me dine with them; and there I stayed, like a +booby, till eight, looking over them at ombre, and then came home. Lord +Shelburne's giddiness is turned into a colic, and he looks miserably. + +2. Steele, the rogue, has done the imprudentest thing in the world: +he said something in a Tatler,(20) that we ought to use the word Great +Britain, and not England, in common conversation, as, "The finest lady +in Great Britain," etc. Upon this, Rowe, Prior, and I sent him a letter, +turning this into ridicule. He has to-day printed the letter,(21) and +signed it J.S., M.P., and N.R., the first letters of all our names. +Congreve told me to-day, he smoked it immediately. Congreve and I, and +Sir Charles Wager, dined to-day at Delaval's, the Portugal Envoy; and I +stayed there till eight, and came home, and am now writing to you before +I do business, because that dog Patrick is not at home, and the fire +is not made, and I am not in my gear. Pox take him!--I was looking +by chance at the top of this side, and find I make plaguy mistakes +in words; so that you must fence against that as well as bad writing. +Faith, I can't nor won't read what I have written. (Pox of this puppy!) +Well, I'll leave you till I am got to bed, and then I will say a word or +two.--Well, 'tis now almost twelve, and I have been busy ever since, +by a fire too (I have my coals by half a bushel at a time, I'll assure +you), and now I am got to bed. Well, and what have you to say to Presto +now he is abed? Come now, let us hear your speeches. No, 'tis a lie; I +an't sleepy yet. Let us sit up a little longer, and talk. Well, where +have you been to-day, that you are but just this minute come home in a +coach? What have you lost? Pay the coachman, Stella. No, faith, not I, +he'll grumble.--What new acquaintance have you got? come, let us hear. +I have made Delaval promise to send me some Brazil tobacco from +Portugal for you, Madam Dingley. I hope you will have your chocolate and +spectacles before this comes to you. + +3. Pshaw, I must be writing to these dear saucy brats every night, +whether I will or no, let me have what business I will, or come home +ever so late, or be ever so sleepy; but an old saying, and a true one, + + "Be you lords, or be you earls, + You must write to naughty girls." + +I was to-day at Court, and saw Raymond among the Beefeaters, staying to +see the Queen: so I put him in a better station, made two or three +dozen of bows, and went to church, and then to Court again, to pick up +a dinner, as I did with Sir John Stanley; and then we went to visit Lord +Mountjoy, and just now left him; and 'tis near eleven at night, young +women; and methinks this letter comes pretty near to the bottom, and +'tis but eight days since the date, and don't think I'll write on +the other side, I thank you for nothing. Faith, if I would use you to +letters on sheets as broad as this room, you would always expect them +from me. O, faith, I know you well enough; but an old saying, etc., + + "Two sides in a sheet, + And one in a street." + +I think that's but a silly old saying; and so I'll go to sleep, and do +you so too. + +4. I dined to-day with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, and then came home, and studied +till eleven. No adventure at all to-day. + +5. So I went to the Court of Requests (we have had the Devil and all of +rain by the bye) to pick up a dinner; and Henley made me go dine +with him and one Colonel Bragg(22) at a tavern; cost me money, faith. +Congreve was to be there, but came not. I came with Henley to the +Coffee-house, where Lord Salisbury(23) seemed mighty desirous to talk +with me; and, while he was wriggling himself into my favour, that dog +Henley asked me aloud, whether I would go to see Lord Somers as I had +promised (which was a lie); and all to vex poor Lord Salisbury, who is a +high Tory. He played two or three other such tricks; and I was forced +to leave my lord, and I came home at seven, and have been writing ever +since, and will now go to bed. The other day I saw Jack Temple(24) in +the Court of Requests: it was the first time of seeing him; so we talked +two or three careless words, and parted. Is it true that your Recorder +and Mayor, and fanatic aldermen, a month or two ago, at a solemn feast, +drank Mr. Harley's, Lord Rochester's,(25) and other Tory healths? Let me +know; it was confidently said here.--The scoundrels! It shan't do, Tom. + +6. When is this letter to go, I wonder? harkee, young women, tell me +that. Saturday next for certain, and not before: then it will be just +a fortnight; time enough for naughty girls, and long enough for two +letters, faith. Congreve and Delaval have at last prevailed on Sir +Godfrey Kneller to entreat me to let him draw my picture for nothing; +but I know not yet when I shall sit.(26)--It is such monstrous rainy +weather, that there is no doing with it. Secretary St. John sent to me +this morning, that my dining with him to-day was put off till to-morrow; +so I peaceably sat with my neighbour Ford, dined with him, and came home +at six, and am now in bed as usual; and now it is time to have another +letter from MD, yet I would not have it till this goes; for that would +look like two letters for one. Is it not whimsical that the Dean has +never once written to me? And I find the Archbishop very silent to that +letter I sent him with an account that the business was done. I believe +he knows not what to write or say; and I have since written twice to +him, both times with a vengeance.(27) Well, go to bed, sirrahs, and so +will I. But have you lost to-day? Three shillings! O fie, O fie! + +7. No, I won't send this letter to-day, nor till Saturday, faith; and I +am so afraid of one from MD between this and that; if it comes, I will +just say I received a letter, and that is all. I dined to-day with Mr. +Secretary St. John, where were Lord Anglesea,(28) Sir Thomas Hanmer, +Prior, Freind, etc., and then made a debauch after nine at Prior's +house, and have eaten cold pie, and I hate the thoughts of it, and I am +full, and I don't like it, and I will go to bed, and it is late, and so +good-night. + +8. To-day I dined with Mr. Harley and Prior; but Mr. St. John did not +come, though he promised: he chid me for not seeing him oftener. Here is +a damned, libellous pamphlet come out against Lord Wharton, giving the +character first, and then telling some of his actions: the character is +very well, but the facts indifferent.(29) It has been sent by dozens to +several gentlemen's lodgings, and I had one or two of them; but nobody +knows the author or printer. We are terribly afraid of the plague; they +say it is at Newcastle.(30) I begged Mr. Harley for the love of God to +take some care about it, or we are all ruined. There have been orders +for all ships from the Baltic to pass their quarantine before they land; +but they neglect it. You remember I have been afraid these two years. + +9. O, faith, you are a saucy rogue. I have had your sixth letter just +now, before this is gone; but I will not answer a word of it, only +that I never was giddy since my first fit; but I have had a cold just a +fortnight, and cough with it still morning and evening; but it will go +off. It is, however, such abominable weather that no creature can walk. +They say here three of your Commissioners will be turned out, Ogle, +South, and St. Quintin;(31) and that Dick Stewart(32) and Ludlow will +be two of the new ones. I am a little soliciting for another: it is poor +Lord Abercorn,(33) but that is a secret; I mean, that I befriend him +is a secret; but I believe it is too late, by his own fault and ill +fortune. I dined with him to-day. I am heartily sorry you do not go +to Clogher, faith, I am; and so God Almighty protect poor, dear, +dear, dear, dearest MD. Farewell till to-night. I'll begin my eleventh +to-night; so I am always writing to little MD. + + + + +LETTER 11. + +LONDON, Dec. 9, 1710. + +So, young women, I have just sent my tenth to the post-office, and, as I +told you, have received your seventh (faith, I am afraid I mistook, +and said your sixth, and then we shall be all in confusion this month.) +Well, I told you I dined with Lord Abercorn to-day; and that is +enough till by and bye; for I must go write idle things, and twittle +twattle.(1) What's here to do with your little MD's? and so I put this +by for a while. 'Tis now late, and I can only say MD is a dear, saucy +rogue, and what then? Presto loves them the better. + +10. This son of a b---- Patrick is out of the way, and I can do nothing; +am forced to borrow coals: 'tis now six o'clock, and I am come home +after a pure walk in the park; delicate weather, begun only to-day. +A terrible storm last night: we hear one of your packet-boats is cast +away, and young Beau Swift(2) in it, and General Sankey:(3) I know not +the truth; you will before me. Raymond talks of leaving the town in a +few days, and going in a month to Ireland, for fear his wife should be +too far gone, and forced to be brought to bed here. I think he is in the +right; but perhaps this packet-boat will fright him. He has no relish +for London; and I do not wonder at it. He has got some Templars from +Ireland that show him the town. I do not let him see me above twice a +week, and that only while I am dressing in the morning.--So, now the +puppy's come in, and I have got my own ink, but a new pen; and so now +you are rogues and sauceboxes till I go to bed; for I must go study, +sirrahs. Now I think of it, tell the Bishop of Clogher, he shall not +cheat me of one inch of my bell metal. You know it is nothing but to +save the town money; and Enniskillen can afford it better than Laracor: +he shall have but one thousand five hundred weight. I have been reading, +etc., as usual, and am now going to bed; and I find this day's article +is long enough: so get you gone till to-morrow, and then. I dined with +Sir Matthew Dudley. + +11. I am come home again as yesterday, and the puppy had again locked up +my ink, notwithstanding all I said to him yesterday; but he came home a +little after me, so all is well: they are lighting my fire, and I'll go +study. The fair weather is gone again, and it has rained all day. I do +not like this open weather, though some say it is healthy. They say +it is a false report about the plague at Newcastle.(4) I have no news +to-day: I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, to desire them to buy me a scarf; +and Lady Abercorn(5) is to buy me another, to see who does best: mine is +all in rags. I saw the Duke of Richmond(6) yesterday at Court again, but +would not speak to him: I believe we are fallen out. I am now in bed; +and it has rained all this evening, like wildfire: have you so much rain +in your town? Raymond was in a fright, as I expected, upon the news of +this shipwreck; but I persuaded him, and he leaves this town in a week. +I got him acquainted with Sir Robert Raymond,(7) the Solicitor-General, +who owns him to be of his family; and I believe it may do him a +kindness, by being recommended to your new Lord Chancellor.--I had a +letter from Mrs. Long, that has quite turned my stomach against her: +no less than two nasty jests in it, with dashes to suppose them. She is +corrupted in that country town(8) with vile conversation.--I will not +answer your letter till I have leisure: so let this go on as it will, +what care I? what cares saucy Presto? + +12. I was to-day at the Secretary's office with Lewis, and in came Lord +Rivers;(9) who took Lewis out and whispered him; and then came up to me +to desire my acquaintance, etc., so we bowed and complimented a while, +and parted and I dined with Phil. Savage(10) and his Irish Club, at +their boarding-place; and, passing an evening scurvily enough, did not +come home till eight. Mr. Addison and I hardly meet once a fortnight; +his Parliament and my different friendships keep us asunder. Sir Matthew +Dudley turned away his butler yesterday morning; and at night the poor +fellow died suddenly in the streets: was not it an odd event? But what +care you? But then I knew the butler.--Why, it seems your packet-boat is +not lost: psha, how silly that is, when I had already gone through the +forms, and said it was a sad thing, and that I was sorry for it! But +when must I answer this letter of our MD's? Here it is, it lies between +this paper on t'other side of the leaf: one of these odd-come-shortly's +I'll consider, and so good-night. + +13. Morning. I am to go trapesing with Lady Kerry(11) and Mrs. Pratt(12) +to see sights all this day: they engaged me yesterday morning at tea. +You hear the havoc making in the army: Meredith, Maccartney, and Colonel +Honeywood(13) are obliged to sell their commands at half-value, and +leave the army, for drinking destruction to the present Ministry, and +dressing up a hat on a stick, and calling it Harley; then drinking a +glass with one hand, and discharging a pistol with the other at the +maukin,(14) wishing it were Harley himself; and a hundred other such +pretty tricks, as inflaming their soldiers, and foreign Ministers, +against the late changes at Court. Cadogan(15) has had a little paring: +his mother(16) told me yesterday he had lost the place of Envoy; but I +hope they will go no further with him, for he was not at those mutinous +meetings.--Well, these saucy jades take up so much of my time with +writing to them in a morning; but, faith, I am glad to see you whenever +I can: a little snap and away; and so hold your tongue, for I must rise: +not a word, for your life. How nowww? So, very well; stay till I come +home, and then, perhaps, you may hear further from me. And where will +you go to-day, for I can't be with you for these ladies? It is a rainy, +ugly day. I'd have you send for Walls, and go to the Dean's; but don't +play small games when you lose. You'll be ruined by Manilio, Basto, +the queen, and two small trumps, in red.(17) I confess 'tis a good hand +against the player: but then there are Spadilio, Punto, the king, strong +trumps, against you, which, with one trump more, are three tricks ten +ace: for, suppose you play your Manilio--Oh, silly, how I prate, and +can't get away from this MD in a morning! Go, get you gone, dear naughty +girls, and let me rise. There, Patrick locked up my ink again the third +time last night: the rogue gets the better of me; but I will rise +in spite of you, sirrahs.--At night. Lady Kerry, Mrs. Pratt, Mrs. +Cadogan,(18) and I, in one coach; Lady Kerry's son(19) and his governor, +and two gentlemen, in another; maids, and misses and little master +(Lord Shelburne's(20) children, in a third, all hackneys, set out at ten +o'clock this morning from Lord Shelburne's house in Piccadilly to the +Tower, and saw all the sights, lions,(21) etc.; then to Bedlam;(22) then +dined at the chop-house behind the Exchange; then to Gresham College(23) +(but the keeper was not at home); and concluded the night at the +Puppet-show,(24) whence we came home safe at eight, and I left them. The +ladies were all in mobs(25) (how do you call it?), undrest; and it was +the rainiest day that ever dripped; and I am weary; and it is now past +eleven. + +14. Stay, I'll answer some of your letter this morning in bed: let me +see; come and appear, little letter. Here I am, says he: and what +say you to Mrs. MD this morning fresh and fasting? Who dares think MD +negligent? I allow them a fortnight; and they give it me. I could fill +a letter in a week; but it is longer every day; and so I keep it a +fortnight, and then 'tis cheaper by one half. I have never been giddy, +dear Stella, since that morning: I have taken a whole box of pills, +and kecked(26) at them every night, and drank a pint of brandy at +mornings.--Oh then, you kept Presto's little birthday:(27) would to +God I had been with you! I forgot it, as I told you before. REdiculous, +madam? I suppose you mean rIdiculous: let me have no more of that; 'tis +the author of the Atalantis's(28) spelling. I have mended it in your +letter. And can Stella read this writing without hurting her dear eyes? +O, faith, I am afraid not. Have a care of those eyes, pray, pray, pretty +Stella.--'Tis well enough what you observe, that, if I writ better, +perhaps you would not read so well, being used to this manner; 'tis an +alphabet you are used to: you know such a pot-hook makes a letter; and +you know what letter, and so and so.--I'll swear he told me so, and that +they were long letters too; but I told him it was a gasconnade of +yours, etc. I am talking of the Bishop of Clogher, how he forgot. Turn +over.(29) I had not room on t'other side to say that, so I did it on +this: I fancy that's a good Irish blunder. Ah, why do not you go down to +Clogher, nautinautinautideargirls; I dare not say nauti without dear: O, +faith, you govern me. But, seriously, I'm sorry you don't go, as far as +I can judge at this distance. No, we would get you another horse; I will +make Parvisol get you one. I always doubted that horse of yours: prythee +sell him, and let it be a present to me. My heart aches when I think you +ride him. Order Parvisol to sell him, and that you are to return me the +money: I shall never be easy until he is out of your hands. Faith, +I have dreamt five or six times of horses stumbling since I had your +letter. If he can't sell him, let him run this winter. Faith, if I was +near you, I would whip your ---- to some tune, for your grave, saucy +answer about the Dean and Johnsonibus; I would, young women. And did the +Dean preach for me?(30) Very well. Why, would they have me stand here +and preach to them? No, the Tatler of the Shilling(31) was not mine, +more than the hint, and two or three general heads for it. I have much +more important business on my hands; and, besides, the Ministry hate +to think that I should help him, and have made reproaches on it; and I +frankly told them I would do it no more. This is a secret though, Madam +Stella. You win eight shillings? you win eight fiddlesticks. Faith, you +say nothing of what you lose, young women.--I hope Manley is in no great +danger; for Ned Southwell is his friend, and so is Sir Thomas Frankland; +and his brother John Manley stands up heartily for him. On t'other +side, all the gentlemen of Ireland here are furiously against him. Now, +Mistress Dingley, an't you an impudent slut, to expect a letter next +packet from Presto, when you confess yourself that you had so lately +two letters in four days? Unreasonable baggage! No, little Dingley, I am +always in bed by twelve; I mean my candle is out by twelve, and I take +great care of myself. Pray let everybody know, upon occasion, that Mr. +Harley got the First-Fruits from the Queen for the clergy of Ireland, +and that nothing remains but the forms, etc. So you say the Dean and +you dined at Stoyte's, and Mrs. Stoyte was in raptures that I remembered +her. I must do it but seldom, or it will take off her rapture. But what +now, you saucy sluts? all this written in a morning, and I must rise and +go abroad. Pray stay till night: do not think I will squander mornings +upon you, pray, good madam. Faith, if I go on longer in this trick of +writing in the morning, I shall be afraid of leaving it off, and think +you expect it, and be in awe. Good-morrow, sirrahs, I will rise.--At +night. I went to-day to the Court of Requests (I will not answer the +rest of your letter yet, that by the way, in hopes to dine with Mr. +Harley: but Lord Dupplin,(32) his son-in-law, told me he did not dine at +home; so I was at a loss, until I met with Mr. Secretary St. John, and +went home and dined with him, where he told me of a good bite.(33) +Lord Rivers told me two days ago, that he was resolved to come Sunday +fortnight next to hear me preach before the Queen. I assured him the day +was not yet fixed, and I knew nothing of it. To-day the Secretary told +me that his father, Sir Harry St. John,(34) and Lord Rivers were to be +at St. James's Church, to hear me preach there; and were assured I was +to preach: so there will be another bite; for I know nothing of the +matter, but that Mr. Harley and St. John are resolved I must preach +before the Queen; and the Secretary of State has told me he will give +me three weeks' warning; but I desired to be excused, which he will not. +St. John, "You shall not be excused": however, I hope they will forget +it; for if it should happen, all the puppies hereabouts will throng to +hear me, and expect something wonderful, and be plaguily baulked; for I +shall preach plain honest stuff. I stayed with St. John till eight, and +then came home; and Patrick desired leave to go abroad, and by and by +comes up the girl to tell me, a gentleman was below in a coach, who had +a bill to pay me; so I let him come up, and who should it be but Mr. +Addison and Sam Dopping, to haul me out to supper, where I stayed till +twelve. If Patrick had been at home, I should have 'scaped this; for I +have taught him to deny me almost as well as Mr. Harley's porter.--Where +did I leave off in MD's letter? let me see. So, now I have it. You are +pleased to say, Madam Dingley, that those who go for England can never +tell when to come back. Do you mean this as a reflection upon Presto, +madam? Sauceboxes, I will come back as soon as I can, as hope saved,(35) +and I hope with some advantage, unless all Ministries be alike, as +perhaps they may. I hope Hawkshaw is in Dublin before now, and that you +have your things, and like your spectacles: if you do not, you shall +have better. I hope Dingley's tobacco did not spoil Stella's chocolate, +and that all is safe: pray let me know. Mr. Addison and I are different +as black and white, and I believe our friendship will go off, by this +damned business of party: he cannot bear seeing me fall in so with +this Ministry: but I love him still as well as ever, though we seldom +meet.--Hussy, Stella, you jest about poor Congreve's eyes;(36) you do +so, hussy; but I'll bang your bones, faith.--Yes, Steele was a little +while in prison, or at least in a spunging-house, some time before +I came, but not since.(37)--Pox on your convocations, and your +Lamberts;(38) they write with a vengeance! I suppose you think it a +piece of affectation in me to wish your Irish folks would not like my +"Shower,"; but you are mistaken. I should be glad to have the general +applause there as I have here (though I say it); but I have only that of +one or two, and therefore I would have none at all, but let you all be +in the wrong. I don't know, this is not what I would say; but I am so +tosticated with supper and stuff, that I can't express myself.--What you +say of "Sid Hamet" is well enough; that an enemy should like it, and +a friend not; and that telling the author would make both change their +opinions. Why did you not tell Griffyth(39) that you fancied there was +something in it of my manner; but first spur up his commendation to the +height, as we served my poor uncle about the sconce that I mended? Well, +I desired you to give what I intended for an answer to Mrs. Fenton,(40) +to save her postage, and myself trouble; and I hope I have done it, if +you han't. + +15. Lord, what a long day's writing was yesterday's answer to your +letter, sirrahs! I dined to-day with Lewis and Ford, whom I have brought +acquainted. Lewis told me a pure thing. I had been hankering with Mr. +Harley to save Steele his other employment, and have a little mercy on +him; and I had been saying the same thing to Lewis, who is Mr. Harley's +chief favourite. Lewis tells Mr. Harley how kindly I should take it, if +he would be reconciled to Steele, etc. Mr. Harley, on my account, falls +in with it, and appoints Steele a time to let him attend him, which +Steele accepts with great submission, but never comes, nor sends any +excuse. Whether it was blundering, sullenness, insolence, or rancour of +party, I cannot tell; but I shall trouble myself no more about him. I +believe Addison hindered him out of mere spite, being grated(41) to the +soul to think he should ever want my help to save his friend; yet now +he is soliciting me to make another of his friends Queen's Secretary at +Geneva; and I'll do it if I can; it is poor Pastoral Philips.(42) + +16. O, why did you leave my picture behind you at t'other lodgings? +Forgot it? Well; but pray remember it now, and don't roll it up, d'ye +hear; but hang it carefully in some part of your room, where chairs and +candles and mop-sticks won't spoil it, sirrahs. No, truly, I will not +be godfather to Goody Walls this bout, and I hope she will have no more. +There will be no quiet nor cards for this child. I hope it will die the +day after the christening. Mr. Harley gave me a paper, with an +account of the sentence you speak of against the lads that defaced the +statue,(43) and that Ingoldsby(44) reprieved that part of it of standing +before the statue. I hope it was never executed. We have got your +Broderick out;(45) Doyne(46) is to succeed him, and Cox(47) Doyne. And +so there's an end of your letter; 'tis all answered; and now I must go +on upon my own stock. Go on, did I say? Why, I have written enough; but +this is too soon to send it yet, young women; faith, I dare not use +you to it, you'll always expect it; what remains shall be only short +journals of a day, and so I'll rise for this morning.--At night. I dined +with my opposite neighbour, Darteneuf; and I was soliciting this day to +present the Bishop of Clogher Vice-Chancellor;(48) but it won't do; they +are all set against him, and the Duke of Ormond, they say, has resolved +to dispose of it somewhere else. Well; little saucy rogues, do not stay +out too late to-night, because it is Saturday night, and young women +should come home soon then. + +17. I went to Court to seek a dinner: but the Queen was not at church, +she has got a touch of the gout; so the Court was thin, and I went to +the Coffee-house; and Sir Thomas Frankland and his eldest son and I went +and dined with his son William.(49) I talked a great deal to Sir Thomas +about Manley; and find he is his good friend, and so has Ned Southwell +been, and I hope he will be safe, though all the Irish folks here are +his mortal enemies. There was a devilish bite to-day. They had it, I +know not how, that I was to preach this morning at St. James's Church; +an abundance went, among the rest Lord Radnor, who never is abroad till +three in the afternoon. I walked all the way home from Hatton Garden at +six, by moonlight, a delicate night. Raymond called at nine, but I was +denied; and now I am in bed between eleven and twelve, just going to +sleep, and dream of my own dear roguish impudent pretty MD. + +18. You will now have short days' works, just a few lines to tell you +where I am, and what I am doing; only I will keep room for the last day +to tell you news, if there be any worth sending. I have been sometimes +like to do it at the top of my letter, until I remark it would be old +before it reached you. I was hunting to dine with Mr. Harley to-day, but +could not find him; and so I dined with honest Dr. Cockburn, and came +home at six, and was taken out to next door by Dopping and Ford, to +drink bad claret and oranges; and we let Raymond come to us, who talks +of leaving the town to-morrow, but I believe will stay a day or two +longer. It is now late, and I will say no more, but end this line with +bidding my own dear saucy MD goodnight, etc. + +19. I am come down proud stomach in one instance, for I went to-day to +see the Duke of Buckingham,(50) but came too late: then I visited Mrs. +Barton,(51) and thought to have dined with some of the Ministry; but +it rained, and Mrs. Vanhomrigh was nigh, and I took the opportunity of +paying her for a scarf she bought me, and dined there; at four I went to +congratulate with Lord Shelburne, for the death of poor Lady Shelburne +dowager;(52) he was at his country house, and returned while I was +there, and had not heard of it, and he took it very well. I am now come +home before six, and find a packet from the Bishop of Clogher, with one +enclosed to the Duke of Ormond, which is ten days earlier dated than +another I had from Parvisol; however, 'tis no matter, for the Duke +has already disposed of the Vice-Chancellorship to the Archbishop of +Tuam,(53) and I could not help it, for it is a thing wholly you know in +the Duke's power; and I find the Bishop has enemies about the Duke. I +write this while Patrick is folding up my scarf, and doing up the fire +(for I keep a fire, it costs me twelvepence a week); and so be quiet +till I am gone to bed, and then sit down by me a little, and we will +talk a few words more. Well; now MD is at my bedside; and now what shall +we say? How does Mrs. Stoyte? What had the Dean for supper? How much did +Mrs. Walls win? Poor Lady Shelburne: well, go get you to bed, sirrahs. + +20. Morning. I was up this morning early, and shaved by candlelight, and +write this by the fireside. Poor Raymond just came in and took his leave +of me; he is summoned by high order from his wife, but pretends he has +had enough of London. I was a little melancholy to part with him; he +goes to Bristol, where they are to be with his merchant brother, and now +thinks of staying till May; so she must be brought to bed in England. He +was so easy and manageable, that I almost repent I suffered him to see +me so seldom. But he is gone, and will save Patrick some lies in a week: +Patrick is grown admirable at it, and will make his fortune. How now, +sirrah, must I write in a morning to your impudence? + + Stay till night, + And then I'll write, + In black and white, + By candlelight, + Of wax so bright, + It helps the sight-- + A bite, a bite! + +Marry come up, Mistress Boldface.--At night. Dr. Raymond came back, and +goes to-morrow. I did not come home till eleven, and found him here to +take leave of me. I went to the Court of Requests, thinking to find Mr. +Harley and dine with him, and refused Henley, and everybody, and at last +knew not where to go, and met Jemmy Leigh by chance, and he was just in +the same way, so I dined at his lodgings on a beef-steak, and drank +your health; then left him and went to the tavern with Ben Tooke and +Portlack, the Duke of Ormond's secretary, drinking nasty white wine till +eleven. I am sick, and ashamed of it, etc. + +21. I met that beast Ferris, Lord Berkeley's(54) steward formerly; I +walked with him a turn in the Park, and that scoundrel dog is as happy +as an emperor, has married a wife with a considerable estate in land and +houses about this town, and lives at his ease at Hammersmith. See your +confounded sect!(55) Well; I had the same luck to-day with Mr. Harley; +'twas a lovely day, and went by water into the City, and dined with +Stratford at a merchant's house, and walked home with as great a dunce +as Ferris, I mean honest Colonel Caulfeild,(56) and came home by eight, +and now am in bed, and going to sleep for a wager, and will send this +letter on Saturday, and so; but first I will wish you a merry Christmas +and a happy New Year, and pray God we may never keep them asunder again. + +22. Morning. I am going now to Mr. Harley's levee on purpose to vex him; +I will say I had no other way of seeing him, etc. Patrick says it is a +dark morning, and that the Duke of Argyle(57) is to be knighted to-day; +the booby means installed at Windsor. But I must rise, for this is a +shaving-day, and Patrick says there is a good fire; I wish MD were by +it, or I by MD's.--At night. I forgot to tell you, Madam Dingley, that +I paid nine shillings for your glass and spectacles, of which three were +for the Bishop's case: I am sorry I did not buy you such another case; +but if you like it, I will bring one over with me; pray tell me: the +glass to read was four shillings, the spectacles two. And have you had +your chocolate? Leigh says he sent the petticoat by one Mr. Spencer. +Pray have you no further commissions for me? I paid the glass-man but +last night, and he would have made me a present of the microscope worth +thirty shillings, and would have sent it home along with me; I thought +the deuce was in the man: he said I could do him more service than that +was worth, etc. I refused his present, but promised him all service +I could do him; and so now I am obliged in honour to recommend him to +everybody.--At night. I went to Mr. Harley's levee; he came and asked +me what I had to do there, and bid me come and dine with him on a family +dinner; which I did, and it was the first time I ever saw his lady(58) +and daughter;(59) at five my Lord Keeper(60) came in: I told Mr. Harley, +he had formerly presented me to Sir Simon Harcourt, but now must to my +Lord Keeper; so he laughed, etc. + +23. Morning. This letter goes to-night without fail; I hope there is +none from you yet at the Coffee-house; I will send and see by and by, +and let you know, and so and so. Patrick goes to see for a letter: what +will you lay, is there one from MD or no? No, I say; done for sixpence. +Why has the Dean never once written to me? I won sixpence; I won +sixpence; there is not one letter to Presto. Good-morrow, dear sirrahs: +Stratford and I dine to-day with Lord Mountjoy. God Almighty preserve +and bless you; farewell, etc. + +I have been dining at Lord Mountjoy's; and am come to study; our news +from Spain this post takes off some of our fears. The Parliament is +prorogued to-day, or adjourned rather till after the holidays. Bank +Stock is 105, so I may get 12 shillings for my bargain already. Patrick, +the puppy, is abroad, and how shall I send this letter? Good-night, +little dears both, and be happy; and remember your poor Presto, that +wants you sadly, as hope saved. Let me go study, naughty girls, and +don't keep me at the bottom of the paper. O, faith, if you knew what +lies on my hands constantly, you would wonder to see how I could write +such long letters; but we'll talk of that some other time. Good-night +again, and God bless dear MD with His best blessings, yes, yes, and +Dingley and Stella and me too, etc. + +Ask the Bishop of Clogher about the pun I sent him of Lord Stawel's +brother;(61) it will be a pure bite. This letter has 199 lines in it, +beside all postscripts; I had a curiosity to reckon. + +There is a long letter for you. + +It is longer than a sermon, faith. + +I had another letter from Mrs. Fenton, who says you were with her; I +hope you did not go on purpose. I will answer her letter soon; it is +about some money in Lady Giffard's hands. + +They say you have had eight packets due to you; so pray, madams, do not +blame Presto, but the wind. + +My humble service to Mrs. Walls and Mrs. Stoyte; I missed the former a +good while. + + + + +LETTER 12. + +LONDON, Dec. 23, 1710. + +I have sent my 11th to-night as usual, and begin the dozenth, and I told +you I dined with Stratford at Lord Mountjoy's, and I will tell you no +more at present, guess for why; because I am going to mind things, and +mighty affairs, not your nasty First-Fruits--I let them alone till Mr. +Harley gets the Queen's letter--but other things of greater moment, that +you shall know one day, when the ducks have eaten up all the dirt. So +sit still a while just by me, while I am studying, and don't say a word, +I charge you, and when I am going to bed, I will take you along, and +talk with you a little while, so there, sit there.--Come then, let us +see what we have to say to these saucy brats, that will not let us go +sleep at past eleven. Why, I am a little impatient to know how you do; +but that I take it for a standing maxim, that when you are silent, all +is pretty well, because that is the way I will deal with you; and if +there was anything you ought to know now, I would write by the first +post, although I had written but the day before. Remember this, young +women; and God Almighty preserve you both, and make us happy together; +and tell me how accompts stand between us, that you may be paid long +before it is due, not to want. I will return no more money while I stay, +so that you need not be in pain to be paid; but let me know at least a +month before you can want. Observe this, d'ye hear, little dear sirrahs, +and love Presto, as Presto loves MD, etc. + +24. You will have a merrier Christmas Eve than we here. I went up to +Court before church; and in one of the rooms, there being but little +company, a fellow in a red coat without a sword came up to me, and, +after words of course, asked me how the ladies did? I asked, "What +ladies?" He said, "Mrs. Dingley and Mrs. Johnson." "Very well," said I, +"when I heard from them last: and pray when came you from thence, +sir?" He said, "I never was in Ireland"; and just at that word Lord +Winchelsea(1) comes up to me, and the man went off: as I went out I saw +him again, and recollected him, it was Vedeau(2) with a pox: I then went +and made my apologies, that my head was full of something I had to say +to Lord Winchelsea, etc., and I asked after his wife, and so all was +well; and he inquired after my lodging, because he had some favour to +desire of me in Ireland, to recommend somebody to somebody, I know not +what it is. When I came from church, I went up to Court again, where Sir +Edmond Bacon(3) told me the bad news from Spain,(4) which you will hear +before this reaches you; as we have it now, we are undone there, and +it was odd to see the whole countenances of the Court changed so in two +hours. Lady Mountjoy(5) carried me home to dinner, where I stayed not +long after, and came home early, and now am got into bed, for you must +always write to your MD's in bed, that is a maxim. + + Mr. White and Mr. Red, + Write to MD when abed; + Mr. Black and Mr. Brown, + Write to MD when you're down; + Mr. Oak and Mr. Willow, + Write to MD on your pillow.-- + +What is this? faith, I smell fire; what can it be? this house has a +thousand stinks in it. I think to leave it on Thursday, and lodge over +the way. Faith, I must rise, and look at my chimney, for the smell grows +stronger, stay--I have been up, and in my room, and found all safe, only +a mouse within the fender to warm himself, which I could not catch. +I smelt nothing there, but now in my bed-chamber I smell it again; I +believe I have singed the woollen curtain, and that is all, though I +cannot smoke it. Presto is plaguy silly to-night, an't he? Yes, and so +he be. Ay, but if I should wake and see fire. Well; I will venture; so +good-night, etc. + +25. Pray, young women, if I write so much as this every day, how will +this paper hold a fortnight's work, and answer one of yours into the +bargain? You never think of this, but let me go on like a simpleton. +I wish you a merry Christmas, and many, many a one with poor Presto at +some pretty place. I was at church to-day by eight, and received the +Sacrament, and came home by ten; then went to Court at two: it was a +Collar-day, that is, when the Knights of the Garter wear their collars; +but the Queen stayed so late at Sacrament, that I came back, and dined +with my neighbour Ford, because all people dine at home on this day. +This is likewise a Collar-day all over England in every house, at least +where there is BRAWN: that's very well.--I tell you a good pun; a fellow +hard by pretends to cure agues, and has set out a sign, and spells it +EGOES; a gentleman and I observing it, he said, "How does that fellow +pretend to cure AGUES?" I said I did not know; but I was sure it was not +by a SPELL. That is admirable. And so you asked the Bishop about that +pun of Lord Stawel's brother. Bite! Have I caught you, young women? Must +you pretend to ask after roguish puns, and Latin ones too? Oh but you +smoked me, and did not ask the Bishop. Oh but you are a fool, and you +did. I met Vedeau again at Court to-day, and I observed he had a sword +on; I fancy he was broke, and has got a commission, but I never asked +him. Vedeau I think his name is, yet Parvisol's man is Vedel, that is +true. Bank Stock will fall like stock-fish by this bad news, and two +days ago I could have got twelve pounds by my bargain; but I do not +intend to sell, and in time it will rise. It is odd that my Lord +Peterborow foretold this loss two months ago, one night at Mr. Harley's, +when I was there; he bid us count upon it, that Stanhope would lose +Spain before Christmas; that he would venture his head upon it, and gave +us reasons; and though Mr. Harley argued the contrary, he still held to +his opinion. I was telling my Lord Angelsea this at Court this morning; +and a gentleman by said he had heard my Lord Peterborow affirm the same +thing. I have heard wise folks say, "An ill tongue may do much." And +'tis an odd saying, + + "Once I guessed right, + And I got credit by't; + Thrice I guessed wrong, + And I kept my credit on." + +No, it is you are sorry, not I. + +26. By the Lord Harry, I shall be undone here with Christmas boxes. +The rogues of the Coffee-house have raised their tax, everyone giving +a crown; and I gave mine for shame, besides a great many half-crowns +to great men's porters, etc. I went to-day by water into the city, and +dined with no less a man than the City Printer.(6) There is an intimacy +between us, built upon reasons that you shall know when I see you; but +the rain caught me within twelvepenny length of home. I called at Mr. +Harley's, who was not within, dropped my half-crown with his porter, +drove to the Coffee-house, where the rain kept me till nine. I had +letters to-day from the Archbishop of Dublin and Mr. Bernage;(7) the +latter sends me a melancholy account of Lady Shelburne's(8) death, and +his own disappointments, and would gladly be a captain; if I can help +him, I will. + +27. Morning. I bespoke a lodging over the way for tomorrow, and the dog +let it yesterday to another; I gave him no earnest, so it seems he could +do it; Patrick would have had me give him earnest to bind him; but I +would not. So I must go saunter to-day for a lodging somewhere else. +Did you ever see so open a winter in England? We have not had two frosty +days; but it pays it off in rain: we have not had three fair days +these six weeks. O, faith, I dreamt mightily of MD last night; but so +confused, I cannot tell a word. I have made Ford acquainted with Lewis; +and to-day we dined together: in the evening I called at one or two +neighbours, hoping to spend a Christmas evening; but none were at home, +they were all gone to be merry with others. I have often observed this, +that in merry times everybody is abroad; where the deuce are they? So +I went to the Coffee-house, and talked with Mr. Addison an hour, who at +last remembered to give me two letters, which I cannot answer to-night, +nor to-morrow neither, I can assure you, young women, count upon that. I +have other things to do than to answer naughty girls, an old saying and +true, + + Letters from MD's + Must not be answered in ten days: + +it is but bad rhyme, etc. + +28. To-day I had a message from Sir Thomas Hanmer, to dine with him; the +famous Dr. Smalridge(9) was of the company, and we sat till six; and I +came home to my new lodgings in St. Albans Street,(10) where I pay the +same rent (eight shillings a week) for an apartment two pair of stairs; +but I have the use of the parlour to receive persons of quality, and I +am got into my new bed, etc. + +29. Sir Andrew Fountaine has been very ill this week; and sent to me +early this morning to have prayers, which you know is the last thing. I +found the doctors and all in despair about him. I read prayers to him, +found he had settled all things; and, when I came out, the nurse asked +me whether I thought it possible he could live; for the doctors thought +not. I said, I believed he would live; for I found the seeds of life +in him, which I observe seldom fail (and I found them in poor, dearest +Stella, when she was ill many years ago); and to-night I was with him +again, and he was mightily recovered, and I hope he will do well, and +the doctor approved my reasons; but, if he should die, I should come off +scurvily. The Secretary of State (Mr. St. John) sent to me to dine with +him; Mr. Harley and Lord Peterborow dined there too; and at night came +Lord Rivers. Lord Peterborow goes to Vienna in a day or two: he has +promised to make me write to him. Mr. Harley went away at six; but we +stayed till seven. I took the Secretary aside, and complained to him +of Mr. Harley, that he had got the Queen to grant the First-Fruits, +promised to bring me to her, and get her letter to the bishops of +Ireland; but the last part he had not done in six weeks, and I was in +danger to lose reputation, etc. He took the matter right, desired me to +be with him on Sunday morning, and promises me to finish the affair in +four days; so I shall know in a little time what I have to trust +to.--It is nine o'clock, and I must go study, you little rogues; and so +good-night, etc. + +30. Morning. The weather grows cold, you sauceboxes. Sir Andrew +Fountaine, they bring me word, is better. I will go rise, for my hands +are starving while I write in bed. Night. Now Sir Andrew Fountaine is +recovering, he desires to be at ease; for I called in the morning to +read prayers, but he had given orders not to be disturbed. I have lost +a legacy by his living; for he told me he had left me a picture and some +books, etc. I called to see my quondam neighbour Ford (do you know what +quondam is, though?), and he engaged me to dine with him; for he always +dines at home on Opera-days. I came home at six, writ to the Archbishop, +then studied till past eleven, and stole to bed, to write to MD these +few lines, to let you know I am in good health at the present writing +hereof, and hope in God MD is so too. I wonder I never write politics to +you: I could make you the profoundest politician in all the lane.--Well, +but when shall we answer this letter, No. 8 of MD's? Not till next year, +faith. O Lord--bo--but that will be a Monday next. Cod's-so, is it? +and so it is: never saw the like.--I made a pun t'other day to Ben +Portlack(11) about a pair of drawers. Poh, said he, that's mine a--- all +over. Pray, pray, Dingley, let me go sleep; pray, pray, Stella, let me +go slumber; and put out my wax-candle. + +31. Morning. It is now seven, and I have got a fire, but am writing abed +in my bed-chamber. 'Tis not shaving-day, so I shall be ready early to +go before church to Mr. St. John; and to-morrow I will answer our MD's +letter. + + Would you answer MD's letter, + On New Year's Day you'll do it better; + For, when the year with MD 'gins, + It without MD never lins. + +(These proverbs have always old words in them; lins is leave off.) + + But, if on New Year you write nones, + MD then will bang your bones. + +But Patrick says I must rise.--Night. I was early this morning with +Secretary St. John, and gave him a memorial to get the Queen's letter +for the First-Fruits, who has promised to do it in a very few days. He +told me he had been with the Duke of Marlborough, who was lamenting his +former wrong steps in joining with the Whigs, and said he was worn out +with age, fatigues, and misfortunes. I swear it pitied me; and I really +think they will not do well in too much mortifying that man, although +indeed it is his own fault. He is covetous as hell, and ambitious as the +Prince of it: he would fain have been General for life, and has broken +all endeavours for peace, to keep his greatness and get money. He told +the Queen he was neither covetous nor ambitious. She said if she could +have conveniently turned about, she would have laughed, and could hardly +forbear it in his face. He fell in with all the abominable measures of +the late Ministry, because they gratified him for their own designs. +Yet he has been a successful General, and I hope he will continue his +command. O Lord, smoke the politics to MD! Well; but, if you like them, +I will scatter a little now and then, and mine are all fresh from the +chief hands. Well, I dined with Mr. Harley, and came away at six: there +was much company, and I was not merry at all. Mr. Harley made me read a +paper of verses of Prior's. I read them plain, without any fine manner; +and Prior swore, I should never read any of his again; but he would be +revenged, and read some of mine as bad. I excused myself, and said I +was famous for reading verses the worst in the world; and that everybody +snatched them from me when I offered to begin. So we laughed.--Sir +Andrew Fountaine still continues ill. He is plagued with some sort of +bile. + +Jan. 1. Morning. I wish my dearest, pretty Dingley and Stella a happy +New Year, and health, and mirth, and good stomachs, and Fr's company. +Faith, I did not know how to write Fr. I wondered what was the matter; +but now I remember I always write Pdfr. Patrick wishes me a happy New +Year, and desires I would rise, for it is a good fire, and faith 'tis +cold. I was so politic last night with MD, never saw the like. Get the +Examiners, and read them; the last nine or ten are full of the reasons +for the late change, and of the abuses of the last Ministry; and +the great men assure me they are all true. They are written by +their encouragement and direction. I must rise and go see Sir +Andrew Fountaine; but perhaps to-night I may answer MD's letter: so +good-morrow, my mistresses all, good-morrow. + + I wish you both a merry New Year, + Roast beef, minced pies, and good strong beer, + And me a share of your good cheer, + That I was there, or you were here; + And you're a little saucy dear. + +Good-morrow again, dear sirrahs; one cannot rise for your play.--At +night. I went this morning to visit Lady Kerry and Lord Shelburne; and +they made me dine with them. Sir Andrew Fountaine is better. And now +let us come and see what this saucy, dear letter of MD says. Come out, +letter, come out from between the sheets; here it is underneath, and +it will not come out. Come out again, I say: so there. Here it is. What +says Presto to me, pray? says it. Come, and let me answer for you to +your ladies. Hold up your head then, like a good letter. There. Pray, +how have you got up with Presto, Madam Stella? You write your eighth +when you receive mine: now I write my twelfth when I receive your +eighth. Do not you allow for what are upon the road, simpleton? What say +you to that? And so you kept Presto's little birthday, I warrant: would +to God I had been at the health rather than here, where I have no manner +of pleasure, nothing but eternal business upon my hands. I shall grow +wise in time; but no more of that: only I say Amen with my heart and +vitals, that we may never be asunder again ten days together while poor +Presto lives. + +***** + +I can't be merry so near any splenetic talk; so I made that long line, +and now all's well again. Yes, you are a pretending slut, indeed, with +your fourth and fifth in the margin, and your journal, and everything. +Wind--we saw no wind here, nothing at all extraordinary at any time. We +had it once when you had it not. But an old saying and a true: + + "I hate all wind, + Before and behind, + From cheeks with eyes, + Or from blind.----" + +Your chimney fall down! God preserve you. I suppose you only mean a +brick or two: but that's a d--ned lie of your chimney being carried +to the next house with the wind. Don't put such things upon us; those +matters will not pass here: keep a little to possibilities. My Lord +Hertford(12) would have been ashamed of such a stretch. You should take +care of what company you converse with: when one gets that faculty, 'tis +hard to break one's self of it. Jemmy Leigh talks of going over; but +quando? I do not know when he will go. Oh, now you have had my ninth, +now you are come up with me; marry come up with you, indeed. I know all +that business of Lady S----.(13) Will nobody cut that D--y's throat? +Five hundred pounds do you call poor pay for living three months the +life of a king? They say she died with grief, partly, being forced +to appear as a witness in court about some squabble among their +servants.--The Bishop of Clogher showed you a pamphlet.(14) Well, but +you must not give your mind to believe those things; people will say +anything. The Character is here reckoned admirable, but most of the +facts are trifles. It was first printed privately here; and then some +bold cur ventured to do it publicly, and sold two thousand in two +days: who the author is must remain uncertain. Do you pretend to +know, impudence? How durst you think so? Pox on your Parliaments: the +Archbishop has told me of it; but we do not vouchsafe to know anything +of it here. No, no, no more of your giddiness yet; thank you, Stella, +for asking after it; thank you; God Almighty bless you for your kindness +to poor Presto. You write to Lady Giffard and your mother upon what I +advise when it is too late. But yet I fancy this bad news will bring +down stocks so low, that one might buy to great advantage. I design to +venture going to see your mother some day when Lady Giffard is abroad. +Well, keep your Rathburn(15) and stuff. I thought he was to pay in +your money upon his houses to be flung down about the what do you call +it.--Well, Madam Dingley, I sent your enclosed to Bristol, but have not +heard from Raymond since he went. Come, come, young women, I keep a good +fire; it costs me twelvepence a week, and I fear something more; vex me, +and I will have one in my bed-chamber too. No, did not I tell you but +just now, we have no high winds here? Have you forgot already?--Now +you're at it again, silly Stella; why does your mother say my candles +are scandalous? They are good sixes in the pound, and she said I was +extravagant enough to burn them by daylight. I never burn fewer at a +time than one. What would people have? The D---- burst Hawkshaw. He told +me he had not the box; and the next day Sterne told me he had sent it +a fortnight ago. Patrick could not find him t'other day, but he shall +to-morrow. Dear life and heart, do you tease me? does Stella tease +Presto? That palsy-water was in the box; it was too big for a packet, +and I was afraid of its breaking. Leigh was not in town then; or I would +not have trusted it to Sterne, whom yet I have befriended enough to do +me more kindness than that. I'll never rest till you have it, or till +it is in a way for you to have it. Poor dear rogue, naughty to think it +teases me; how could I ever forgive myself for neglecting anything that +related to your health? Sure I were a Devil if I did. + + ------------------------------------------------------ + +See how far I am forced to stand from Stella, because I am afraid she +thinks poor Presto has not been careful about her little things; I am +sure I bought them immediately according to order, and packed them up +with my own hands, and sent them to Sterne, and was six times with him +about sending them away. I am glad you are pleased with your glasses. +I have got another velvet cap; a new one Lord Herbert(16) bought and +presented me one morning I was at breakfast with him, where he was as +merry and easy as ever I saw him, yet had received a challenge half an +hour before, and half an hour after fought a duel. It was about ten days +ago. You are mistaken in your guesses about Tatlers: I did neither write +that on Noses nor Religion,(17) nor do I send him of late any hints at +all.--Indeed, Stella, when I read your letter, I was not uneasy at all; +but when I came to answer the particulars, and found that you had not +received your box, it grated me to the heart, because I thought, through +your little words, that you imagined I had not taken the care I ought. +But there has been some blunder in this matter, which I will know +to-morrow, and write to Sterne, for fear he should not be within.--And +pray, pray, Presto, pray now do.--No, Raymond was not above four times +with me while he stayed, and then only while I was dressing. Mrs. Fenton +has written me another letter about some money of hers in Lady Giffard's +hands, that is entrusted to me by my mother, not to come to her husband. +I send my letters constantly every fortnight, and, if you will have them +oftener, you may, but then they will be the shorter. Pray, let Parvisol +sell the horse. I think I spoke to you of it in a former letter: I am +glad you are rid of him, and was in pain while I thought you rode him; +but, if he would buy you another, or anybody else, and that you could be +often able to ride, why do not you do it? + +2. I went this morning early to the Secretary of State, Mr. St. John; +and he told me from Mr. Harley that the warrant was now drawn, in order +for a patent for the First-Fruits: it must pass through several offices, +and take up some time, because in things the Queen gives they are always +considerate; but that, he assures me, 'tis granted and done, and past +all dispute, and desires I will not be in any pain at all. I will write +again to the Archbishop to-morrow, and tell him this, and I desire you +will say it on occasion. From the Secretary I went to Mr. Sterne, +who said he would write to you to-night; and that the box must be at +Chester; and that some friend of his goes very soon, and will carry it +over. I dined with Mr. Secretary St. John, and at six went to Darteneufs +house to drink punch with him, and Mr. Addison, and little Harrison,(18) +a young poet, whose fortune I am making. Steele was to have been there, +but came not, nor never did twice, since I knew him, to any appointment. +I stayed till past eleven, and am now in bed. Steele's last Tatler came +out to-day. You will see it before this comes to you, and how he takes +leave of the world. He never told so much as Mr. Addison of it, who was +surprised as much as I; but, to say the truth, it was time, for he grew +cruel dull and dry. To my knowledge he had several good hints to go +upon; but he was so lazy and weary of the work that he would not improve +them. I think I will send this after(19) to-morrow: shall I before 'tis +full, Dingley? + +3. Lord Peterborow yesterday called me into a barber's shop, and there +we talked deep politics: he desired me to dine with him to-day at the +Globe in the Strand; he said he would show me so clearly how to get +Spain, that I could not possibly doubt it. I went to-day accordingly, +and saw him among half a dozen lawyers and attorneys and hang-dogs, +signing of deeds and stuff before his journey; for he goes to-morrow +to Vienna. I sat among that scurvy company till after four, but heard +nothing of Spain; only I find, by what he told me before, that he fears +he shall do no good in his present journey.(20) We are to be mighty +constant correspondents. So I took my leave of him, and called at Sir +Andrew Fountaine's, who mends much. I came home, an't please you, at +six, and have been studying till now past eleven. + +4. Morning. Morrow, little dears. O, faith, I have been dreaming; I was +to be put in prison. I do not know why, and I was so afraid of a black +dungeon; and then all I had been inquiring yesterday of Sir Andrew +Fountaine's sickness I thought was of poor Stella. The worst of dreams +is, that one wakes just in the humour they leave one. Shall I send this +to-day? With all my heart: it is two days within the fortnight; but may +be MD are in haste to have a round dozen: and then how are you come up +to me with your eighth, young women? But you indeed ought to write twice +slower than I, because there are two of you; I own that. Well then, I +will seal up this letter by my morning candle, and carry it into the +city with me, where I go to dine, and put it into the post-office with +my own fair hands. So, let me see whether I have any news to tell MD. +They say they will very soon make some inquiries into the corruptions +of the late Ministry; and they must do it, to justify their turning them +out. Atterbury,(21) we think, is to be Dean of Christ Church in Oxford; +but the College would rather have Smalridge--What's all this to you? +What care you for Atterburys and Smalridges? No, you care for nothing +but Presto, faith. So I will rise, and bid you farewell; yet I am loth +to do so, because there is a great bit of paper yet to talk upon; but +Dingley will have it so: "Yes," says she, "make your journals shorter, +and send them oftener;" and so I will. And I have cheated you another +way too; for this is clipped paper, and holds at least six lines less +than the former ones. I will tell you a good thing I said to my Lord +Carteret.(22) "So," says he, "my Lord came up to me, and asked me," etc. +"No," said I, "my Lord never did, nor ever can come up to you." We all +pun here sometimes. Lord Carteret set down Prior t'other day in his +chariot; and Prior thanked him for his CHARITY; that was fit for +Dilly.(23) I do not remember I heard one good one from the Ministry; +which is really a shame. Henley is gone to the country for Christmas. +The puppy comes here without his wife,(24) and keeps no house, and would +have me dine with him at eating-houses; but I have only done it +once, and will do it no more. He had not seen me for some time in the +Coffee-house, and asking after me, desired Lord Herbert to tell me I was +a beast for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. Did you ever read the +Scripture?(25) It is only changing the word priest to beast.--I think +I am bewitched, to write so much in a morning to you, little MD. Let +me go, will you? and I'll come again to-night in a fine clean sheet of +paper; but I can nor will stay no longer now; no, I won't, for all your +wheedling: no, no, look off, do not smile at me, and say, "Pray, pray, +Presto, write a little more." Ah! you are a wheedling slut, you be so. +Nay, but prithee turn about, and let me go, do; 'tis a good girl, and +do. O, faith, my morning candle is just out, and I must go now in spite +of my teeth; for my bed-chamber is dark with curtains, and I am at the +wrong side. So farewell, etc. etc. + +I am in the dark almost: I must have another candle, when I am up, to +seal this; but I will fold it up in the dark, and make what you can of +this, for I can only see this paper I am writing upon. Service to Mrs. +Walls and Mrs. Stoyte. + +God Almighty bless you, etc. What I am doing I can't see; but I will +fold it up, and not look on it again. + + + + +LETTER 13. + +LONDON, Jan. 4, 1710-11. + +I was going into the City (where I dined and put my 12th, with my own +fair hands, into the post-office as I came back, which was not till nine +this night). I dined with people that you never heard of, nor is it worth +your while to know; an authoress and a printer.(1) I walked home for +exercise, and at eleven got to bed; and, all the while I was undressing +myself, there was I speaking monkey things in air, just as if MD had +been by, and did not recollect myself till I got into bed. I writ last +night to the Archbishop, and told him the warrant was drawn for the +First-Fruits; and I told him Lord Peterborow was set out for his journey +to Vienna; but it seems the Lords have addressed to have him stay, to +be examined about Spanish affairs, upon this defeat there, and to know +where the fault lay, etc. So I writ to the Archbishop a lie; but I think +it was not a sin. + +5. Mr. Secretary St. John sent for me this morning so early, that I was +forced to go without shaving, which put me quite out of method. I called +at Mr. Ford's, and desired him to lend me a shaving; and so made a +shift to get into order again. Lord! here is an impertinence: Sir Andrew +Fountaine's mother and sister(2) are come above a hundred miles, from +Worcester, to see him before he died. They got here but yesterday; and +he must have been past hopes, or past fears, before they could reach +him. I fell a scolding when I heard they were coming; and the people +about him wondered at me, and said what a mighty content it would be on +both sides to die when they were with him! I knew the mother; she is the +greatest Overdo(3) upon earth; and the sister, they say, is worse; the +poor man will relapse again among them. Here was the scoundrel brother +always crying in the outer room till Sir Andrew was in danger; and +the dog was to have all his estate if he died; and it is an ignorant, +worthless, scoundrel-rake: and the nurses were comforting him, and +desiring he would not take on so. I dined to-day the first time with +Ophy Butler(4) and his wife; and you supped with the Dean, and lost +two-and-twenty pence at cards. And so Mrs. Walls is brought to bed of +a girl, who died two days after it was christened; and, betwixt you and +me, she is not very sorry: she loves her ease and diversions too well to +be troubled with children. I will go to bed. + +6. Morning. I went last night to put some coals on my fire after Patrick +was gone to bed; and there I saw in a closet a poor linnet he has bought +to bring over to Dingley: it cost him sixpence, and is as tame as a +dormouse. I believe he does not know he is a bird: where you put him, +there he stands, and seems to have neither hope nor fear; I suppose in a +week he will die of the spleen. Patrick advised with me before he bought +him. I laid fairly before him the greatness of the sum, and the rashness +of the attempt; showed how impossible it was to carry him safe over the +salt sea: but he would not take my counsel; and he will repent it. 'Tis +very cold this morning in bed; and I hear there is a good fire in the +room without (what do you call it?), the dining-room. I hope it will be +good weather, and so let me rise, sirrahs, do so.--At night. I was this +morning to visit the Dean,(5) or Mr. Prolocutor, I think you call him, +don't you? Why should not I go to the Dean's as well as you? A little, +black man, of pretty near fifty? Ay, the same. A good, pleasant man? Ay, +the same. Cunning enough? Yes. One that understands his own interests? +As well as anybody. How comes it MD and I don't meet there sometimes? A +very good face, and abundance of wit? Do you know his lady? O Lord! whom +do you mean?(6) I mean Dr. Atterbury, Dean of Carlisle and Prolocutor. +Pshaw, Presto, you are a fool: I thought you had meant our Dean of St. +Patrick's.--Silly, silly, silly, you are silly, both are silly, every +kind of thing is silly. As I walked into the city I was stopped with +clusters of boys and wenches buzzing about the cake-shops like flies.(7) +There had the fools let out their shops two yards forward into the +streets, all spread with great cakes frothed with sugar, and stuck with +streamers of tinsel. And then I went to Bateman's the bookseller, and +laid out eight-and-forty shillings for books. I bought three little +volumes of Lucian in French for our Stella, and so and so. Then I went +to Garraway's(8) to meet Stratford and dine with him; but it was an idle +day with the merchants, and he was gone to our end of the town: so I +dined with Sir Thomas Frankland at the Post Office, and we drank your +Manley's health. It was in a newspaper that he was turned out; but +Secretary St. John told me it was false: only that newswriter is a +plaguy Tory. I have not seen one bit of Christmas merriment. + +7. Morning. Your new Lord Chancellor(9) sets out to-morrow for Ireland: +I never saw him. He carries over one Trapp(10) a parson as his chaplain, +a sort of pretender to wit, a second-rate pamphleteer for the cause, +whom they pay by sending him to Ireland. I never saw Trapp neither. I +met Tighe(11) and your Smyth of Lovet's yesterday by the Exchange. Tighe +and I took no notice of each other; but I stopped Smyth, and told him of +the box that lies for you at Chester, because he says he goes very soon +to Ireland, I think this week: and I will send this morning to Sterne, +to take measures with Smyth; so good-morrow, sirrahs, and let me rise, +pray. I took up this paper when I came in at evening, I mean this +minute, and then said I, "No, no, indeed, MD, you must stay"; and then +was laying it aside, but could not for my heart, though I am very busy, +till I just ask you how you do since morning; by and by we shall talk +more, so let me leave you: softly down, little paper, till then; so +there--now to business; there, I say, get you gone; no, I will not push +you neither, but hand you on one side--So--Now I am got into bed, I'll +talk with you. Mr. Secretary St. John sent for me this morning in all +haste; but I would not lose my shaving, for fear of missing church. I +went to Court, which is of late always very full; and young Manley and +I dined at Sir Matthew Dudley's.--I must talk politics. I protest I am +afraid we shall all be embroiled with parties. The Whigs, now they are +fallen, are the most malicious toads in the world. We have had now a +second misfortune, the loss of several Virginia ships. I fear people +will begin to think that nothing thrives under this Ministry: and if the +Ministry can once be rendered odious to the people, the Parliament may +be chosen Whig or Tory as the Queen pleases. Then I think our friends +press a little too hard on the Duke of Marlborough. The country +members(12) are violent to have past faults inquired into, and they have +reason; but I do not observe the Ministry to be very fond of it. In my +opinion we have nothing to save us but a Peace; and I am sure we cannot +have such a one as we hoped; and then the Whigs will bawl what they +would have done had they continued in power. I tell the Ministry this +as much as I dare; and shall venture to say a little more to them, +especially about the Duke of Marlborough, who, as the Whigs give out, +will lay down his command; and I question whether ever any wise State +laid aside a general who had been successful nine years together, whom +the enemy so much dread, and his own soldiers cannot but believe must +always conquer; and you know that in war opinion is nine parts in +ten. The Ministry hear me always with appearance of regard, and much +kindness; but I doubt they let personal quarrels mingle too much with +their proceedings. Meantime, they seem to value all this as nothing, +and are as easy and merry as if they had nothing in their hearts or upon +their shoulders; like physicians, who endeavour to cure, but feel no +grief, whatever the patient suffers.--Pshaw, what is all this? Do you +know one thing, that I find I can write politics to you much easier +than to anybody alive? But I swear my head is full; and I wish I were at +Laracor, with dear, charming MD, etc. + +8. Morning. Methinks, young women, I have made a great progress in four +days, at the bottom of this side already, and no letter yet come from +MD (that word interlined is morning). I find I have been writing State +affairs to MD. How do they relish it? Why, anything that comes from +Presto is welcome; though really, to confess the truth, if they had +their choice, not to disguise the matter, they had rather, etc. Now, +Presto, I must tell you, you grow silly, says Stella. That is but one +body's opinion, madam. I promised to be with Mr. Secretary St. John this +morning; but I am lazy, and will not go, because I had a letter from +him yesterday, to desire I would dine there to-day. I shall be chid; +but what care I?--Here has been Mrs. South with me, just come from Sir +Andrew Fountaine, and going to market. He is still in a fever, and may +live or die. His mother and sister are now come up, and in the house; so +there is a lurry.(13) I gave Mrs. South half a pistole for a New Year's +gift. So good-morrow, dears both, till anon.--At night. Lord! I have +been with Mr. Secretary from dinner till eight; and, though I drank +wine and water, I am so hot! Lady Stanley(14) came to visit Mrs. St. +John,(15) and sent up for me to make up a quarrel with Mrs. St. John, +whom I never yet saw; and do you think that devil of a Secretary would +let me go, but kept me by main force, though I told him I was in love +with his lady, and it was a shame to keep back a lover, etc.? But all +would not do; so at last I was forced to break away, but never went +up, it was then too late; and here I am, and have a great deal to do +to-night, though it be nine o'clock; but one must say something to these +naughty MD's, else there will be no quiet. + +9. To-day Ford and I set apart to go into the City to buy books; but we +only had a scurvy dinner at an alehouse; and he made me go to the tavern +and drink Florence, four and sixpence a flask; damned wine! so I spent +my money, which I seldom do, and passed an insipid day, and saw nobody, +and it is now ten o'clock, and I have nothing to say, but that 'tis a +fortnight to-morrow since I had a letter from MD; but if I have it +time enough to answer here, 'tis well enough, otherwise woe betide you, +faith. I will go to the toyman's, here just in Pall Mall, and he sells +great hugeous battoons;(16) yes, faith, and so he does. Does not he, +Dingley? Yes, faith. Don't lose your money this Christmas. + +10. I must go this morning to Mr. Secretary St. John. I promised +yesterday, but failed, so can't write any more till night to poor, dear +MD.--At night. O, faith, Dingley. I had company in the morning, and +could not go where I designed; and I had a basket from Raymond at +Bristol, with six bottles of wine and a pound of chocolate, and some +tobacco to snuff; and he writ under, the carriage was paid; but he lied, +or I am cheated, or there is a mistake; and he has written to me so +confusedly about some things, that Lucifer could not understand him. +This wine is to be drunk with Harley's brother(17) and Sir Robert +Raymond, Solicitor-General, in order to recommend the Doctor to your new +Lord Chancellor, who left this place on Monday; and Raymond says he +is hasting to Chester, to go with him.--I suppose he leaves his wife +behind; for when he left London he had no thoughts of stirring till +summer. So I suppose he will be with you before this. Ford came and +desired I would dine with him, because it was Opera-day; which I did, +and sent excuses to Lord Shelburne, who had invited me. + +11. I am setting up a new Tatler, little Harrison,(18) whom I have +mentioned to you. Others have put him on it, and I encourage him; and he +was with me this morning and evening, showing me his first, which comes +out on Saturday. I doubt he will not succeed, for I do not much approve +his manner; but the scheme is Mr. Secretary St. John's and mine, and +would have done well enough in good hands. I recommended him to a +printer,(19) whom I sent for, and settled the matter between them this +evening. Harrison has just left me, and I am tired with correcting his +trash. + +12. I was this morning upon some business with Mr. Secretary St. John, +and he made me promise to dine with him; which otherwise I would have +done with Mr. Harley, whom I have not been with these ten days. I cannot +but think they have mighty difficulties upon them; yet I always find +them as easy and disengaged as schoolboys on a holiday. Harley has the +procuring of five or six millions on his shoulders, and the Whigs will +not lend a groat;(20) which is the only reason of the fall of stocks: +for they are like Quakers and fanatics, that will only deal among +themselves, while all others deal indifferently with them. Lady +Marlborough offers, if they will let her keep her employments, never to +come into the Queen's presence. The Whigs say the Duke of Marlborough +will serve no more; but I hope and think otherwise. I would to Heaven +I were this minute with MD at Dublin; for I am weary of politics, that +give me such melancholy prospects. + +13. O, faith, I had an ugly giddy fit last night in my chamber, and I +have got a new box of pills to take, and hope I shall have no more +this good while. I would not tell you before, because it would vex you, +little rogues; but now it is over. I dined to-day with Lord Shelburne; +and to-day little Harrison's new Tatler came out: there is not much in +it, but I hope he will mend. You must understand that, upon Steele's +leaving off, there were two or three scrub Tatlers(21) came out, and one +of them holds on still, and to-day it advertised against Harrison's; +and so there must be disputes which are genuine, like the strops for +razors.(22) I am afraid the little toad has not the true vein for it. +I will tell you a copy of verses. When Mr. St. John was turned out from +being Secretary at War, three years ago, he retired to the country: +there he was talking of something he would have written over his +summer-house, and a gentleman gave him these verses-- + + From business and the noisy world retired, + Nor vexed by love, nor by ambition fired; + Gently I wait the call of Charon's boat, + Still drinking like a fish, and ------- like a stoat. + +He swore to me he could hardly bear the jest; for he pretended to retire +like a philosopher, though he was but twenty-eight years old: and I +believe the thing was true: for he had been a thorough rake. I think the +three grave lines do introduce the last well enough. Od so, but I will +go sleep; I sleep early now. + +14. O, faith, young women, I want a letter from MD; 'tis now nineteen +days since I had the last: and where have I room to answer it, pray? I +hope I shall send this away without any answer at all; for I'll hasten +it, and away it goes on Tuesday, by which time this side will be full. I +will send it two days sooner on purpose out of spite; and the very next +day after, you must know, your letter will come, and then 'tis too late, +and I will so laugh, never saw the like! 'Tis spring with us already. I +ate asparagus t'other day. Did you ever see such a frostless winter? Sir +Andrew Fountaine lies still extremely ill; it costs him ten guineas a +day to doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries, and has done so these three +weeks. I dined to-day with Mr. Ford; he sometimes chooses to dine at +home, and I am content to dine with him; and at night I called at the +Coffee-house, where I had not been in a week, and talked coldly a while +with Mr. Addison. All our friendship and dearness are off: we are civil +acquaintance, talk words of course, of when we shall meet, and that is +all. I have not been at any house with him these six weeks: t'other day +we were to have dined together at the Comptroller's;(23) but I sent my +excuses, being engaged to the Secretary of State. Is not it odd? But +I think he has used me ill; and I have used him too well, at least his +friend Steele. + +15. It has cost me three guineas to-day for a periwig.(24) I am undone! +It was made by a Leicester lad, who married Mr. Worrall's daughter, +where my mother lodged;(25) so I thought it would be cheap, and +especially since he lives in the city. Well, London lickpenny:(26) I +find it true. I have given Harrison hints for another Tatler to-morrow. +The jackanapes wants a right taste: I doubt he won't do. I dined with my +friend Lewis of the Secretary's office, and am got home early, because I +have much business to do; but before I begin, I must needs say something +to MD, faith--No, faith, I lie, it is but nineteen days to-day since my +last from MD. I have got Mr. Harley to promise that whatever changes are +made in the Council, the Bishop of Clogher shall not be removed, and he +has got a memorial accordingly. I will let the Bishop know so much in a +post or two. This is a secret; but I know he has enemies, and they shall +not be gratified, if they designed any such thing, which perhaps they +might; for some changes there will be made. So drink up your claret, and +be quiet, and do not lose your money. + +16. Morning. Faith, I will send this letter to-day to shame you, if I +han't one from MD before night, that's certain. Won't you grumble for +want of the third side, pray now? Yes, I warrant you; yes, yes, you +shall have the third, you shall so, when you can catch it, some other +time; when you be writing girls.--O, faith, I think I won't stay till +night, but seal up this just now, and carry it in my pocket, and whip +it into the post-office as I come home at evening. I am going out +early this morning.--Patrick's bills for coals and candles, etc., come +sometimes to three shillings a week; I keep very good fires, though the +weather be warm. Ireland will never be happy till you get small coal(27) +likewise; nothing so easy, so convenient, so cheap, so pretty, for +lighting a fire. My service to Mrs. Stoyte and Walls; has she a boy or a +girl? A girl, hum; and died in a week, humm; and was poor Stella forced +to stand for godmother?--Let me know how accompts stand, that you may +have your money betimes. There's four months for my lodging, that must +be thought on too: and so go dine with Manley, and lose your money, do, +extravagant sluttikin, but don't fret.--It will be just three weeks when +I have the next letter, that's to-morrow. Farewell, dearest beloved MD; +and love poor, poor Presto, who has not had one happy day since he left +you, as hope saved.--It is the last sally I will ever make, but I hope +it will turn to some account. I have done more for these,(28) and +I think they are more honest than the last; however, I will not +be disappointed. I would make MD and me easy; and I never desired +more.--Farewell, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 14. + +LONDON, Jan. 16, 1710-11. + +O faith, young women, I have sent my letter N.13 without one crumb of an +answer to any of MD's, there's for you now; and yet Presto ben't angry, +faith, not a bit, only he will begin to be in pain next Irish post, +except he sees MD's little handwriting in the glass-frame at the bar +of St. James's Coffee-house, where Presto would never go but for that +purpose. Presto is at home, God help him, every night from six till +bed-time, and has as little enjoyment or pleasure in life at present as +anybody in the world, although in full favour with all the Ministry. As +hope saved, nothing gives Presto any sort of dream of happiness but a +letter now and then from his own dearest MD. I love the expectation of +it; and when it does not come, I comfort myself that I have it yet to +be happy with. Yes, faith, and when I write to MD, I am happy too; it is +just as if methinks you were here, and I prating to you, and telling you +where I have been: "Well," says you, "Presto, come, where have you been +to-day? come, let's hear now." And so then I answer: "Ford and I were +visiting Mr. Lewis and Mr. Prior; and Prior has given me a fine Plautus; +and then Ford would have had me dine at his lodgings, and so I would +not; and so I dined with him at an eating-house, which I have not done +five times since I came here; and so I came home, after visiting Sir +Andrew Fountaine's mother and sister, and Sir Andrew Fountaine is +mending, though slowly." + +17. I was making, this morning, some general visits, and at twelve I +called at the Coffee-house for a letter from MD; so the man said he had +given it to Patrick. Then I went to the Court of Requests and Treasury, +to find Mr. Harley, and, after some time spent in mutual reproaches, +I promised to dine with him. I stayed there till seven, then called +at Sterne's and Leigh's to talk about your box, and to have it sent by +Smyth. Sterne says he has been making inquiries, and will set things +right as soon as possible. I suppose it lies at Chester, at least I hope +so, and only wants a lift over to you. Here has little Harrison been +to complain that the printer I recommended to him for his Tatler is a +coxcomb; and yet to see how things will happen; for this very printer +is my cousin, his name is Dryden Leach;(1) did you never hear of Dryden +Leach, he that prints the Postman? He acted Oroonoko;(2) he's in love +with Miss Cross.(3)--Well, so I came home to read my letter from Stella, +but the dog Patrick was abroad; at last he came, and I got my letter. +I found another hand had superscribed it; when I opened it, I found it +written all in French, and subscribed Bernage:(4) faith, I was ready to +fling it at Patrick's head. Bernage tells me he had been to desire your +recommendation to me, to make him a captain; and your cautious answer, +that he had as much power with me as you, was a notable one; if you +were here, I would present you to the Ministry as a person of ability. +Bernage should let me know where to write to him; this is the second +letter I have had without any direction; however, I beg I may not have a +third, but that you will ask him, and send me how I shall direct to him. +In the meantime, tell him that if regiments are to be raised here, as he +says, I will speak to George Granville,(5) Secretary at War, to make him +a captain; and use what other interest I conveniently can. I think that +is enough, and so tell him, and do not trouble me with his letters, when +I expect them from MD; do you hear, young women? write to Presto. + +18. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary St. John, and we were to dine +at Mr. Harley's alone, about some business of importance; but there were +two or three gentlemen there. Mr. Secretary and I went together from +his office to Mr. Harley's, and thought to have been very wise; but the +deuce a bit, the company stayed, and more came, and Harley went away at +seven, and the Secretary and I stayed with the rest of the company till +eleven; I would then have had him come away; but he was in for't; and +though he swore he would come away at that flask, there I left him. I +wonder at the civility of these people; when he saw I would drink no +more, he would always pass the bottle by me, and yet I could not keep +the toad from drinking himself, nor he would not let me go neither, nor +Masham,(6) who was with us. When I got home, I found a parcel directed +to me; and opening it, I found a pamphlet written entirely against +myself, not by name, but against something I writ:(7) it is pretty +civil, and affects to be so, and I think I will take no notice of it; +'tis against something written very lately; and indeed I know not what +to say, nor do I care. And so you are a saucy rogue for losing your +money to-day at Stoyte's; to let that bungler beat you, fie, Stella, +an't you ashamed? Well, I forgive you this once, never do so again; no, +noooo. Kiss and be friends, sirrah.--Come, let me go sleep, I go earlier +to bed than formerly; and have not been out so late these two +months; but the Secretary was in a drinking humour. So good-night, +myownlittledearsaucyinsolentrogues. + +19. Then you read that long word in the last line; no,(8) faith, han't +you. Well, when will this letter come from our MD? to-morrow or next day +without fail; yes, faith, and so it is coming. This was an insipid snowy +day, no walking day, and I dined gravely with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, and +came home, and am now got to bed a little after ten; I remember old +Culpepper's maxim: + + "Would you have a settled head, + You must early go to bed: + I tell you, and I tell't again, + You must be in bed at ten." + +20. And so I went to-day with my new wig, o hoao, to visit Lady +Worsley,(9) whom I had not seen before, although she was near a month in +town. Then I walked in the Park to find Mr. Ford, whom I had promised to +meet; and coming down the Mall, who should come towards me but Patrick, +and gives me five letters out of his pocket. I read the superscription +of the first, "Pshoh," said I; of the second, "Pshoh" again; of the +third, "Pshah, pshah, pshah"; of the fourth, "A gad, a gad, a gad, I'm +in a rage"; of the fifth and last, "O hoooa; ay marry this is something, +this is our MD"; so truly we opened it, I think immediately, and it +began the most impudently in the world, thus: "Dear Presto, We are even +thus far." "Now we are even," quoth Stephen, when he gave his wife +six blows for one. I received your ninth four days after I had sent my +thirteenth. But I'll reckon with you anon about that, young women. Why +did not you recant at the end of your letter, when you got my eleventh, +tell me that, huzzies base? were we even then, were we, sirrah? But I +won't answer your letter now, I'll keep it for another time. We had a +great deal of snow to-day, and 'tis terrible cold. I dined with Ford, +because it was his Opera-day and snowed, so I did not care to stir +farther. I will send tomorrow to Smyth. + +21. Morning. It has snowed terribly all night, and is vengeance cold. I +am not yet up, but cannot write long; my hands will freeze. "Is there a +good fire, Patrick?" "Yes, sir." "Then I will rise; come, take away the +candle." You must know I write on the dark side of my bed-chamber, and +am forced to have a candle till I rise, for the bed stands between me +and the window, and I keep the curtains shut this cold weather. So pray +let me rise; and Patrick, here, take away the candle.--At night. We are +now here in high frost and snow, the largest fire can hardly keep us +warm. It is very ugly walking; a baker's boy broke his thigh yesterday. +I walk slow, make short steps, and never tread on my heel. 'Tis a good +proverb the Devonshire people have: + + "Walk fast in snow, + In frost walk slow; + And still as you go, + Tread on your toe. + When frost and snow are both together, + Sit by the fire, and spare shoe-leather." + +I dined to-day with Dr. Cockburn,(10) but will not do so again in haste, +he has generally such a parcel of Scots with him. + +22. Morning. Starving, starving, uth, uth, uth, uth, uth.--Don't you +remember I used to come into your chamber, and turn Stella out of her +chair, and rake up the fire in a cold morning, and cry Uth, uth, uth? +etc. O, faith, I must rise, my hand is so cold I can write no more. So +good-morrow, sirrahs.--At night. I went this morning to Lady Giffard's +house, and saw your mother, and made her give me a pint bottle of +palsy-water,(11) which I brought home in my pocket; and sealed and tied +up in a paper, and sent it to Mr. Smyth, who goes to-morrow for Ireland, +and sent a letter to him to desire his care of it, and that he would +inquire at Chester about the box. He was not within: so the bottle and +letter were left for him at his lodgings, with strict orders to give +them to him; and I will send Patrick in a day or two, to know whether +it was given, etc. Dr. Stratford(12) and I dined to-day with Mr. +Stratford(13) in the City, by appointment; but I chose to walk there, +for exercise in the frost. But the weather had given a little, as you +women call it, so it was something slobbery. I did not get home till +nine. + + And now I'm in bed, + To break your head. + +23. Morning. They tell me it freezes again, but it is not so cold as +yesterday: so now I will answer a bit of your letter.--At night. O, +faith, I was just going to answer some of our MD's letter this morning, +when a printer came in about some business, and stayed an hour; so I +rose, and then came in Ben Tooke, and then I shaved and scribbled; and +it was such a terrible day, I could not stir out till one, and then I +called at Mrs. Barton's, and we went to Lady Worsley's, where we were to +dine by appointment. The Earl of Berkeley(14) is going to be married to +Lady Louisa Lennox, the Duke of Richmond's daughter. I writ this night +to Dean Sterne, and bid him tell you all about the bottle of palsy-water +by Smyth; and to-morrow morning I will say something to your letter. + +24. Morning. Come now to your letter. As for your being even with me, I +have spoken to that already. So now, my dearly beloved, let us proceed +to the next. You are always grumbling that you han't letters fast +enough; "surely we shall have your tenth;" and yet, before you end your +letter, you own you have my eleventh.--And why did not MD go into the +country with the Bishop of Clogher? faith, such a journey would have +done you good; Stella should have rode, and Dingley gone in the coach. +The Bishop of Kilmore(15) I know nothing of; he is old, and may die; he +lives in some obscure corner, for I never heard of him. As for my old +friends, if you mean the Whigs, I never see them, as you may find by my +journals, except Lord Halifax, and him very seldom; Lord Somers never +since the first visit, for he has been a false, deceitful rascal.(16) +My new friends are very kind, and I have promises enough, but I do +not count upon them, and besides my pretences are very young to them. +However, we will see what may be done; and if nothing at all, I shall +not be disappointed; although perhaps poor MD may, and then I shall be +sorrier for their sakes than my own.--Talk of a merry Christmas (why do +you write it so then, young women? sauce for the goose is sauce for the +gander), I have wished you all that two or three letters ago. Good lack; +and your news, that Mr. St. John is going to Holland; he has no such +thoughts, to quit the great station he is in; nor, if he had, could I +be spared to go with him. So, faith, politic Madam Stella, you come +with your two eggs a penny, etc. Well, Madam Dingley, and so Mrs. Stoyte +invites you, and so you stay at Donnybrook, and so you could not write. +You are plaguy exact in your journals, from Dec. 25 to Jan. 4. Well, +Smyth and the palsy-water I have handled already, and he does not lodge +(or rather did not, for, poor man, now he is gone) at Mr. Jesse's, and +all that stuff; but we found his lodging, and I went to Stella's mother +on my own head, for I never remembered it was in the letter to desire +another bottle; but I was so fretted, so tosticated, and so impatient +that Stella should have her water (I mean decently, do not be rogues), +and so vexed with Sterne's carelessness.--Pray God, Stella's illness +may not return! If they come seldom, they begin to be weary; I judge by +myself; for when I seldom visit, I grow weary of my acquaintance.--Leave +a good deal of my tenth unanswered! Impudent slut, when did you ever +answer my tenth, or ninth, or any other number? or who desires you +to answer, provided you write? I defy the D---- to answer my letters: +sometimes there may be one or two things I should be glad you would +answer; but I forget them, and you never think of them. I shall never +love answering letters again, if you talk of answering. Answering, +quotha! pretty answerers truly.--As for the pamphlet you speak of, and +call it scandalous, and that one Mr. Presto is said to write it, hear my +answer. Fie, child, you must not mind what every idle body tells you--I +believe you lie, and that the dogs were not crying it when you said so; +come, tell truth. I am sorry you go to St. Mary's(17) so soon, you will +be as poor as rats; that place will drain you with a vengeance: besides, +I would have you think of being in the country in summer. Indeed, +Stella, pippins produced plentifully; Parvisol could not send from +Laracor: there were about half a score, I would be glad to know whether +they were good for anything.--Mrs. Walls at Donnybrook with you; why is +not she brought to bed? Well, well, well, Dingley, pray be satisfied; +you talk as if you were angry about the Bishop's not offering you +conveniences for the journey; and so he should.--What sort of Christmas? +Why, I have had no Christmas at all; and has it really been Christmas +of late? I never once thought of it. My service to Mrs. Stoyte, and +Catherine; and let Catherine get the coffee ready against I come, and +not have so much care on her countenance; for all will go well.--Mr. +Bernage, Mr. Bernage, Mr. Fiddlenage, I have had three letters from +him now successively; he sends no directions, and how the D---- shall +I write to him? I would have burnt his last, if I had not seen Stella's +hand at the bottom: his request is all nonsense. How can I assist him in +buying? and if he be ordered to go to Spain, go he must, or else sell, +and I believe one can hardly sell in such a juncture. If he had stayed, +and new regiments raised, I would have used my endeavour to have had him +removed; although I have no credit that way, or very little: but, if +the regiment goes, he ought to go too; he has had great indulgence, and +opportunities of saving; and I have urged him to it a hundred times. +What can I do? whenever it lies in my power to do him a good office, I +will do it. Pray draw up this into a handsome speech, and represent it +to him from me, and that I would write, if I knew where to direct to +him; and so I have told you, and desired you would tell him, fifty +times. Yes, Madam Stella, I think I can read your long concluding word, +but you can't read mine after bidding you good-night. And yet methinks, +I mend extremely in my writing; but when Stella's eyes are well, I hope +to write as bad as ever.--So now I have answered your letter, and mine +is an answer; for I lay yours before me, and I look and write, and write +and look, and look and write again.--So good-morrow, madams both, and I +will go rise, for I must rise; for I take pills at night, and so I must +rise early, I don't know why. + +25. Morning. I did not tell you how I passed my time yesterday, nor +bid you good-night, and there was good reason. I went in the morning +to Secretary St. John about some business; he had got a great Whig with +him; a creature of the Duke of Marlborough, who is a go-between to make +peace between the Duke and the Ministry: so he came out of his closet, +and, after a few words, desired I would dine with him at three; but Mr. +Lewis stayed till six before he came; and there we sat talking, and the +time slipped so, that at last, when I was positive to go, it was past +two o'clock; so I came home, and went straight to bed. He would never +let me look at his watch, and I could not imagine it above twelve when +we went away. So I bid you good-night for last night, and now I bid you +good-morrow, and I am still in bed, though it be near ten, but I must +rise. + +26, 27, 28, 29, 30. I have been so lazy and negligent these last four +days that I could not write to MD. My head is not in order, and yet is +not absolutely ill, but giddyish, and makes me listless; I walk every +day, and take drops of Dr. Cockburn, and I have just done a box of +pills; and to-day Lady Kerry sent me some of her bitter drink, which I +design to take twice a day, and hope I shall grow better. I wish I were +with MD; I long for spring and good weather, and then I will come over. +My riding in Ireland keeps me well. I am very temperate, and eat of the +easiest meats as I am directed, and hope the malignity will go off; +but one fit shakes me a long time. I dined to-day with Lord Mountjoy, +yesterday at Mr. Stone's, in the City, on Sunday at Vanhomrigh's, +Saturday with Ford, and Friday I think at Vanhomrigh's; and that is all +the journal I can send MD, for I was so lazy while I was well, that I +could not write. I thought to have sent this to-night, but 'tis ten, +and I'll go to bed, and write on t'other side to Parvisol to-morrow, and +send it on Thursday; and so good-night, my dears; and love Presto, and +be healthy, and Presto will be so too, etc. + +Cut off these notes handsomely, d'ye hear, sirrahs, and give Mrs. Brent +hers, and keep yours till you see Parvisol, and then make up the letter +to him, and send it him by the first opportunity; and so God Almighty +bless you both, here and ever, and poor Presto. + +What, I warrant you thought at first that these last lines were another +letter. + +Dingley, Pray pay Stella six fishes, and place them to the account of +your humble servant, Presto. + +Stella, Pray pay Dingley six fishes, and place them to the account of +your humble servant, Presto. + +There are bills of exchange for you. + + + + +LETTER 15. + +LONDON, Jan. 31, 1710-11. + +I am to send you my fourteenth to-morrow; but my head, having some +little disorders, confounds all my journals. I was early this morning +with Mr. Secretary St. John about some business, so I could not scribble +my morning lines to MD. They are here intending to tax all little +printed penny papers a halfpenny every half-sheet, which will utterly +ruin Grub Street, and I am endeavouring to prevent it.(1) Besides, I was +forwarding an impeachment against a certain great person; that was two +of my businesses with the Secretary, were they not worthy ones? It was +Ford's birthday, and I refused the Secretary, and dined with Ford. +We are here in as smart a frost for the time as I have seen; delicate +walking weather, and the Canal and Rosamond's Pond(2) full of the rabble +sliding and with skates, if you know what those are. Patrick's bird's +water freezes in the gallipot, and my hands in bed. + +Feb. 1. I was this morning with poor Lady Kerry, who is much worse in +her head than I. She sends me bottles of her bitter; and we are so fond +of one another, because our ailments are the same; don't you know that, +Madam Stella? Han't I seen you conning ailments with Joe's wife,(3) +and some others, sirrah? I walked into the City to dine, because of the +walk, for we must take care of Presto's health, you know, because of +poor little MD. But I walked plaguy carefully, for fear of sliding +against my will; but I am very busy. + +2. This morning Mr. Ford came to me to walk into the City, where he had +business, and then to buy books at Bateman's; and I laid out one pound +five shillings for a Strabo and Aristophanes, and I have now got books +enough to make me another shelf, and I will have more, or it shall cost +me a fall; and so as we came back, we drank a flask of right French wine +at Ben Tooke's chamber; and when I got home, Mrs. Vanhomrigh sent me +word her eldest daughter(4) was taken suddenly very ill, and desired I +would come and see her. I went, and found it was a silly trick of Mrs. +Armstrong,(5) Lady Lucy's sister, who, with Moll Stanhope, was visiting +there: however, I rattled off the daughter. + +3. To-day I went and dined at Lady Lucy's, where you know I have not +been this long time. They are plaguy Whigs, especially the sister +Armstrong, the most insupportable of all women, pretending to wit, +without any taste. She was running down the last Examiner,(6) the +prettiest I had read, with a character of the present Ministry.--I left +them at five, and came home. But I forgot to tell you, that this morning +my cousin Dryden Leach, the printer, came to me with a heavy complaint, +that Harrison the new Tatler had turned him off, and taken the last +Tatler's printers again. He vowed revenge; I answered gravely, and so he +left me, and I have ordered Patrick to deny me to him from henceforth: +and at night comes a letter from Harrison, telling me the same thing, +and excused his doing it without my notice, because he would bear all +the blame; and in his Tatler of this day(7) he tells you the story, how +he has taken his old officers, and there is a most humble letter from +Morphew and Lillie to beg his pardon, etc.(8) And lastly, this morning +Ford sent me two letters from the Coffee-house (where I hardly ever go), +one from the Archbishop of Dublin, and t'other from--Who do you think +t'other was from?--I'll tell you, because you are friends; why, then it +was, faith, it was from my own dear little MD, N.10. Oh, but will not +answer it now, no, noooooh, I'll keep it between the two sheets; here it +is, just under; oh, I lifted up the sheet and saw it there: lie still, +you shan't be answered yet, little letter; for I must go to bed, and +take care of my head. + +4. I avoid going to church yet, for fear of my head, though it has been +much better these last five or six days, since I have taken Lady Kerry's +bitter. Our frost holds like a dragon. I went to Mr. Addison's, and +dined with him at his lodgings; I had not seen him these three weeks, we +are grown common acquaintance; yet what have not I done for his friend +Steele? Mr. Harley reproached me the last time I saw him, that to please +me he would be reconciled to Steele, and had promised and appointed +to see him, and that Steele never came. Harrison, whom Mr. Addison +recommended to me, I have introduced to the Secretary of State, who has +promised me to take care of him; and I have represented Addison himself +so to the Ministry, that they think and talk in his favour, though they +hated him before.--Well, he is now in my debt, and there's an end; and +I never had the least obligation to him, and there's another end. This +evening I had a message from Mr. Harley, desiring to know whether I was +alive, and that I would dine with him to-morrow. They dine so late, that +since my head has been wrong I have avoided being with them.--Patrick +has been out of favour these ten days; I talk dry and cross to him, +and have called him "friend" three or four times. But, sirrahs, get you +gone. + +5. Morning. I am going this morning to see Prior, who dines with me +at Mr. Harley's; so I can't stay fiddling and talking with dear little +brats in a morning, and 'tis still terribly cold.--I wish my cold hand +was in the warmest place about you, young women, I'd give ten guineas +upon that account with all my heart, faith; oh, it starves my thigh; so +I'll rise and bid you good-morrow, my ladies both, good-morrow. Come, +stand away, let me rise: Patrick, take away the candle. Is there a good +fire?--So--up-a-dazy.--At night. Mr. Harley did not sit down till six, +and I stayed till eleven; henceforth I will choose to visit him in the +evenings, and dine with him no more if I can help it. It breaks all my +measures, and hurts my health; my head is disorderly, but not ill, and I +hope it will mend. + +6. Here has been such a hurry with the Queen's Birthday, so much fine +clothes, and the Court so crowded that I did not go there. All the frost +is gone. It thawed on Sunday, and so continues, yet ice is still on the +Canal (I did not mean that of Laracor, but St. James's Park) and boys +sliding on it. Mr. Ford pressed me to dine with him in his chamber.--Did +not I tell you Patrick has got a bird, a linnet, to carry over to +Dingley? It was very tame at first, and 'tis now the wildest I ever saw. +He keeps it in a closet, where it makes a terrible litter; but I say +nothing: I am as tame as a clout. When must we answer our MD's letter? +One of these odd-come-shortlies. This is a week old, you see, and no +farther yet. Mr. Harley desired I would dine with him again to-day; but +I refused him, for I fell out with him yesterday,(9) and will not see +him again till he makes me amends: and so I go to bed. + +7. I was this morning early with Mr. Lewis of the Secretary's office, +and saw a letter Mr. Harley had sent to him, desiring to be reconciled; +but I was deaf to all entreaties, and have desired Lewis to go to him, +and let him know I expect further satisfaction. If we let these great +Ministers pretend too much, there will be no governing them. He promises +to make me easy, if I will but come and see him; but I won't, and he +shall do it by message, or I will cast him off. I'll tell you the cause +of our quarrel when I see you, and refer it to yourselves. In that he +did something, which he intended for a favour; and I have taken it quite +otherwise, disliking both the thing and the manner, and it has heartily +vexed me, and all I have said is truth, though it looks like jest; and I +absolutely refused to submit to his intended favour, and expect further +satisfaction. Mr. Ford and I dined with Mr. Lewis. We have a monstrous +deal of snow, and it has cost me two shillings to-day in chair and +coach, and walked till I was dirty besides. I know not what it is now +to read or write after I am in bed. The last thing I do up is to write +something to our MD, and then get into bed, and put out my candle, +and so go sleep as fast as ever I can. But in the mornings I do write +sometimes in bed, as you know. + +8. Morning. I HAVE DESIRED APRONIA TO BE ALWAYS CAREFUL, ESPECIALLY +ABOUT THE LEGS. Pray, do you see any such great wit in that sentence? +I must freely own that I do not. But party carries everything nowadays, +and what a splutter have I heard about the wit of that saying, repeated +with admiration above a hundred times in half an hour! Pray read it over +again this moment, and consider it. I think the word is ADVISED, and not +DESIRED. I should not have remembered it if I had not heard it so often. +Why--ay--You must know I dreamed it just now, and waked with it in my +mouth. Are you bit, or are you not, sirrahs? I met Mr. Harley in the +Court of Requests, and he asked me how long I had learnt the trick of +writing to myself? He had seen your letter through the glass case at the +Coffee-house, and would swear it was my hand; and Mr. Ford, who took and +sent it me, was of the same mind. I remember others have formerly said +so too. I think I was little MD's writing-master.(10)--But come, what +is here to do, writing to young women in a morning? I have other fish +to fry; so good-morrow, my ladies all, good-morrow. Perhaps I'll answer +your letter to-night, perhaps I won't; that's as saucy little Presto +takes the humour.--At night. I walked in the Park to-day in spite of the +weather, as I do always when it does not actually rain. Do you know what +it has gone and done? We had a thaw for three days, then a monstrous +dirt and snow, and now it freezes, like a pot-lid, upon our snow. I +dined with Lady Betty Germaine, the first time since I came for England; +and there did I sit, like a booby, till eight, looking over her and +another lady at piquet, when I had other business enough to do. It was +the coldest day I felt this year. + +9. Morning. After I had been abed an hour last night, I was forced to +rise and call to the landlady and maid to have the fire removed in a +chimney below stairs, which made my bed-chamber smoke, though I had no +fire in it. I have been twice served so. I never lay so miserable an +hour in my life. Is it not plaguy vexatious?--It has snowed all night, +and rains this morning.--Come, where's MD's letter? Come, Mrs. Letter, +make your appearance. Here am I, says she, answer me to my face.--O, +faith, I am sorry you had my twelfth so soon; I doubt you will stay +longer for the rest. I'm so 'fraid you have got my fourteenth while I +am writing this; and I would always have one letter from Presto reading, +one travelling, and one writing. As for the box, I now believe it lost. +It is directed for Mr. Curry, at his house in Capel Street, etc. I had +a letter yesterday from Dr. Raymond in Chester, who says he sent his +man everywhere, and cannot find it; and God knows whether Mr. Smyth will +have better success. Sterne spoke to him, and I writ to him with the +bottle of palsy-water; that bottle, I hope, will not miscarry: I long +to hear you have it. O, faith, you have too good an opinion of Presto's +care. I am negligent enough of everything but MD, and I should not have +trusted Sterne.--But it shall not go so: I will have one more tug for +it.--As to what you say of Goodman Peasly and Isaac,(11) I answer as I +did before. Fie, child, you must not give yourself the way to believe +any such thing: and afterwards, only for curiosity, you may tell me +how these things are approved, and how you like them; and whether they +instruct you in the present course of affairs, and whether they are +printed in your town, or only sent from hence.--Sir Andrew Fountaine is +recovered; so take your sorrow again, but don't keep it, fling it to the +dogs. And does little MD walk indeed?--I'm glad of it at heart.--Yes, we +have done with the plague here: it was very saucy in you to pretend to +have it before your betters. Your intelligence that the story is false +about the officers forced to sell,(12) is admirable. You may see them +all three here every day, no more in the army than you. Twelve shillings +for mending the strong box; that is, for putting a farthing's worth of +iron on a hinge, and gilding it; give him six shillings, and I'll pay +it, and never employ him or his again.--No indeed, I put off preaching +as much as I can. I am upon another foot: nobody doubts here whether +I can preach, and you are fools.--The account you give of that weekly +paper(13) agrees with us here. Mr. Prior was like to be insulted in the +street for being supposed the author of it; but one of the last papers +cleared him. Nobody knows who it is, but those few in the secret, I +suppose the Ministry and the printer.--Poor Stella's eyes! God bless +them, and send them better. Pray spare them, and write not above two +lines a day in broad daylight. How does Stella look, Madam Dingley? +Pretty well, a handsome young woman still. Will she pass in a crowd? +Will she make a figure in a country church?--Stay a little, fair ladies. +I this minute sent Patrick to Sterne: he brings back word that your box +is very safe with one Mr. Earl's sister in Chester, and that Colonel +Edgworth's widow(14) goes for Ireland on Monday next, and will receive +the box at Chester, and deliver it you safe: so there are some hopes +now.--Well, let us go on to your letter.--The warrant is passed for the +First-Fruits. The Queen does not send a letter; but a patent will be +drawn here, and that will take up time. Mr. Harley of late has said +nothing of presenting me to the Queen: I was overseen(15) when I +mentioned it to you. He has such a weight of affairs on him, that he +cannot mind all; but he talked of it three or four times to me, long +before I dropped it to you. What, is not Mrs. Walls' business over +yet? I had hopes she was up and well, and the child dead before this +time.--You did right, at last, to send me your accompts; but I did not +stay for them, I thank you. I hope you have your bill sent in my last, +and there will be eight pounds' interest soon due from Hawkshaw: pray +look at his bond. I hope you are good managers; and that, when I say so, +Stella won't think I intend she should grudge herself wine. But going to +those expensive lodgings requires some fund. I wish you had stayed till +I came over, for some reasons. That Frenchwoman(16) will be grumbling +again in a little time: and if you are invited anywhere to the country, +it will vex you to pay in absence; and the country may be necessary for +poor Stella's health: but do as you like, and do not blame Presto.--Oh, +but you are telling your reasons.--Well, I have read them; do as you +please.--Yes, Raymond says he must stay longer than he thought, because +he cannot settle his affairs. M---- is in the country at some friend's, +comes to town in spring, and then goes to settle in Herefordshire. Her +husband is a surly, ill-natured brute, and cares not she should see +anybody. O Lord, see how I blundered, and left two lines short; it was +that ugly score in the paper(17) that made me mistake.--I believe you +lie about the story of the fire, only to make it more odd. Bernage must +go to Spain; and I will see to recommend him to the Duke of Argyle, his +General, when I see the Duke next: but the officers tell me it would be +dishonourable in the last degree for him to sell now, and he would never +be preferred in the army; so that, unless he designs to leave it for +good and all, he must go. Tell him so, and that I would write if I knew +where to direct to him; which I have said fourscore times already. I had +rather anything almost than that you should strain yourselves to send +a letter when it is inconvenient; we have settled that matter already. +I'll write when I can, and so shall MD; and upon occasions extraordinary +I will write, though it be a line; and when we have not letters soon, we +agree that all things are well; and so that's settled for ever, and +so hold your tongue.--Well, you shall have your pins; but for candles' +ends, I cannot promise, because I burn them to the stumps; besides, I +remember what Stella told Dingley about them many years ago, and she +may think the same thing of me.--And Dingley shall have her hinged +spectacles.--Poor dear Stella, how durst you write those two lines by +candlelight? bang your bones! Faith, this letter shall go to-morrow, I +think, and that will be in ten days from the last, young women; that's +too soon of all conscience: but answering yours has filled it up so +quick, and I do not design to use you to three pages in folio, no, +nooooh. All this is one morning's work in bed;--and so good-morrow, +little sirrahs; that's for the rhyme.(18) You want politics: faith, I +can't think of any; but may be at night I may tell you a passage. Come, +sit off the bed, and let me rise, will you?--At night. I dined to-day +with my neighbour Vanhomrigh; it was such dismal weather I could not +stir further. I have had some threatenings with my head, but no fits. I +still drink Dr. Radcliffe's(19) bitter, and will continue it. + +10. I was this morning to see the Secretary of State, and have engaged +him to give a memorial from me to the Duke of Argyle in behalf of +Bernage. The Duke is a man that distinguishes people of merit, and I +will speak to him myself; but the Secretary backing it will be very +effectual, and I will take care to have it done to purpose. Pray tell +Bernage so, and that I think nothing can be luckier for him, and that I +would have him go by all means. I will order it that the Duke shall send +for him when they are in Spain; or, if he fails, that he shall receive +him kindly when he goes to wait on him. Can I do more? Is not this a +great deal?--I now send away this letter, that you may not stay.--I +dined with Ford upon his Opera-day, and am now come home, and am going +to study; do not you presume to guess, sirrahs, impudent saucy dear +boxes. Towards the end of a letter I could not say saucy boxes without +putting dear between. An't that right now? Farewell. THIS should BE +longer, BUT that _I_ send IT to-night.(20) + +O silly, silly loggerhead! + +I send a letter this post to one Mr. Staunton, and I direct it to Mr. +Acton's in St. Michael's Lane. He formerly lodged there, but he has not +told me where to direct. Pray send to that Acton, whether(21) the letter +is come there, and whether he has sent it to Staunton. + +If Bernage designs to sell his commission and stay at home, pray let him +tell me so, that my recommendation to the Duke of Argyle may not be in +vain. + + + + +LETTER 16. + +LONDON, Feb. 10, 1710-11. + +I have just despatched my fifteenth to the post; I tell you how things +will be, after I have got a letter from MD. I am in furious haste +to finish mine, for fear of having two of MD's to answer in one of +Presto's, which would be such a disgrace, never saw the like; but, +before you write to me, I write at my leisure, like a gentleman, a +little every day, just to let you know how matters go, and so and +so; and I hope before this comes to you, you'll have got your box and +chocolate, and Presto will take more care another time. + +11. Morning. I must rise and go see my Lord Keeper,(1) which will +cost me two shillings in coach-hire. Don't you call them two +thirteens?(2)--At night. It has rained all day, and there was no +walking. I read prayers to Sir Andrew Fountaine in the forenoon, and I +dined with three Irishmen, at one Mr. Cope's(3) lodgings; the other two +were one Morris an archdeacon,(4) and Mr. Ford. When I came home this +evening, I expected that little jackanapes Harrison would have come to +get help about his Tatler for Tuesday: I have fixed two evenings in the +week which I allow him to come. The toad never came, and I expecting him +fell a reading, and left off other business.--Come, what are you doing? +How do you pass your time this ugly weather? Gaming and drinking, I +suppose: fine diversions for young ladies, truly! I wish you had some +of our Seville oranges, and we some of your wine. We have the finest +oranges for twopence apiece, and the basest wine for six shillings a +bottle. They tell me wine grows cheap with you. I am resolved to have +half a hogshead when I get to Ireland, if it be good and cheap, as it +used to be; and I will treat MD at my table in an evening, oh hoa, and +laugh at great Ministers of State. + +12. The days are grown fine and long, ---- be thanked. O, faith, you +forget all our little sayings, and I am angry. I dined to-day with Mr. +Secretary St. John: I went to the Court of Requests at noon, and sent +Mr. Harley into the House to call the Secretary, to let him know I would +not dine with him if he dined late. By good luck the Duke of Argyle was +at the lobby of the House too, and I kept him in talk till the Secretary +came out; then told them I was glad to meet them together, and that +I had a request to the Duke, which the Secretary must second, and +his Grace must grant. The Duke said he was sure it was something +insignificant, and wished it was ten times greater. At the Secretary's +house I writ a memorial, and gave it to the Secretary to give the Duke, +and shall see that he does it. It is, that his Grace will please to +take Mr. Bernage into his protection; and if he finds Bernage answers my +character, to give him all encouragement. Colonel Masham(5) and Colonel +Hill(6) Mrs. Masham's(7) brother tell me my request is reasonable, and +they will second it heartily to the Duke too: so I reckon Bernage is +on a very good foot when he goes to Spain. Pray tell him this, though +perhaps I will write to him before he goes; yet where shall I direct? +for I suppose he has left Connolly's.(8) + +13. I have left off Lady Kerry's bitter, and got another box of pills. +I have no fits of giddiness, but only some little disorders towards it; +and I walk as much as I can. Lady Kerry is just as I am, only a great +deal worse: I dined to-day at Lord Shelburne's, where she is, and we +con ailments, which makes us very fond of each other. I have taken Mr. +Harley into favour again, and called to see him, but he was not within; +I will use to visit him after dinner, for he dines too late for my head: +then I went to visit poor Congreve, who is just getting out of a severe +fit of the gout; and I sat with him till near nine o'clock. He gave me a +Tatler(9) he had written out, as blind as he is, for little Harrison. It +is about a scoundrel that was grown rich, and went and bought a coat of +arms at the Herald's, and a set of ancestors at Fleet Ditch; 'tis well +enough, and shall be printed in two or three days, and if you read those +kind of things, this will divert you. It is now between ten and eleven, +and I am going to bed. + +14. This was Mrs. Vanhomrigh's daughter's(10) birthday, and Mr. Ford +and I were invited to dinner to keep it, and we spent the evening there, +drinking punch. That was our way of beginning Lent; and in the morning +Lord Shelburne, Lady Kerry, Mrs. Pratt, and I, went to Hyde Park, +instead of going to church; for, till my head is a little settled, I +think it better not to go; it would be so silly and troublesome to go +out sick. Dr. Duke(11) died suddenly two or three nights ago; he was one +of the wits when we were children, but turned parson, and left it, and +never writ farther than a prologue or recommendatory copy of verses. He +had a fine living given him by the Bishop of Winchester(12) about three +months ago; he got his living suddenly, and he got his dying so too. + +15. I walked purely to-day about the Park, the rain being just over, of +which we have had a great deal, mixed with little short frosts. I went +to the Court of Requests, thinking, if Mr. Harley dined early, to go +with him. But meeting Leigh and Sterne, they invited me to dine +with them, and away we went. When we got into his room, one H----, a +worthless Irish fellow, was there, ready to dine with us; so I stepped +out, and whispered them, that I would not dine with that fellow: they +made excuses, and begged me to stay; but away I went to Mr. Harley's, +and he did not dine at home; and at last I dined at Sir John +Germaine's,(13) and found Lady Betty but just recovered of a +miscarriage. I am writing an inscription for Lord Berkeley's(14) tomb; +you know the young rake his son, the new Earl, is married to the Duke of +Richmond's daughter,(15) at the Duke's country house, and are now coming +to town. She will be fluxed in two months, and they'll be parted in a +year. You ladies are brave, bold, venturesome folks; and the chit is but +seventeen, and is ill-natured, covetous, vicious, and proud in extremes. +And so get you gone to Stoyte to-morrow. + +16. Faith, this letter goes on but slow; 'tis a week old, and the first +side not written. I went to-day into the City for a walk, but the person +I designed to dine with was not at home; so I came back, and called at +Congreve's, and dined with him and Estcourt,(16) and laughed till six; +then went to Mr. Harley's, who was not gone to dinner; there I stayed +till nine, and we made up our quarrel, and he has invited me to dinner +to-morrow, which is the day of the week (Saturday) that Lord Keeper +and Secretary St. John dine with him privately, and at last they have +consented to let me among them on that day. Atterbury and Prior went +to bury poor Dr. Duke. Congreve's nasty white wine has given me the +heart-burn. + +17. I took some good walks in the Park to-day, and then went to +Mr. Harley. Lord Rivers was got there before me, and I chid him for +presuming to come on a day when only Lord Keeper and the Secretary and I +were to be there; but he regarded me not; so we all dined together, +and sat down at four; and the Secretary has invited me to dine with him +to-morrow. I told them I had no hopes they could ever keep in, but that +I saw they loved one another so well, as indeed they seem to do. They +call me nothing but Jonathan; and I said I believed they would leave me +Jonathan as they found me; and that I never knew a Ministry do anything +for those whom they make companions of their pleasures; and I believe +you will find it so; but I care not. I am upon a project of getting +five hundred pounds,(17) without being obliged to anybody; but that is +a secret, till I see my dearest MD; and so hold your tongue, and do not +talk, sirrahs, for I am now about it. + +18. My head has no fits, but a little disordered before dinner; yet I +walk stoutly, and take pills, and hope to mend. Secretary St. John would +needs have me dine with him to-day; and there I found three persons I +never saw, two I had no acquaintance with, and one I did not care for: +so I left them early and came home, it being no day to walk, but scurvy +rain and wind. The Secretary tells me he has put a cheat on me; for Lord +Peterborow sent him twelve dozen flasks of burgundy, on condition that I +should have my share; but he never was quiet till they were all gone, +so I reckon he owes me thirty-six pounds. Lord Peterborow is now got +to Vienna, and I must write to him to-morrow. I begin now to be towards +looking for a letter from some certain ladies of Presto's acquaintance, +that live at St. Mary's,(18) and are called in a certain language, our +little MD. No, stay, I don't expect one these six days, that will be +just three weeks; an't I a reasonable creature? We are plagued here with +an October Club, that is, a set of above a hundred Parliament men of +the country, who drink October beer at home, and meet every evening at +a tavern near the Parliament to consult affairs, and drive things on to +extremes against the Whigs, to call the old Ministry to account, and get +off five or six heads.(19) The Ministry seem not to regard them; yet one +of them in confidence told me that there must be something thought +on, to settle things better. I'll tell you one great State secret: the +Queen, sensible how much she was governed by the late Ministry, runs a +little into t'other extreme, and is jealous in that point, even of +those who got her out of the others' hands. The Ministry is for gentler +measures, and the other Tories for more violent. Lord Rivers, talking +to me the other day, cursed the paper called the Examiner, for speaking +civilly of the Duke of Marlborough; this I happened to talk of to the +Secretary, who blamed the warmth of that lord and some others, and swore +that if their advice were followed they would be blown up in twenty-four +hours. And I have reason to think that they will endeavour to prevail +on the Queen to put her affairs more in the hands of a Ministry than she +does at present; and there are, I believe, two men thought on, one +of them you have often met the name of in my letters. But so much for +politics. + +19. This proved a terrible rainy day, which prevented my walk into the +City, and I was only able to run and dine with my neighbour Vanhomrigh, +where Sir Andrew Fountaine dined too, who has just began to sally out, +and has shipped his mother and sister, who were his nurses, back to the +country. This evening was fair, and I walked a little in the Park, till +Prior made me go with him to the Smyrna Coffee-house, where I sat +a while, and saw four or five Irish persons, who are very handsome, +genteel fellows; but I know not their names. I came away at seven, and +got home. Two days ago I writ to Bernage, and told him what I had +done, and directed the letter to Mr. Curry's, to be left with Dingley. +Brigadiers Hill and Masham, brother and husband to Mrs. Masham, the +Queen's favourite, Colonel Disney,(20) and I, have recommended Bernage +to the Duke of Argyle; and Secretary St. John has given the Duke +my memorial; and, besides, Hill tells me, that Bernage's colonel, +Fielding,(21) designs to make him his captain-lieutenant: but I believe +I said this to you before, and in this letter; but I will not look. + +20. Morning. It snows terribly again; and 'tis mistaken, for I now want +a little good weather. I bid you good-morrow; and, if it clear up, get +you gone to poor Mrs. Walls, who has had a hard time of it, but is now +pretty well again. I am sorry it is a girl: the poor Archdeacon too, see +how simply he looked when they told him: what did it cost Stella to be +gossip? I'll rise; so, d'ye hear, let me see you at night; and do not +stay late out, and catch cold, sirrahs.--At night. It grew good weather, +and I got a good walk, and dined with Ford upon his Opera-day; but, now +all his wine is gone, I shall dine with him no more. I hope to send +this letter before I hear from MD, methinks there is--something great in +doing so, only I can't express where it lies; and, faith, this shall go +by Saturday, as sure as you're a rogue. Mrs. Edgworth was to set out but +last Monday; so you won't have your box so soon perhaps as this letter; +but Sterne told me since that it is safe at Chester, and that she will +take care of it. I'd give a guinea you had it. + +21. Morning. Faith, I hope it will be fair for me to walk into the City; +for I take all occasions of walking.--I should be plaguy busy at Laracor +if I were there now, cutting down willows, planting others, scouring my +canal, and every kind of thing. If Raymond goes over this summer, you +must submit, and make them a visit, that we may have another eel and +trout fishing; and that Stella may ride by, and see Presto in his +morning-gown in the garden, and so go up with Joe to the Hill of Bree, +and round by Scurlock's Town. O Lord, how I remember names! faith, +it gives me short sighs; therefore no more of that, if you love me. +Good-morrow, I will go rise like a gentleman; my pills say I must.--At +night. Lady Kerry sent to desire me to engage some lords about an affair +she has in their house here: I called to see her, but found she +had already engaged every lord I knew, and that there was no great +difficulty in the matter; and it rained like a dog; so I took coach, +for want of better exercise, and dined privately with a hang-dog in the +City, and walked back in the evening. The days are now long enough to +walk in the Park after dinner; and so I do whenever it is fair. This +walking is a strange remedy: Mr. Prior walks, to make himself fat, and +I to bring myself down; he has generally a cough, which he only calls a +cold; we often walk round the Park together. So I'll go sleep. + +22. It snowed all this morning prodigiously, and was some inches thick +in three or four hours. I dined with Mr. Lewis of the Secretary's office +at his lodgings: the chairmen that carried me squeezed a great fellow +against a wall, who wisely turned his back, and broke one of the +side-glasses in a thousand pieces. I fell a scolding, pretended I was +like to be cut to pieces, and made them set down the chair in the Park, +while they picked out the bits of glasses; and, when I paid them, I +quarrelled still; so they dared not grumble, and I came off for my fare; +but I was plaguily afraid they would have said, "God bless your honour, +won't you give us something for our glass?" Lewis and I were forming +a project how I might get three or four hundred pounds,(22) which +I suppose may come to nothing. I hope Smyth has brought you your +palsy-drops. How does Stella do? I begin more and more to desire to +know. The three weeks since I had your last is over within two days, and +I will allow three for accidents. + +23. The snow is gone every bit, except the remainder of some great balls +made by the boys. Mr. Sterne was with me this morning about an affair he +has before the Treasury. That drab Mrs. Edgworth is not yet set out, but +will infallibly next Monday: and this is the third infallible Monday, +and pox take her! So you will have this letter first; and this shall go +to-morrow; and, if I have one from MD in that time, I will not answer it +till my next; only I will say, "Madam, I received your letter, and so, +and so." I dined to-day with my Mistress Butler,(23) who grows very +disagreeable. + +24. Morning. This letter certainly goes this evening, sure as you're +alive, young women, and then you will be so shamed that I have had none +from you; and, if I was to reckon like you, I would say, I were six +letters before you, for this is N.16, and I have had your N.10. But I +reckon you have received but fourteen, and have sent eleven. I think to +go to-day a Minister-of-State-hunting in the Court of Requests; for +I have something to say to Mr. Harley. And it is fine, cold, sunshiny +weather; I wish dear MD would walk this morning in your Stephen's Green; +'tis as good as our Park, but not so large.(24) Faith, this summer we'll +take a coach for sixpence(25) to the Green Well, the two walks, and +thence all the way to Stoyte's.(26) My hearty service to Goody Stoyte +and Catherine; and I hope Mrs. Walls had a good time. How inconstant I +am! I can't imagine I was ever in love with her. Well, I'm going; what +have you to say? I DO NOT CARE HOW I WRITE NOW.(27) I don't design to +write on this side; these few lines are but so much more than your +due; so I will write LARGE or small as I please. O, faith, my hands are +starving in bed; I believe it is a hard frost. I must rise, and bid +you good-bye, for I'll seal this letter immediately, and carry it in +my pocket, and put it into the post-office with my own fair hands. +Farewell. + +This letter is just a fortnight's journal to-day. Yes, and so it is, I'm +sure, says you, with your two eggs a penny. + +Lele, lele, lele.(28) + +O Lord, I am saying lele, lele, to myself, in all our little keys: and, +now you talk of keys, that dog Patrick broke the key-general of the +chest of drawers with six locks, and I have been so plagued to get a new +one, besides my good two shillings! + + + + +LETTER 17. + +LONDON, Feb. 24, 1710-11. + +Now, young women, I gave in my sixteenth this evening. I dined with Ford +(it was his Opera-day) as usual; it is very convenient to me to do so, +for coming home early after a walk in the Park, which now the days will +allow. I called on the Secretary at his office, and he had forgot to +give the memorial about Bernage to the Duke of Argyle; but, two days +ago, I met the Duke, who desired I would give it him myself, which +should have more power with him than all the Ministry together, as he +protested solemnly, repeated it two or three times, and bid me count +upon it. So that I verily believe Bernage will be in a very good way +to establish himself. I think I can do no more for him at present, and +there's an end of that; and so get you gone to bed, for it is late. + +25. The three weeks are out yesterday since I had your last, and so now +I will be expecting every day a pretty dear letter from my own MD, and +hope to hear that Stella has been much better in her head and eyes: +my head continues as it was, no fits, but a little disorder every day, +which I can easily bear, if it will not grow worse. I dined to-day with +Mr. Secretary St. John, on condition I might choose my company, which +were Lord Rivers, Lord Carteret, Sir Thomas Mansel,(1) and Mr. Lewis; I +invited Masham, Hill, Sir John Stanley, and George Granville, but they +were engaged; and I did it in revenge of his having such bad company +when I dined with him before; so we laughed, etc. And I ventured to go +to church to-day, which I have not done this month before. Can you send +me such a good account of Stella's health, pray now? Yes, I hope, and +better too. We dined (says you) at the Dean's, and played at cards +till twelve, and there came in Mr. French, and Dr. Travors, and Dr. +Whittingham, and Mr. (I forget his name, that I always tell Mrs. Walls +of) the banker's son, a pox on him. And we were so merry; I vow they are +pure good company. But I lost a crown; for you must know I had always +hands tempting me to go out, but never took in anything, and often +two black aces without a manilio; was not that hard, Presto? Hold your +tongue, etc. + +26. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary about some business, and +he tells me that Colonel Fielding is now going to make Bernage +his captain-lieutenant, that is, a captain by commission, and the +perquisites of the company; but not captain's pay, only the first step +to it. I suppose he will like it; and the recommendation to the Duke +of Argyle goes on. And so trouble me no more about your Bernage; the +jackanapes understands what fair solicitors he has got, I warrant you. +Sir Andrew Fountaine and I dined, by invitation, with Mrs. Vanhomrigh. +You say they are of no consequence: why, they keep as good female +company as I do male; I see all the drabs of quality at this end of +the town with them: I saw two Lady Bettys(2) there this afternoon; the +beauty of one, the good-breeding and nature of t'other, and the wit of +neither, would have made a fine woman. Rare walking in the Park now: why +don't you walk in the Green of St. Stephen? The walks there are finer +gravelled than the Mall. What beasts the Irish women are, never to walk! + +27. Darteneuf and I, and little Harrison the new Tatler, and Jervas the +painter, dined to-day with James,(3) I know not his other name, but it +is one of Darteneuf's dining-places, who is a true epicure. James is +clerk of the kitchen to the Queen, and has a little snug house at St. +James's; and we had the Queen's wine, and such very fine victuals that +I could not eat it. Three weeks and three days since my last letter from +MD; rare doings! why, truly we were so busy with poor Mrs. Walls, that +indeed, Presto, we could not write, we were afraid the poor woman would +have died; and it pitied us to see the Archdeacon, how concerned he was. +The Dean never came to see her but once; but now she is up again, and we +go and sit with her in the evenings. The child died the next day after +it was born; and I believe, between friends, she is not very sorry for +it.--Indeed, Presto, you are plaguy silly tonight, and han't guessed one +word right; for she and the child are both well, and it is a fine girl, +likely to live; and the Dean was godfather, and Mrs. Catherine and I +were godmothers; I was going to say Stoyte, but I think I have heard +they don't put maids and married women together; though I know not why I +think so, nor I don't care; what care I? but I must prate, etc. + +28. I walked to-day into the City for my health, and there dined; which +I always do when the weather is fair, and business permits, that I may +be under a necessity of taking a good walk, which is the best thing I +can do at present for my health. Some bookseller has raked up everything +I writ, and published it t'other day in one volume; but I know nothing +of it, 'twas without my knowledge or consent: it makes a four-shilling +book, and is called Miscellanies in Prose and Verse.(4) Tooke pretends +he knows nothing of it; but I doubt he is at the bottom. One must have +patience with these things; the best of it is, I shall be plagued +no more. However, I will bring a couple of them over with me for MD; +perhaps you may desire to see them. I hear they sell mightily. + +March 1. Morning. I have been calling to Patrick to look in his almanac +for the day of the month; I did not know but it might be leap-year. The +almanac says 'tis the third after leap-year; and I always thought till +now, that every third year was leap-year. I am glad they come so seldom; +but I'm sure 'twas otherwise when I was a young man; I see times are +mightily changed since then.--Write to me, sirrahs; be sure do by the +time this side is done, and I'll keep t'other side for the answer: so +I'll go write to the Bishop of Clogher; good-morrow, sirrahs.--Night. +I dined to-day at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, being a rainy day; and Lady Betty +Butler, knowing it, sent to let me know she expected my company in the +evening, where the Vans (so we call them) were to be. The Duchess(5) and +they do not go over this summer with the Duke; so I go to bed. + +2. This rainy weather undoes me in coaches and chairs. I was traipsing +to-day with your Mr. Sterne, to go along with them to Moore,(6) and +recommend his business to the Treasury. Sterne tells me his dependence +is wholly on me; but I have absolutely refused to recommend it to Mr. +Harley, because I have troubled him lately so much with other folks' +affairs; and besides, to tell the truth, Mr. Harley told me he did not +like Sterne's business: however, I will serve him, because I suppose MD +would have me. But, in saying his dependence lies wholly on me, he lies, +and is a fool. I dined with Lord Abercorn, whose son Peasley(7) will be +married at Easter to ten thousand pounds. + +3. I forgot to tell you that yesterday morning I was at Mr. Harley's +levee: he swore I came in spite, to see him among a parcel of fools. +My business was to desire I might let the Duke of Ormond know how the +affair stood of the First-Fruits. He promised to let him know it, +and engaged me to dine with him to-day. Every Saturday, Lord Keeper, +Secretary St. John, and I dine with him, and sometimes Lord Rivers; and +they let in none else. Patrick brought me some letters into the Park; +among which one was from Walls; and t'other, yes, faith, t'other was +from our little MD, N.11. I read the rest in the Park, and MD's in a +chair as I went from St. James's to Mr. Harley; and glad enough I was, +faith, to read it, and see all right. Oh, but I won't answer it these +three or four days at least, or may be sooner. An't I silly? faith, your +letters would make a dog silly, if I had a dog to be silly, but it must +be a little dog.--I stayed with Mr. Harley till past nine, where we had +much discourse together after the rest were gone; and I gave him very +truly my opinion where he desired it. He complained he was not very +well, and has engaged me to dine with him again on Monday. So I came +home afoot, like a fine gentleman, to tell you all this. + +4. I dined to-day with Mr. Secretary St. John; and after dinner he had +a note from Mr. Harley, that he was much out of order.(8) Pray God +preserve his health! everything depends upon it. The Parliament at +present cannot go a step without him, nor the Queen neither. I long +to be in Ireland; but the Ministry beg me to stay: however, when this +Parliament lurry(9) is over, I will endeavour to steal away; by which +time I hope the First-Fruit business will be done. This kingdom is +certainly ruined as much as was ever any bankrupt merchant. We must have +peace, let it be a bad or a good one, though nobody dares talk of it. +The nearer I look upon things, the worse I like them. I believe +the confederacy will soon break to pieces, and our factions at home +increase. The Ministry is upon a very narrow bottom, and stand like an +isthmus, between the Whigs on one side, and violent Tories on the other. +They are able seamen; but the tempest is too great, the ship too rotten, +and the crew all against them. Lord Somers has been twice in the Queen's +closet, once very lately; and your Duchess of Somerset,(10) who now has +the key, is a most insinuating woman; and I believe they will endeavour +to play the same game that has been played against them.--I have told +them of all this, which they know already, but they cannot help it. +They have cautioned the Queen so much against being governed, that she +observes it too much. I could talk till to-morrow upon these things, but +they make me melancholy. I could not but observe that lately, after much +conversation with Mr. Harley, though he is the most fearless man alive, +and the least apt to despond, he confessed to me that uttering his mind +to me gave him ease. + +5. Mr. Harley continues out of order, yet his affairs force him abroad: +he is subject to a sore throat, and was cupped last night: I sent and +called two or three times. I hear he is better this evening. I dined +to-day in the City with Dr. Freind at a third body's house, where I was +to pass for somebody else; and there was a plaguy silly jest carried on, +that made me sick of it. Our weather grows fine, and I will walk like +camomile. And pray walk you to your Dean's, or your Stoyte's, or your +Manley's, or your Walls'. But your new lodgings make you so proud, you +will walk less than ever. Come, let me go to bed, sirrahs. + +6. Mr. Harley's going out yesterday has put him a little backwards. I +called twice, and sent, for I am in pain for him. Ford caught me, and +made me dine with him on his Opera-day; so I brought Mr. Lewis with +me, and sat with him till six. I have not seen Mr. Addison these three +weeks; all our friendship is over. I go to no Coffee-house. I presented +a parson of the Bishop of Clogher's, one Richardson,(11) to the Duke of +Ormond to-day: he is translating prayers and sermons into Irish, and has +a project about instructing the Irish in the Protestant religion. + +7. Morning. Faith, a little would make me, I could find in my heart, if +it were not for one thing, I have a good mind, if I had not something +else to do, I would answer your dear saucy letter. O, Lord, I am going +awry with writing in bed. O, faith, but I must answer it, or I shan't +have room, for it must go on Saturday; and don't think I will fill the +third side, I an't come to that yet, young women. Well then, as for your +Bernage, I have said enough: I writ to him last week.--Turn over that +leaf. Now, what says MD to the world to come? I tell you, Madam Stella, +my head is a great deal better, and I hope will keep so. How came yours +to be fifteen days coming, and you had my fifteenth in seven? Answer me +that, rogues. Your being with Goody Walls is excuse enough: I find I was +mistaken in the sex, 'tis a boy.(12) Yes, I understand your cypher, +and Stella guesses right, as she always does. He(13) gave me al bsadnuk +lboinlpl dfaonr ufainf btoy dpionufnad,(14) which I sent him again by +Mr. Lewis, to whom I writ a very complaining letter that was showed him; +and so the matter ended. He told me he had a quarrel with me; I said I +had another with him, and we returned to our friendship, and I should +think he loves me as well as a great Minister can love a man in so +short a time. Did not I do right? I am glad at heart you have got your +palsy-water;(15) pray God Almighty it may do my dearest little Stella +good! I suppose Mrs. Edgworth set out last Monday se'ennight. Yes, I do +read the Examiners, and they are written very finely, as you judge. I +do not think they are too severe on the Duke;(16) they only tax him of +avarice, and his avarice has ruined us. You may count upon all things in +them to be true. The author has said it is not Prior, but perhaps it +may be Atterbury.--Now, Madam Dingley, says she, 'tis fine weather, says +she; yes, says she, and we have got to our new lodgings. I compute you +ought to save eight pounds by being in the others five months; and you +have no more done it than eight thousand. I am glad you are rid of that +squinting, blinking Frenchman. I will give you a bill on Parvisol for +five pounds for the half-year. And must I go on at four shillings a +week, and neither eat nor drink for it? Who the Devil said Atterbury and +your Dean were alike? I never saw your Chancellor, nor his chaplain. +The latter has a good deal of learning, and is a well-wisher to be an +author: your Chancellor is an excellent man. As for Patrick's bird, he +bought him for his tameness, and is grown the wildest I ever saw. His +wings have been quilled thrice, and are now up again: he will be able +to fly after us to Ireland, if he be willing.--Yes, Mrs. Stella, Dingley +writes more like Presto than you; for all you superscribed the letter, +as who should say, Why should not I write like our Presto as well as +Dingley? You with your awkward SS;(17) cannot you write them thus, SS? +No, but always SSS. Spiteful sluts, to affront Presto's writing; as that +when you shut your eyes you write most like Presto. I know the time when +I did not write to you half so plain as I do now; but I take pity on you +both. I am very much concerned for Mrs. Walls's eyes. Walls says nothing +of it to me in his letter dated after yours. You say, "If she recovers, +she may lose her sight." I hope she is in no danger of her life. Yes, +Ford is as sober as I please: I use him to walk with me as an easy +companion, always ready for what I please, when I am weary of business +and Ministers. I don't go to a Coffee-house twice a month. I am very +regular in going to sleep before eleven.--And so you say that Stella +is a pretty girl; and so she be, and methinks I see her just now as +handsome as the day is long. Do you know what? when I am writing in +our language, I make up my mouth just as if I was speaking it. I caught +myself at it just now. And I suppose Dingley is so fair and so fresh as +a lass in May, and has her health, and no spleen.--In your account +you sent do you reckon as usual from the 1st of November(18) was +twelvemonth? Poor Stella, will not Dingley leave her a little daylight +to write to Presto? Well, well, we'll have daylight shortly, spite of +her teeth; and zoo(19) must cly Lele and Hele, and Hele aden. Must loo +mimitate Pdfr, pay? Iss, and so la shall. And so lele's fol ee rettle. +Dood-mollow.--At night. Mrs. Barton sent this morning to invite me to +dinner; and there I dined, just in that genteel manner that MD used when +they would treat some better sort of body than usual. + +8. O dear MD, my heart is almost broken. You will hear the thing +before this comes to you. I writ a full account of it this night to the +Archbishop of Dublin; and the Dean may tell you the particulars from +the Archbishop. I was in a sorry way to write, but thought it might be +proper to send a true account of the fact; for you will hear a thousand +lying circumstances. It is of Mr. Harley's being stabbed this afternoon, +at three o'clock, at a Committee of the Council. I was playing Lady +Catharine Morris's(20) cards, where I dined, when young Arundel(21) came +in with the story. I ran away immediately to the Secretary, which was +in my way: no one was at home. I met Mrs. St. John in her chair; she had +heard it imperfectly. I took a chair to Mr. Harley, who was asleep, and +they hope in no danger; but he has been out of order, and was so when he +came abroad to-day, and it may put him in a fever: I am in mortal pain +for him. That desperate French villain, Marquis de Guiscard,(22) stabbed +Mr. Harley. Guiscard was taken up by Mr. Secretary St. John's warrant +for high treason, and brought before the Lords to be examined; there +he stabbed Mr. Harley. I have told all the particulars already to the +Archbishop. I have now, at nine, sent again, and they tell me he is in a +fair way. Pray pardon my distraction; I now think of all his kindness to +me.--The poor creature now lies stabbed in his bed by a desperate French +Popish villain. Good-night, and God preserve you both, and pity me; I +want it. + +9. Morning; seven, in bed. Patrick is just come from Mr. Harley's. He +slept well till four; the surgeon sat(23) up with him: he is asleep +again: he felt a pain in his wound when he waked: they apprehend him in +no danger. This account the surgeon left with the porter, to tell +people that send. Pray God preserve him. I am rising, and going to Mr. +Secretary St. John. They say Guiscard will die with the wounds Mr. St. +John and the rest gave him. I shall tell you more at night.--Night. +Mr. Harley still continues on the mending hand; but he rested ill last +night, and felt pain. I was early with the Secretary this morning, and I +dined with him, and he told me several particularities of this accident, +too long to relate now. Mr. Harley is still mending this evening, but +not at all out of danger; and till then I can have no peace. Good-night, +etc., and pity Presto. + +10. Mr. Harley was restless last night; but he has no fever, and the +hopes of his mending increase. I had a letter from Mr. Walls, and one +from Mr. Bernage. I will answer them here, not having time to write. Mr. +Walls writes about three things. First, about a hundred pounds from +Dr. Raymond, of which I hear nothing, and it is now too late. Secondly, +about Mr. Clements:(24) I can do nothing in it, because I am not to +mention Mr. Pratt; and I cannot recommend without knowing Mr. Pratt's +objections, whose relation Clements is, and who brought him into the +place. The third is about my being godfather to the child:(25) that +is in my power, and (since there is no remedy) will submit. I wish you +could hinder it; but if it can't be helped, pay what you think proper, +and get the Provost to stand for me, and let his Christian name be +Harley, in honour of my friend, now lying stabbed and doubtful of his +life. As for Bernage, he writes me word that his colonel has offered to +make him captain-lieutenant for a hundred pounds. He was such a fool to +offer him money without writing to me till it was done, though I have +had a dozen letters from him; and then he desires I would say nothing of +this, for fear his colonel should be angry. People are mad. What can +I do? I engaged Colonel Disney, who was one of his solicitors to the +Secretary, and then told him the story. He assured me that Fielding +(Bernage's colonel) said he might have got that sum; but, on account of +those great recommendations he had, would give it him for nothing: and I +would have Bernage write him a letter of thanks, as of a thing given him +for nothing, upon recommendations, etc. Disney tells me he will again +speak to Fielding, and clear up this matter; then I will write to +Bernage. A pox on him for promising money till I had it promised to me; +and then making it such a ticklish point, that one cannot expostulate +with the colonel upon it: but let him do as I say, and there is an +end. I engaged the Secretary of State in it; and am sure it was meant a +kindness to me, and that no money should be given, and a hundred pounds +is too much in a Smithfield bargain,(26) as a major-general told me, +whose opinion I asked. I am now hurried, and can say no more. Farewell, +etc. etc. + +How shall I superscribe to your new lodgings, pray, madams? Tell me but +that, impudence and saucy-face. + +Are not you sauceboxes to write "lele"(27) like Presto? O poor Presto! + +Mr. Harley is better to-night, that makes me so pert, you saucy Gog and +Magog. + + + + +LETTER 18. + +LONDON, March 10, 1710-11. + +Pretty little MD must expect little from me till Mr. Harley is out of +danger. We hope he is so now; but I am subject to fear for my friends. +He has a head full of the whole business of the nation, was out of order +when the villain stabbed him, and had a cruel contusion by the second +blow. But all goes on well yet. Mr. Ford and I dined with Mr. Lewis, and +we hope the best. + +11. This morning Mr. Secretary and I met at Court, where he went to +the Queen, who is out of order, and aguish: I doubt the worse for this +accident to Mr. Harley. We went together to his house, and his wound +looks well, and he is not feverish at all, and I think it is foolish in +me to be so much in pain as I am. I had the penknife in my hand, which +is broken within a quarter of an inch of the handle. I have a mind to +write and publish an account of all the particularities of this fact:(1) +it will be very curious, and I would do it when Mr. Harley is past +danger. + +12. We have been in terrible pain to-day about Mr. Harley, who never +slept last night, and has been very feverish. But this evening I called +there; and young Mr. Harley (his only son) tells me he is now much +better, and was then asleep. They let nobody see him, and that is +perfectly right. The Parliament cannot go on till he is well, and are +forced to adjourn their money businesses, which none but he can help +them in. Pray God preserve him. + +13. Mr. Harley is better to-day, slept well all night, and we are a +little out of our fears. I send and call three or four times every day. +I went into the City for a walk, and dined there with a private man; and +coming home this evening, broke my shin in the Strand over a tub of sand +left just in the way. I got home dirty enough, and went straight to +bed, where I have been cooking it with gold-beater's skin, and have been +peevish enough with Patrick, who was near an hour bringing a rag from +next door. It is my right shin, where never any humour fell when t'other +used to swell; so I apprehend it less: however, I shall not stir till +'tis well, which I reckon will be in a week. I am very careful in these +sort of things; but I wish I had Mrs. J----'s water:(2) she is out +of town, and I must make a shift with alum. I will dine with Mrs. +Vanhomrigh till I am well, who lives but five doors off; and that I may +venture. + +14. My journals are like to be very diverting, now I cannot stir abroad, +between accounts of Mr. Harley's mending, and of my broken shin. I just +walked to my neighbour Vanhomrigh at two, and came away at six, when +little Harrison the Tatler came to me, and begged me to dictate a paper +to him, which I was forced in charity to do. Mr. Harley still mends; +and I hope in a day or two to trouble you no more with him, nor with my +shin. Go to bed and sleep, sirrahs, that you may rise to-morrow and walk +to Donnybrook, and lose your money with Stoyte and the Dean; do so, +dear little rogues, and drink Presto's health. O pray, don't you drink +Presto's health sometimes with your deans, and your Stoytes, and your +Walls, and your Manleys, and your everybodies, pray now? I drink MD's to +myself a hundred thousand times. + +15. I was this morning at Mr. Secretary St. John's for all my shin; and +he has given me for young Harrison the Tatler the prettiest employment +in Europe; secretary to my Lord Raby,(3) who is to be Ambassador +Extraordinary at the Hague, where all the great affairs will be +concerted; so we shall lose the Tatlers in a fortnight. I will send +Harrison to-morrow morning to thank the Secretary. Poor Biddy Floyd(4) +has got the smallpox. I called this morning to see Lady Betty Germaine, +and when she told me so, I fairly took my leave. I have the luck of +it;(5) for about ten days ago I was to see Lord Carteret;(6) and my lady +was entertaining me with telling of a young lady, a cousin, who was then +ill in the house of the smallpox, and is since dead: it was near Lady +Betty's, and I fancy Biddy took the fright by it. I dined with Mr. +Secretary; and a physician came in just from Guiscard, who tells us he +is dying of his wounds, and can hardly live till to-morrow. A poor wench +that Guiscard kept, sent him a bottle of sack; but the keeper would +not let him touch it, for fear it was poison. He had two quarts of old +clotted blood come out of his side to-day, and is delirious. I am sorry +he is dying; for they had found out a way to hang him. He certainly had +an intention to murder the Queen. + +16. I have made but little progress in this letter for so many days, +thanks to Guiscard and Mr. Harley; and it would be endless to tell you +all the particulars of that odious fact. I do not yet hear that Guiscard +is dead, but they say 'tis impossible he should recover. I walked too +much yesterday for a man with a broken shin; to-day I rested, and went +no farther than Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, where I dined; and Lady Betty Butler +coming in about six, I was forced in good manners to sit with her till +nine; then I came home, and Mr. Ford came in to visit my shin, and sat +with me till eleven: so I have been very idle and naughty. It vexes me +to the pluck(7) that I should lose walking this delicious day. Have +you seen the Spectator(8) yet, a paper that comes out every day? 'Tis +written by Mr. Steele, who seems to have gathered new life, and have a +new fund of wit; it is in the same nature as his Tatlers, and they have +all of them had something pretty. I believe Addison and he club. I never +see them; and I plainly told Mr. Harley and Mr. St. John, ten days ago, +before my Lord Keeper and Lord Rivers, that I had been foolish enough +to spend my credit with them in favour of Addison and Steele; but that +I would engage and promise never to say one word in their behalf, having +been used so ill for what I had already done.--So, now I am got into the +way of prating again, there will be no quiet for me. + + When Presto begins to prate, + Give him a rap upon the pate. + +O Lord, how I blot! it is time to leave off, etc. + +17. Guiscard died this morning at two; and the coroner's inquest have +found that he was killed by bruises received from a messenger, so to +clear the Cabinet Councillors from whom he received his wounds. I had a +letter from Raymond, who cannot hear of your box; but I hope you have +it before this comes to your hands. I dined to-day with Mr. Lewis of the +Secretary's office. Mr. Harley has abundance of extravasated blood comes +from his breast out of his wound, and will not be well so soon as we +expected. I had something to say, but cannot call it to mind. (What was +it?) + +18. I was to-day at Court to look for the Duke of Argyle, and gave him +the memorial about Bernage. The Duke goes with the first fair wind. I +could not find him, but I have given the memorial to another to give +him; and, however, it shall be sent after him. Bernage has made a +blunder in offering money to his colonel without my advice; however, he +is made captain-lieutenant, only he must recruit the company, which +will cost him forty pounds, and that is cheaper than an hundred. I dined +to-day with Mr. Secretary St. John, and stayed till seven, but would not +drink his champagne and burgundy, for fear of the gout. My shin mends, +but is not well. I hope it will by the time I send this letter, next +Saturday. + +19. I went to-day into the City, but in a coach, and sossed(9) up my +leg on the seat; and as I came home, I went to see poor Charles +Barnard's(10) books, which are to be sold by auction, and I itch to lay +out nine or ten pounds for some fine editions of fine authors. But +'tis too far, and I shall let it slip, as I usually do all such +opportunities. I dined in a coffee-house with Stratford upon chops and +some of his wine. Where did MD dine? Why, poor MD dined at home to-day, +because of the Archbishop, and they could not go abroad, and had a +breast of mutton and a pint of wine. I hope Mrs. Walls mends; and pray +give me an account what sort of godfather I made, and whether I behaved +myself handsomely. The Duke of Argyle is gone; and whether he has my +memorial, I know not, till I see Dr. Arbuthnot,(11) to whom I gave it. +That hard name belongs to a Scotch doctor, an acquaintance of the Duke's +and me; Stella can't pronounce it. Oh that we were at Laracor this fine +day! the willows begin to peep, and the quicks to bud. My dream is out: +I was a-dreamed last night that I ate ripe cherries.--And now they +begin to catch the pikes, and will shortly the trouts (pox on these +Ministers!)--and I would fain know whether the floods were ever so high +as to get over the holly bank or the river walk; if so, then all my +pikes are gone; but I hope not. Why don't you ask Parvisol these things, +sirrahs? And then my canal, and trouts, and whether the bottom be fine +and clear? But harkee, ought not Parvisol to pay in my last year's rents +and arrears out of his hands? I am thinking, if either of you have heads +to take his accounts, it should be paid in to you; otherwise to Mr. +Walls. I will write an order on t'other side; and do as you will. Here's +a world of business; but I must go sleep, I'm drowsy; and so goodnight, +etc. + +20. This sore shin ruins me in coach-hire; no less than two shillings +to-day going and coming from the City, where I dined with one you never +heard of, and passed an insipid day. I writ this post to Bernage, with +the account I told you above. I hope he will like it; 'tis his own +fault, or it would have been better. I reckon your next letter will +be full of Mr. Harley's stabbing. He still mends, but abundance of +extravasated blood has come out of the wound: he keeps his bed, and sees +nobody. The Speaker's eldest son(12) is just dead of the smallpox, and +the House is adjourned a week, to give him time to wipe off his tears. +I think it very handsomely done; but I believe one reason is, that they +want Mr. Harley so much. Biddy Floyd is like to do well: and so go to +your Dean's, and roast his oranges, and lose your money, do so, you +saucy sluts. Stella, you lost three shillings and fourpence t'other +night at Stoyte's, yes, you did, and Presto stood in a corner, and +saw you all the while, and then stole away. I dream very often I am in +Ireland, and that I have left my clothes and things behind me, and have +not taken leave of anybody; and that the Ministry expect me tomorrow, +and such nonsense. + +21. I would not for a guinea have a letter from you till this goes; and +go it shall on Saturday, faith. I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, to save my +shin, and then went on some business to the Secretary, and he was not at +home. + +22. Yesterday was a short day's journal: but what care I? what cares +saucy Presto? Darteneuf(13) invited me to dinner to-day. Do not you +know Darteneuf? That's the man that knows everything, and that everybody +knows; and that knows where a knot of rabble are going on a holiday, and +when they were there last: and then I went to the Coffee-house. My shin +mends, but is not quite healed: I ought to keep it up, but I don't; I +e'en let it go as it comes. Pox take Parvisol and his watch! If I do +not receive the ten-pound bill I am to get towards it, I will neither +receive watch nor chain; so let Parvisol know. + +23. I this day appointed the Duke of Ormond to meet him at Ned +Southwell's, about an affair of printing Irish Prayer-Books, etc.,(14) +but the Duke never came. There Southwell had letters that two packets +are taken; so if MD writ then, the letters are gone; for they are +packets coming hither. Mr. Harley is not yet well, but his extravasated +blood continues, and I doubt he will not be quite well in a good while: +I find you have heard of the fact by Southwell's letters from Ireland: +what do you think of it? I dined with Sir John Perceval,(15) and saw his +lady sitting in the bed, in the forms of a lying-in woman; and coming +home my sore shin itched, and I forgot what it was, and rubbed off the +scab, and blood came; but I am now got into bed, and have put on alum +curd, and it is almost well. Lord Rivers told me yesterday a piece of +bad news, as a secret, that the Pretender is going to be married to +the Duke of Savoy's daughter.(16) 'Tis very bad if it be true. We were +walking in the Mall with some Scotch lords, and he could not tell it +until they were gone, and he bade me tell it to none but the Secretary +of State and MD. This goes tomorrow, and I have no room but to bid my +dearest little MD good-night. 24. I will now seal up this letter, and +send it; for I reckon to have none from you ('tis morning now) between +this and night; and I will put it in the post with my own hands. I am +going out in great haste; so farewell, etc. + + + + +LETTER 19. + +LONDON, March 24, 1710-11. + +It was a little cross in Presto not to send to-day to the Coffee-house +to see whether there was a letter from MD before I sent away mine; but, +faith, I did it on purpose, because I would scorn to answer two letters +of yours successively. This way of journal is the worst in the world for +writing of news, unless one does it the last day; and so I will observe +henceforward, if there be any politics or stuff worth sending. My shin +mends in spite of the scratching last night. I dined to-day at +Ned Southwell's with the Bishop of Ossory(1) and a parcel of Irish +gentlemen. Have you yet seen any of the Spectators? Just three weeks +to-day since I had your last, N.11. I am afraid I have lost one by the +packet that was taken; that will vex me, considering the pains MD take +to write, especially poor pretty Stella, and her weak eyes. God bless +them and the owner, and send them well, and little me together, I hope +ere long. This illness of Mr. Harley puts everything backwards, and he +is still down, and like to be so, by that extravasated blood which comes +from his breast to the wound: it was by the second blow Guiscard +gave him after the penknife was broken. I am shocked at that villainy +whenever I think of it. Biddy Floyd is past danger, but will lose all +her beauty: she had them mighty thick, especially about her nose. + +25. Morning. I wish you a merry New Year; this is the first day of the +year, you know, with us, and 'tis Lady-day. I must rise and go to my +Lord Keeper: it is not shaving-day to-day, so I shall be early. I am +to dine with Mr. Secretary St. John. Good-morrow, my mistresses +both, good-morrow. Stella will be peeping out of her room at Mrs. De +Caudres'(2) down upon the folks as they come from church; and there +comes Mrs. Proby,(3) and that is my Lady Southwell,(4) and there is +Lady Betty Rochfort.(5) I long to hear how you are settled in your new +lodgings. I wish I were rid of my old ones, and that Mrs. Brent could +contrive to put up my books in boxes, and lodge them in some safe place, +and you keep my papers of importance. But I must rise, I tell you.--At +night. So I visited and dined as I told you, and what of that? We have +let Guiscard be buried at last, after showing him pickled in a trough +this fortnight for twopence apiece: and the fellow that showed would +point to his body, and, "See, gentlemen, this is the wound that was +given him by his Grace the Duke of Ormond; and this is the wound," etc., +and then the show was over, and another set of rabble came in. 'Tis hard +our laws would not suffer us to hang his body in chains, because he +was not tried; and in the eye of our law every man is innocent till +then.--Mr. Harley is still very weak, and never out of bed. + +26. This was a most delicious day; and my shin being past danger, I +walked like lightning above two hours in the Park. We have generally one +fair day, and then a great deal of rain for three or four days together. +All things are at a stop in Parliament for want of Mr. Harley; they +cannot stir an inch without him in their most material affairs: and +we fear, by the caprice of Radcliffe, who will admit none but his own +surgeon,(6) he has not been well looked after. I dined at an alehouse +with Mr. Lewis, but had his wine. Don't you begin to see the flowers and +blossoms of the field? How busy should I be now at Laracor! No news +of your box? I hope you have it, and are this minute drinking the +chocolate, and that the smell of the Brazil tobacco has not affected it. +I would be glad to know whether you like it, because I would send you +more by people that are now every day thinking of going to Ireland; +therefore pray tell me, and tell me soon: and I will have the strong +box. + +27. A rainy, wretched, scurvy day from morning till night: and my +neighbour Vanhomrigh invited me to dine with them and this evening I +passed at Mr. Prior's with Dr. Freind; and 'tis now past twelve, so I +must go sleep. + +28. Morning. O, faith, you're an impudent saucy couple of sluttikins for +presuming to write so soon, said I to myself this morning; who knows but +there may be a letter from MD at the Coffee-house? Well, you must know, +and so, I just now sent Patrick, and he brought me three letters, but +not one from MD, no indeed, for I read all the superscriptions; and +not one from MD. One I opened, it was from the Archbishop;(7) t'other +I opened, it was from Staunton;(8) the third I took, and looked at the +hand. Whose hand is this? says I; yes, says I, whose hand is this? Then +there was wax between the folds; then I began to suspect; then I peeped; +faith, it was Walls's hand after all: then I opened it in a rage, and +then it was little MD's hand, dear, little, pretty, charming MD's sweet +hand again. O Lord, an't here a clutter and a stir, and a bustle? never +saw the like. Faith, I believe yours lay some days at the post-office, +and that it came before my eighteenth went, but that I did not expect +it, and I hardly ever go there. Well, and so you think I'll answer this +letter now; no, faith, and so I won't. I'll make you wait, young women; +but I'll inquire immediately about poor Dingley's exchequer trangum.(9) +What, is that Vedel again a soldier? was he broke? I'll put it in Ben +Tooke's hand. I hope Vedel could not sell it.--At night. Vedel, Vedel, +poh, pox, I think it is Vedeau;(10) ay, Vedeau, now I have it; let me +see, do you name him in yours? Yes, Mr. John Vedeau is the brother; but +where does this brother live? I'll inquire. This was a fast-day for the +public; so I dined late with Sir Matthew Dudley, whom I have not been +with a great while. He is one of those that must lose his employment +whenever the great shake comes; and I can't contribute to keep him in, +though I have dropped words in his favour to the Ministry; but he is too +violent a Whig, and friend to the Lord Treasurer,(11) to stay in. 'Tis +odd to think how long they let those people keep their places; but the +reason is, they have not enough to satisfy all expecters, and so they +keep them all in hopes, that they may be good boys in the meantime; and +thus the old ones hold in still. The Comptroller(12) told me that there +are eight people expect his staff. I walked after dinner to-day round +the Park. What, do I write politics to little young women? Hold your +tongue, and go to your Dean's. + +29. Morning. If this be a fine day, I will walk into the City, and see +Charles Barnard's library. What care I for your letter, saucy N.12? I +will say nothing to it yet: faith, I believe this will be full before +its time, and then go it must. I will always write once a fortnight; and +if it goes sooner by filling sooner, why, then there is so much clear +gain. Morrow, morrow, rogues and lasses both, I can't lie scribbling +here in bed for your play; I must rise, and so morrow again.--At night. +Your friend Montgomery and his sister are here, as I am told by Patrick. +I have seen him often, but take no notice of him: he is grown very ugly +and pimpled. They tell me he is a gamester, and wins money.--How could I +help it, pray? Patrick snuffed the candle too short, and the grease ran +down upon the paper.(13) It an't my fault, 'tis Patrick's fault; pray +now don't blame Presto. I walked today in the City, and dined at a +private house, and went to see the auction of poor Charles Barnard's +books; they were in the middle of the physic books, so I bought none; +and they are so dear, I believe I shall buy none, and there is an end; +and go to Stoyte's, and I'll go sleep. + +30. Morning. This is Good Friday, you must know; and I must rise and go +to Mr. Secretary about some business, and Mrs. Vanhomrigh desires me to +breakfast with her, because she is to intercede for Patrick, who is so +often drunk and quarrelsome in the house, that I was resolved to send +him over; but he knows all the places where I send, and is so used to my +ways, that it would be inconvenient to me; but when I come to Ireland, +I will discharge him.(14) Sir Thomas Mansel,(15) one of the Lords of the +Treasury, setting me down at my door to-day, saw Patrick, and swore he +was a Teague-lander.(16) I am so used to his face, I never observed it, +but thought him a pretty fellow. Sir Andrew Fountaine and I supped this +fast-day with Mrs. Vanhomrigh. We were afraid Mr. Harley's wound would +turn to a fistula; but we think the danger is now past. He rises +every day, and walks about his room, and we hope he will be out in a +fortnight. Prior showed me a handsome paper of verses he has writ on Mr. +Harley's accident:(17) they are not out; I will send them to you, if he +will give me a copy. + +31. Morning. What shall we do to make April fools this year, now it +happens on Sunday? Patrick brings word that Mr. Harley still mends, and +is up every day. I design to see him in a few days: and he brings me +word too that he has found out Vedeau's brother's shop: I shall call +there in a day or two. It seems the wife lodges next door to the +brother. I doubt the scoundrel was broke, and got a commission, or +perhaps is a volunteer gentleman, and expects to get one by his valour. +Morrow, sirrahs, let me rise.--At night. I dined to-day with Sir Thomas +Mansel. We were walking in the Park, and Mr. Lewis came to us. Mansel +asked where we dined. We said, "Together." He said, we should dine with +him, only his wife(18) desired him to bring nobody, because she had only +a leg of mutton. I said I would dine with him to choose; but he would +send a servant to order a plate or two: yet this man has ten thousand +pounds a year in land, and is a Lord of the Treasury, and is not +covetous neither, but runs out merely by slattering(19) and negligence. +The worst dinner I ever saw at the Dean's was better: but so it is with +abundance of people here. I called at night at Mr. Harley's, who begins +to walk in his room with a stick, but is mighty weak.--See how much I +have lost with that ugly grease.(20) 'Tis your fault, pray; and I'll go +to bed. + +April 1. The Duke of Buckingham's house fell down last night with an +earthquake, and is half swallowed up; won't you go and see it?--An April +fool, an April fool, oh ho, young women. Well, don't be angry. I will +make you an April fool no more till the next time; we had no sport here, +because it is Sunday, and Easter Sunday. I dined with the Secretary, who +seemed terribly down and melancholy, which Mr. Prior and Lewis observed +as well as I: perhaps something is gone wrong; perhaps there is nothing +in it. God bless my own dearest MD, and all is well. + +2. We have such windy weather, 'tis troublesome walking, yet all the +rabble have got into our Park these Easter holidays. I am plagued with +one Richardson, an Irish parson, and his project of printing Irish +Bibles, etc., to make you Christians in that country: I befriend him +what I can, on account of the Archbishop and Bishop of Clogher.--But +what business have I to meddle, etc. Do not you remember that, sirrah +Stella? what was that about, when you thought I was meddling with +something that was not my business? O, faith, you are an impudent slut, +I remember your doings, I'll never forget you as long as I live. Lewis +and I dined together at his lodgings. But where's the answer to this +letter of MD's? O, faith, Presto, you must think of that. Time enough, +says saucy Presto. + +3. I was this morning to see Mrs. Barton: I love her better than anybody +here, and see her seldomer. Why, really now, so it often happens in the +world, that where one loves a body best--pshah, pshah, you are so silly +with your moral observations. Well, but she told me a very good story. +An old gentlewoman died here two months ago, and left in her will, to +have eight men and eight maids bearers, who should have two guineas +apiece, ten guineas to the parson for a sermon, and two guineas to the +clerk. But bearers, parson, and clerk must be all true virgins; and +not to be admitted till they took their oaths of virginity: so the +poor woman still lies unburied, and so must do till the general +resurrection.--I called at Mr. Secretary's, to see what the D---- ailed +him on Sunday. I made him a very proper speech; told him I observed +he was much out of temper; that I did not expect he would tell me the +cause, but would be glad to see he was in better; and one thing I warned +him of, never to appear cold to me, for I would not be treated like a +schoolboy; that I had felt too much of that in my life already (meaning +from Sir William Temple); that I expected every great Minister who +honoured me with his acquaintance, if he heard or saw anything to my +disadvantage, would let me know it in plain words, and not put me in +pain to guess by the change or coldness of his countenance or behaviour; +for it was what I would hardly bear from a crowned head, and I thought +no subject's favour was worth it; and that I designed to let my Lord +Keeper(21) and Mr. Harley know the same thing, that they might use me +accordingly. He took all right; said I had reason; vowed nothing ailed +him but sitting up whole nights at business, and one night at drinking; +would have had me dine with him and Mrs. Masham's brother, to make up +matters; but I would not. I don't know, but I would not. But indeed I +was engaged with my old friend Rollinson;(22) you never heard of him +before. + +4. I sometimes look a line or two back, and see plaguy mistakes of the +pen; how do you get over them? You are puzzled sometimes. Why, I think +what I said to Mr. Secretary was right. Don't you remember how I used to +be in pain when Sir William Temple would look cold and out of humour +for three or four days, and I used to suspect a hundred reasons? I have +plucked up my spirit since then, faith; he spoilt a fine gentleman. I +dined with my neighbour Vanhomrigh, and MD, poor MD, at home on a loin +of mutton and half a pint of wine, and the mutton was raw, poor Stella +could not eat, poor dear rogue, and Dingley was so vexed; but we will +dine at Stoyte's to-morrow. Mr. Harley promised to see me in a day or +two, so I called this evening; but his son and others were abroad, and +he asleep, so I came away, and found out Mrs. Vedeau. She drew out a +letter from Dingley, and said she would get a friend to receive the +money. I told her I would employ Mr. Tooke in it henceforward. Her +husband bought a lieutenancy of foot, and is gone to Portugal. He sold +his share of the shop to his brother, and put out the money to maintain +her, all but what bought the commission. She lodges within two doors +of her brother. She told me it made her very melancholy to change her +manner of life thus, but trade was dead, etc. She says she will write to +you soon. I design to engage Ben Tooke, and then receive the parchment +from her.--I gave Mr. Dopping a copy of Prior's verses on Mr. Harley; he +sent them yesterday to Ireland, so go look for them, for I won't be at +the trouble to transcribe them here. They will be printed in a day or +two. Give my hearty service to Stoyte and Catherine: upon my word I love +them dearly, and desire you will tell them so: pray desire Goody Stoyte +not to let Mrs. Walls and Mrs. Johnson cheat her of her money at ombre, +but assure her from me that she is a bungler. Dine with her to-day, and +tell her so, and drink my health, and good voyage, and speedy return, +and so you're a rogue. + +5. Morning. Now let us proceed to examine a saucy letter from one Madam +MD.--God Almighty bless poor dear Stella, and send her a great many +birthdays, all happy, and healthy, and wealthy, and with me ever +together, and never asunder again, unless by chance. When I find you are +happy or merry there, it makes me so here, and I can hardly imagine you +absent when I am reading your letter, or writing to you. No, faith, you +are just here upon this little paper, and therefore I see and talk with +you every evening constantly, and sometimes in the morning, but +not always in the morning, because that is not so modest to young +ladies.--What, you would fain palm a letter on me more than you sent: +and I, like a fool, must look over all yours, to see whether this was +really N.12, or more. (Patrick has this moment brought me letters from +the Bishop of Clogher and Parvisol; my heart was at my mouth for fear of +one from MD; what a disgrace would it be to have two of yours to answer +together! But, faith, this shall go to-night, for fear; and then come +when it will, I defy it.) No, you are not naughty at all, write when you +are disposed. And so the Dean told you the story of Mr. Harley from the +Archbishop; I warrant it never spoiled your supper, or broke off your +game. Nor yet, have not you the box? I wish Mrs. Edgworth had the -----. +But you have it now, I suppose; and is the chocolate good, or has the +tobacco spoilt it? Leigh stays till Sterne has done his business, no +longer; and when that will be, God knows: I befriend him as much as I +can, but Harley's accident stops that as well as all things else. You +guess, Madam Dingley, that I shall stay a round twelvemonth; as hope +saved, I would come over, if I could, this minute; but we will talk of +that by and by. Your affair of Vedeau I have told you of already; now +to the next, turn over the leaf. Mrs. Dobbins lies, I have no more +provision here or in Ireland than I had. I am pleased that Stella the +conjurer approves what I did with Mr. Harley;(23) but your generosity +makes me mad; I know you repine inwardly at Presto's absence; you think +he has broken his word of coming in three months, and that this is +always his trick; and now Stella says she does not see possibly how I +can come away in haste, and that MD is satisfied, etc. An't you a rogue +to overpower me thus? I did not expect to find such friends as I +have done. They may indeed deceive me too. But there are important +reasons (Pox on this grease, this candle tallow!) why they should +not.(24) I have been used barbarously by the late Ministry; I am a +little piqued in honour to let people see I am not to be despised. The +assurances they give me, without any scruple or provocation, are such +as are usually believed in the world; they may come to nothing, but the +first opportunity that offers, and is neglected, I shall depend no more, +but come away. I could say a thousand things on this head, if I were +with you. I am thinking why Stella should not go to the Bath, if she be +told it will do her good. I will make Parvisol get up fifty pounds, and +pay it you; and you may be good housewives, and live cheap there some +months, and return in autumn, or visit London, as you please: pray think +of it. I writ to Bernage, directed to Curry's; I wish he had the letter. +I will send the bohea tea, if I can. The Bishop of Kilmore,(25) I don't +keep such company; an old dying fool whom I never was with in my life. +So I am no godfather;(26) all the better. Pray, Stella, explain those +two words of yours to me, what you mean by VILLIAN and DAINGER;(27) and +you, Madam Dingley, what is CHRISTIANING?--Lay your letter THIS WAY, +THIS WAY, and the devil a bit of difference between this way and the +other way. No; I will show you, lay them THIS WAY, THIS WAY, and not +THAT WAY, THAT WAY.(28)--You shall have your aprons; and I will put all +your commissions as they come, in a paper together, and do not think I +will forget MD's orders, because they are friends; I will be as +careful as if they were strangers. I knew not what to do about this +Clements.(29) Walls will not let me say anything as if Mr. Pratt was +against him; and now the Bishop of Clogher has written to me in his +behalf. This thing does not rightly fall in my way, and that people +never consider: I always give my good offices where they are proper, and +that I am judge of; however, I will do what I can. But, if he has +the name of a Whig, it will be hard, considering my Lord Anglesea and +Hyde(30) are very much otherwise, and you know they have the employment +of Deputy Treasurer. If the frolic should take you of going to the Bath, +I here send you a note on Parvisol; if not, you may tear it, and there's +an end. Farewell. + +If you have an imagination that the Bath will do you good, I say again, +I would have you go; if not, or it be inconvenient, burn this note. Or, +if you would go, and not take so much money, take thirty pounds, and I +will return you twenty from hence. Do as you please, sirrahs. I suppose +it will not be too late for the first season; if it be, I would have you +resolve however to go the second season, if the doctors say it will do +you good, and you fancy so. + + + + +LETTER 20. + +LONDON, April 5, 1711. + +I put my nineteenth in the post-office just now myself, as I came out of +the City, where I dined. This rain ruins me in coach-hire; I walked +away sixpennyworth, and came within a shilling length, and then took a +coach,(1) and got a lift back for nothing; and am now busy. + +6. Mr. Secretary desired I would see him this morning; said he had +several things to say to me, and said not one; and the Duke of Ormond +sent to desire I would meet him at Mr. Southwell's by ten this morning +too, which I did, thinking it was some particular matter. All the Irish +in town were there, to consult upon preventing a Bill for laying a duty +on Irish yarn; so we talked a while, and then all went to the lobby of +the House of Commons, to solicit our friends, and the Duke came among +the rest; and Lord Anglesea solicited admirably, and I did wonders. But, +after all, the matter was put off till Monday, and then we are to be +at it again. I dined with Lord Mountjoy, and looked over him at chess, +which put me in mind of Stella and Griffyth.(2) I came home, and that +dog Patrick was not within; so I fretted, and fretted, and what good did +that do me? + + And so get you gone to your deans, + You couple of queans. + +I cannot find rhyme to Walls and Stoyte.--Yes, yes, + + You expect Mrs. Walls, + Be dressed when she calls, + To carry you to Stoyte, + Or else HONI SOIT. + +Henley told me that the Tories were insup-port-able people, because they +are for bringing in French claret, and will not SUP-PORT. Mr. Harley +will hardly get abroad this week or ten days yet. I reckon, when I send +away this letter, he will be just got into the House of Commons. My last +letter went in twelve days, and so perhaps may this. No it won't, for +those letters that go under a fortnight are answers to one of yours, +otherwise you must take the days as they happen, some dry, some wet, +some barren, some fruitful, some merry, some insipid; some, etc.--I will +write you word exactly the first day I see young gooseberries, and pray +observe how much later you are. We have not had five fine days this five +weeks, but rain or wind. 'Tis a late spring they say here.--Go to bed, +you two dear saucy brats, and don't keep me up all night. + +7. Ford has been at Epsom, to avoid Good Friday and Easter Sunday. He +forced me to-day to dine with him; and tells me there are letters from +Ireland, giving an account of a great indiscretion in the Archbishop +of Dublin, who applied a story out of Tacitus very reflectingly on Mr. +Harley, and that twenty people have written of it; I do not believe it +yet.(3) I called this evening to see Mr. Secretary, who has been very +ill with the gravel and pain in his back, by burgundy and champagne, +added to the sitting up all night at business; I found him drinking tea +while the rest were at champagne, and was very glad of it. I have chid +him so severely that I hardly knew whether he would take it well: then +I went and sat an hour with Mrs. St. John, who is growing a great +favourite of mine; she goes to the Bath on Wednesday, for she is much +out of health, and has begged me to take care of the Secretary. + +8. I dined to-day with Mr. Secretary St. John; he gave me a letter +to read, which was from the publisher of the newspaper called the +Postboy;(4) in it there was a long copy of a letter from Dublin, giving +an account of what the Whigs said upon Mr. Harley's being stabbed, and +how much they abuse him and Mr. Secretary St. John; and at the end there +were half a dozen lines, telling the story of the Archbishop of Dublin, +and abusing him horribly; this was to be printed on Tuesday. I told the +Secretary I would not suffer that about the Archbishop to be printed, +and so I crossed it out; and afterwards, to prevent all danger, I made +him give me the letter, and, upon further thought, would let none of it +be published: and I sent for the printer, and told him so, and ordered +him, in the Secretary's name, to print nothing reflecting on anybody +in Ireland till he had showed it me. Thus I have prevented a terrible +scandal to the Archbishop, by a piece of perfect good fortune. I will +let him know it by next post; and pray, if you pick it out, let me know, +and whether he is thankful for it; but say nothing. + +9. I was to-day at the House of Commons again about their yarn, at Lord +Anglesea's desire; but the business is again put off till Monday. I +dined with Sir John Stanley, by an assignation I had made with Mr. St. +John, and George Granville, the Secretary at War; but they let in other +company, some ladies, and so we were not so easy as I intended. My head +is pretty tolerable, but every day I feel some little disorders; I have +left off snuff since Sunday, finding myself much worse after taking +a good deal at the Secretary's. I would not let him drink one drop of +champagne or burgundy without water, and in compliment I did so myself. +He is much better; but when he is well, he is like Stella, and will not +be governed. So go to your Stoyte's, and I'll go sleep. + +10. I have been visiting Lady Worsley and Mrs. Barton today, and dined +soberly with my friend Lewis. The Dauphin is dead of an apoplexy; I wish +he had lived till the finishing of this letter, that it might be news +to you. Duncombe,(5) the rich alderman, died to-day, and I hear has left +the Duke of Argyle, who married his niece, two hundred thousand pounds; +I hope it is true, for I love that Duke mightily. I writ this evening to +the Archbishop of Dublin, about what I told you; and then went to take +leave of poor Mrs. St. John, who gave me strict charge to take care of +the Secretary in her absence; said she had none to trust but me; and the +poor creature's tears came fresh in her eyes. Before we took leave, I +was drawn in by the other ladies and Sir John Stanley to raffle for +a fan, with a pox; it was four guineas, and we put in seven shillings +apiece, several raffling for absent people; but I lost, and so missed an +opportunity of showing my gallantry to Mrs. St. John, whom I designed +to have presented it to if I had won. Is Dilly(6) gone to the Bath? His +face will whizz in the water; I suppose he will write to us from thence, +and will take London in his way back.--The rabble will say, "There goes +a drunken parson"; and, which is worse, they will say true. Oh, but you +must know I carried Ford to dine with Mr. St. John last Sunday, that he +may brag, when he goes back, of dining with a Secretary of State. The +Secretary and I went away early, and left him drinking with the rest, +and he told me that two or three of them were drunk. They talk of great +promotions to be made; that Mr. Harley is to be Lord Treasurer, and Lord +Poulett(7) Master of the Horse, etc., but they are only conjecture. The +Speaker is to make Mr. Harley a compliment the first time he comes into +the House, which I hope will be in a week. He has had an ill surgeon, +by the caprice of that puppy Dr. Radcliffe, which has kept him back so +long; and yesterday he got a cold, but is better to-day.--What! I think +I am stark mad, to write so much in one day to little saucy MD; here +is a deal of stuff, indeed! can't you bid those little dear rogues +good-night, and let them go sleep, Mr. Presto? When your tongue runs +there's no ho with you, pray. + +11. Again at the lobby (like a lobcock)(8) of the House of Commons, +about your Irish yarn, and again put off till Friday; and I and Patrick +went into the City by water, where I dined, and then I went to the +auction of Charles Barnard's books; but the good ones were so monstrous +dear, I could not reach them, so I laid out one pound seven shillings +but very indifferently, and came away, and will go there no more. Henley +would fain engage me to go with Steele and Rowe, etc., to an invitation +at Sir William Read's.(9) Surely you have heard of him. He has been a +mountebank, and is the Queen's oculist; he makes admirable punch, and +treats you in gold vessels. But I am engaged, and will not go, neither +indeed am I fond of the jaunt. So good-night, and go sleep. + +12. I went about noon to the Secretary, who is very ill with a cold, and +sometimes of the gravel, with his champagne, etc. I scolded him like a +dog, and he promises faithfully more care for the future. To-day my Lord +Anglesea, and Sir Thomas Hammer, and Prior, and I dined, by appointment, +with Lieutenant-General Webb.(10) My lord and I stayed till ten o'clock; +but we drank soberly, and I always with water. There was with us one Mr. +Campain,(11) one of the October Club, if you know what that is; a +Club of country members, who think the Ministers are too backward +in punishing and turning out the Whigs. I found my lord and the rest +thought I had more credit with the Ministry than I pretend to have, +and would have engaged me to put them upon something that would satisfy +their desires, and indeed I think they have some reason to complain; +however, I will not burn my fingers. I will remember Stella's chiding, +"What had you to do with what did not belong to you?" etc. However, you +will give me leave to tell the Ministry my thoughts when they ask them, +and other people's thoughts sometimes when they do not ask; so thinks +Dingley. + +13. I called this morning at Mrs. Vedeau's again, who has employed a +friend to get the money; it will be done in a fortnight, and then she +will deliver me up the parchment. I went then to see Mr. Harley, who I +hope will be out in a few days; he was in excellent good humour, only +complained to me of the neglect of Guiscard's cure, how glad he would +have been to have had him live. Mr. Secretary came in to us, and we were +very merry till Lord Chamberlain (Duke of Shrewsbury)(12) came up; then +Colonel Masham and I went off, after I had been presented to the +Duke, and that we made two or three silly compliments suitable to the +occasion. Then I attended at the House of Commons about your yarn, and +it is again put off. Then Ford drew me to dine at a tavern; it happened +to be the day and the house where the October Club dine. After we had +dined, coming down we called to inquire whether our yarn business +had been over that day, and I sent into the room for Sir George +Beaumont.(13) But I had like to be drawn into a difficulty; for in two +minutes out comes Mr. Finch,(14) Lord Guernsey's son, to let me know +that my Lord Compton,(15) the steward of this feast, desired, in the +name of the Club, that I would do them the honour to dine with them. I +sent my excuses, adorned with about thirty compliments, and got off as +fast as I could. It would have been a most improper thing for me to dine +there, considering my friendship with the Ministry. The Club is about a +hundred and fifty, and near eighty of them were then going to dinner at +two long tables in a great ground-room. At evening I went to the auction +of Barnard's books, and laid out three pounds three shillings, but I'll +go there no more; and so I said once before, but now I'll keep to it. I +forgot to tell that when I dined at Webb's with Lord Anglesea, I spoke +to him of Clements, as one recommended for a very honest gentleman and +good officer, and hoped he would keep him. He said he had not thought +otherwise, and that he should certainly hold his place while he +continued to deserve it; and I could not find there had been any +intentions from his lordship against him. But I tell you, hunny, the +impropriety of this. A great man will do a favour for me, or for my +friend; but why should he do it for my friend's friend? Recommendations +should stop before they come to that. Let any friend of mine recommend +one of his to me for a thing in my power, I will do it for his sake; but +to speak to another for my friend's friend is against all reason; and I +desire you will understand this, and discourage any such troubles given +me.--I hope this may do some good to Clements, it can do him no hurt; +and I find by Mrs. Pratt,(16) that her husband is his friend; and the +Bishop of Clogher says Clements's danger is not from Pratt, but from +some other enemies, that think him a Whig. + +14. I was so busy this morning that I did not go out till late. I +writ to-day to the Duke of Argyle, but said nothing of Bernage, who, I +believe, will not see him till Spain is conquered, and that is, not at +all. I was to-day at Lord Shelburne's, and spoke to Mrs. Pratt again +about Clements; her husband himself wants some good offices, and I +have done him very good ones lately, and told Mrs. Pratt I expected her +husband should stand by Clements in return. Sir Andrew Fountaine and +I dined with neighbour Vanhomrigh; he is mighty ill of an asthma, and +apprehends himself in much danger; 'tis his own fault, that will rake +and drink, when he is but just crawled out of his grave. I will send +this letter just now, because I think my half-year is out for my +lodging; and, if you please, I would be glad it were paid off, and some +deal boxes made for my books, and kept in some safe place. I would give +something for their keeping: but I doubt that lodging will not serve me +when I come back; I would have a larger place for books, and a stable, +if possible. So pray be so kind to pay the lodging, and all accounts +about it; and get Mrs. Brent to put up my things. I would have no books +put in that trunk where my papers are. If you do not think of going to +the Bath, I here send you a bill on Parvisol for twenty pounds Irish, +out of which you will pay for the lodging, and score the rest to me. Do +as you please, and love poor Presto, that loves MD better than his life +a thousand millions of times. Farewell, MD, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 21. + +LONDON, April 14, 1711. + +Remember, sirrahs, that there are but nine days between the dates of +my two former letters. I sent away my twentieth this moment, and now am +writing on like a fish, as if nothing was done. But there was a cause +for my hasting away the last, for fear it should not come time enough +before a new quarter began. I told you where I dined to-day; but forgot +to tell you what I believe, that Mr. Harley will be Lord Treasurer in +a short time, and other great removes and promotions made. This is my +thought, etc. + +15. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary, and he is grown pretty well. +I dined with him to-day, and drank some of that wine which the Duke of +Tuscany used to send to Sir William Temple:(1) he always sends some +to the chief Ministers. I liked it mightily, but he does not; and he +ordered his butler to send me a chest of it to-morrow. Would to God MD +had it! The Queen is well again, and was at chapel to-day, etc. + +16. I went with Ford into the City to-day, and dined with Stratford, +and drank Tokay, and then we went to the auction; but I did not lay +out above twelve shillings. My head is a little out of order to-night, +though no formal fit. My Lord Keeper has sent to invite me to dinner +to-morrow, and you'll dine better with the Dean; and God bless you. I +forgot to tell you that yesterday was sent me a Narrative printed, with +all the circumstances of Mr. Harley's stabbing. I had not time to do it +myself; so I sent my hints to the author of the Atalantis,(2) and she +has cooked it into a sixpenny pamphlet, in her own style, only the first +page is left as I was beginning it. But I was afraid of disobliging Mr. +Harley or Mr. St. John in one critical point about it, and so would not +do it myself. It is worth your reading, for the circumstances are all +true. My chest of Florence was sent me this morning, and cost me seven +and sixpence to two servants. I would give two guineas you had it, etc. + +17. I was so out of order with my head this morning, that I was going to +send my excuses to my Lord Keeper; but however I got up at eleven, and +walked there after two, and stayed till eight. There was Sir Thomas +Mansel, Prior, George Granville, and Mr. Caesar,(3) and we were very +merry. My head is still wrong, but I have had no formal fit, only I +totter a little. I have left off snuff altogether. I have a noble roll +of tobacco for grating, very good. Shall I send it to MD, if she likes +that sort? My Lord Keeper and our this day's company are to dine on +Saturday with George Granville, and to-morrow I dine with Lord Anglesea. + +18. Did you ever see such a blundering goosecap as Presto? I saw the +number 21 at top, and so I went on as if it were the day of the month, +whereas this is but Wednesday the 18th. How shall I do to blot and alter +them? I have made a shift to do it behind, but it is a great botch. I +dined with Lord Anglesea to-day, but did not go to the House of Commons +about the yarn; my head was not well enough. I know not what is the +matter; it has never been thus before: two days together giddy from +morning till night, but not with any violence or pain; and I totter +a little, but can make shift to walk. I doubt I must fall to my pills +again: I think of going into the country a little way. I tell you +what you must do henceforward: you must enclose your letter in a fair +half-sheet of paper, and direct the outside "To Erasmus Lewis, Esquire, +at my Lord Dartmouth's office at Whitehall": for I never go to the +Coffee-house, and they will grudge to take in my letters. I forgot to +tell you that your mother was to see me this morning, and brought me a +flask of sweet-water for a present, admirable for my head; but I shall +not smell to it. She is going to Sheen, with Lady Giffard: she would +fain send your papers over to you, or give them to me. Say what you +would have done, and it shall be done; because I love Stella, and she is +a good daughter, they say, and so is Dingley. + +19. This morning General Webb was to give me a visit: he goes with +a crutch and stick, yet was forced to come up two pair of stairs. I +promised to dine with him, but afterwards sent my excuses, and dined +privately in my friend Lewis's lodgings at Whitehall, with whom I had +much business to talk of, relating to the public and myself. Little +Harrison the Tatler goes to-morrow to the secretaryship I got him at the +Hague, and Mr. St. John has made him a present of fifty guineas to bear +his charges. An't I a good friend? Why are not you a young fellow, that +I might prefer you? I had a letter from Bernage from Kinsale: he tells +me his commission for captain-lieutenant was ready for him at his +arrival: so there are two jackanapeses I have done with. My head is +something better this evening, though not well. + +20. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary, whose packets were just come +in, and among them a letter from Lord Peterborow to me: he writes so +well, I have no mind to answer him, and so kind, that I must answer him. +The Emperor's(4) death must, I think, cause great alterations in Europe, +and, I believe, will hasten a peace. We reckon our King Charles will be +chosen Emperor, and the Duke of Savoy set up for Spain; but I believe +he will make nothing of it. Dr. Freind and I dined in the City at a +printer's, and it has cost me two shillings in coach-hire, and a great +deal more this week and month, which has been almost all rain, with now +and then sunshine, and is the truest April that I have known these many +years. The lime-trees in the Park are all out in leaves, though not +large leaves yet. Wise people are going into the country; but many think +the Parliament can hardly be up these six weeks. Mr. Harley was with the +Queen on Tuesday. I believe certainly he will be Lord Treasurer: I have +not seen him this week. + +21. Morning. Lord Keeper, and I, and Prior, and Sir Thomas Mansel, have +appointed to dine this day with George Granville. My head, I thank God, +is better; but to be giddyish three or four days together mortified me. +I take no snuff, and I will be very regular in eating little and the +gentlest meats. How does poor Stella just now, with her deans and +her Stoytes? Do they give you health for the money you lose at ombre, +sirrah? What say you to that? Poor Dingley frets to see Stella lose that +four and elevenpence, the other night. Let us rise. Morrow, sirrahs. I +will rise, spite of your little teeth; good-morrow.--At night. O, faith, +you are little dear saucyboxes. I was just going in the morning to tell +you that I began to want a letter from MD, and in four minutes after Mr. +Ford sends me one that he had picked up at St. James's Coffee-house; for +I go to no coffee-house at all. And, faith, I was glad at heart to see +it, and to see Stella so brisk. O Lord, what pretending? Well, but I +will not answer it yet; I'll keep it for t'other side. Well, we dined +to-day according to appointment: Lord Keeper went away at near eight, +I at eight, and I believe the rest will be fairly fuddled; for young +Harcourt,(5) Lord Keeper's son, began to prattle before I came away. +It will not do with Prior's lean carcass. I drink little, miss my glass +often, put water in my wine, and go away before the rest, which I take +to be a good receipt for sobriety. Let us put it into rhyme, and so make +a proverb-- + + Drink little at a time; + Put water with your wine; + Miss your glass when you can; + And go off the first man. + +God be thanked, I am much better than I was, though something of a +totterer. I ate but little to-day, and of the gentlest meat. I refused +ham and pigeons, pease-soup, stewed beef, cold salmon, because they were +too strong. I take no snuff at all, but some herb snuff prescribed by +Dr. Radcliffe. + + Go to your deans, + You couple of queans. + +I believe I said that already. What care I? what cares Presto? + +22. Morning. I must rise and go to the Secretary's. Mr. Harley has +been out of town this week to refresh himself before he comes into +Parliament. Oh, but I must rise, so there is no more to be said; and so +morrow, sirrahs both.--Night. I dined to-day with the Secretary, who +has engaged me for every Sunday; and I was an hour with him this morning +deep in politics, where I told him the objections of the October Club, +and he answered all except one, that no inquiries are made into past +mismanagement. But indeed I believe they are not yet able to make +any: the late Ministry were too cunning in their rogueries, and fenced +themselves with an Act of general pardon. I believe Mr. Harley must be +Lord Treasurer; yet he makes one difficulty which is hard to answer: he +must be made a lord, and his estate is not large enough, and he is too +generous to make it larger; and if the Ministry should change soon by +any accident, he will be left in the suds. Another difficulty is, that +if he be made a peer, they will want him prodigiously in the House of +Commons, of which he is the great mover, and after him the Secretary, +and hardly any else of weight. Two shillings more to-day for coach and +chair. I shall be ruined. + +23. So you expect an answer to your letter, do you so? Yes, yes, you +shall have an answer, you shall, young women. I made a good pun +on Saturday to my Lord Keeper. After dinner we had coarse Doiley +napkins,(6) fringed at each end, upon the table, to drink with: my Lord +Keeper spread one of them between him and Mr. Prior; I told him I was +glad to see there was such a fringeship (friendship) between Mr. Prior +and his lordship. Prior swore it was the worst he ever heard: I said I +thought so too; but at the same time I thought it was most like one of +Stella's that ever I heard. I dined to-day with Lord Mountjoy, and this +evening saw the Venetian Ambassador(7) coming from his first public +audience. His coach was the most monstrous, huge, fine, rich gilt thing +that ever I saw. I loitered this evening, and came home late. + +24. I was this morning to visit the Duchess of Ormond,(8) who has long +desired it, or threatened she would not let me visit her daughters. +I sat an hour with her, and we were good company, when in came the +Countess of Bellamont,(9) with a pox. I went out, and we did not know +one another; yet hearing me named, she asked, "What, is that Dr. Swift?" +said she and I were very well acquainted, and fell a railing at me +without mercy, as a lady told me that was there; yet I never was but +once in the company of that drab of a Countess. Sir Andrew Fountaine and +I dined with my neighbour Van. I design in two days, if possible, to +go lodge at Chelsea for the air, and put myself under a necessity of +walking to and from London every day. I writ this post to the Bishop of +Clogher a long politic letter, to entertain him. I am to buy statues and +harnese(10) for them, with a vengeance. I have packed and sealed up MD's +twelve letters against I go to Chelsea. I have put the last commissions +of MD in my account-book; but if there be any former ones, I have forgot +them. I have Dingley's pocket-book down, and Stella's green silk apron, +and the pound of tea; pray send me word if you have any other, and down +they shall go. I will not answer your letter yet, saucy boxes. You are +with the Dean just now, Madam Stella, losing your money. Why do not +you name what number you have received? You say you have received my +letters, but do not tell the number. + +25. I was this day dining in the City with very insignificant, low, and +scurvy company. I had a letter from the Archbishop of Dublin, with a +long denial of the report raised on him,(11) which yet has been since +assured to me from those who say they have it from the first hand; but +I cannot believe them. I will show it to the Secretary to-morrow. I will +not answer yours till I get to Chelsea. + +26. Chelsea. I have sent two boxes of lumber to my friend Darteneuf's +house, and my chest of Florence and other things to Mrs. Vanhomrigh, +where I dined to-day. I was this morning with the Secretary, and showed +him the Archbishop's letter, and convinced him of his Grace's innocence, +and I will do the same to Mr. Harley. I got here in the stage-coach with +Patrick and my portmanteau for sixpence, and pay six shillings a week +for one silly room with confounded coarse sheets.(12) We have had such a +horrible deal of rain, that there is no walking to London, and I must go +as I came until it mends; and besides the whelp has taken my lodging as +far from London as this town could afford, at least half a mile farther +than he need; but I must be content. The best is, I lodge just over +against Dr. Atterbury's house, and yet perhaps I shall not like the +place the better for that. Well, I will stay till to-morrow before I +answer your letter; and you must suppose me always writing at Chelsea +from henceforward, till I alter, and say London. This letter goes on +Saturday, which will be just a fortnight; so go and cheat Goody Stoyte, +etc. + +27. Do you know that I fear my whole chest of Florence is turned sour, +at least the two first flasks were so, and hardly drinkable. How plaguy +unfortunate am I! and the Secretary's own is the best I ever tasted; +and I must not tell him, but be as thankful as if it were the best in +Christendom. I went to town in the sixpenny stage to-day; and hearing +Mr. Harley was not at home, I went to see him, because I knew by the +message of his lying porter that he was at home. He was very well, and +just going out, but made me promise to dine with him; and betwixt +that and indeed strolling about, I lost four pound seven shillings +at play--with a--a--a--bookseller, and got but about half a dozen +books.(13) I will buy no more books now, that's certain. Well, I +dined at Mr. Harley's, came away at six, shifted my gown, cassock, and +periwig, and walked hither to Chelsea, as I always design to do when +it is fair. I am heartily sorry to find my friend the Secretary stand +a little ticklish with the rest of the Ministry; there have been one or +two disobliging things that have happened, too long to tell: and t'other +day in Parliament, upon a debate of about thirty-five millions that have +not been duly accounted for, Mr. Secretary, in his warmth of speech, +and zeal for his friend Mr. Brydges,(14) on whom part of the blame +was falling, said he did not know that either Mr. Brydges or the late +Ministry were at all to blame in this matter; which was very desperately +spoken, and giving up the whole cause: for the chief quarrel against the +late Ministry was the ill management of the treasure, and was more than +all the rest together. I had heard of this matter: but Mr. Foley(15) +beginning to discourse to-day at table, without naming Mr. St. John, I +turned to Mr. Harley, and said if the late Ministry were not to blame +in that article, he (Mr. Harley) ought to lose his head for putting the +Queen upon changing them. He made it a jest; but by some words dropped, +I easily saw that they take things ill of Mr. St. John; and by some +hints given me from another hand that I deal with, I am afraid the +Secretary will not stand long. This is the fate of Courts. I will, if I +meet Mr. St. John alone on Sunday, tell him my opinion, and beg him to +set himself right, else the consequences may be very bad; for I see +not how they can well want him neither, and he would make a troublesome +enemy. But enough of politics. + +28. Morning. I forgot to tell you that Mr. Harley asked me yesterday how +he came to disoblige the Archbishop of Dublin. Upon which (having not +his letter about me) I told him what the Bishop had written to me on +that subject,(16) and desired I might read him the letter some other +time. But after all, from what I have heard from other hands, I am +afraid the Archbishop is a little guilty. Here is one Brent Spencer, a +brother of Mr. Proby's,(17) who affirms it, and says he has leave to do +so from Charles Dering,(18) who heard the words; and that Ingoldsby,(19) +abused the Archbishop, etc. Well, but now for your saucy letter: I have +no room to answer it; O yes, enough on t'other side. Are you no sicker? +Stella jeers Presto for not coming over by Christmas; but indeed Stella +does not jeer, but reproach, poor poor Presto. And how can I come away +and the First-Fruits not finished? I am of opinion the Duke of Ormond +will do nothing in them before he goes, which will be in a fortnight, +they say; and then they must fall to me to be done in his absence. +No, indeed, I have nothing to print: you know they have printed the +Miscellanies(20) already. Are they on your side yet? If you have my +snuff box, I will have your strong box. Hi, does Stella take snuff +again? or is it only because it is a fine box? Not the Meddle, but the +Medley,(21) you fool. Yes, yes, a wretched thing, because it is against +you Tories: now I think it very fine, and the Examiner a wretched +thing.--Twist your mouth, sirrah. Guiscard, and what you will read +in the Narrative,(22) I ordered to be written, and nothing else. The +Spectator is written by Steele, with Addison's help: it is often very +pretty. Yesterday it was made of a noble hint I gave him long ago +for his Tatlers, about an Indian supposed to write his Travels into +England.(23) I repent he ever had it. I intended to have written a book +on that subject. I believe he has spent it all in one paper, and all +the under-hints there are mine too; but I never see him or Addison. The +Queen is well, but I fear will be no long liver; for I am told she has +sometimes the gout in her bowels (I hate the word bowels). My ears +have been, these three months past, much better than any time these two +years; but now they begin to be a little out of order again. My head is +better, though not right; but I trust to air and walking. You have got +my letter, but what number? I suppose 18. Well, my shin has been +well this month. No, Mrs. Westley(24) came away without her husband's +knowledge, while she was in the country: she has written to me for some +tea. They lie; Mr. Harley's wound was very terrible: he had convulsions, +and very narrowly escaped. The bruise was nine times worse than the +wound: he is weak still. Well, Brooks married; I know all that. I am +sorry for Mrs. Walls's eye: I hope 'tis better. O yes, you are great +walkers: but I have heard them say, "Much talkers, little walkers": and +I believe I may apply the old proverb to you-- + + If you talked no more than you walked, + Those that think you wits would be baulked. + +Yes, Stella shall have a large printed Bible: I have put it down among +my commissions for MD. I am glad to hear you have taken the fancy of +intending to read the Bible. Pox take the box; is not it come yet? +This is trusting to your young fellows, young women; 'tis your fault: +I thought you had such power with Sterne that he would fly over Mount +Atlas to serve you. You say you are not splenetic; but if you be, faith, +you will break poor Presto's--I will not say the rest; but I vow to God, +if I could decently come over now, I would, and leave all schemes of +politics and ambition for ever. I have not the opportunities here of +preserving my health by riding, etc., that I have in Ireland; and the +want of health is a great cooler of making one's court. You guess right +about my being bit with a direction from Walls, and the letter from MD: +I believe I described it in one of my last. This goes to-night; and +I must now rise and walk to town, and walk back in the evening. God +Almighty bless and preserve poor MD. Farewell. + +O, faith, don't think, saucy noses, that I'll fill this third side: I +can't stay a letter above a fortnight: it must go then; and you would +rather see a short one like this, than want it a week longer. + +My humble service to the Dean, and Mrs. Walls, and good, kind, hearty +Mrs. Stoyte, and honest Catherine. + + + + +LETTER 22. + +CHELSEA, April 28, 1711. + +At night. I say at night, because I finished my twenty-first this +morning here, and put it into the post-office my own self, like a good +boy. I think I am a little before you now, young women: I am writing my +twenty-second, and have received your thirteenth. I got to town between +twelve and one, and put on my new gown and periwig, and dined with +Lord Abercorn, where I had not been since the marriage of his son Lord +Peasley,(1) who has got ten thousand pounds with a wife. I am now a +country gentleman. I walked home as I went, and am a little weary, and +am got into bed: I hope in God the air and exercise will do me a little +good. I have been inquiring about statues for Mrs. Ashe: I made Lady +Abercorn(2) go with me; and will send them word next post to Clogher. I +hate to buy for her: I am sure she will maunder. I am going to study. + +29. I had a charming walk to and from town to-day: I washed, shaved and +all, and changed gown and periwig, by half an hour after nine, and went +to the Secretary, who told me how he had differed with his friends in +Parliament: I apprehended this division, and told him a great deal of +it. I went to Court, and there several mentioned it to me as what they +much disliked. I dined with the Secretary; and we proposed doing some +business of importance in the afternoon, which he broke to me first, and +said how he and Mr. Harley were convinced of the necessity of it; yet he +suffered one of his under-secretaries to come upon us after dinner, who +stayed till six, and so nothing was done: and what care I? he shall send +to me the next time, and ask twice. To-morrow I go to the election at +Westminster School, where lads are chosen for the University: they say +it is a sight, and a great trial of wits. Our Expedition Fleet is but +just sailed: I believe it will come to nothing. Mr. Secretary frets at +their tediousness, but hopes great things from it, though he owns four +or five princes are in the secret; and, for that reason, I fear it is no +secret to France. There are eight regiments; and the Admiral(3) is your +Walker's brother the midwife. + +30. Morn. I am here in a pretty pickle: it rains hard; and the cunning +natives of Chelsea have outwitted me, and taken up all the three stage +coaches. What shall I do? I must go to town: this is your fault. I +cannot walk: I will borrow a coat. This is the blind side of my lodging +out of town; I must expect such inconveniences as these. Faith, I'll +walk in the rain. Morrow.--At night. I got a gentleman's chaise by +chance, and so went to town for a shilling, and lie this night in town. +I was at the election of lads at Westminster to-day, and a very silly +thing it is; but they say there will be fine doings to-morrow. I dined +with Dr. Freind,(4) the second master of the school, with a dozen +parsons and others: Prior would make me stay. Mr. Harley is to hear the +election to-morrow; and we are all to dine with tickets, and hear fine +speeches. 'Tis terrible rainy weather again: I lie at a friend's in the +City. + +May 1. I wish you a merry May Day, and a thousand more. I was baulked at +Westminster; I came too late: I heard no speeches nor verses. They would +not let me in to their dining-place for want of a ticket; and I +would not send in for one, because Mr. Harley excused his coming, and +Atterbury was not there; and I cared not for the rest: and so my friend +Lewis and I dined with Kitt Musgrave,(5) if you know such a man: and, +the weather mending, I walked gravely home this evening; and so I design +to walk and walk till I am well: I fancy myself a little better already. +How does poor Stella? Dingley is well enough. Go, get you gone, naughty +girl, you are well enough. O dear MD, contrive to have some share of +the country this spring: go to Finglas, or Donnybrook, or Clogher, or +Killala, or Lowth. Have you got your box yet? Yes, yes. Do not write to +me again till this letter goes: I must make haste, that I may write two +for one. Go to the Bath: I hope you are now at the Bath, if you had a +mind to go; or go to Wexford: do something for your living. Have +you given up my lodging, according to order? I have had just now a +compliment from Dean Atterbury's lady,(6) to command the garden and +library, and whatever the house affords. I lodge just over against them; +but the Dean is in town with his Convocation: so I have my Dean and +Prolocutor as well as you, young women, though he has not so good wine, +nor so much meat. + +2. A fine day, but begins to grow a little warm; and that makes your +little fat Presto sweat in the forehead. Pray, are not the fine buns +sold here in our town; was it not Rrrrrrrrrare Chelsea buns?(7) I bought +one to-day in my walk; it cost me a penny; it was stale, and I did not +like it, as the man said, etc. Sir Andrew Fountaine and I dined at +Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and had a flask of my Florence, which lies in their +cellar; and so I came home gravely, and saw nobody of consequence +to-day. I am very easy here, nobody plaguing me in a morning; and +Patrick saves many a score lies. I sent over to Mrs Atterbury to +know whether I might wait on her; but she is gone a visiting: we have +exchanged some compliments, but I have not seen her yet. We have no news +in our town. + +3. I did not go to town to-day, it was so terrible rainy; nor have I +stirred out of my room till eight this evening, when I crossed the way +to see Mrs. Atterbury, and thank her for her civilities. She would needs +send me some veal, and small beer, and ale, to-day at dinner; and I have +lived a scurvy, dull, splenetic day, for want of MD: I often thought how +happy I could have been, had it rained eight thousand times more, if MD +had been with a body. My Lord Rochester(8) is dead this morning; they +say at one o'clock; and I hear he died suddenly. To-morrow I shall know +more. He is a great loss to us: I cannot think who will succeed him as +Lord President. I have been writing a long letter to Lord Peterborow, +and am dull. + +4. I dined to-day at Lord Shelburne's, where Lady Kerry(9) made me a +present of four India handkerchiefs, which I have a mind to keep +for little MD, only that I had rather, etc. I have been a mighty +handkerchief-monger, and have bought abundance of snuff ones since I +have left off taking snuff. And I am resolved, when I come over, +MD shall be acquainted with Lady Kerry: we have struck up a mighty +friendship; and she has much better sense than any other lady of +your country. We are almost in love with one another: but she is most +egregiously ugly; but perfectly well-bred, and governable as I please. I +am resolved, when I come, to keep no company but MD: you know I kept my +resolution last time; and, except Mr. Addison, conversed with none but +you and your club of deans and Stoytes. 'Tis three weeks, young women, +since I had a letter from you; and yet, methinks, I would not have +another for five pounds till this is gone; and yet I send every day to +the Coffee-house, and I would fain have a letter, and not have a letter: +and I do not know what, nor I do not know how, and this goes on very +slow; it is a week to-morrow since I began it. I am a poor country +gentleman, and do not know how the world passes. Do you know that every +syllable I write I hold my lips just for all the world as if I were +talking in our own little language to MD? Faith, I am very silly; but +I cannot help it for my life. I got home early to-night. My solicitors, +that used to ply me every morning, knew not where to find me; and I am +so happy not to hear "Patrick, Patrick," called a hundred times every +morning. But I looked backward, and find I have said this before. What +care I? Go to the Dean, and roast the oranges. + +5. I dined to-day with my friend Lewis, and we were deep in politics +how to save the present Ministry; for I am afraid of Mr. Secretary, as +I believe I told you. I went in the evening to see Mr. Harley; and, upon +my word, I was in perfect joy. Mr. Secretary was just going out of the +door; but I made him come back, and there was the old Saturday Club, +Lord Keeper, Lord Rivers, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Harley, and I; the first +time since his stabbing. Mr. Secretary went away; but I stayed till +nine, and made Mr. Harley show me his breast, and tell all the story; +and I showed him the Archbishop of Dublin's letter, and defended him +effectually. We were all in mighty good humour. Lord Keeper and I left +them together, and I walked here after nine two miles, and I found a +parson drunk fighting with a seaman, and Patrick and I were so wise to +part them, but the seaman followed him to Chelsea, cursing at him, and +the parson slipped into a house, and I know no more. It mortified me to +see a man in my coat so overtaken. A pretty scene for one that just came +from sitting with the Prime Ministers! I had no money in my pocket, and +so could not be robbed. However, nothing but Mr. Harley shall make me +take such a journey again. We don't yet know who will be President in +Lord Rochester's room. I measured, and found that the penknife would +have killed Mr. Harley if it had gone but half the breadth of my +thumb-nail lower, so near was he to death. I was so curious as to ask +him what were his thoughts while they were carrying him home in the +chair. He said he concluded himself a dead man. He will not allow that +Guiscard gave him the second stab; though my Lord Keeper, who is blind, +and I that was not there, are positive in it. He wears a plaster still +as broad as half a crown. Smoke how wide the lines are, but, faith, I +don't do it on purpose: but I have changed my side in this new Chelsea +bed, and I do not know how, methinks, but it is so unfit, and so +awkward, never saw the like. + +6. You must remember to enclose your letters in a fair paper, and direct +the outside thus: "To Erasmus Lewis, Esq.; at my Lord Dartmouth's office +at Whitehall." I said so before, but it may miscarry, you know, yet I +think none of my letters did ever miscarry; faith, I think never one; +among all the privateers and the storms. O, faith, my letters are too +good to be lost. MD's letters may tarry, but never miscarry, as the old +woman used to say. And indeed, how should they miscarry, when they never +come before their time? It was a terrible rainy day; yet I made a shift +to steal fair weather overhead enough to go and come in. I was early +with the Secretary, and dined with him afterwards. In the morning I +began to chide him, and tell him my fears of his proceedings. But Arthur +Moore(10) came up and relieved him. But I forgot, for you never heard of +Arthur Moore. But when I get Mr. Harley alone, I will know the bottom. +You will have Dr. Raymond over before this letter, and what care you? + +7. I hope and believe my walks every day do me good. I was busy at home, +and set out late this morning, and dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, at whose +lodgings I always change my gown and periwig. I visited this afternoon, +and among others, poor Biddy Floyd,(11) who is very red, but I +believe won't be much marked. As I was coming home, I met Sir George +Beaumont(12) in the Pall Mall, who would needs walk with me as far as +Buckingham House. I was telling him of my head; he said he had been ill +of the same disorder, and by all means forbid me bohea tea, which, he +said, always gave it him; and that Dr. Radcliffe said it was very bad. +Now I had observed the same thing, and have left it off this month, +having found myself ill after it several times; and I mention it that +Stella may consider it for her own poor little head: a pound lies +ready packed up and directed for Mrs. Walls, to be sent by the first +convenience. Mr. Secretary told me yesterday that Mr. Harley would this +week be Lord Treasurer and a peer; so I expect it every day; yet perhaps +it may not be till Parliament is up, which will be in a fortnight. + +8. I was to-day with the Duke of Ormond, and recommended to him the care +of poor Joe Beaumont, who promises me to do him all justice and favour, +and give him encouragement; and desired I would give a memorial to Ned +Southwell about it, which I will, and so tell Joe when you see him, +though he knows it already by a letter I writ to Mr. Warburton.(13) It +was bloody hot walking to-day. I dined in the City, and went and came +by water; and it rained so this evening again, that I thought I should +hardly be able to get a dry hour to walk home in. I will send to-morrow +to the Coffee-house for a letter from MD; but I would not have one +methinks till this is gone, as it shall on Saturday. I visited the +Duchess of Ormond this morning; she does not go over with the Duke. I +spoke to her to get a lad touched for the evil,(14) the son of a grocer +in Capel Street, one Bell; the ladies have bought sugar and plums of +him. Mrs. Mary used to go there often. This is Patrick's account; and +the poor fellow has been here some months with his boy. But the Queen +has not been able to touch, and it now grows so warm, I fear she +will not at all. Go, go, go to the Dean's, and let him carry you to +Donnybrook, and cut asparagus. Has Parvisol sent you any this year? +I cannot sleep in the beginnings of the nights, the heat or something +hinders me, and I am drowsy in the mornings. + +9. Dr. Freind came this morning to visit Atterbury's lady and children +as physician, and persuaded me to go with him to town in his chariot. +He told me he had been an hour before with Sir Cholmley Dering, Charles +Dering's nephew, and head of that family in Kent, for which he is Knight +of the shire. He said he left him dying of a pistol-shot quite through +the body, by one Mr. Thornhill.(15) They fought at sword and pistol this +morning in Tuttle Fields,(16) their pistols so near that the muzzles +touched. Thornhill discharged first; and Dering, having received the +shot, discharged his pistol as he was falling, so it went into the air. +The story of this quarrel is long. Thornhill had lost seven teeth by a +kick in the mouth from Dering, who had first knocked him down; this +was above a fortnight ago. Dering was next week to be married to a fine +young lady. This makes a noise here, but you will not value it. Well, +Mr. Harley, Lord Keeper, and one or two more, are to be made lords +immediately; their patents are now passing, and I read the preamble to +Mr. Harley's, full of his praises. Lewis and I dined with Ford: I found +the wine; two flasks of my Florence, and two bottles of six that Dr. +Raymond sent me of French wine; he sent it to me to drink with Sir +Robert Raymond and Mr. Harley's brother,(17) whom I had introduced him +to; but they never could find time to come; and now I have left the +town, and it is too late. Raymond will think it a cheat. What care I, +sirrah? + +10. Pshaw, pshaw. Patrick brought me four letters to-day: from Dilly at +Bath; Joe; Parvisol; and what was the fourth, who can tell? Stand away, +who'll guess? Who can it be? You old man with a stick, can you tell who +the fourth is from? Iss, an please your honour, it is from one Madam MD, +Number Fourteen. Well; but I can't send this away now, because it +was here, and I was in town; but it shall go on Saturday, and this is +Thursday night, and it will be time enough for Wexford. Take my method: +I write here to Parvisol to lend Stella twenty pounds, and to take her +note promissory to pay it in half a year, etc. You shall see, and if you +want more, let me know afterwards; and be sure my money shall be always +paid constantly too. Have you been good or ill housewives, pray? + +11. Joe has written me to get him a collector's place, nothing less; he +says all the world knows of my great intimacy with Mr. Harley, and that +the smallest word to him will do. This is the constant cant of puppies +who are at a distance, and strangers to Courts and Ministers. My answer +is this, which pray send: that I am ready to serve Joe as far as I can; +that I have spoken to the Duke of Ormond about his money, as I writ to +Warburton; that for the particular he mentions, it is a work of time, +which I cannot think of at present; but, if accidents and opportunities +should happen hereafter, I would not be wanting; that I know best how +far my credit goes; that he is at a distance, and cannot judge; that I +would be glad to do him good, and if fortune throws an opportunity in +my way I shall not be wanting. This is my answer, which you may send or +read to him. Pray contrive that Parvisol may not run away with my two +hundred pounds; but get Burton's(18) note, and let the money be returned +me by bill. Don't laugh, for I will be suspicious. Teach Parvisol to +enclose, and direct the outside to Mr. Lewis. I will answer your letter +in my next, only what I take notice of here excepted. I forgot to tell +you that at the Court of Requests to-day I could not find a dinner I +liked, and it grew late, and I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, etc. + +12. Morning. I will finish this letter before I go to town, because I +shall be busy, and have neither time nor place there. Farewell, etc. +etc. + + + + +LETTER 23. + +CHELSEA, May 12, 1711. + +I sent you my twenty-second this afternoon in town. I dined with Mr. +Harley and the old Club, Lord Rivers, Lord Keeper, and Mr. Secretary. +They rallied me last week, and said I must have Mr. St. John's leave; so +I writ to him yesterday, that foreseeing I should never dine again with +Sir Simon Harcourt, Knight, and Robert Harley, Esq., I was resolved to +do it to-day. The jest is, that before Saturday(1) next we expect they +will be lords; for Mr. Harley's patent is drawing, to be Earl of Oxford. +Mr. Secretary and I came away at seven, and he brought me to our town's +end in his coach; so I lost my walk. St. John read my letter to the +company, which was all raillery, and passed purely. + +13. It rained all last night and this morning as heavy as lead; but I +just got fair weather to walk to town before church. The roads are all +over in deep puddle. The hay of our town is almost fit to be mowed. I +went to Court after church (as I always do on Sundays), and then dined +with Mr. Secretary, who has engaged me for every Sunday; and poor MD +dined at home upon a bit of veal and a pint of wine. Is it not plaguy +insipid to tell you every day where I dine? yet now I have got into +the way of it, I cannot forbear it neither. Indeed, Mr. Presto, you had +better go answer MD's letter, N.14. I will answer it when I please, +Mr. Doctor. What is that you say? The Court was very full this morning, +expecting Mr. Harley would be declared Earl of Oxford and have the +Treasurer's staff. Mr. Harley never comes to Court at all; somebody +there asked me the reason. "Why," said I, "the Lord of Oxford knows." He +always goes to the Queen by the back stairs. I was told for certain, you +jackanapes, Lord Santry(2) was dead, Captain Cammock(3) assured me so; +and now he's alive again, they say; but that shan't do: he shall be dead +to me as long as he lives. Dick Tighe(4) and I meet, and never stir our +hats. I am resolved to mistake him for Witherington, the little nasty +lawyer that came up to me so sternly at the Castle the day I left +Ireland. I'll ask the gentleman I saw walking with him how long +Witherington has been in town. + +14. I went to town to-day by water. The hail quite discouraged me from +walking, and there is no shade in the greatest part of the way. I took +the first boat, and had a footman my companion; then I went again +by water, and dined in the City with a printer, to whom I carried a +pamphlet in manuscript, that Mr. Secretary gave me. The printer sent it +to the Secretary for his approbation, and he desired me to look it over, +which I did, and found it a very scurvy piece. The reason I tell you so, +is because it was done by your parson Slap, Scrap, Flap (what d'ye call +him), Trapp,(5) your Chancellor's chaplain. 'Tis called A Character of +the Present Set of Whigs, and is going to be printed, and no doubt the +author will take care to produce it in Ireland. Dr. Freind was with me, +and pulled out a twopenny pamphlet just published, called The State of +Wit,(6) giving a character of all the papers that have come out of late. +The author seems to be a Whig, yet he speaks very highly of a paper +called the Examiner, and says the supposed author of it is Dr. Swift. +But above all things he praises the Tatlers and Spectators; and I +believe Steele and Addison were privy to the printing of it. Thus is one +treated by these impudent dogs. And that villain Curll(7) has scraped +up some trash, and calls it Dr. Swift's Miscellanies, with the name at +large: and I can get no satisfaction of him. Nay, Mr. Harley told me +he had read it, and only laughed at me before Lord Keeper and the +rest. Since I came home, I have been sitting with the Prolocutor, Dean +Atterbury, who is my neighbour over the way, but generally keeps in town +with his Convocation. 'Tis late, etc. + +15. My walk to town to-day was after ten, and prodigiously hot. I dined +with Lord Shelburne, and have desired Mrs. Pratt, who lodges there, to +carry over Mrs. Walls's tea; I hope she will do it, and they talk of +going in a fortnight. My way is this: I leave my best gown and periwig +at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, then walk up the Pall Mall, through the Park, out +at Buckingham House, and so to Chelsea a little beyond the church: I set +out about sunset, and get here in something less than an hour; it is two +good miles, and just five thousand seven hundred and forty-eight steps; +so there is four miles a day walking, without reckoning what I walk +while I stay in town. When I pass the Mall in the evening, it is +prodigious to see the number of ladies walking there; and I always cry +shame at the ladies of Ireland, who never walk at all, as if their legs +were of no use, but to be laid aside. I have been now almost three +weeks here, and I thank God, am much better in my head, if it does but +continue. I tell you what, if I was with you, when we went to Stoyte at +Donnybrook, we would only take a coach to the hither end of Stephen's +Green, and from thence go every step on foot, yes, faith, every step; +it would do DD(8) good as well as Presto.(9) Everybody tells me I +look better already; for, faith, I looked sadly, that is certain. My +breakfast is milk porridge: I do not love it; faith, I hate it, but +it is cheap and wholesome; and I hate to be obliged to either of those +qualities for anything.(10) + +16. I wonder why Presto will be so tedious in answering MD's letters; +because he would keep the best to the last, I suppose. Well, Presto must +be humoured, it must be as he will have it, or there will be an old to +do.(11) Dead with heat; are not you very hot? My walks make my forehead +sweat rarely; sometimes my morning journey is by water, as it was to-day +with one Parson Richardson,(12) who came to see me, on his going to +Ireland; and with him I send Mrs. Walls's tea, and three books(13) I +got from the Lords of the Treasury for the College. I dined with Lord +Shelburne to-day; Lady Kerry and Mrs. Pratt are going likewise for +Ireland.--Lord! I forgot, I dined with Mr. Prior to-day, at his house, +with Dean Atterbury and others; and came home pretty late, and I think +I'm in a fuzz, and don't know what I say, never saw the like. + +17. Sterne came here by water to see me this morning, and I went back +with him to his boat. He tells me that Mrs. Edgworth(14) married a +fellow in her journey to Chester; so I believe she little thought of +anybody's box but her own. I desired Sterne to give me directions where +to get the box in Chester, which he says he will to-morrow; and I will +write to Richardson to get it up there as he goes by, and whip it over. +It is directed to Mrs. Curry: you must caution her of it, and desire +her to send it you when it comes. Sterne says Jemmy Leigh loves London +mightily; that makes him stay so long, I believe, and not Sterne's +business, which Mr. Harley's accident has put much backward. We expect +now every day that he will be Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer. His +patent is passing; but, they say, Lord Keeper's not yet; at least his +son, young Harcourt, told me so t'other day. I dined to-day privately +with my friend Lewis at his lodgings at Whitehall. T'other day at +Whitehall I met a lady of my acquaintance, whom I had not seen before +since I came to England; we were mighty glad to see each other, and she +has engaged me to visit her, as I design to do. It is one Mrs. Colledge: +she has lodgings at Whitehall, having been seamstress to King William, +worth three hundred a year. Her father was a fanatic joiner,(15) hanged +for treason in Shaftesbury's plot. This noble person and I were brought +acquainted, some years ago, by Lady Berkeley.(16) I love good creditable +acquaintance: I love to be the worst of the company: I am not of those +that say, "For want of company, welcome trumpery." I was this evening +with Lady Kerry and Mrs. Pratt at Vauxhall, to hear the nightingales; +but they are almost past singing. + +18. I was hunting the Secretary to-day in vain about some business, and +dined with Colonel Crowe, late Governor of Barbados,(17) and your friend +Sterne was the third: he is very kind to Sterne, and helps him in his +business, which lies asleep till Mr. Harley is Lord Treasurer, because +nothing of moment is now done in the Treasury, the change being expected +every day. I sat with Dean Atterbury till one o'clock after I came home; +so 'tis late, etc. + +19. Do you know that about our town we are mowing already and making +hay, and it smells so sweet as we walk through the flowery meads; but +the hay-making nymphs are perfect drabs, nothing so clean and pretty as +farther in the country. There is a mighty increase of dirty wenches in +straw hats since I knew London. I stayed at home till five o'clock, and +dined with Dean Atterbury; then went by water to Mr. Harley's, where the +Saturday Club was met, with the addition of the Duke of Shrewsbury. I +whispered Lord Rivers that I did not like to see a stranger among us; +and the rogue told it aloud: but Mr. Secretary said the Duke writ to +have leave; so I appeared satisfied, and so we laughed. Mr. Secretary +told me the Duke of Buckingham(18) had been talking to him much about +me, and desired my acquaintance. I answered it could not be, for he +had not made sufficient advances. Then the Duke of Shrewsbury said he +thought that Duke was not used to make advances. I said I could not help +that; for I always expected advances in proportion to men's quality, and +more from a duke than any other man. The Duke replied that he did not +mean anything of his quality; which was handsomely said enough; for he +meant his pride: and I have invented a notion to believe that nobody +is proud. At ten all the company went away; and from ten to twelve +Mr. Harley and I sat together, where we talked through a great deal +of matters I had a mind to settle with him; and then walked in a fine +moonshine night to Chelsea, where I got by one. Lord Rivers conjured me +not to walk so late; but I would, because I had no other way; but I had +no money to lose. + +20. By what the Lord Keeper told me last night, I find he will not be +made a peer so soon; but Mr. Harley's patent for Earl of Oxford is now +drawing, and will be done in three days. We made him own it, which he +did scurvily, and then talked of it like the rest. Mr. Secretary had too +much company with him to-day; so I came away soon after dinner. I give +no man liberty to swear or talk b---dy, and I found some of them were +in constraint, so I left them to themselves. I wish you a merry +Whitsuntide, and pray tell me how you pass away your time; but, faith, +you are going to Wexford, and I fear this letter is too late; it shall +go on Thursday, and sooner it cannot, I have so much business to hinder +me answering yours. Where must I direct in your absence? Do you quit +your lodgings? + +21. Going to town this morning, I met in the Pall Mall a clergyman +of Ireland, whom I love very well and was glad to see, and with him +a little jackanapes, of Ireland too, who married Nanny Swift, Uncle +Adam's(19) daughter, one Perry; perhaps you may have heard of him. His +wife has sent him here, to get a place from Lowndes;(20) because my +uncle and Lowndes married two sisters, and Lowndes is a great man here +in the Treasury; but by good luck I have no acquaintance with him: +however, he expected I should be his friend to Lowndes, and one word +of mine, etc., the old cant. But I will not go two yards to help him. +I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, where I keep my best gown and periwig, to +put on when I come to town and be a spark. + +22. I dined to-day in the City, and coming home this evening, I met Sir +Thomas Mansel and Mr. Lewis in the Park. Lewis whispered me that Mr. +Harley's patent for the Earl of Oxford was passed in Mr. Secretary St. +John's office; so to-morrow or next day, I suppose, he will be +declared Earl of Oxford, and have the staff.(21) This man has grown by +persecutions, turnings out, and stabbing. What waiting, and crowding, +and bowing will be at his levee! yet, if human nature be capable of so +much constancy, I should believe he will be the same man still, bating +the necessary forms of grandeur he must keep up. 'Tis late, sirrahs, and +I'll go sleep. + +23. Morning. I sat up late last night, and waked late to-day; but will +now answer your letter in bed before I go to town, and I will send it +to-morrow; for perhaps you mayn't go so soon to Wexford.--No, you are +not out in your number; the last was Number 14, and so I told you +twice or thrice; will you never be satisfied? What shall we do for poor +Stella? Go to Wexford, for God's sake: I wish you were to walk there by +three miles a day, with a good lodging at every mile's end. Walking +has done me so much good, that I cannot but prescribe it often to poor +Stella. Parvisol has sent me a bill for fifty pounds, which I am sorry +for, having not written to him for it, only mentioned it two months ago; +but I hope he will be able to pay you what I have drawn upon him for: he +never sent me any sum before, but one bill of twenty pounds half a year +ago. You are welcome as my blood to every farthing I have in the world; +and all that grieves me is, I am not richer, for MD's sake, as hope +saved.(22) I suppose you give up your lodgings when you go to Wexford; +yet that will be inconvenient too: yet I wish again you were under a +necessity of rambling the country until Michaelmas, faith. No, let them +keep the shelves, with a pox; yet they are exacting people about those +four weeks; or Mrs. Brent may have the shelves, if she please. I am +obliged to your Dean for his kind offer of lending me money. Will that +be enough to say? A hundred people would lend me money, or to any man +who has not the reputation of a squanderer. O, faith, I should be glad +to be in the same kingdom with MD, however, although you are at Wexford. +But I am kept here by a most capricious fate, which I would break +through, if I could do it with decency or honour.--To return without +some mark of distinction would look extremely little; and I would +likewise gladly be somewhat richer than I am. I will say no more, but +beg you to be easy till Fortune take her course, and to believe that +MD's felicity is the great end I aim at in all my pursuits. And so let +us talk no more on this subject, which makes me melancholy, and that +I would fain divert. Believe me, no man breathing at present has less +share of happiness in life than I: I do not say I am unhappy at all, but +that everything here is tasteless to me for want of being as I would +be. And so, a short sigh, and no more of this. Well, come and let's see +what's next, young women. Pox take Mrs. Edgworth and Sterne! I will take +some methods about that box. What orders would you have me give about +the picture? Can't you do with it as if it were your own? No, I hope +Manley will keep his place; for I hear nothing of Sir Thomas Frankland's +losing his. Send nothing under cover to Mr. Addison, but "To Erasmus +Lewis, Esq.; at my Lord Dartmouth's office at Whitehall." Direct your +outside so.--Poor dear Stella, don't write in the dark, nor in the light +neither, but dictate to Dingley; she is a naughty, healthy girl, and may +drudge for both. Are you good company together? and don't you quarrel +too often? Pray love one another, and kiss one another just now, as +Dingley is reading this; for you quarrelled this morning just after Mrs. +Marget(23) had poured water on Stella's head: I heard the little bird +say so. Well, I have answered everything in your letter that required +it, and yet the second side is not full. I'll come home at night, and +say more; and to-morrow this goes for certain. Go, get you gone to your +own chambers, and let Presto rise like a modest gentleman, and walk to +town. I fancy I begin to sweat less in the forehead by constant walking +than I used to do; but then I shall be so sunburnt, the ladies will not +like me. Come, let me rise, sirrahs. Morrow.--At night. I dined with +Ford to-day at his lodgings, and I found wine out of my own cellar, some +of my own chest of the great Duke's wine: it begins to turn. They say +wine with you in Ireland is half a crown a bottle. 'Tis as Stella says; +nothing that once grows dear in Ireland ever grows cheap again, except +corn, with a pox, to ruin the parson. I had a letter to-day from the +Archbishop of Dublin, giving me further thanks about vindicating him +to Mr. Harley and Mr. St. John, and telling me a long story about your +Mayor's election,(24) wherein I find he has had a finger, and given +way to further talk about him; but we know nothing of it here yet. This +walking to and fro, and dressing myself, takes up so much of my time +that I cannot go among company so much as formerly; yet what must a body +do? I thank God I yet continue much better since I left the town; I know +not how long it may last. I am sure it has done me some good for the +present. I do not totter as I did, but walk firm as a cock, only once +or twice for a minute, I do not know how; but it went off, and I never +followed it. Does Dingley read my hand as well as ever? do you, sirrah? +Poor Stella must not read Presto's ugly small hand. + + Preserve your eyes, + If you be wise. + +Your friend Walls's tea will go in a day or two towards Chester by one +Parson Richardson. My humble service to her, and to good Mrs. Stoyte, +and Catherine; and pray walk while you continue in Dublin. I expect your +next but one will be from Wexford. God bless dearest MD. + +24. Morning. Mr. Secretary has sent his groom hither, to invite me to +dinner to-day, etc. God Almighty for ever bless and preserve you both, +and give you health, etc. Amen. Farewell, etc. + +Do not I often say the same thing two or three times in the same letter, +sirrah? + +Great wits, they say, have but short memories; that's good vile +conversation. + + + + +LETTER 24. + +CHELSEA, May 24, 1711. + +Morning. Once in my life the number of my letters and of the day of the +month is the same; that's lucky, boys; that's a sign that things will +meet, and that we shall make a figure together. What, will you still +have the impudence to say London, England, because I say Dublin, +Ireland? Is there no difference between London and Dublin, saucyboxes? +I have sealed up my letter, and am going to town. Morrow, sirrahs.--At +night. I dined with the Secretary to-day; we sat down between five and +six. Mr. Harley's patent passed this morning: he is now Earl of Oxford, +Earl Mortimer, and Lord Harley of Wigmore Castle. My letter was sealed, +or I would have told you this yesterday; but the public news may tell +it you. The Queen, for all her favour, has kept a rod(1) for him in her +closet this week; I suppose he will take it from her, though, in a day +or two. At eight o'clock this evening it rained prodigiously, as it did +from five; however, I set out, and in half-way the rain lessened, and I +got home, but tolerably wet; and this is the first wet walk I have had +in a month's time that I am here but, however, I got to bed, after a +short visit to Atterbury. + +25. It rained this morning, and I went to town by water; and Ford and I +dined with Mr. Lewis by appointment. I ordered Patrick to bring my gown +and periwig to Mr. Lewis, because I designed to go to see Lord Oxford, +and so I told the dog; but he never came, though I stayed an hour longer +than I appointed; so I went in my old gown, and sat with him two hours, +but could not talk over some business I had with him; so he has desired +me to dine with him on Sunday, and I must disappoint the Secretary. +My lord set me down at a coffee-house, where I waited for the Dean +of Carlisle's chariot to bring me to Chelsea; for it has rained +prodigiously all this afternoon. The Dean did not come himself, but sent +me his chariot, which has cost me two shillings to the coachman; and so +I am got home, and Lord knows what is become of Patrick. I think I must +send him over to you; for he is an intolerable rascal. If I had +come without a gown, he would have served me so, though my life and +preferment should have lain upon it: and I am making a livery for him +will cost me four pounds; but I will order the tailor to-morrow to stop +till further orders. My Lord Oxford can't yet abide to be called +"my lord"; and when I called him "my lord," he called me "Dr. Thomas +Swift,"(2) which he always does when he has a mind to tease me. By a +second hand, he proposed my being his chaplain, which I by a second +hand excused; but we had no talk of it to-day: but I will be no man's +chaplain alive. But I must go and be busy. + +26. I never saw Patrick till this morning, and that only once, for I +dressed myself without him; and when I went to town he was out of the +way. I immediately sent for the tailor, and ordered him to stop his hand +in Patrick's clothes till further orders. Oh, if it were in Ireland, I +should have turned him off ten times ago; and it is no regard to him, +but myself, that has made me keep him so long. Now I am afraid to give +the rogue his clothes. What shall I do? I wish MD were here to entreat +for him, just here at the bed's side. Lady Ashburnham(3) has been +engaging me this long time to dine with her, and I set to-day apart for +it; and whatever was the mistake, she sent me word she was at dinner and +undressed, but would be glad to see me in the afternoon: so I dined with +Mrs. Vanhomrigh, and would not go to see her at all, in a huff. My fine +Florence is turning sour with a vengeance, and I have not drunk half of +it. As I was coming home to-night, Sir Thomas Mansel and Tom Harley(4) +met me in the Park, and made me walk with them till nine, like +unreasonable whelps; so I got not here till ten: but it was a fine +evening, and the foot-path clean enough already after this hard rain. + +27. Going this morning to town, I saw two old lame fellows, walking to +a brandy-shop, and when they got to the door, stood a long time +complimenting who should go in first. Though this be no jest to tell, it +was an admirable one to see. I dined to-day with my Lord Oxford and the +ladies, the new Countess, and Lady Betty,(5) who has been these three +days a lady born. My lord left us at seven, and I had no time to speak +to him about some affairs; but he promises in a day or two we shall dine +alone; which is mighty likely, considering we expect every moment that +the Queen will give him the staff, and then he will be so crowded he +will be good for nothing: for aught I know he may have it to-night at +Council. + +28. I had a petition sent me t'other day from one Stephen Gernon, +setting forth that he formerly lived with Harry Tenison,(6) who gave him +an employment of gauger, and that he was turned out after Harry's death, +and came for England, and is now starving, or, as he expresses it, THAT +THE STAFF OF LIFE HAS BEEN OF LATE A STRANGER TO HIS APPETITE. Today +the poor fellow called, and I knew him very well, a young slender fellow +with freckles in his face: you must remember him; he waited at table as +a better sort of servant. I gave him a crown, and promised to do what I +could to help him to a service, which I did for Harry Tenison's memory. +It was bloody hot walking to-day, and I was so lazy I dined where my new +gown was, at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and came back like a fool, and the Dean +of Carlisle has sat with me till eleven. Lord Oxford has not the staff +yet. + +29. I was this morning in town by ten, though it was shaving-day, and +went to the Secretary about some affairs, then visited the Duke and +Duchess of Ormond; but the latter was dressing to go out, and I could +not see her. My Lord Oxford had the staff given him this morning; so now +I must call him Lord Oxford no more, but Lord Treasurer: I hope he will +stick there: this is twice he has changed his name this week; and I +heard to-day in the City (where I dined) that he will very soon have the +Garter.--Pr'ythee, do not you observe how strangely I have changed my +company and manner of living? I never go to a coffee-house; you hear no +more of Addison, Steele, Henley, Lady Lucy, Mrs. Finch,(7) Lord Somers, +Lord Halifax, etc. I think I have altered for the better. Did I tell you +the Archbishop of Dublin has writ me a long letter of a squabble in your +town about choosing a Mayor, and that he apprehended some censure for +the share he had in it?(8) I have not heard anything of it here; but I +shall not be always able to defend him. We hear your Bishop Hickman is +dead;(9) but nobody here will do anything for me in Ireland; so they +may die as fast or slow as they please.--Well, you are constant to your +deans, and your Stoyte, and your Walls. Walls will have her tea soon; +Parson Richardson is either going or gone to Ireland, and has it with +him. I hear Mr. Lewis has two letters for me: I could not call for them +to-day, but will to-morrow; and perhaps one of them may be from our +little MD, who knows, man? who can tell? Many a more unlikely thing has +happened.--Pshaw, I write so plaguy little, I can hardly see it myself. +WRITE BIGGER, SIRRAH(10) Presto. No, but I won't. Oh, you are a saucy +rogue, Mr. Presto, you are so impudent. Come, dear rogues, let Presto go +to sleep; I have been with the Dean, and 'tis near twelve. + +30. I am so hot and lazy after my morning's walk, that I loitered at +Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, where my best gown and periwig are, and out of mere +listlessness dine there very often; so I did to-day; but I got little +MD's letter, N.15 (you see, sirrahs, I remember to tell the number), +from Mr. Lewis, and I read it in a closet they lend me at Mrs. Van's; +and I find Stella is a saucy rogue and a great writer, and can write +finely still when her hand is in, and her pen good. When I came here +to-night, I had a mighty mind to go swim after I was cool, for my +lodging is just by the river; and I went down with only my nightgown and +slippers on at eleven, but came up again; however, one of these nights I +will venture. + +31. I was so hot this morning with my walk, that I resolve to do so +no more during this violent burning weather. It is comical that now we +happen to have such heat to ripen the fruit there has been the greatest +blast that was ever known, and almost all the fruit is despaired of. +I dined with Lord Shelburne: Lady Kerry and Mrs. Pratt are going to +Ireland. I went this evening to Lord Treasurer, and sat about two hours +with him in mixed company; he left us, and went to Court, and carried +two staves with him, so I suppose we shall have a new Lord Steward or +Comptroller to-morrow; I smoked that State secret out by that accident. +I will not answer your letter yet, sirrahs; no I won't, madam. + +June 1. I wish you a merry month of June. I dined again with the Vans +and Sir Andrew Fountaine. I always give them a flask of my Florence, +which now begins to spoil, but it is near an end. I went this afternoon +to Mrs. Vedeau's, and brought away Madam Dingley's parchment and letter +of attorney. Mrs. Vedeau tells me she has sent the bill a fortnight ago. +I will give the parchment to Ben Tooke, and you shall send him a letter +of attorney at your leisure, enclosed to Mr. Presto. Yes, I now think +your mackerel is full as good as ours, which I did not think formerly. I +was bit about two staves, for there is no new officer made to-day. This +letter will find you still in Dublin, I suppose, or at Donnybrook, or +losing your money at Walls' (how does she do?). + +2. I missed this day by a blunder and dining in the City.(11) + +3. No boats on Sunday, never: so I was forced to walk, and so hot by the +time I got to Ford's lodging that I was quite spent; I think the weather +is mad. I could not go to church. I dined with the Secretary as usual, +and old Colonel Graham(12) that lived at Bagshot Heath, and they said it +was Colonel Graham's house. Pshaw, I remember it very well, when I used +to go for a walk to London from Moor Park. What, I warrant you do not +remember the Golden Farmer(13) neither, figgarkick soley?(14) + +4. When must we answer this letter, this N.15 of our little MD? Heat and +laziness, and Sir Andrew Fountaine, made me dine to-day again at Mrs. +Van's; and, in short, this weather is unsupportable: how is it with you? +Lady Betty Butler and Lady Ashburnham sat with me two or three hours +this evening in my closet at Mrs. Van's. They are very good girls; and +if Lady Betty went to Ireland, you should let her be acquainted with +you. How does Dingley do this hot weather? Stella, I think, never +complains of it; she loves hot weather. There has not been a drop of +rain since Friday se'ennight. Yes, you do love hot weather, naughty +Stella, you do so; and Presto can't abide it. Be a good girl then, and I +will love you; and love one another, and don't be quarrelling girls. + +5. I dined in the City to-day, and went from hence early to town, and +visited the Duke of Ormond and Mr. Secretary. They say my Lord Treasurer +has a dead warrant in his pocket; they mean a list of those who are to +be turned out of employment; and we every day now expect those changes. +I passed by the Treasury to-day, and saw vast crowds waiting to give +Lord Treasurer petitions as he passes by. He is now at the top of +power and favour: he keeps no levees yet. I am cruel thirsty this hot +weather.--I am just this minute going to swim. I take Patrick down with +me, to hold my nightgown, shirt, and slippers, and borrow a napkin of my +landlady for a cap. So farewell till I come up; but there is no danger, +don't be frighted.--I have been swimming this half-hour and more; and +when I was coming out I dived, to make my head and all through wet, like +a cold bath; but, as I dived, the napkin fell off and is lost, and I +have that to pay for. O, faith, the great stones were so sharp, I could +hardly set my feet on them as I came out. It was pure and warm. I got to +bed, and will now go sleep. + +6. Morning. This letter shall go to-morrow; so I will answer yours when +I come home to-night. I feel no hurt from last night's swimming. I lie +with nothing but the sheet over me, and my feet quite bare. I must rise +and go to town before the tide is against me. Morrow, sirrahs; dear +sirrahs, morrow.--At night. I never felt so hot a day as this since I +was born. I dined with Lady Betty Germaine, and there was the young Earl +of Berkeley(15) and his fine lady. I never saw her before, nor think her +near so handsome as she passes for.--After dinner, Mr. Bertue(16) would +not let me put ice in my wine, but said my Lord Dorchester(17) got the +bloody flux with it, and that it was the worst thing in the world. Thus +are we plagued, thus are we plagued; yet I have done it five or six +times this summer, and was but the drier and the hotter for it. Nothing +makes me so excessively peevish as hot weather. Lady Berkeley after +dinner clapped my hat on another lady's head, and she in roguery put it +upon the rails. I minded them not; but in two minutes they called me +to the window, and Lady Carteret(18) showed me my hat out of her window +five doors off, where I was forced to walk to it, and pay her and old +Lady Weymouth(19) a visit, with some more beldames. Then I went and +drank coffee, and made one or two puns, with Lord Pembroke,(20) and +designed to go to Lord Treasurer; but it was too late, and beside I +was half broiled, and broiled without butter; for I never sweat after +dinner, if I drink any wine. Then I sat an hour with Lady Betty Butler +at tea, and everything made me hotter and drier. Then I walked home, and +was here by ten, so miserably hot, that I was in as perfect a passion as +ever I was in my life at the greatest affront or provocation. Then I sat +an hour, till I was quite dry and cool enough to go swim; which I did, +but with so much vexation that I think I have given it over: for I +was every moment disturbed by boats, rot them; and that puppy Patrick, +standing ashore, would let them come within a yard or two, and then call +sneakingly to them. The only comfort I proposed here in hot weather is +gone; for there is no jesting with those boats after it is dark: I had +none last night. I dived to dip my head, and held my cap on with both +my hands, for fear of losing it. Pox take the boats! Amen. 'Tis near +twelve, and so I'll answer your letter (it strikes twelve now) to-morrow +morning. + +7. Morning. Well, now let us answer MD's letter, N.15, 15, 15, 15. Now +have I told you the number? 15, 15; there, impudence, to call names in +the beginning of your letter, before you say, How do you do, Mr. Presto? +There is your breeding! Where is your manners, sirrah, to a gentleman? +Get you gone, you couple of jades.--No, I never sit up late now; but +this abominable hot weather will force me to eat or drink something that +will do me hurt. I do venture to eat a few strawberries.--Why then, do +you know in Ireland that Mr. St. John talked so in Parliament?(21) Your +Whigs are plaguily bit; for he is entirely for their being all out.--And +are you as vicious in snuff as ever? I believe, as you say, it does +neither hurt nor good; but I have left it off, and when anybody offers +me their box, I take about a tenth part of what I used to do, and +then just smell to it, and privately fling the rest away. I keep to my +tobacco still,(22) as you say; but even much less of that than formerly, +only mornings and evenings, and very seldom in the day.--As for Joe,(23) +I have recommended his case heartily to my Lord Lieutenant; and, by +his direction, given a memorial of it to Mr. Southwell, to whom I have +recommended it likewise. I can do no more, if he were my brother. His +business will be to apply himself to Southwell. And you must desire +Raymond, if Price of Galway comes to town, to desire him to wait on Mr. +Southwell, as recommended by me for one of the Duke's chaplains, which +was all I could do for him; and he must be presented to the Duke, and +make his court, and ply about, and find out some vacancy, and solicit +early for it. The bustle about your Mayor I had before, as I told you, +from the Archbishop of Dublin. Was Raymond not come till May 18? So +he says fine things of me? Certainly he lies. I am sure I used him +indifferently enough; and we never once dined together, or walked, or +were in any third place; only he came sometimes to my lodgings, and even +there was oftener denied than admitted.--What an odd bill is that you +sent of Raymond's! A bill upon one Murry in Chester, which depends +entirely not only upon Raymond's honesty, but his discretion; and in +money matters he is the last man I would depend on. Why should Sir +Alexander Cairnes(24) in London pay me a bill, drawn by God knows who, +upon Murry in Chester? I was at Cairnes's, and they can do no such +thing. I went among some friends, who are merchants, and I find the bill +must be sent to Murry, accepted by him, and then returned back, and then +Cairnes may accept or refuse it as he pleases. Accordingly I gave Sir +Thomas Frankland the bill, who has sent it to Chester, and ordered the +postmaster there to get it accepted, and then send it back, and in a day +or two I shall have an answer; and therefore this letter must stay a day +or two longer than I intended, and see what answer I get. Raymond should +have written to Murry at the same time, to desire Sir Alexander Cairnes +to have answered such a bill, if it come. But Cairnes's clerks (himself +was not at home) said they had received no notice of it, and could do +nothing; and advised me to send to Murry.--I have been six weeks to-day +at Chelsea, and you know it but just now. And so Dean ------ thinks I +write the Medley. Pox of his judgment! It is equal to his honesty. Then +you han't seen the Miscellany yet?(25) Why, 'tis a four-shilling book: +has nobody carried it over?--No, I believe Manley(26) will not lose his +place; for his friend(27) in England is so far from being out that he +has taken a new patent since the Post Office Act; and his brother +Jack Manley(28) here takes his part firmly; and I have often spoken to +Southwell in his behalf, and he seems very well inclined to him. But the +Irish folks here in general are horribly violent against him. Besides, +he must consider he could not send Stella wine if he were put out. And +so he is very kind, and sends you a dozen bottles of wine AT A TIME, +and you win eight shillings AT A TIME; and how much do you lose? No, no, +never one syllable about that, I warrant you.--Why, this same Stella is +so unmerciful a writer, she has hardly left any room for Dingley. If you +have such summer there as here, sure the Wexford waters are good by this +time. I forgot what weather we had May 6th; go look in my journal. We +had terrible rain the 24th and 25th, and never a drop since. Yes, yes, +I remember Berested's bridge; the coach sosses up and down as one goes +that way, just as at Hockley-in-the-Hole.(29) I never impute any illness +or health I have to good or ill weather, but to want of exercise, or ill +air, or something I have eaten, or hard study, or sitting up; and so +I fence against those as well as I can: but who a deuce can help the +weather? Will Seymour,(30) the General, was excessively hot with the +sun shining full upon him; so he turns to the sun, and says, "Harkee, +friend, you had better go and ripen cucumbers than plague me at this +rate," etc. Another time, fretting at the heat, a gentleman by said it +was such weather as pleased God: Seymour said, "Perhaps it may; but I am +sure it pleases nobody else." Why, Madam Dingley, the First-Fruits +are done. Southwell told me they went to inquire about them, and Lord +Treasurer said they were done, and had been done long ago. And I'll tell +you a secret you must not mention, that the Duke of Ormond is ordered to +take notice of them in his speech in your Parliament: and I desire you +will take care to say on occasion that my Lord Treasurer Harley did it +many months ago, before the Duke was Lord Lieutenant. And yet I cannot +possibly come over yet: so get you gone to Wexford, and make Stella +well. Yes, yes, I take care not to walk late; I never did but once, and +there are five hundred people on the way as I walk. Tisdall is a puppy, +and I will excuse him the half-hour he would talk with me. As for the +Examiner, I have heard a whisper that after that of this day,(31) which +tells us what this Parliament has done, you will hardly find them so +good. I prophesy they will be trash for the future; and methinks in +this day's Examiner the author talks doubtfully, as if he would write no +more.(32) Observe whether the change be discovered in Dublin, only +for your own curiosity, that's all. Make a mouth there. Mrs. Vedeau's +business I have answered, and I hope the bill is not lost. Morrow. 'Tis +stewing hot, but I must rise and go to town between fire and water. +Morrow, sirrahs both, morrow.--At night. I dined to-day with Colonel +Crowe, Governor of Jamaica, and your friend Sterne. I presented Sterne +to my Lord Treasurer's brother,(33) and gave him his case, and engaged +him in his favour. At dinner there fell the swingingest long shower, and +the most grateful to me, that ever I saw: it thundered fifty times at +least, and the air is so cool that a body is able to live; and I walked +home to-night with comfort, and without dirt. I went this evening to +Lord Treasurer, and sat with him two hours, and we were in very good +humour, and he abused me, and called me Dr. Thomas Swift fifty times: +I have told you he does that when he has mind to make me mad.(34) Sir +Thomas Frankland gave me to-day a letter from Murry, accepting my bill; +so all is well: only, by a letter from Parvisol, I find there are some +perplexities.--Joe has likewise written to me, to thank me for what I +have done for him; and desires I would write to the Bishop of Clogher, +that Tom Ashe(35) may not hinder his father(36) from being portreve. +I have written and sent to Joe several times, that I will not trouble +myself at all about Trim. I wish them their liberty, but they do not +deserve it: so tell Joe, and send to him. I am mighty happy with this +rain: I was at the end of my patience, but now I live again. This cannot +go till Saturday; and perhaps I may go out of town with Lord Shelburne +and Lady Kerry to-morrow for two or three days. Lady Kerry has written +to desire it; but tomorrow I shall know farther.--O this dear rain, I +cannot forbear praising it: I never felt myself to be revived so in my +life. It lasted from three till five, hard as a horn, and mixed with +hail. + +8. Morning. I am going to town, and will just finish this there, if I go +into the country with Lady Kerry and Lord Shelburne: so morrow, till an +hour or two hence.--In town. I met Cairnes, who, I suppose, will pay me +the money; though he says I must send him the bill first, and I will get +it done in absence. Farewell, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 25. + +CHELSEA, June 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. + +I have been all this time at Wycombe, between Oxford and London, with +Lord Shelburne, who has the squire's house at the town's end, and an +estate there in a delicious country. Lady Kerry and Mrs. Pratt were with +us, and we passed our time well enough; and there I wholly disengaged +myself from all public thoughts, and everything but MD, who had the +impudence to send me a letter there; but I'll be revenged: I will +answer it. This day, the 20th, I came from Wycombe with Lady Kerry after +dinner, lighted at Hyde Park Corner, and walked: it was twenty-seven +miles, and we came it in about five hours. + +21. I went at noon to see Mr. Secretary at his office, and there was +Lord Treasurer: so I killed two birds, etc., and we were glad to see +one another, and so forth. And the Secretary and I dined at Sir William +Wyndham's,(1) who married Lady Catharine Seymour, your acquaintance, I +suppose. There were ten of us at dinner. It seems, in my absence, they +had erected a Club,(2) and made me one; and we made some laws to-day, +which I am to digest and add to, against next meeting. Our meetings +are to be every Thursday. We are yet but twelve: Lord Keeper and +Lord Treasurer were proposed; but I was against them, and so was Mr. +Secretary, though their sons are of it, and so they are excluded; but +we design to admit the Duke of Shrewsbury. The end of our Club is, to +advance conversation and friendship, and to reward deserving persons +with our interest and recommendation. We take in none but men of wit or +men of interest; and if we go on as we begin, no other Club in this town +will be worth talking of. The Solicitor-General, Sir Robert Raymond, +is one of our Club; and I ordered him immediately to write to your Lord +Chancellor in favour of Dr. Raymond: so tell Raymond, if you see him; +but I believe this will find you at Wexford. This letter will come three +weeks after the last, so there is a week lost; but that is owing to my +being out of town; yet I think it is right, because it goes enclosed to +Mr. Reading:(3) and why should he know how often Presto writes to MD, +pray?--I sat this evening with Lady Betty Butler and Lady Ashburnham, +and then came home by eleven, and had a good cool walk; for we have +had no extreme hot weather this fortnight, but a great deal of rain at +times, and a body can live and breathe. I hope it will hold so. We had +peaches to-day. + +22. I went late to-day to town, and dined with my friend Lewis. I saw +Will Congreve attending at the Treasury, by order, with his brethren, +the Commissioners of the Wine Licences. I had often mentioned him with +kindness to Lord Treasurer; and Congreve told me that, after they had +answered to what they were sent for, my lord called him privately, and +spoke to him with great kindness, promising his protection, etc. The +poor man said he had been used so ill of late years that he was quite +astonished at my lord's goodness, etc., and desired me to tell my lord +so; which I did this evening, and recommended him heartily. My lord +assured me he esteemed him very much, and would be always kind to him; +that what he said was to make Congreve easy, because he knew people +talked as if his lordship designed to turn everybody out, and +particularly Congreve: which indeed was true, for the poor man told me +he apprehended it. As I left my Lord Treasurer, I called on Congreve +(knowing where he dined), and told him what had passed between my lord +and me; so I have made a worthy man easy, and that is a good day's +work.(4) I am proposing to my lord to erect a society or academy for +correcting and settling our language, that we may not perpetually be +changing as we do. He enters mightily into it, so does the Dean of +Carlisle;(5) and I design to write a letter to Lord Treasurer with +the proposals of it, and publish it;(6) and so I told my lord, and he +approves it. Yesterday's(7) was a sad Examiner, and last week was very +indifferent, though some little scraps of the old spirit, as if he had +given some hints; but yesterday's is all trash. It is plain the hand is +changed. + +23. I have not been in London to-day: for Dr. Gastrell(8) and I dined, +by invitation, with the Dean of Carlisle, my neighbour; so I know not +what they are doing in the world, a mere country gentleman. And are not +you ashamed both to go into the country just when I did, and stay ten +days, just as I did, saucy monkeys? But I never rode; I had no horses, +and our coach was out of order, and we went and came in a hired one. Do +you keep your lodgings when you go to Wexford? I suppose you do; for you +will hardly stay above two months. I have been walking about our town +to-night, and it is a very scurvy place for walking. I am thinking to +leave it, and return to town, now the Irish folks are gone. Ford goes +in three days. How does Dingley divert herself while Stella is riding? +work, or read, or walk? Does Dingley ever read to you? Had you ever a +book with you in the country? Is all that left off? Confess. Well, I'll +go sleep; 'tis past eleven, and I go early to sleep: I write nothing at +night but to MD. + +24. Stratford and I, and Pastoral Philips (just come from Denmark) dined +at Ford's to-day, who paid his way, and goes for Ireland on Tuesday. The +Earl of Peterborow is returned from Vienna without one servant: he left +them scattered in several towns of Germany. I had a letter from him, +four days ago, from Hanover, where he desires I would immediately send +him an answer to his house at Parson's Green,(9) about five miles off. I +wondered what he meant, till I heard he was come. He sent expresses, +and got here before them. He is above fifty, and as active as one of +five-and-twenty. I have not seen him yet, nor know when I shall, or +where to find him. + +25. Poor Duke of Shrewsbury has been very ill of a fever: we were all +in a fright about him: I thank God, he is better. I dined to-day at Lord +Ashburnham's, with his lady, for he was not at home: she is a very +good girl, and always a great favourite of mine. Sterne tells me he has +desired a friend to receive your box in Chester, and carry it over. I +fear he will miscarry in his business, which was sent to the Treasury +before he was recommended; for I was positive only to second his +recommendations, and all his other friends failed him. However, on your +account I will do what I can for him to-morrow with the secretary of the +Treasury. + +26. We had much company to-day at dinner at Lord Treasurer's. Prior +never fails: he is a much better courtier than I; and we expect every +day that he will be a Commissioner of the Customs, and that in a short +time a great many more will be turned out. They blame Lord Treasurer for +his slowness in turning people out; but I suppose he has his reasons. +They still keep my neighbour Atterbury in suspense about the deanery +of Christ Church,(10) which has been above six months vacant, and he +is heartily angry. I reckon you are now preparing for your Wexford +expedition; and poor Dingley is full of carking and caring, scolding. +How long will you stay? Shall I be in Dublin before you return? Don't +fall and hurt yourselves, nor overturn the coach. Love one another, and +be good girls; and drink Presto's health in water, Madam Stella; and in +good ale, Madam Dingley. + +27. The Secretary appointed me to dine with him to-day, and we were to +do a world of business: he came at four, and brought Prior with him, +and had forgot the appointment, and no business was done. I left him at +eight, and went to change my gown at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's; and there was +Sir Andrew Fountaine at ombre with Lady Ashburnham and Lady Frederic +Schomberg, and Lady Mary Schomberg,(11) and Lady Betty Butler, and +others, talking; and it put me in mind of the Dean and Stoyte, and +Walls, and Stella at play, and Dingley and I looking on. I stayed with +them till ten, like a fool. Lady Ashburnham is something like Stella; so +I helped her, and wished her good cards. It is late, etc. + +28. Well, but I must answer this letter of our MD's. Saturday +approaches, and I han't written down this side. O, faith, Presto has +been a sort of a lazy fellow: but Presto will remove to town this day +se'ennight; the Secretary has commanded me to do so; and I believe he +and I shall go for some days to Windsor, where he will have leisure to +mind some business we have together. To-day, our Society (it must not +be called a Club) dined at Mr. Secretary's: we were but eight; the rest +sent excuses, or were out of town. We sat till eight, and made some laws +and settlements; and then I went to take leave of Lady Ashburnham, +who goes out of town to-morrow, as a great many of my acquaintance are +already, and left the town very thin. I shall make but short journeys +this summer, and not be long out of London. The days are grown sensibly +short already, all our fruit blasted. Your Duke of Ormond is still +at Chester; and perhaps this letter will be with you as soon as he. +Sterne's business is quite blown up: they stand to it to send him back +to the Commissioners of the Revenue in Ireland for a reference, and +all my credit could not alter it, though I almost fell out with +the secretary of the Treasury,(12) who is my Lord Treasurer's +cousin-germain, and my very good friend. It seems every step he has +hitherto taken hath been wrong; at least they say so, and that is the +same thing. I am heartily sorry for it; and I really think they are in +the wrong, and use him hardly; but I can do no more. + +29. Steele has had the assurance to write to me that I would engage my +Lord Treasurer to keep a friend of his in an employment: I believe I +told you how he and Addison served me for my good offices in Steele's +behalf; and I promised Lord Treasurer never to speak for either of them +again. Sir Andrew Fountaine and I dined to-day at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's. +Dilly Ashe has been in town this fortnight: I saw him twice; he was four +days at Lord Pembroke's in the country, punning with him; his face is +very well. I was this evening two or three hours at Lord Treasurer's, +who called me Dr. Thomas Swift twenty times; that's his way of teasing. +I left him at nine, and got home here by ten, like a gentleman; and +to-morrow morning I'll answer your little letter, sirrahs. + +30. Morning. I am terribly sleepy always in a morning; I believe it is +my walk over-night that disposes me to sleep: faith, 'tis now striking +eight, and I am but just awake. Patrick comes early, and wakes me five +or six times; but I have excuses, though I am three parts asleep. I tell +him I sat up late, or slept ill in the night, and often it is a lie. I +have now got little MD's letter before me, N.16, no more, nor no less, +no mistake. Dingley says, "This letter won't be above six lines"; and I +was afraid it was true, though I saw it filled on both sides. The Bishop +of Clogher writ me word you were in the country, and that he heard you +were well: I am glad at heart MD rides, and rides, and rides. Our hot +weather ended in May, and all this month has been moderate: it was then +so hot I was not able to endure it; I was miserable every moment, and +found myself disposed to be peevish and quarrelsome: I believe a very +hot country would make me stark mad.--Yes, my head continues pretty +tolerable, and I impute it all to walking. Does Stella eat fruit? I eat +a little; but I always repent, and resolve against it. No, in very hot +weather I always go to town by water; but I constantly walk back, for +then the sun is down. And so Mrs. Proby(13) goes with you to Wexford: +she's admirable company; you'll grow plaguy wise with those you +frequent. Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Proby! take care of infection. I believe +my two hundred pounds will be paid, but that Sir Alexander Cairnes is a +scrupulous puppy: I left the bill with Mr. Stratford, who is to have the +money. Now, Madam Stella, what say you? you ride every day; I know that +already, sirrah; and, if you rid every day for a twelvemonth, you +would be still better and better. No, I hope Parvisol will not have +the impudence to make you stay an hour for the money; if he does, I'll +UN-PARVISOL him; pray let me know. O Lord, how hasty we are! Stella +can't stay writing and writing; she must write and go a cock-horse, pray +now. Well, but the horses are not come to the door; the fellow can't +find the bridle; your stirrup is broken; where did you put the whips, +Dingley? Marget, where have you laid Mrs. Johnson's ribbon to tie about +her? reach me my mask: sup up this before you go. So, so, a gallop, a +gallop: sit fast, sirrah, and don't ride hard upon the stones.--Well, +now Stella is gone, tell me, Dingley, is she a good girl? and what news +is that you are to tell me?--No, I believe the box is not lost: Sterne +says it is not.--No, faith, you must go to Wexford without seeing +your Duke of Ormond, unless you stay on purpose; perhaps you may be +so wise.--I tell you this is your sixteenth letter; will you never be +satisfied? No, no, I will walk late no more; I ought less to venture it +than other people, and so I was told: but I will return to lodge in +town next Thursday. When you come from Wexford, I would have you send +a letter of attorney to Mr. Benjamin Tooke, bookseller, in London, +directed to me; and he shall manage your affair. I have your parchment +safely locked up in London.--O, Madam Stella, welcome home; was it +pleasant riding? did your horse stumble? how often did the man light to +settle your stirrup? ride nine miles! faith, you have galloped indeed. +Well, but where is the fine thing you promised me? I have been a good +boy, ask Dingley else. I believe you did not meet the fine-thing-man: +faith, you are a cheat. So you will see Raymond and his wife in town. +Faith, that riding to Laracor gives me short sighs, as well as you. All +the days I have passed here have been dirt to those. I have been gaining +enemies by the scores, and friends by the couples; which is against the +rules of wisdom, because they say one enemy can do more hurt than +ten friends can do good. But I have had my revenge at least, if I +get nothing else. And so let Fate govern.--Now I think your letter is +answered; and mine will be shorter than ordinary, because it must go +to-day. We have had a great deal of scattering rain for some days past, +yet it hardly keeps down the dust.--We have plays acted in our town; and +Patrick was at one of them, oh oh. He was damnably mauled one day when +he was drunk; he was at cuffs with a brother-footman, who dragged him +along the floor upon his face, which looked for a week after as if he +had the leprosy; and I was glad enough to see it. I have been ten times +sending him over to you; yet now he has new clothes, and a laced hat, +which the hatter brought by his orders, and he offered to pay for the +lace out of his wages.--I am to dine to-day with Dilly at Sir Andrew +Fountaine's, who has bought a new house, and will be weary of it in half +a year. I must rise and shave, and walk to town, unless I go with the +Dean in his chariot at twelve, which is too late: and I have not seen +that Lord Peterborow yet. The Duke of Shrewsbury is almost well again, +and will be abroad in a day or two: what care you? There it is now: you +do not care for my friends. Farewell, my dearest lives and delights; I +love you better than ever, if possible, as hope saved, I do, and ever +will. God Almighty bless you ever, and make us happy together! I pray +for this twice every day; and I hope God will hear my poor hearty +prayers.--Remember, if I am used ill and ungratefully, as I have +formerly been, 'tis what I am prepared for, and shall not wonder at +it. Yet I am now envied, and thought in high favour, and have every +day numbers of considerable men teasing me to solicit for them. And the +Ministry all use me perfectly well; and all that know them say they +love me. Yet I can count upon nothing, nor will, but upon MD's love and +kindness.--They think me useful; they pretended they were afraid of none +but me, and that they resolved to have me; they have often confessed +this: yet all makes little impression on me.--Pox of these speculations! +they give me the spleen; and that is a disease I was not born to. Let +me alone, sirrahs, and be satisfied: I am, as long as MD and Presto are +well. + + Little wealth, + And much health, + And a life by stealth: + +that is all we want; and so farewell, dearest MD; Stella, Dingley, +Presto, all together, now and for ever all together. Farewell again and +again. + + + + +LETTER 26. + +CHELSEA, June 30, 1711. + +See what large paper I am forced to take, to write to MD; Patrick has +brought me none clipped; but, faith, the next shall be smaller. I dined +to-day, as I told you, with Dilly at Sir Andrew Fountaine's: there were +we wretchedly punning, and writing together to Lord Pembroke. Dilly +is just such a puppy as ever; and it is so uncouth, after so long an +intermission. My twenty-fifth is gone this evening to the post. I think +I will direct my next (which is this) to Mr. Curry's, and let them send +it to Wexford; and then the next enclosed to Reading. Instruct me how I +shall do. I long to hear from you from Wexford, and what sort of place +it is. The town grows very empty and dull. This evening I have had +a letter from Mr. Philips, the pastoral poet, to get him a certain +employment from Lord Treasurer. I have now had almost all the Whig poets +my solicitors; and I have been useful to Congreve, Steele, and Harrison: +but I will do nothing for Philips; I find he is more a puppy than ever, +so don't solicit for him. Besides, I will not trouble Lord Treasurer, +unless upon some very extraordinary occasion. + +July 1. Dilly lies conveniently for me when I come to town from Chelsea +of a Sunday, and go to the Secretary's; so I called at his lodgings this +morning, and sent for my gown, and dressed myself there. He had a letter +from the Bishop, with an account that you were set out for Wexford the +morning he writ, which was June 26, and he had the letter the 30th; that +was very quick: the Bishop says you design to stay there two months or +more. Dilly had also a letter from Tom Ashe, full of Irish news; +that your Lady Lyndon(1) is dead, and I know not what besides of Dr. +Coghill(2) losing his drab, etc. The Secretary was gone to Windsor, and +I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh. Lord Treasurer is at Windsor too; they +will be going and coming all summer, while the Queen is there, and the +town is empty, and I fear I shall be sometimes forced to stoop beneath +my dignity, and send to the ale-house for a dinner. Well, sirrahs, had +you a good journey to Wexford? did you drink ale by the way? were you +never overturned? how many things did you forget? do you lie on straw in +your new town where you are? Cudshoe,(3) the next letter to Presto +will be dated from Wexford. What fine company have you there? what new +acquaintance have you got? You are to write constantly to Mrs. Walls and +Mrs. Stoyte: and the Dean said, "Shall we never hear from you?" "Yes, +Mr. Dean, we'll make bold to trouble you with a letter." Then at +Wexford; when you meet a lady, "Did your waters pass well this morning, +madam?" Will Dingley drink them too? Yes, I warrant; to get her a +stomach. I suppose you are all gamesters at Wexford. Do not lose your +money, sirrah, far from home. I believe I shall go to Windsor in a few +days; at least, the Secretary tells me so. He has a small house there, +with just room enough for him and me; and I would be satisfied to pass a +few days there sometimes. Sirrahs, let me go to sleep, it is past twelve +in our town. + +2. Sterne came to me this morning, and tells me he has yet some hopes +of compassing his business: he was with Tom Harley, the secretary of the +Treasury, and made him doubt a little he was in the wrong; the poor man +tells me it will almost undo him if he fails. I called this morning +to see Will Congreve, who lives much by himself, is forced to read for +amusement, and cannot do it without a magnifying-glass. I have set him +very well with the Ministry, and I hope he is in no danger of losing his +place. I dined in the City with Dr. Freind, not among my merchants, but +with a scrub instrument of mischief of mine, whom I never mentioned to +you, nor am like to do. You two little saucy Wexfordians, you are now +drinking waters. You drink waters! you go fiddlestick. Pray God send +them to do you good; if not, faith, next summer you shall come to the +Bath. + +3. Lord Peterborow desired to see me this morning at nine; I had not +seen him before since he came home. I met Mrs. Manley(4) there, who +was soliciting him to get some pension or reward for her service in +the cause, by writing her Atalantis, and prosecution, etc., upon it. +I seconded her, and hope they will do something for the poor woman. My +lord kept me two hours upon politics: he comes home very sanguine; +he has certainly done great things at Savoy and Vienna, by his +negotiations: he is violent against a peace, and finds true what I writ +to him, that the Ministry seems for it. He reasons well; yet I am for a +peace. I took leave of Lady Kerry, who goes to-morrow for Ireland; she +picks up Lord Shelburne and Mrs. Pratt at Lord Shelburne's house. I was +this evening with Lord Treasurer: Tom Harley was there, and whispered me +that he began to doubt about Sterne's business; I told him he would find +he was in the wrong. I sat two or three hours at Lord Treasurer's; he +rallied me sufficiently upon my refusing to take him into our Club, and +told a judge who was with us that my name was Thomas Swift. I had a mind +to prevent Sir H. Belasyse(5) going to Spain, who is a most covetous +cur, and I fell a railing against avarice, and turned it so that he +smoked me, and named Belasyse. I went on, and said it was a shame +to send him; to which he agreed, but desired I would name some who +understood business, and do not love money, for he could not find them. +I said there was something in a Treasurer different from other men; that +we ought not to make a man a Bishop who does not love divinity, or a +General who does not love war; and I wondered why the Queen would make a +man Lord Treasurer who does not love money. He was mightily pleased with +what I said. He was talking of the First-Fruits of England, and I took +occasion to tell him that I would not for a thousand pounds anybody but +he had got them for Ireland, who got them for England too. He bid me +consider what a thousand pounds was; I said I would have him to know I +valued a thousand pounds as little as he valued a million.--Is it not +silly to write all this? but it gives you an idea what our conversation +is with mixed company. I have taken a lodging in Suffolk Street, and go +to it on Thursday; and design to walk the Park and the town, to supply +my walking here: yet I will walk here sometimes too, in a visit now and +then to the Dean.(6) When I was almost at home, Patrick told me he had +two letters for me, and gave them to me in the dark, yet I could see one +of them was from saucy MD. I went to visit the Dean for half an hour; +and then came home, and first read the other letter, which was from the +Bishop of Clogher, who tells me the Archbishop of Dublin mentioned in a +full assembly of the clergy the Queen's granting the First-Fruits, said +it was done by the Lord Treasurer, and talked much of my merit in it: +but reading yours I find nothing of that: perhaps the Bishop lies, out +of a desire to please me. I dined with Mrs. Vanhomrigh. Well, sirrahs, +you are gone to Wexford; but I'll follow you. + +4. Sterne came to me again this morning, to advise about reasons and +memorials he is drawing up; and we went to town by water together; and +having nothing to do, I stole into the City to an instrument of mine, +and then went to see poor Patty Rolt,(7) who has been in town these +two months with a cousin of hers. Her life passes with boarding in some +country town as cheap as she can, and, when she runs out, shifting to +some cheaper place, or coming to town for a month. If I were rich, I +would ease her, which a little thing would do. Some months ago I sent +her a guinea, and it patched up twenty circumstances. She is now going +to Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire. It has rained and hailed prodigiously +to-day, with some thunder. This is the last night I lie at Chelsea; and +I got home early, and sat two hours with the Dean, and ate victuals, +having had a very scurvy dinner. I'll answer your letter when I come to +live in town. You shall have a fine London answer: but first I will go +sleep, and dream of MD. + +London, July 5. This day I left Chelsea for good (that's a genteel +phrase), and am got into Suffolk Street. I dined to-day at our Society, +and we are adjourned for a month, because most of us go into the +country: we dined at Lord Keeper's with young Harcourt, and Lord Keeper +was forced to sneak off, and dine with Lord Treasurer, who had invited +the Secretary and me to dine with him; but we scorned to leave our +company, as George Granville did, whom we have threatened to expel: +however, in the evening I went to Lord Treasurer, and, among other +company, found a couple of judges with him; one of them, Judge +Powell,(8) an old fellow with grey hairs, was the merriest old gentleman +I ever saw, spoke pleasant things, and laughed and chuckled till he +cried again. I stayed till eleven, because I was not now to walk to +Chelsea. + +6. An ugly rainy day. I was to visit Mrs. Barton, then called at Mrs. +Vanhomrigh's, where Sir Andrew Fountaine and the rain kept me to dinner; +and there did I loiter all the afternoon, like a fool, out of perfect +laziness, and the weather not permitting me to walk: but I'll do so no +more. Are your waters at Wexford good in this rain? I long to hear how +you are established there, how and whom you visit, what is your lodging, +what are your entertainments. You are got far southwards; but I think +you must eat no fruit while you drink the waters. I ate some Kentish +cherries t'other day, and I repent it already; I have felt my head a +little disordered. We had not a hot day all June, or since, which I +reckon a mighty happiness. Have you left a direction with Reading for +Wexford? I will, as I said, direct this to Curry's, and the next to +Reading; or suppose I send this at a venture straight to Wexford? It +would vex me to have it miscarry. I had a letter to-night from Parvisol, +that White has paid me most of my remaining money; and another from +Joe, that they have had their election at Trim, but not a word of who +is chosen portreeve.(9) Poor Joe is full of complaints, says he has +enemies, and fears he will never get his two hundred pounds; and I fear +so too, although I have done what I could.--I'll answer your letter when +I think fit, when saucy Presto thinks fit, sirrahs. I am not at leisure +yet; when I have nothing to do, perhaps I may vouchsafe.--O Lord, the +two Wexford ladies; I'll go dream of you both. + +7. It was the dismallest rainy day I ever saw: I went to the Secretary +in the morning, and he was gone to Windsor. Then it began raining, and +I struck in to Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and dined, and stayed till night very +dull and insipid. I hate this town in summer; I'll leave it for a while, +if I can have time. + +8. I have a fellow of your town, one Tisdall,(10) lodges in the same +house with me. Patrick told me Squire Tisdall and his lady lodged here. +I pretended I never heard of him; but I knew his ugly face, and saw him +at church in the next pew to me, and he often looked for a bow, but it +would not do. I think he lives in Capel Street, and has an ugly fine +wife in a fine coach. Dr. Freind and I dined in the City by invitation, +and I drank punch, very good, but it makes me hot. People here are +troubled with agues by this continuance of wet, cold weather; but I am +glad to find the season so temperate. I was this evening to see Will +Congreve, who is a very agreeable companion. + +9. I was to-day in the City, and dined with Mr. Stratford, who tells me +Sir Alexander Cairnes makes difficulties about paying my bill; so that I +cannot give order yet to Parvisol to deliver up the bond to Dr. Raymond. +To-morrow I shall have a positive answer: that Cairnes is a shuffling +scoundrel; and several merchants have told me so: what can one expect +from a Scot and a fanatic? I was at Bateman's the bookseller's, to see a +fine old library he has bought; and my fingers itched, as yours would +do at a china-shop; but I resisted, and found everything too dear, and +I have fooled away too much money that way already. So go and drink your +waters, saucy rogue, and make yourself well; and pray walk while you are +there: I have a notion there is never a good walk in Ireland.(11) Do +you find all places without trees? Pray observe the inhabitants about +Wexford; they are old English; see what they have particular in their +manners, names, and language: magpies have been always there, and +nowhere else in Ireland, till of late years. They say the cocks and dogs +go to sleep at noon, and so do the people. Write your travels, and bring +home good eyes and health. + +10. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer: we did not sit down till four. +I despatched three businesses with him, and forgot a fourth. I think I +have got a friend an employment; and besides I made him consent to let +me bring Congreve to dine with him. You must understand I have a mind +to do a small thing, only turn out all the Queen's physicians; for in my +conscience they will soon kill her among them. And I must talk over +that matter with some people. My Lord Treasurer told me the Queen and he +between them have lost the paper about the First-Fruits, but desires I +will let the bishops know it shall be done with the first opportunity. + +11. I dined to-day with neighbour Van, and walked pretty well in the +Park this evening. Stella, hussy, don't you remember, sirrah, you used +to reproach me about meddling in other folk's affairs? I have enough of +it now: two people came to me to-night in the Park to engage to speak +to Lord Treasurer in their behalf, and I believe they make up fifty who +have asked me the same favour. I am hardened, and resolve to trouble +him, or any other Minister, less than ever. And I observe those who have +ten times more credit than I will not speak a word for anybody. I met +yesterday the poor lad I told you of, who lived with Mr. Tenison,(12) +who has been ill of an ague ever since I saw him. He looked wretchedly, +and was exceeding thankful for half a crown I gave him. He had a crown +from me before. + +12. I dined to-day with young Manley(13) in the City, who is to get me +out a box of books and a hamper of wine from Hamburg. I inquired of Mr. +Stratford, who tells me that Cairnes has not yet paid my two hundred +pounds, but shams and delays from day to day. Young Manley's wife is a +very indifferent person of a young woman, goggle-eyed, and looks like a +fool: yet he is a handsome fellow, and married her for love after long +courtship, and she refused him until he got his last employment.--I +believe I shall not be so good a boy for writing as I was during your +stay at Wexford, unless I may send my letters every second time to +Curry's; pray let me know. This, I think, shall go there: or why not +to Wexford itself? That is right, and so it shall this next Tuesday, +although it costs you tenpence. What care I? + +13. This toad of a Secretary is come from Windsor, and I cannot find +him; and he goes back on Sunday, and I can't see him to-morrow. I dined +scurvily to-day with Mr. Lewis and a parson; and then went to see Lord +Treasurer, and met him coming from his house in his coach: he smiled, +and I shrugged, and we smoked each other; and so my visit is paid. I +now confine myself to see him only twice a week: he has invited me to +Windsor, and betwixt two stools, etc. I will go live at Windsor, if +possible, that's pozzz. I have always the luck to pass my summer +in London. I called this evening to see poor Sir Matthew Dudley, a +Commissioner of the Customs; I know he is to be out for certain: he is +in hopes of continuing: I would not tell him bad news, but advised him +to prepare for the worst. Dilly was with me this morning, to invite me +to dine at Kensington on Sunday with Lord Mountjoy, who goes soon for +Ireland. Your late Chief-Justice Broderick(14) is here, and they say +violent as a tiger. How is party among you at Wexford? Are the majority +of ladies for the late or present Ministry? Write me Wexford news, and +love Presto, because he is a good boy. + +14. Although it was shaving-day, I walked to Chelsea, and was there by +nine this morning; and the Dean of Carlisle and I crossed the water to +Battersea, and went in his chariot to Greenwich, where we dined at +Dr. Gastrell's, and passed the afternoon at Lewisham, at the Dean +of Canterbury's;(15) and there I saw Moll Stanhope,(16) who is grown +monstrously tall, but not so handsome as formerly. It is the first +little rambling journey I have had this summer about London, and they +are the agreeablest pastimes one can have, in a friend's coach, and +to good company. Bank Stock is fallen three or four per cent. by the +whispers about the town of the Queen's being ill, who is however very +well. + +15. How many books have you carried with you to Wexford? What, not one +single book? Oh, but your time will be so taken up; and you can borrow +of the parson. I dined to-day with Sir Andrew Fountaine and Dilly at +Kensington with Lord Mountjoy; and in the afternoon Stratford came +there, and told me my two hundred pounds were paid at last; so that +business is over, and I am at ease about it; and I wish all your money +was in the Bank too. I will have my other hundred pounds there, that is +in Hawkshaw's hands. Have you had the interest of it paid yet? I ordered +Parvisol to do it. What makes Presto write so crooked? I will answer +your letter to-morrow, and send it on Tuesday. Here's hot weather come +again, yesterday and to-day: fine drinking waters now. We had a sad pert +dull parson at Kensington to-day. I almost repent my coming to town; I +want the walks I had. + +16. I dined in the City to-day with a hedge(17) acquaintance, and the +day passed without any consequence. I will answer your letter to-morrow. + +17. Morning. I have put your letter before me, and am going to answer +it. Hold your tongue: stand by. Your weather and ours were not alike; we +had not a bit of hot weather in June, yet you complain of it on the 19th +day. What, you used to love hot weather then? I could never endure it: +I detest and abominate it. I would not live in a hot country, to be king +of it. What a splutter you keep about my bonds with Raymond, and all to +affront Presto! Presto will be suspicious of everything but MD, in spite +of your little nose. Soft and fair, Madam Stella, how you gallop away, +in your spleen and your rage, about repenting my journey, and preferment +here, and sixpence a dozen, and nasty England, and Laracor all my life. +Hey-dazy, will you never have done? I had no offers of any living. Lord +Keeper told me some months ago he would give me one when I pleased; +but I told him I would not take any from him; and the Secretary told me +t'other day he had refused a very good one for me, but it was in a place +he did not like; and I know nothing of getting anything here, and, if +they would give me leave, I would come over just now. Addison, I hear, +has changed his mind about going over; but I have not seen him these +four months.--Oh ay, that's true, Dingley; that's like herself: millions +of businesses to do before she goes. Yes, my head has been pretty well, +but threatening within these two or three days, which I impute to some +fruit I ate; but I will eat no more: not a bit of any sort. I suppose +you had a journey without dust, and that was happy. I long for a Wexford +letter, but must not think of it yet: your last was finished but three +weeks ago. It is d----d news you tell me of Mrs. F----; it makes me love +England less a great deal. I know nothing of the trunk being left or +taken; so 'tis odd enough, if the things in it were mine; and I think +I was told that there are some things for me that my mother left +particularly to me. I am really sorry for -----; that scoundrel ----- +will have his estate after his mother's death. Let me know if Mrs. Walls +has got her tea: I hope Richardson(18) stayed in Dublin till it came. +Mrs. Walls needed not have that blemish in her eye; for I am not in love +with her at all. No, I do not like anything in the Examiner after the +45th, except the first part of the 46th;(19) all the rest is trash; and +if you like them, especially the 47th, your judgment is spoiled by ill +company and want of reading, which I am more sorry for than you think: +and I have spent fourteen years in improving you to little purpose. +(Mr. Tooke is come here, and I must stop.)--At night. I dined with +Lord Treasurer to-day, and he kept me till nine; so I cannot send this +to-night, as I intended, nor write some other letters. Green,(20) his +surgeon, was there, and dressed his breast; that is, put on a plaster, +which is still requisite: and I took an opportunity to speak to him of +the Queen; but he cut me short with this saying, "Laissez faire a Don +Antoine," which is a French proverb, expressing, "Leave that to me." +I find he is against her taking much physic; and I doubt he cannot +persuade her to take Dr. Radcliffe. However, she is very well now, and +all the story of her illness, except the first day or two, was a lie. +We had some business, that company hindered us from doing, though he is +earnest for it, yet would not appoint me a certain day, but bids me come +at all times till we can have leisure. This takes up a great deal of my +time, and I can do nothing I would do for them. I was with the Secretary +this morning, and we both think to go to Windsor for some days, to +despatch an affair, if we can have leisure. Sterne met me just now in +the street by his lodgings, and I went in for an hour to Jemmy Leigh, +who loves London dearly: he asked after you with great respect and +friendship.--To return to your letter. Your Bishop Mills(21) hates me +mortally: I wonder he should speak well of me, having abused me in +all places where he went. So you pay your way. Cudsho: you had a +fine supper, I warrant; two pullets, and a bottle of wine, and some +currants.--It is just three weeks to-day since you set out to Wexford; +you were three days going, and I do not expect a letter these ten days +yet, or rather this fortnight. I got a grant of the Gazette(22) for Ben +Tooke this morning from Mr. Secretary: it will be worth to him a hundred +pounds a year. + +18. To-day I took leave of Mrs. Barton, who is going into the country; +and I dined with Sir John Stanley,(23) where I have not been this great +while. There dined with us Lord Rochester, and his fine daughter, Lady +Jane,(24) just growing a top-toast. I have been endeavouring to save +Sir Matthew Dudley,(25) but fear I cannot. I walked the Mall six times +to-night for exercise, and would have done more; but, as empty as the +town is, a fool got hold of me, and so I came home, to tell you this +shall go to-morrow, without fail, and follow you to Wexford, like a dog. + +19. Dean Atterbury sent to me to dine with him at Chelsea. I refused +his coach, and walked, and am come back by seven, because I would finish +this letter, and some others I am writing. Patrick tells me the maid +says one Mr. Walls, a clergyman, a tall man, was here to visit me. Is it +your Irish Archdeacon? I shall be sorry for it; but I shall make shift +to see him seldom enough, as I do Dilly. What can he do here? or is it +somebody else? The Duke of Newcastle(26) is dead by the fall he had from +his horse. God send poor Stella her health, and keep MD happy! Farewell, +and love Presto, who loves MD above all things ten million of times. God +bless the dear Wexford girls. Farewell again, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 27. + +LONDON, July 19, 1711. + +I have just sent my 26th, and have nothing to say, because I have other +letters to write (pshaw, I began too high); but I must lay the beginning +like a nest-egg: to-morrow I will say more, and fetch up this line to be +straight. This is enough at present for two dear saucy naughty girls. + +20. Have I told you that Walls has been with me, and leaves the town +in three days? He has brought no gown with him. Dilly carried him to a +play. He has come upon a foolish errand, and goes back as he comes. +I was this day with Lord Peterborow, who is going another ramble: I +believe I told you so. I dined with Lord Treasurer, but cannot get him +to do his own business with me; he has put me off till to-morrow. + +21, 22. I dined yesterday with Lord Treasurer, who would needs take me +along with him to Windsor, although I refused him several times, having +no linen, etc. I had just time to desire Lord Forbes(1) to call at my +lodging and order my man to send my things to-day to Windsor by his +servant. I lay last night at the Secretary's lodgings at Windsor, and +borrowed one of his shirts to go to Court in. The Queen is very well. I +dined with Mr. Masham; and not hearing anything of my things, I got Lord +Winchelsea to bring me to town. Here I found that Patrick had broke open +the closet to get my linen and nightgown, and sent them to Windsor, and +there they are; and he, not thinking I would return so soon, is gone +upon his rambles: so here I am left destitute, and forced to borrow a +nightgown of my landlady, and have not a rag to put on to-morrow: faith, +it gives me the spleen. + +23. Morning. It is a terrible rainy day, and rained prodigiously on +Saturday night. Patrick lay out last night, and is not yet returned: +faith, poor Presto is a desolate creature; neither servant, nor linen, +nor anything.--Night. Lord Forbes's man has brought back my portmantua, +and Patrick is come; so I am in Christian circumstances: I shall hardly +commit such a frolic again. I just crept out to Mrs. Van's, and dined, +and stayed there the afternoon: it has rained all this day. Windsor is +a delicious place: I never saw it before, except for an hour about +seventeen years ago. Walls has been here in my absence, I suppose, to +take his leave; for he designed not to stay above five days in London. +He says he and his wife will come here for some months next year; and, +in short, he dares not stay now for fear of her. + +24. I dined to-day with a hedge(2) friend in the City; and Walls +overtook me in the street, and told me he was just getting on horseback +for Chester. He has as much curiosity as a cow: he lodged with his horse +in Aldersgate Street: he has bought his wife a silk gown, and himself a +hat. And what are you doing? what is poor MD doing now? how do you pass +your time at Wexford? how do the waters agree with you? Let Presto +know soon; for Presto longs to know, and must know. Is not Madam Proby +curious company? I am afraid this rainy weather will spoil your waters. +We have had a great deal of wet these three days. Tell me all the +particulars of Wexford: the place, the company, the diversions, the +victuals, the wants, the vexations. Poor Dingley never saw such a place +in her life; sent all over the town for a little parsley to a boiled +chicken, and it was not to be had; the butter is stark naught, except an +old English woman's; and it is such a favour to get a pound from her now +and then! I am glad you carried down your sheets with you, else you must +have lain in sackcloth. O Lord! + +25. I was this forenoon with Mr. Secretary at his office, and helped +to hinder a man of his pardon, who is condemned for a rape. The Under +Secretary was willing to save him, upon an old notion that a woman +cannot be ravished; but I told the Secretary he could not pardon him +without a favourable report from the judge; besides, he was a fiddler, +and consequently a rogue, and deserved hanging for some thing else; and +so he shall swing. What, I must stand up for the honour of the fair sex! +'Tis true the fellow had lain with her a hundred times before, but +what care I for that! What, must a woman be ravished because she is +a whore?--The Secretary and I go on Saturday to Windsor for a week. +I dined with Lord Treasurer, and stayed with him till past ten. I was +to-day at his levee, where I went against my custom, because I had a +mind to do a good office for a gentleman: so I talked with him before +my lord, that he might see me, and then found occasion to recommend him +this afternoon. I was forced to excuse my coming to the levee, that I +did it to see the sight; for he was going to chide me away: I had never +been there but once, and that was long before he was Treasurer. The +rooms were all full, and as many Whigs as Tories. He whispered me a jest +or two, and bid me come to dinner. I left him but just now; and 'tis +late. + +26. Mr. Addison and I have at last met again. I dined with him and +Steele to-day at young Jacob Tonson's. The two Jacobs(3) think it is I +who have made the Secretary take from them the printing of the Gazette, +which they are going to lose, and Ben Tooke and another(4) are to have +it. Jacob came to me the other day, to make his court; but I told him it +was too late, and that it was not my doing. I reckon they will lose it +in a week or two. Mr. Addison and I talked as usual, and as if we had +seen one another yesterday; and Steele and I were very easy, though +I writ him lately a biting letter, in answer to one of his, where he +desired me to recommend a friend of his to Lord Treasurer. Go, get you +gone to your waters, sirrah. Do they give you a stomach? Do you eat +heartily?--We have had much rain to-day and yesterday. + +27. I dined to-day in the City, and saw poor Patty Rolt, and gave her +a pistole to help her a little forward against she goes to board in the +country. She has but eighteen pounds a year to live on, and is forced +to seek out for cheap places. Sometimes they raise their price, and +sometimes they starve her, and then she is forced to shift. Patrick the +puppy put too much ink in my standish,(5) and, carrying too many things +together, I spilled it on my paper and floor. The town is dull, wet, +and empty; Wexford is worth two of it; I hope so at least, and that poor +little MD finds it so. I reckon upon going to Windsor to-morrow with Mr. +Secretary, unless he changes his mind, or some other business prevents +him. I shall stay there a week, I hope. + +28. Morning. Mr. Secretary sent me word he will call at my lodgings by +two this afternoon, to take me to Windsor; so I must dine nowhere; and I +promised Lord Treasurer to dine with him to-day; but I suppose we shall +dine at Windsor at five, for we make but three hours there.(6) I am +going abroad, but have left Patrick to put up my things, and to be sure +to be at home half an hour before two.--Windsor, at night. We did not +leave London till three, and dined here between six and seven; at nine +I left the company, and went to see Lord Treasurer, who is just come. I +chid him for coming so late; he chid me for not dining with him; said he +stayed an hour for me. Then I went and sat with Mr. Lewis till just now, +and it is past eleven. I lie in the same house with the Secretary, one +of the Prebendary's houses. The Secretary is not come from his apartment +in the Castle. Do you think that abominable dog Patrick was out after +two to-day, and I in a fright every moment, for fear the chariot should +come; and when he came in, he had not put up one rag of my things! I +never was in a greater passion, and would certainly have cropped one of +his ears, if I had not looked every moment for the Secretary, who sent +his equipage to my lodging before, and came in a chair from Whitehall +to me, and happened to stay half an hour later than he intended. One of +Lord Treasurer's servants gave me a letter to-night: I found it was +from ----, with an offer of fifty pounds, to be paid me in what manner +I pleased; because, he said, he desired to be well with me. I was in a +rage;(7) but my friend Lewis cooled me, and said it is what the best +men sometimes meet with; and I have been not seldom served in the like +manner, although not so grossly. In these cases I never demur a moment, +nor ever found the least inclination to take anything. Well, I will go +try to sleep in my new bed, and to dream of poor Wexford MD, and Stella +that drinks water, and Dingley that drinks ale. + +29. I was at Court and church to-day, as I was this day se'ennight: I +generally am acquainted with about thirty in the drawing-room, and I +am so proud I make all the lords come up to me: one passes half an hour +pleasant enough. We had a dunce to preach before the Queen to-day, +which often happens. Windsor is a delicious situation, but the town is +scoundrel. I have this morning got the Gazette for Ben Tooke and one +Barber a printer; it will be about three hundred pounds a year between +them. The other fellow was printer of the Examiner, which is now laid +down.(8) I dined with the Secretary: we were a dozen in all, three +Scotch lords, and Lord Peterborow. The Duke of Hamilton(9) would needs +be witty, and hold up my train as I walked upstairs. It is an ill +circumstance that on Sundays much company always meet at the great +tables. Lord Treasurer told at Court what I said to Mr. Secretary on +this occasion. The Secretary showed me his bill of fare, to encourage me +to dine with him. "Poh," said I, "show me a bill of company, for I value +not your dinner." See how this is all blotted,(10) I can write no more +here, but to tell you I love MD dearly, and God bless them. + +30. In my conscience, I fear I shall have the gout. I sometimes feel +pains about my feet and toes: I never drank till within these two years, +and I did it to cure my head. I often sit evenings with some of these +people, and drink in my turn; but I am now resolved to drink ten times +less than before; but they advise me to let what I drink be all wine, +and not to put water to it. Tooke and the printer stayed to-day to +finish their affair, and treated me and two of the Under Secretaries +upon their getting the Gazette. Then I went to see Lord Treasurer, and +chid him for not taking notice of me at Windsor. He said he kept a place +for me yesterday at dinner, and expected me there; but I was glad I did +not go, because the Duke of Buckingham was there, and that would have +made us acquainted; which I have no mind to. However, we appointed to +sup at Mr. Masham's, and there stayed till past one o'clock; and that is +late, sirrahs: and I have much business. + +31. I have sent a noble haunch of venison this afternoon to Mrs. +Vanhomrigh: I wish you had it, sirrahs. I dined gravely with my landlord +the Secretary. The Queen was abroad to-day in order to hunt; but, +finding it disposed to rain, she kept in her coach; she hunts in a +chaise with one horse, which she drives herself, and drives furiously, +like Jehu, and is a mighty hunter, like Nimrod. Dingley has heard of +Nimrod, but not Stella, for it is in the Bible. I was to-day at Eton, +which is but just cross the bridge, to see my Lord Kerry's son,(11) who +is at school there. Mr. Secretary has given me a warrant for a buck; I +can't send it to MD. It is a sad thing, faith, considering how Presto +loves MD, and how MD would love Presto's venison for Presto's sake. God +bless the two dear Wexford girls! + +Aug. 1. We had for dinner the fellow of that haunch of venison I sent to +London; 'twas mighty fat and good, and eight people at dinner; that was +bad. The Queen and I were going to take the air this afternoon, but +not together; and were both hindered by a sudden rain. Her coaches +and chaises all went back, and the guards too; and I scoured into the +market-place for shelter. I intended to have walked up the finest avenue +I ever saw, two miles long, with two rows of elms on each side. I walked +in the evening a little upon the terrace, and came home at eight: Mr. +Secretary came soon after, and we were engaging in deep discourse, and I +was endeavouring to settle some points of the greatest consequence, and +had wormed myself pretty well into him, when his Under Secretary came in +(who lodges in the same house with us) and interrupted all my scheme. I +have just left him: it is late, etc. + +2. I have been now five days at Windsor, and Patrick has been drunk +three times that I have seen, and oftener I believe. He has lately had +clothes that have cost me five pounds, and the dog thinks he has the +whip-hand of me: he begins to master me; so now I am resolved to part +with him, and will use him without the least pity. The Secretary and +I have been walking three or four hours to-day. The Duchess of +Shrewsbury(12) asked him, was not that Dr.--Dr.--and she could not say +my name in English, but said Dr. Presto, which is Italian for Swift. +Whimsical enough, as Billy Swift(13) says. I go to-morrow with the +Secretary to his house at Bucklebury, twenty-five miles from hence, +and return early on Sunday morning. I will leave this letter behind me +locked up, and give you an account of my journey when I return. I had +a letter yesterday from the Bishop of Clogher, who is coming up to his +Parliament. Have you any correspondence with him to Wexford? Methinks, +I now long for a letter from you, dated Wexford, July 24, etc. O Lord, +that would be so pretending;(14) and then, says you, Stella can't write +much, because it is bad to write when one drinks the waters; and I +think, says you, I find myself better already, but I cannot tell yet +whether it be the journey or the waters. Presto is so silly to-night; +yes he be; but Presto loves MD dearly, as hope saved. + +3. Morning. I am to go this day at noon, as I told you, to Bucklebury: +we dine at twelve, and expect to be there in four hours. I cannot bid +you good-night now, because I shall be twenty-five miles from this paper +to-night, and so my journal must have a break; so good-morrow, etc. + +4, 5. I dined yesterday at Bucklebury, where we lay two nights, and set +out this morning at eight, and were here at twelve; in four hours we +went twenty-six miles. Mr. Secretary was a perfect country gentleman at +Bucklebury: he smoked tobacco with one or two neighbours; he inquired +after the wheat in such a field; he went to visit his hounds, and +knew all their names; he and his lady saw me to my chamber just in the +country fashion. His house is in the midst of near three thousand pounds +a year he had by his lady,(15) who is descended from Jack Newbury, of +whom books and ballads are written; and there is an old picture of him +in the house. She is a great favourite of mine. I lost church to-day; +but I dressed and shaved, and went to Court, and would not dine with the +Secretary, but engaged myself to a private dinner with Mr. Lewis, and +one friend more. We go to London to-morrow; for Lord Dartmouth, the +other Secretary, is come, and they are here their weeks by turns. + +6. Lord Treasurer comes every Saturday to Windsor, and goes away on +Monday or Tuesday. I was with him this morning at his levee, for one +cannot see him otherwise here, he is so hurried: we had some talk; and +I told him I would stay this week at Windsor by myself, where I can have +more leisure to do some business that concerns them. Lord Treasurer +and the Secretary thought to mortify me; for they told me they had been +talking a great deal of me to-day to the Queen, and she said she had +never heard of me. I told them that was their fault, and not hers, etc., +and so we laughed. I dined with the Secretary, and let him go to London +at five without me; and here am I alone in the Prebendary's house, which +Mr. Secretary has taken; only Mr. Lewis is in my neighbourhood, and we +shall be good company. The Vice-Chamberlain,(16) and Mr. Masham, and the +Green Cloth,(17) have promised me dinners. I shall want but four till +Mr. Secretary returns. We have a music-meeting in our town to-night. +I went to the rehearsal of it, and there was Margarita,(18) and her +sister, and another drab, and a parcel of fiddlers: I was weary, and +would not go to the meeting, which I am sorry for, because I heard it +was a great assembly. Mr. Lewis came from it, and sat with me till just +now; and 'tis late. + +7. I can do no business, I fear, because Mr. Lewis, who has nothing or +little to do here, sticks close to me. I dined today with the gentlemen +ushers, among scurvy company; but the Queen was hunting the stag till +four this afternoon, and she drove in her chaise above forty miles, and +it was five before we went to dinner. Here are fine walks about this +town. I sometimes walk up the avenue. + +8. There was a Drawing-room to-day at Court; but so few company, that +the Queen sent for us into her bed-chamber, where we made our bows, and +stood about twenty of us round the room, while she looked at us round +with her fan in her mouth, and once a minute said about three words to +some that were nearest her, and then she was told dinner was ready, and +went out. I dined at the Green Cloth, by Mr. Scarborow's(19) invitation, +who is in waiting. It is much the best table in England, and costs +the Queen a thousand pounds a month while she is at Windsor or Hampton +Court, and is the only mark of magnificence or hospitality I can see in +the Queen's family: it is designed to entertain foreign Ministers, and +people of quality, who come to see the Queen, and have no place to dine +at. + +9. Mr. Coke, the Vice-Chamberlain, made me a long visit this morning, +and invited me to dinner; but the toast, his lady,(20) was unfortunately +engaged to Lady Sunderland.(21) Lord Treasurer stole here last night, +but did not lie at his lodgings in the Castle; and, after seeing the +Queen, went back again. I just drank a dish of chocolate with him. I +fancy I shall have reason to be angry with him very soon; but what +care I? I believe I shall die with Ministries in my debt.--This night +I received a certain letter from a place called Wexford, from two dear +naughty girls of my acquaintance; but, faith, I will not answer it here, +no in troth. I will send this to Mr. Reading, supposing it will find you +returned; and I hope better for the waters. + +10. Mr. Vice-Chamberlain lent me his horses to ride about and see +the country this morning. Dr. Arbuthnot, the Queen's physician and +favourite, went out with me to show me the places: we went a little +after the Queen, and overtook Miss Forester,(22) a maid of honour, on +her palfrey, taking the air; we made her go along with us. We saw a +place they have made for a famous horse-race to-morrow, where the Queen +will come. We met the Queen coming back, and Miss Forester stood, like +us, with her hat off while the Queen went by. The Doctor and I left the +lady where we found her, but under other conductors; and we dined at a +little place he has taken, about a mile off.--When I came back I found +Mr. Scarborow had sent all about to invite me to the Green Cloth, and +lessened his company on purpose to make me easy. It is very obliging, +and will cost me thanks. Much company is come to town this evening, +to see to-morrow's race. I was tired with riding a trotting mettlesome +horse a dozen miles, having not been on horseback this twelvemonth. +And Miss Forester did not make it easier; she is a silly true maid of +honour, and I did not like her, although she be a toast, and was dressed +like a man.(23) + +11. I will send this letter to-day. I expect the Secretary by noon. I +will not go to the race unless I can get room in some coach. It is now +morning. I must rise, and fold up and seal my letter. Farewell, and God +preserve dearest MD. + +I believe I shall leave this town on Monday. + + + + +LETTER 28. + +WINDSOR, Aug. 11, 1711. + +I sent away my twenty-seventh this morning in an express to London, and +directed to Mr. Reading: this shall go to your lodgings, where I reckon +you will be returned before it reaches you. I intended to go to the +race(1) to-day, but was hindered by a visit: I believe I told you so in +my last. I dined to-day at the Green Cloth, where everybody had been at +the race but myself, and we were twenty in all, and very noisy company; +but I made the Vice-Chamberlain and two friends more sit at a side +table, to be a little quiet. At six I went to see the Secretary, who is +returned; but Lord Keeper sent to desire I would sup with him, where I +stayed till just now: Lord Treasurer and Secretary were to come to us, +but both failed. 'Tis late, etc. + +12. I was this morning to visit Lord Keeper, who made me reproaches +that I had never visited him at Windsor. He had a present sent him of +delicious peaches, and he was champing and champing, but I durst not eat +one; I wished Dingley had some of them, for poor Stella can no more eat +fruit than Presto. Dilly Ashe is come to Windsor; and after church +I carried him up to the drawing-room, and talked to the Keeper and +Treasurer, on purpose to show them to him; and he saw the Queen and +several great lords, and the Duchess of Montagu;(2) he was mighty happy, +and resolves to fill a letter to the Bishop.(3) My friend Lewis and I +dined soberly with Dr. Adams,(4) the only neighbour prebendary. One of +the prebendaries here is lately a peer, by the death of his father. He +is now Lord Willoughby of Broke,(5) and will sit in the House of Lords +with his gown. I supped to-night at Masham's with Lord Treasurer, Mr. +Secretary, and Prior. The Treasurer made us stay till twelve, before he +came from the Queen, and 'tis now past two. + +13. I reckoned upon going to London to-day; but by an accident the +Cabinet Council did not sit last night, and sat to-day, so we go +to-morrow at six in the morning. I missed the race to-day by coming out +too late, when everybody's coach was gone, and ride I would not: I +felt my last riding three days after. We had a dinner to-day at the +Secretary's lodgings without him: Mr. Hare,(6) his Under Secretary, +Mr. Lewis, Brigadier Sutton,(7) and I, dined together; and I made the +Vice-Chamberlain take a snap with us, rather than stay till five for his +lady, who was gone to the race. The reason why the Cabinet Council was +not held last night was because Mr. Secretary St. John would not sit +with your Duke of Somerset.(8) So to-day the Duke was forced to go to +the race while the Cabinet was held. We have music-meetings in our town, +and I was at the rehearsal t'other day; but I did not value it, nor +would go to the meeting. Did I tell you this before? + +London, 14. We came to town this day in two hours and forty minutes: +twenty miles are nothing here. I found a letter from the Archbishop of +Dublin, sent me the Lord knows how. He says some of the bishops +will hardly believe that Lord Treasurer got the Queen to remit the +First-Fruits before the Duke of Ormond was declared Lord Lieutenant, and +that the bishops have written a letter to Lord Treasurer to thank him. +He has sent me the address of the Convocation, ascribing, in good part, +that affair to the Duke, who had less share in it than MD; for if it +had not been for MD, I should not have been so good a solicitor. I dined +to-day in the City, about a little bit of mischief, with a printer.--I +found Mrs. Vanhomrigh all in combustion, squabbling with her rogue of +a landlord; she has left her house, and gone out of our neighbourhood +a good way. Her eldest daughter is come of age, and going to Ireland to +look after her fortune, and get it in her own hands.(9) + +15. I dined to-day with Mrs. Van, who goes to-night to her new lodgings. +I went at six to see Lord Treasurer; but his company was gone, contrary +to custom, and he was busy, and I was forced to stay some time before I +could see him. We were together hardly an hour, and he went away, being +in haste. He desired me to dine with him on Friday, because there would +be a friend of his that I must see: my Lord Harley told me, when he was +gone, that it was Mrs. Masham his father meant, who is come to town to +lie-in, and whom I never saw, though her husband is one of our Society. +God send her a good time! her death would be a terrible thing.(10)--Do +you know that I have ventured all my credit with these great Ministers, +to clear some misunderstandings betwixt them; and if there be no breach, +I ought to have the merit of it. 'Tis a plaguy ticklish piece of work, +and a man hazards losing both sides. It is a pity the world does not +know my virtue.--I thought the clergy in Convocation in Ireland would +have given me thanks for being their solicitor; but I hear of no such +thing. Pray talk occasionally on that subject, and let me know what you +hear. Do you know the greatness of my spirit, that I value their thanks +not a rush, but at my return shall freely let all people know that it +was my Lord Treasurer's action, wherein the Duke of Ormond had no more +share than a cat? And so they may go whistle, and I'll go sleep. + +16. I was this day in the City, and dined at Pontack's(11) with +Stratford, and two other merchants. Pontack told us, although his wine +was so good, he sold it cheaper than others; he took but seven shillings +a flask. Are not these pretty rates? The books he sent for from Hamburg +are come, but not yet got out of the custom-house. My library will be at +least double when I come back. I shall go to Windsor again on Saturday, +to meet our Society, who are to sup at Mr. Secretary's; but I believe +I shall return on Monday, and then I will answer your letter, that lies +here safe underneath;--I see it; lie still: I will answer you when the +ducks have eaten up the dirt. + +17. I dined to-day at Lord Treasurer's with Mrs. Masham, and she is +extremely like one Mrs. Malolly, that was once my landlady in Trim. +She was used with mighty kindness and respect, like a favourite. It +signifies nothing going to this Lord Treasurer about business, although +it be his own. He was in haste, and desires I will come again, and dine +with him to-morrow. His famous lying porter is fallen sick, and they +think he will die: I wish I had all my half-crowns again. I believe I +have told you he is an old Scotch fanatic, and the damn'dest liar in his +office alive.(12) I have a mind to recommend Patrick to succeed him: +I have trained him up pretty well. I reckon for certain you are now in +town. The weather now begins to alter to rain. + +Windsor, 18. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer, and he would make me go +with him to Windsor, although I was engaged to the Secretary, to whom +I made my excuses: we had in the coach besides, his son and son-in-law, +Lord Harley and Lord Dupplin, who are two of our Society, and seven of +us met by appointment, and supped this night with the Secretary. It was +past nine before we got here, but a fine moonshiny night. I shall go +back, I believe, on Monday. 'Tis very late. + +19. The Queen did not stir out to-day, she is in a little fit of the +gout. I dined at Mr. Masham's; we had none but our Society members, six +in all, and I supped with Lord Treasurer. The Queen has ordered twenty +thousand pounds to go on with the building at Blenheim, which has been +starved till now, since the change of the Ministry.(13) I suppose it +is to reward his last action of getting into the French lines.(14) Lord +Treasurer kept me till past twelve. + +London, 20. It rained terribly every step of our journey to-day: I +returned with the Secretary after a dinner of cold meat, and went to +Mrs. Van's, where I sat the evening. I grow very idle, because I have a +great deal of business. Tell me how you passed your time at Wexford; and +are not you glad at heart you have got home safe to your lodgings at St. +Mary's, pray? And so your friends come to visit you; and Mrs. Walls is +much better of her eye; and the Dean is just as he used to be: and what +does Walls say of London? 'tis a reasoning coxcomb. And Goody Stoyte, +and Hannah what d'ye call her; no, her name an't Hannah, Catherine I +mean; they were so glad to see the ladies again! and Mrs. Manley wanted +a companion at ombre. + +21. I writ to-day to the Archbishop of Dublin, and enclosed a long +politic paper by itself. You know the bishops are all angry (smoke the +wax-candle drop at the bottom of this paper) I have let the world know +the First-Fruits were got by Lord Treasurer before the Duke of Ormond +was Governor. I told Lord Treasurer all this, and he is very angry; but +I pacified him again by telling him they were fools, and knew nothing of +what passed here; but thought all was well enough if they complimented +the Duke of Ormond. Lord Treasurer gave me t'other day a letter of +thanks he received from the bishops of Ireland, signed by seventeen; +and says he will write them an answer. The Dean of Carlisle sat with +me to-day till three; and I went to dine with Lord Treasurer, who dined +abroad, so did the Secretary, and I was left in the suds. 'Twas almost +four, and I got to Sir Matthew Dudley, who had half dined. Thornhill, +who killed Sir Cholmley Dering,(15) was murdered by two men, on Turnham +Green, last Monday night: as they stabbed him, they bid him remember Sir +Cholmley Dering. They had quarrelled at Hampton Court, and followed and +stabbed him on horseback. We have only a Grub Street paper of it, but I +believe it is true. I went myself through Turnham Green the same night, +which was yesterday. + +22. We have had terrible rains these two or three days. I intended to +dine at Lord Treasurer's, but went to see Lady Abercorn, who is come +to town, and my lord; and I dined with them, and visited Lord Treasurer +this evening. His porter is mending. I sat with my lord about +three hours, and am come home early to be busy. Passing by White's +Chocolate-house,(16) my brother Masham called me, and told me his wife +was brought to bed of a boy, and both very well. (Our Society, you must +know, are all brothers.) Dr. Garth told us that Mr. Henley(17) is dead +of an apoplexy. His brother-in-law, Earl Poulett, is gone down to the +Grange, to take care of his funeral. The Earl of Danby,(18) the Duke of +Leeds's eldest grandson, a very hopeful young man of about twenty, is +dead at Utrecht of the smallpox.--I long to know whether you begin +to have any good effect by your waters.--Methinks this letter goes on +slowly; 'twill be a fortnight next Saturday since it was begun, and one +side not filled. O fie for shame, Presto! Faith, I'm so tosticated to +and from Windsor, that I know not what to say; but, faith, I'll go to +Windsor again on Saturday, if they ask me, not else. So lose your money +again, now you are come home; do, sirrah. + +Take your magnifying-glass, Madam Dingley. + +You shan't read this, sirrah Stella; don't read it for your life, for +fear of your dearest eyes. + +There's enough for this side; these Ministers hinder me. Pretty, dear, +little, naughty, saucy MD. + +Silly, impudent, loggerhead Presto. + +23. Dilly and I dined to-day with Lord Abercorn, and had a fine fat +haunch of venison, that smelt rarely on one side: and after dinner +Dilly won half a crown of me at backgammon at his lodgings, to his great +content. It is a scurvy empty town this melancholy season of the year; +but I think our weather begins to mend. The roads are as deep as in +winter. The grapes are sad things; but the peaches are pretty good, and +there are some figs. I sometimes venture to eat one, but always repent +it. You say nothing of the box sent half a year ago. I wish you would +pay me for Mrs. Walls's tea. Your mother is in the country, I suppose. +Pray send me the account of MD, Madam Dingley, as it stands since +November,(19) that is to say, for this year (excluding the twenty pounds +lent Stella for Wexford), for I cannot look in your letters. I think I +ordered that Hawkshaw's interest should be paid to you. When you think +proper, I will let Parvisol know you have paid that twenty pounds, or +part of it; and so go play with the Dean, and I will answer your letter +to-morrow. Good-night, sirrahs, and love Presto, and be good girls. + +24. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer, who chid me for not dining with +him yesterday, for it seems I did not understand his invitation; +and their Club of the Ministry dined together, and expected me. Lord +Radnor(20) and I were walking the Mall this evening; and Mr. Secretary +met us, and took a turn or two, and then stole away, and we both +believed it was to pick up some wench; and to-morrow he will be at the +Cabinet with the Queen: so goes the world! Prior has been out of town +these two months, nobody knows where, and is lately returned. People +confidently affirm he has been in France, and I half believe it. It +is said he was sent by the Ministry, and for some overtures towards a +peace. The Secretary pretends he knows nothing of it. I believe your +Parliament will be dissolved. I have been talking about the quarrel +between your Lords and Commons with Lord Treasurer, and did, at the +request of some people, desire that the Queen's answer to the Commons' +address might express a dislike of some principles, etc.; but was +answered dubiously.--And so now to your letter, fair ladies. I know +drinking is bad; I mean writing is bad in drinking the waters; and was +angry to see so much in Stella's hand. But why Dingley drinks them, I +cannot imagine; but truly she'll drink waters as well as Stella: why +not? I hope you now find the benefit of them since you are returned; +pray let me know particularly. I am glad you are forced upon exercise, +which, I believe, is as good as the waters for the heart of them. 'Tis +now past the middle of August; so by your reckoning you are in Dublin. +It would vex me to the dogs that letters should miscarry between Dublin +and Wexford, after 'scaping the salt seas. I will write no more to +that nasty town in haste again, I warrant you. I have been four Sundays +together at Windsor, of which a fortnight together; but I believe I +shall not go to-morrow, for I will not, unless the Secretary asks me. I +know all your news about the Mayor: it makes no noise here at all, but +the quarrel of your Parliament does; it is so very extraordinary, and +the language of the Commons so very pretty. The Examiner has been down +this month, and was very silly the five or six last papers; but there +is a pamphlet come out, in answer to a letter to the seven Lords +who examined Gregg.(21) The Answer(22) is by the real author of the +Examiner, as I believe; for it is very well written. We had Trapp's poem +on the Duke of Ormond(23) printed here, and the printer sold just eleven +of them. 'Tis a dull piece, not half so good as Stella's; and she is +very modest to compare herself with such a poetaster. I am heartily +sorry for poor Mrs. Parnell's(24) death; she seemed to be an excellent +good-natured young woman, and I believe the poor lad is much afflicted; +they appeared to live perfectly well together. Dilly is not tired at all +with England, but intends to continue here a good while: he is mighty +easy to be at distance from his two sisters-in-law. He finds some sort +of scrub acquaintance; goes now and then in disguise to a play; smokes +his pipe; reads now and then a little trash, and what else the Lord +knows. I see him now and then; for he calls here, and the town being +thin, I am less pestered with company than usual. I have got rid of many +of my solicitors, by doing nothing for them: I have not above eight or +nine left, and I'll be as kind to them. Did I tell you of a knight who +desired me to speak to Lord Treasurer to give him two thousand pounds, +or five hundred pounds a year, until he could get something better? I +honestly delivered my message to the Treasurer, adding, the knight was +a puppy, whom I would not give a groat to save from the gallows. Cole +Reading's father-in-law has been two or three times at me, to recommend +his lights to the Ministry, assuring me that a word of mine would, etc. +Did not that dog use to speak ill of me, and profess to hate me? He +knows not where I lodge, for I told him I lived in the country; and I +have ordered Patrick to deny me constantly to him.--Did the Bishop of +London(25) die in Wexford? poor gentleman! Did he drink the waters? were +you at his burial? was it a great funeral? so far from his friends! +But he was very old: we shall all follow. And yet it was a pity, if +God pleased. He was a good man; not very learned: I believe he died but +poor. Did he leave any charity legacies? who held up his pall? was there +a great sight of clergy? do they design a tomb for him?--Are you sure +it was the Bishop of London? because there is an elderly gentleman here +that we give the same title to: or did you fancy all this in your water, +as others do strange things in their wine? They say these waters trouble +the head, and make people imagine what never came to pass. Do you make +no more of killing a Bishop? are these your Whiggish tricks?--Yes, yes, +I see you are in a fret. O, faith, says you, saucy Presto, I'll break +your head; what, can't one report what one hears, without being made +a jest and a laughing-stock? Are these your English tricks, with a +murrain? And Sacheverell will be the next Bishop? He would be glad of an +addition of two hundred pounds a year to what he has, and that is more +than they will give him, for aught I see. He hates the new Ministry +mortally, and they hate him, and pretend to despise him too. They will +not allow him to have been the occasion of the late change; at least +some of them will not: but my Lord Keeper owned it to me the other day. +No, Mr. Addison does not go to Ireland this year: he pretended he would; +but he is gone to Bath with Pastoral Philips, for his eyes.--So now I +have run over your letter; and I think this shall go to-morrow, which +will be just a fortnight from the last, and bring things to the old form +again, after your rambles to Wexford, and mine to Windsor. Are there not +many literal faults in my letters? I never read them over, and I fancy +there are. What do you do then? do you guess my meaning, or are you +acquainted with my manner of mistaking? I lost my handkerchief in the +Mall to-night with Lord Radnor; but I made him walk with me to find it, +and find it I did not. Tisdall(26) (that lodges with me) and I have had +no conversation, nor do we pull off our hats in the streets. There is a +cousin of his (I suppose,) a young parson, that lodges in the house +too; a handsome, genteel fellow. Dick Tighe(27) and his wife lodged over +against us; and he has been seen, out of our upper windows, beating her +two or three times: they are both gone to Ireland, but not together; and +he solemnly vows never to live with her. Neighbours do not stick to +say that she has a tongue: in short, I am told she is the most urging, +provoking devil that ever was born; and he a hot, whiffling(28) puppy, +very apt to resent. I'll keep this bottom till to-morrow: I'm sleepy. + +25. I was with the Secretary this morning, who was in a mighty hurry, +and went to Windsor in a chariot with Lord Keeper; so I was not invited, +and am forced to stay at home, but not at all against my will; for +I could have gone, and would not. I dined in the City with one of my +printers, for whom I got the Gazette, and am come home early; and have +nothing to say to you more, but finish this letter, and not send it by +the bellman. Days grow short, and the weather grows bad, and the town +is splenetic, and things are so oddly contrived that I cannot be absent; +otherwise I would go for a few days to Oxford, as I promised.--They say +it is certain that Prior has been in France,(29) nobody doubts it: I had +not time to ask the Secretary, he was in such haste. Well, I will take +my leave of dearest MD for a while; for I must begin my next letter +to-night: consider that, young women; and pray be merry, and good girls, +and love Presto. There is now but one business the Ministry want me for, +and when that is done, I will take my leave of them. I never got a +penny from them, nor expect it. In my opinion, some things stand very +ticklish; I dare say nothing at this distance. Farewell, dear sirrahs, +dearest lives: there is peace and quiet with MD, and nowhere else. They +have not leisure here to think of small things, which may ruin them; and +I have been forward enough. Farewell again, dearest rogues; I am never +happy but when I write or think of MD. I have enough of Courts and +Ministries, and wish I were at Laracor; and if I could with honour come +away this moment, I would. Bernage(30) came to see me to-day; he is just +landed from Portugal, and come to raise recruits; he looks very well, +and seems pleased with his station and manner of life. He never saw +London nor England before; he is ravished with Kent, which was his first +prospect when he landed. Farewell again, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 29. + +LONDON, Aug. 25, 1711. + +I have got a pretty small gilt sheet of paper, to write to MD. I have +this moment sent my 28th by Patrick, who tells me he has put it in the +post-office; 'tis directed to your lodgings: if it wants more particular +direction, you must set me right. It is now a solar month and two days +since the date of your last, N.18; and I reckon you are now quiet +at home, and thinking to begin your 19th, which will be full of your +quarrel between the two Houses, all which I know already. Where shall +I dine to-morrow? can you tell? Mrs. Vanhomrigh boards now, and cannot +invite one; and there I used to dine when I was at a loss: and all my +friends are gone out of town, and your town is now at the fullest, with +your Parliament and Convocation. But let me alone, sirrahs; for Presto +is going to be very busy; not Presto, but the other I. + +26. People have so left the town that I am at a loss for a dinner. It is +a long time since I have been at London upon a Sunday; and the Ministers +are all at Windsor. It cost me eighteenpence in coach-hire before I +could find a place to dine in. I went to Frankland's,(1) and he was +abroad, and the drab his wife looked out at window, and bowed to +me without inviting me up: so I dined with Mr. Coote,(2) my Lord +Mountrath's brother; my lord is with you in Ireland. This morning at +five my Lord Jersey(3) died of the gout in his stomach, or apoplexy, +or both: he was abroad yesterday, and his death was sudden. He was +Chamberlain to King William, and a great favourite, turned out by the +Queen as a Tory, and stood now fair to be Privy Seal; and by his death +will, I suppose, make that matter easier, which has been a very stubborn +business at Court, as I have been informed. I never remember so many +people of quality to have died in so short a time. + +27. I went to-day into the City, to thank Stratford for my books, +and dine with him, and settle my affairs of my money in the Bank, and +receive a bill for Mrs. Wesley for some things I am to buy for her; and +the d---- a one of all these could I do. The merchants were all out of +town, and I was forced to go to a little hedge place for my dinner. May +my enemies live here in summer! and yet I am so unlucky that I cannot +possibly be out of the way at this juncture. People leave the town so +late in summer, and return so late in winter, that they have almost +inverted the seasons. It is autumn this good while in St. James's Park; +the limes have been losing their leaves, and those remaining on the +trees are all parched: I hate this season, where everything grows worse +and worse. The only good thing of it is the fruit, and that I dare not +eat. Had you any fruit at Wexford? A few cherries, and durst not eat +them. I do not hear we have yet got a new Privy Seal. The Whigs whisper +that our new Ministry differ among themselves, and they begin to talk +out Mr. Secretary: they have some reasons for their whispers, although +I thought it was a greater secret. I do not much like the posture of +things; I always apprehended that any falling out would ruin them, and +so I have told them several times. The Whigs are mighty full of hopes at +present; and whatever is the matter, all kind of stocks fall. I have not +yet talked with the Secretary about Prior's journey. I should be apt to +think it may foretell a peace, and that is all we have to preserve us. +The Secretary is not come from Windsor, but I expect him to-morrow. Burn +all politics! + +28. We begin to have fine weather, and I walked to-day to Chelsea, and +dined with the Dean of Carlisle, who is laid up with the gout. It is now +fixed that he is to be Dean of Christ Church in Oxford. I was advising +him to use his interest to prevent any misunderstanding between our +Ministers; but he is too wise to meddle, though he fears the thing and +the consequences as much as I. He will get into his own warm, quiet +deanery, and leave them to themselves; and he is in the right.--When +I came home to-night, I found a letter from Mr. Lewis, who is now at +Windsor; and in it, forsooth, another which looked like Presto's hand; +and what should it be but a 19th from MD? O, faith, I 'scaped narrowly, +for I sent my 28th but on Saturday; and what should I have done if I had +two letters to answer at once? I did not expect another from Wexford, +that is certain. Well, I must be contented; but you are dear saucy +girls, for all that, to write so soon again, faith; an't you? + +29. I dined to-day with Lord Abercorn, and took my leave of them: they +set out to-morrow for Chester, and, I believe, will now fix in Ireland. +They have made a pretty good journey of it: his eldest son(4) is married +to a lady with ten thousand pounds; and his second son(5) has, t'other +day, got a prize in the lottery of four thousand pounds, beside two +small ones of two hundred pounds each: nay, the family was so fortunate, +that my lord bestowing one ticket, which is a hundred pounds, to one of +his servants, who had been his page, the young fellow got a prize, which +has made it another hundred. I went in the evening to Lord Treasurer, +who desires I will dine with him to-morrow, when he will show me the +answer he designs to return to the letter of thanks from your bishops in +Ireland. The Archbishop of Dublin desired me to get myself mentioned +in the answer which my lord would send; but I sent him word I would not +open my lips to my lord upon it. He says it would convince the bishops +of what I have affirmed, that the First-Fruits were granted before the +Duke of Ormond was declared Governor; and I writ to him that I would not +give a farthing to convince them. My Lord Treasurer began a health to my +Lord Privy Seal: Prior punned, and said it was so privy, he knew not who +it was; but I fancy they have fixed it all, and we shall know to-morrow. +But what care you who is Privy Seal, saucy sluttikins? + +30. When I went out this morning, I was surprised with the news that +the Bishop of Bristol is made Lord Privy Seal. You know his name is +Robinson,(6) and that he was many years Envoy in Sweden. All the friends +of the present Ministry are extremely glad, and the clergy above the +rest. The Whigs will fret to death to see a civil employment given to a +clergyman. It was a very handsome thing in my Lord Treasurer, and will +bind the Church to him for ever. I dined with him to-day, but he had not +written his letter;(see above, 29th Aug.) but told me he would not offer +to send it without showing it to me: he thought that would not be just, +since I was so deeply concerned in the affair. We had much company: Lord +Rivers, Mar,(7) and Kinnoull,(8) Mr. Secretary, George Granville, and +Masham: the last has invited me to the christening of his son to-morrow +se'ennight; and on Saturday I go to Windsor with Mr. Secretary. + +31. Dilly and I walked to-day to Kensington to Lady Mountjoy, who +invited us to dinner. He returned soon, to go to a play, it being the +last that will be acted for some time: he dresses himself like a +beau, and no doubt makes a fine figure. I went to visit some people at +Kensington: Ophy Butler's wife(9) there lies very ill of an ague, which +is a very common disease here, and little known in Ireland. I am apt to +think we shall soon have a peace, by the little words I hear thrown out +by the Ministry. I have just thought of a project to bite the town. I +have told you that it is now known that Mr. Prior has been lately in +France. I will make a printer of my own sit by me one day, and I will +dictate to him a formal relation of Prior's journey,(10) with several +particulars, all pure invention; and I doubt not but it will take. + +Sept. 1. Morning. I go to-day to Windsor with Mr. Secretary; and Lord +Treasurer has promised to bring me back. The weather has been fine for +some time, and I believe we shall have a great deal of dust.--At night. +Windsor. The Secretary and I dined to-day at Parson's Green, at my Lord +Peterborow's house, who has left it and his gardens to the Secretary +during his absence. It is the finest garden I have ever seen about this +town; and abundance of hot walls for grapes, where they are in great +plenty, and ripening fast. I durst not eat any fruit but one fig; but +I brought a basket full to my friend Lewis here at Windsor. Does Stella +never eat any? what, no apricots at Donnybrook! nothing but claret and +ombre! I envy people maunching and maunching peaches and grapes, and I +not daring to eat a bit. My head is pretty well, only a sudden turn any +time makes me giddy for a moment, and sometimes it feels very +stuffed; but if it grows no worse, I can bear it very well. I take all +opportunities of walking; and we have a delicious park here just joining +to the Castle, and an avenue in the great park very wide and two miles +long, set with a double row of elms on each side. Were you ever at +Windsor? I was once, a great while ago; but had quite forgotten it. + +2. The Queen has the gout, and did not come to chapel, nor stir out from +her chamber, but received the sacrament there, as she always does the +first Sunday in the month. Yet we had a great Court; and, among others, +I saw your Ingoldsby,(11) who, seeing me talk very familiarly with +the Keeper, Treasurer, etc., came up and saluted me, and began a very +impertinent discourse about the siege of Bouchain. I told him I could +not answer his questions, but I would bring him one that should; so +I went and fetched Sutton (who brought over the express about a +month ago), and delivered him to the General, and bid him answer his +questions; and so I left them together. Sutton after some time comes +back in a rage, finds me with Lord Rivers and Masham, and there +complains of the trick I had played him, and swore he had been plagued +to death with Ingoldsby's talk. But he told me Ingoldsby asked him what +I meant by bringing him; so, I suppose, he smoked me a little. So we +laughed, etc. My Lord Willoughby,(12) who is one of the chaplains, and +Prebendary of Windsor, read prayers last night to the family; and the +Bishop of Bristol, who is Dean of Windsor, officiated last night at the +Cathedral. This they do to be popular; and it pleases mightily. I dined +with Mr. Masham, because he lets me have a select company: for the Court +here have got by the end a good thing I said to the Secretary some weeks +ago. He showed me his bill of fare, to tempt me to dine with him. "Poh," +said I, "I value not your bill of fare; give me your bill of company." +Lord Treasurer was mightily pleased, and told it everybody as a notable +thing. I reckon upon returning to-morrow: they say the Bishop will then +have the Privy Seal delivered him at a great Council. + +3. Windsor still. The Council was held so late to-day that I do not go +back to town till to-morrow. The Bishop was sworn Privy Councillor, and +had the Privy Seal given him: and now the patents are passed for those +who were this long time to be made lords or earls. Lord Raby,(13) who is +Earl of Strafford, is on Thursday to marry a namesake of Stella's; the +daughter of Sir H. Johnson in the City; he has three-score thousand +pounds with her, ready money; besides the rest at the father's death. I +have got my friend Stratford to be one of the directors of the South Sea +Company, who were named to-day. My Lord Treasurer did it for me a month +ago; and one of those whom I got to be printer of the Gazette I am +recommending to be printer to the same company. He treated Mr. Lewis and +me to-day at dinner. I supped last night and this with Lord Treasurer, +Keeper, etc., and took occasion to mention the printer. I said it was +the same printer whom my Lord Treasurer has appointed to print for the +South Sea Company. He denied, and I insisted on it; and I got the laugh +on my side. + +London, 4. I came as far as Brentford in Lord Rivers's chariot, who +had business with Lord Treasurer; then I went into Lord Treasurer's. We +stopped at Kensington, where Lord Treasurer went to see Mrs. Masham, +who is now what they call in the straw. We got to town by three, and I +lighted at Lord Treasurer's, who commanded me not to stir: but I was not +well; and when he went up, I begged the young lord to excuse me, and so +went into the City by water, where I could be easier, and dined with the +printer, and dictated to him some part of Prior's Journey to France. I +walked from the City, for I take all occasions of exercise. Our journey +was horridly dusty. + +5. When I went out to-day, I found it had rained mightily in the night, +and the streets were as dirty as winter: it is very refreshing after ten +days dry.--I went into the City, and dined with Stratford, thanked him +for his books, gave him joy of his being director, of which he had the +first notice by a letter from me. I ate sturgeon, and it lies on my +stomach. I almost finished Prior's Journey at the printer's; and came +home pretty late, with Patrick at my heels. + +7. Morning. But what shall we do about this letter of MD's, N.19? Not a +word answered yet, and so much paper spent! I cannot do anything in +it, sweethearts, till night.--At night. O Lord, O Lord! the greatest +disgrace that ever was has happened to Presto. What do you think? but, +when I was going out this forenoon a letter came from MD, N.20, dated +Dublin. O dear, O dear! O sad, O sad!--Now I have two letters together +to answer: here they are, lying together. But I will only answer the +first; for I came in late. I dined with my friend Lewis at his lodgings, +and walked at six to Kensington to Mrs. Masham's son's christening. +It was very private; nobody there but my Lord Treasurer, his son and +son-in-law, that is to say, Lord Harley and Lord Dupplin, and Lord +Rivers and I. The Dean of Rochester(14) christened the child, but soon +went away. Lord Treasurer and Lord Rivers were godfathers; and Mrs. +Hill,(15) Mrs. Masham's sister, godmother. The child roared like a bull, +and I gave Mrs. Masham joy of it; and she charged me to take care of my +nephew, because, Mr. Masham being a brother of our Society, his son, you +know, is consequently a nephew. Mrs. Masham sat up dressed in bed, but +not, as they do in Ireland, with all smooth about her, as if she was +cut off in the middle; for you might see the counterpane (what d'ye +call it?) rise about her hips and body. There is another name of the +counterpane; and you will laugh now, sirrahs. George Granville came in +at supper, and we stayed till eleven; and Lord Treasurer set me down at +my lodging in Suffolk Street. Did I ever tell you that Lord Treasurer +hears ill with the left ear, just as I do? He always turns the right, +and his servants whisper him at that only. I dare not tell him that I am +so too, for fear he should think I counterfeited, to make my court. + +6. You must read this before the other; for I mistook, and forgot to +write yesterday's journal, it was so insignificant. I dined with Dr. +Cockburn, and sat the evening with Lord Treasurer till ten o'clock. +On Thursdays he has always a large select company, and expects me. So +good-night for last night, etc. + +8. Morning. I go to Windsor with Lord Treasurer to-day, and will leave +this behind me, to be sent to the post. And now let us hear what says +the first letter, N.19. You are still at Wexford, as you say, Madam +Dingley. I think no letter from me ever yet miscarried. And so +Inish-Corthy,(16) and the river Slainy; fine words those in a lady's +mouth. Your hand like Dingley's, you scambling,(17) scattering +sluttikin! YES, MIGHTY LIKE INDEED, IS NOT IT?(18) Pisshh, do not talk +of writing or reading till your eyes are well, and long well; only I +would have Dingley read sometimes to you, that you may not lose the +desire of it. God be thanked, that the ugly numbing is gone! Pray +use exercise when you go to town. What game is that ombra which +Dr. Elwood(19) and you play at? is it the Spanish game ombre? Your +card-purse? you a card-purse! you a fiddlestick. You have luck indeed; +and luck in a bag. What a devil! is that eight-shilling tea-kettle +copper, or tin japanned? It is like your Irish politeness, raffling for +tea-kettles. What a splutter you keep, to convince me that Walls has +no taste! My head continues pretty well. Why do you write, dear sirrah +Stella, when you find your eyes so weak that you cannot see? what +comfort is there in reading what you write, when one knows that? So +Dingley cannot write, because of the clutter of new company come to +Wexford! I suppose the noise of their hundred horses disturbs you; or +do you lie in one gallery, as in an hospital? What! you are afraid of +losing in Dublin the acquaintance you have got in Wexford, and chiefly +the Bishop of Raphoe,(20) an old, doting, perverse coxcomb? Twenty at a +time at breakfast. That is like five pounds at a time, when it was never +but once. I doubt, Madam Dingley, you are apt to lie in your travels, +though not so bad as Stella; she tells thumpers, as I shall prove in my +next, if I find this receives encouragement.--So Dr. Elwood says there +are a world of pretty things in my works. A pox on his praises! an enemy +here would say more. The Duke of Buckingham would say as much, though +he and I are terribly fallen out; and the great men are perpetually +inflaming me against him: they bring me all he says of me, and, I +believe, make it worse out of roguery.--No, 'tis not your pen is +bewitched, Madam Stella, but your old SCRAWLING, SPLAY-FOOT POT-HOOKS, +S, S,(21) ay that's it: there the s, s, s, there, there, that's exact. +Farewell, etc. + +Our fine weather is gone; and I doubt we shall have a rainy journey +to-day. Faith, 'tis shaving-day, and I have much to do. When Stella says +her pen was bewitched, it was only because there was a hair in it. You +know, the fellow they call God-help-it had the same thoughts of his +wife, and for the same reason. I think this is very well observed, and I +unfolded the letter to tell you it. + +Cut off those two notes above; and see the nine pounds indorsed, and +receive the other; and send me word how my accounts stand, that they +may be adjusted by Nov. 1.(22) Pray be very particular; but the twenty +pounds I lend you is not to be included: so make no blunder. I won't +wrong you, nor you shan't wrong me; that is the short. O Lord, how stout +Presto is of late! But he loves MD more than his life a thousand times, +for all his stoutness; tell them that; and that I'll swear it, as hope +saved, ten millions of times, etc. etc. + +I open my letter once more, to tell Stella that if she does not use +exercise after her waters, it will lose all the effects of them: I +should not live if I did not take all opportunities of walking. Pray, +pray, do this, to oblige poor Presto. + + + + +LETTER 30. + +WINDSOR, Sept. 8, 1711. + +I made the coachman stop, and put in my twenty-ninth at the post-office +at two o'clock to-day, as I was going to Lord Treasurer, with whom I +dined, and came here by a quarter-past eight; but the moon shone, and so +we were not in much danger of overturning; which, however, he values not +a straw, and only laughs when I chide at him for it. There was +nobody but he and I, and we supped together, with Mr. Masham, and Dr. +Arbuthnot, the Queen's favourite physician, a Scotchman. I could not +keep myself awake after supper, but did all I was able to disguise it, +and thought I came off clear; but, at parting, he told me I had got my +nap already. It is now one o'clock; but he loves sitting up late. + +9. The Queen is still in the gout, but recovering: she saw company in +her bed-chamber after church; but the crowd was so great, I could not +see her. I dined with my brother Sir William Wyndham,(1) and some others +of our Society, to avoid the great tables on Sunday at Windsor, which I +hate. The usual company supped to-night at Lord Treasurer's, which was +Lord Keeper, Mr. Secretary, George Granville, Masham, Arbuthnot, and +I. But showers have hindered me from walking to-day, and that I do not +love.--Noble fruit, and I dare not eat a bit. I ate one fig to-day, and +sometimes a few mulberries, because it is said they are wholesome, and +you know a good name does much. I shall return to town to-morrow, though +I thought to have stayed a week, to be at leisure for something I am +doing. But I have put it off till next; for I shall come here again on +Saturday, when our Society are to meet at supper at Mr. Secretary's. +My life is very regular here: on Sunday morning I constantly visit Lord +Keeper, and sup at Lord Treasurer's with the same set of company. I was +not sleepy to-night; I resolved I would not; yet it is past midnight at +this present writing. + +London, 10. Lord Treasurer and Masham and I left Windsor at three this +afternoon: we dropped Masham at Kensington with his lady, and got home +by six. It was seven before we sat down to dinner, and I stayed till +past eleven. Patrick came home with the Secretary: I am more plagued +with Patrick and my portmantua than with myself. I forgot to tell you +that when I went to Windsor on Saturday I overtook Lady Giffard and +Mrs. Fenton(2) in a chariot, going, I suppose, to Sheen. I was then in +a chariot too, of Lord Treasurer's brother, who had business with the +Treasurer; and my lord came after, and overtook me at Turnham Green, +four miles from London; and then the brother went back, and I went in +the coach with Lord Treasurer: so it happened that those people saw me, +and not with Lord Treasurer. Mrs. F. was to see me about a week ago; and +desired I would get her son into the Charter-house. + +11. This morning the printer sent me an account of Prior's Journey;(3) +it makes a twopenny pamphlet. I suppose you will see it, for I dare +engage it will run; 'tis a formal, grave lie, from the beginning to +the end. I writ all but about the last page; that I dictated, and the +printer writ. Mr. Secretary sent to me to dine where he did; it was +at Prior's: when I came in, Prior showed me the pamphlet, seemed to be +angry, and said, "Here is our English liberty!" I read some of it, and +said I liked it mightily, and envied the rogue the thought; for, had it +come into my head, I should have certainly done it myself. We stayed at +Prior's till past ten; and then the Secretary received a packet with the +news of Bouchain being taken, for which the guns will go off to-morrow. +Prior owned his having been in France, for it was past denying: it seems +he was discovered by a rascal at Dover, who had positive orders to let +him pass. I believe we shall have a peace. + +12. It is terrible rainy weather, and has cost me three shillings in +coaches and chairs to-day, yet I was dirty into the bargain. I was three +hours this morning with the Secretary about some business of moment, and +then went into the City to dine. The printer tells me he sold yesterday +a thousand of Prior's Journey, and had printed five hundred more. It +will do rarely, I believe, and is a pure bite. And what is MD doing all +this while? got again to their cards, their Walls, their deans, their +Stoytes, and their claret? Pray present my service to Mr. Stoyte and +Catherine. Tell Goody Stoyte she owes me a world of dinners, and I will +shortly come over and demand them.--Did I tell you of the Archbishop of +Dublin's last letter? He had been saying, in several of his former, that +he would shortly write to me something about myself; and it looked as if +he intended something for me: at last out it comes, and consists of two +parts. First, he advises me to strike in for some preferment now I have +friends; and secondly, he advises me, since I have parts, and learning, +and a happy pen, to think of some new subject in divinity not handled +by others, which I should manage better than anybody. A rare spark this, +with a pox! but I shall answer him as rarely. Methinks he should have +invited me over, and given me some hopes or promises. But hang him! and +so good-night, etc. + +13. It rained most furiously all this morning till about twelve, and +sometimes thundered; I trembled for my shillings, but it cleared up, +and I made a shift to get a walk in the Park, and then went with the +Secretary to dine with Lord Treasurer. Upon Thursdays there is always +a select company: we had the Duke of Shrewsbury, Lord Rivers, the two +Secretaries, Mr. Granville, and Mr. Prior. Half of them went to Council +at six; but Rivers, Granville, Prior, and I, stayed till eight. Prior +was often affecting to be angry at the account of his journey to Paris; +and indeed the two last pages, which the printer got somebody to add,(4) +are so romantic, they spoil all the rest. Dilly Ashe pretended to me +that he was only going to Oxford and Cambridge for a fortnight, and then +would come back. I could not see him as I appointed t'other day; but +some of his friends tell me he took leave of them as going to Ireland; +and so they say at his lodging. I believe the rogue was ashamed to tell +me so, because I advised him to stay the winter, and he said he would. +I find he had got into a good set of scrub acquaintance, and I thought +passed his time very merrily; but I suppose he languished after +Balderig, and the claret of Dublin; and, after all, I think he is in +the right; for he can eat, drink, and converse better there than here. +Bernage was with me this morning: he calls now and then; he is in +terrible fear of a peace. He said he never had his health so well as in +Portugal. He is a favourite of his Colonel. + +14. I was mortified enough to-day, not knowing where in the world to +dine, the town is so empty. I met H. Coote,(5) and thought he would +invite me, but he did not: Sir John Stanley did not come into my head; +so I took up with Mrs. Van, and dined with her and her damned landlady, +who, I believe, by her eyebrows, is a bawd. This evening I met Addison +and Pastoral Philips in the Park, and supped with them at Addison's +lodgings: we were very good company, and I yet know no man half so +agreeable to me as he is. I sat with them till twelve, so you may think +it is late, young women; however, I would have some little conversation +with MD before your Presto goes to bed, because it makes me sleep, and +dream, and so forth. Faith, this letter goes on slowly enough, sirrahs; +but I cannot write much at a time till you are quite settled after your +journey, you know, and have gone all your visits, and lost your money at +ombre. You never play at chess now, Stella. That puts me in mind of +Dick Tighe; I fancy I told you he used to beat his wife here; and she +deserved it; and he resolves to part with her; and they went to Ireland +in different coaches. O Lord, I said all this before, I am sure. Go to +bed, sirrahs. + +Windsor, 15. I made the Secretary stop at Brentford, because we set +out at two this afternoon, and fasting would not agree with me. I only +designed to eat a bit of bread-and-butter; but he would light, and +we ate roast beef like dragons. And he made me treat him and two more +gentlemen; faith, it cost me a guinea. I do not like such jesting, yet +I was mightily pleased with it too. To-night our Society met at the +Secretary's: there were nine of us; and we have chosen a new member, the +Earl of Jersey,(6) whose father died lately. 'Tis past one, and I have +stolen away. + +16. I design to stay here this week by myself, about some business that +lies on my hands, and will take up a great deal of time. Dr. Adams,(7) +one of the canons, invited me to-day to dinner. The tables are so full +here on Sunday that it is hard to dine with a few, and Dr. Adams knows +I love to do so; which is very obliging. The Queen saw company in her +bed-chamber; she looks very well, but she sat down. I supped with Lord +Treasurer as usual, and stayed till past one as usual, and with our +usual company, except Lord Keeper, who did not come this time to +Windsor. I hate these suppers mortally, but I seldom eat anything. + +17. Lord Treasurer and Mr. Secretary stay here till tomorrow; some +business keeps them, and I am sorry for it, for they hinder me a day. +Mr. Lewis and I were going to dine soberly with a little Court friend +at one. But Lord Harley and Lord Dupplin kept me by force, and said we +should dine at Lord Treasurer's, who intended to go at four to London. I +stayed like a fool, and went with the two young lords to Lord Treasurer, +who very fairly turned us all three out of doors. They both were invited +to the Duke of Somerset, but he was gone to a horse-race, and would not +come till five; so we were forced to go to a tavern, and sent for wine +from Lord Treasurer's, who at last, we were told, did not go to town +till the morrow, and at Lord Treasurer's we supped again; and I desired +him to let me add four shillings to the bill I gave him. We sat up till +two, yet I must write to little MD. + +18. They are all gone early this morning, and I am alone to seek my +fortune; but Dr. Arbuthnot engages me for my dinners; and he yesterday +gave me my choice of place, person, and victuals for to-day. So I chose +to dine with Mrs. Hill, who is one of the dressers, and Mrs. Masham's +sister, no company but us three, and to have a shoulder of mutton, a +small one; which was exactly, only there was too much victuals besides; +and the Doctor's wife(8) was of the company. And to-morrow Mrs. Hill and +I are to dine with the Doctor. I have seen a fellow often about Court +whom I thought I knew. I asked who he was, and they told me it was the +gentleman porter; then I called him to mind; he was Killy's acquaintance +(I won't say yours); I think his name is Lovet,(9) or Lovel, or +something like it. I believe he does not know me, and in my present +posture I shall not be fond of renewing old acquaintance; I believe I +used to see him with the Bradleys; and, by the way, I have not seen Mrs. +Bradley since I came to England. I left your letter in London, like +a fool; and cannot answer it till I go back, which will not be until +Monday next; so this will be above a fortnight from my last; but I will +fetch it up in my next; so go and walk to the Dean's for your health +this fine weather. + +19. The Queen designs to have cards and dancing here next week, which +makes us think she will stay here longer than we believed. Mrs. Masham +is not well after her lying-in: I doubt she got some cold; she is lame +in one of her legs with a rheumatic pain. Dr. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Hill go +tomorrow to Kensington to see her, and return the same night. Mrs. Hill +and I dined with the Doctor to-day. I rode out this morning with the +Doctor to see Cranburn, a house of Lord Ranelagh's,(10) and the Duchess +of Marlborough's lodge, and the Park; the finest places they are, for +nature and plantations, that ever I saw; and the finest riding upon +artificial roads, made on purpose for the Queen. Arbuthnot made me draw +up a sham subscription for a book, called A History of the Maids of +Honour since Harry the Eighth, showing they make the best wives, with a +list of all the maids of honour since, etc.; to pay a crown in hand, and +the other crown upon delivery of the book; and all in common forms of +those things. We got a gentleman to write it fair, because my hand is +known; and we sent it to the maids of honour, when they came to supper. +If they bite at it, it will be a very good Court jest; and the Queen +will certainly have it: we did not tell Mrs. Hill. + +20. To-day I was invited to the Green Cloth by Colonel Godfrey, who +married the Duke of Marlborough's sister,(11) mother to the Duke of +Berwick by King James: I must tell you those things that happened before +you were born. But I made my excuses, and young Harcourt (Lord Keeper's +son) and I dined with my next neighbour, Dr Adams.(12) Mrs. Masham is +better, and will be here in three or four days. She had need; for the +Duchess of Somerset is thought to gain ground daily.--We have not sent +you over all your bills; and I think we have altered your money-bill. +The Duke of Ormond is censured here, by those in power, for very wrong +management in the affair of the mayoralty.(13) He is governed by fools, +and has usually much more sense than his advisers, but never proceeds +by it. I must know how your health continues after Wexford. Walk and +use exercise, sirrahs both; and get somebody to play at shuttlecock with +you, Madam Stella, and walk to the Dean's and Donnybrook. + +21. Colonel Godfrey sent to me again to-day; so I dined at the Green +Cloth, and we had but eleven at dinner, which is a small number there, +the Court being always thin of company till Saturday night.--This new +ink and pen make a strange figure; I MUST WRITE LARGER, YES I MUST, OR +STELLA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ THIS.(14) S. S. S., there is your S's +for you, Stella. The maids of honour are bit, and have all contributed +their crowns, and are teasing others to subscribe for the book. I will +tell Lord Keeper and Lord Treasurer to-morrow; and I believe the Queen +will have it. After a little walk this evening, I squandered away the +rest of it in sitting at Lewis's lodging, while he and Dr. Arbuthnot +played at picquet. I have that foolish pleasure, which I believe nobody +has beside me, except old Lady Berkeley.(15) But I fretted when I came +away: I will loiter so no more, for I have a plaguy deal of business +upon my hands, and very little time to do it. The pamphleteers begin to +be very busy against the Ministry: I have begged Mr. Secretary to make +examples of one or two of them, and he assures me he will. They are very +bold and abusive. + +22. This being the day the Ministry come to Windsor, I ate a bit or two +at Mr. Lewis's lodgings, because I must sup with Lord Treasurer; and at +half an hour after one, I led Mr. Lewis a walk up the avenue, which is +two miles long. We walked in all about five miles; but I was so tired +with his slow walking, that I left him here, and walked two miles +towards London, hoping to meet Lord Treasurer, and return with him; but +it grew darkish, and I was forced to walk back, so I walked nine miles +in all; and Lord Treasurer did not come till after eight; which is very +wrong, for there was no moon, and I often tell him how ill he does to +expose himself so; but he only makes a jest of it. I supped with him, +and stayed till now, when it is half an hour after two. He is as merry +and careless and disengaged as a young heir at one-and-twenty. 'Tis late +indeed. + +23. The Secretary did not come last night, but at three this afternoon. +I have not seen him yet, but I verily think they are contriving a peace +as fast as they can, without which it will be impossible to subsist. The +Queen was at church to-day, but was carried in a chair. I and Mr. Lewis +dined privately with Mr. Lowman,(16) Clerk of the Kitchen. I was to see +Lord Keeper this morning, and told him the jest of the maids of honour; +and Lord Treasurer had it last night. That rogue Arbuthnot puts it all +upon me. The Court was very full to-day. I expected Lord Treasurer +would have invited me to supper; but he only bowed to me; and we had +no discourse in the drawing-room. It is now seven at night, and I am at +home; and I hope Lord Treasurer will not send for me to supper: if he +does not, I will reproach him; and he will pretend to chide me for not +coming.--So farewell till I go to bed, for I am going to be busy.--It is +now past ten, and I went down to ask the servants about Mr. Secretary: +they tell me the Queen is yet at Council, and that she went to supper, +and came out to the Council afterwards. It is certain they are managing +a peace. I will go to bed, and there is an end.--It is now eleven, and +a messenger is come from Lord Treasurer to sup with them; but I have +excused myself, and am glad I am in bed; for else I should sit up till +two, and drink till I was hot. Now I'll go sleep. + +London, 24. I came to town by six with Lord Treasurer, and have stayed +till ten. That of the Queen's going out to sup, and coming in again, is +a lie, as the Secretary told me this morning; but I find the Ministry +are very busy with Mr. Prior, and I believe he will go again to France. +I am told so much, that we shall certainly have a peace very soon. I had +charming weather all last week at Windsor; but we have had a little rain +to-day, and yesterday was windy. Prior's Journey sells still; they have +sold two thousand, although the town is empty. I found a letter from +Mrs. Fenton here, desiring me, in Lady Giffard's name, to come and pass +a week at Sheen, while she is at Moor Park. I will answer it with a +vengeance: and now you talk of answering, there is MD's N.20 is yet to +be answered: I had put it up so safe, I could hardly find it; but here +it is, faith, and I am afraid I cannot send this till Thursday; for I +must see the Secretary to-morrow morning, and be in some other place in +the evening. + +25. Stella writes like an emperor, and gives such an account of her +journey, never saw the like. Let me see; stand away, let us compute; you +stayed four days at Inish-Corthy, two nights at Mrs. Proby's mother's, +and yet was but six days in journey; for your words are, "We left +Wexford this day se'ennight, and came here last night." I have heard +them say that "travellers may lie by authority." Make up this, if you +can. How far is it from Wexford to Dublin? how many miles did you travel +in a day?(17) Let me see--thirty pounds in two months is nine score +pounds a year; a matter of nothing in Stella's purse! I dreamed Billy +Swift was alive, and that I told him you writ me word he was dead, and +that you had been at his funeral; and I admired at your impudence, and +was in mighty haste to run and let you know what lying rogues you were. +Poor lad! he is dead of his mother's former folly and fondness; and yet +now I believe, as you say, that her grief will soon wear off.--O +yes, Madam Dingley, mightily tired of the company, no doubt of it, at +Wexford! And your description of it is excellent; clean sheets, but bare +walls; I suppose then you lay upon the walls.--Mrs. Walls has got her +tea; but who pays me the money? Come, I shall never get it; so I make a +present of it, to stop some gaps, etc. Where's the thanks of the house? +So, that's well; why, it cost four-and-thirty shillings English--you +must adjust that with Mrs. Walls; I think that is so many pence more +with you.--No, Leigh and Sterne, I suppose, were not at the water-side: +I fear Sterne's business will not be done; I have not seen him this +good while. I hate him, for the management of that box; and I was the +greatest fool in nature for trusting to such a young jackanapes; I will +speak to him once more about it, when I see him. Mr. Addison and I +met once more since, and I supped with him; I believe I told you so +somewhere in this letter. The Archbishop chose an admirable messenger +in Walls, to send to me; yet I think him fitter for a messenger than +anything.--The D---- she has! I did not observe her looks. Will she rot +out of modesty with Lady Giffard? I pity poor Jenny(18)--but her husband +is a dunce, and with respect to him she loses little by her deafness. +I believe, Madam Stella, in your accounts you mistook one liquor for +another, and it was an hundred and forty quarts of wine, and thirty-two +of water.--This is all written in the morning before I go to the +Secretary, as I am now doing. I have answered your letter a little +shorter than ordinary; but I have a mind it should go to-day, and I will +give you my journal at night in my next; for I'm so afraid of +another letter before this goes: I will never have two together again +unanswered.--What care I for Dr. Tisdall and Dr. Raymond, or how many +children they have! I wish they had a hundred apiece.--Lord Treasurer +promises me to answer the bishops' letter to-morrow, and show it me; and +I believe it will confirm all I said, and mortify those that threw the +merit on the Duke of Ormond; for I have made him jealous of it; and +t'other day, talking of the matter, he said, "I am your witness, you got +it for them before the Duke was Lord Lieutenant." My humble service to +Mrs. Walls, Mrs. Stoyte, and Catherine. Farewell, etc. + +What do you do when you see any literal mistakes in my letters? how +do you set them right? for I never read them over to correct them. +Farewell, again. + +Pray send this note to Mrs. Brent, to get the money when Parvisol comes +to town, or she can send to him. + + + + +LETTER 31. + +LONDON, Sept. 25, 1711. + +I dined in the City to-day, and at my return I put my 30th into the +post-office; and when I got home I found for me one of the noblest +letters I ever read: it was from ----, three sides and a half in folio, +on a large sheet of paper; the two first pages made up of satire upon +London, and crowds and hurry, stolen from some of his own schoolboy's +exercises: the side and a half remaining is spent in desiring me to +recommend Mrs. South, your Commissioner's widow,(1) to my Lord Treasurer +for a pension. He is the prettiest, discreetest fellow that ever my eyes +beheld, or that ever dipped pen into ink. I know not what to say to him. +A pox on him, I have too many such customers on this side already. I +think I will send him word that I never saw my Lord Treasurer in my +life: I am sure I industriously avoided the name of any great person +when I saw him, for fear of his reporting it in Ireland. And this +recommendation must be a secret too, for fear the Duke of Bolton(2) +should know it, and think it was too mean. I never read so d----d a +letter in my life: a little would make me send it over to you.--I must +send you a pattern, the first place I cast my eyes on, I will not pick +and choose. IN THIS PLACE (meaning the Exchange in London), WHICH IS THE +COMPENDIUM OF OLD TROYNOVANT, AS THAT IS OF THE WHOLE BUSY WORLD, I GOT +SUCH A SURFEIT, THAT I GREW SICK OF MANKIND, AND RESOLVED FOR EVER AFTER +TO BURY MYSELF IN THE SHADY RETREAT OF -----. You must know that London +has been called by some Troynovant, or New Troy. Will you have any +more? Yes, one little bit for Stella, because she'll be fond of it. This +wondrous theatre (meaning London) was no more to me than a desert, and +I should less complain of solitude in a Connaught shipwreck, or even the +great bog of Allen. A little scrap for Mrs. Marget,(3) and then I have +done. THEIR ROYAL FANUM, WHEREIN THE IDOL PECUNIA IS DAILY WORSHIPPED, +SEEMED TO ME TO BE JUST LIKE A HIVE OF BEES WORKING AND LABOURING UNDER +HUGE WEIGHTS OF CARES. Fanum is a temple, but he means the Exchange; and +Pecunia is money: so now Mrs. Marget will understand her part. One more +paragraph, and I-- Well, come, don't be in such a rage, you shall have +no more. Pray, Stella, be satisfied; 'tis very pretty: and that I must +be acquainted with such a dog as this!--Our peace goes on fast. Prior +was with the Secretary two hours this morning: I was there a little +after he went away, and was told it. I believe he will soon be +despatched again to France; and I will put somebody to write an account +of his second journey: I hope you have seen the other. This latter has +taken up my time with storming at it. + +26. Bernage has been with me these two days; yesterday I sent for him +to let him know that Dr. Arbuthnot is putting in strongly to have his +brother made a captain over Bernage's(4) head. Arbuthnot's brother is +but an ensign, but the Doctor has great power with the Queen: yet he +told me he would not do anything hard to a gentleman who is my friend; +and I have engaged the Secretary and his Colonel(5) for him. To-day he +told me very melancholy, that the other had written from Windsor (where +he went to solicit) that he has got the company; and Bernage is full of +the spleen. I made the Secretary write yesterday a letter to the Colonel +in Bernage's behalf. I hope it will do yet; and I have written to Dr. +Arbuthnot to Windsor, not to insist on doing such a hardship. I dined +in the City at Pontack's, with Stratford; it cost me seven shillings: he +would have treated, but I did not let him. I have removed my money from +the Bank to another fund. I desire Parvisol may speak to Hawkshaw to +pay in my money when he can, for I will put it in the funds; and, in the +meantime, borrow so much of Mr. Secretary, who offers to lend it me. Go +to the Dean's, sirrahs. + +27. Bernage was with me again to-day, and is in great fear, and so was +I; but this afternoon, at Lord Treasurer's, where I dined, my brother, +George Granville, Secretary at War, after keeping me a while in +suspense, told me that Dr. Arbuthnot had waived the business, because +he would not wrong a friend of mine; that his brother is to be a +lieutenant, and Bernage is made a captain. I called at his lodging, and +the soldier's coffee-house, to put him out of pain, but cannot find him; +so I have left word, and shall see him to-morrow morning, I suppose. +Bernage is now easy; he has ten shillings a day, beside lawful cheating. +However, he gives a private sum to his Colonel, but it is very cheap: +his Colonel loves him well, but is surprised to see him have so many +friends. So he is now quite off my hands. I left the company early +to-night, at Lord Treasurer's; but the Secretary followed me, to desire +I would go with him to W--. Mr. Lewis's man came in before I could +finish that word beginning with a W, which ought to be Windsor, and +brought me a very handsome rallying letter from Dr. Arbuthnot, to tell +me he had, in compliance to me, given up his brother's pretensions in +favour of Bernage, this very morning; that the Queen had spoken to +Mr. Granville to make the company easy in the other's having the +captainship. Whether they have done it to oblige me or no, I must own it +so. He says he this very morning begged Her Majesty to give Mr. Bernage +the company. I am mighty well pleased to have succeeded so well; but you +will think me tedious, although you like the man, as I think. + +Windsor, 28. I came here a day sooner than ordinary, at Mr. Secretary's +desire, and supped with him and Prior, and two private Ministers from +France, and a French priest.(6) I know not the two Ministers' names; but +they are come about the peace. The names the Secretary called them, +I suppose, were feigned; they were good rational men. We have already +settled all things with France, and very much to the honour and +advantage of England; and the Queen is in mighty good humour. All this +news is a mighty secret; the people in general know that a peace is +forwarding. The Earl of Strafford(7) is to go soon to Holland, and let +them know what we have been doing: and then there will be the devil +and all to pay; but we'll make them swallow it with a pox. The French +Ministers stayed with us till one, and the Secretary and I sat up +talking till two; so you will own 'tis late, sirrahs, and time for your +little saucy Presto to go to bed and sleep adazy; and God bless poor +little MD: I hope they are now fast asleep, and dreaming of Presto. + +29. Lord Treasurer came to-night, as usual, at half an hour after eight, +as dark as pitch. I am weary of chiding him; so I commended him for +observing his friend's advice, and coming so early, etc. I was two hours +with Lady Oglethorpe(8) to-night, and then supped with Lord Treasurer, +after dining at the Green Cloth: I stayed till two; this is the effect +of Lord Treasurer's being here; I must sup with him; and he keeps cursed +hours. Lord Keeper and the Secretary were absent; they cannot sit up +with him. This long sitting up makes the periods in my letters so short. +I design to stay here all the next week, to be at leisure by myself, to +finish something of weight I have upon my hands, and which must soon be +done. I shall then think of returning to Ireland, if these people will +let me; and I know nothing else they have for me to do. I gave Dr. +Arbuthnot my thanks for his kindness to Bernage, whose commission is +now signed. Methinks I long to know something of Stella's health, how it +continues after Wexford waters. + +30. The Queen was not at chapel to-day, and all for the better, for we +had a dunce to preach: she has a little of the gout. I dined with +my brother Masham, and a moderate company, and would not go to Lord +Treasurer's till after supper at eleven o'clock, and pretended I had +mistaken the hour; so I ate nothing: and a little after twelve the +company broke up, the Keeper and Secretary refusing to stay; so I saved +this night's debauch. Prior went away yesterday with his Frenchmen, and +a thousand reports are raised in this town. Some said they knew one to +be the Abbe de Polignac: others swore it was the Abbe du Bois. The Whigs +are in a rage about the peace; but we'll wherret(9) them, I warrant, +boys. Go, go, go to the Dean's and don't mind politics, young women, +they are not good after the waters; they are stark naught: they strike +up into the head. Go, get two black aces, and fish for a manilio. + +Oct. 1. Sir John Walter,(10) an honest drunken fellow, is now in +waiting, and invited me to the Green Cloth to-day, that he might not +be behindhand with Colonel Godfrey, who is a Whig. I was engaged to +the Mayor's feast with Mr. Masham; but waiting to take leave of Lord +Treasurer, I came too late, and so returned sneaking to the Green Cloth, +and did not see my Lord Treasurer neither; but was resolved not to lose +two dinners for him. I took leave to-day of my friend and solicitor +Lord Rivers, who is commanded by the Queen to set out for Hanover on +Thursday. The Secretary does not go to town till to-morrow; he and I, +and two friends more, drank a sober bottle of wine here at home, and +parted at twelve; he goes by seven to-morrow morning, so I shall not see +him. I have power over his cellar in his absence, and make little use +of it. Lord Dartmouth and my friend Lewis stay here this week; but I can +never work out a dinner from Dartmouth. Masham has promised to provide +for me: I squired his lady out of her chaise to-day, and must visit her +in a day or two. So you have had a long fit of the finest weather in the +world; but I am every day in pain that it will go off. I have done no +business to-day; I am very idle. + +2. My friend Lewis and I, to avoid over much eating and great tables, +dined with honest Jemmy Eckershall,(11) Clerk of the Kitchen, now in +waiting, and I bespoke my dinner: but the cur had your acquaintance +Lovet, the gentleman porter, to be our company. Lovet, towards the end +of dinner, after twenty wrigglings, said he had the honour to see me +formerly at Moor Park, and thought he remembered my face. I said I +thought I remembered him, and was glad to see him, etc., and I escaped +for that much, for he was very pert. It has rained all this day, and I +doubt our good weather is gone. I have been very idle this afternoon, +playing at twelvepenny picquet with Lewis: I won seven shillings, which +is the only money I won this year: I have not played above four times, +and I think always at Windsor. Cards are very dear: there is a duty on +them of sixpence a pack, which spoils small gamesters. + +3. Mr. Masham sent this morning to desire I would ride out with him, the +weather growing again very fine. I was very busy, and sent my excuses; +but desired he would provide me a dinner. I dined with him, his lady, +and her sister, Mrs. Hill, who invites us to-morrow to dine with her, +and we are to ride out in the morning. I sat with Lady Oglethorpe till +eight this evening, then was going home to write; looked about for the +woman that keeps the key of the house: she told me Patrick had it. +I cooled my heels in the cloisters till nine, then went in to the +music-meeting, where I had been often desired to go; but was weary +in half an hour of their fine stuff, and stole out so privately that +everybody saw me; and cooled my heels in the cloisters again till after +ten: then came in Patrick. I went up, shut the chamber door, and gave +him two or three swinging cuffs on the ear, and I have strained the +thumb of my left hand with pulling him, which I did not feel until he +was gone. He was plaguily afraid and humbled. + +4. It was the finest day in the world, and we got out before eleven, a +noble caravan of us. The Duchess of Shrewsbury in her own chaise +with one horse, and Miss Touchet(12) with her, Mrs. Masham and Mrs. +Scarborow, one of the dressers, in one of the Queen's chaises; Miss +Forester and Miss Scarborow,(13) two maids of honour, and Mrs. Hill +on horseback. The Duke of Shrewsbury, Mr. Masham, George Fielding,(14) +Arbuthnot, and I, on horseback too. Mrs. Hill's horse was hired for Miss +Scarborow, but she took it in civility; her own horse was galled and +could not be rid, but kicked and winced: the hired horse was not worth +eighteenpence. I borrowed coat, boots, and horse, and in short we had +all the difficulties, and more than we used to have in making a party +from Trim to Longfield's.(15) My coat was light camlet, faced with red +velvet, and silver buttons. We rode in the great park and the forest +about a dozen miles, and the Duchess and I had much conversation: we got +home by two, and Mr. Masham, his lady, Arbuthnot and I, dined with +Mrs. Hill. Arbuthnot made us all melancholy, by some symptoms of bloody +u---e: he expects a cruel fit of the stone in twelve hours; he says +he is never mistaken, and he appears like a man that was to be racked +to-morrow. I cannot but hope it will not be so bad; he is a perfectly +honest man, and one I have much obligation to. It rained a little this +afternoon, and grew fair again. Lady Oglethorpe sent to speak to me, and +it was to let me know that Lady Rochester(16) desires she and I may be +better acquainted. 'Tis a little too late; for I am not now in love with +Lady Rochester: they shame me out of her, because she is old. Arbuthnot +says he hopes my strained thumb is not the gout; for he has often found +people so mistaken. I do not remember the particular thing that gave it +me, only I had it just after beating Patrick, and now it is better; so I +believe he is mistaken. + +5. The Duchess of Shrewsbury sent to invite me to dinner; but I was +abroad last night when her servant came, and this morning I sent my +excuses, because I was engaged, which I was sorry for. Mrs. Forester +taxed me yesterday about the History of the Maids of Honour;(17) but I +told her fairly it was no jest of mine; for I found they did not relish +it altogether well; and I have enough already of a quarrel with that +brute Sir John Walter, who has been railing at me in all companies ever +since I dined with him; that I abused the Queen's meat and drink, and +said nothing at the table was good, and all a d----d lie; for after +dinner, commending the wine, I said I thought it was something small. +You would wonder how all my friends laugh at this quarrel. It will be +such a jest for the Keeper, Treasurer, and Secretary.--I dined with +honest Colonel Godfrey, took a good walk of an hour on the terrace, and +then came up to study; but it grows bloody cold, and I have no waistcoat +here. + +6. I never dined with the chaplains till to-day; but my friend Gastrell +and the Dean of Rochester(18) had often invited me, and I happened to be +disengaged: it is the worst provided table at Court. We ate on pewter: +every chaplain, when he is made a dean, gives a piece of plate, and so +they have got a little, some of it very old. One who was made Dean of +Peterborough (a small deanery) said he would give no plate; he was +only Dean of Pewterborough. The news of Mr. Hill's miscarriage in his +expedition(19) came to-day, and I went to visit Mrs. Masham and Mrs. +Hill, his two sisters, to condole with them. I advised them by all means +to go to the music-meeting to-night, to show they were not cast down, +etc., and they thought my advice was right, and went. I doubt Mr. Hill +and his admiral made wrong steps; however, we lay it all to a storm, +etc. I sat with the Secretary at supper; then we both went to Lord +Treasurer's supper, and sat till twelve. The Secretary is much mortified +about Hill, because this expedition was of his contriving, and he +counted much upon it; but Lord Treasurer was just as merry as usual, +and old laughing at Sir John Walter and me falling out. I said nothing +grieved me but that they would take example, and perhaps presume upon +it, and get out of my government; but that I thought I was not obliged +to govern bears, though I governed men. They promise to be as obedient +as ever, and so we laughed; and so I go to bed; for it is colder still, +and you have a fire now, and are at cards at home. + +7. Lord Harley and I dined privately to-day with Mrs. Masham and Mrs. +Hill, and my brother Masham. I saw Lord Halifax at Court, and we joined +and talked; and the Duchess of Shrewsbury came up and reproached me for +not dining with her. I said that was not so soon done, for I expected +more advances from ladies, especially duchesses: she promised to comply +with any demands I pleased; and I agreed to dine with her to-morrow, +if I did not go to London too soon, as I believe I shall before dinner. +Lady Oglethorpe brought me and the Duchess of Hamilton(20) together +to-day in the drawing-room, and I have given her some encouragement, but +not much. Everybody has been teasing Walter. He told Lord Treasurer that +he took his company from him that were to dine with him: my lord said, +"I will send you Dr. Swift:" Lord Keeper bid him take care what he +did; "for," said he, "Dr. Swift is not only all our favourite, but our +governor." The old company supped with Lord Treasurer, and got away by +twelve. + +London, 8. I believe I shall go no more to Windsor, for we expect the +Queen will come in ten days to Hampton Court. It was frost last night, +and cruel cold to-day. I could not dine with the Duchess, for I left +Windsor half an hour after one with Lord Treasurer, and we called at +Kensington, where Mrs. Masham was got to see her children for two days. +I dined, or rather supped, with Lord Treasurer, and stayed till after +ten. Tisdall(21) and his family are gone from hence, upon some wrangle +with the family. Yesterday I had two letters brought me to Mr. Masham's; +one from Ford, and t'other from our little MD, N.21. I would not tell +you till to-day, because I would not. I won't answer it till the next, +because I have slipped two days by being at Windsor, which I must +recover here. Well, sirrahs, I must go to sleep. The roads were as dry +as at midsummer to-day. This letter shall go to-morrow. + +9. Morning. It rains hard this morning. I suppose our fair weather is +now at an end. I think I'll put on my waistcoat to-day: shall I? Well, +I will then, to please MD. I think of dining at home to-day upon a chop +and a pot. The town continues yet very thin. Lord Strafford is gone to +Holland, to tell them what we have done here toward a peace. We shall +soon hear what the Dutch say, and how they take it. My humble service +to Mrs. Walls, Mrs. Stoyte, and Catherine.--Morrow, dearest sirrahs, and +farewell; and God Almighty bless MD, poor little dear MD, for so I mean, +and Presto too. I'll write to you again to-night, that is, I'll begin my +next letter. Farewell, etc. + +This little bit belongs to MD; we must always write on the margin:(22) +you are saucy rogues. + + + + +LETTER 32. + +LONDON, Oct. 9, 1711. + +I was forced to lie down at twelve to-day, and mend my night's sleep: I +slept till after two, and then sent for a bit of mutton and pot of ale +from the next cook's shop, and had no stomach. I went out at four, and +called to see Biddy Floyd, which I had not done these three months: she +is something marked, but has recovered her complexion quite, and looks +very well. Then I sat the evening with Mrs. Vanhomrigh, and drank +coffee, and ate an egg. I likewise took a new lodging to-day, not liking +a ground-floor, nor the ill smell, and other circumstances. I lodge, +or shall lodge, by Leicester Fields, and pay ten shillings a week; that +won't hold out long, faith. I shall lie here but one night more. It +rained terribly till one o'clock to-day. I lie, for I shall lie here two +nights, till Thursday, and then remove. Did I tell you that my friend +Mrs. Barton has a brother(1) drowned, that went on the expedition with +Jack Hill? He was a lieutenant-colonel, and a coxcomb; and she keeps her +chamber in form, and the servants say she receives no messages.--Answer +MD's letter, Presto, d'ye hear? No, says Presto, I won't yet, I'm busy; +you're a saucy rogue. Who talks? + +10. It cost me two shillings in coach-hire to dine in the City with a +printer. I have sent, and caused to be sent, three pamphlets out in a +fortnight. I will ply the rogues warm; and whenever anything of theirs +makes a noise, it shall have an answer. I have instructed an under +spur-leather to write so, that it is taken for mine. A rogue that writes +a newspaper, called The Protestant Postboy, has reflected on me in one +of his papers; but the Secretary has taken him up, and he shall have a +squeeze extraordinary. He says that an ambitious tantivy,(2) missing of +his towering hopes of preferment in Ireland, is come over to vent his +spleen on the late Ministry, etc. I'll tantivy him with a vengeance. I +sat the evening at home, and am very busy, and can hardly find time to +write, unless it were to MD. I am in furious haste. + +11. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer. Thursdays are now his days +when his choice company comes, but we are too much multiplied. George +Granville sent his excuses upon being ill; I hear he apprehends the +apoplexy, which would grieve me much. Lord Treasurer calls Prior nothing +but Monsieur Baudrier, which was the feigned name of the Frenchman that +writ his Journey to Paris.(3) They pretend to suspect me, so I talk +freely of it, and put them out of their play. Lord Treasurer calls me +now Dr. Martin, because martin(4) is a sort of a swallow, and so is a +swift. When he and I came last Monday from Windsor, we were reading +all the signs on the road.(5) He is a pure trifler; tell the Bishop of +Clogher so. I made him make two lines in verse for the Bell and Dragon, +and they were rare bad ones. I suppose Dilly is with you by this time: +what could his reason be of leaving London, and not owning it? 'Twas +plaguy silly. I believe his natural inconstancy made him weary. I think +he is the king of inconstancy. I stayed with Lord Treasurer till ten; we +had five lords and three commoners. Go to ombre, sirrahs. + +12. Mrs. Vanhomrigh has changed her lodging as well as I. She found she +had got with a bawd, and removed. I dined with her to-day; for though +she boards, her landlady does not dine with her. I am grown a mighty +lover of herrings; but they are much smaller here than with you. In the +afternoon I visited an old major-general, and ate six oysters; then sat +an hour with Mrs. Colledge,(6) the joiner's daughter that was hanged; it +was the joiner was hanged, and not his daughter; with Thompson's wife, a +magistrate. There was the famous Mrs. Floyd of Chester, who, I think, +is the handsomest woman (except MD) that ever I saw. She told me that +twenty people had sent her the verses upon Biddy,(7) as meant to her: +and, indeed, in point of handsomeness, she deserves them much better. I +will not go to Windsor to-morrow, and so I told the Secretary to-day. +I hate the thoughts of Saturday and Sunday suppers with Lord Treasurer. +Jack Hill is come home from his unfortunate expedition, and is, I think, +now at Windsor: I have not yet seen him. He is privately blamed by his +own friends for want of conduct. He called a council of war, and therein +it was determined to come back. But they say a general should not do +that, because the officers will always give their opinion for returning, +since the blame will not lie upon them, but the general. I pity him +heartily. Bernage received his commission to-day. + +13. I dined to-day with Colonel Crowe,(8) late Governor of Barbadoes; +he is a great acquaintance of your friend Sterne, to whom I trusted the +box. Lord Treasurer has refused Sterne's business, and I doubt he is a +rake; Jemmy Leigh stays for him, and nobody knows where to find him. I +am so busy now I have hardly time to spare to write to our little MD, +but in a fortnight I hope it will be over. I am going now to be busy, +etc. + +14. I was going to dine with Dr. Cockburn, but Sir Andrew Fountaine +met me, and carried me to Mrs. Van's, where I drank the last bottle +of Raymond's wine, admirable good, better than any I get among the +Ministry. I must pick up time to answer this letter of MD's; I'll do it +in a day or two for certain.--I am glad I am not at Windsor, for it is +very cold, and I won't have a fire till November. I am contriving how to +stop up my grate with bricks. Patrick was drunk last night; but did +not come to me, else I should have given him t'other cuff. I sat this +evening with Mrs. Barton; it is the first day of her seeing company; but +I made her merry enough, and we were three hours disputing upon Whig and +Tory. She grieved for her brother only for form, and he was a sad +dog. Is Stella well enough to go to church, pray? no numbings left? +no darkness in your eyes? do you walk and exercise? Your exercise is +ombre.--People are coming up to town: the Queen will be at Hampton Court +in a week. Lady Betty Germaine, I hear, is come; and Lord Pembroke is +coming: his wife(9) is as big with child as she can tumble. + +15. I sat at home till four this afternoon to-day writing, and ate a +roll and butter; then visited Will Congreve an hour or two, and supped +with Lord Treasurer, who came from Windsor to-day, and brought Prior +with him. The Queen has thanked Prior for his good service in France, +and promised to make him a Commissioner of the Customs. Several of that +Commission are to be out; among the rest, my friend Sir Matthew Dudley. +I can do nothing for him, he is so hated by the Ministry. Lord Treasurer +kept me till twelve, so I need not tell you it is now late. + +16. I dined to-day with Mr. Secretary at Dr. Coatesworth's,(10) where he +now lodges till his house be got ready in Golden Square. One Boyer,(11) +a French dog, has abused me in a pamphlet, and I have got him up in +a messenger's hands: the Secretary promises me to swinge him. Lord +Treasurer told me last night that he had the honour to be abused with me +in a pamphlet. I must make that rogue an example, for warning to +others. I was to see Jack Hill this morning, who made that unfortunate +expedition; and there is still more misfortune; for that ship, which was +admiral of his fleet,(12) is blown up in the Thames, by an accident and +carelessness of some rogue, who was going, as they think, to steal some +gunpowder: five hundred men are lost. We don't yet know the particulars. +I am got home by seven, and am going to be busy, and you are going to +play and supper; you live ten times happier than I; but I should live +ten times happier than you if I were with MD. I saw Jemmy Leigh to-day +in the street, who tells me that Sterne has not lain above once these +three weeks in his lodgings, and he doubts he takes ill courses; he +stays only till he can find Sterne to go along with him, and he cannot +hear of him. I begged him to inquire about the box when he comes to +Chester, which he promises. + +17. The Secretary and I dined to-day with Brigadier Britton,(13) a great +friend of his. The lady of the house is very gallant, about thirty-five; +she is said to have a great deal of wit; but I see nothing among any of +them that equals MD by a bar's length, as hope saved. My Lord Treasurer +is much out of order; he has a sore throat, and the gravel, and a pain +in his breast where the wound was: pray God preserve him. The Queen +comes to Hampton Court on Tuesday next; people are coming fast to town, +and I must answer MD's letter, which I can hardly find time to do, +though I am at home the greatest part of the day. Lady Betty Germaine +and I were disputing Whig and Tory to death this morning. She is grown +very fat, and looks mighty well. Biddy Floyd was there, and she is, I +think, very much spoiled with the smallpox. + +18. Lord Treasurer is still out of order, and that breaks our method of +dining there to-day. He is often subject to a sore throat, and some time +or other it will kill him, unless he takes more care than he is apt to +do. It was said about the town that poor Lord Peterborow was dead at +Frankfort; but he is something better, and the Queen is sending him to +Italy, where I hope the warm climate will recover him: he has abundance +of excellent qualities, and we love one another mightily. I was this +afternoon in the City, ate a bit of meat, and settled some things with +a printer. I will answer your letter on Saturday, if possible, and then +send away this; so to fetch up the odd days I lost at Windsor, and keep +constant to my fortnight. Ombre time is now coming on, and we shall have +nothing but Manley, and Walls, and Stoytes, and the Dean. Have you got +no new acquaintance? Poor girls; nobody knows MD's good qualities.--'Tis +very cold; but I will not have a fire till November, that's pozz.--Well, +but coming home to-night, I found on my table a letter from MD; faith, +I was angry, that is, with myself; and I was afraid too to see MD's hand +so soon, for fear of something, I don't know what: at last I opened it, +and it was over well, and a bill for the two hundred guineas. However, +'tis a sad thing that this letter is not gone, nor your twenty-first +answered yet. + +19. I was invited to-day to dine with Mrs. Van, with some company who +did not come; but I ate nothing but herrings; you must know I hardly +ever eat of above one thing, and that the plainest ordinary meat at +table; I love it best, and believe it wholesomest. You love rarities; +yes you do; I wish you had all that I ever see where I go. I was coming +home early, and met the Secretary in his chair, who persuaded me to go +with him to Britton's; for he said he had been all day at business, and +had eaten nothing. So I went, and the time passed so, that we stayed +till two, so you may believe 'tis late enough. + +20. This day has gone all wrong, by sitting up so late last night. Lord +Treasurer is not yet well, and can't go to Windsor. I dined with Sir +Matthew Dudley, and took occasion to hint to him that he would lose his +employment, for which I am very sorry. Lord Pembroke and his family are +all come to town. I was kept so long at a friend's this evening that I +cannot send this to-night. When I knocked at my lodgings, a fellow asked +me where lodged Dr. Swift? I told him I was the person: he gave me +a letter he brought from the Secretary's office, and I gave him a +shilling: when I came up, I saw Dingley's hand: faith, I was afraid, I +do not know what. At last it was a formal letter, from Dingley about +her exchequer business. Well, I'll do it on Monday, and settle it with +Tooke. And now, boys, for your letter, I mean the first, N.21. Let's +see; come out, little letter. I never had the letter from the Bishop +that Raymond mentions; but I have written to Ned Southwell, to desire +the Duke of Ormond to speak to his reverence, that he may leave off his +impertinence. What a pox can they think I am doing for the Archbishop +here? You have a pretty notion of me in Ireland, to make me an agent +for the Archbishop of Dublin.--Why! do you think I value your +people's ingratitude about my part in serving them? I remit them their +first-fruits of ingratitude, as freely as I got the other remitted to +them. The Lord Treasurer defers writing his letter to them, or else they +would be plaguily confounded by this time. For he designs to give the +merit of it wholly to the Queen and me, and to let them know it was +done before the Duke of Ormond was Lord Lieutenant. You visit, you dine +abroad, you see friends; you pilgarlick;(14) you walk from Finglas, you +a cat's foot. O Lord--Lady Gore(15) hung her child by the WAIST; what is +that waist?(16) I don't understand that word; he must hang on till +you explain or spell it.--I don't believe he was pretty, that's a +liiii.--Pish! burn your First-Fruits; again at it. Stella has made +twenty false spellings in her writing; I'll send them to you all back +again on the other side of this letter, to mend them; I won't miss one. +Why, I think there were seventeen bishops' names to the letter Lord +Oxford received.--I will send you some pamphlets by Leigh; put me in +mind of it on Monday, for I shall go then to the printer; yes, and the +Miscellany. I am mightily obliged to Walls, but I don't deserve it by +any usage of him here, having seen him but twice, and once en passant. +Mrs. Manley forsworn ombre! What! and no blazing star appear? no +monsters born? no whale thrown up? have you not found out some evasion +for her? She had no such regard to oaths in her younger days. I got the +books for nothing, Madam Dingley; but the wine I got not; it was but a +promise.--Yes, my head is pretty well in the main, only now and then a +little threatening or so.--You talk of my reconciling some great folks. +I tell you what. The Secretary told me last night that he had found the +reason why the Queen was cold to him for some months past; that a friend +had told it him yesterday; and it was, that they suspected he was at the +bottom with the Duke of Marlborough. Then he said he had reflected upon +all I had spoken to him long ago, but he thought it had only been my +suspicion, and my zeal and kindness for him. I said I had reason to take +that very ill, to imagine I knew so little of the world as to talk at +a venture to a great Minister; that I had gone between him and Lord +Treasurer often, and told each of them what I had said to the other, and +that I had informed him so before. He said all that you may imagine to +excuse himself, and approve my conduct. I told him I knew all along that +this proceeding of mine was the surest way to send me back to my willows +in Ireland, but that I regarded it not, provided I could do the kingdom +service in keeping them well together. I minded him how often I had told +Lord Treasurer, Lord Keeper, and him together, that all things depended +on their union, and that my comfort was to see them love one another; +and I had told them all singly that I had not said this by chance, etc. +He was in a rage to be thus suspected; swears he will be upon a better +foot, or none at all; and I do not see how they can well want him in +this juncture. I hope to find a way of settling this matter. I act an +honest part, that will bring me neither honour nor praise. MD must +think the better of me for it: nobody else shall ever know of it. Here's +politics enough for once; but Madam DD gave me occasion for it. I think +I told you I have got into lodgings that don't smell ill--O Lord! the +spectacles: well, I'll do that on Monday too; although it goes against +me to be employed for folks that neither you nor I care a groat for. Is +the eight pounds from Hawkshaw included in the thirty-nine pounds five +shillings and twopence? How do I know by this how my account stands? +Can't you write five or six lines to cast it up? Mine is forty-four +pounds per annum, and eight pounds from Hawkshaw makes fifty-two pounds. +Pray set it right, and let me know; you had best.--And so now I have +answered N.21, and 'tis late, and I will answer N.22 in my next: this +cannot go to-night, but shall on Tuesday: and so go to your play, and +lose your money, with your two eggs a penny; silly jade; you witty? very +pretty. + +21. Mrs. Van would have me dine with her again to-day, and so I did, +though Lady Mountjoy has sent two or three times to have me see and dine +with her, and she is a little body I love very well. My head has ached +a little in the evenings these three or four days, but it is not of the +giddy sort, so I do not much value it. I was to see Lord Harley to-day, +but Lord Treasurer took physic; and I could not see him. He has voided +much gravel, and is better, but not well: he talks of going on Tuesday +to see the Queen at Hampton Court; I wish he may be able. I never saw so +fine a summer day as this was: how is it with you, pray? and can't you +remember, naughty packs? I han't seen Lord Pembroke yet. He will be +sorry to miss Dilly: I wonder you say nothing of Dilly's being got +to Ireland; if he be not there soon, I shall have some certain odd +thoughts: guess them if you can. + +22. I dined in the City to-day with Dr. Freind, at one of my printers: +I inquired for Leigh, but could not find him: I have forgot what sort of +apron you want. I must rout among your letters, a needle in a bottle of +hay. I gave Sterne directions, but where to find him Lord knows. I have +bespoken the spectacles; got a set of Examiners, and five pamphlets, +which I have either written or contributed to, except the best, which +is the vindication of the Duke of Marlborough, and is entirely of the +author of the Atalantis.(17) I have settled Dingley's affair with Tooke, +who has undertaken it, and understands it. I have bespoken a Miscellany: +what would you have me do more? It cost me a shilling coming home; it +rains terribly, and did so in the morning. Lord Treasurer has had an ill +day, in much pain. He writes and does business in his chamber now he is +ill: the man is bewitched: he desires to see me, and I'll maul him, but +he will not value it a rush. I am half weary of them all. I often burst +out into these thoughts, and will certainly steal away as soon as I +decently can. I have many friends, and many enemies; and the last are +more constant in their nature. I have no shuddering at all to think of +retiring to my old circumstances, if you can be easy; but I will always +live in Ireland as I did the last time; I will not hunt for dinners +there, nor converse with more than a very few. + +23. Morning. This goes to-day, and shall be sealed by and by. Lord +Treasurer takes physic again to-day: I believe I shall dine with Lord +Dupplin. Mr. Tooke brought me a letter directed for me at Morphew's the +bookseller. I suppose, by the postage, it came from Ireland. It is a +woman's hand, and seems false spelt on purpose: it is in such sort of +verse as Harris's petition;(18) rallies me for writing merry things, +and not upon divinity; and is like the subject of the Archbishop's last +letter, as I told you. Can you guess whom it came from? It is not ill +written; pray find it out. There is a Latin verse at the end of it all +rightly spelt; yet the English, as I think, affectedly wrong in many +places. My plaguing time is coming. A young fellow brought me a +letter from Judge Coote,(19) with recommendation to be lieutenant of a +man-of-war. He is the son of one Echlin,(20) who was minister of Belfast +before Tisdall, and I have got some other new customers; but I shall +trouble my friends as little as possible. Saucy Stella used to jeer +me for meddling with other folks' affairs; but now I am punished for +it.--Patrick has brought the candle, and I have no more room. Farewell, +etc. etc. + +Here is a full and true account of Stella's new spelling:--(21) + +Plaguely, Plaguily. Dineing, Dining. Straingers, Strangers. Chais, +Chase. Waist, Wast. Houer, Hour. Immagin, Imagine. A bout, About. +Intellegence, Intelligence. Merrit, Merit. Aboundance, Abundance. +Secreet, Secret. Phamphlets, Pamphlets. Bussiness, Business. + +Tell me truly, sirrah, how many of these are mistakes of the pen, and +how many are you to answer for as real ill spelling? There are but +fourteen; I said twenty by guess. You must not be angry, for I will have +you spell right, let the world go how it will. Though, after all, +there is but a mistake of one letter in any of these words. I allow you +henceforth but six false spellings in every letter you send me. + + + + +LETTER 33. + +LONDON, Oct. 23, 1711. + +I dined with Lord Dupplin as I told you I would, and put my +thirty-second into the post-office my own self; and I believe there has +not been one moment since we parted wherein a letter was not upon the +road going or coming to or from PMD. If the Queen knew it, she would +give us a pension; for it is we bring good luck to their post-boys and +their packets; else they would break their necks and sink. But, an old +saying and a true one: + + Be it snow, or storm, or hail, + PMD's letters never fail; + Cross winds may sometimes make them tarry, + But PMD's letters can't miscarry. + +Terrible rain to-day, but it cleared up at night enough to save my +twelvepence coming home. Lord Treasurer is much better this evening. +I hate to have him ill, he is so confoundedly careless. I won't answer +your letter yet, so be satisfied. + +24. I called at Lord Treasurer's to-day at noon: he was eating some +broth in his bed-chamber, undressed, with a thousand papers about him. +He has a little fever upon him, and his eye terribly bloodshot; yet he +dressed himself and went out to the Treasury. He told me he had a letter +from a lady with a complaint against me; it was from Mrs. Cutts, a +sister of Lord Cutts, who writ to him that I had abused her brother:(1) +you remember the "Salamander," it is printed in the Miscellany. I told +my lord that I would never regard complaints, and that I expected, +whenever he received any against me, he would immediately put them into +the fire, and forget them, else I should have no quiet. I had a little +turn in my head this morning; which, though it did not last above a +moment, yet being of the true sort, has made me as weak as a dog all +this day. 'Tis the first I have had this half-year. I shall take my +pills if I hear of it again. I dined at Lady Mountjoy's with Harry +Coote,(2) and went to see Lord Pembroke upon his coming to town.--The +Whig party are furious against a peace, and every day some ballad comes +out reflecting on the Ministry on that account. The Secretary St. John +has seized on a dozen booksellers and publishers into his messengers' +hands.(3) Some of the foreign Ministers have published the preliminaries +agreed on here between France and England; and people rail at them as +insufficient to treat a peace upon; but the secret is, that the French +have agreed to articles much more important, which our Ministers +have not communicated, and the people, who think they know all, are +discontented that there is no more. This was an inconvenience I foretold +to the Secretary, but we could contrive no way to fence against it. So +there's politics for you. + +25. The Queen is at Hampton Court: she went on Tuesday in that terrible +rain. I dined with Lewis at his lodgings, to despatch some business we +had. I sent this morning and evening to Lord Treasurer, and he is much +worse by going out; I am in pain about evening. He has sent for Dr. +Radcliffe; pray God preserve him. The Chancellor of the Exchequer(4) +showed me to-day a ballad(5) in manuscript against Lord Treasurer and +his South Sea project; it is very sharply written: if it be not +printed, I will send it you. If it be, it shall go in your packet of +pamphlets.--I found out your letter about directions for the apron, and +have ordered to be bought a cheap green silk work apron; I have it by +heart. I sat this evening with Mrs. Barton, who is my near neighbour. It +was a delicious day, and I got my walk, and was thinking whether MD was +walking too just at that time that Presto was. This paper does not +cost me a farthing, I have it from the Secretary's office. I long till +to-morrow to know how my Lord Treasurer sleeps this night, and to hear +he mends: we are all undone without him; so pray for him, sirrahs, and +don't stay too late at the Dean's. + +26. I dined with Mrs. Van; for the weather is so bad, and I am so busy, +that I can't dine with great folks: and besides I dare eat but little, +to keep my head in order, which is better. Lord Treasurer is very ill, +but I hope in no danger. We have no quiet with the Whigs, they are so +violent against a peace; but I'll cool them, with a vengeance, very +soon. I have not heard from the Bishop of Clogher, whether he has got +his statues.(6) I writ to him six weeks ago; he's so busy with his +Parliament. I won't answer your letter yet, say what you will, saucy +girls. + +27. I forgot to go about some business this morning, which cost me +double the time; and I was forced to be at the Secretary's office till +four, and lose my dinner; so I went to Mrs. Van's, and made them get me +three herrings, which I am very fond of, and they are a light victuals: +besides, I was to have supped at Lady Ashburnham's; but the drab did +not call for us in her coach, as she promised, but sent for us, and so I +sent my excuses. It has been a terrible rainy day, but so flattering in +the morning, that I would needs go out in my new hat. I met Leigh and +Sterne as I was going into the Park. Leigh says he will go to Ireland +in ten days, if he can get Sterne to go with him; so I will send him the +things for MD, and I have desired him to inquire about the box. I hate +that Sterne for his carelessness about it; but it was my fault. + +29. I was all this terrible rainy day with my friend Lewis upon business +of importance; and I dined with him, and came home about seven, and +thought I would amuse myself a little, after the pains I had taken. I +saw a volume of Congreve's plays in my room, that Patrick had taken +to read; and I looked into it, and in mere loitering read in it till +twelve, like an owl and a fool: if ever I do so again; never saw +the like. Count Gallas,(7) the Emperor's Envoy, you will hear, is in +disgrace with us: the Queen has ordered her Ministers to have no more +commerce with him; the reason is, the fool writ a rude letter to Lord +Dartmouth, Secretary of State, complaining of our proceedings about +a peace; and he is always in close confidence with Lord Wharton and +Sunderland, and others of the late Ministry. I believe you begin to +think there will be no peace; the Whigs here are sure it cannot be, and +stocks are fallen again. But I am confident there will, unless France +plays us tricks; and you may venture a wager with any of your Whig +acquaintance that we shall not have another campaign. You will get +more by it than by ombre, sirrah.--I let slip telling you yesterday's +journal, which I thought to have done this morning, but blundered. I +dined yesterday at Harry Coote's, with Lord Hatton,(8) Mr. Finch, a son +of Lord Nottingham, and Sir Andrew Fountaine. I left them soon, but +hear they stayed till two in the morning, and were all drunk: and so +good-night for last night, and good-night for to-night. You blundering +goosecap, an't you ashamed to blunder to young ladies? I shall have a +fire in three or four days now, oh ho. + +30. I was to-day in the City concerting some things with a printer, and +am to be to-morrow all day busy with Mr. Secretary about the same. I +won't tell you now; but the Ministers reckon it will do abundance of +good, and open the eyes of the nation, who are half bewitched against a +peace. Few of this generation can remember anything but war and taxes, +and they think it is as it should be; whereas 'tis certain we are the +most undone people in Europe, as I am afraid I shall make appear beyond +all contradiction. But I forgot; I won't tell you what I will do, nor +what I will not do: so let me alone, and go to Stoyte, and give Goody +Stoyte and Catherine my humble service; I love Goody Stoyte better than +Goody Walls. Who'll pay me for this green apron? I will have the money; +it cost ten shillings and sixpence. I think it plaguy dear for a cheap +thing; but they said that English silk would cockle,(9) and I know not +what. You have the making into the bargain. 'Tis right Italian: I have +sent it and the pamphlets to Leigh, and will send the Miscellanies and +spectacles in a day or two. I would send more; but, faith, I'm plaguy +poor at present. + +31. The devil's in this Secretary: when I went this morning he had +people with him; but says he, "we are to dine with Prior to-day, and +then will do all our business in the afternoon": at two, Prior sends +word he is otherwise engaged; then the Secretary and I go and dine with +Brigadier Britton, sit till eight, grow merry, no business done; he is +in haste to see Lady Jersey;(10) we part, and appoint no time to meet +again. This is the fault of all the present Ministers, teasing me to +death for my assistance, laying the whole weight of their affairs upon +it, yet slipping opportunities. Lord Treasurer mends every day, though +slowly: I hope he will take care of himself. Pray, will you send to +Parvisol to send me a bill of twenty pounds as soon as he can, for I +want money. I must have money; I will have money, sirrahs. + +Nov. 1. I went to-day into the City to settle some business with +Stratford, and to dine with him; but he was engaged, and I was so angry +I would not dine with any other merchant, but went to my printer, and +ate a bit, and did business of mischief with him, and I shall have the +spectacles and Miscellany to-morrow, and leave them with Leigh. A fine +day always makes me go into the City, if I can spare time, because it is +exercise; and that does me more good than anything. I have heard nothing +since of my head, but a little, I don't know how, sometimes: but I am +very temperate, especially now the Treasurer is ill, and the Ministers +often at Hampton Court, and the Secretary not yet fixed in his house, +and I hate dining with many of my old acquaintance. Here has been +a fellow discovered going out of the East India House with sixteen +thousand pounds in money and bills; he would have escaped, if he had not +been so uneasy with thirst, that he stole out before his time, and was +caught. But what is that to MD? I wish we had the money, provided the +East India Company was never the worse; you know we must not covet, etc. +Our weather, for this fortnight past, is chequered, a fair and a rainy +day: this was very fine, and I have walked four miles; wish MD would do +so, lazy sluttikins. + +2. It has rained all day with a continuendo, and I went in a chair to +dine with Mrs. Van; always there in a very rainy day. But I made a shift +to come back afoot. I live a very retired life, pay very few visits, and +keep but very little company; I read no newspapers. I am sorry I sent +you the Examiner, for the printer is going to print them in a small +volume: it seems the author is too proud to have them printed by +subscription, though his friends offered, they say, to make it worth +five hundred pounds to him. The Spectators are likewise printing in a +larger and a smaller volume, so I believe they are going to leave +them off, and indeed people grow weary of them, though they are often +prettily written. We have had no news for me to send you now towards +the end of my letter. The Queen has the gout a little: I hoped the Lord +Treasurer would have had it too, but Radcliffe told me yesterday it was +the rheumatism in his knee and foot; however, he mends, and I hope will +be abroad in a short time. I am told they design giving away several +employments before the Parliament sits, which will be the thirteenth +instant. I either do not like, or not understand this policy; and if +Lord Treasurer does not mend soon, they must give them just before the +session. But he is the greatest procrastinator in the world. + +3. A fine day this, and I walked a pretty deal. I stuffed the +Secretary's pockets with papers, which he must read and settle at +Hampton Court, where he went to-day, and stays some time. They have no +lodgings for me there, so I can't go, for the town is small, chargeable, +and inconvenient. Lord Treasurer had a very ill night last night, with +much pain in his knee and foot, but is easier to-day.--And so I went to +visit Prior about some business, and so he was not within, and so Sir +Andrew Fountaine made me dine to-day again with Mrs. Van, and I came +home soon, remembering this must go to-night, and that I had a letter of +MD's to answer. O Lord, where is it? let me see; so, so, here it is. You +grudge writing so soon. Pox on that bill! the woman would have me manage +that money for her. I do not know what to do with it now I have it: I am +like the unprofitable steward in the Gospel: I laid it up in a napkin; +there thou hast what is thine own, etc. Well, well, I know of your new +Mayor. (I'll tell you a pun: a fishmonger owed a man two crowns; so he +sent him a piece of bad ling and a tench, and then said he was paid: how +is that now? find it out; for I won't tell it you: which of you finds +it out?) Well, but as I was saying, what care I for your Mayor? I +fancy Ford may tell Forbes right about my returning to Ireland before +Christmas, or soon after. I'm sorry you did not go on with your story +about Pray God you be John; I never heard it in my life, and wonder what +it can be.--Ah, Stella, faith, you leaned upon your Bible to think what +to say when you writ that. Yes, that story of the Secretary's making me +an example is true; "never heard it before;" why, how could you hear +it? is it possible to tell you the hundredth part of what passes in our +companies here? The Secretary is as easy with me as Mr. Addison was. I +have often thought what a splutter Sir William Temple makes about being +Secretary of State:(11) I think Mr. St. John the greatest young man +I ever knew; wit, capacity, beauty, quickness of apprehension, good +learning, and an excellent taste; the best orator in the House of +Commons, admirable conversation, good nature, and good manners; +generous, and a despiser of money. His only fault is talking to his +friends in way of complaint of too great a load of business, which looks +a little like affectation; and he endeavours too much to mix the fine +gentleman and man of pleasure with the man of business. What truth and +sincerity he may have I know not: he is now but thirty-two, and has been +Secretary above a year. Is not all this extraordinary? how he stands +with the Queen and Lord Treasurer I have told you before. This is his +character; and I believe you will be diverted by knowing it. I writ to +the Archbishop of Dublin, Bishop of Cloyne(12) and of Clogher together, +five weeks ago from Windsor: I hope they had my letters; pray know if +Clogher had his.--Fig for your physician and his advice, Madam Dingley: +if I grow worse, I will; otherwise I will trust to temperance and +exercise: your fall of the leaf; what care I when the leaves fall? I am +sorry to see them fall with all my heart; but why should I take physic +because leaves fall off from trees? that won't hinder them from falling. +If a man falls from a horse, must I take physic for that?--This arguing +makes you mad; but it is true right reason, not to be disproved.--I +am glad at heart to hear poor Stella is better; use exercise and walk, +spend pattens and spare potions, wear out clogs and waste claret. Have +you found out my pun of the fishmonger? don't read a word more till you +have got it. And Stella is handsome again, you say? and is she fat? I +have sent to Leigh the set of Examiners: the first thirteen were written +by several hands, some good, some bad; the next three-and-thirty were +all by one hand, that makes forty-six: then that author,(13) whoever he +was, laid it down on purpose to confound guessers; and the last six were +written by a woman.(14) Then there is an account of Guiscard by the same +woman, but the facts sent by Presto. Then an answer to the letter to the +Lords about Gregg by Presto; Prior's Journey by Presto; Vindication of +the Duke of Marlborough, entirely by the same woman; Comment on Hare's +Sermon by the same woman, only hints sent to the printer from Presto to +give her.(15) Then there's the Miscellany, an apron for Stella, a pound +of chocolate, without sugar, for Stella, a fine snuff-rasp of ivory, +given me by Mrs. St. John for Dingley, and a large roll of tobacco, +which she must hide or cut shorter out of modesty, and four pair of +spectacles for the Lord knows who. There's the cargo, I hope it will +come safe. Oh, Mrs. Masham and I are very well; we write to one another, +but it is upon business; I believe I told you so before: pray pardon my +forgetfulness in these cases; poor Presto can't help it. MD shall have +the money as soon as Tooke gets it. And so I think I have answered all, +and the paper is out, and now I have fetched up my week, and will +send you another this day fortnight.--Why, you rogues, two crowns make +TENCH-ILL-LING:(16) you are so dull you could never have found it out. +Farewell, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 34. + +LONDON, Nov. 3, 1711. + +My thirty-third lies now before me just finished, and I am going to seal +and send it, so let me know whether you would have me add anything: I +gave you my journal of this day; and it is now nine at night, and I am +going to be busy for an hour or two. + +4. I left a friend's house to-day where I was invited, just when dinner +was setting on, and pretended I was engaged, because I saw some fellows +I did not know; and went to Sir Matthew Dudley's, where I had the same +inconvenience, but he would not let me go; otherwise I would have gone +home, and sent for a slice of mutton and a pot of ale, rather than dine +with persons unknown, as bad, for aught I know, as your deans, parsons, +and curates. Bad slabby weather to-day.--Now methinks I write at ease, +when I have no letter of MD's to answer. But I mistook, and have got the +large paper. The Queen is laid up with the gout at Hampton Court: she +is now seldom without it any long time together; I fear it will wear her +out in a very few years. I plainly find I have less twitchings about my +toes since these Ministers are sick and out of town, and that I don't +dine with them. I would compound for a light easy gout to be perfectly +well in my head.--Pray walk when the frost comes, young ladies go a +frost-biting. It comes into my head, that, from the very time you first +went to Ireland, I have been always plying you to walk and read. The +young fellows here have begun a kind of fashion to walk, and many of +them have got swingeing strong shoes on purpose; it has got as far as +several young lords; if it hold, it would be a very good thing. Lady +Lucy(1) and I are fallen out; she rails at me, and I have left visiting +her. + +5. MD was very troublesome to me last night in my sleep; I was a +dreamed, methought, that Stella was here. I asked her after Dingley, and +she said she had left her in Ireland, because she designed her stay to +be short, and such stuff.--Monsieur Pontchartain, the Secretary of State +in France, and Monsieur Fontenelle, the Secretary of the Royal Academy +there (who writ the Dialogues des Morts, etc.), have sent letters to +Lord Pembroke that the Academy have, with the King's consent, chosen +him one of their members in the room of one who is lately dead. But the +cautious gentleman has given me the letters to show my Lord Dartmouth +and Mr. St. John, our two Secretaries, and let them see there is no +treason in them; which I will do on Wednesday, when they come from +Hampton Court. The letters are very handsome, and it is a very great +mark of honour and distinction to Lord Pembroke. I hear the two French +Ministers are come over again about the peace; but I have seen nobody +of consequence to know the truth. I dined to-day with a lady of my +acquaintance, who was sick, in her bed-chamber, upon three herrings and +a chicken: the dinner was my bespeaking. We begin now to have chestnuts +and Seville oranges; have you the latter yet? 'Twas a terrible windy +day, and we had processions in carts of the Pope and the Devil, and the +butchers rang their cleavers. You know this is the Fifth of November, +Popery and gunpowder. + +6. Since I am used to this way of writing, I fancy I could hardly make +out a long letter to MD without it. I think I ought to allow for every +line taken up by telling you where I dined; but that will not be above +seven lines in all, half a line to a dinner. Your Ingoldsby(2) is going +over, and they say here he is to be made a lord.--Here was I staying in +my room till two this afternoon for that puppy Sir Andrew Fountaine, who +was to go with me into the City, and never came; and if I had not shot +a dinner flying, with one Mr. Murray, I might have fasted, or gone to an +alehouse.--You never said one word of Goody Stoyte in your letter; but +I suppose these winter nights we shall hear more of her. Does the +Provost(3) laugh as much as he used to do? We reckon him here a +good-for-nothing fellow.--I design to write to your Dean one of these +days, but I can never find time, nor what to say.--I will think of +something: but if DD(4) were not in Ireland I believe seriously I +should not think of the place twice a year. Nothing there ever makes the +subject of talk in any company where I am. + +7. I went to-day to the City on business; but stopped at a printer's, +and stayed there: it was a most delicious day. I hear the Parliament is +to be prorogued for a fortnight longer; I suppose, either because the +Queen has the gout, or that Lord Treasurer is not well, or that they +would do something more towards a peace. I called at Lord Treasurer's +at noon, and sat a while with Lord Harley, but his father was asleep. +A bookseller has reprinted or new-titled a sermon of Tom Swift's,(5) +printed last year, and publishes an advertisement calling it Dr. Swift's +Sermon. Some friend of Lord Galway(6) has, by his directions, published +a four-shilling book about his conduct in Spain, to defend him; I +have but just seen it. But what care you for books, except Presto's +Miscellanies? Leigh promised to call and see me, but has not yet; I hope +he will take care of his cargo, and get your Chester box. A murrain take +that box! everything is spoiled that is in it. How does the strong box +do? You say nothing of Raymond: is his wife brought to bed again; or +how? has he finished his house; paid his debts; and put out the rest +of the money to use? I am glad to hear poor Joe is like to get his two +hundred pounds. I suppose Trim is now reduced to slavery again. I am +glad of it; the people were as great rascals as the gentlemen. But I +must go to bed, sirrahs: the Secretary is still at Hampton Court with my +papers, or is come only to-night. They plague me with attending them. + +8. I was with the Secretary this morning, and we dined with Prior, and +did business this afternoon till about eight; and I must alter and undo, +and a clutter. I am glad the Parliament is prorogued. I stayed with +Prior till eleven; the Secretary left us at eight. Prior, I believe, +will be one of those employed to make the peace, when a Congress is +opened. Lord Ashburnham told to-day at the Coffee-house that Lord +Harley(7) was yesterday morning married to the Duke of Newcastle's +daughter, the great heiress, and it got about all the town. But I saw +Lord Harley yesterday at noon in his nightgown, and he dined in the City +with Prior and others; so it is not true; but I hope it will be so; for +I know it has been privately managing this long time:(8) the lady will +not have half her father's estate; for the Duke left Lord Pelham's son +his heir.(9) The widow Duchess will not stand to the will, and she is +now at law with Pelham. However, at worst, the girl will have about ten +thousand pounds a year to support the honour; for Lord Treasurer will +never save a groat for himself. Lord Harley is a very valuable young +gentleman; and they say the girl is handsome, and has good sense, but +red hair. + +9. I designed a jaunt into the City to-day to be merry, but was +disappointed; so one always is in this life; and I could not see Lord +Dartmouth to-day, with whom I had some business. Business and pleasure +both disappointed. You can go to your Dean, and for want of him, Goody +Stoyte, or Walls, or Manley, and meet everywhere with cards and claret. +I dined privately with a friend on a herring and chicken, and half a +flask of bad Florence. I begin to have fires now, when the mornings +are cold. I have got some loose bricks at the back of my grate for good +husbandry. Fine weather. Patrick tells me my caps are wearing out. I +know not how to get others. I want a necessary woman strangely. I am +as helpless as an elephant.--I had three packets from the Archbishop of +Dublin, cost me four shillings, all about Higgins,(10) printed stuff, +and two long letters. His people forgot to enclose them to Lewis; +and they were only directed to Doctor Swift, without naming London +or anything else. I wonder how they reached me, unless the postmaster +directed them. I have read all the trash, and am weary. + +10. Why, if you must have it out, something is to be published of great +moment,(11) and three or four great people are to see there are no +mistakes in point of fact: and 'tis so troublesome to send it among +them, and get their corrections, that I am weary as a dog. I dined +to-day with the printer, and was there all the afternoon; and it plagues +me, and there's an end, and what would you have? Lady Dupplin, Lord +Treasurer's daughter,(12) is brought to bed of a son. Lord Treasurer +has had an ugly return of his gravel. 'Tis good for us to live in gravel +pits,(13) but not for gravel pits to live in us; a man in this case +should leave no stone unturned. Lord Treasurer's sickness, the Queen's +gout, the forwarding the peace, occasion putting off the Parliament a +fortnight longer. My head has had no ill returns. I had good walking +to-day in the City, and take all opportunities of it on purpose for my +health; but I can't walk in the Park, because that is only for walking's +sake, and loses time, so I mix it with business. I wish MD walked half +as much as Presto. If I was with you, I'd make you walk; I would walk +behind or before you, and you should have masks on, and be tucked up +like anything; and Stella is naturally a stout walker, and carries +herself firm; methinks I see her strut, and step clever over a kennel; +and Dingley would do well enough if her petticoats were pinned up; but +she is so embroiled, and so fearful, and then Stella scolds, and Dingley +stumbles, and is so daggled.(14) Have you got the whalebone petticoats +among you yet? I hate them; a woman here may hide a moderate gallant +under them. Pshaw, what's all this I'm saying? Methinks I am talking to +MD face to face. + +11. Did I tell you that old Frowde,(15) the old fool, is selling his +estate at Pepperhara, and is skulking about the town nobody knows where? +and who do you think manages all this for him, but that rogue Child,(16) +the double squire of Farnham? I have put Mrs. Masham, the Queen's +favourite, upon buying it, but that is yet a great secret; and I have +employed Lady Oglethorpe to inquire about it. I was with Lady Oglethorpe +to-day, who is come to town for a week or two, and to-morrow I will see +to hunt out the old fool: he is utterly ruined, and at this present +in some blind alley with some dirty wench. He has two sons that must +starve, and he never gives them a farthing. If Mrs. Masham buys the +land, I will desire her to get the Queen to give some pension to the +old fool, to keep him from absolutely starving. What do you meddle with +other people's affairs for? says Stella. Oh, but Mr. Masham and his wife +are very urgent with me, since I first put them in the head of it. +I dined with Sir Matthew Dudley, who, I doubt, will soon lose his +employment. + +12. Morning. I am going to hunt out old Frowde, and to do some business +in the City. I have not yet called to Patrick to know whether it be +fair.--It has been past dropping these two days. Rainy weather hurts my +pate and my purse. He tells me 'tis very windy, and begins to look dark; +woe be to my shillings! an old saying and a true, + + Few fillings, + Many shillings. + +If the day be dark, my purse will be light. + + To my enemies be this curse, + A dark day and a light purse. + +And so I'll rise, and go to my fire, for Patrick tells me I have a +fire; yet it is not shaving-day, nor is the weather cold; this is too +extravagant. What is become of Dilly? I suppose you have him with you. +Stella is just now showing a white leg, and putting it into the slipper. +Present my service to her, and tell her I am engaged to the Dean, and +desire she will come too: or, Dingley, can't you write a note? This is +Stella's morning dialogue, no, morning speech I mean.--Morrow, sirrahs, +and let me rise as well as you; but I promise you Walls can't dine with +the Dean to-day, for she is to be at Mrs. Proby's just after dinner, and +to go with Gracy Spencer(17) to the shops to buy a yard of muslin, and a +silver lace for an under petticoat. Morrow again, sirrahs.--At night. I +dined with Stratford in the City, but could not finish my affairs with +him; but now I am resolved to buy five hundred pounds South Sea Stock, +which will cost me three hundred and eighty ready money; and I will make +use of the bill of a hundred pounds you sent me, and transfer Mrs. Walls +over to Hawkshaw; or if she dislikes it, I will borrow a hundred pounds +of the Secretary, and repay her. Three shillings coach-hire to-day. +I have spoken to Frowde's brother to get me the lowest price of the +estate, to tell Mrs. Masham. + +13. I dined privately with a friend to-day in the neighbourhood. Last +Saturday night I came home, and the drab had just washed my room, and +my bed-chamber was all wet, and I was forced to go to bed in my own +defence, and no fire: I was sick on Sunday, and now have got a swingeing +cold. I scolded like a dog at Patrick, although he was out with me: I +detest washing of rooms; can't they wash them in a morning, and make +a fire, and leave open the windows? I slept not a wink last night for +hawking(18) and spitting: and now everybody has colds. Here's a clutter: +I'll go to bed and sleep if I can. + +14. Lady Mountjoy sent to me two days ago, so I dined with her to-day, +and in the evening went to see Lord Treasurer. I found Patrick had been +just there with a how d'ye,(19) and my lord had returned answer that he +desired to see me. Mrs. Masham was with him when I came, and they are +never disturbed: 'tis well she is not very handsome; they sit alone +together settling the nation. I sat with Lady Oxford, and stopped Mrs. +Masham as she came out, and told her what progress I had made, etc., and +then went to Lord Treasurer: he is very well, only uneasy at rising +or sitting, with some rheumatic pain in his thigh, and a foot weak. He +showed me a small paper, sent by an unknown hand to one Mr. Cook, who +sent it to my lord: it was written in plain large letters thus + + "Though G----d's knife did not succeed, + A F----n's yet may do the deed." + +And a little below: "BURN THIS, YOU DOG." My lord has frequently such +letters as these: once he showed me one, which was a vision describing +a certain man, his dress, his sword, and his countenance, who was to +murder my lord. And he told me he saw a fellow in the chapel at Windsor +with a dress very like it. They often send him letters signed, "Your +humble servant, The Devil," and such stuff. I sat with him till after +ten, and have business to do. + +15. The Secretary came yesterday to town from Hampton Court, so I went +to him early this morning; but he went back last night again: and coming +home to-night I found a letter from him to tell me that he was just +come from Hampton Court, and just returning, and will not be here till +Saturday night. A pox take him! he stops all my business. I'll beg leave +to come back when I have got over this, and hope to see MD in Ireland +soon after Christmas.--I'm weary of Courts, and want my journeys to +Laracor; they did me more good than all the Ministries these twenty +years. I dined to-day in the City, but did no business as I designed. +Lady Mountjoy tells me that Dilly is got to Ireland, and that the +Archbishop of Dublin was the cause of his returning so soon. The +Parliament was prorogued two days ago for a fortnight, which, with the +Queen's absence, makes the town very dull and empty. They tell me the +Duke of Ormond brings all the world away with him from Ireland. London +has nothing so bad in it in winter as your knots of Irish folks; but I +go to no coffee-house, and so I seldom see them. This letter shall go +on Saturday; and then I am even with the world again. I have lent money, +and cannot get it, and am forced to borrow for myself. + +16. My man made a blunder this morning, and let up a visitor, when I had +ordered to see nobody; so I was forced to hurry a hang-dog instrument of +mine into my bed-chamber, and keep him cooling his heels there above +an hour.--I am going on fairly in the common forms of a great cold; I +believe it will last me about ten days in all.--I should have told +you, that in those two verses sent to Lord Treasurer, G---d stands for +Guiscard; that is easy; but we differed about F---n; I thought it was +for Frenchman, because he hates them, and they him: and so it would +be, That although Guiscard's knife missed its design, the knife of a +Frenchman might yet do it. My lord thinks it stands for Felton, the name +of him that stabbed the first Duke of Buckingham. Sir Andrew Fountaine +and I dined with the Vans to-day, and my cold made me loiter all the +evening. Stay, young women, don't you begin to owe me a letter? just a +month to-day since I had your N.22. I'll stay a week longer, and then, +I'll expect like agog; till then you may play at ombre, and so forth, as +you please. The Whigs are still crying down our peace, but we will have +it, I hope, in spite of them: the Emperor comes now with his two eggs +a penny, and promises wonders to continue the war; but it is too late; +only I hope the fear of it will serve to spur on the French to be easy +and sincere: Night, sirrahs; I'll go early to bed. + +17. Morning. This goes to-night; I will put it myself in the +post-office. I had just now a long letter from the Archbishop of Dublin, +giving me an account of the ending your session, how it ended in a +storm; which storm, by the time it arrives here, will be only half +nature. I can't help it, I won't hide. I often advised the dissolution +of that Parliament, although I did not think the scoundrels had so much +courage; but they have it only in the wrong, like a bully that will +fight for a whore, and run away in an army. I believe, by several things +the Archbishop says, he is not very well either with the Government or +clergy.--See how luckily my paper ends with a fortnight.--God Almighty +bless and preserve dearest little MD.--I suppose your Lord Lieutenant +is now setting out for England. I wonder the Bishop of Clogher does not +write to me, or let me know of his statues, and how he likes them: I +will write to him again, as soon as I have leisure. Farewell, dearest +MD, and love Presto, who loves MD infinitely above all earthly things, +and who will.--My service to Mrs. Stoyte and Catherine. I'm sitting in +my bed, but will rise to seal this. Morrow, dear rogues: Farewell again, +dearest MD, etc. + + + + +LETTER 35. + +LONDON, NOV. 17, 1711. + +I put my last this evening in the post-office. I dined with Dr. +Cockburn. This being Queen Elizabeth's birthday, we have the D---- and +all to do among us. I just heard of the stir as my letter was sealed +this morning, and was so cross I would not open it to tell you. I have +been visiting Lady Oglethorpe(1) and Lady Worsley;(2) the latter is +lately come to town for the winter, and with child, and what care +you? This is Queen Elizabeth's birthday, usually kept in this town +by apprentices, etc.; but the Whigs designed a mighty procession by +midnight, and had laid out a thousand pounds to dress up the Pope, +Devil, cardinals, Sacheverell, etc., and carry them with torches about, +and burn them. They did it by contribution. Garth gave five guineas; Dr. +Garth I mean, if ever you heard of him. But they were seized last night, +by order from the Secretary: you will have an account of it, for they +bawl it about the streets already.(3) They had some very foolish and +mischievous designs; and it was thought they would have put the rabble +upon assaulting my Lord Treasurer's house and the Secretary's, and other +violences. The militia was raised to prevent it, and now, I suppose, +all will be quiet. The figures are now at the Secretary's office at +Whitehall. I design to see them if I can. + +18. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary, who just came from Hampton +Court. He was telling me more particulars about this business of burning +the Pope. It cost a great deal of money, and had it gone on, would have +cost three times as much; but the town is full of it, and half a dozen +Grub Street papers already. The Secretary and I dined at Brigadier +Britton's, but I left them at six, upon an appointment with some sober +company of men and ladies, to drink punch at Sir Andrew Fountaine's. We +were not very merry; and I don't love rack punch, I love it better with +brandy; are you of my opinion? Why then, twelvepenny weather; sirrahs, +why don't you play at shuttlecock? I have thought of it a hundred times; +faith, Presto will come over after Christmas, and will play with Stella +before the cold weather is gone. Do you read the Spectators? I never do; +they never come in my way; I go to no coffee-houses. They say abundance +of them are very pretty; they are going to be printed in small volumes; +I'll bring them over with me. I shall be out of my hurry in a week, +and if Leigh be not gone over, I will send you by him what I am now +finishing. I don't know where Leigh is; I have not seen him this good +while, though he promised to call: I shall send to him. The Queen comes +to town on Thursday for good and all. + +19. I was this morning at Lord Dartmouth's office, and sent out for him +from the Committee of Council, about some business. I was asking him +more concerning this bustle about the figures in wax-work of the Pope, +and Devil, etc. He was not at leisure, or he would have seen them. I +hear the owners are so impudent, that they design to replevin them by +law. I am assured that the figure of the Devil is made as like Lord +Treasurer as they could. Why, I dined with a friend in St. James's +Street. Lord Treasurer, I am told, was abroad to-day; I will know +to-morrow how he does after it. The Duke of Marlborough is come, and was +yesterday at Hampton Court with the Queen; no, it was t'other day; no, +it was yesterday; for to-day I remember Mr. Secretary was going to see +him, when I was there, not at the Duke of Marlborough's, but at the +Secretary's; the Duke is not so fond of me. What care I? I won seven +shillings to-night at picquet: I play twice a year or so. + +20. I have been so teased with Whiggish discourse by Mrs. Barton and +Lady Betty Germaine, never saw the like. They turn all this affair of +the Pope-burning into ridicule; and, indeed, they have made too great a +clutter about it, if they had no real reason to apprehend some tumults. +I dined with Lady Betty. I hear Prior's commission is passed to be +Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for the peace; my Lord +Privy Seal, who you know is Bishop of Bristol, is the other; and Lord +Strafford, already Ambassador at The Hague, the third: I am forced to +tell you, ignorant sluts, who is who. I was punning scurvily with Sir +Andrew Fountaine and Lord Pembroke this evening: do you ever pun now? +Sometimes with the Dean, or Tom Leigh.(4) Prior puns very well. Odso, I +must go see His Excellency, 'tis a noble advancement: but they could +do no less, after sending him to France. Lord Strafford is as proud +as Hell, and how he will bear one of Prior's mean birth on an equal +character with him, I know not. And so I go to my business, and bid you +good-night. + +21. I was this morning busy with my printer: I gave him the fifth +sheet,(5) and then I went and dined with him in the City, to correct +something, and alter, etc., and I walked home in the dusk, and the rain +overtook me: and I found a letter here from Mr. Lewis; well, and so I +opened it; and he says the peace is past danger, etc. Well, and so there +was another letter enclosed in his: well, and so I looked on the outside +of this t'other letter. Well, and so who do you think this t'other +letter was from? Well, and so I'll tell you; it was from little MD, +N.23, 23, 23, 23. I tell you it is no more, I have told you so before: +but I just looked again to satisfy you. Hie, Stella, you write like an +emperor, a great deal together; a very good hand, and but four false +spellings in all. Shall I send them to you? I am glad you did not take +my correction ill. Well, but I won't answer your letter now, sirrah +saucyboxes, no, no; not yet; just a month and three days from the last, +which is just five weeks: you see it comes just when I begin to grumble. + +22. Morning. Tooke has just brought me Dingley's money. I will give +you a note for it at the end of this letter. There was half a crown for +entering the letter of attorney; but I swore to stop that. I'll spend +your money bravely here. Morrow, dear sirrahs.--At night. I dined to-day +with Sir Thomas Hanmer; his wife, the Duchess of Grafton,(6) dined with +us: she wears a great high head-dress, such as was in fashion fifteen +years ago, and looks like a mad woman in it; yet she has great remains +of beauty. I was this evening to see Lord Harley, and thought to have +sat with Lord Treasurer, but he was taken up with the Dutch Envoy and +such folks; and I would not stay. One particular in life here, different +from what I have in Dublin, is, that whenever I come home I expect +to find some letter for me, and seldom miss; and never any worth a +farthing, but often to vex me. The Queen does not come to town till +Saturday. Prior is not yet declared; but these Ministers being at +Hampton Court, I know nothing; and if I write news from common hands, it +is always lies. You will think it affectation; but nothing has vexed +me more for some months past, than people I never saw pretending to be +acquainted with me, and yet speak ill of me too; at least some of them. +An old crooked Scotch countess, whom I never heard of in my life, told +the Duchess of Hamilton(7) t'other day that I often visited her. People +of worth never do that; so that a man only gets the scandal of having +scurvy acquaintance. Three ladies were railing against me some time +ago, and said they were very well acquainted with me; two of which I had +never heard of, and the third I had only seen twice where I happened to +visit. A man who has once seen me in a coffee-house will ask me how I +do, when he sees me talking at Court with a Minister of State; who is +sure to ask me how I came acquainted with that scoundrel. But come, +sirrahs, this is all stuff to you, so I'll say no more on this side the +paper, but turn over. + +23. My printer invited Mr. Lewis and me to dine at a tavern to-day, +which I have not done five times since I came to England; I never will +call it Britain, pray don't call it Britain. My week is not out, and one +side of this paper is out, and I have a letter to answer of MD's into +the bargain: must I write on the third side? faith, that will give you +an ill habit. I saw Leigh last night: he gives a terrible account of +Sterne; he reckons he is seduced by some wench; he is over head and ears +in debt, and has pawned several things. Leigh says he goes on Monday +next for Ireland, but believes Sterne will not go with him; Sterne has +kept him these three months. Leigh has got the apron and things, +and promises to call for the box at Chester; but I despair of it. +Good-night, sirrahs; I have been late abroad. + +24. I have finished my pamphlet(8) to-day, which has cost me so much +time and trouble: it will be published in three or four days, when the +Parliament begins sitting. I suppose the Queen is come to town, but +know nothing, having been in the City finishing and correcting with the +printer. When I came home, I found letters on my table as usual, and one +from your mother, to tell me that you desire your writings and a picture +should be sent to me, to be sent over to you. I have just answered her +letter, and promised to take care of them if they be sent to me. She is +at Farnham: it is too late to send them by Leigh; besides, I will +wait your orders, Madam Stella. I am going to finish a letter to Lord +Treasurer about reforming our language;(9) but first I must put an end +to a ballad; and go you to your cards, sirrahs, this is card season. + +25. I was early with the Secretary to-day, but he was gone to his +devotions, and to receive the sacrament: several rakes did the same; it +was not for piety, but employments; according to Act of Parliament. I +dined with Lady Mary Dudley;(10) and passed my time since insipidly, +only I was at Court at noon, and saw fifty acquaintance I had not met +this long time: that is the advantage of a Court, and I fancy I am +better known than any man that goes there. Sir John Walter's(11) quarrel +with me has entertained the town ever since; and yet we never had a +word, only he railed at me behind my back. The Parliament is again to +be prorogued for eight or nine days, for the Whigs are too strong in the +House of Lords: other reasons are pretended, but that is the truth. The +prorogation is not yet known, but will be to-morrow. + +26. Mr. Lewis and I dined with a friend of his, and unexpectedly there +dined with us an Irish knight, one Sir John St. Leger,(12) who follows +the law here, but at a great distance: he was so pert, I was forced to +take him down more than once. I saw to-day the Pope, and Devil, and the +other figures of cardinals, etc., fifteen in all, which have made such a +noise. I have put an under-strapper upon writing a twopenny pamphlet(13) +to give an account of the whole design. My large pamphlet(14) will +be published to-morrow; copies are sent to the great men this night. +Domville(15) is come home from his travels; I am vexed at it: I have not +seen him yet; I design to present him to all the great men. + +27. Domville came to me this morning, and we dined at Pontack's, and +were all day together, till six this evening: he is perfectly as fine +a gentleman as I know; he set me down at Lord Treasurer's, with whom I +stayed about an hour, till Monsieur Buys, the Dutch Envoy, came to him +about business. My Lord Treasurer is pretty well, but stiff in the hips +with the remains of the rheumatism. I am to bring Domville to my Lord +Harley in a day or two. It was the dirtiest rainy day that ever I saw. +The pamphlet is published; Lord Treasurer had it by him on the table, +and was asking me about the mottoes in the title-page; he gave me one of +them himself.(16) I must send you the pamphlet, if I can. + +28. Mrs. Van sent to me to dine with her to-day, because some ladies of +my acquaintance were to be there; and there I dined. I was this morning +to return Domville his visit, and went to visit Mrs. Masham, who was +not within. I am turned out of my lodging by my landlady: it seems her +husband and her son are coming home; but I have taken another lodging +hard by, in Leicester Fields. I presented Mr. Domville to Mr. Lewis and +Mr. Prior this morning. Prior and I are called the two Sosias,(17) in a +Whig newspaper. Sosias, can you read it? The pamphlet begins to make a +noise: I was asked by several whether I had seen it, and they advised +me to read it, for it was something very extraordinary. I shall be +suspected; and it will have several paltry answers. It must take its +fate, as Savage(18) said of his sermon that he preached at Farnham on +Sir William Temple's death. Domville saw Savage in Italy, and says he is +a coxcomb, and half mad: he goes in red, and with yellow waistcoats, +and was at ceremony kneeling to the Pope on a Palm Sunday, which is much +more than kissing his toe; and I believe it will ruin him here when 'tis +told. I'll answer your letter in my new lodgings: I have hardly room; I +must borrow from the other side. + +29. New lodgings. My printer came this morning to tell me he must +immediately print a second edition,(19) and Lord Treasurer made one +or two small additions: they must work day and night to have it out on +Saturday; they sold a thousand in two days. Our Society met to-day; +nine of us were present: we dined at our brother Bathurst's.(20) We made +several regulations, and have chosen three new members, Lord Orrery,(21) +Jack Hill, who is Mrs. Masham's brother, he that lately miscarried in +the expedition to Quebec, and one Colonel Disney.(22)--We have taken +a room in a house near St. James's to meet in. I left them early about +correcting the pamphlet, etc., and am now got home, etc. + +30. This morning I carried Domville to see my Lord Harley, and I did +some business with Lord Treasurer, and have been all this afternoon with +the printer, adding something to the second edition. I dined with the +printer: the pamphlet makes a world of noise, and will do a great deal +of good; it tells abundance of most important facts which were not +at all known. I'll answer your letter to-morrow morning; or suppose I +answer it just now, though it is pretty late. Come then.--You say you +are busy with Parliaments, etc.; that's more than ever I will be when +I come back; but you will have none these two years. Lord Santry, etc., +yes, I have had enough on't.(23) I am glad Dilly is mended; does not he +thank me for showing him the Court and the great people's faces? He had +his glass out at the Queen and the rest. 'Tis right what Dilly says: +I depend upon nothing from my friends, but to go back as I came. Never +fear Laracor, 'twill mend with a peace, or surely they'll give me the +Dublin parish. Stella is in the right: the Bishop of Ossory(24) is the +silliest, best-natured wretch breathing, of as little consequence as +an egg-shell. Well, the spelling I have mentioned before; only the next +time say AT LEAST, and not AT LEST. Pox on your Newbury!(25) what can I +do for him? I'll give his case (I am glad it is not a woman's) to what +members I know; that's all I can do. Lord Treasurer's lameness goes off +daily. Pray God preserve poor good Mrs. Stoyte; she would be a great +loss to us all: pray give her my service, and tell her she has my +heartiest prayers. I pity poor Mrs. Manley; but I think the child is +happy to die, considering how little provision it would have had.--Poh, +every pamphlet abuses me, and for things that I never writ. Joe(26) +should have written me thanks for his two hundred pounds: I reckon he +got it by my means; and I must thank the Duke of Ormond, who I dare +swear will say he did it on my account. Are they golden pippins, those +seven apples? We have had much rain every day as well as you. 7 pounds, +17 shillings, 8 pence, old blunderer, not 18 shillings: I have reckoned +it eighteen times. Hawkshaw's eight pounds is not reckoned and if it +be secure, it may lie where it is, unless they desire to pay it: so +Parvisol may let it drop till further orders; for I have put Mrs. +Wesley's money into the Bank, and will pay her with Hawkshaw's.--I mean +that Hawkshaw's money goes for an addition to MD, you know; but be good +housewives. Bernage never comes now to see me; he has no more to ask; +but I hear he has been ill.--A pox on Mrs. South's(27) affair; I can do +nothing in it, but by way of assisting anybody else that solicits it, +by dropping a favourable word, if it comes in my way. Tell Walls I do +no more for anybody with my Lord Treasurer, especially a thing of this +kind. Tell him I have spent all my discretion, and have no more to +use.--And so I have answered your letter fully and plainly.--And so I +have got to the third side of my paper, which is more than belongs to +you, young women. + + It goes to-morrow, + To nobody's sorrow. + +You are silly, not I; I'm a poet, if I had but, etc.--Who's silly now? +rogues and lasses, tinderboxes and buzzards. O Lord, I am in a high +vein of silliness; methought I was speaking to dearest little MD face +to face. There; so, lads, enough for to-night; to cards with the +blackguards. Goodnight, my delight, etc. + +Dec. 1. Pish, sirrahs, put a date always at the bottom of your letter, +as well as the top, that I may know when you send it; your last is +of November 3, yet I had others at the same time, written a fortnight +after. Whenever you would have any money, send me word three weeks +before, and in that time you will certainly have an answer, with a bill +on Parvisol: pray do this; for my head is full, and it will ease my +memory. Why, I think I quoted to you some of ----'s letter, so you may +imagine how witty the rest was; for it was all of a bunch, as Goodman +Peesley(28) says. Pray let us have no more bussiness, but busyness: +the deuce take me if I know how to spell it; your wrong spelling, Madam +Stella, has put me out: it does not look right; let me see, bussiness, +busyness, business, bisyness, bisness, bysness; faith, I know not which +is right, I think the second; I believe I never writ the word in my life +before; yes, sure I must, though; business, busyness, bisyness.--I have +perplexed myself, and can't do it. Prithee ask Walls. Business, I fancy +that's right. Yes it is; I looked in my own pamphlet, and found it twice +in ten lines, to convince you that I never writ it before. Oh, now I see +it as plain as can be; so yours is only an _s_ too much. The Parliament +will certainly meet on Friday next: the Whigs will have a great majority +in the House of Lords, no care is taken to prevent it; there is too +much neglect; they are warned of it, and that signifies nothing: it +was feared there would be some peevish address from the Lords against a +peace. 'Tis said about the town that several of the Allies begin now to +be content that a peace should be treated. This is all the news I have. +The Queen is pretty well: and so now I bid poor dearest MD farewell till +to-night; then I will talk with them again. + +The fifteen images that I saw were not worth forty pounds, so I +stretched a little when I said a thousand. The Grub Street account of +that tumult is published. The Devil is not like Lord Treasurer: they +were all in your odd antic masks, bought in common shops.(29) I fear +Prior will not be one of the plenipotentiaries. + +I was looking over this letter, and find I make many mistakes of +leaving out words; so 'tis impossible to find my meaning, unless you be +conjurers. I will take more care for the future, and read over every day +just what I have written that day, which will take up no time to speak +of. + + + + +LETTER 36. + +LONDON, Dec. 1, 1711. + +My last was put in this evening. I intended to dine with Mr. Masham +to-day, and called at White's chocolate house to see if he was there. +Lord Wharton saw me at the door, and I saw him, but took no notice, +and was going away, but he came through the crowd, called after me, and +asked me how I did, etc. This was pretty; and I believe he wished every +word he spoke was a halter to hang me. Masham did not dine at home, so I +ate with a friend in the neighbourhood. The printer has not sent me the +second edition; I know not the reason, for it certainly came out to-day; +perhaps they are glutted with it already. I found a letter from Lord +Harley on my table, to tell me that his father desires I would make two +small alterations. I am going to be busy, etc. + +2. Morning. See the blunder; I was making it the 37th day of the month, +from the number above. Well, but I am staying here for old Frowde, who +appointed to call this morning: I am ready dressed to go to church: I +suppose he dare not stir out but on Sundays.(1) The printer called early +this morning, told me the second edition went off yesterday in five +hours, and he must have a third ready to-morrow, for they might have +sold half another: his men are all at work with it, though it be +Sunday. This old fool will not come, and I shall miss church. Morrow, +sirrahs.--At night. I was at Court to-day: the Queen is well, and walked +through part of the rooms. I dined with the Secretary, and despatched +some business. He tells me the Dutch Envoy designs to complain of that +pamphlet. The noise it makes is extraordinary. It is fit it should +answer the pains I have been at about it. I suppose it will be printed +in Ireland. Some lay it to Prior, others to Mr. Secretary St. John, but +I am always the first they lay everything to. I'll go sleep, etc. + +3. I have ordered Patrick not to let any odd fellow come up to me; and +a fellow would needs speak with me from Sir George Pretyman.(2) I had +never heard of him, and would not see the messenger: but at last it +proved that this Sir George has sold his estate, and is a beggar. +Smithers, the Farnham carrier, brought me this morning a letter from +your mother, with three papers enclosed of Lady Giffard's writing; one +owning some exchequer business of 100 pounds to be Stella's;(3) another +for 100 pounds that she has of yours, which I made over to you for +Mariston; and a third for 300 pounds; the last is on stamped paper. I +think they had better lie in England in some good hand till Lady Giffard +dies; and I will think of some such hand before I come over. I was +asking Smithers about all the people of Farnham. Mrs. White(4) has left +off dressing, is troubled with lameness and swelled legs, and seldom +stirs out; but her old hang-dog husband as hearty as ever. I was this +morning with Lord Treasurer, about something he would have altered +in the pamphlet;(5) but it can't be till the fourth edition, which I +believe will be soon; for I dined with the printer, and he tells me they +have sold off half the third. Mrs. Perceval(6) and her daughter have +been in town these three weeks, which I never heard till to-day; and +Mrs. Wesley(7) is come to town too, to consult Dr. Radcliffe. The Whigs +are resolved to bring that pamphlet into the House of Lords to have it +condemned, so I hear. But the printer will stand to it, and not own the +author; he must say he had it from the penny-post. Some people talk as +if the House of Lords would do some peevish thing, for the Whigs are now +a great majority in it; our Ministers are too negligent of such things: +I have never slipped giving them warning; some of them are sensible of +it; but Lord Treasurer stands too much upon his own legs. I fancy his +good fortune will bear him out in everything; but in reason I should +think this Ministry to stand very unsteady; if they can carry a peace, +they may hold; I believe not else. + +4. Mr. Secretary sent to me to-day to dine with him alone; but we had +two more with us, which hindered me doing some business. I was this +morning with young Harcourt, secretary to our Society, to take a room +for our weekly meetings; and the fellow asked us five guineas a week +only to have leave to dine once a week; was not that pretty? so we broke +off with him, and are to dine next Thursday at Harcourt's (he is Lord +Keeper's son). They have sold off above half the third edition, +and answers are coming out: the Dutch Envoy refused dining with Dr. +Davenant,(8) because he was suspected to write it: I have made some +alterations in every edition, and it has cost me more trouble, for the +time, since the printing, than before. 'Tis sent over to Ireland, and I +suppose you will have it reprinted. + +5. They are now printing the fourth edition, which is reckoned very +extraordinary, considering 'tis a dear twelvepenny book, and not bought +up in numbers by the party to give away, as the Whigs do, but purely +upon its own strength. I have got an under spur-leather to write an +Examiner again,(9) and the Secretary and I will now and then send hints; +but we would have it a little upon the Grub Street, to be a match for +their writers. I dined with Lord Treasurer to-day at five: he dined +by himself after his family, and drinks no claret yet, for fear of his +rheumatism, of which he is almost well. He was very pleasant, as he is +always: yet I fancied he was a little touched with the present posture +of affairs. The Elector of Hanover's Minister here has given in a +violent memorial against the peace, and caused it to be printed. The +Whig lords are doing their utmost for a majority against Friday, and +design, if they can, to address the Queen against the peace. Lord +Nottingham,(10) a famous Tory and speech-maker, is gone over to the Whig +side: they toast him daily, and Lord Wharton says, It is Dismal (so they +call him from his looks) will save England at last. Lord Treasurer was +hinting as if he wished a ballad was made on him, and I will get up +one against to-morrow.(11) He gave me a scurrilous printed paper of bad +verses on himself, under the name of the English Catiline, and made me +read them to the company. It was his birthday, which he would not tell +us, but Lord Harley whispered it to me. + +6. I was this morning making the ballad, two degrees above Grub Street: +at noon I paid a visit to Mrs. Masham, and then went to dine with our +Society. Poor Lord Keeper dined below stairs, I suppose, on a bit of +mutton. We chose two members: we were eleven met, the greatest meeting +we ever had: I am next week to introduce Lord Orrery. The printer came +before we parted, and brought the ballad, which made them laugh very +heartily a dozen times. He is going to print the pamphlet(12) in small, +a fifth edition, to be taken off by friends, and sent into the country. +A sixpenny answer is come out, good for nothing, but guessing me, among +others, for the author. To-morrow is the fatal day for the Parliament +meeting, and we are full of hopes and fears. We reckon we have a +majority of ten on our side in the House of Lords; yet I observed Mrs. +Masham a little uneasy: she assures me the Queen is stout. The Duke of +Marlborough has not seen the Queen for some days past; Mrs. Masham is +glad of it, because she says he tells a hundred lies to his friends of +what she says to him: he is one day humble, and the next day on the high +ropes. The Duke of Ormond, they say, will be in town to-night by twelve. + +7. This being the day the Parliament was to meet, and the great question +to be determined, I went with Dr. Freind to dine in the City, on purpose +to be out of the way, and we sent our printer to see what was our +fate; but he gave us a most melancholy account of things. The Earl of +Nottingham began, and spoke against a peace, and desired that in their +address they might put in a clause to advise the Queen not to make a +peace without Spain; which was debated, and carried by the Whigs by +about six voices: and this has happened entirely by my Lord Treasurer's +neglect, who did not take timely care to make up all his strength, +although every one of us gave him caution enough. Nottingham has +certainly been bribed. The question is yet only carried in the Committee +of the whole House, and we hope when it is reported to the House +to-morrow, we shall have a majority, by some Scotch lords coming to +town. However, it is a mighty blow and loss of reputation to Lord +Treasurer, and may end in his ruin. I hear the thing only as the printer +brought it, who was at the debate; but how the Ministry take it, or what +their hopes and fears are, I cannot tell until I see them. I shall be +early with the Secretary to-morrow, and then I will tell you more, and +shall write a full account to the Bishop of Clogher to-morrow, and to +the Archbishop of Dublin, if I have time. I am horribly down at present. +I long to know how Lord Treasurer bears this, and what remedy he has. +The Duke of Ormond came this day to town, and was there. + +8. I was early this morning with the Secretary, and talked over this +matter. He hoped that when it was reported this day in the House of +Lords, they would disagree with their Committee, and so the matter would +go off, only with a little loss of reputation to the Lord Treasurer. I +dined with Mr. Cockburn, and after, a Scotch member came in, and told +us that the clause was carried against the Court in the House of Lords +almost two to one. I went immediately to Mrs. Masham, and meeting Dr. +Arbuthnot (the Queen's favourite physician), we went together. She was +just come from waiting at the Queen's dinner, and going to her own. +She had heard nothing of the thing being gone against us. It seems Lord +Treasurer had been so negligent that he was with the Queen while the +question was put in the House: I immediately told Mrs. Masham that +either she and Lord Treasurer had joined with the Queen to betray us, or +that they two were betrayed by the Queen: she protested solemnly it +was not the former, and I believed her; but she gave me some lights to +suspect the Queen is changed. For yesterday, when the Queen was +going from the House, where she sat to hear the debate, the Duke +of Shrewsbury, Lord Chamberlain, asked her whether he or the Great +Chamberlain Lindsey(13) ought to lead her out; she answered short, +"Neither of you," and gave her hand to the Duke of Somerset, who was +louder than any in the House for the clause against peace. She gave me +one or two more instances of this sort, which convince me that the Queen +is false, or at least very much wavering. Mr. Masham begged us to stay, +because Lord Treasurer would call, and we were resolved to fall on him +about his negligence in securing a majority. He came, and appeared in +good humour as usual, but I thought his countenance was much cast down. +I rallied him, and desired him to give me his staff, which he did: I +told him, if he would secure it me a week, I would set all right: he +asked how; I said I would immediately turn Lord Marlborough, his +two daughters,(14) the Duke and Duchess of Somerset, and Lord +Cholmondeley,(15) out of all their employments; and I believe he had +not a friend but was of my opinion. Arbuthnot asked how he came not to +secure a majority. He could answer nothing but that he could not +help it, if people would lie and forswear. A poor answer for a great +Minister. There fell from him a Scripture expression, that "the hearts +of kings are unsearchable."(16) I told him it was what I feared, and was +from him the worst news he could tell me. I begged him to know what he +had to trust to: he stuck a little; but at last bid me not fear, for all +would be well yet. We would fain have had him eat a bit where he was, +but he would go home, it was past six: he made me go home with him. +There we found his brother and Mr. Secretary. He made his son take +a list of all in the House of Commons who had places, and yet voted +against the Court, in such a manner as if they should lose their places: +I doubt he is not able to compass it. Lord Keeper came in an hour, +and they were going upon business. So I left him, and returned to Mrs. +Masham; but she had company with her, and I would not stay.--This is +a long journal, and of a day that may produce great alterations, and +hazard the ruin of England. The Whigs are all in triumph; they foretold +how all this would be, but we thought it boasting. Nay, they said the +Parliament should be dissolved before Christmas, and perhaps it may: +this is all your d----d Duchess of Somerset's doings. I warned them +of it nine months ago, and a hundred times since: the Secretary always +dreaded it. I told Lord Treasurer I should have the advantage of him; +for he would lose his head, and I should only be hanged, and so carry my +body entire to the grave. + +9. I was this morning with Mr. Secretary: we are both of opinion that +the Queen is false. I told him what I heard, and he confirmed it by +other circumstances. I then went to my friend Lewis, who had sent to see +me. He talks of nothing but retiring to his estate in Wales. He gave me +reasons to believe the whole matter is settled between the Queen and the +Whigs; he hears that Lord Somers is to be Treasurer, and believes that, +sooner than turn out the Duchess of Somerset, she will dissolve the +Parliament, and get a Whiggish one, which may be done by managing +elections. Things are now in the crisis, and a day or two will +determine. I have desired him to engage Lord Treasurer that as soon as +he finds the change is resolved on, he will send me abroad as Queen's +Secretary somewhere or other, where I may remain till the new Ministers +recall me; and then I will be sick for five or six months, till the +storm has spent itself. I hope he will grant me this; for I should +hardly trust myself to the mercy of my enemies while their anger is +fresh. I dined to-day with the Secretary, who affects mirth, and seems +to hope all will yet be well. I took him aside after dinner, told him +how I had served them, and had asked no reward, but thought I might +ask security; and then desired the same thing of him, to send me abroad +before a change. He embraced me, and swore he would take the same care +of me as himself, etc., but bid me have courage, for that in two days my +Lord Treasurer's wisdom would appear greater than ever; that he suffered +all that had happened on purpose, and had taken measures to turn it to +advantage. I said, "God send it"; but I do not believe a syllable; and, +as far as I can judge, the game is lost. I shall know more soon, and my +letters will at least be a good history to show you the steps of this +change. + +10. I was this morning with Lewis, who thinks they will let the +Parliament sit till they have given the money, and then dissolve them in +spring, and break the Ministry. He spoke to Lord Treasurer about what +I desired him. My lord desired him with great earnestness to assure me +that all would be well, and that I should fear nothing. I dined in the +City with a friend. This day the Commons went to the Queen with their +address, and all the Lords who were for the peace went with them, to +show their zeal. I have now some further conviction that the Queen is +false, and it begins to be known. + +11. I went between two and three to see Mrs. Masham; while I was there +she went to her bed-chamber to try a petticoat. Lord Treasurer came in +to see her, and seeing me in the outer room, fell a rallying me: says +he, "You had better keep company with me, than with such a fellow as +Lewis, who has not the soul of a chicken, nor the heart of a mite." Then +he went in to Mrs. Masham, and as he came back desired her leave to let +me go home with him to dinner. He asked whether I was not afraid to be +seen with him. I said I never valued my Lord Treasurer in my life, and +therefore should have always the same esteem for Mr. Harley and Lord +Oxford. He seemed to talk confidently, as if he reckoned that all this +would turn to advantage. I could not forbear hinting that he was not +sure of the Queen, and that those scoundrel, starving lords would never +have dared to vote against the Court, if Somerset had not assured them +that it would please the Queen. He said that was true, and Somerset did +so. I stayed till six; then De Buys, the Dutch Envoy, came to him, and +I left him. Prior was with us a while after dinner. I see him and all of +them cast down, though they make the best of it. + +12. Ford is come to town; I saw him last night: he is in no fear, but +sanguine, although I have told him the state of things. This change so +resembles the last, that I wonder they do not observe it. The Secretary +sent for me yesterday to dine with him, but I was abroad; I hope he had +something to say to me. This is morning, and I write in bed. I am going +to the Duke of Ormond, whom I have not yet seen. Morrow, sirrahs.--At +night. I was to see the Duke of Ormond this morning: he asked me two +or three questions after his civil way, and they related to Ireland: at +last I told him that, from the time I had seen him, I never once thought +of Irish affairs. He whispered me that he hoped I had done some good +things here: I said, if everybody else had done half as much, we should +not be as we are: then we went aside, and talked over affairs. I told +him how all things stood, and advised him what was to be done. I +then went and sat an hour with the Duchess; then as long with Lady +Oglethorpe,(17) who is so cunning a devil that I believe she could yet +find a remedy, if they would take her advice. I dined with a friend at +Court. + +13. I was this morning with the Secretary: he will needs pretend to talk +as if things would be well: "Will you believe it," said he, "if you see +these people turned out?" I said, yes, if I saw the Duke and Duchess of +Somerset out: he swore if they were not, he would give up his place. Our +Society dined to-day at Sir William Wyndham's; we were thirteen present. +Lord Orrery and two other members were introduced: I left them at seven. +I forgot to tell you that the printer told me yesterday that Morphew, +the publisher, was sent for by that Lord Chief-Justice, who was a +manager against Sacheverell; he showed him two or three papers and +pamphlets; among the rest mine of the Conduct of the Allies, threatened +him, asked who was the author, and has bound him over to appear next +term. He would not have the impudence to do this, if he did not foresee +what was coming at Court. + +14. Lord Shelburne was with me this morning, to be informed of the state +of affairs, and desired I would answer all his objections against a +peace, which was soon done, for he would not give me room to put in a +word. He is a man of good sense enough; but argues so violently, that he +will some day or other put himself into a consumption. He desires that +he may not be denied when he comes to see me, which I promised, but will +not perform. Leigh and Sterne set out for Ireland on Monday se'nnight: I +suppose they will be with you long before this.--I was to-night drinking +very good wine in scurvy company, at least some of them; I was drawn in, +but will be more cautious for the future; 'tis late, etc. + +15. Morning. They say the Occasional Bill(19) is brought to-day into the +House of Lords; but I know not. I will now put an end to my letter, and +give it into the post-house myself. This will be a memorable letter, and +I shall sigh to see it some years hence. Here are the first steps toward +the ruin of an excellent Ministry; for I look upon them as certainly +ruined; and God knows what may be the consequences.--I now bid my +dearest MD farewell; for company is coming, and I must be at Lord +Dartmouth's office by noon. Farewell, dearest MD; I wish you a merry +Christmas; I believe you will have this about that time. Love Presto, +who loves MD above all things a thousand times. Farewell again, dearest +MD, etc. + + + + +LETTER 37. + +LONDON, Dec. 15, 1711. + +I put in my letter this evening myself. I was to-day inquiring at the +Secretary's office of Mr. Lewis how things went: I there met Prior, +who told me he gave all for gone, etc., and was of opinion the whole +Ministry would give up their places next week: Lewis thinks they +will not till spring, when the session is over; both of them entirely +despair. I went to see Mrs. Masham, who invited me to dinner; but I was +engaged to Lewis. At four I went to Masham's. He came and whispered me +that he had it from a very good hand that all would be well, and I found +them both very cheerful. The company was going to the opera, but desired +I would come and sup with them. I did so at ten, and Lord Treasurer was +there, and sat with us till past twelve, and was more cheerful than I +have seen him these ten days. Mrs. Masham told me he was mightily cast +down some days ago, and he could not indeed hide it from me. Arbuthnot +is in good hopes that the Queen has not betrayed us, but only has been +frightened, and flattered, etc. But I cannot yet be of his opinion, +whether my reasons are better, or that my fears are greater. I do +resolve, if they give up, or are turned out soon, to retire for some +months, and I have pitched upon the place already: but I will take +methods for hearing from MD, and writing to them. But I would be out of +the way upon the first of the ferment; for they lay all things on me, +even some I have never read. + +16. I took courage to-day, and went to Court with a very cheerful +countenance. It was mightily crowded; both parties coming to observe +each other's faces. I have avoided Lord Halifax's bow till he forced +it on me; but we did not talk together. I could not make less than +fourscore bows, of which about twenty might be to Whigs. The Duke of +Somerset is gone to Petworth, and, I hear, the Duchess too, of which I +shall be very glad. Prince Eugene,(1) who was expected here some days +ago, we are now told, will not come at all. The Whigs designed to have +met him with forty thousand horse. Lord Treasurer told me some days ago +of his discourse with the Emperor's Resident, that puppy Hoffman, about +Prince Eugene's coming; by which I found my lord would hinder it, if he +could; and we shall be all glad if he does not come, and think it a good +point gained. Sir Andrew Fountaine, Ford, and I dined to-day with Mrs. +Van, by invitation. + +17. I have mistaken the day of the month, and been forced to mend it +thrice. I dined to-day with Mr. Masham and his lady, by invitation. Lord +Treasurer was to be there, but came not. It was to entertain Buys, the +Dutch Envoy, who speaks English well enough: he was plaguily politic, +telling a thousand lies, of which none passed upon any of us. We are +still in the condition of suspense, and I think have little hopes. The +Duchess of Somerset is not gone to Petworth; only the Duke, and that is +a poor sacrifice. I believe the Queen certainly designs to change the +Ministry, but perhaps may put it off till the session is over: and I +think they had better give up now, if she will not deal openly; and +then they need not answer for the consequences of a peace, when it is in +other hands, and may yet be broken. They say my Lord Privy Seal sets out +for Holland this week: so the peace goes on. + +18. It has rained hard from morning till night, and cost me three +shillings in coach-hire. We have had abundance of wet weather. I dined +in the City, and was with the printer, who has now a fifth edition of +the Conduct, etc.: it is in small, and sold for sixpence; they have +printed as many as three editions, because they are to be sent in +numbers into the country by great men, etc., who subscribe for hundreds. +It has been sent a fortnight ago to Ireland: I suppose you will print it +there. The Tory Lords and Commons in Parliament argue all from it; and +all agree that never anything of that kind was of so great consequence, +or made so many converts. By the time I have sent this letter, I expect +to hear from little MD: it will be a month, two days hence, since I had +your last, and I will allow ten days for accidents. I cannot get rid +of the leavings of a cold I got a month ago, or else it is a new one. +I have been writing letters all this evening till I am weary, and I am +sending out another little thing, which I hope to finish this week, and +design to send to the printer in an unknown hand. There was printed +a Grub Street speech of Lord Nottingham;(2) and he was such an owl to +complain of it in the House of Lords, who have taken up the printer for +it. I heard at Court that Walpole(3) (a great Whig member) said that I +and my whimsical Club writ it at one of our meetings, and that I should +pay for it. He will find he lies: and I shall let him know by a third +hand my thoughts of him. He is to be Secretary of State, if the Ministry +changes; but he has lately had a bribe proved against him in Parliament, +while he was Secretary at War. He is one of the Whigs' chief speakers. + +19. Sad dismal weather. I went to the Secretary's office, and Lewis made +me dine with him. I intended to have dined with Lord Treasurer. I +have not seen the Secretary this week. Things do not mend at all. Lord +Dartmouth despairs, and is for giving up; Lewis is of the same mind; but +Lord Treasurer only says, "Poh, poh, all will be well." I am come +home early to finish something I am doing; but I find I want heart and +humour, and would read any idle book that came in my way. I have just +sent away a penny paper to make a little mischief. Patrick is gone to +the burial of an Irish footman, who was Dr. King's(4) servant; he died +of a consumption, a fit death for a poor starving wit's footman. The +Irish servants always club to bury a countryman. + +20. I was with the Secretary this morning, and, for aught I can see, +we shall have a languishing death: I can know nothing, nor themselves +neither. I dined, you know, with our Society, and that odious Secretary +would make me President next week; so I must entertain them this day +se'nnight at the Thatched House Tavern,(5) where we dined to-day: it +will cost me five or six pounds; yet the Secretary says he will give me +wine. I found a letter when I came home from the Bishop of Clogher. + +21. This is the first time I ever got a new cold before the old one was +going: it came yesterday, and appeared in all due forms, eyes and nose +running, etc., and is now very bad; and I cannot tell how I got it. Sir +Andrew Fountaine and I were invited to dine with Mrs. Van. I was this +morning with the Duke of Ormond; and neither he nor I can think of +anything to comfort us in present affairs. We must certainly fall, if +the Duchess of Somerset be not turned out; and nobody believes the Queen +will ever part with her. The Duke and I were settling when Mr. Secretary +and I should dine with him, and he fixes upon Tuesday; and when I came +away I remembered it was Christmas Day. I was to see Lady ----, who is +just up after lying-in; and the ugliest sight I have seen, pale, dead, +old and yellow, for want of her paint. She has turned my stomach. But +she will soon be painted, and a beauty again. + +22. I find myself disordered with a pain all round the small of my back, +which I imputed to champagne I had drunk; but find it to have been only +my new cold. It was a fine frosty day, and I resolved to walk into the +City. I called at Lord Treasurer's at eleven, and stayed some time with +him.--He showed me a letter from a great Presbyterian parson(6) to +him, complaining how their friends had betrayed them by passing this +Conformity Bill; and he showed me the answer he had written, which his +friends would not let him send; but was a very good one. He is very +cheerful; but gives one no hopes, nor has any to give. I went into the +City, and there I dined. + +23. Morning. As I was dressing to go to church, a friend that was to see +me advised me not to stir out; so I shall keep at home to-day, and only +eat some broth, if I can get it. It is a terrible cold frost, and snow +fell yesterday, which still remains: look there, you may see it from the +penthouses. The Lords made yesterday two or three votes about peace, and +Hanover, of a very angry kind to vex the Ministry, and they will meet +sooner by a fortnight than the Commons; and they say, are preparing some +knocking addresses. Morrow, sirrahs. I'll sit at home, and when I go +to bed I will tell you how I am.--I have sat at home all day, and eaten +only a mess of broth and a roll. I have written a Prophecy,(7) which I +design to print; I did it to-day, and some other verses. + +24. I went into the City to-day in a coach, and dined there. My cold is +going. It is now bitter hard frost, and has been so these three or four +days. My Prophecy is printed, and will be published after Christmas +Day; I like it mightily: I don't know how it will pass. You will never +understand it at your distance, without help. I believe everybody will +guess it to be mine, because it is somewhat in the same manner with that +of "Merlin"(8) in the Miscellanies. My Lord Privy Seal set out this day +for Holland: he'll have a cold journey. I gave Patrick half a crown for +his Christmas box, on condition he would be good, and he came home drunk +at midnight. I have taken a memorandum of it, because I never design to +give him a groat more. 'Tis cruel cold. + +25. I wish MD a merry Christmas, and many a one; but mine is melancholy: +I durst not go to church to-day, finding myself a little out of order, +and it snowing prodigiously, and freezing. At noon I went to Mrs. Van, +who had this week engaged me to dine there to-day: and there I received +the news that poor Mrs. Long(9) died at Lynn in Norfolk on Saturday +last, at four in the morning: she was sick but four hours. We suppose it +was the asthma, which she was subject to as well as the dropsy, as she +sent me word in her last letter, written about five weeks ago; but then +said she was recovered. I never was more afflicted at any death. The +poor creature had retired to Lynn two years ago, to live cheap, and +pay her debts. In her last letter she told me she hoped to be easy by +Christmas; and she kept her word, although she meant it otherwise. +She had all sorts of amiable qualities, and no ill ones, but the +indiscretion of too much neglecting her own affairs. She had two +thousand pounds left her by an old grandmother,(10) with which she +intended to pay her debts, and live on an annuity she had of one hundred +pounds a year, and Newburg House, which would be about sixty pounds +more. That odious grandmother living so long, forced her to retire; for +the two thousand pounds was settled on her after the old woman's death, +yet her brute of a brother, Sir James Long,(11) would not advance it for +her; else she might have paid her debts, and continued here, and lived +still: I believe melancholy helped her on to her grave. I have ordered a +paragraph to be put in the Postboy,(12) giving an account of her death, +and making honourable mention of her; which is all I can do to serve her +memory: but one reason was spite; for her brother would fain have her +death a secret, to save the charge of bringing her up here to bury her, +or going into mourning. Pardon all this, for the sake of a poor creature +I had so much friendship for. + +26. I went to Mr. Secretary this morning, and he would have me dine with +him. I called at noon at Mrs. Masham's, who desired me not to let the +Prophecy be published, for fear of angering the Queen about the Duchess +of Somerset; so I writ to the printer to stop them. They have been +printed and given about, but not sold. I saw Lord Treasurer there, who +had been two hours with the Queen; and Mrs. Masham is in hopes things +will do well again. I went at night again, and supped at Mr. Masham's, +and Lord Treasurer sat with us till one o'clock. So 'tis late, etc. + +27. I entertained our Society at the Thatched House Tavern to-day at +dinner; but brother Bathurst sent for wine, the house affording none. +The printer had not received my letter, and so he brought up dozens +apiece of the Prophecy; but I ordered him to part with no more. 'Tis an +admirable good one, and people are mad for it. The frost still continues +violently cold. Mrs. Masham invited me to come to-night and play at +cards; but our Society did not part till nine. But I supped with Mrs. +Hill, her sister, and there was Mrs. Masham and Lord Treasurer, and we +stayed till twelve. He is endeavouring to get a majority against next +Wednesday, when the House of Lords is to meet, and the Whigs intend to +make some violent addresses against a peace, if not prevented. God knows +what will become of us.--It is still prodigiously cold; but so I told +you already. We have eggs on the spit, I wish they may not be addled. +When I came home tonight I found, forsooth, a letter from MD, N.24, 24, +24, 24; there, do you know the numbers now? and at the same time one +from Joe,(13) full of thanks: let him know I have received it, and am +glad of his success, but won't put him to the charge of a letter. I had +a letter some time ago from Mr. Warburton,(14) and I beg one of you +will copy out what I shall tell you, and send it by some opportunity +to Warburton. 'Tis as follows: The Doctor has received Mr. Warburton's +letter, and desires he will let the Doctor know where(15) that accident +he mentions is like soon to happen, and he will do what he can in +it.--And pray, madam, let them know that I do this to save myself the +trouble, and them the expense of a letter. And I think that this is +enough for one that comes home at twelve from a Lord Treasurer and Mrs. +Masham. Oh, I could tell you ten thousand things of our mad politics, +upon what small circumstances great affairs have turned. But I will go +rest my busy head. + +28. I was this morning with brother Bathurst to see the Duke of Ormond. +We have given his Grace some hopes to be one of our Society. The +Secretary and I and Bathurst are to dine with him on Sunday next. The +Duke is not in much hopes, but has been very busy in endeavouring to +bring over some lords against next Wednesday. The Duchess caught me as I +was going out; she is sadly in fear about things, and blames me for not +mending them by my credit with Lord Treasurer; and I blame her. She met +me in the street at noon, and engaged me to dine with her, which I did; +and we talked an hour after dinner in her closet. If we miscarry on +Wednesday, I believe it will be by some strange sort of neglect. They +talk of making eight new lords by calling up some peers' eldest sons; +but they delay strangely. I saw Judge Coote(16) to-day at the Duke of +Ormond's: he desires to come and see me, to justify his principles. + +29. Morning. This goes to-day. I will not answer yours, your 24th, till +next, which shall begin to-night, as usual. Lord Shelburne has sent to +invite me to dinner, but I am engaged with Lewis at Ned Southwell's. +Lord Northampton and Lord Aylesbury's sons(17) are both made peers; but +we shall want more. I write this post to your Dean. I owe the Archbishop +a letter this long time. All people that come from Ireland complain of +him, and scold me for protecting him. Pray, Madam Dingley, let me know +what Presto has received for this year, or whether anything is due +to him for last: I cannot look over your former letters now. As for +Dingley's own account of her exchequer money, I will give it on t'other +side. Farewell, my own dearest MD, and love Presto; and God ever bless +dearest MD, etc. etc. I wish you many happy Christmases and new years. + +I have owned to the Dean a letter I just had from you, but that I had +not one this great while before. + + +DINGLEY'S ACCOUNT + + Received of Mr. Tooke.. 6 17 6 + Deducted for entering the letter of attorney. 0 2 6 + For the three half-crowns it used to cost you, I don't + know why nor wherefore.. 0 7 6 + For exchange to Ireland.. 0 10 0 + Forcoach-hire.. 0 2 6 + -------- + In all, just 8 0 0 + +So there's your money, and we are both even: for I'll pay you no more +than that eight pounds Irish, and pray be satisfied. + +Churchwarden's accounts, boys. + +Saturday night. I have broke open my letter, and tore it into the +bargain, to let you know that we are all safe: the Queen has made no +less than twelve lords,(18) to have a majority; nine new ones, the +other three peers' sons; and has turned out the Duke of Somerset. She is +awaked at last, and so is Lord Treasurer: I want nothing now but to +see the Duchess out. But we shall do without her. We are all extremely +happy. Give me joy, sirrahs. This is written in a coffee-house. Three of +the new lords are of our Society. + + + + +LETTER 38. + +LONDON, Dec. 29, 1711. + +I put my letter in this evening, after coming from dinner at Ned +Southwell's, where I drank very good Irish wine, and we are in great joy +at this happy turn of affairs. The Queen has been at last persuaded to +her own interest and security, and I freely think she must have made +both herself and kingdom very unhappy, if she had done otherwise. It is +still a mighty secret that Masham is to be one of the new lords; they +say he does not yet know it himself; but the Queen is to surprise him +with it. Mr. Secretary will be a lord at the end of the session; but +they want him still in Parliament. After all, it is a strange unhappy +necessity of making so many peers together; but the Queen has drawn it +upon herself, by her confounded trimming and moderation. Three, as I +told you, are of our Society. + +30. I writ the Dean and you a lie yesterday; for the Duke of Somerset is +not yet turned out. I was to-day at Court, and resolved to be very civil +to the Whigs; but saw few there. When I was in the bed-chamber talking +to Lord Rochester, he went up to Lady Burlington,(1) who asked him who +I was; and Lady Sunderland and she whispered about me: I desired Lord +Rochester to tell Lady Sunderland I doubted she was not as much in love +with me as I was with her; but he would not deliver my message. The +Duchess of Shrewsbury came running up to me, and clapped her fan up to +hide us from the company, and we gave one another joy of this change; +but sighed when we reflected on the Somerset family not being out. The +Secretary and I, and brother Bathurst, and Lord Windsor, dined with the +Duke of Ormond. Bathurst and Windsor(2) are to be two of the new lords. +I desired my Lord Radnor's brother,(3) at Court to-day, to let my lord +know I would call on him at six, which I did, and was arguing with +him three hours to bring him over to us, and I spoke so closely that I +believe he will be tractable; but he is a scoundrel, and though I said +I only talked for my love to him, I told a lie; for I did not care if +he were hanged: but everyone gained over is of consequence. The Duke of +Marlborough was at Court today, and nobody hardly took notice of him. +Masham's being a lord begins to take wind: nothing at Court can be kept +a secret. Wednesday will be a great day: you shall know more. + +31. Our frost is broken since yesterday, and it is very slabbery;(4) +yet I walked to the City and dined, and ordered some things with the +printer. I have settled Dr. King in the Gazette; it will be worth two +hundred pounds a year to him. Our new lords' patents are passed: I don't +like the expedient, if we could have found any other. I see I have said +this before. I hear the Duke of Marlborough is turned out of all his +employments: I shall know to-morrow when I am to carry Dr. King to dine +with the Secretary.--These are strong remedies; pray God the patient is +able to bear them. The last Ministry people are utterly desperate. + +Jan. 1. Now I wish my dearest little MD many happy new years; yes, both +Dingley and Stella, ay and Presto too, many happy new years. I dined +with the Secretary, and it is true that the Duke of Marlborough +is turned out of all. The Duke of Ormond has got his regiment of +foot-guards, I know not who has the rest. If the Ministry be not sure of +a peace, I shall wonder at this step, and do not approve it at best. The +Queen and Lord Treasurer mortally hate the Duke of Marlborough, and to +that he owes his fall, more than to his other faults: unless he has +been tampering too far with his party, of which I have not heard any +particulars; however it be, the world abroad will blame us. I confess +my belief that he has not one good quality in the world beside that of +a general, and even that I have heard denied by several great soldiers. +But we have had constant success in arms while he commanded. Opinion is +a mighty matter in war, and I doubt the French think it impossible to +conquer an army that he leads, and our soldiers think the same; and how +far even this step may encourage the French to play tricks with us, +no man knows. I do not love to see personal resentment mix with public +affairs. + +2. This being the day the Lords meet, and the new peers to be +introduced, I went to Westminster to see the sight; but the crowd was +too great in the house. So I only went into the robing-room, to give my +four brothers joy, and Sir Thomas Mansel,(5) and Lord Windsor; the other +six I am not acquainted with. It was apprehended the Whigs would have +raised some difficulties, but nothing happened. I went to see Lady +Masham at noon, and wish her joy of her new honour, and a happy new +year. I found her very well pleased; for peerage will be some sort of +protection to her upon any turn of affairs. She engaged me to come at +night, and sup with her and Lord Treasurer: I went at nine, and she was +not at home, so I would not stay.--No, no, I won't answer your letter +yet, young women. I dined with a friend in the neighbourhood. I see +nothing here like Christmas, except brawn or mince-pies in places where +I dine, and giving away my half-crowns like farthings to great men's +porters and butlers. Yesterday I paid seven good guineas to the fellow +at the tavern where I treated the Society. I have a great mind to send +you the bill. I think I told you some articles. I have not heard whether +anything was done in the House of Lords after introducing the new ones. +Ford has been sitting with me till peeast tweeleve a clock. + +3. This was our Society day: Lord Dupplin was President; we choose every +week; the last President treats and chooses his successor. I believe our +dinner cost fifteen pounds beside wine. The Secretary grew brisk, and +would not let me go, nor Lord Lansdowne,(6) who would fain have gone +home to his lady, being newly married to Lady Mary Thynne. It was near +one when we parted, so you must think I cannot write much to-night. The +adjourning of the House of Lords yesterday, as the Queen desired, was +just carried by the twelve new lords, and one more. Lord Radnor was not +there: I hope I have cured him. Did I tell you that I have brought Dr. +King in to be Gazetteer? It will be worth above two hundred pounds a +year to him: I believe I told you so before, but I am forgetful. Go, get +you gone to ombre, and claret, and toasted oranges. I'll go sleep. + +4. I cannot get rid of the leavings of my cold. I was in the City +to-day, and dined with my printer, and gave him a ballad made by several +hands, I know not whom. I believe Lord Treasurer had a finger in it; I +added three stanzas; I suppose Dr. Arbuthnot had the greatest share. I +had been overseeing some other little prints, and a pamphlet made by one +of my under-strappers. Somerset is not out yet. I doubt not but you will +have the Prophecy in Ireland, although it is not published here, only +printed copies given to friends. Tell me, do you understand it? No, +faith, not without help. Tell me what you stick at, and I'll explain. +We turned out a member of our Society yesterday for gross neglect and +non-attendance. I writ to him by order to give him notice of it. It is +Tom Harley,(7) secretary to the Treasurer, and cousin-german to Lord +Treasurer. He is going to Hanover from the Queen. I am to give the Duke +of Ormond notice of his election as soon as I can see him. + +5. I went this morning with a parishioner of mine, one Nuttal, who came +over here for a legacy of one hundred pounds, and a roguish lawyer had +refused to pay him, and would not believe he was the man. I writ to the +lawyer a sharp letter, that I had taken Nuttal into my protection, and +was resolved to stand by him, and the next news was, that the lawyer +desired I would meet him, and attest he was the man, which I did, and +his money was paid upon the spot. I then visited Lord Treasurer, who is +now right again, and all well, only that the Somerset family is not out +yet. I hate that; I don't like it, as the man said, by, etc. Then I went +and visited poor Will Congreve, who had a French fellow tampering with +one of his eyes; he is almost blind of both. I dined with some merchants +in the City, but could not see Stratford, with whom I had business. +Presto, leave off your impertinence, and answer our letter, saith MD. +Yes, yes, one of these days, when I have nothing else to do. O, faith, +this letter is a week written, and not one side done yet. These ugly +spots are not tobacco, but this is the last gilt sheet I have of large +paper, therefore hold your tongue. Nuttal was surprised when they gave +him bits of paper instead of money, but I made Ben Tooke put him in his +geers:(8) he could not reckon ten pounds, but was puzzled with the Irish +way. Ben Tooke and my printer have desired me to make them stationers +to the Ordnance, of which Lord Rivers is Master, instead of the Duke of +Marlborough. It will be a hundred pounds a year apiece to them, if I can +get it. I will try to-morrow. + +6. I went this morning to Earl Rivers, gave him joy of his new +employment, and desired him to prefer my printer and bookseller to be +stationers to his office. He immediately granted it me; but, like an old +courtier, told me it was wholly on my account, but that he heard I had +intended to engage Mr. Secretary to speak to him, and desired I would +engage him to do so, but that, however, he did it only for my sake. This +is a Court trick, to oblige as many as you can at once. I read prayers +to poor Mrs. Wesley, who is very much out of order, instead of going +to church; and then I went to Court, which I found very full, in +expectation of seeing Prince Eugene, who landed last night, and lies at +Leicester House; he was not to see the Queen till six this evening. I +hope and believe he comes too late to do the Whigs any good. I refused +dining with the Secretary, and was like to lose my dinner, which was at +a private acquaintance's. I went at six to see the Prince at Court, but +he was gone in to the Queen; and when he came out, Mr. Secretary, who +introduced him, walked so near him that he quite screened me from him +with his great periwig. I'll tell you a good passage: as Prince Eugene +was going with Mr. Secretary to Court, he told the Secretary that +Hoffman, the Emperor's Resident, said to His Highness that it was not +proper to go to Court without a long wig, and his was a tied-up one: +"Now," says the Prince, "I knew not what to do, for I never had a long +periwig in my life; and I have sent to all my valets and footmen, to see +whether any of them have one, that I might borrow it, but none of them +has any."--Was not this spoken very greatly with some sort of contempt? +But the Secretary said it was a thing of no consequence, and only +observed by gentlemen ushers. I supped with Lord Masham, where Lord +Treasurer and Mr. Secretary supped with us: the first left us at twelve, +but the rest did not part till two, yet I have written all this, because +it is fresh: and now I'll go sleep if I can; that is, I believe I shall, +because I have drank a little. + +7. I was this morning to give the Duke of Ormond notice of the honour +done him to make him one of our Society, and to invite him on Thursday +next to the Thatched House: he has accepted it with the gratitude and +humility such a preferment deserves, but cannot come till the next +meeting, because Prince Eugene is to dine with him that day, which I +allowed for: a good excuse, and will report accordingly. I dined with +Lord Masham, and sat there till eight this evening, and came home, +because I was not very well, but a little griped; but now I am well +again, I will not go, at least but very seldom, to Lord Masham's +suppers. Lord Treasurer is generally there, and that tempts me, but late +sitting up does not agree with me: there's the short and the long, and I +won't do it; so take your answer, dear little young women; and I have no +more to say to you to-night, because of the Archbishop, for I am going +to write a long letter to him, but not so politely as formerly: I won't +trust him. + +8. Well, then, come, let us see this letter; if I must answer it, I +must. What's here now? yes, faith, I lamented my birthday(9) two days +after, and that's all: and you rhyme, Madam Stella; were those verses +made upon my birthday? faith, when I read them, I had them running in my +head all the day, and said them over a thousand times; they drank your +health in all their glasses, and wished, etc. I could not get them +out of my head. What? no, I believe it was not; what do I say upon the +eighth of December? Compare, and see whether I say so. I am glad of +Mrs. Stoyte's recovery, heartily glad; your Dolly Manley's and Bishop of +Cloyne's(10) child I have no concern about: I am sorry in a civil way, +that's all. Yes, yes, Sir George St. George dead.(11)--Go, cry, Madam +Dingley; I have written to the Dean. Raymond will be rich, for he has +the building itch. I wish all he has got may put him out of debt. Poh, I +have fires like lightning; they cost me twelvepence a week, beside small +coal. I have got four new caps, madam, very fine and convenient, with +striped cambric, instead of muslin; so Patrick need not mend them, but +take the old ones. Stella snatched Dingley's word out of her pen; Presto +a cold? Why, all the world here is dead with them: I never had anything +like it in my life; 'tis not gone in five weeks. I hope Leigh is with +you before this, and has brought your box. How do you like the ivory +rasp? Stella is angry; but I'll have a finer thing for her. Is not +the apron as good? I'm sure I shall never be paid it; so all's well +again.--What? the quarrel with Sir John Walter?(12) Why, we had not one +word of quarrel; only he railed at me when I was gone: and Lord Keeper +and Treasurer teased me for a week. It was nuts to them; a serious +thing with a vengeance.--The Whigs may sell their estates then, or +hang themselves, as they are disposed; for a peace there will be. +Lord Treasurer told me that Connolly(13) was going to Hanover. Your +Provost(14) is a coxcomb. Stella is a good girl for not being angry +when I tell her of spelling; I see none wrong in this. God Almighty be +praised that your disorder lessens; it increases my hopes mightily that +they will go off. And have you been plagued with the fear of the plague? +never mind those reports; I have heard them five hundred times. Replevi? +Replevin, simpleton, 'tis Dingley I mean; but it is a hard word, and +so I'll excuse it. I stated Dingley's accounts in my last. I forgot +Catherine's sevenpenny dinner. I hope it was the beef-steaks; I'll call +and eat them in spring; but Goody Stoyte must give me coffee, or green +tea, for I drink no bohea. Well, ay, the pamphlet; but there are some +additions to the fourth edition; the fifth edition was of four thousand, +in a smaller print, sold for sixpence. Yes, I had the twenty-pound bill +from Parvisol: and what then? Pray now eat the Laracor apples; I beg you +not to keep them, but tell me what they are. You have had Tooke's bill +in my last. And so there now, your whole letter is answered. I tell you +what I do; I lay your letter before me, and take it in order, and answer +what is necessary; and so and so. Well, when I expected we were all +undone, I designed to retire for six months, and then steal over +to Laracor; and I had in my mouth a thousand times two lines of +Shakespeare, where Cardinal Wolsey says, + + "A weak old man, battered with storms of state, + Is come to lay his weary bones among you."(15) + +I beg your pardon; I have cheated you all this margin, I did not +perceive it; and I went on wider and wider like Stella; awkward sluts; +SHE WRITES SO SO, THERE:(16) that's as like as two eggs a penny.--"A +weak old man," now I am saying it, and shall till to-morrow.--The +Duke of Marlborough says there is nothing he now desires so much as to +contrive some way how to soften Dr. Swift. He is mistaken; for those +things that have been hardest against him were not written by me. Mr. +Secretary told me this from a friend of the Duke's; and I'm sure now he +is down, I shall not trample on him; although I love him not, I dislike +his being out.--Bernage was to see me this morning, and gave some very +indifferent excuses for not calling here so long. I care not twopence. +Prince Eugene did not dine with the Duke of Marlborough on Sunday, but +was last night at Lady Betty Germaine's assemblee, and a vast number of +ladies to see him. Mr. Lewis and I dined with a private friend. I was +this morning to see the Duke of Ormond, who appointed me to meet him +at the Cockpit at one, but never came. I sat too some time with the +Duchess. We don't like things very well yet. I am come home early, and +going to be busy. I'll go write. + +9. I could not go sleep last night till past two, and was waked before +three by a noise of people endeavouring to break open my window. For a +while I would not stir, thinking it might be my imagination; but hearing +the noise continued, I rose and went to the window, and then it ceased. +I went to bed again, and heard it repeated more violently; then I rose +and called up the house, and got a candle: the rogues had lifted up +the sash a yard; there are great sheds before my windows, although +my lodgings be a storey high; and if they get upon the sheds they are +almost even with my window. We observed their track, and panes of glass +fresh broken. The watchmen told us to-day they saw them, but could not +catch them. They attacked others in the neighbourhood about the same +time, and actually robbed a house in Suffolk Street, which is the +next street but one to us. It is said they are seamen discharged from +service. I went up to call my man, and found his bed empty; it seems he +often lies abroad. I challenged him this morning as one of the robbers. +He is a sad dog; and the minute I come to Ireland I will discard him. I +have this day got double iron bars to every window in my dining-room and +bed-chamber; and I hide my purse in my thread stocking between the bed's +head and the wainscot. Lewis and I dined with an old Scotch friend, who +brought the Duke of Douglas(17) and three or four more Scots upon us. + +10. This was our Society day, you know; but the Duke of Ormond could +not be with us, because he dined with Prince Eugene. It cost me a guinea +contribution to a poet, who had made a copy of verses upon monkeys, +applying the story to the Duke of Marlborough; the rest gave two +guineas, except the two physicians,(18) who followed my example. I don't +like this custom: the next time I will give nothing. I sat this evening +at Lord Masham's with Lord Treasurer: I don't like his countenance; nor +I don't like the posture of things well. + + We cannot be stout, + Till Somerset's out: + +as the old saying is. + +11. Mr. Lewis and I dined with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who eats +the most elegantly of any man I know in town. I walked lustily in the +Park by moonshine till eight, to shake off my dinner and wine; and then +went to sup at Mr. Domville's with Ford, and stayed till twelve. It is +told me to-day as a great secret that the Duke of Somerset will be out +soon, that the thing is fixed; but what shall we do with the Duchess? +They say the Duke will make her leave the Queen out of spite, if he be +out. It has stuck upon that fear a good while already. Well, but Lewis +gave me a letter from MD, N.25. O Lord, I did not expect one this +fortnight, faith. You are mighty good, that's certain: but I won't +answer it, because this goes to-morrow, only what you say of the +printer being taken up; I value it not; all's safe there; nor do I fear +anything, unless the Ministry be changed: I hope that danger is over. +However, I shall be in Ireland before such a change; which could not +be, I think, till the end of the session, if the Whigs' designs had +gone on.--Have not you an apron by Leigh, Madam Stella? have you all I +mentioned in a former letter? + +12. Morning. This goes to-day as usual. I think of going into the City; +but of that at night. 'Tis fine moderate weather these two or three days +last. Farewell, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 39. + +LONDON, Jan. 12,1711-12. + +When I sealed up my letter this morning, I looked upon myself to be +not worth a groat in the world. Last night, after Mr. Ford and I left +Domville, Ford desired me to go with him for a minute upon earnest +business, and then told me that both he and I were ruined; for he had +trusted Stratford with five hundred pounds for tickets for the lottery, +and he had been with Stratford, who confessed he had lost fifteen +thousand pounds by Sir Stephen Evans,(1) who broke last week; that he +concluded Stratford must break too; that he could not get his tickets, +but Stratford made him several excuses, which seemed very blind ones, +etc. And Stratford had near four hundred pounds of mine, to buy me +five hundred pounds in the South Sea Company. I came home reflecting +a little; nothing concerned me but MD. I called all my philosophy and +religion up; and, I thank God, it did not keep me awake beyond my usual +time above a quarter of an hour. This morning I sent for Tooke, whom I +had employed to buy the stock of Stratford, and settle things with him. +He told me I was secure; for Stratford had transferred it to me in form +in the South Sea House, and he had accepted it for me, and all was done +on stamped parchment. However, he would be further informed; and at +night sent me a note to confirm me. However, I am not yet secure; and, +besides, am in pain for Ford, whom I first brought acquainted with +Stratford. I dined in the City. + +13. Domville and I dined with Ford to-day by appointment: the Lord +Mansel told me at Court to-day that I was engaged to him; but Stratford +had promised Ford to meet him and me to-night at Ford's lodgings. He +did so; said he had hopes to save himself in his affair with Evans. +Ford asked him for his tickets: he said he would send them tomorrow; but +looking in his pocket-book, said he believed he had some of them about +him, and gave him as many as came to two hundred pounds, which rejoiced +us much; besides, he talked so frankly, that we might think there is no +danger. I asked him, Was there any more to be settled between us in my +affair? He said, No; and answered my questions just as Tooke had got +them from others; so I hope I am safe. This has been a scurvy affair. I +believe Stella would have half laughed at me, to see a suspicious fellow +like me overreached. I saw Prince Eugene to-day at Court: I don't think +him an ugly-faced fellow, but well enough, and a good shape. + +14. The Parliament was to sit to-day, and met; but were adjourned by +the Queen's directions till Thursday. She designs to make some important +speech then. She pretended illness; but I believe they were not ready, +and they expect some opposition: and the Scotch lords are angry,(2) and +must be pacified. I was this morning to invite the Duke of Ormond to our +Society on Thursday, where he is then to be introduced. He has appointed +me at twelve to-morrow about some business: I would fain have his help +to impeach a certain lord; but I doubt we shall make nothing of it. I +intended to have dined with Lord Treasurer, but I was told he would be +busy: so I dined with Mrs. Van; and at night I sat with Lord Masham till +one. Lord Treasurer was there, and chid me for not dining with him: he +was in very good humour. I brought home two flasks of burgundy in my +chair: I wish MD had them. You see it is very late; so I'll go to bed, +and bid MD good night. + +15. This morning I presented my printer and bookseller to Lord Rivers, +to be stationers to the Ordnance; stationers, that's the word; I did not +write it plain at first. I believe it will be worth three hundred pounds +a year between them. This is the third employment I have got for them. +Rivers told them the Doctor commanded him, and he durst not refuse it. I +would have dined with Lord Treasurer to-day again, but Lord Mansel would +not let me, and forced me home with him. I was very deep with the Duke +of Ormond to-day at the Cockpit, where we met to be private; but I doubt +I cannot do the mischief I intended. My friend Penn came there, Will +Penn the Quaker, at the head of his brethren, to thank the Duke for +his kindness to their people in Ireland. To see a dozen scoundrels with +their hats on, and the Duke complimenting with his off, was a good sight +enough. I sat this evening with Sir William Robinson,(3) who has mighty +often invited me to a bottle of wine: and it is past twelve. + +16. This being fast-day, Dr. Freind and I went into the City to dine +late, like good fasters. My printer and bookseller want me to hook in +another employment for them in the Tower, because it was enjoyed before +by a stationer, although it be to serve the Ordnance with oil, tallow, +etc., and is worth four hundred pounds per annum more: I will try what +I can do. They are resolved to ask several other employments of the +same nature to other offices; and I will then grease fat sows, and see +whether it be possible to satisfy them. Why am not I a stationer? The +Parliament sits to-morrow, and Walpole, late Secretary at War, is to be +swinged for bribery, and the Queen is to communicate something of great +importance to the two Houses, at least they say so. But I must think of +answering your letter in a day or two. + +17. I went this morning to the Duke of Ormond about some business, and +he told me he could not dine with us today, being to dine with Prince +Eugene. Those of our Society of the House of Commons could not be with +us, the House sitting late on Walpole. I left them at nine, and they +were not come. We kept some dinner for them. I hope Walpole will be sent +to the Tower, and expelled the House; but this afternoon the members I +spoke with in the Court of Requests talked dubiously of it. It will be +a leading card to maul the Duke of Marlborough for the same crime, or at +least to censure him. The Queen's message was only to give them notice +of the peace she is treating, and to desire they will make some law to +prevent libels against the Government; so farewell to Grub Street. + +18. I heard to-day that the commoners of our Society did not leave the +Parliament till eleven at night, then went to those I left, and stayed +till three in the morning. Walpole is expelled, and sent to the Tower. +I was this morning again with Lord Rivers, and have made him give the +other employment to my printer and bookseller; 'tis worth a great deal. +I dined with my friend Lewis privately, to talk over affairs. We want to +have this Duke of Somerset out, and he apprehends it will not be, but I +hope better. They are going now at last to change the Commissioners of +the Customs; my friend Sir Matthew Dudley will be out, and three more, +and Prior will be in. I have made Ford copy out a small pamphlet, and +sent it to the press, that I might not be known for author; 'tis +A Letter to the October Club,(4) if ever you heard of such a +thing.--Methinks this letter goes on but slowly for almost a week: I +want some little conversation with MD, and to know what they are doing +just now. I am sick of politics. I have not dined with Lord Treasurer +these three weeks: he chides me, but I don't care: I don't. + +19. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer: this is his day of choice +company, where they sometimes admit me, but pretend to grumble. And +to-day they met on some extraordinary business; the Keeper, Steward, +both Secretaries, Lord Rivers, and Lord Anglesea: I left them at seven, +and came away, and have been writing to the Bishop of Clogher. I forgot +to know where to direct to him since Sir George St. George's death,(5) +but I have directed to the same house: you must tell me better, for +the letter is sent by the bellman. Don't write to me again till this is +gone, I charge you, for I won't answer two letters together. The Duke of +Somerset is out, and was with his yellow liveries at Parliament to-day. +You know he had the same with the Queen, when he was Master of the +Horse: we hope the Duchess will follow, or that he will take her away +in spite. Lord Treasurer, I hope, has now saved his head. Has the Dean +received my letter? ask him at cards to-night. + +20. There was a world of people to-day at Court to see Prince Eugene, +but all bit, for he did not come. I saw the Duchess of Somerset talking +with the Duke of Buckingham; she looked a little down, but was extremely +courteous. The Queen has the gout, but is not in much pain. Must I fill +this line too?(6) well then, so let it be. The Duke of Beaufort(7) has +a mighty mind to come into our Society; shall we let him? I spoke to the +Duke of Ormond about it, and he doubts a little whether to let him in or +no. They say the Duke of Somerset is advised by his friends to let his +wife stay with the Queen; I am sorry for it. I dined with the Secretary +to-day, with mixed company; I don't love it. Our Society does not +meet till Friday, because Thursday will be a busy day in the House of +Commons, for then the Duke of Marlborough's bribery is to be examined +into about the pension paid him by those that furnished bread to the +army. + +21. I have been five times with the Duke of Ormond about a perfect +trifle, and he forgets it: I used him like a dog this morning for it. I +was asked to-day by several in the Court of Requests whether it was +true that the author of the Examiner was taken up in an action of twenty +thousand pounds by the Duke of Marlborough?(8) I dined in the City, +where my printer showed me a pamphlet, called Advice to the October +Club, which he said was sent him by an unknown hand: I commended it +mightily; he never suspected me; 'tis a twopenny pamphlet. I came home +and got timely to bed; but about eleven one of the Secretary's servants +came to me to let me know that Lord Treasurer would immediately speak +to me at Lord Masham's upon earnest business, and that, if I was abed, I +should rise and come. I did so: Lord Treasurer was above with the Queen; +and when he came down he laughed, and said it was not he that sent for +me: the business was of no great importance, only to give me a paper, +which might have been done to-morrow. I stayed with them till past one, +and then got to bed again. Pize(9) take their frolics. I thought to have +answered your letter. + +22. Dr. Gastrell was to see me this morning: he is an eminent divine, +one of the canons of Christ Church, and one I love very well: he said +he was glad to find I was not with James Broad. I asked what he meant. +"Why," says he, "have you not seen the Grub Street paper, that says Dr. +Swift was taken up as author of the Examiner, on an action of twenty +thousand pounds, and was now at James Broad's?" who, I suppose, is some +bailiff. I knew of this; but at the Court of Requests twenty people +told me they heard I had been taken up. Lord Lansdowne observed to the +Secretary and me that the Whigs spread three lies yesterday; that about +me; and another, that Maccartney, who was turned out last summer,(10) +is again restored to his places in the army; and the third, that Jack +Hill's commission for Lieutenant of the Tower is stopped, and that +Cadogan is to continue. Lansdowne thinks they have some design by these +reports; I cannot guess it. Did I tell you that Sacheverell has desired +mightily to come and see me? but I have put it off: he has heard that I +have spoken to the Secretary in behalf of a brother whom he maintains, +and who desires an employment.(11) T'other day at the Court of Requests +Dr. Yalden(12) saluted me by name: Sacheverell, who was just by, came +up to me, and made me many acknowledgment and compliments. Last night +I desired Lord Treasurer to do something for that brother of +Sacheverell's: he said he never knew he had a brother, but thanked me +for telling him, and immediately put his name in his table-book.(13) +I will let Sacheverell know this, that he may take his measures +accordingly, but he shall be none of my acquaintance. I dined to-day +privately with the Secretary, left him at six, paid a visit or two, and +came home. + +23. I dined again to-day with the Secretary, but could not despatch some +business I had with him, he has so much besides upon his hands at this +juncture, and preparing against the great business to-morrow, which we +are top full of. The Minister's design is that the Duke of Marlborough +shall be censured as gently as possible, provided his friends will not +make head to defend him, but if they do, it may end in some severer +votes. A gentleman, who was just now with him, tells me he is much cast +down, and fallen away; but he is positive, if he has but ten friends in +the House, that they shall defend him to the utmost, and endeavour to +prevent the least censure upon him, which I think cannot be, since the +bribery is manifest. Sir Solomon Medina(14) paid him six thousand pounds +a year to have the employment of providing bread for the army, and +the Duke owns it in his letter to the Commissioners of Accounts. I was +to-night at Lord Masham's: Lord Dupplin took out my new little pamphlet, +and the Secretary read a great deal of it to Lord Treasurer: they all +commended it to the skies, and so did I, and they began a health to the +author. But I doubt Lord Treasurer suspected; for he said, "This is +Mr. Davenant's style," which is his cant when he suspects me.(15) But +I carried the matter very well. Lord Treasurer put the pamphlet in his +pocket to read at home. I'll answer your letter to-morrow. + +24. The Secretary made me promise to dine with him today, after the +Parliament was up: I said I would come; but I dined at my usual time, +knowing the House would sit late on this great affair. I dined at a +tavern with Mr. Domville and another gentleman; I have not done so +before these many months. At ten this evening I went to the Secretary, +but he was not come home: I sat with his lady till twelve, then came +away; and he just came as I was gone, and he sent to my lodgings, but +I would not go back; and so I know not how things have passed, but hope +all is well; and I will tell you to-morrow day. It is late, etc. + +25. The Secretary sent to me this morning to know whether we should +dine together. I went to him, and there I learned that the question +went against the Duke of Marlborough, by a majority of a hundred; so the +Ministry is mighty well satisfied, and the Duke will now be able to +do no hurt. The Secretary and I, and Lord Masham, etc., dined with +Lieutenant-General Withers,(16) who is just going to look after the army +in Flanders: the Secretary and I left them a little after seven, and +I am come home, and will now answer your letter, because this goes +to-morrow: let me see--The box at Chester; oh, burn that box, and +hang that Sterne; I have desired one to inquire for it who went toward +Ireland last Monday, but I am in utter despair of it. No, I was not +splenetic; you see what plunges the Court has been at to set all right +again. And that Duchess is not out yet, and may one day cause more +mischief. Somerset shows all about a letter from the Queen, desiring +him to let his wife continue with her. Is not that rare! I find Dingley +smelled a rat; because the Whigs are UPISH; but if ever I hear that word +again, I'll UPPISH you. I am glad you got your rasp safe and sound; does +Stella like her apron? Your critics about guarantees of succession are +puppies; that's an answer to the objection. The answerers here made the +same objection, but it is wholly wrong. I am of your opinion that Lord +Marlborough is used too hardly: I have often scratched out passages +from papers and pamphlets sent me, before they were printed, because I +thought them too severe. But he is certainly a vile man, and has no sort +of merit beside the military. The Examiners are good for little: I would +fain have hindered the severity of the two or three last, but could +not. I will either bring your papers over, or leave them with Tooke, for +whose honesty I will engage. And I think it is best not to venture them +with me at sea. Stella is a prophet, by foretelling so very positively +that all would be well. Duke of Ormond speak against peace? No, +simpleton, he is one of the staunchest we have for the Ministry. Neither +trouble yourself about the printer: he appeared the first day of the +term, and is to appear when summoned again; but nothing else will come +of it. Lord Chief-Justice(17) is cooled since this new settlement. No; +I will not split my journals in half; I will write but once a fortnight: +but you may do as you will; which is, read only half at once, and +t'other half next week. So now your letter is answered. (P--- on these +blots.) What must I say more? I will set out in March, if there be a fit +of fine weather; unless the Ministry desire me to stay till the end of +the session, which may be a month longer; but I believe they will not: +for I suppose the peace will be made, and they will have no further +service for me. I must make my canal fine this summer, as fine as I can. +I am afraid I shall see great neglects among my quicksets. I hope the +cherry-trees on the river walk are fine things now. But no more of this. + +26. I forgot to finish this letter this morning, and am come home so +late I must give it to the bellman; but I would have it go to-night, +lest you should think there is anything in the story of my being +arrested in an action of twenty thousand pounds by Lord Marlborough, +which I hear is in Dyer's Letter,(18) and, consequently, I suppose, gone +to Ireland. Farewell, dearest MD, etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 40. + +LONDON, Jan. 26, 1711-12. + +I have no gilt paper left of this size, so you must be content with +plain. Our Society dined together today, for it was put off, as I told +you, upon Lord Marlborough's business on Thursday. The Duke of Ormond +dined with us to-day, the first time: we were thirteen at table; and +Lord Lansdowne came in after dinner, so that we wanted but three. The +Secretary proposed the Duke of Beaufort, who desires to be one of our +Society; but I stopped it, because the Duke of Ormond doubts a little +about it; and he was gone before it was proposed. I left them at seven, +and sat this evening with poor Mrs. Wesley, who has been mightily ill +to-day with a fainting fit; she has often convulsions, too: she takes +a mixture with asafoetida, which I have now in my nose, and everything +smells of it. I never smelt it before; 'tis abominable. We have eight +packets, they say, due from Ireland. + +27. I could not see Prince Eugene at Court to-day, the crowd was so +great. The Whigs contrive to have a crowd always about him, and employ +the rabble to give the word, when he sets out from any place. When the +Duchess of Hamilton came from the Queen after church, she whispered me +that she was going to pay me a visit. I went to Lady Oglethorpe's, the +place appointed; for ladies always visit me in third places; and she +kept me till near four: she talks too much, is a plaguy detractor, and +I believe I shall not much like her. I was engaged to dine with Lord +Masham: they stayed as long as they could, yet had almost dined, and +were going in anger to pull down the brass peg for my hat, but Lady +Masham saved it. At eight I went again to Lord Masham's; Lord Treasurer +is generally there at night: we sat up till almost two. Lord Treasurer +has engaged me to contrive some way to keep the Archbishop of York(1) +from being seduced by Lord Nottingham. I will do what I can in it +to-morrow. 'Tis very late, so I must go sleep. + +28. Poor Mrs. Manley, the author, is very ill of a dropsy and sore leg: +the printer tells me he is afraid she cannot live long. I am heartily +sorry for her: she has very generous principles for one of her sort, +and a great deal of good sense and invention: she is about forty, very +homely, and very fat. Mrs. Van made me dine with her to-day. I was +this morning with the Duke of Ormond and the Prolocutor about what Lord +Treasurer spoke to me yesterday; I know not what will be the issue. +There is but a slender majority in the House of Lords, and we want more. +We are sadly mortified at the news of the French taking the town in +Brazil from the Portuguese. The sixth edition of three thousand of +the Conduct of the Allies is sold, and the printer talks of a seventh: +eleven thousand of them have been sold, which is a most prodigious run. +The little twopenny Letter of Advice to the October Club does not sell: +I know not the reason, for it is finely written, I assure you; and, like +a true author, I grow fond of it, because it does not sell: you know +that it is usual to writers to condemn the judgment of the world: if I +had hinted it to be mine, everybody would have bought it, but it is a +great secret. + +29. I borrowed one or two idle books of Contes des Fees,(2) and have +been reading them these two days, although I have much business upon +my hands. I loitered till one at home; then went to Mr. Lewis at his +office; and the Vice-Chamberlain told me that Lady Rialton(3) had +yesterday resigned her employment of lady of the bed-chamber, and that +Lady Jane Hyde,(4) Lord Rochester's daughter, a mighty pretty girl, is +to succeed. He said, too, that Lady Sunderland would resign in a day or +two. I dined with Lewis, and then went to see Mrs. Wesley, who is better +to-day. But you must know that Mr. Lewis gave me two letters, one from +the Bishop of Cloyne, with an enclosed from Lord Inchiquin(5) to Lord +Treasurer, which he desires I would deliver and recommend. I am told +that lord was much in with Lord Wharton, and I remember he was to have +been one of the Lords Justices by his recommendation; yet the Bishop +recommends him as a great friend to the Church, etc. I'll do what I +think proper. T'other letter was from little saucy MD, N.26. O Lord, +never saw the like, under a cover, too, and by way of journal; we shall +never have done. Sirrahs, how durst you write so soon, sirrahs? I won't +answer it yet. + +30. I was this morning with the Secretary, who was sick, and out of +humour: he would needs drink champagne some days ago, on purpose to +spite me, because I advised him against it, and now he pays for it. +Stella used to do such tricks formerly; he put me in mind of her. Lady +Sunderland has resigned her place too. It is Lady Catherine Hyde(6) that +succeeds Lady Rialton, and not Lady Jane. Lady Catherine is the late +Earl of Rochester's daughter. I dined with the Secretary, then visited +his lady; and sat this evening with Lady Masham: the Secretary came +to us; but Lord Treasurer did not; he dined with the Master of the +Rolls,(7) and stayed late with him. Our Society does not meet till +to-morrow se'nnight, because we think the Parliament will be very busy +to-morrow upon the state of the war, and the Secretary, who is to treat +as President, must be in the House. I fancy my talking of persons and +things here must be very tedious to you, because you know nothing of +them, and I talk as if you did. You know Kevin's Street, and Werburgh +Street, and (what do you call the street where Mrs. Walls lives?) and +Ingoldsby,(8) and Higgins,(9) and Lord Santry;(10) but what care you for +Lady Catherine Hyde? Why do you say nothing of your health, sirrah? I +hope it is well. + +31. Trimnel, Bishop of Norwich,(11) who was with this Lord Sunderland +at Moor Park in their travels, preached yesterday before the House +of Lords; and to-day the question was put to thank him, and print his +sermon; but passed against him; for it was a terrible Whig sermon. The +Bill to repeal the Act for naturalising Protestant foreigners passed the +House of Lords to-day by a majority of twenty, though the Scotch lords +went out, and would vote neither way, in discontent about the Duke of +Hamilton's patent, if you know anything of it. A poem is come out to-day +inscribed to me, by way of a flirt;(12) for it is a Whiggish poem, and +good for nothing. They plagued me with it in the Court of Requests. I +dined with Lord Treasurer at five alone, only with one Dutchman. Prior +is now a Commissioner of the Customs. I told you so before, I suppose. +When I came home to-night, I found a letter from Dr. Sacheverell, +thanking me for recommending his brother to Lord Treasurer and Mr. +Secretary for a place. Lord Treasurer sent to him about it: so good a +solicitor was I, although I once hardly thought I should be a solicitor +for Sacheverell. + +Feb. 1. Has not your Dean of St. Patrick received my letter? you say +nothing of it, although I writ above a month ago. My printer has got the +gout, and I was forced to go to him to-day, and there I dined. It was a +most delicious day: why don't you observe whether the same days be fine +with you? To-night, at six, Dr. Atterbury, and Prior, and I, and Dr. +Freind, met at Dr. Robert Freind's(13) house at Westminster, who is +master of the school: there we sat till one, and were good enough +company. I here take leave to tell politic Dingley that the passage +in the Conduct of the Allies is so far from being blamable that the +Secretary designs to insist upon it in the House of Commons, when the +Treaty of Barrier(14) is debated there, as it now shortly will, for they +have ordered it to be laid before them. The pamphlet of Advice to the +October Club begins now to sell; but I believe its fame will hardly +reach Ireland: 'tis finely written, I assure you. I long to answer your +letter, but won't yet; you know, 'tis late, etc. + +2. This ends Christmas,(15) and what care I? I have neither seen, nor +felt, nor heard any Christmas this year. I passed a lazy dull day. I was +this morning with Lord Treasurer, to get some papers from him, which +he will remember as much as a cat, although it be his own business. It +threatened rain, but did not much; and Prior and I walked an hour in the +Park, which quite put me out of my measures. I dined with a friend hard +by; and in the evening sat with Lord Masham till twelve. Lord Treasurer +did not come; this is an idle dining-day usually with him. We want to +hear from Holland how our peace goes on; for we are afraid of those +scoundrels the Dutch, lest they should play us tricks. Lord Mar,(16) a +Scotch earl, was with us at Lord Masham's: I was arguing with him about +the stubbornness and folly of his countrymen; they are so angry about +the affair of the Duke of Hamilton, whom the Queen has made a duke of +England, and the House of Lords will not admit him. He swears he would +vote for us, but dare not, because all Scotland would detest him if he +did: he should never be chosen again, nor be able to live there. + +3. I was at Court to-day to look for a dinner, but did not like any that +were offered me; and I dined with Lord Mountjoy. The Queen has the gout +in her knee, and was not at chapel. I hear we have a Dutch mail, but I +know not what news, although I was with the Secretary this morning. He +showed me a letter from the Hanover Envoy, Mr. Bothmar, complaining that +the Barrier Treaty is laid before the House of Commons; and desiring +that no infringement may be made in the guarantee of the succession; but +the Secretary has written him a peppering answer. I fancy you understand +all this, and are able states-girls, since you have read the Conduct +of the Allies. We are all preparing against the Birthday; I think it +is Wednesday next. If the Queen's gout increases, it will spoil sport. +Prince Eugene has two fine suits made against it; and the Queen is +to give him a sword worth four thousand pounds, the diamonds set +transparent. + +4. I was this morning soliciting at the House of Commons' door for Mr. +Vesey, a son of the Archbishop of Tuam,(17) who has petitioned for a +Bill to relieve him in some difficulty about his estate: I secured him +above fifty members. I dined with Lady Masham. We have no packet from +Holland, as I was told yesterday: and this wind will hinder many people +from appearing at the Birthday, who expected clothes from Holland. I +appointed to meet a gentleman at the Secretary's to-night, and they both +failed. The House of Commons have this day made many severe votes about +our being abused by our Allies. Those who spoke drew all their arguments +from my book, and their votes confirm all I writ; the Court had a +majority of a hundred and fifty: all agree that it was my book that +spirited them to these resolutions; I long to see them in print. My head +has not been as well as I could wish it for some days past, but I have +not had any giddy fit, and I hope it will go over. + +5. The Secretary turned me out of his room this morning, and showed me +fifty guineas rolled up, which he was going to give some French spy. I +dined with four Irishmen at a tavern to-day: I thought I had resolved +against it before, but I broke it. I played at cards this evening at +Lady Masham's, but I only played for her while she was waiting; and I +won her a pool, and supped there. Lord Treasurer was with us, but went +away before twelve. The ladies and lords have all their clothes ready +against to-morrow: I saw several mighty fine, and I hope there will be +a great appearance, in spite of that spiteful French fashion of the +Whiggish ladies not to come, which they have all resolved to a woman; +and I hope it will more spirit the Queen against them for ever. + +6. I went to dine at Lord Masham's at three, and met all the company +just coming out of Court; a mighty crowd: they stayed long for their +coaches: I had an opportunity of seeing several lords and ladies of my +acquaintance in their fineries. Lady Ashburnham(18) looked the best in +my eyes. They say the Court was never fuller nor finer. Lord Treasurer, +his lady, and two daughters and Mrs. Hill, dined with Lord and Lady +Masham; the five ladies were monstrous fine. The Queen gave Prince +Eugene the diamond sword to-day; but nobody was by when she gave it +except my Lord Chamberlain. There was an entertainment of opera songs +at night, and the Queen was at all the entertainment, and is very well +after it. I saw Lady Wharton,(19) as ugly as the devil, coming out +in the crowd all in an undress; she has been with the Marlborough +daughters(20) and Lady Bridgewater(21) in St. James's, looking out of +the window all undressed to see the sight. I do not hear that one Whig +lady was there, except those of the bed-chamber. Nothing has made so +great a noise as one Kelson's chariot, that cost nine hundred and thirty +pounds, the finest was ever seen. The rabble huzzaed him as much as they +did Prince Eugene. This is Birthday chat. + +7. Our Society met to-day: the Duke of Ormond was not with us; we +have lessened our dinners, which were grown so extravagant that Lord +Treasurer and everybody else cried shame. I left them at seven, visited +for an hour, and then came home, like a good boy. The Queen is much +better after yesterday's exercise: her friends wish she would use a +little more. I opposed Lord Jersey's(22) election into our Society, and +he is refused: I likewise opposed the Duke of Beaufort; but I believe +he will be chosen in spite of me: I don't much care; I shall not be +with them above two months; for I resolve to set out for Ireland the +beginning of April next (before I treat them again), and see my willows. + +8. I dined to-day in the City. This morning a scoundrel dog, one of the +Queen's music, a German, whom I had never seen, got access to me in my +chamber by Patrick's folly, and gravely desired me to get an employment +in the Customs for a friend of his, who would be very grateful; and +likewise to forward a project of his own, for raising ten thousand +pounds a year upon operas: I used him civiller than he deserved; but it +vexed me to the pluck.(23) He was told I had a mighty interest with Lord +Treasurer, and one word of mine, etc. Well; I got home early on purpose +to answer MD's letter, N.26; for this goes to-morrow.--Well; I never saw +such a letter in all my life; so saucy, so journalish, so sanguine, so +pretending, so everything. I satisfied all your fears in my last: all is +gone well, as you say; yet you are an impudent slut to be so positive; +you will swagger so upon your sagacity that we shall never have done. +Pray don't mislay your reply; I would certainly print it, if I had it +here: how long is it? I suppose half a sheet: was the answer written in +Ireland? Yes, yes, you shall have a letter when you come from Ballygall. +I need not tell you again who's out and who's in: we can never get out +the Duchess of Somerset.--So, they say Presto writ the Conduct, etc. Do +they like it? I don't care whether they do or no; but the resolutions +printed t'other day in the Votes are almost quotations from it, and +would never have passed if that book had not been written. I will not +meddle with the Spectator, let him fair-sex it to the world's end. +My disorder is over, but blood was not from the p-les.--Well, Madam +Dingley, the frost; why, we had a great frost, but I forget how long +ago; it lasted above a week or ten days: I believe about six weeks ago; +but it did not break so soon with us, I think, as December 29; yet I +think it was about that time, on second thoughts. MD can have no letter +from Presto, says you; and yet four days before you own you had my +thirty-seventh, unreasonable sluts! The Bishop of Gloucester is not +dead,(24) and I am as likely to succeed the Duke of Marlborough as him +if he were; there's enough for that now. It is not unlikely that the +Duke of Shrewsbury will be your Governor; at least I believe the Duke of +Ormond will not return.--Well, Stella again: why, really three editions +of the Conduct, etc., is very much for Ireland; it is a sign you have +some honest among you. Well; I will do Mr. Manley(25) all the service +I can; but he will ruin himself. What business had he to engage at all +about the City? Can't he wish his cause well, and be quiet, when he +finds that stirring will do it no good, and himself a great deal of +hurt? I cannot imagine who should open my letter: it must be done at +your side.--If I hear of any thoughts of turning out Mr. Manley, I will +endeavour to prevent it. I have already had all the gentlemen of Ireland +here upon my back often, for defending him. So now I have answered your +saucy letter. My humble service to Goody Stoyte and Catherine; I will +come soon for my dinner. + +9. Morning. My cold goes off at last; but I think I have got a small new +one. I have no news since last. They say we hear by the way of Calais, +that peace is very near concluding. I hope it may be true. I'll go and +seal up my letter, and give it myself to-night into the post-office; and +so I bid my dearest MD farewell till to-night. I heartily wish myself +with them, as hope saved. My willows, and quicksets, and trees, will be +finely improved, I hope, this year. It has been fine hard frosty weather +yesterday and to-day. Farewell, etc. etc. etc. + + + + +LETTER 41.(1) + +LONDON, Feb. 9, 1711-12. + +When my letter is gone, and I have none of yours to answer, my +conscience is so clear, and my shoulder so light, and I go on with such +courage to prate upon nothing to deerichar MD, oo would wonder. I dined +with Sir Matthew Dudley, who is newly turned out of Commission of +the Customs. He affects a good heart, and talks in the extremity of +Whiggery, which was always his principle, though he was gentle a little, +while he kept in employment. We can yet get no packets from Holland. I +have not been with any of the Ministry these two or three days. I keep +out of their way on purpose, for a certain reason, for some time, though +I must dine with the Secretary to-morrow, the choosing of the company +being left to me. I have engaged Lord Anglesea(2) and Lord Carteret,(3) +and have promised to get three more; but I have a mind that none else +should be admitted: however, if I like anybody at Court to-morrow, I may +perhaps invite them. I have got another cold, but not very bad. Nite. .. +MD. + +10. I saw Prince Eugene at Court to-day very plain; he's plaguy yellow, +and tolerably ugly besides. The Court was very full, and people had +their Birthday clothes. I dined with the Secretary to-day. I was to +invite five, but I only invited two, Lord Anglesea and Lord Carteret. +Pshaw, I told you this but yesterday. We have no packets from Holland +yet. Here are a parcel of drunken Whiggish lords, like your Lord +Santry,(4) who come into chocolate-houses and rail aloud at the Tories, +and have challenges sent them, and the next morning come and beg pardon. +General Ross(5) was like to swinge the Marquis of Winchester(6) for +this trick t'other day; and we have nothing else now to talk of till +the Parliament has had another bout with the state of the war, as they +intended in a few days. They have ordered the Barrier Treaty to be laid +before them; and it was talked some time ago, as if there was a design +to impeach Lord Townshend, who made it. I have no more politics now. +Nite dee MD. + +11. I dined with Lord Anglesea to-day, who had seven Irishmen to be my +companions, of which two only were coxcombs; one I did not know, and +t'other was young Blith,(7) who is a puppy of figure here, with a fine +chariot. He asked me one day at Court, when I had been just talking +with some lords who stood near me, "Doctor, when shall we see you in +the county of Meath?" I whispered him to take care what he said, for +the people would think he was some barbarian. He never would speak to +me since, till we met to-day. I went to Lady Masham's to-night, and sat +with Lord Treasurer and the Secretary there till past two o'clock; and +when I came home, found some letters from Ireland, which I read, but +can say nothing of them till to-morrow, 'tis so very late; but I(8) must +always be...,(9) late or early. Nite deelest sollahs.(10) + +12. One letter was from the Bishop of Clogher last night, and t'other +from Walls, about Mrs. South's(11) salary, and his own pension of 18 +pounds for his tithe of the park. I will do nothing in either; the first +I cannot serve in, and the other is a trifle; only you may tell him I +had his letter, and will speak to Ned Southwell about what he desires +me. You say nothing of your Dean's receiving my letter. I find +Clements,(12) whom I recommended to Lord Anglesea last year, at +Walls's desire, or rather the Bishop of Clogher's, is mightily in Lord +Anglesea's favour. You may tell the Bishop and Walls so; I said to Lord +Anglesea that I was (glad) I had the good luck to recommend him, etc. I +dined in the City with my printer, to consult with him about some papers +Lord Treasurer gave me last night, as he always does, too late; however, +I will do something with them. My third cold is a little better; I never +had anything like it before, three colds successively; I hope I shall +have the fourth.(13) Those messengers come from Holland to-day, and they +brought over the six packets that were due. I know not the particulars +yet, for when I was with the Secretary at noon they were just opening; +but one thing I find, that the Dutch are playing us tricks, and +tampering with the French; they are dogs; I shall know more tomollow... +MD.(14) + +13. I dined to-day privately with my friend Lewis, at his lodgings, to +consult about some observations on the Barrier Treaty. Our news from +Holland is not good. The French raise difficulties, and make such offers +to the Allies as cannot be accepted. And the Dutch are uneasy that we +are likely to get anything for ourselves; and the Whigs are glad at all +this. I came home early, and have been very busy three or four hours. I +had a letter from Dr. Pratt(15) to-day by a private hand, recommending +the bearer to me, for something that I shall not trouble myself about. +Wesley(16) writ to recommend the same fellow to me. His expression is +that, hearing I am acquainted with my Lord Treasurer, he desires I would +do so and so: a matter of nothing. What puppies are mankind! I hope +I shall be wiser when I have once done with Courts. I think you han't +troubled me much with your recommendations. I would do you all the +saavis(17) I could. + +Pray have you got your aplon,(18) maram Ppt? I paid for it but +yesterday; that puts me in mind of it. I writ an inventory of what +things I sent by Leigh in one of my letters; did you compare it with +what you got? I hear nothing of your cards now; do you never play? Yes, +at Ballygall. Go to bed. Nite, deelest MD.(19) + +14. Our Society dined to-day at Mr. Secretary's house. I went there at +four; but hearing the House of Commons would sit late upon the Barrier +Treaty, I went for an hour to Kensington, to see Lord Masham's children. +My young nephew,(20) his son of six months old, has got a swelling in +his neck; I fear it is the evil. We did not go to dinner till eight at +night, and I left them at ten. The Commons have been very severe on the +Barrier Treaty, as you will find by their votes. A Whig member took out +the Conduct of the Allies, and read that passage about the succession +with great resentment; but none seconded him. The Church party carried +every vote by a great majority. The A.B.(21) Dublin is so railed at by +all who come from Ireland that I can defend him no longer. Lord Anglesea +assured me that the story of applying Piso out of Tacitus(22) to Lord +Treasurer's being wounded is true. I believe the Duke of Beaufort will +be admitted to our Society next meeting. To-day I published the Fable +of Midas,(23) a poem, printed in a loose half-sheet of paper. I know not +how it will sell; but it passed wonderfully at our Society to-night; and +Mr. Secretary read it before me the other night to Lord Treasurer, at +Lord Masham's, where they equally approved of it. Tell me how it passes +with you. I think this paper is larger than ordinary; for here is six +days' journal, and no nearer the bottom. I fear these journals are very +dull. Nite my deelest lives. + +15. Mr. Lewis and I dined by invitation with a Scotch acquaintance, +after I had been very busy in my chamber till two afternoon. My third +cold is now very troublesome on my breast, especially in the morning. +This is a great revolution in my health; colds never used to return so +soon with me, or last so long. 'Tis very surprising this news to-day of +the Dauphin and Dauphiness both dying within six days. They say the old +King is almost heart-broke. He has had prodigious mortifications in his +family. The Dauphin has left two little sons, of four and two years old; +the eldest is sick. There is a foolish story got about the town that +Lord Strafford, one of our Plenipotentiaries, is in the interests of +France; and it has been a good while said that Lord Privy Seal(24) and +he do not agree very well. They are both long practised in business, but +neither of them of much parts. Strafford has some life and spirit, but +is infinitely proud, and wholly illiterate. Nite, MD. + +16. I dined to-day in the City with my printer, to finish something I +am doing about the Barrier Treaty;(25) but it is not quite done. I went +this evening to Lord Masham's, where Lord Treasurer sat with us till +past twelve. The Lords have voted an Address to the Queen, to tell +her they are not satisfied with the King of France's offers. The Whigs +brought it in of a sudden; and the Court could not prevent it, and +therefore did not oppose it. The House of Lords is too strong in Whigs, +notwithstanding the new creations; for they are very diligent, and the +Tories as lazy: the side that is down has always most industry. The +Whigs intended to have made a vote that would reflect on Lord Treasurer; +but their project was not ripe. I hit my face such a rap by calling the +coach to stop to-night, that it is plaguy sore, the bone beneath the +eye. Nite dee logues. + +17. The Court was mighty full to-day, and has been these many Sundays; +but the Queen was not at chapel. She has got a little fit of the gout +in her foot. The good of going to Court is that one sees all one's +acquaintance, whom otherwise I should hardly meet twice a year. Prince +Eugene dines with the Secretary to-day, with about seven or eight +General Officers, or foreign Ministers. They will be all drunk, I am +sure. I never was in company with this Prince: I have proposed to some +lords that we should have a sober meal with him; but I can't compass +it. It is come over in the Dutch news prints that I was arrested on an +action of twenty thousand pounds by the Duke of Marlborough. I did not +like my Court invitation to-day; so Sir Andrew Fountaine and I went and +dined with Mrs. Van. I came home at six, and have been very busy till +this minute, and it is past twelve. So I got into bed to write to MD... +MD.(26) We reckon the Dauphin's death will put forward the peace a good +deal. Pray is Dr. Griffith(27) reconciled to me yet? Have I done enough +to soften him?... (28) Nite deelest logues. + +18. Lewis had Guiscard's picture: he bought it, and offered it to Lord +Treasurer, who promised to send for it, but never did; so I made Lewis +give it me, and I have it in my room; and now Lord Treasurer says he +will take it from me: is that fair? He designs to have it at length in +the clothes he was when he did the action, and a penknife in his hand; +and Kneller is to copy it from this that I have. I intended to dine with +Lord Treasurer to-day, but he has put me off till to-morrow; so I dined +with Lord Dupplin. You know Lord Dupplin very well; he is a brother +of the Society. Well, but I have received a letter from the Bishop of +Cloyne, to solicit an affair for him with Lord Treasurer, and with the +Parliament, which I will do as soon as fly. I am not near so keen about +other people's affairs as... (29) Ppt used to reproach me about; it was +a judgment on me. Harkee, idle dearees both, meetinks I begin to want +a rettle flom(30) MD: faith, and so I do. I doubt you have been in pain +about the report of my being arrested. The pamphleteers have let me +alone this month, which is a great wonder: only the third part of the +Answer to the Conduct, which is lately come out. (Did I tell you of it +already?) The House of Commons goes on in mauling the late Ministry and +their proceedings. Nite deelest MD.(31) + +19. I dined with Lord Treasurer to-day, and sat with him till ten, in +spite of my teeth, though my printer waited for me to correct a sheet. +I told him of four lines I writ extempore with my pencil, on a bit +of paper in his house, while he lay wounded. Some of the servants, I +suppose, made waste-paper of them, and he never had heard of them. Shall +I tell them you? They were inscribed to Mr. Harley's physician. Thus + + On Britain Europe's safety lies;(32) + Britain is lost, if Harley dies. + Harley depends upon your skill: + Think what you save, or what you kill. + +Are not they well enough to be done off-hand; for that is the meaning +of the word extempore, which you did not know, did you? I proposed that +some company should dine with him on the 8th of March, which was the day +he was wounded, but he says he designs that the Lords of the Cabinet, +who then sat with him, should dine that day with him:(33) however, he +has invited me too. I am not got rid of my cold; it plagues me in the +morning chiefly. Nite, MD, + +20. After waiting to catch the Secretary coming out from Sir Thomas +Hanmer, for two hours, in vain, about some business, I went into the +City to my printer, to correct some sheets of the Barrier Treaty and +Remarks, which must be finished to-morrow: I have been horrible busy for +some days past, with this and some other things; and I wanted some very +necessary papers, which the Secretary was to give me, and the pamphlet +must now be published without them. But they are all busy too. +Sir Thomas Hanmer is Chairman of the Committee for drawing up a +Representation of the state of the nation(34) to the Queen, where all +the wrong steps of the Allies and late Ministry about the war will be +mentioned. The Secretary, I suppose, was helping him about it to-day; I +believe it will be a pepperer. Nite, deel MD. + +21. I have been six hours to-day morning writing nineteen pages of a +letter to Lord Treasurer, about forming a Society or Academy to correct +and fix the English language.(35) (Is English a speech or a language?) +It will not be above five or six more. I will send it to him to-morrow, +and will print it, if he desires me. I dined, you know, with our Society +to-day: Thursday is our day. We had a new member admitted; it was the +Duke of Beaufort. We had thirteen met: brother Ormond was not there, but +sent his excuse that Prince Eugene dined with him. I left them at seven, +being engaged to go to Sir Thomas Hanmer, who desired I would see him at +that hour. His business was that I would hoenlbp ihainm itavoi dsroanws +ubpl tohne sroegporaensiepnotlastoigobn,(36) which I consented to do; +but know not whether I shall succeed, because it is a little out of my +way. However, I have taken my share. Nite, MD. + +22. I finished the rest of my letter to Lord Treasurer today, and sent +it to him about one o'clock; and then dined privately with my friend Mr. +Lewis, to talk over some affairs of moment. I had gotten the thirteenth +volume of Rymer's Collection of the Records of the Tower for the +University of Dublin.(37) I have two volumes now. I will write to the +Provost, to know how I shall send them to him; no, I won't, for I will +bring them myself among my own books. I was with Hanmer this morning, +and there were the Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer(38) very +busy with him, laying their heads together about the representation. I +went to Lord Masham's to-night, and Lady Masham made me read to her a +pretty twopenny pamphlet, called The St. Albans Ghost.(39) I thought I +had writ it myself; so did they; but I did not. Lord Treasurer came down +to us from the Queen, and we stayed till two o'clock. That is the best +night-place I have. The usual(40) company are Lord and Lady Masham, Lord +Treasurer, Dr. Arbuthnot, and I; sometimes the Secretary, and sometimes +Mrs. Hill of the bed-chamber, Lady Masham's sister. I assure oo, it im +vely rate now; but zis goes to-morrow: and I must have time to converse +with own richar MD. Nite, deelest sollahs.(41) + +23. I have no news to tell you this last day, nor do I know where I +shall dine. I hear the Secretary is a little out of order; perhaps I may +dine there, perhaps not. I sent Hanmer what he wanted from me, I know +not how he will approve of it. I was to do more of the same sort; I am +going out, and must carry zis in my pottick to give it at some general +post-house. I will talk further with oo at night. I suppose in my next +I shall answer a letter from MD that will be sent me. On Tuesday it will +be four weeks since I had your last, N.26. This day se'nnight I expect +one, for that will be something more than a full month. Farewell, MD... +deelest... MD MD MD... ME ME ME... logues... lele.(42) + + + + +LETTER 42.(1) + +LONDON, Feb. 23, 1711-12. + +After having disposed my last letter in the post-office, I am now to +begin this with telling MD that I dined with the Secretary to-day, +who is much out of order with a cold, and feverish; yet he went to the +Cabinet Council tonight at six, against my will. The Secretary is much +the greatest commoner in England, and turns the whole Parliament, who +can do nothing without him; and if he lives and has his health, will, +I believe, be one day at the head of affairs. I have told him sometimes +that, if I were a dozen years younger, I would cultivate his favour, +and trust my fortune with his. But what care oo for all this? I am sorry +when I came first acquainted with this Ministry that I did not send you +their names and characters, and then you would have relished what(2) +I would have writ, especially if I had let you into the particulars of +affairs: but enough of this. Nite, deelest logues. + +24. I went early this morning to the Secretary, who is not yet well. +Sir Thomas Hanmer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer came while I was +there, and he would not let me stir; so I did not go to church, but was +busy with them till noon, about the affair I told you in my last. The +other two went away; and I dined with the Secretary, and found my head +very much out of order, but no absolute fit; and I have not been well +all this day. It has shook me a little. I sometimes sit up very late +at Lord Masham's, and have writ much for several days past: but I will +amend both; for I have now very little business, and hope I shall have +no more, and I am resolved to be a great rider this summer in Ireland. +I was to see Mrs. Wesley this evening, who has been somewhat better for +this month past, and talks of returning to the Bath in a few weeks. Our +peace goes on but slowly; the Dutch are playing tricks, and we do not +push it strongly as we ought. The fault of our Court is delay, of which +the Queen has a great deal; and Lord Treasurer is not without his share. +But pay richar MD ret us know a little of your life and tonvelsasens.(3) +Do you play at ombre, or visit the Dean, and Goody Walls and Stoytes and +Manleys, as usual? I must have a letter from oo, to fill the other side +of this sheet. Let me know what you do. Is my aunt alive yet? + +Oh, pray, now I think of it, be so kind to step to my aunt, and take +notice of my great-grandfather's picture; you know he has a ring on his +finger, with a seal of an anchor and dolphin about it; but I think +there is besides, at the bottom of the picture, the same coat of arms +quartered with another, which I suppose was my great-grandmother's. +If this be so, it is a stronger argument than the seal. And pray see +whether you think that coat of arms was drawn at the same time with +the picture, or whether it be of a later hand; and ask my aunt what +she knows about it. But perhaps there is no such coat of arms on the +picture, and I only dreamed it. My reason is, because I would ask some +herald here, whether I should choose that coat, or one in Guillim's +large folio of heraldry,(4) where my uncle Godwin is named with another +coat of arms of three stags. This is sad stuff to rite; so nite, MD. + +25. I was this morning again with the Secretary, and we were two hours +busy; and then went together to the Park, Hyde Park, I mean; and he +walked to cure his cold, and we were looking at two Arabian horses sent +some time ago to Lord Treasurer.(5) The Duke of Marlborough's coach +overtook us, with his Grace and Lord Godolphin in it; but they did not +see us, to our great satisfaction; for neither of us desired that either +of those two lords should see us together. There was half a dozen ladies +riding like cavaliers to take the air. My head is better to-day. I dined +with the Secretary; but we did no business after dinner, and at six I +walked into the fields; the days are grown pure and long; then I went to +visit Perceval(6) and his family, whom I had seen but twice since they +came to town. They too are going to the Bath next month. Countess Doll +of Meath(7) is such an owl that, wherever I visit, people are asking +me whether I know such an Irish lady, and her figure and her foppery? I +came home early, and have been amusing myself with looking into one of +Rymer's volumes of the Records of the Tower, and am mighty easy to think +I have no urgent business upon my hands. My third cold is not yet off; I +sometimes cough, and am not right with it in the morning. Did I tell you +that I believe it is Lady Masham's hot room that gives it me? I never +knew such a stove; and in my conscience I believe both my lord and she, +my Lord Treasurer, Mr. Secretary, and myself have all suffered by it. We +have all had colds together, but I walk home on foot. Nite dee logues. + +26. I was again busy with the Secretary.(8) We read over some papers, +and did a good deal of business; and I dined with him, and we were to +do more business after dinner; but after dinner is after dinner--an old +saying and a true, "much drinking, little thinking." We had company with +us, and nothing could be done, and I am to go there again to-morrow. +I have now nothing to do; and the Parliament, by the Queen's +recommendation, is to take some method for preventing libels, etc., +which will include pamphlets, I suppose. I don't know what method they +will take, but it comes on in a day or two. To-day in the morning I +visited upwards: first I saw the Duke of Ormond below stairs, and gave +him joy of his being declared General in Flanders; then I went up one +pair of stairs, and sat with the Duchess; then I went up another pair of +stairs, and paid a visit to Lady Betty; and desired her woman to go +up to the garret, that I might pass half an hour with her, but she was +young and handsome, and would not. The Duke is our President this week, +and I have bespoke a small dinner on purpose, for good example. Nite mi +deelest logues. + +27. I was again with the Secretary this morning; but we only read over +some papers with Sir Thomas Hanmer; then I called at Lord Treasurer's; +it was his levee-day, but I went up to his bed-chamber, and said what +I had to say. I came down and peeped in at the chamber, where a hundred +fools were waiting, and two streets were full of coaches. I dined in the +City with my printer,(9) and came back at six to Lord Treasurer, who had +invited me to dinner, but I refused him. I sat there an hour or two, and +then went to Lord Masham's. They were all abroad: so truly I came, and +read whatever stuff was next me. I can sit and be idle now, which I have +not been above a year past. However, I will stay out the session, to see +if they have any further commands for me, and that, I suppose, will end +in April. But I may go somewhat before, for I hope all will be ended +by then, and we shall have either a certain peace, or certain war. The +Ministry is contriving new funds for money by lotteries, and we go on as +if the war were to continue, but I believe it will not. 'Tis pretty late +now, ung oomens; so I bid oo nite, own dee dallars. + +28. I have been packing up some books in a great box I have bought, and +must buy another for clothes and luggage. This is a beginning towards +a removal. I have sent to Holland for a dozen shirts, and design to buy +another new gown and hat. I will come over like a zinkerman,(10) and +lay out nothing in clothes in Ireland this good while. I have writ +this night to the Provost. Our Society met to-day as usual, and we were +fourteen, beside the Earl of Arran,(11) whom his brother, the Duke of +Ormond, brought among us against all order. We were mightily shocked; +but, after some whispers, it ended in choosing Lord Arran one of our +Society, which I opposed to his face, but it was carried by all the rest +against me. + +29. This is leap year, and this is leap day. Prince George was born on +this day. People are mistaken; and some here think it is St. David's +Day; but they do not understand the virtue of leap year. I have nothing +to do now, boys, and have been reading all this day like Gumdragon; and +yet I was dictating some trifles this morning to a printer. I dined with +a friend hard by, and the weather was so discouraging I could not walk. +I came home early, and have read two hundred pages of Arran. Alexander +the Great is just dead: I do not think he was poisoned; betwixt you and +me, all those are but idle stories: it is certain that neither Ptolemy +nor Aristobulus thought so, and they were both with him when he(12) +died. It is a pity we have not their histories. The Bill for limiting +Members of Parliament to have but so many places passed the House of +Commons, and will pass the House of Lords, in spite of the Ministry, +which you know is a great lessening of the Queen's power. Four of the +new lords voted against the Court in this point. It is certainly a good +Bill in the reign of an ill prince, but I think things are not settled +enough for it at present. And the Court may want a majority upon a +pinch. Nite deelest logues. Rove Pdfr. + +March 1. I went into the City to inquire after poor Stratford,(13) who +has put himself a prisoner into the Queen's Bench, for which his friends +blame him much, because his creditors designed to be very easy with him. +He grasped at too many things together, and that was his ruin. There +is one circumstance relative to Lieutenant-General Meredith(14) that +is very melancholy: Meredith was turned out of all his employments +last year, and had about 10,000 pounds left to live on. Stratford, upon +friendship, desired he might have the management of it for Meredith, to +put it into the stocks and funds for the best advantage, and now he +has lost it all. You have heard me often talk of Stratford; we were +class-fellows at school and university. I dined with some merchants, +his friends, to-day, and they said they expected his breaking this good +while. I gave him notice of a treaty of peace, while it was a secret, of +which he might have made good use, but that helped to ruin him; for he +gave money, reckoning there would be actually a peace by this time, and +consequently stocks rise high. Ford narrowly 'scaped losing 500 pounds +by him, and so did I too. Nite, my two deelest rives MD. + +2. Morning. I was wakened at three this morning, my man and the people +of the house telling me of a great fire in the Haymarket. I slept again, +and two hours after my man came in again, and told me it was my poor +brother Sir William Wyndham's(15) house burnt, and that two maids, +leaping out of an upper room to avoid the fire, both fell on their +heads, one of them upon the iron spikes before the door, and both lay +dead in the streets. It is supposed to have been some carelessness of +one or both those maids. The Duke of Ormond was there helping to put +out the fire. Brother Wyndham gave 6,000 pounds but a few months ago +for that house, as he told me, and it was very richly furnished. I shall +know more particulars at night. He married Lady Catherine Seymour, +the Duke of Somerset's daughter; you know her, I believe.--At night. +Wyndham's young child escaped very narrowly; Lady Catherine escaped +barefoot; they all went to Northumberland House. Mr. Brydges's(16) +house, at next door, is damaged much, and was like to be burnt. Wyndham +has lost above 10,000 pounds by this accident; his lady above a thousand +pounds worth of clothes. It was a terrible accident. He was not at Court +to-day. I dined with Lord Masham. The Queen was not at church. Nite, MD. + +3. Pray tell Walls that I spoke to the Duke of Ormond and Mr. Southwell +about his friend's affair, who, I find, needed not me for a solicitor, +for they both told me the thing would be done. I likewise mentioned +his own affair to Mr. Southwell, and I hope that will be done too, for +Southwell seems to think it reasonable, and I will mind him of it again. +Tell him this nakedly. You need not know the particulars. They are +secrets: one of them is about Mrs. South having a pension; the other +about his salary from the Government for the tithes of the park that lie +in his parish, to be put upon the establishment, but oo must not know +zees sings, zey are secrets; and we must keep them flom nauty dallars. +I dined in the City with my printer, with whom I had some small affair; +but I have no large work on my hands now. I was with Lord Treasurer this +morning, and hat(17) care oo for zat? Oo dined with the Dean to-day. +Monday is parson's holiday, and oo lost oo money at cards and dice; ze +Givars(18) device. So I'll go to bed. Nite, my two deelest logues. + +4. I sat to-day with poor Mrs. Wesley, who made me dine with her. She +is much better than she was. I heartily pray for her health, out of +the entire love I bear to her worthy husband. This day has passed very +insignificantly. But it is a great comfort to me now that I can come +home and read, and have nothing upon my hands to write. I was at Lord +Masham's to-night, and stayed there till one. Lord Treasurer was there; +but I thought, I thought he looked melancholy, just as he did at the +beginning of the session, and he was not so merry as usual. In short, +the majority in the House of Lords is a very weak one: and he has much +ado to keep it up; and he is not able to make those removes he would, +and oblige his friends; and I doubt too(19) he does not take care enough +about it, or rather cannot do all himself, and will not employ others: +which is his great fault, as I have often told you. 'Tis late. Nite, MD. + +5. I wish you a merry Lent. I hate Lent; I hate different diets, and +furmity and butter, and herb porridge; and sour devout faces of people +who only put on religion for seven weeks. I was at the Secretary's +office this morning; and there a gentleman brought me two letters, dated +last October; one from the Bishop of Clogher, t'other from Walls. The +gentleman is called Colonel Newburgh.(20) I think you mentioned him to +me some time ago; he has business in the House of Lords. I will do +him what service I can. The Representation of the House of Commons is +printed:(21) I have not seen it yet; it is plaguy severe, they say. I +dined with Dr. Arbuthnot, and had a true Lenten dinner, not in point of +victuals, but spleen; for his wife and a child or two were sick in the +house, and that was full as mortifying as fish. We have had fine mighty +cold frosty weather for some days past. I hope you take the advantage +of it, and walk now and then. You never answer that part of my letters +where I desire you to walk. I must keep my breath to cool my Lenten +porridge. Tell Jemmy Leigh that his boy that robbed him now appears +about the town: Patrick has seen him once or twice. I knew nothing of +his being robbed till Patrick told me he had seen the boy. I wish it +had been Sterne that had been robbed, to be revenged for the box that he +lost,(22) and be p-xed to him. Nite, MD. + +6. I hear Mr. Prior has suffered by Stratford's breaking. I was +yesterday to see Prior, who is not well, and I thought he looked +melancholy. He can ill afford to lose money. I walked before dinner +in the Mall a good while with Lord Arran and Lord Dupplin, two of my +brothers, and then we went to dinner, where the Duke of Beaufort was our +President. We were but eleven to-day. We are now in all nine lords and +ten commoners. The Duke of Beaufort had the confidence to propose his +brother-in-law, the Earl of Danby,(23) to be a member; but I opposed +it so warmly that it was waived. Danby is not above twenty, and we will +have no more boys, and we want but two to make up our number. I stayed +till eight, and then we all went away soberly. The Duke of Ormond's +treat last week cost 20 pounds, though it was only four dishes and four, +without a dessert; and I bespoke it in order to be cheap. Yet I could +not prevail to change the house. Lord Treasurer is in a rage with us for +being so extravagant: and the wine was not reckoned neither; for that +is always brought by him that is President. Lord Orrery(24) is to be +President next week; and I will see whether it cannot be cheaper; or +else we will leave the house...(25) Lord Masham made me go home with him +to-night to eat boiled oysters. Take oysters, wash them clean; that is, +wash their shells clean; then put your oysters into an earthen pot, +with their hollow sides down, then put this pot into a great kettle +with water, and so let them boil. Your oysters are boiled in their own +liquor, and not mixed water. Lord Treasurer was not with us; he was very +ill to-day with a swimming in the head, and is gone home to be cupped, +and sent to desire Lady Masham to excuse him to the Queen. Nite, dee MD. + +7. I was to-day at the House of Lords about a friend's Bill. Then I +crossed the water at Westminster Stairs to Southwark, went through St. +George's Fields to the Mint, which is the dominion of the King's(26) +Bench Prison, where Stratford lodges in a blind alley, and writ to me to +come to him; but he was gone to the 'Change. I thought he had +something to say to me about his own affairs. I found him at his usual +coffee-house, and went to his own lodgings, and dined with him and +his wife, and other company. His business was only to desire I would +intercede with the Ministry about his brother-in-law, Ben Burton,(27) +of Dublin, the banker, who is likely to come into trouble, as we hear, +about spreading false Whiggish news. I hate Burton, and told Stratford +so; and I will advise the Duke of Ormond to make use of it, to keep +the rogue in awe. Mrs. Stratford tells me her husband's creditors have +consented to give him liberty to get up his debts abroad; and she hopes +he will pay them all. He was cheerfuller than I have seen him this great +while. I have walked much today.--Night, deelest logues. + +8. This day twelvemonth Mr. Harley was stabbed; but he is ill, and takes +physic to-day, I hear ('tis now morning), and cannot have the Cabinet +Council with him, as he intended, nor me to say grace. I am going to see +him. Pray read the Representation; 'tis the finest that ever was writ. +Some of it is Pdfr's style, but not very much. This is the day of the +Queen's accession to the Crown; so it is a great day. I am going to +Court, and will dine with Lord Masham; but I must go this moment to see +the Secretary about some businesses; so I will seal up this, and put +it in the post my own self. Farewell, deelest hearts and souls, MD. +Farewell MD MD MD FW FW FW ME ME Lele Lele Lele Sollahs lele. + + + + +LETTER 43.(1) + +LONDON, March 8, 1711-12. + +I carried my forty-second letter in my pocket till evening, and then put +it in the general post.--I went in the morning to see Lord Treasurer, +who had taken physic, and was drinking his broth. I had been with +the Secretary before, to recommend a friend, one Dr. Freind,(2) to +be Physician-General; and the Secretary promised to mention it to the +Queen. I can serve everybody but myself. Then I went to Court, and +carried Lord Keeper and the Secretary to dine with Lord Masham, when we +drank the Queen and Lord Treasurer with every health, because this was +the day of his stabbing.--Then I went and played pools at picquet with +Lady Masham and Mrs. Hill; won ten shillings, gave a crown to the +box, and came home. I met at my lodgings a letter from Joe, with a bit +annexed from Ppt. What Joe asks is entirely out of my way, and I take it +for a foolish whim in him. Besides, I know not who is to give a patent: +if the Duke of Ormond, I would speak to him; and if it come in my head +I will mention it to Ned Southwell. They have no patents that I know +of for such things here, but good security is all; and to think that I +would speak to Lord Treasurer for any such matter at random is a jest. +Did I tell you of a race of rakes, called the Mohocks,(3) that play the +devil about this town every night, slit people's noses, and beat them, +etc.? Nite, sollahs, and rove Pdfr. Nite, MD. + +9. I was at Court to-day, and nobody invited me to dinner, except one or +two, whom I did not care to dine with; so I dined with Mrs. Van. Young +Davenant(4) was telling us at Court how he was set upon by the Mohocks, +and how they ran his chair through with a sword. It is not safe being in +the streets at night for them. The Bishop of Salisbury's son(5) is said +to be of the gang. They are all Whigs; and a great lady sent to me, to +speak to her father and to Lord Treasurer, to have a care of them, +and to be careful likewise of myself; for she heard they had malicious +intentions against the Ministers and their friends. I know not whether +there be anything in this, though others are of the same opinion. The +weather still continues very fine and frosty. I walked in the Park this +evening, and came home early to avoid the Mohocks. Lord Treasurer is +better. Nite, my own two deelest MD. + +10. I went this morning again to the Lord Treasurer, who is quite +recovered; and I stayed till he went out. I dined with a friend in the +City, about a little business of printing; but not my own. You must buy +a small twopenny pamphlet, called Law is a Bottomless Pit.(6) 'Tis very +prettily written, and there will be a Second Part. The Commons are very +slow in bringing in their Bill to limit the press, and the pamphleteers +make good use of their time; for there come out three or four every day. +Well, but is not it time, methinks, to have a letter from MD? 'Tis +now six weeks since I had your Number 26. I can assure oo I expect +one before this goes; and I'll make shorter day's journals than usual, +'cause I hope to fill up a good deal of t'other side with my answer. +Our fine weather lasts yet, but grows a little windy. We shall have rain +soon, I dispose. Go to cards, sollahs, and I to seep. Nite, MD. + +11. Lord Treasurer has lent the long letter I writ him(7) to Prior, and +I can't get Prior to return it. I want to have it printed, and to make +up this Academy for the improvement of our language. Faith, we never +shall improve it so much as FW has done; sall we? No, faith, ourrichar +gangridge.(8) I dined privately with my friend Lewis, and then went to +see Ned Southwell, and talk with him about Walls's business, and Mrs. +South's. The latter will be done; but his own not. Southwell tells +me that it must be laid before Lord Treasurer, and the nature of it +explained, and a great deal of clutter, which is not worth the while; +and maybe Lord Treasurer won't do it (at) last; and it is, as Walls +says himself, not above forty shillings a year difference. You must tell +Walls this, unless he would have the business a secret from you: in +that case only say I did all I could with Ned Southwell, and it can't be +done; for it must be laid before Lord Treasurer, etc., who will not do +it; and besides, it is not worth troubling his lordship. So nite, my two +deelest nuntyes nine MD.(9) + +12. Here is the D---- and all to do with these Mohocks. Grub Street +papers about them fly like lightning, and a list printed of near eighty +put into several prisons, and all a lie; and I begin almost to think +there is no truth, or very little, in the whole story. He that abused +Davenant was a drunken gentleman; none of that gang. My man tells me +that one of the lodgers heard in a coffee-house, publicly, that one +design of the Mohocks was upon me, if they could catch me; and though I +believe nothing of it, I forbear walking late, and they have put me to +the charge of some shillings already. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer +and two gentlemen of the Highlands of Scotland, yet very polite men. +I sat there till nine, and then went to Lord Masham's, where Lord +Treasurer followed me, and we sat till twelve; and I came home in a +chair for fear of the Mohocks, and I have given him warning of it +too. Little Harrison,(10) whom I sent to Holland, is now actually made +Queen's Secretary at The Hague. It will be in the Gazette to-morrow. +'Tis worth twelve hundred pounds a year. Here is a young fellow has writ +some Sea Eclogues, poems of Mermen, resembling pastorals of shepherds, +and they are very pretty, and the thought is new. Mermen are +he-mermaids; Tritons, natives of the sea. Do you understand me? I think +to recommend him to our Society to-morrow. His name is Diaper.(11) P-- +on him, I must do something for him, and get him out of the way. I hate +to have any new wits rise, but when they do rise I would encourage them; +but they tread on our heels and thrust us off the stage. Nite deelest +MD. + +13. You would laugh to see our printer constantly attending our Society +after dinner, and bringing us whatever new thing he has printed, which +he seldom fails to do. Yet he had nothing to-day. Lord Lansdowne, one of +our Society, was offended at a passage in this day's Examiner, which he +thinks reflects on him, as I believe it does, though in a mighty civil +way. 'Tis only that his underlings cheat; but that he is a very fine +gentleman every way, etc.(12) Lord Orrery was President to-day; but +both our dukes were absent. Brother Wyndham recommended Diaper to the +Society. I believe we shall make a contribution among ourselves, which I +don't like. Lord Treasurer has yet done nothing for us, but we shall try +him soon. The company parted early, but Freind, and Prior, and I, sat a +while longer and reformed the State, and found fault with the Ministry. +Prior hates his Commission of the Customs, because it spoils his wit. He +says he dreams of nothing but cockets,(13) and dockets, and drawbacks, +and other jargon words of the custom-house. Our good weather went away +yesterday, and the nights are now dark, and I came home before ten. +Night nown... deelest sollahs. + +14. I have been plagued this morning with solicitors, and with nobody +more than my brother, Dr. Freind, who must needs have to get old Dr. +Lawrence,(14) the Physician-General, turned out and himself in. He has +argued with me so long upon the reasonableness of it, that I am fully +convinced it is very unreasonable; and so I would tell the Secretary, if +I had not already made him speak to the Queen. Besides, I know not but +my friend Dr. Arbuthnot would be content to have it himself, and I love +him ten times better than Freind. What's all this to you? but I must +talk of things as they happen in the day, whether you know anything +of them or no. I dined in the City, and, coming back, one Parson +Richardson(15) of Ireland overtook me. He was here last summer upon +a project of converting the Irish and printing Bibles, etc., in +that language, and is now returned to pursue it on. He tells me Dr. +Coghill(16) came last night (to) town. I will send to see how he does +to-morrow. He gave me a letter from Walls about his old business. Nite, +deelest MD. + +15. I had intended to be early with the Secretary this morning, when my +man admitted upstairs one Mr. Newcomb,(17) an officer, who brought me a +letter from the Bishop of Clogher, with four lines added by Mrs. Ashe, +all about that Newcomb. I think, indeed, his case is hard, but God +knows whether I shall be able to do him any service. People will +not understand: I am a very good second, but I care not to begin a +recommendation, unless it be for an intimate friend. However, I will do +what I can. I missed the Secretary, and then walked to Chelsea to dine +with the Dean of Christ Church,(18) who was engaged to Lord Orrery with +some other Christ Church men. He made me go with him whether I would or +not, for they have this long time admitted me a Christ Church man. +Lord Orrery, generally every winter, gives his old acquaintance of that +college a dinner. There were nine clergymen at table, and four laymen. +The Dean and I soon left them, and after a visit or two, I went to Lord +Masham's, and Lord Treasurer, Arbuthnot and I sat till twelve. And now I +am come home and got to bed. I came afoot, but had my man with me. Lord +Treasurer advised me not to go in a chair, because the Mohocks insult +chairs more than they do those on foot. They think there is some +mischievous design in those villains. Several of them, Lord Treasurer +told me, are actually taken up. I heard at dinner that one of them was +killed last night. We shall know more in a little time. I don't like +them, as the men said.(19) Nite MD. + +16. This morning, at the Secretary's, I met General Ross,(20) and +recommended Newcomb's case to him, who promises to join with me +in working up the Duke of Ormond to do something for him. Lord +Winchelsea(21) told me to-day at Court that two of the Mohocks caught +a maid of old Lady Winchelsea's,(22) at the door of their house in the +Park, where she was with a candle, and had just lighted out somebody. +They cut all her face, and beat her without any provocation. I hear my +friend Lewis has got a Mohock in one of the messenger's hands. The Queen +was at church to-day, but was carried in an open chair. She has got an +ugly cough, Arbuthnot, her physician, says. I dined with Crowe,(23) late +Governor of Barbados; an acquaintance of Sterne's.(24) After dinner I +asked him whether he had heard of Sterne. "Here he is," said he, "at the +door in a coach:" and in came Sterne. He has been here this week. He is +buying a captainship in his cousin Sterne's(25) regiment. He told me he +left Jemmy Leigh playing at cards with you. He is to give 800 guineas +for his commission. I suppose you know all this better than I. How shall +I have room to answer oo rettle(26) hen I get it, I have gone so far +already? Nite, deelest logues MD. + +17. Dr. Sacheverell came this morning to give me thanks for getting his +brother an employment. It was but six or seven weeks since I spoke to +Lord Treasurer for him. Sacheverell brought Trapp(27) along with him. We +dined together at my printer's, and I sat with them till seven. I little +thought, and I believe so did he, that ever I should be his solicitor +to the present Ministry, when I left Ireland. This is the seventh I have +now provided for since I came, and can do nothing for myself. I don't +care; I shall have Ministries and other people obliged to me. Trapp is a +coxcomb, and the t'other is not very deep; and their judgment in things +of wit or sense is miraculous. The Second Part of Law is a Bottomless +Pit(28) is just now printed, and better, I think, than the first. Night, +my two deel saucy dallars. + +18. There is a proclamation out against the Mohocks. One of those that +are taken is a baronet. I dined with poor Mrs. Wesley, who is returning +to the Bath. Mrs. Perceval's(29) young daughter has got the smallpox, +but will do well. I walked this evening in the Park, and met Prior, who +made me go home with him, where I stayed till past twelve, and could not +get a coach, and was alone, and was afraid enough of the Mohocks. I +will do so no more, though I got home safe. Prior and I were talking +discontentedly of some managements, that no more people are turned out, +which get Lord Treasurer many enemies: but whether the fault be in him, +or the Queen, I know not; I doubt, in both. Ung omens, it is now seven +weeks since I received your last; but I expect one next Irish packet, to +fill the rest of this paper; but if it don't come, I'll do without it: +so I wish oo good luck at ombre with the Dean. Nite, nuntyes nine.(30) + +19. Newcomb came to me this morning, and I went to the Duke of Ormond +to speak for him; but the Duke was just going out to take the oaths for +General. The Duke of Shrewsbury is to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. I +walked with Domville and Ford to Kensington, where we dined, and it +cost me above a crown. I don't like it, as the man said.(31) It was +very windy walking. I saw there Lord Masham's children. The youngest, my +nephew, I fear, has got the king's evil; the other two are daughters of +three and four years old. 'Twas very windy walking. The gardens there +are mighty fine. I passed the evening at Lord Masham's with Lord +Treasurer and Arbuthnot, as usual, and we stayed till past one; but I +had my man to come with me, and at home I found three letters; one from +one Fetherston, a parson, with a postscript of Tisdall's to recommend +him: and Fetherston, whom I never saw, has been so kind to give me +a letter of attorney to recover a debt for him. Another from Lord +Abercorn, to get him the dukedom of Chatelherault(32) from the King +of France; in which I will do what I can, for his pretensions are very +just. The third, I warrant you, from our MD. 'Tis a great stir this, of +getting a dukedom from the King of France: but it is only to speak to +the Secretary, and get the Duke of Ormond to engage in it, and mention +the case to Lord Treasurer, etc., and this I shall do. Nite deelest +richar MD. + +20. I was with the Duke of Ormond this morning, about Lord Abercorn, Dr. +Freind, and Newcomb. Some will do, and some will not do; that's wise, +marams.(33) The Duke of Shrewsbury is certainly to be your Governor. +I will go in a day or two, and give the Duchess joy, and recommend the +Archbishop of Dublin to her. I writ to the Archbishop, some months ago, +that it would be so, and told him I would speak a good word for him to +the Duchess; and he says he has a great respect for her, etc. I made our +Society change their house, and we met to-day at the Star and Garter +in the Pall Mall. Lord Arran was President. The other dog was so +extravagant in his bills, that for four dishes and four, first and +second course, without wine or dessert, he charged twenty-one pounds, +six shillings, and eightpence, to the Duke of Ormond. We design, when +all have been Presidents this turn, to turn it into a reckoning of so +much a head; but we shall break up when the session ends. Nite deelest +MD. + +21. Morning. Now I will answer MD's rettle, N.27; you that are adding +to your number and grumbling, had made it 26, and then altered(34) it +to 27. I believe it is above a month since your last; yes, it is above +seven weeks since I had your last: but I ought to consider that this +was twelve days right,(35) so that makes it pretty even. O, the sirry +zade,(36) with her excuses of a fortnight at Ballygall, seeing their +friends, and landlord running away. O Rold, hot a cruttle(37) and a +bustle!--No--if you will have it--I am not Dean of Wells,(38) nor know +anything of being so; nor is there anything in the story; and that's +enough. It was not Roper(39) sent that news: Roper is my humble +slave.--Yes, I heard of your resolves, and that Burton was embroiled. +Stratford spoke to me in his behalf; but I said I hated the rascal. Poor +Catherine gone to Wales? But she will come back again, I hope. I would +see her in my journey, if she were near the road; and bring her over. +Joe(40) is a fool; that sort of business is not at all in my way, pray +put him off it. People laugh when I mention it. Bed ee paadon, Maram; +I'm drad oo rike ee aplon:(41) no harm, I hope. And so... DD wonders +she has not a letter at the day; oo'll have it soon.... The D---- he is! +married to that vengeance! Men are not to be believed. I don't think her +a fool. Who would have her? Dilly will be governed like an ass; and she +will govern like a lion. Is not that true, Ppt? Why, Sterne told me he +left you at ombre with Leigh; and yet you never saw him. I know nothing +of his wife being here: it may cost her a c---(42) (I don't care +to write that word plain). He is a little in doubt about buying his +commission. Yes, I will bring oo over all the little papers I can think +on. I thought I sent you, by Leigh, all that were good at that time. The +author of the Sea Eclogues sent books to the Society yesterday, and we +gave him guineas apiece; and, maybe, will do further from him (for him, +I mean). So the Bishop of Clogher, and lady, were your guests for a +night or two. Why, Ppt, you are grown a great gamester and company +keeper. I did say to myself, when I read those names, just what you +guess; and you clear up the matter wonderfully. You may converse with +those two nymphs if you please, but the ----- take me if ever I do. Iss, +fais, it is delightful to hear that Ppt is every way Ppt now, in health, +and looks, and all. Pray God keep her so, many, many, many years. I +doubt the session will not be over till the end of April; however, I +shall not wait for it, if the Ministry will let me go sooner. I wish I +were just now in my garden at Laracor. I would set out for Dublin early +on Monday, and bring you an account of my young trees, which you are +better acquainted with than the Ministry, and so am I. Oh, now you have +got Number 41, have you so? Why, perhaps, I forgot, and kept it to next +post in my pocket: I have done such tricks. My cold is better, but not +gone. I want air and riding. Hold ee tongue, oo Ppt, about colds at +Moor Park! the case is quite different. I will do what you desire me for +Tisdall, when I next see Lord Anglesea. Pray give him my service. The +weather is warm these three or four days, and rainy. I am to dine to-day +with Lewis and Darteneuf at Somers's,(43) the Clerk of the Kitchen at +Court. Darteneuf loves good bits and good sups. Good mollows richar +sollohs.--At night. I dined, as I said; and it cost me a shilling for a +chair. It has rained all day, and is very warm. Lady Masham's young son, +my nephew, is very ill; and she is out of mind(44) with grief. I pity +her mightily. I am got home early, and going to write to the Bishop of +Clogher, but have no politics to send him. Nite my own two deelest saucy +d(ear) ones. + +22. I am going into the City this morning with a friend about some +business; so I will immediately seal up this, and keep it in my pottick +till evening, and zen put it in the post. The weather continues warm and +gloomy. I have heard no news since I went to bed, so can say no more. +Pray send... that I may have time to write to...(45) about it. I have +here underneath given order for forty shillings to Mrs. Brent, which you +will send to Parvisol. Farewell, deelest deel MD, and rove Pdfr dearly +dearly. Farewell, MD, MD, FW, FW, FW, ME, ME, ME, Lele lele lele lele +lele lele, and lele aden. + + + + +LETTER 44.(1) + +LONDON, March 22, 1711-12. + +Ugly, nasty weather. I was in the City to-day with Mrs. Wesley and Mrs. +Perceval, to get money from a banker for Mrs. Wesley, who goes to Bath +on Thursday. I left them there, and dined with a friend, and went to see +Lord Treasurer; but he had people with him I did not know: so I went to +Lady Masham's, and lost a crown with her at picquet, and then sat with +Lord Masham and Lord Treasurer, etc., there till past one; but I had +my man with me, to come home. I gave in my forty-third, and one for the +Bishop of Clogher, to the post-office, as I came from the City; and +so oo know 'tis late now, and I have nothing to say for this day. Our +Mohocks are all vanished; however, I shall take care of my person. Nite +my own two deelest nuntyes MD. + +23. I was this morning, before church, with the Secretary, about Lord +Abercorn's business, and some others. My soliciting season is come, and +will last as long as the session. I went late to Court, and the company +was almost gone. The Court serves me for a coffee-house; once a week I +meet acquaintance there, that I should not otherwise see in a quarter. +There is a flying report that the French have offered a cessation of +arms, and to give us Dunkirk, and the Dutch Namur, for security, +till the peace is made. The Duke of Ormond, they say, goes in a week. +Abundance of his equipage is already gone. His(2) friends are afraid +the expense of this employment will ruin him, since he must lose the +government of Ireland. I dined privately with a friend, and refused all +dinners offered me at Court; which, however, were but two, and I did not +like either. Did I tell you of a scoundrel about the Court that sells +employments to ignorant people, and cheats them of their money? He +lately made a bargain for the Vice-Chamberlain's place, for seven +thousand pounds, and had received some guineas earnest; but the whole +thing was discovered t'other day, and examination taken of it by Lord +Dartmouth, and I hope he will be swinged. The Vice-Chamberlain told me +several particulars of it last night at Lord Masham's. Can DD play at +ombre yet, enough to hold the cards while Ppt steps into the next room? +Nite deelest sollahs.(3) + +24. This morning I recommended Newcomb again to the Duke of Ormond, and +left Dick Stewart(4) to do it further. Then I went to visit the Duchess +of Hamilton, who was not awake. So I went to the Duchess of Shrewsbury, +and sat an hour at her toilet. I talked to her about the Duke's being +Lord Lieutenant. She said she knew nothing of it; but I rallied her +out of that, and she resolves not to stay behind the Duke. I intend to +recommend the Bishop of Clogher to her for an acquaintance. He will +like her very well: she is, indeed, a most agreeable woman, and a great +favourite of mine. I know not whether the ladies in Ireland will like +her. I was at the Court of Requests, to get some lords to be at a +committee to-morrow, about a friend's Bill: and then the Duke of +Beaufort gave me a poem, finely bound in folio, printed at Stamford, and +writ by a country squire. Lord Exeter(5) desired the Duke to give it the +Queen, because the author is his friend; but the Duke desired I would +let him know whether it was good for anything. I brought it home, and +will return it to-morrow, as the dullest thing I ever read; and advise +the Duke not to present it. I dined with Domville at his lodgings, by +invitation; for he goes in a few days for Ireland. Nite dee MD. + +25. There is a mighty feast at a Tory sheriff's to-day in the City: +twelve hundred dishes of meat.--Above five lords, and several hundred +gentlemen, will be there, and give four or five guineas apiece, +according to custom. Dr. Coghill and I dined, by invitation, at Mrs. +Van's. It has rained or mizzled all day, as my pockets feel. There are +two new answers come out to the Conduct of the Allies. The last year's +Examiners, printed together in a small volume, go off but slowly. The +printer over-printed himself by at least a thousand; so soon out of +fashion are party papers, however so well writ. The Medleys are coming +out in the same volume, and perhaps may sell better. Our news about a +cessation of arms begins to flag, and I have not these three days seen +anybody in business to ask them about it. We had a terrible fire last +night in Drury Lane, or thereabouts, and three or four people destroyed. +One of the maids of honour has the smallpox; but the best is, she can +lose no beauty; and we have one new handsome maid of honour. Nite MD. + +26. I forgot to tell you that on Sunday last, about seven at night, +it lightened above fifty times as I walked the Mall, which I think is +extraordinary at this time of the year, and the weather was very +hot. Had you anything of this in Dublin? I intended to dine with Lord +Treasurer to-day; but Lord Mansel and Mr. Lewis made me dine with them +at Kit Musgrave's.(6) I sat the evening with Mrs. Wesley, who goes +to-morrow morning to the Bath. She is much better than she was. The news +of the French desiring a cessation of arms, etc., was but town talk. We +shall know in a few days, as I am told, whether there will be a peace +or not. The Duke of Ormond will go in a week for Flanders, they say. +Our Mohocks go on still, and cut people's faces every night; fais, they +shan't cut mine, I like it better as it is. The dogs will cost me at +least a crown a week in chairs. I believe the souls of your houghers of +cattle have got into them, and now they don't distinguish between a cow +and a Christian. I forgot to wish you yesterday a happy New Year. You +know the twenty-fifth of March is the first day of the year, and now you +must leave off cards, and put out your fire. I'll put out mine the first +of April, cold or not cold. I believe I shall lose credit with you by +not coming over at the beginning of April; but I hoped the session +would be ended, and I must stay till then; yet I would fain be at the +beginning of my willows growing. Perceval tells me that the quicksets +upon the flat in the garden do not grow so well as those famous ones +on the ditch. They want digging about them. The cherry-trees, by the +river-side, my heart is set upon. Nite MD. + +27. Society day. You know that, I suppose. Dr. Arthburnett(7) was +President. His dinner was dressed in the Queen's kitchen, and was mighty +fine. We ate it at Ozinda's Chocolate-house,(8) just by St. James's. +We were never merrier, nor better company, and did not part till after +eleven. I did not summon Lord Lansdowne: he and I are fallen out. There +was something in an Examiner a fortnight ago that he thought reflected +on the abuses in his office (he is Secretary at War), and he writ to the +Secretary that he heard I had inserted that paragraph. This I resented +highly, that he should complain of me before he spoke to me. I sent him +a peppering letter, and would not summon him by a note, as I did the +rest; nor ever will have anything to say to him, till he begs my pardon. +I met Lord Treasurer to-day at Lady Masham's. He would fain have carried +me home to dinner, but I begged his pardon. What! upon a Society day! +No, no. 'Tis rate, sollahs. I an't dlunk. Nite MD. + +28. I was with my friend Lewis to-day, getting materials for a little +mischief; and I dined with Lord Treasurer, and three or four fellows +I never saw before. I left them at seven, and came home, and have been +writing to the Archbishop of Dublin, and cousin Deane,(9) in answer to +one of his of four months old, that I spied by chance, routing among +my papers. I have a pain these two days exactly upon the top of my left +shoulder. I fear it is something rheumatic; it winches(10) now and then. +Shall I put flannel to it? Domville is going to Ireland; he came here +this morning to take leave of me, but I shall dine with him to-morrow. +Does the Bishop of Clogher talk of coming for England this summer? I +think Lord Molesworth told me so about two months ago. The weather +is bad again; rainy and very cold this evening. Do you know what the +longitude is? A projector(11) has been applying himself to me, to +recommend him to the Ministry, because he pretends to have found out the +longitude. I believe he has no more found it out than he has found out +mine...(12) However, I will gravely hear what he says, and discover him +a knave or fool. Nite MD. + +29. I am plagued with these pains in my shoulder; I believe it is +rheumatic; I will do something for it to-night. Mr. Lewis and I dined +with Mr. Domville, to take our leave of him. I drank three or four +glasses of champagne by perfect teasing, though it is bad for my pain; +but if it continue, I will not drink any wine without water till I am +well. The weather is abominably cold and wet. I am got into bed, and +have put some old flannel, for want of new, to my shoulder, and rubbed +it with Hungary water.(13) It is plaguy hard. I never would drink any +wine, if it were not for my head, and drinking has given me this pain. I +will try abstemiousness for a while. How does MD do now; how does DD and +Ppt? You must know I hate pain, as the old woman said. But I'll try to +go seep. My flesh sucks up Hungary water rarely. My man is an awkward +rascal, and makes me peevish. Do you know that t'other day he was forced +to beg my pardon, that he could not shave my head, his hand shook so? He +is drunk every day, and I design to turn him off soon as ever I get to +Ireland. I'll write no more now, but go to sleep, and see whether sleep +and flannel will cure my shoulder. Nite deelest MD. + +30. I was not able to go to church or Court to-day for my shoulder. +The pain has left my shoulder, and crept to my neck and collar-bone. It +makes me think of poo Ppt's bladebone. Urge, urge, urge; dogs gnawing. I +went in a chair at two, and dined with Mrs. Van, where I could be easy, +and came back at seven. My Hungary water is gone; and to-night I use +spirits of wine, which my landlady tells me is very good. It has rained +terribly all day long, and is extremely cold. I am very uneasy, and such +cruel twinges every moment! Nite deelest MD. + +31. April 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. All these days I have been extremely +ill, though I twice crawled out a week ago; but am now recovering, +though very weak. The violence of my pain abated the night before last: +I will just tell you how I was, and then send away this letter, which +ought to have gone Saturday last. The pain increased with mighty +violence in my left shoulder and collar-bone, and that side my neck. On +Thursday morning appeared great red spots in all those places where my +pain was, and the violence of the pain was confined to my neck behind, a +little on the left side; which was so violent that I had not a minute's +ease, nor hardly a minute's sleep in three days and nights. The spots +increased every day, and bred little pimples, which are now grown white, +and full of corruption, though small. The red still continues too, and +most prodigious hot and inflamed. The disease is the shingles. I eat +nothing but water-gruel; am very weak; but out of all violent pain. The +doctors say it would have ended in some violent disease if it had not +come out thus. I shall now recover fast. I have been in no danger +of life, but miserable torture. I must not write too much. So adieu, +deelest MD MD MD FW FW, ME ME ME, Lele. I can say lele yet, oo see. +Fais, I don't conceal a bit, as hope saved.(14) + +I(15) must purge and clyster after this; and my next letter will not +be in the old order of journal, till I have done with physic. An't oo +surprised to see a letter want half a side? + + + + +LETTER 45.(1) + +LONDON, April 24, 1712. + +I had your twenty-eighth two or three days ago. I can hardly answer it +now. Since my last I have been extremely ill. 'Tis this day just a month +since I felt a small pain on the tip of my left shoulder, which grew +worse, and spread for six days; then broke all out by my collar and left +side of my neck in monstrous red spots inflamed, and these grew to small +pimples. For four days I had no rest, nor nights, for a pain in my neck; +then I grew a little better; afterward, where my pains were, a cruel +itching seized me, beyond whatever I could imagine, and kept me awake +several nights. I rubbed it vehemently, but did not scratch it: then it +grew into three or four great sores like blisters, and run; at last I +advised the doctor to use it like a blister, so I did with melilot(2) +plasters, which still run: and am now in pain enough, but am daily +mending. I kept my chamber a fortnight, then went out a day or two, but +then confined myself again. Two days ago I went to a neighbour to dine, +but yesterday again kept at home. To-day I will venture abroad a little, +and hope to be well in a week or ten days. I never suffered so much in +my life. I have taken my breeches in above two inches, so I am leaner, +which answers one question in your letter. The weather is mighty fine. +I write in the morning, because I am better then. I will go and try +to walk a little. I will give DD's certificate to Tooke to-morrow. +Farewell, MD MD MD, ME ME, FW FW ME ME. + + + + +LETTER 46.(1) + +LONDON, May 10, 1712. + +I have not yet ease or humour enough to go on in my journal method, +though I have left my chamber these ten days. My pain continues still +in my shoulder and collar: I keep flannel on it, and rub it with brandy, +and take a nasty diet drink. I still itch terribly, and have some few +pimples; I am weak, and sweat; and then the flannel makes me mad with +itching; but I think my pain lessens. A journal, while I was sick, +would have been a noble thing, made up of pain and physic, visits, and +messages; the two last were almost as troublesome as the two first. One +good circumstance is that I am grown much leaner. I believe I told you +that I have taken in my breeches two inches. I had your N.29 last night. +In answer to your good opinion of my disease, the doctors said they +never saw anything so odd of the kind; they were not properly shingles, +but herpes miliaris, and twenty other hard names. I can never be sick +like other people, but always something out of the common way; and as +for your notion of its coming without pain, it neither came, nor +stayed, nor went without pain, and the most pain I ever bore in my life. +Medemeris(2) is retired in the country, with the beast her husband, long +ago. I thank the Bishop of Clogher for his proxy; I will write to him +soon. Here is Dilly's wife in town; but I have not seen her yet. No, +sinkerton:(3) 'tis not a sign of health, but a sign that, if it had not +come out, some terrible fit of sickness would have followed. I was at +our Society last Thursday, to receive a new member, the Chancellor of +the Exchequer;(4) but I drink nothing above wine and water. We shall +have a peace, I hope, soon, or at least entirely broke; but I believe +the first. My Letter to Lord Treasurer, about the English tongue,(5) is +now printing; and I suffer my name to be put at the end of it, which +I never did before in my life. The Appendix to the Third Part of John +Bull(6) was published yesterday; it is equal to the rest. I hope you +read John Bull. It was a Scotch gentleman,(7) a friend of mine, that +writ it; but they put it upon me. The Parliament will hardly be up +till June. We were like to be undone some days ago with a tack; but we +carried it bravely, and the Whigs came in to help us. Poor Lady Masham, +I am afraid, will lose her only son, about a twelvemonth old, with the +king's evil. I never would let Mrs. Fenton see me during my illness, +though she often came; but she has been once here since I recovered. +Bernage has been twice to see me of late. His regiment will be broke, +and he only upon half-pay; so perhaps he thinks he will want me again. +I am told here the Bishop of Clogher and family are coming over, but he +says nothing of it himself. I have been returning the visits of those +that sent howdees(8) in my sickness; particularly the Duchess of +Hamilton, who came and sat with me two hours. I make bargains with all +people that I dine with, to let me scrub my back against a chair; and +the Duchess of Ormond(9) was forced to bear it the other day. Many of +my friends are gone to Kensington, where the Queen has been removed for +some time. This is a long letter for a kick(10) body. I will begin the +next in the journal way, though my journals will be sorry ones. My left +hand is very weak, and trembles; but my right side has not been touched. + + This is a pitiful letter + For want of a better; + But plagued with a tetter, + My fancy does fetter. + +Ah! my poor willows and quicksets! Well, but you must read John Bull. +Do you understand it all? Did I tell you that young Parson Gery(11) is +going to be married, and asked my advice when it was too late to break +off? He tells me Elwick has purchased forty pounds a year in land +adjoining to his living. Ppt does not say one word of her own little +health. I am angry almost; but I won't, 'cause see im a dood dallar in +odle sings;(12) iss, and so im DD too. God bless MD, and FW, and ME, ay +and Pdfr too. Farewell, MD, MD, MD, FW, FW, FW. ME, ME Lele. I can say +lele it, ung oomens, iss I tan, well as oo. + + + + +LETTER 47.(1) + +LONDON, May 31, 1712. + +I cannot yet arrive to my journal letters, my pains continuing still, +though with less violence; but I don't love to write journals while I am +in pain; and above all, not journals to MD. But, however, I am so much +mended, that I intend my next shall be in the old way; and yet I shall, +perhaps, break my resolution when I feel pain. I believe I have lost +credit with you, in relation to my coming over; but I protest it is +impossible for one who has anything to do with this Ministry to be +certain when he fixes any time. There is a business which, till it take +some turn or other, I cannot leave this place in prudence or honour. And +I never wished so much as now that I had stayed in Ireland; but the +die is cast, and is now a spinning, and till it settles, I cannot tell +whether it be an ace or a sise.(2) I am confident by what you know +yourselves, that you will justify me in all this. The moment I am used +ill, I will leave them; but know not how to do it while things are in +suspense. The session will soon be over (I believe in a fortnight), and +the peace, we hope, will be made in a short time; and there will be +no further occasion for me; nor have I anything to trust to but Court +gratitude, so that I expect to see my willows(3) a month after the +Parliament is up: but I will take MD in my way, and not go to Laracor +like an unmannerly spraenekich ferrow.(4) Have you seen my Letter to +Lord Treasurer? There are two answers come out to it already;(5) though +it is no politics, but a harmless proposal about the improvement of +the English Tongue. I believe if I writ an essay upon a straw some +fool would answer it. About ten days hence I expect a letter from MD; +N.30.--You are now writing it, near the end, as I guess.--I have not +received DD's money; but I will give you a note for it on Parvisol, and +bed oo paadon(6) I have not done it before. I am just now thinking to go +lodge at Kensington for the air. Lady Masham has teased me to do it, but +business has hindered me; but now Lord Treasurer has removed thither. +Fifteen of our Society dined together under a canopy in an arbour +at Parson's Green(7) last Thursday: I never saw anything so fine and +romantic. We got a great victory last Wednesday in the House of Lords +by a majority, I think, of twenty-eight; and the Whigs had desired their +friends to bespeak places to see Lord Treasurer carried to the Tower.(8) +I met your Higgins(9) here yesterday: he roars at the insolence of +the Whigs in Ireland, talks much of his own sufferings and expenses in +asserting the cause of the Church; and I find he would fain plead merit +enough to desire that his fortune should be mended. I believe he designs +to make as much noise as he can in order to preferment. Pray let the +Provost, when he sees you, give you ten English shillings, and I will +give as much here to the man who delivered me Rymer's books:(10) he +knows the meaning. Tell him I will not trust him, but that you can order +it to be paid me here; and I will trust you till I see you. Have I told +you that the rogue Patrick has left me these two months, to my great +satisfaction? I have got another, who seems to be much better, if he +continues it. I am printing a threepenny pamphlet,(11) and shall print +another in a fortnight, and then I have done, unless some new occasion +starts. Is my curate Warburton married to Mrs. Melthrop in my parish? so +I hear. Or is it a lie? Has Raymond got to his new house? Do you see +Joe now and then? What luck have you at ombre? How stands it with the +Dean?...(12) My service to Mrs. Stoyte, and Catherine, if she be come +from Wales. I have not yet seen Dilly Ashe's wife. I called once, but +she was not at home: I think she is under the doctor's hand....(13) I +believe the news of the Duke of Ormond producing letters in the council +of war, with orders not to fight, will surprise you in Ireland. Lord +Treasurer said in the House of Lords that in a few days the treaty of +peace should be laid before them; and our Court thought it wrong to +hazard a battle, and sacrifice many lives in such a juncture. If the +peace holds, all will do well, otherwise I know not how we shall weather +it. And it was reckoned as a wrong step in politics for Lord Treasurer +to open himself so much. The Secretary would not go so far to satisfy +the Whigs in the House of Commons; but there all went swimmingly. I'll +say no more to oo to-nite, sellohs, because I must send away the letter, +not by the bell,(14) but early: and besides, I have not much more to say +at zis plesent liting.(15) Does MD never read at all now, pee?(16) But +oo walk plodigiousry, I suppose; oo make nothing of walking to, to, +to, ay, to Donnybrook. I walk too as much as I can, because sweating is +good; but I'll walk more if I go to Kensington. I suppose I shall have +no apples this year neither, for I dined t'other day with Lord Rivers, +who is sick at his country-house, and he showed me all his cherries +blasted. Nite deelest sollahs; farewell deelest rives; rove poo poo +Pdfr. Farewell deelest richar MD, MD, MD, FW, FW, FW, FW, FW, ME, ME, +Lele, ME, Lele, Lele, richar MD. + + + + +LETTER 48.(1) + +KENSINGTON, June 17, 1712. + +I have been so tosticated about since my last, that I could not go on in +my journal manner, though my shoulder is a great deal better; however, I +feel constant pain in it, but I think it diminishes, and I have cut off +some slices from my flannel. I have lodged here near a fortnight, partly +for the air and exercise, partly to be near the Court, where dinners +are to be found. I generally get a lift in a coach to town, and in the +evening I walk back. On Saturday I dined with the Duchess of Ormond at +her lodge near Sheen, and thought to get a boat back as usual. I walked +by the bank to Cue (Kew), but no boat, then to Mortlake, but no boat, +and it was nine o'clock. At last a little sculler called, full of nasty +people. I made him set me down at Hammersmith, so walked two miles +to this place, and got here by eleven. Last night I had another such +difficulty. I was in the City till past ten at night; it rained hard, +but no coach to be had. It gave over a little, and I walked all the way +here, and got home by twelve. I love these shabby difficulties when they +are over; but I hate them, because they arise from not having a thousand +pound a year. I had your N.30 about three days ago, which I will now +answer. And first, I did not relapse, but found(2) I came out before I +ought; and so, and so, as I have told you in some of my last. The first +coming abroad made people think I was quite recovered, and I had no more +messages afterwards. Well, but John Bull is not writ by the person you +imagine, as hope!(3) It is too good for another to own. Had it been Grub +Street, I would have let people think as they please; and I think that's +right: is not it now? so flap ee hand, and make wry mouth oo-self, sauci +doxi. Now comes DD. Why sollah, I did write in a fortnight my 47th; +and if it did not come in due time, can I help wind and weather? am I a +Laplander? am I a witch? can I work miracles? can I make easterly winds? +Now I am against Dr. Smith. I drink little water with my wine, yet I +believe he is right. Yet Dr. Cockburn told me a little wine would not +hurt me; but it is so hot and dry, and water is so dangerous. The worst +thing here is my evenings at Lord Masham's, where Lord Treasurer comes, +and we sit till after twelve. But it is convenient I should be among +them for a while as much as possible. I need not tell oo why. But I hope +that will be at an end in a month or two, one way or other, and I am +resolved it shall. But I can't go to Tunbridge, or anywhere else out of +the way, in this juncture. So Ppt designs for Templeoag (what a name +is that!). Whereabouts is that place? I hope not very far from Dublin. +Higgins is here, roaring that all is wrong in Ireland, and would have +me get him an audience of Lord Treasurer to tell him so; but I will have +nothing to do in it, no, not I, faith. We have had no thunder till last +night, and till then we were dead for want of rain; but there fell a +great deal: no field looked green. I reckon the Queen will go to Windsor +in three or four weeks: and if the Secretary takes a house there, I +shall be sometimes with him. But how affectedly Ppt talks of my being +here all the summer; which I do not intend: nor to stay one minute +longer in England than becomes the circumstances I am in. I wish you +would go soon into the country, and take a good deal of it; and where +better than Trim? Joe will be your humble servant, Parvisol your slave, +and Raymond at your command, for he piques himself on good manners. I +have seen Dilly's wife--and I have seen once or twice old Bradley(4) +here. He is very well, very old, and very wise: I believe I must go see +his wife, when I have leisure. I should be glad to see Goody Stoyte and +her husband; pray give them my humble service, and to Catherine, and to +Mrs. Walls--I am not the least bit in love with Mrs. Walls--I suppose +the cares of the husband increase with the fruitfulness of the wife. I +am grad at halt(5) to hear of Ppt's good health: pray let her finish it +by drinking waters. I hope DD had her bill, and has her money. Remember +to write a due time before ME money is wanted, and be good galls, +dood dallars, I mean, and no crying dallars. I heard somebody coming +upstairs, and forgot I was in the country; and I was afraid of a +visitor: that is one advantage of being here, that I am not teased with +solicitors. Molt, the chemist, is my acquaintance. My service to Dr. +Smith. I sent the question to him about Sir Walter Raleigh's cordial, +and the answer he returned is in these words: "It is directly after Mr. +Boyle's receipt." That commission is performed; if he wants any of it, +Molt shall use him fairly. I suppose Smith is one of your physicians. +So, now your letter is fully and impartially answered; not as rascals +answer me: I believe, if I writ an essay upon a straw, I should have a +shoal of answerers: but no matter for that; you see I can answer without +making any reflections, as becomes men of learning. Well, but now for +the peace: why, we expect it daily; but the French have the staff +in their own hands, and we trust to their honesty. I wish it were +otherwise. Things are now in the way of being soon in the extremes of +well or ill. I hope and believe the first. Lord Wharton is gone out of +town in a rage, and curses himself and friends for ruining themselves +in defending Lord Marlborough and Godolphin, and taking Nottingham into +their favour. He swears he will meddle no more during this reign; a +pretty speech at sixty-six, and the Queen is near twenty years younger, +and now in very good health; for you must know her health is fixed by +a certain reason, that she has done with braces (I must use the +expression), and nothing ill is happened to her since; so she has a new +lease of her life. Read the Letter to a Whig Lord.(6) Do you ever read? +Why don't you say so? I mean does DD read to Ppt? Do you walk? I think +Ppt should walk to(7) DD; as DD reads to Ppt, for Ppt oo must know is a +good walker; but not so good as Pdfr. I intend to dine to-day with Mr. +Lewis, but it threatens rain; and I shall be too late to get a lift; and +I must write to the Bishop of Clogher. 'Tis now ten in the morning; and +this is all writ at a heat. Farewell deelest... deelest MD, MD, MD, MD, +MD, FW, FW, FW, ME, ME, ME, Lele, ME, Lele, ME, Lele, ME, Lele, Lele, +Lele, ME. + + + + +LETTER 49.(1) + +KENSINGTON, July 1, 1712. + +I never was in a worse station for writing letters than this, especially +for writing to MD, since I left off my journals. For I go to town early; +and when I come home at night, I generally go to Lord Masham, where Lord +Treasurer comes, and we stay till past twelve. But I am now resolved +to write journals again, though my shoulder is not yet well; for I have +still a few itching pimples, and a little pain now and then. It is now +high cherry-time with us; take notice, is it so soon with you? And we +have early apricots, and gooseberries are ripe. On Sunday Archdeacon +Parnell came here to see me. It seems he has been ill for grief of his +wife's death,(2) and has been two months at the Bath. He has a mind +to go to Dunkirk with Jack Hill,(3) and I persuade him to it, and have +spoke to Hill to receive him; but I doubt he won't have spirit to go. I +have made Ford(4) Gazetteer, and got two hundred pounds a year settled +on the employment by the Secretary of State, beside the perquisites. +It is the prettiest employment in England of its bigness; yet the puppy +does not seem satisfied with it. I think people keep some follies to +themselves, till they have occasion to produce them. He thinks it not +genteel enough, and makes twenty difficulties. 'Tis impossible to make +any man easy. His salary is paid him every week, if he pleases, without +taxes or abatements. He has little to do for it. He has a pretty office, +with coals, candles, papers, etc.; can frank what letters he will; and +his perquisites, if he takes care, may be worth one hundred pounds more. +I hear the Bishop of Clogher is landing, or landed, in England; and I +hope to see him in a few days. I was to see Mrs. Bradley(5) on Sunday +night. Her youngest son is married to somebody worth nothing, and her +daughter was forced to leave Lady Giffard, because she was striking up +an intrigue with a footman, who played well upon the flute. This is the +mother's account of it. Yesterday the old Bishop of Worcester,(6) who +pretends to be a prophet, went to the Queen, by appointment, to prove +to Her Majesty, out of Daniel and the Revelations, that four years hence +there would be a war of religion; that the King of France would be +a Protestant, and fight on their side; that the Popedom would be +destroyed, etc.; and declared that he would be content to give up his +bishopric if it were not true. Lord Treasurer, who told it me, was by, +and some others; and I am told Lord Treasurer confounded him sadly in +his own learning, which made the old fool very quarrelsome. He is near +ninety years old. Old Bradley is fat and lusty, and has lost his palsy. +Have you seen Toland's Invitation to Dismal?(7) How do you like it? But +it is an imitation of Horace, and perhaps you don't understand Horace. +Here has been a great sweep of employments, and we expect still more +removals. The Court seems resolved to make thorough work. Mr. Hill +intended to set out to-morrow for Dunkirk, of which he is appointed +Governor; but he tells me to-day that he cannot go till Thursday or +Friday. I wish it were over. Mr. Secretary tells me he is (in) no fear +at all that France will play tricks with us. If we have Dunkirk once, +all is safe. We rail now all against the Dutch, who, indeed, have acted +like knaves, fools, and madmen. Mr. Secretary is soon to be made a +viscount. He desired I would draw the preamble of his patent; but +I excused myself from a work that might lose me a great deal of +reputation, and get me very little. We would fain have the Court make +him an earl, but it would not be; and therefore he will not take the +title of Bullenbrook,(8) which is lately extinct in the elder branch of +his family. I have advised him to be called Lord Pomfret; but he thinks +that title is already in some other family;(9) and, besides, he objects +that it is in Yorkshire, where he has no estate; but there is nothing in +that, and I love Pomfret. Don't you love Pomfret? Why? 'Tis in all our +histories; they are full of Pomfret Castle. But what's all this to you? +You don't care for this. Is Goody Stoyte come to London? I have not +heard of her yet. The Dean of St. Patrick's never had the manners to +answer my letter. I was t'other day to see Sterne(10) and his wife. +She is not half so handsome as when I saw her with you at Dublin. They +design to pass the summer at a house near Lord Somers's, about a dozen +miles off. You never told me how my "Letter to Lord Treasurer" passes in +Ireland. I suppose you are drinking at this time Temple-something's(11) +waters. Steele was arrested the other day for making a lottery directly +against an Act of Parliament. He is now under prosecution; but they +think it will be dropped out of pity.(12) I believe he will very soon +lose his employment, for he has been mighty impertinent of late in his +Spectators; and I will never offer a word in his behalf. Raymond writes +me word that the Bishop of Meath(13) was going to summon me, in order +to suspension, for absence, if the Provost had not prevented him. I am +prettily rewarded for getting them their First-Fruits, with a p--. We +have had very little hot weather during the whole month of June; and for +a week past we have had a great deal of rain, though not every day. I am +just now told that the Governor of Dunkirk has not orders yet to deliver +up the town to Jack Hill and his forces, but expects them daily. This +must put off Hill's journey a while, and I don't like these stoppings in +such an affair. Go, get oo gone, and drink oo waters, if this rain has +not spoiled them, sauci doxi. I have no more to say to oo at plesent; +but rove Pdfr, and MD, and ME. And Podefr will rove Pdfr, and MD and +ME. I wish you had taken any account when I sent money to Mrs. Brent. +I believe I han't done it a great while. And pray send me notice when +ME... to have it when it is due.(14) Farewell, dearest MD FW FW FW ME ME +ME. + + + + +LETTER 50.(1) + +KENSINGTON, July 17, 1712. + +I am weary of living in this place, and glad to leave it soon. The Queen +goes on Tuesday to Windsor, and I shall follow in three or four days +after. I can do nothing here, going early to London, and coming late +from it, and supping at Lady Masham's. I dined to-day with the Duke of +Argyle at Cue (Kew), and would not go to the Court to-night, because of +writing to MD. The Bishop of Clogher has been here this fortnight: I see +him as often as I can. Poor Master Ashe has a sad redness in his face; +it is St. Anthony's fire; his face all swelled, and will break in his +cheek, but no danger. Since Dunkirk has been in our hands, Grub Street +has been very fruitful. Pdfr has writ five or six Grub Street papers +this last week. Have you seen Toland's Invitation to Dismal, or Hue and +Cry after Dismal, or Ballad on Dunkirk, or Argument that Dunkirk is not +in our Hands? Poh! you have seen nothing. I am dead here with the hot +weather; yet I walk every night home, and believe it does me good: +but my shoulder is not yet right; itchings, and scratchings, and small +achings. Did I tell you I had made Ford Gazetteer, with two hundred +pounds a year salary, beside perquisites? I had a letter lately from +Parvisol, who says my canal looks very finely; I long to see it; but +no apples; all blasted again. He tells me there will be a triennial +visitation in August. I must send Raymond another proxy. So now I will +answer oo rettle N.33,(2) dated June 17. Ppt writes as well as ever, for +all her waters. I wish I had never come here, as often and as heartily +as Ppt. What had I to do here? I have heard of the Bishop's making me +uneasy, but I did not think it was because I never writ to him. A little +would make me write to him, but I don't know what to say. I find I am +obliged to the Provost for keeping the Bishop(3) from being impertinent. +Yes, Maram DD, but oo would not be content with letters flom Pdfr of six +lines, or twelve either, fais. I hope Ppt will have done with the waters +soon, and find benefit by them. I believe, if they were as far off +as Wexford, they would do as much good; for I take the journey to +contribute as much as anything. I can assure you the Bishop of Clogher's +being here does not in the least affect my staying or going. I never +talked to Higgins but once in my life in the street, and I believe he +and I shall hardly meet but by chance. What care I whether my Letter to +Lord Treasurer be commended there or no? Why does not somebody among +you answer it, as three or four have done here? (I am now sitting with +nothing but my nightgown, for heat.) Ppt shall have a great Bible. I +have put it down in my memlandums(4) just now. And DD shall be repaid +her t'other book; but patience, all in good time: you are so hasty, +a dog would, etc. So Ppt has neither won nor lost. Why, mun, I play +sometimes too at picket, that is picquet, I mean; but very seldom.--Out +late? why, 'tis only at Lady Masham's, and that is in our town; but I +never come late here from London, except once in rain, when I could +not get a coach. We have had very little thunder here; none these +two months. Why, pray, madam philosopher, how did the rain hinder the +thunder from doing any harm? I suppose it ssquenched it. So here comes +Ppt aden(5) with her little watery postscript. O Rold, dlunken srut!(6) +drink Pdfr's health ten times in a morning! you are a whetter, fais; +I sup MD's fifteen times evly molning in milk porridge. Lele's fol oo +now--and lele's fol oo rettle, and evly kind of sing(7)--and now I +must say something else. You hear Secretary St. John is made Viscount +Bullinbrook.(8) I can hardly persuade him to take that title, because +the eldest branch of his family had it in an earldom, and it was last +year extinct. If he did not take it, I advised him to be Lord Pomfret, +which I think is a noble title. You hear of it often in the Chronicles, +Pomfret Castle: but we believed it was among the titles of some other +lord. Jack Hill sent his sister a pattern of a head-dress from Dunkirk; +it was like our fashion twenty years ago, only not quite so high, and +looked very ugly. I have made Trapp(9) chaplain to Lord Bullinbroke, and +he is mighty happy and thankful for it. Mr. Addison returned me my +visit this morning. He lives in our town. I shall be mighty retired, and +mighty busy for a while at Windsor. Pray why don't MD go to Trim, and +see Laracor, and give me an account of the garden, and the river, and +the holly and the cherry-trees on the river-walk? + +19. I could not send this letter last post, being called away before I +could fold or finish it. I dined yesterday with Lord Treasurer; sat with +him till ten at night; yet could not find a minute for some business I +had with him. He brought me to Kensington, and Lord Bulingbrook would +not let me go away till two; and I am now in bed, very lazy and sleepy +at nine. I must shave head and face, and meet Lord Bullinbrook at +eleven, and dine again with Lord Treasurer. To-day there will be another +Grub,(10) A Letter from the Pretender to a Whig Lord. Grub Street has +but ten days to live; then an Act of Parliament takes place that ruins +it, by taxing every half-sheet at a halfpenny. We have news just come, +but not the particulars, that the Earl of Albemarle,(11) at the head of +eight thousand Dutch, is beaten, lost the greatest part of his men, and +himself a prisoner. This perhaps may cool their courage, and make them +think of a peace. The Duke of Ormond has got abundance of credit by his +good conduct of affairs in Flanders. We had a good deal of rain last +night, very refreshing. 'Tis late, and I must rise. Don't play at ombre +in your waters, sollah. Farewell, deelest MD, MD MD MD FW FW ME ME ME +Lele Lele Lele. + + + + +LETTER 51.(1) + +LONDON, Aug. 7, 1712. + +I had your N.32 at Windsor: I just read it, and immediately sealed it up +again, and shall read it no more this twelvemonth at least. The reason +of my resentment at it is, because you talk as glibly of a thing as if +it were done, which, for aught I know, is farther from being done than +ever, since I hear not a word of it, though the town is full of it, and +the Court always giving me joy and vexation. You might be sure I would +have let you know as soon as it was done; but I believe you fancied I +would affect not to tell it you, but let you learn it from newspapers +and reports. I remember only there was something in your letter about +ME's money, and that shall be taken care of on the other side. I left +Windsor on Monday last, upon Lord Bolingbroke's being gone to France, +and somebody's being here that I ought often to consult with in an +affair I am upon: but that person talks of returning to Windsor again, +and I believe I shall follow him. I am now in a hedge-lodging very busy, +as I am every day till noon: so that this letter is like to be short, +and you are not to blame me these two months; for I protest, if I study +ever so hard, I cannot in that time compass what I am upon. We have +a fever both here and at Windsor, which hardly anybody misses; but it +lasts not above three or four days, and kills nobody.(2) The Queen has +forty servants down of it at once. I dined yesterday with Treasurer, but +could do no business, though he sent for me, I thought, on purpose; +but he desires I will dine with him again to-day. Windsor is a most +delightful place, and at this time abounds in dinners. My lodgings there +look upon Eton and the Thames. I wish I was owner of them; they belong +to a prebend. God knows what was in your letter; and if it be not +answered, whose fault is it, sauci dallars?--Do you know that Grub +Street is dead and gone last week? No more ghosts or murders now for +love or money. I plied it pretty close the last fortnight, and published +at least seven penny papers of my own, besides some of other people's: +but now every single half-sheet pays a halfpenny to the Queen.(3) The +Observator is fallen; the Medleys are jumbled together with the Flying +Post; the Examiner is deadly sick; the Spectator keeps up, and doubles +its price; I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the red +stamp the papers are marked with? Methinks it is worth a halfpenny, +the stamping it. Lord Bolingbroke and Prior set out for France last +Saturday. My lord's business is to hasten the peace before the Dutch +are too much mauled, and hinder France from carrying the jest of beating +them too far. Have you seen the Fourth Part of John Bull?(4) It is equal +to the rest, and extremely good. The Bishop of Clogher's son has been +ill of St. Anthony's fire, but is now quite well. I was afraid his face +would be spoiled, but it is not. Dilly is just as he used to be, and +puns as plentifully and as bad. The two brothers see one another; but I +think not the two sisters. Raymond writ to me that he intended to invite +you to Trim. Are you, have you, will you be there? Won't oo see pool +Laratol?(5) Parvisol says I shall have no fruit. Blasts have taken away +all. Pray observe the cherry-trees on the river-walk; but oo are too +lazy to take such a journey. If you have not your letters in due time +for two months hence, impute it to my being tosticated between this and +Windsor. And pray send me again the state of ME's money; for I will not +look into your letter for it. Poor Lord Winchelsea(6) is dead, to my +great grief. He was a worthy honest gentleman, and particular friend of +mine: and, what is yet worse, my old acquaintance, Mrs. Finch,(7) is +now Countess of Winchelsea, the title being fallen to her husband, but +without much estate. I have been poring my eyes all this morning, and it +is now past two afternoon, so I shall take a little walk in the Park. +Do you play at ombre still? Or is that off by Mr. Stoyte's absence, and +Mrs. Manley's grief? Somebody was telling me of a strange sister that +Mrs. Manley has got in Ireland, who disappointed you all about her being +handsome. My service to Mrs. Walls. Farewell, deelest MD MD MD, FW FW +FW, ME ME ME ME ME. Lele, logues both; rove poo Pdfr. + + + + +LETTER 52.(1) + +WINDSOR, Sept. 15, 1712. + +I never was so long without writing to MD as now, since I left them, nor +ever will again while I am able to write. I have expected from one week +to another that something would be done in my own affairs; but nothing +at all is, nor I don't know when anything will, or whether ever at all, +so slow are people at doing favours. I have been much out of order of +late with the old giddiness in my head. I took a vomit for it two days +ago, and will take another about a day or two hence. I have eat mighty +little fruit; yet I impute my disorder to that little, and shall +henceforth wholly forbear it. I am engaged in a long work, and have +done all I can of it, and wait for some papers from the Ministry for +materials for the rest; and they delay me, as if it were a favour I +asked of them; so that I have been idle here this good while, and it +happened in a right time, when I was too much out of order to study. One +is kept constantly out of humour by a thousand unaccountable things +in public proceedings; and when I reason with some friends, we cannot +conceive how affairs can last as they are. God only knows, but it is a +very melancholy subject for those who have any near concern in it. I am +again endeavouring, as I was last year, to keep people(2) from breaking +to pieces upon a hundred misunderstandings. One cannot withhold them +from drawing different ways, while the enemy is watching to destroy +both. See how my style is altered, by living and thinking and talking +among these people, instead of my canal and river-walk and willows. I +lose all my money here among the ladies;(3) so that I never play when I +can help it, being sure to lose. I have lost five pounds the five weeks +I have been here. I hope Ppt is luckier at picquet with the Dean and +Mrs. Walls. The Dean never answered my letter, though. I have clearly +forgot whether I sent a bill for ME in any of my last letters. I think I +did; pray let me know, and always give me timely notice. I wait here but +to see what they will do for me; and whenever preferments are given from +me, as hope saved, I will come over. + +18. I have taken a vomit to-day, and hope I shall be better. I have been +very giddy since I writ what is before, yet not as I used to be: more +frequent, but not so violent. Yesterday we were alarmed with the Queen's +being ill: she had an aguish and feverish fit; and you never saw such +countenances as we all had, such dismal melancholy. Her physicians from +town were sent for, but towards night she grew better; to-day she missed +her fit, and was up: we are not now in any fear; it will be at worst but +an ague, and we hope even that will not return. Lord Treasurer would not +come here from London, because it would make a noise if he came before +his usual time, which is Saturday, and he goes away on Mondays. The +Whigs have lost a great support in the Earl of Godolphin.(4) It is a +good jest to hear the Ministers talk of him now with humanity and pity, +because he is dead, and can do them no more hurt. Lady Orkney,(5) the +late King's mistress (who lives at a fine place, five miles from hence, +called Cliffden(6)), and I, are grown mighty acquaintance. She is the +wisest woman I ever saw; and Lord Treasurer made great use of her advice +in the late change of affairs. I heard Lord Marlborough is growing ill +of his diabetes; which, if it be true, may soon carry him off; and then +the Ministry will be something more at ease. MD has been a long time +without writing to Pdfr, though they have not the same cause: it is +seven weeks since your last came to my hands, which was N.32, that you +may not be mistaken. I hope Ppt has not wanted her health. You were then +drinking waters. The doctor tells me I must go into a course of steel, +though I have not the spleen; for that they can never give me, though I +have as much provocation to it as any man alive. Bernage's(7) regiment +is broke; but he is upon half-pay. I have not seen him this long time; +but I suppose he is overrun with melancholy. My Lord Shrewsbury is +certainly designed to be Governor of Ireland; and I believe the Duchess +will please the people there mightily. The Irish Whig leaders promise +great things to themselves from his government; but care shall be taken, +if possible, to prevent them. Mrs. Fenton(8) has writ to me that she has +been forced to leave Lady Giffard, and come to town, for a rheumatism: +that lady does not love to be troubled with sick people. Mrs. Fenton +writes to me as one dying, and desires I would think of her son: I have +not answered her letter. She is retired(9) to Mrs. Povey's. Is my aunt +alive yet? and do you ever see her? I suppose she has forgot the loss of +her son. Is Raymond's new house quite finished? and does he squander as +he used to do? Has he yet spent all his wife's fortune? I hear there are +five or six people putting strongly in for my livings; God help them! +But if ever the Court should give me anything, I would recommend Raymond +to the Duke of Ormond; not for any particular friendship to him, but +because it would be proper for the minister of Trim to have Laracor. You +may keep the gold-studded snuff-box now; for my brother Hill, Governor +of Dunkirk, has sent me the finest that ever you saw.(10) It is allowed +at Court that none in England comes near it, though it did not cost +above twenty pounds. And the Duchess of Hamilton has made me pockets for +(it) like a woman's, with a belt and buckle (for, you know, I wear +no waistcoat in summer), and there are several divisions, and one on +purpose for my box, oh ho!--We have had most delightful weather this +whole week; but illness and vomiting have hindered me from sharing in a +great part of it. Lady Masham made the Queen send to Kensington for some +of her preserved ginger for me, which I take in the morning, and hope +it will do me good. Mrs. Brent(11) sent me a letter by a young fellow, +a printer, desiring I would recommend him here, which you may tell her +I have done: but I cannot promise what will come of it, for it is +necessary they should be made free here(12) before they can be employed. +I remember I put the boy prentice to Brent. I hope Parvisol has set my +tithes well this year: he has writ nothing to me about it; pray talk to +him of it when you see him, and let him give me an account how things +are. I suppose the corn is now off the ground. I hope he has sold that +great ugly horse. Why don't you sell to him? He keeps me at charges +for horses that I never ride: yours is lame, and will never be good for +anything. The Queen will stay here about a month longer, I suppose; but +Lady Masham will go in ten days to lie in at Kensington. Poor creature, +she fell down in the court here t'other day. She would needs walk across +it upon some displeasure with her chairmen, and was likely to be spoiled +so near her time; but we hope all is over for a black eye and a sore +side: though I shall not be at ease till she is brought to bed. I find I +can fill up a letter, some way or other, without a journal. If I had +not a spirit naturally cheerful, I should be very much discontented at +a thousand things. Pray God preserve MD's health, and Pdfr's, and that +I may live far from the envy and discontent that attends those who are +thought to have more favour at Courts than they really possess. Love +Pdfr, who loves MD above all things. Farewell, deelest, ten thousand +times deelest, MD MD MD, FW FW, ME ME ME ME. Lele, Lele, Lele, Lele. + + + + +LETTER 53.(1) + +LONDON, Oct. 9, 1712. + +I have left Windsor these ten days, and am deep in pills with +asafoetida, and a steel bitter drink; and I find my head much better +than it was. I was very much discouraged; for I used to be ill for three +or four days together, ready to totter as I walked. I take eight pills a +day, and have taken, I believe, a hundred and fifty already. The Queen, +Lord Treasurer, Lady Masham, and I, were all ill together, but are now +all better; only Lady Masham expects every day to lie in at Kensington. +There was never such a lump of lies spread about the town together as +now. I doubt not but you will have them in Dublin before this comes to +you, and all without the least grounds of truth. I have been mightily +put backward in something I am writing by my illness, but hope to fetch +it up, so as to be ready when the Parliament meets. Lord Treasurer has +had an ugly fit of the rheumatism, but is now near quite well. I was +playing at one-and-thirty with him and his family t'other night. He +gave us all twelvepence apiece to begin with: it put me in mind of Sir +William Temple.(2) I asked both him and Lady Masham seriously whether +the Queen were at all inclined to a dropsy, and they positively assured +me she was not: so did her physician Arbuthnot, who always attends her. +Yet these devils have spread that she has holes in her legs, and runs +at her navel, and I know not what. Arbuthnot has sent me from Windsor a +pretty Discourse upon Lying, and I have ordered the printer to come for +it. It is a proposal for publishing a curious piece, called The Art of +Political Lying, in two volumes, etc. And then there is an abstract of +the first volume, just like those pamphlets which they call The Works of +the Learned.(3) Pray get it when it comes out. The Queen has a little of +the gout in one of her hands. I believe she will stay a month still at +Windsor. Lord Treasurer showed me the kindest letter from her in the +world, by which I picked out one secret, that there will be soon +made some Knights of the Garter. You know another is fallen by Lord +Godolphin's death: he will be buried in a day or two at Westminster +Abbey. I saw Tom Leigh(4) in town once. The Bishop of Clogher has taken +his lodging for the winter; they are all well. I hear there are in town +abundance of people from Ireland; half a dozen bishops at least. The +poor old Bishop of London,(5) at past fourscore, fell down backward +going upstairs, and I think broke or cracked his skull; yet is now +recovering. The town is as empty as at midsummer; and if I had not +occasion for physic, I would be at Windsor still. Did I tell you of Lord +Rivers's will? He has left legacies to about twenty paltry old whores by +name, and not a farthing to any friend, dependent, or relation: he has +left from his only child, Lady Barrymore,(6) her mother's estate, and +given the whole to his heir-male, a popish priest, a second cousin, who +is now Earl Rivers, and whom he used in his life like a footman. After +him it goes to his chief wench and bastard. Lord Treasurer and Lord +Chamberlain are executors of this hopeful will. I loved the man, and +detest his memory. We hear nothing of peace yet: I believe verily the +Dutch are so wilful, because they are told the Queen cannot live. I had +poor MD's letter, N.3,(7) at Windsor: but I could not answer it +then; poor Pdfr was vely kick(8) then: and, besides, it was a very +inconvenient place to send letters from. Oo thought to come home +the same day, and stayed a month: that was a sign the place was +agreeable.(9) I should love such a sort of jaunt. Is that lad +Swanton(10) a little more fixed than he used to be? I think you like +the girl very well. She has left off her grave airs, I suppose. I am now +told Lord Godolphin was buried last night.--O poo Ppt! lay down oo head +aden, fais I...; I always reckon if oo are ill I shall hear it, and +therefore hen oo are silent I reckon all is well.(11) I believe I +'scaped the new fever(12) for the same reason that Ppt did, because I am +not well; but why should DD 'scape it, pray? She is melthigal, oo know, +and ought to have the fever; but I hope it is now too late, and she +won't have it at all. Some physicians here talk very melancholy, and +think it foreruns the plague, which is actually at Hamburg. I hoped Ppt +would have done with her illness; but I think we both have that faculty +never to part with a disorder for ever; we are very constant. I have had +my giddiness twenty-three years by fits. Will Mrs. Raymond never have +done lying-in? He intends to leave beggars enough; for I daresay he has +squandered away the best part of his fortune already, and is not out of +debt. I had a letter from him lately. + +Oct. 11. Lord Treasurer sent for me yesterday and the day before to sit +with him, because he is not yet quite well enough to go abroad; and I +could not finish my letter. How the deuce come I to be so exact in ME +money? Just seventeen shillings and eightpence more than due; I believe +you cheat me. If Hawkshaw does not pay the interest I will have the +principal; pray speak to Parvisol and have his advice what I should do +about it. Service to Mrs. Stoyte and Catherine and Mrs. Walls. Ppt +makes a petition with many apologies. John Danvers, you know, is Lady +Giffard's friend. The rest I never heard of. I tell you what, as things +are at present, I cannot possibly speak to Lord Treasurer for anybody. +I need tell you no more. Something or nothing will be done in my own +affairs: if the former, I will be a solicitor for your sister;(13) if +the latter, I have done with Courts for ever. Opportunities will often +fall in my way, if I am used well, and I will then make it my business. +It is my delight to do good offices for people who want and deserve, and +a tenfold delight to do it to a relation of Ppt, whose affairs she has +so at heart.(14) I have taken down his name and his case (not HER case), +and whenever a proper time comes, I will do all I can; zat's enough to +say when I can do no more; and I beg oo pardon a sousand times,(15) that +I cannot do better. I hope the Dean of St. P(atrick's) is well of his +fever: he has never writ to me: I am glad of it; pray don't desire him +to write. I have dated your bill late, because it must not commence, ung +oomens, till the first of November(16) next. O, fais, I must be ise;(17) +iss, fais, must I; else ME will cheat Pdfr. Are you good housewives and +readers? Are you walkers? I know you are gamesters. Are you drinkers? +Are you-- O Rold, I must go no further, for fear of abusing fine +radies.(18) Parvisol has never sent me one word how he set this year's +tithes. Pray ask whether tithes set well or ill this year. The Bishop +of Killaloe(19) tells me wool bears a good rate in Ireland: but how is +corn? I dined yesterday with Lady Orkney, and we sat alone from two +till eleven at night.--You have heard of her, I suppose. I have twenty +letters upon my hands, and am so lazy and so busy, I cannot answer them, +and they grow upon me for several months. Have I any apples at Laracor? +It is strange every year should blast them, when I took so much care +for shelter. Lord Bolingbroke has been idle at his country-house this +fortnight, which puts me backward in a business I have. I am got into an +ordinary room two pair of stairs, and see nobody, if I can help it; +yet some puppies have found me out, and my man is not such an artist as +Patrick at denying me. Patrick has been soliciting to come to me again, +but in vain. The printer has been here with some of the new whims +printed, and has taken up my time. I am just going out, and can only bid +oo farewell. Farewell, deelest ickle MD, MD MD MD FW FW FW FW ME ME ME +ME. Lele deel ME. Lele lele lele sollahs bose.(20) + + + + +LETTER 54.(1) + +LONDON, Oct. 28, 1712. + +I have been in physic this month, and have been better these three +weeks. I stop my physic, by the doctor's orders, till he sends me +further directions. DD grows politician, and longs to hear the peace +is proclaimed. I hope we shall have it soon, for the Dutch are fully +humbled; and Prior is just come over from France for a few days; I +suppose upon some important affair. I saw him last night, but had no +private talk with him. Stocks rise upon his coming. As for my stay in +England, it cannot be long now, so tell my friends. The Parliament will +not meet till after Christmas, and by that time the work I am doing will +be over, and then nothing shall keep me. I am very much discontented at +Parvisol, about neglecting to sell my horses, etc. + +Lady Masham is not yet brought to bed; but we expect it daily. I dined +with her to-day. Lord Bolingbroke returned about two months ago, and +Prior about a week; and goes back (Prior I mean) in a few days. Who told +you of my snuff-box and pocket? Did I? I had a letter to-day from Dr. +Coghill,(2) desiring me to get Raphoe for Dean Sterne, and the deanery +for myself. I shall indeed, I have such obligations to Sterne. But +however, if I am asked who will make a good bishop, I shall name him +before anybody. Then comes another letter, desiring I would recommend a +Provost,(3) supposing that Pratt (who has been here about a week) will +certainly be promoted; but I believe he will not. I presented Pratt to +Lord Treasurer, and truly young Molyneux(4) would have had me present +him too; but I directly answered him I would not, unless he had business +with him. He is the son of one Mr. Molyneux of Ireland. His father wrote +a book;(5) I suppose you know it. Here is the Duke of Marlborough going +out of England (Lord knows why), which causes many speculations. Some +say he is conscious of guilt, and dare not stand it. Others think he has +a mind to fling an odium on the Government, as who should say that one +who has done such great services to his country cannot live quietly in +it, by reason of the malice of his enemies. I have helped to patch up +these people(6) together once more. God knows how long it may last. +I was to-day at a trial between Lord Lansdowne and Lord Carteret, two +friends of mine. It was in the Queen's Bench, for about six thousand a +year (or nine, I think). I sat under Lord Chief-Justice Parker, and his +pen falling down I reached it up. He made me a low bow; and I was going +to whisper him that I HAD DONE GOOD FOR EVIL; FOR HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN +MINE FROM ME.(7) I told it Lord Treasurer and Bolingbroke. Parker would +not have known me, if several lords on the bench, and in the court, +bowing, had not turned everybody's eyes, and set them a whispering. I +owe the dog a spite, and will pay him in two months at furthest, if +I can. So much for that. But you must have chat, and I must say every +sorry thing that comes into my head. They say the Queen will stay a +month longer at Windsor. These devils of Grub Street rogues, that write +the Flying Post and Medley in one paper,(8) will not be quiet. They are +always mauling Lord Treasurer, Lord Bolingbroke, and me. We have the dog +under prosecution, but Bolingbroke is not active enough; but I hope +to swinge him. He is a Scotch rogue, one Ridpath.(9) They get out upon +bail, and write on. We take them again, and get fresh bail; so it goes +round. They say some learned Dutchman has wrote a book, proving by +civil law that we do them wrong by this peace; but I shall show by plain +reason that we have suffered the wrong, and not they. I toil like a +horse, and have hundreds of letters still to read and squeeze a line out +of each, or at least the seeds of a line. Strafford goes back to Holland +in a day or two, and I hope our peace is very near. I have about thirty +pages more to write (that is, to be extracted), which will be sixty in +print. It is the most troublesome part of all, and I cannot keep myself +private, though I stole into a room up two pair of stairs, when I came +from Windsor; but my present man has not yet learned his lesson of +denying me discreetly. + +30. The Duchess of Ormond found me out to-day, and made me dine with +her. Lady Masham is still expecting. She has had a cruel cold. I could +not finish my letter last post for the soul of me. Lord Bolingbroke has +had my papers these six weeks, and done nothing to them. Is Tisdall +yet in the world? I propose writing controversies, to get a name with +posterity. The Duke of Ormond will not be over these three or four +days. I desire to make him join with me in settling all right among our +people. I have ordered the Duchess to let me have an hour with the Duke +at his first coming, to give him a true state of persons and things. +I believe the Duke of Shrewsbury will hardly be declared your Governor +yet; at least, I think so now; but resolutions alter very often. The +Duke of Hamilton gave me a pound of snuff to-day, admirable good. I wish +DD had it, and Ppt too, if she likes it. It cost me a quarter of an hour +of his politics, which I was forced to hear. Lady Orkney(10) is making +me a writing-table of her own contrivance, and a bed nightgown. She is +perfectly kind, like a mother. I think the devil was in it the other +day, that I should talk to her of an ugly squinting cousin of hers, and +the poor lady herself, you know, squints like a dragon. The other day +we had a long discourse with her about love; and she told us a saying +of her sister Fitz-Hardinge,(11) which I thought excellent, that in men, +desire begets love, and in women, love begets desire. We have abundance +of our old criers(12) still hereabouts. I hear every morning your women +with the old satin and taffeta, etc., the fellow with old coats, suits +or cloaks. Our weather is abominable of late. We have not two tolerable +days in twenty. I have lost money again at ombre, with Lord Orkney +and others; yet, after all, this year I have lost but three-and-twenty +shillings; so that, considering card money, I am no loser. + +Our Society hath not yet renewed their meetings. I hope we shall +continue to do some good this winter; and Lord Treasurer promises the +Academy for reforming our language shall soon go forward. I must now +go hunt those dry letter for materials. You will see something very +notable, I hope. So much for that. God Almighty bless you. + + + + +LETTER 55.(1) + +LONDON, Nov. 15, 1712. + +Before this comes to your hands, you will have heard of the most +terrible accident that hath almost ever happened. This morning, at +eight, my man brought me word that the Duke of Hamilton had fought +with Lord Mohun,(2) and killed him, and was brought home wounded.(3) I +immediately sent him to the Duke's house, in St. James's Square; but the +porter could hardly answer for tears, and a great rabble was about the +house. In short, they fought at seven this morning. The dog Mohun +was killed on the spot; and while(4) the Duke was over him, Mohun, +shortening his sword, stabbed him in at the shoulder to the heart. The +Duke was helped toward the cake-house by the Ring in Hyde Park (where +they fought), and died on the grass, before he could reach the house; +and was brought home in his coach by eight, while the poor Duchess(5) +was asleep. Maccartney,(6) and one Hamilton,(7) were the seconds, who +fought likewise, and are both fled. I am told that a footman of Lord +Mohun's stabbed the Duke of Hamilton; and some say Maccartney did so +too. Mohun gave the affront, and yet sent the challenge. I am infinitely +concerned for the poor Duke, who was a frank, honest, good-natured man. +I loved him very well, and I think he loved me better. He had(8) the +greatest mind in the world to have me go with him to France, but durst +not tell it me; and those he did, said I could not be spared, which +was true. They have removed the poor Duchess to a lodging in the +neighbourhood, where I have been with her two hours, and am just come +away. I never saw so melancholy a scene; for indeed all reasons for +real grief belong to her; nor is it possible for anybody to be a greater +loser in all regards. She has moved my very soul. The lodging was +inconvenient, and they would have removed her to another; but I would +not suffer it, because it had no room backward, and she must have been +tortured with the noise of the Grub Street screamers mention(ing) her +husband's murder to her ears. + +I believe you have heard the story of my escape, in opening the bandbox +sent to Lord Treasurer.(9) The prints have told a thousand lies of it; +but at last we gave them a true account of it at length, printed in the +evening;(10) only I would not suffer them to name me, having been so +often named before, and teased to death with questions. I wonder how I +came to have so much presence of mind, which is usually not my talent; +but so it pleased God, and I saved myself and him; for there was a +bullet apiece. A gentleman told me that if I had been killed, the Whigs +would have called it a judgment, because the barrels were of inkhorns, +with which I had done them so much mischief. There was a pure Grub +Street of it, full of lies and inconsistencies.(11) I do not like these +things at all, and I wish myself more and more among my willows.(12) +There is a devilish spirit among people, and the Ministry must exert +themselves, or sink. Nite dee sollahs, I'll go seep.(13) + +16. I thought to have finished this yesterday; but was too much +disturbed. I sent a letter early this morning to Lady Masham, to beg +her to write some comforting words to the poor Duchess. I dined to-(day) +with Lady Masham at Kensington, where she is expecting these two months +to lie in. She has promised me to get the Queen to write to the Duchess +kindly on this occasion; and to-morrow I will beg Lord Treasurer to +visit and comfort her. I have been with her two hours again, and find +her worse: her violences not so frequent, but her melancholy more formal +and settled. She has abundance of wit and spirit; about thirty-three +years old; handsome and airy, and seldom spared anybody that gave her +the least provocation; by which she had many enemies and few friends. +Lady Orkney, her sister-in-law, is come to town on this occasion, and +has been to see her, and behaved herself with great humanity. They +have been always very ill together, and the poor Duchess could not have +patience when people told her I went often to Lady Orkney's. But I am +resolved to make them friends; for the Duchess is now no more the object +of envy, and must learn humility from the severest master, Affliction. +I design to make the Ministry put out a proclamation (if it can be found +proper) against that villain Maccartney. What shall we do with these +murderers? I cannot end this letter to-night, and there is no occasion; +for I cannot send it till Tuesday, and the crowner's inquest on the +Duke's body is to be to-morrow, and I shall know more. But what care oo +for all this? Iss, poo MD im sorry for poo Pdfr's(14) friends; and this +is a very surprising event. 'Tis late, and I'll go to bed. This looks +like journals. Nite. + +17. I was to-day at noon with the Duchess of Hamilton again, after I had +been with Lady Orkney, and charged her to be kind to her sister in her +affliction. The Duchess told me Lady Orkney had been with her, and that +she did not treat her as gently as she ought. They hate one another, but +I will try to patch it up. I have been drawing up a paragraph for the +Postboy, to be out to-morrow, and as malicious as possible, and +very proper for Abel Roper,(15) the printer of it. I dined at Lord +Treasurer's at six in the evening, which is his usual hour of returning +from Windsor: he promises to visit the Duchess to-morrow, and says he +has a message to her from the Queen. Thank God. I have stayed till past +one with him. So nite deelest MD.(16) + +18. The Committee of Council is to sit this afternoon upon the affair +of the Duke of Hamilton's murder, and I hope a proclamation will be out +against Maccartney. I was just now ('tis now noon) with the Duchess, to +let her know Lord Treasurer will see her. She is mightily out of order. +The jury have not yet brought in their verdict upon the crowner's +inquest. We suspect Maccartney stabbed the Duke while he was fighting. +The Queen and Lord Treasurer are in great concern at this event. I dine +to-day again with Lord Treasurer; but must send this to the post-office +before, because else I shall not have time; he usually keeping me so +late. Ben Tooke bid me write to DD to send her certificate, for it is +high time it should be sent, he says. Pray make Parvisol write to me, +and send me a general account of my affairs; and let him know I shall +be over in spring, and that by all means he sells the horses. Prior has +kissed the Queen's hand, and will return to France in a few days, and +Lord Strafford to Holland; and now the King of Spain has renounced his +pretensions to France, the peace must follow very soon unavoidably. You +must no more call Philip, Duke of Anjou, for we now acknowledge him +King of Spain. Dr. Pratt tells me you are all mad in Ireland with your +playhouse frolics and prologues, and I know not what. The Bishop of +Clogher and family are well: they have heard from you, or you from them, +lately, I have forgot which: I dined there t'other day, but the Bishop +came not till after dinner; and our meat and drink was very so so. +Mr. Vedeau(17) was with me yesterday, and inquired after you. He was a +lieutenant, and is now broke, and upon half-pay. He asked me nothing +for himself; but wanted an employment for a friend, who would give a +handsome pair of gloves. One Hales sent me up a letter t'other day, +which said you lodged in his house, and therefore desired I would get +him a civil employment. I would not be within, and have directed my +man to give him an answer, that I never open letters brought me by +the writers, etc. I was complaining to a lady that I wanted to mend an +employment from forty to sixty pounds a year, in the Salt Office, and +thought it hard I could not do it. She told me one Mr. Griffin(18) +should do it. And afterward I met Griffin at her lodgings; and he was, +as I found, one I had been acquainted with. I named Filby(19) to him, +and his abode somewhere near Nantwich. He said frankly he had formerly +examined the man, and found he understood very little of his business; +but if he heard he mended, he would do what I desired. I will let it +rest a while, and then resume it; and if Ppt writes to Filby, she may +advise him to diligence, etc. I told Griffin positively I would have it +done, if the man mended. This is an account of poo Ppt's commission to +her most humble servant Pdfr. I have a world of writing to finish, and +little time; these toads of Ministers are so slow in their helps. This +makes me sometimes steal a week from the exactness I used to write to +MD. Farewell, dee logues, deelest MD MD MD,... FW FW FW ME ME ME Lele. + +Smoke the folding of my letters of late.(20) + + + + +LETTER 56.(1) + +LONDON, Dec. 12, 1712. + +Here is now a stlange ting; a rettle flom MD unanswered: never was +before. I am slower, and MD is faster: but the last was owing to DD's +certificate. Why could it not be sent before, pay now? Is it so hard for +DD to prove she is alive? I protest solemnly I am not able to write to +MD for other business, but I will resume my journal method next time. I +find it is easier, though it contains nothing but where I dine, and the +occurrences of the day. I will write now but once in three weeks +till this business is off my hands, which must be in six, I think, at +farthest. O Ppt, I remember your reprimanding me for meddling in other +people's affairs: I have enough of it now, with a wanion.(2) Two women +have been here six times apiece; I never saw them yet. The first I have +despatched with a letter; the other I must see, and tell her I can +do nothing for her: she is wife of one Connor,(3) an old college +acquaintance, and comes on a foolish errand, for some old pretensions, +that will succeed when I am Lord Treasurer. I am got (up) two pair of +stairs, in a private lodging, and have ordered all my friends not to +discover where I am; yet every morning two or three sots are plaguing +me, and my present servant has not yet his lesson perfect of denying me. +I have written a hundred and thirty pages in folio, to be printed, +and must write thirty more, which will make a large book of four +shillings.(4) I wish I knew an opportunity of sending you some snuff. +I will watch who goes to Ireland, and do it if possible. I had a +letter from Parvisol, and find he has set my livings very low. Colonel +Hamilton, who was second to the Duke of Hamilton, is tried to-day. +I suppose he is come off, but have not heard.(5) I dined with Lord +Treasurer, but left him by nine, and visited some people. Lady Betty,(6) +his(7) daughter, will be married on Monday next (as I suppose) to the +Marquis of Caermarthen. I did not know your country place had been +Portraine, till you told me so in your last. Has Swanton taken it of +Wallis? That Wallis was a grave, wise coxcomb. God be thanked that Ppt +im better of her disoddles.(8) Pray God keep her so. The pamphlet of +Political Lying is written by Dr. Arbuthnot, the author of John Bull; +'tis very pretty, but not so obvious to be understood. Higgins,(9) first +chaplain to the Duke of Hamilton? Why, the Duke of Hamilton never dreamt +of a chaplain, nor I believe ever heard of Higgins. You are glorious +newsmongers in Ireland--Dean Francis,(10) Sir R. Levinge,(11) stuff +stuff: and Pratt, more stuff. We have lost our fine frost here; and Abel +Roper tells as you have had floods in Dublin; ho, brave(12) you! Oh +ho! Swanton seized Portraine, now I understand oo. Ay, ay, now I see +Portraune at the top of your letter. I never minded it before. Now +to your second, N.36. So, you read one of the Grub Streets about the +bandbox.(13) The Whig papers have abused me about the bandbox. God help +me, what could I do? I fairly ventured my life. There is a particular +account of it in the Postboy, and Evening Post of that day. Lord +Treasurer has had the seal sent him that sealed the box, and directions +where to find the other pistol in a tree in St. James's Park, which Lord +Bolingbroke's messenger found accordingly; but who sent the present +is not yet known. The Duke of Hamilton avoided the quarrel as much as +possible, according to the foppish rules of honour in practice. What +signified your writing angry to Filby? I hope you said nothing of +hearing anything from me. Heigh! do oo write by sandlelight! nauti, +nauti, nauti dallar, a hundred times, fol doing so. O, fais, DD, I'll +take care of myself! The Queen is in town, and Lady Masham's month of +lying-in is within two days of being out. I was at the christening on +Monday. I could not get the child named Robin, after Lord Treasurer; it +is Samuel, after the father. My brother Ormond sent me some chocolate +to-day. I wish you had share of it: but they say 'tis good for me, and I +design to drink some in a morning. Our Society meets next Thursday, now +the Queen is in town; and Lord Treasurer assures me that the Society for +reforming the language shall soon be established. I have given away ten +shillings to-day to servants; 'tan't be help if one should cry one's +eyes out.(14) Hot a stir is here about your company and visits! Charming +company, no doubt; now I keep no company at all, nor have I any desire +to keep any. I never go to a coffee-house nor a tavern, nor have touched +a card since I left Windsor. I make few visits, nor go to levees; my +only debauching is sitting late where I dine, if I like the company. +I have almost dropped the Duchesses of Shrewsbury and Hamilton, and +several others. Lord Treasurer, the Duke of Ormond, and Lady Orkney are +all that I see very often. Oh yes, and Lady Masham and Lord Bolingbroke, +and one or two private friends. I make no figure but at Court, where I +affect to turn from a lord to the meanest of my acquaintance, and I love +to go there on Sundays to see the world. But, to say the truth, I am +growing weary of it. I dislike a million of things in the course of +public affairs; and if I were to stay here much longer, I am sure +I should ruin myself with endeavouring to mend them. I am every day +invited into schemes of doing this, but I cannot find any that will +probably succeed. It is impossible to save people against their own +will; and I have been too much engaged in patchwork already. Do you +understand all this stuff? No. Well zen, you are now returned to ombre +and the Dean, and Christmas; I wish oo a very merry one; and pray don't +lose oo money, nor play upon Watt Welch's game. Nite, sollahs, 'tis rate +I'll go to seep; I don't seep well, and therefore never dare to drink +coffee or tea after dinner: but I am very seepy in a molning. This is +the effect of time and years. Nite deelest MD. + +18. Morn. I am so very seepy in the morning that my man wakens me +above ten times; and now I can tell oo no news of this day. (Here is a +restless dog, crying cabbages and savoys, plagues me every morning about +this time; he is now at it. I wish his largest cabbage were sticking +in his throat.) I lodge over against the house in Little Rider Street, +where DD lodged. Don't oo lememble, maram? To-night I must see the Abbe +Gaultier,(15) to get some particulars for my History. It was he who was +first employed by France in the overtures of peace, and I have not had +time this month to see him; he is but a puppy too. Lady Orkney has just +sent to invite me to dinner; she has not given me the bed-nightgown;(16) +besides, I am come very much off from writing in bed, though I am doing +it this minute; but I stay till my fire is burnt up. My grate is very +large; two bushels of coals in a week: but I save it in lodgings. Lord +Abercorn is come to London, and will plague me, and I can do him no +service. The Duke of Shrewsbury goes in a day or two for France, perhaps +to-day. We shall have a peace very soon; the Dutch are almost entirely +agreed, and if they stop we shall make it without them; that has been +long resolved. One Squire Jones,(17) a scoundrel in my parish, has writ +to me to desire I would engage Joe Beaumont to give him his interest for +Parliament-man for Trim: pray tell Joe this; and if he designed to vote +for him already, then he may tell Jones that I received his letter, and +that I writ to Joe to do it. If Joe be engaged for any other, then he +may do what he will: and Parvisol may say he spoke to Joe, but Joe's +engaged, etc. I received three pair of fine thread stockings from Joe +lately. Pray thank him when you see him, and that I say they are very +fine and good. (I never looked at them yet, but that's no matter.) This +is a fine day. I am ruined with coaches and chairs this twelvepenny +weather. I must see my brother Ormond at eleven, and then the Duchess of +Hamilton, with whom I doubt I am in disgrace, not having seen her these +ten days. I send this to-day, and must finish it now; and perhaps +some people may come and hinder me; for it im ten o'clock (but not +shaving-day), and I must be abroad at eleven. Abbe Gaultier sends me +word I can't see him to-night; pots cake him! I don't value anything but +one letter he has of Petecum's,(18) showing the roguery of the Dutch. +Did not the Conduct of the Allies make you great politicians? Fais, I +believe you are not quite so ignorant as I thought you. I am glad to +hear oo walked so much in the country. Does DD ever read to you, ung +ooman? O, fais! I shall find strange doings hen I tum ole!(19) Here is +somebody coming that I must see that wants a little place; the son of +cousin Rooke's eldest daughter, that died many years ago. He's here. +Farewell, deelest MD MD MD ME ME ME FW FW FW, Lele. + + + + +LETTER 57.(1) + +LONDON, Dec. 18, 1712. + +Our Society was to meet to-day; but Lord Harley, who was President +this week, could not attend, being gone to Wimbledon with his new +brother-in-law, the young Marquis of Caermarthen, who married Lady Betty +Harley on Monday last; and Lord Treasurer is at Wimbledon too. However, +half a dozen of us met, and I propose our meetings should be once a +fortnight; for, between you and me, we do no good. It cost me nineteen +shillings to-day for my Club at dinner; I don't like it, fais. We have +terrible snowy slobbery weather. Lord Abercorn is come to town, and will +see me, whether I will or no. You know he has a pretence to a dukedom +in France, which the Duke of Hamilton was soliciting for; but Abercorn +resolves to spoil their title, if they will not allow him a fourth part; +and I have advised the Duchess to compound with him, and have made the +Ministry of my opinion. Night, dee sollahs, MD, MD. + +19. Ay mally zis is sumsing rike,(2) for Pdfr to write journals again! +'Tis as natural as mother's milk, now I am got into it. Lord Treasurer +is returned from Wimbledon ('tis not above eight miles off), and sent +for me to dine with him at five; but I had the grace to be abroad, +and dined with some others, with honest Ben Tooke, by invitation. The +Duchess of Ormond promised me her picture, and coming home tonight, +I found hers and the Duke's both in my chamber. Was not that a pretty +civil surprise? Yes, and they are in fine gilded frames, too. I am +writing a letter to thank her, which I will send to-morrow morning. +I'll tell her she is such a prude that she will not let so much as her +picture be alone in a room with a man, unless the Duke's be with it; +and so forth.(3) We are full of snow, and dabbling. Lady Masham has come +abroad these three days, and seen the Queen. I dined with her t'other +day at her sister Hill's. I hope she will remove in a few days to her +new lodgings at St. James's from Kensington. Nite, dee logues MD. + +20. I lodge (up) two pair of stairs, have but one room, and deny myself +to everybody almost, yet I cannot be quiet; and all my mornings are lost +with people, who will not take answers below stairs; such as Dilly, and +the Bishop, and Provost, etc. Lady Orkney invited me to dinner to-day, +which hindered me from dining with Lord Treasurer. This is his day that +his chief friends in the Ministry dine with him. However, I went there +about six, and sat with them till past nine, when they all went off; but +he kept me back, and told me the circumstances of Lady Betty's match. +The young fellow has 60,000 pounds ready money, three great houses +furnished, 7,000 pounds a year at present, and about five more after his +father and mother die. I think Lady Betty's portion is not above 8,000 +pounds. I remember either Tisdall writ to me in somebody's letter, +or you did it for him, that I should mention him on occasion to Lord +Anglesea, with whom, he said, he had some little acquaintance. Lord +Anglesea was with me to-night at Lord Treasurer's; and then I asked him +about Tisdall, and described him. He said he never saw him, but that he +had sent him his book.(4) See what it is to be a puppy. Pray tell Mr. +Walls that Lord Anglesea thanked me for recommending Clements(5) to him; +that he says he is 20,000 pounds the better for knowing Clements. But +pray don't let Clements go and write a letter of thanks, and tell +my lord that he hears so and so, etc. Why, 'tis but like an Irish +understanding to do so. Sad weather; two shillings in coaches to-day, +and yet I am dirty. I am now going to read over something and correct +it. So, nite. + +21. Puppies have got a new way of plaguing me. I find letters directed +for me at Lord Treasurer's, sometimes with enclosed ones to him, and +sometimes with projects, and some times with libels. I usually keep them +three or four days without opening. I was at Court to-day, as I always +am on Sundays, instead of a coffee-house, to see my acquaintance. +This day se'nnight, after I had been talking at Court with Sir William +Wyndham, the Spanish Ambassador(6) came to him and said he heard that +was Dr. Swift, and desired him to tell me that his master, and the +King of France, and the Queen, were more obliged to me than any man in +Europe; so we bowed, and shook hands, etc. I took it very well of him. I +dined with Lord Treasurer, and must again to-morrow, though I had rather +not (as DD says); but now the Queen is in town, he does not keep me so +late. I have not had time to see Fanny Manley since she came, but intend +it one of these days. Her uncle, Jack Manley,(7) I hear, cannot live +a month, which will be a great loss to her father in Ireland, for I +believe he is one of his chief supports. Our peace now will soon +be determined; for Lord Bolingbroke tells me this morning that four +provinces of Holland(8) have complied with the Queen, and we expect the +rest will do so immediately. Nite MD. + +22. Lord Keeper promised me yesterday the first convenient living to +poor Mr. Gery,(9) who is married, and wants some addition to what he +has. He is a very worthy creature. I had a letter some weeks ago from +Elwick,(10) who married Betty Gery. It seems the poor woman died some +time last summer. Elwick grows rich, and purchases lands. I dined with +Lord Treasurer to-day, who has engaged me to come again to-morrow. I +gave Lord Bolingbroke a poem of Parnell's.(11) I made Parnell insert +some compliments in it to his lordship. He is extremely pleased with +it, and read some parts of it to-day to Lord Treasurer, who liked it +as much. And indeed he outdoes all our poets here a bar's length. Lord +Bolingbroke has ordered me to bring him to dinner on Christmas Day, and +I made Lord Treasurer promise to see him; and it may one day do Parnell +a kindness. You know Parnell. I believe I have told you of that poem. +Nite, deel MD. + +23. This morning I presented one Diaper,(12) a poet, to Lord +Bolingbroke, with a new poem, which is a very good one; and I am to give +him a sum of money from my lord; and I have contrived to make a parson +of him, for he is half one already, being in deacon's orders, and serves +a small cure in the country; but has a sword at his a--- here in town. +'Tis a poor little short wretch, but will do best in a gown, and we +will make Lord Keeper give him a living. Lord Bolingbroke writ to +Lord Treasurer to excuse me to-day; so I dined with the former, and +Monteleon, the Spanish Ambassador, who made me many compliments. I +stayed till nine, and now it is past ten, and my man has locked me up, +and I have just called to mind that I shall be in disgrace with +Tom Leigh.(13) That coxcomb had got into acquaintance with one +Eckershall,(14) Clerk of the Kitchen to the Queen, who was civil to him +at Windsor on my account; for I had done some service to Eckershall. +Leigh teases me to pass an evening at his lodgings with Eckershall. I +put it off several times, but was forced at last to promise I would come +to-night; and it never was in my head till I was locked up, and I have +called and called, but my man is gone to bed; so I will write an excuse +to-morrow. I detest that Tom Leigh, and am as formal to him as I can +when I happen to meet him in the Park. The rogue frets me, if he knew +it. He asked me why I did not wait on the Bishop of Dromore.(15) I +answered I had not the honour to be acquainted with him, and would not +presume, etc. He takes me seriously, and says the Bishop is no proud +man, etc. He tells me of a judge in Ireland that has done ill things. +I ask why he is not out? Says he, "I think the bishops, and you, and I, +and the rest of the clergy, should meet and consult about it." I beg his +pardon, and say, "I cannot be serviceable that way." He answers, "Yes, +everybody may help something."--Don't you see how curiously he contrives +to vex me; for the dog knows that with half a word I could do more than +all of them together. But he only does it from the pride and envy of +his own heart, and not out of a humorous design of teasing. He is one +of those that would rather a service should not be done, than done by a +private man, and of his own country. You take all this, don't you? Nite +dee sollahs, I'll go seep a dozey. + +24. I dined to-day with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in order to +look over some of my papers; but nothing was done. I have been also +mediating between the Hamilton family and Lord Abercorn, to have them +compound with him; and I believe they will do it. Lord Selkirk,(16) the +late Duke's brother, is to be in town, in order to go to France, to +make the demands; and the Ministry are of opinion they will get some +satisfaction, and they empowered me to advise the Hamilton side to agree +with Abercorn, who asks a fourth part, and will go to France and spoil +all if they won't yield it. Nite sollahs. + +25. All melly Titmasses--melly Titmasses--I said it first--I wish it a +souzand (times) zoth with halt(17) and soul.(18) I carried Parnell to +dine at Lord Bolingbroke's, and he behaved himself very well; and Lord +Bolingbroke is mightily pleased with him. I was at St. James's Chapel by +eight this morning; and church and sacrament were done by ten. The Queen +has the gout in her hand, and did not come to church today; and I stayed +so long in my chamber that I missed going to Court. Did I tell you that +the Queen designs to have a Drawing-room and company every day? Nite dee +logues. + +26. I was to wish the Duke of Ormond a happy Christmas, and give half +a crown to his porter. It will cost me a dozen half-crowns among such +fellows. I dined with Lord Treasurer, who chid me for being absent +three days. Mighty kind, with a p--; less of civility, and more of his +interest! We hear Maccartney is gone over to Ireland. Was it not comical +for a gentleman to be set upon by highwaymen, and to tell them he was +Maccartney? Upon which they brought him to a justice of peace, in hopes +of the reward,(19) and the rogues were sent to gaol. Was it not great +presence of mind? But maybe you heard this already; for there was a +Grub Street of it. Lord Bolingbroke told me I must walk away to-day when +dinner was done, because Lord Treasurer, and he, and another, were +to enter upon business; but I said it was as fit I should know their +business as anybody, for I was to justify (it).(20) So the rest went, +and I stayed, and it was so important, I was like to sleep over it. I +left them at nine, and it is now twelve. Nite, MD. + +27. I dined to-day with General Hill, Governor of Dunkirk. Lady Masham +and Mrs. Hill, his two sisters, were of the company, and there have I +been sitting this evening till eleven, looking over others at play; +for I have left off loving play myself; and I think Ppt is now a great +gamester. I have a great cold on me, not quite at its height. I have +them seldom, and therefore ought to be patient. I met Mr. Addison and +Pastoral Philips on the Mall to-day, and took a turn with them; but they +both looked terrible dry and cold. A curse of party! And do you know I +have taken more pains to recommend the Whig wits to the favour and mercy +of the Ministers than any other people. Steele I have kept in his +place. Congreve I have got to be used kindly, and secured. Rowe I have +recommended, and got a promise of a place. Philips I could certainly +have provided for, if he had not run party mad, and made me withdraw my +recommendation; and I set Addison so right at first that he might have +been employed, and have partly secured him the place he has; yet I am +worse used by that faction than any man. Well, go to cards, sollah Ppt, +and dress the wine and olange, sollah MD, and I'll go seep. 'Tis rate. +Nite MD. + +28. My cold is so bad that I could not go to church today, nor to Court; +but I was engaged to Lord Orkney's with the Duke of Ormond, at dinner; +and ventured, because I could cough and spit there as I pleased. The +Duke and Lord Arran left us, and I have been sitting ever since with +Lord and Lady Orkney till past eleven: and my cold is worse, and makes +me giddy. I hope it is only my cold. Oh, says Ppt, everybody is giddy +with a cold; I hope it is no more; but I'll go to bed, for the fellow +has bawled "Past twelve." Night, deels. + +29. I got out early to-day, and escaped all my duns. I went to see Lord +Bolingbroke about some business, and truly he was gone out too. I dined +in the City upon the broiled leg of a goose and a bit of brawn, with +my printer. Did I tell you that I forbear printing what I have in hand, +till the Court decides something about me? I will contract no more +enemies, at least I will not embitter worse those I have already, till +I have got under shelter; and the Ministers know my resolution, so that +you may be disappointed in seeing this thing as soon as you expected. +I hear Lord Treasurer is out of order. My cold is very bad. Every(body) +has one. Nite two dee logues. + +30. I suppose this will be full by Saturday; zen(21) it sall go. Duke +of Ormond, Lord Arran, and I, dined privately to-day at an old servant's +house of his. The Council made us part at six. One Mrs. Ramsay dined +with us; an old lady of about fifty-five, that we are all very fond of. +I called this evening at Lord Treasurer's, and sat with him two hours. +He has been cupped for a cold, and has been very ill. He cannot dine +with Parnell and me at Lord Bolingbroke's to-morrow, but says he will +see Parnell some other time. I hoise(22) up Parnell partly to spite the +envious Irish folks here, particularly Tom Leigh. I saw the Bishop +of Clogher's family to-day; Miss is mighty ill of a cold, coughs +incessantly.(23) Nite MD. + +31. To-day Parnell and I dined with Lord Bolingbroke, to correct +Parnell's poem. I made him show all the places he disliked; and when +Parnell has corrected it fully he shall print it. I went this evening to +sit with Lord Treasurer. He is better, and will be out in a day or two. +I sat with him while the young folks went to supper; and then went down, +and there were the young folks merry together, having turned Lady Oxford +up to my lord, and I stayed with them till twelve. There was the young +couple, Lord and Lady Caermarthen, and Lord and Lady Dupplin, and Lord +Harley and I; and the old folks were together above. It looked like what +I have formerly done so often; stealing together from the old folks, +though indeed it was not from poor Lord Treasurer, who is as young a +fellow as any of us: but Lady Oxford is a silly mere old woman.(24) My +cold is still so bad that I have not the least smelling. I am just got +home, and 'tis past twelve; and I'll go to bed, and settle my head, +heavy as lead. Nite MD. + +Jan. 1, 1712-13. A sousand melly new eels(25) to deelest richar MD. Pray +God Almighty bless you, and send you ever happy! I forgot to tell you +that yesterday Lord Abercorn was here, teasing me about his French +duchy, and suspecting my partiality to the Hamilton family in such a +whimsical manner that Dr. Pratt, who was by, thought he was mad. He was +no sooner gone but Lord Orkney sent to know whether he might come and +sit with me half an hour upon some business. I returned answer that I +would wait on him; which I did. We discoursed a while, and he left me +with Lady Orkney; and in came the Earl of Selkirk, whom I had never seen +before. He is another brother of the Duke of Hamilton, and is going to +France, by a power from his mother, the old Duchess,(26) to negotiate +their pretensions to the duchy of Chatelherault. He teased me for two +hours in spite of my teeth, and held my hand when I offered to stir; +would have had me engage the Ministry to favour him against Lord +Abercorn, and to convince them that Lord Abercorn had no pretensions; +and desired I would also convince Lord Abercorn himself so; and +concluded he was sorry I was a greater friend to Abercorn than Hamilton. +I had no patience, and used him with some plainness. Am not I purely +handled between a couple of puppies? Ay, says Ppt, you must be meddling +in other folks' affairs. I appeal to the Bishop of Clogher whether +Abercorn did not complain that I would not let him see me last year, +and that he swore he would take no denial from my servant when he came +again. The Ministers gave me leave to tell the Hamilton family it was +their opinion that they ought to agree with Abercorn. Lord Anglesea +was then by, and told Abercorn; upon which he gravely tells me I was +commissioned by the Ministers, and ought to perform my commission, +etc.--But I'll have done with them. I have warned Lord Treasurer and +Lord Bolingbroke to beware of Selkirk's teasing; --x on him! Yet +Abercorn vexes me more. The whelp owes to me all the kind receptions he +has had from the Ministry. I dined to-day at Lord Treasurer's with the +young folks, and sat with Lord Treasurer till nine, and then was forced +to Lady Masham's, and sat there till twelve, talking of affairs, till I +am out of humour, as everyone must that knows them inwardly. A thousand +things wrong, most of them easy to mend; yet our schemes availing at +best but little, and sometimes nothing at all. One evil, which I twice +patched up with the hazard of all the credit I had, is now spread more +than ever.(27) But burn politics, and send me from Courts and Ministers! +Nite deelest richar MD. + +2. I sauntered about this morning, and went with Dr. Pratt to a picture +auction, where I had like to be drawn in to buy a picture that I was +fond of, but, it seems, was good for nothing. Pratt was there to buy +some pictures for the Bishop of Clogher, who resolves to lay out ten +pounds to furnish his house with curious pieces. We dined with the +Bishop, I being by chance disengaged. And this evening I sat with +the Bishop of Ossory,(28) who is laid up with the gout. The French +Ambassador, Duke d'Aumont,(29) came to town to-night; and the rabble +conducted him home with shouts. I cannot smell yet, though my cold +begins to break. It continues cruel hard frosty weather. Go and be +melly,... sollahs.(30) + +3. Lord Dupplin and I went with Lord and Lady Orkney this morning at +ten to Wimbledon, six miles off, to see Lord and Lady Caermarthen. It is +much the finest place about this town. Did oo never see it? I was once +there before, about five years ago. You know Lady Caermarthen is Lord +Treasurer's daughter, married about three weeks ago. I hope the young +fellow will be a good husband.--I must send this away now. I came back +just by nightfall, cruel cold weather; I have no smell yet, but my cold +something better. Nite (?) sollahs; I'll take my reeve. I forget how +MD's accounts are. Pray let me know always timely before MD wants; and +pray give the bill on t'other side to Mrs. Brent as usual. I believe I +have not paid her this great while. Go, play cards, and... rove Pdfr. +Nite richar MD... roves Pdfr. FW lele.. . MD MD MD MD MD FW FW FW FW MD +MD Lele...(31) + +The six odd shillings, tell Mrs. Brent, are for her new year's gift. + + + +I(32) am just now told that poor dear Lady Ashburnham,(33) the Duke +of Ormond's daughter, died yesterday at her country house. The poor +creature was with child. She was my greatest favourite, and I am in +excessive concern for her loss. I hardly knew a more valuable person on +all accounts. You must have heard me talk of her. I am afraid to see the +Duke and Duchess. She was naturally very healthy; I am afraid she has +been thrown away for want of care. Pray condole with me. 'Tis extremely +moving. Her lord's a puppy; and I shall never think it worth my while +to be troubled with him, now he has lost all that was valuable in his +possession; yet I think he used her pretty well. I hate life when I +think it exposed to such accidents; and to see so many thousand wretches +burdening the earth, while such as her die, makes me think God did never +intend life for a blessing. Farewell. + + + + +LETTER 58.(1) + +LONDON, Jan. 4, 1712-13. + +I ended my last with the melancholy news of poor Lady Ashburnham's +death. The Bishop of Clogher and Dr. Pratt made me dine with them to-day +at Lord Mountjoy's, pursuant to an engagement, which I had forgot. Lady +Mountjoy told me that Maccartney was got safe out of our clutches, for +she had spoke with one who had a letter from him from Holland. Others +say the same thing. 'Tis hard such a dog should escape.--As I left Lord +Mountjoy's I saw the Duke d'Aumont, the French Ambassador, going from +Lord Bolingbroke's, where he dined, to have a private audience of the +Queen. I followed, and went up to Court, where there was a great +crowd. I was talking with the Duke of Argyle by the fireside in the +bed-chamber, when the Ambassador came out from the Queen. Argyle +presented me to him, and Lord Bolingbroke and we talked together a +while. He is a fine gentleman, something like the Duke of Ormond, and +just such an expensive man. After church to-day I showed the Bishop of +Clogher, at Court, who was who. Nite my two dee logues, and...(2) + +5. Our frost is broke, but it is bloody cold. Lord Treasurer is +recovered, and went out this evening to the Queen. I dined with Lady +Oxford, and then sat with Lord Treasurer while he went out. He gave me +a letter from an unknown hand, relating to Dr. Brown,(3) Bishop of Cork, +recommending him to a better bishopric, as a person who opposed Lord +Wharton, and was made a bishop on that account, celebrating him for +a great politician, etc.: in short, all directly contrary to his +character, which I made bold to explain. What dogs there are in the +world! I was to see the poor Duke and Duchess of Ormond this morning. +The Duke was in his public room, with Mr. Southwell(4) and two more +gentlemen. When Southwell and I were alone with him, he talked something +of Lord Ashburnham, that he was afraid the Whigs would get him again. +He bore up as well as he could, but something falling accidentally in +discourse, the tears were just falling out of his eyes, and I looked +off to give him an opportunity (which he took) of wiping them with his +handkerchief. I never saw anything so moving, nor such a mixture of +greatness of mind, and tenderness, and discretion. Nite MD. + +6. Lord Bolingbroke and Parnell and I dined, by invitation, with my +friend Darteneuf,(5) whom you have heard me talk of. Lord Bolingbroke +likes Parnell mightily; and it is pleasant to see that one who hardly +passed for anything in Ireland makes his way here with a little friendly +forwarding. It is scurvy rainy weather, and I have hardly been abroad +to-day, nor know anything that passes.--Lord Treasurer is quite +recovered, and I hope will be careful to keep himself well. The Duchess +of Marlborough is leaving England to go to her Duke, and makes presents +of rings to several friends, they say worth two hundred pounds apiece. I +am sure she ought to give me one, though the Duke pretended to think me +his greatest enemy, and got people to tell me so, and very mildly to let +me know how gladly he would have me softened toward him. I bid a lady of +his acquaintance and mine let him know that I had hindered many a bitter +thing against him; not for his own sake, but because I thought it looked +base; and I desired everything should be left him, except power. Nite +MD. + +7. I dined with Lord and Lady Masham to-day, and this evening played at +ombre with Mrs. Vanhom, merely for amusement. The Ministers have got my +papers, and will neither read them nor give them to me; and I can hardly +do anything. Very warm slabby weather, but I made a shift to get a walk; +yet I lost half of it, by shaking off Lord Rochester,(6) who is a +good, civil, simple man. The Bishop of Ossory will not be Bishop of +Hereford,(7) to the great grief of himself and his wife. And hat is MD +doing now, I wonder? Playing at cards with the Dean and Mrs. Walls? I +think it is not certain yet that Maccartney is escaped. I am plagued +with bad authors, verse and prose, who send me their books and poems, +the vilest trash I ever saw; but I have given their names to my man, +never to let them see me. I have got new ink, and 'tis very white; and +I don't see that it turns black at all. I'll go to seep; 'tis past +twelve.--Nite, MD. + +8. Oo must understand that I am in my geers, and have got a +chocolate-pot, a present from Mrs. Ashe of Clogher, and some chocolate +from my brother Ormond, and I treat folks sometimes. I dined with +Lord Treasurer at five o'clock to-day, and was by while he and Lord +Bolingbroke were at business; for it is fit I should know all that +passes now, because, etc. The Duke of Ormond employed me to speak to +Lord Treasurer to-day about an affair, and I did so; and the Duke had +spoke himself two hours before, which vexed me, and I will chide the +Duke about it. I'll tell you a good thing; there is not one of the +Ministry but what will employ me as gravely to speak for them to Lord +Treasurer as if I were their brother or his; and I do it as gravely: +though I know they do it only because they will not make themselves +uneasy, or had rather I should be denied than they. I believe our peace +will not be finished these two months; for I think we must have a +return from Spain by a messenger, who will not go till Sunday next. +Lord Treasurer has invited me to dine with him again to-morrow. Your +Commissioner, Keatley,(8) is to be there. Nite dee richar MD.(9) + +9. Dr. Pratt drank chocolate with me this morning, and then we walked. I +was yesterday with him to see Lady Betty Butler, grieving for her sister +Ashburnham. The jade was in bed in form, and she did so cant, she made +me sick. I meet Tom Leigh every day in the Park, to preserve his +health. He is as ruddy as a rose, and tells me his Bishop of Dromore(10) +recovers very much. That Bishop has been very near dying. This day's +Examiner talks of the play of "What is it like?"(11) and you will think +it to be mine, and be bit; for I have no hand in these papers at all. I +dined with Lord Treasurer, and shall again to-morrow, which is his day +when all the Ministers dine with him. He calls it whipping-day. It is +always on Saturday, and we do indeed usually rally him about his faults +on that day. I was of the original Club, when only poor Lord Rivers, +Lord Keeper, and Lord Bolingbroke came; but now Ormond, Anglesea, Lord +Steward,(12) Dartmouth, and other rabble intrude, and I scold at it; but +now they pretend as good a title as I; and, indeed, many Saturdays I am +not there. The company being too many, I don't love it. Nite MD. + +10. At seven this evening, as we sat after dinner at Lord Treasurer's, +a servant said Lord Peterborow was at the door. Lord Treasurer and +Lord Bolingbroke went out to meet him, and brought him in. He was just +returned from abroad, where he has been above a year. Soon as he saw me, +he left the Duke of Ormond and other lords, and ran and kissed me before +he spoke to them; but chid me terribly for not writing to him, which I +never did this last time he was abroad, not knowing where he was; and he +changed places so often, it was impossible a letter should overtake him. +He left England with a bruise, by his coach overturning, that made him +spit blood, and was so ill, we expected every post to hear of his death; +but he outrode it or outdrank it, or something, and is come home lustier +than ever. He is at least sixty, and has more spirits than any young +fellow I know in England. He has got the old Oxford regiment of horse, +and I believe will have a Garter. I love the hang-dog dearly. Nite dee +MD. + +11. The Court was crammed to-day to see(13) the French Ambassador; but +he did not come. Did I never tell you that I go to Court on Sundays as +to a coffee-house, to see acquaintance, whom I should otherwise not +see twice a year? The Provost(14) and I dined with Ned Southwell, +by appointment, in order to settle your kingdom, if my scheme can +be followed; but I doubt our Ministry will be too tedious. You must +certainly have a new Parliament; but they would have that a secret yet. +Our Parliament here will be prorogued for three weeks. Those puppies the +Dutch will not yet come in, though they pretend to submit to the Queen +in everything; but they would fain try first how our session begins, +in hopes to embroil us in the House of Lords: and if my advice had been +taken, the session should have begun, and we would have trusted the +Parliament to approve the steps already made toward the peace, and had +an Address perhaps from them to conclude without the Dutch, if they +would not agree.--Others are of my mind, but it is not reckoned so safe, +it seems; yet I doubt whether the peace will be ready so soon as three +weeks, but that is a secret. Nite MD. + +12. Pratt and I walked into the City to one Bateman's,(15) a famous +bookseller, for old books. There I laid out four pounds like a fool, +and we dined at a hedge ale-house, for two shillings and twopence, +like emperors. Let me see, I bought Plutarch, two volumes, for thirty +shillings, etc. Well, I'll tell you no more; oo don't understand +Greek.(16) We have no news, and I have nothing more to say to-day, and +I can't finish my work. These Ministers will not find time to do what I +would have them. So nite, nown dee dallars. + +13. I was to have dined to-day with Lord Keeper, but would not, because +that brute Sir John Walter(17) was to be one of the company. You may +remember he railed at me last summer was twelvemonth at Windsor, and has +never begged my pardon, though he promised to do it; and Lord Mansel, +who was one of the company, would certainly have set us together by +the ears, out of pure roguish mischief. So I dined with Lord Treasurer, +where there was none but Lord Bolingbroke. I stayed till eight, and then +went to Lady Orkney's, who has been sick, and sat with her till twelve, +from whence you may consider it is late, sollahs. The Parliament was +prorogued to-day, as I told you, for three weeks. Our weather is very +bad and slobbery, and I shall spoil my new hat (I have bought a new +hat), or empty my pockets. Does Hawkshaw pay the interest he owes? Lord +Abercorn plagues me to death. I have now not above six people to provide +for, and about as many to do good offices to; and thrice as many that I +will do nothing for; nor can I if I would. Nite dee MD. + +14. To-day I took the circle of morning visits. I went to the Duchess of +Ormond, and there was she, and Lady Betty, and Lord Ashburnham together: +this was the first time the mother and daughter saw each other since +Lady Ashburnham's death. They were both in tears, and I chid them for +being together, and made Lady Betty go to her own chamber; then sat a +while with the Duchess, and went after Lady Betty, and all was well. +There is something of farce in all these mournings, let them be ever +so serious. People will pretend to grieve more than they really do, +and that takes off from their true grief. I then went to the Duchess of +Hamilton, who never grieved, but raged, and stormed, and railed.(18) She +is pretty quiet now, but has a diabolical temper. Lord Keeper and his +son, and their two ladies, and I, dined to-day with Mr. Caesar,(19) +Treasurer of the Navy, at his house in the City, where he keeps his +office. We happened to talk of Brutus, and I said something in his +praise, when it struck me immediately that I had made a blunder in doing +so; and, therefore, I recollected myself, and said, "Mr. Caesar, I beg +your pardon." So we laughed, etc. Nite, my own deelest richar logues, +MD. + +15. I forgot to tell you that last night I had a present sent me (I +found it, when I came home, in my chamber) of the finest wild fowl I +ever saw, with the vilest letter, and from the vilest poet in the world, +who sent it me as a bribe to get him an employment. I knew not where +the scoundrel lived, so I could not send them back, and therefore I gave +them away as freely as I got them, and have ordered my man never to let +up the poet when he comes. The rogue should have kept the wings at least +for his muse. One of his fowls was a large capon pheasant, as fat as +a pullet. I ate share of it to-day with a friend. We have now a +Drawing-room every Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday at one o'clock. The +Queen does not come out; but all her Ministers, foreigners, and persons +of quality are at it. I was there to-day; and as Lord Treasurer came +towards me, I avoided him, and he hunted me thrice about the room. I +affect never to take notice of him at church or Court. He knows it, for +I have told him so; and to-night, at Lord Masham's, he gave an account +of it to the company; but my reasons are, that people seeing me speak to +him causes a great deal of teasing. I tell you what comes into my head, +that I never knew whether MD were Whigs or Tories, and I value our +conversation the more that it never turned on that subject. I have +a fancy that Ppt is a Tory, and a violent one. I don't know why; but +methinks she looks like one, and DD a sort of a Trimmer. Am I right? I +gave the Examiner a hint about this prorogation, and to praise the +Queen for her tenderness to the Dutch in giving them still more time to +submit.(20) It fitted the occasions at present. Nite MD. + +16. I was busy to-day at the Secretary's office, and stayed till past +three. The Duke of Ormond and I were to dine at Lord Orkney's. The Duke +was at the Committee, so I thought all was safe. When I went there, they +had almost dined; for the Duke had sent to excuse himself, which I never +knew. I came home at seven, and began a little whim, which just came +into my head; and will make a threepenny pamphlet.(21) It shall be +finished and out in a week; and if it succeeds, you shall know what it +is; otherwise, not. I cannot send this to-morrow, and will put it off +till next Saturday, because I have much business. So my journals shall +be short, and Ppt must have patience. So nite, dee sollahs. + +17. This rogue Parnell has not yet corrected his poem, and I would +fain have it out. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer, and his Saturday +company, nine of us in all. They went away at seven, and Lord Treasurer +and I sat talking an hour after. After dinner he was talking to the +lords about the speech the Queen must make when the Parliament meets. He +asked me how I would make it. I was going to be serious, because it +was seriously put; but I turned it to a jest. And because they had been +speaking of the Duchess of Marlborough going to Flanders after the Duke, +I said the speech should begin thus: "My Lords and Gentlemen, In order +to my own quiet, and that of my subjects, I have thought fit to send +the Duchess of Marlborough abroad after the Duke." This took well, +and turned off the discourse. I must tell you I do not at all like the +present situation of affairs, and remember I tell you so. Things must be +on another foot, or we are all undone. I hate this driving always to an +inch. Nite MD. + +18. We had a mighty full Court to-day. Dilly was with me at the French +church, and edified mightily. The Duke of Ormond and I dined at Lord +Orkney's; but I left them at seven, and came home to my whim. I have +made a great progress. My large Treatise(22) stands stock still. Some +think it too dangerous to publish, and would have me print only what +relates to the peace. I cannot tell what I shall do.--The Bishop of +Dromore is dying. They thought yesterday he could not live two hours; +yet he is still alive, but is utterly past all hopes. Go to cards, +sollahs, and nite. + +19. I was this morning to see the Duke and Duchess of Ormond. The +Duke d'Aumont came in while I was with the Duke of Ormond, and we +complimented each other like dragons. A poor fellow called at the door +where I lodge, with a parcel of oranges for a present for me. I bid my +man know what his name was, and whence he came. He sent word his name +was Bun, and that I knew him very well. I bid my man tell him I was +busy, and he could not speak to me; and not to let him leave his +oranges. I know no more of it, but I am sure I never heard the name, and +I shall take no such presents from strangers. Perhaps he might be only +some beggar, who wanted a little money. Perhaps it might be something +worse. Let them keep their poison for their rats. I don't love it.(23) +That blot is a blunder. Nite dee MD.... + +20. A Committee of our Society dined to-day with the Chancellor of +the Exchequer. Our Society does not meet now as usual, for which I +am blamed: but till Lord Treasurer will agree to give us money and +employments to bestow, I am averse to it; and he gives us nothing but +promises. The Bishop of Dromore is still alive, and that is all. We +expect every day he will die, and then Tom Leigh must go back, which is +one good thing to the town. I believe Pratt will drive at one of these +bishoprics. Our English bishopric(24) is not yet disposed of. I believe +the peace will not be ready by the session. Nite MD. + +21. I was to-day with my printer, to give him a little pamphlet I have +written, but not politics. It will be out by Monday. If it succeeds, I +will tell you of it; otherwise, not. We had a prodigious thaw to-day, +as bad as rain; yet I walked like a good boy all the way. The Bishop of +Dromore still draws breath, but cannot live two days longer. My large +book lies flat. Some people think a great part of it ought not to be now +printed. I believe I told you so before. This letter shall not go till +Saturday, which makes up the three weeks exactly; and I allow MD six +weeks, which are now almost out; so oo must know I expect a rettle vely +soon, and that MD is vely werr;(25) and so nite, dee MD. + +22. This is one of our Court days, and I was there. I told you there +is a Drawing-room, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Hamiltons and +Abercorns have done teasing me. The latter, I hear, is actually going to +France. Lord Treasurer quarrelled with me at Court for being four days +without dining with him; so I dined there to-day, and he has at last +fallen in with my project (as he calls it) of coining halfpence and +farthings, with devices, like medals, in honour of the Queen, every year +changing the device. I wish it may be done. Nite MD. + +23. The Duke of Ormond and I appointed to dine with Ned Southwell +to-day, to talk of settling your affairs of Parliament in Ireland, but +there was a mixture of company, and the Duke of Ormond was in haste, and +nothing was done. If your Parliament meets this summer, it must be a new +one; but I find some are of opinion there should be none at all these +two years. I will trouble myself no more about it. My design was to +serve the Duke of Ormond. Dr. Pratt and I sat this evening with the +Bishop of Clogher, and played at ombre for threepences. That, I suppose, +is but low with you. I found, at coming home, a letter from MD, N.37. I +shall not answer it zis bout, but will the next. I am sorry for poo poo +Ppt. Pray walk hen oo can. I have got a terrible new cold before my old +one was quite gone, and don't know how. Pay. ... (26) I shall have DD's +money soon from the Exchequer. The Bishop of Dromore is dead now at +last. Nite, dee MD. + +24. I was at Court to-day, and it was comical to see Lord Abercorn +bowing to me, but not speaking, and Lord Selkirk the same.(27) I dined +with Lord Treasurer and his Saturday Club, and sat with him two hours +after the rest were gone, and spoke freer to him of affairs than I am +afraid others do, who might do more good. All his friends repine, and +shrug their shoulders; but will not deal with him so freely as they +ought. It is an odd business; the Parliament just going to sit, and no +employments given. They say they will give them in a few days. There +is a new bishop made of Hereford;(28) so Ossory(29) is disappointed. I +hinted so to his friends two months ago, to make him leave off deluding +himself, and being indiscreet, as he was. I have just time to send this, +without giving to the bellman. Nite deelest richar MD.... dee MD MD MD +FW FW FW ME ME ME Lele Lele Lele. + +My second cold is better now. Lele lele lele lele. + + + + +LETTER 59.(1) + +LONDON, Jan. 25, 1712-1713. + +We had such a terrible storm to-day, that, going to Lord Bolingbroke's, +I saw a hundred tiles fallen down; and one swinger fell about forty +yards before me, that would have killed a horse: so, after church and +Court, I walked through the Park, and took a chair to Lord Treasurer's. +Next door to his house, a tin chimneytop had fallen down, with a hundred +bricks. It is grown calm this evening. I wonder had you such a wind +to-day? I hate it as much as any hog does. Lord Treasurer has engaged +me to dine again with him to-morrow. He has those tricks sometimes of +inviting me from day to day, which I am forced to break through. My +little pamphlet(2) is out: 'tis not politics. If it takes, I say again +you shall hear of it. Nite dee logues. + +26. This morning I felt a little touch of giddiness, which has +disordered and weakened me with its ugly remains all this day. Pity +Pdfr. After dinner at Lord Treasurer's, the French Ambassador, Duke +d'Aumont, sent Lord Treasurer word that his house was burnt down to the +ground. It took fire in the upper rooms, while he was at dinner with +Monteleon, the Spanish Ambassador, and other persons; and soon after +Lord Bolingbroke came to us with the same story. We are full of +speculations upon it, but I believe it was the carelessness of his +French rascally servants. 'Tis odd that this very day Lord Somers, +Wharton, Sunderland, Halifax, and the whole club of Whig lords, dined at +Pontack's(3) in the City, as I received private notice. They have some +damned design. I tell you another odd thing; I was observing it to Lord +Treasurer, that he was stabbed on the day King William died; and the +day I saved his life, by opening the bandbox,(4) was King William's +birthday. My friend Mr. Lewis has had a lie spread on him by the mistake +of a man, who went to another of his name, to give him thanks for +passing his Privy Seal to come from France.(5) That other Lewis spread +about that the man brought him thanks from Lord Perth and Lord Melfort +(two lords with the Pretender), for his great services, etc. The Lords +will examine that t'other Lewis to-morrow in council; and I believe +you will hear of it in the prints, for I will make Abel Roper give +a relation of it. Pray tell me if it be necessary to write a little +plainer; for I looked over a bit of my last letter, and could hardly +read it. I'll mend my hand, if oo please: but you are more used to it +nor I, as Mr. Raymond says. Nite MD. + +27. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer: this makes four days together; +and he has invited me again to-morrow, but I absolutely refused him. +I was this evening at a christening with him of Lord Dupplin's(6) +daughter. He went away at ten; but they kept me and some others till +past twelve; so you may be sure 'tis late, as they say. We have now +stronger suspicions that the Duke d'Aumont's house was set on fire by +malice. I was to-day to see Lord Keeper, who has quite lost his voice +with a cold. There Dr. Radcliffe told me that it was the Ambassador's +confectioner set the house on fire by boiling sugar, and going down and +letting it boil over. Yet others still think differently; so I know not +what to judge. Nite my own deelest MD, rove Pdfr. + +28. I was to-day at Court, where the Spanish Ambassador talked to me as +if he did not suspect any design in burning d'Aumont's house: but Abbe +Gaultier, Secretary for France here, said quite otherwise; and that +d'Aumont had a letter the very same day to let him know his house should +be burnt, and they tell several other circumstances too tedious to +write. One is, that a fellow mending the tiles just when the fire broke +out, saw a pot with wildfire(7) in the room. I dined with Lord Orkney. +Neither Lord Abercorn nor Selkirk will now speak with me. I have +disobliged both sides. Nite dear MD. + +29. Our Society met to-day, fourteen of us, and at a tavern. We now +resolve to meet but once a fortnight, and have a Committee every other +week of six or seven, to consult about doing some good. I proposed +another message to Lord Treasurer by three principal members, to give a +hundred guineas to a certain person, and they are to urge it as well as +they can. We also raised sixty guineas upon our own Society; but I made +them do it by sessors,(8) and I was one of them, and we fitted our tax +to the several estates. The Duke of Ormond pays ten guineas, and I the +third part of a guinea; at that rate, they may tax as often as they +please. Well, but I must answer oor rettle, ung oomens: not yet; 'tis +rate now, and I can't tind it. Nite deelest MD. + +30. I have drank Spa waters this two or three days; but they do not +pass, and make me very giddy. I an't well; faith, I'll take them no +more. I sauntered after church with the Provost to-day to see a library +to be sold, and dined at five with Lord Orkney. We still think there was +malice in burning d'Aumont's house. I hear little Harrison(9) is come +over; it was he I sent to Utrecht. He is now Queen's Secretary to the +Embassy, and has brought with him the Barrier Treaty, as it is now +corrected by us, and yielded to by the Dutch, which was the greatest +difficulty to retard the peace. I hope he will bring over the peace a +month hence, for we will send him back as soon as possible. I long +to see the little brat, my own creature. His pay is in all a thousand +pounds a year, and they have never paid him a groat, though I have +teased their hearts out. He must be three or four hundred pounds in debt +at least, the brat! Let me go to bed, sollahs.--Nite dee richar MD. + +31. Harrison was with me this morning: we talked three hours, and then +I carried him to Court. When we went down to the door of my lodging, I +found a coach waited for him. I chid him for it; but he whispered me it +was impossible to do otherwise; and in the coach he told me he had not +one farthing in his pocket to pay it; and therefore took the coach for +the whole day, and intended to borrow money somewhere or other. So +there was the Queen's Minister entrusted in affairs of the greatest +importance, without a shilling in his pocket to pay a coach! I paid +him while he was with me seven guineas, in part of a dozen of shirts he +bought me in Holland. I presented him to the Duke of Ormond, and several +lords at Court; and I contrived it so that Lord Treasurer came to me and +asked (I had Parnell by me) whether that was Dr. Parnell, and came up +and spoke to him with great kindness, and invited him to his house. +I value myself upon making the Ministry desire to be acquainted with +Parnell, and not Parnell with the Ministry. His poem is almost fully +corrected, and shall soon be out. Here's enough for to-day: only to tell +you that I was in the City with my printer to alter an Examiner about my +friend Lewis's story,(10) which will be told with remarks. Nite MD. + +Feb. 1. I could do nothing till to-day about the Examiner, but the +printer came this morning, and I dictated to him what was fit to be +said, and then Mr. Lewis came, and corrected it as he would have it; +so I was neither at church nor Court. The Duke of Ormond and I dined at +Lord Orkney's. I left them at seven, and sat with Sir Andrew Fountaine, +who has a very bad sore leg, for which he designs to go to France. Fais, +here's a week gone, and one side of this letter not finished. Oh, but I +write now but once in three weeks; iss, fais, this shall go sooner. The +Parliament is to sit on the third, but will adjourn for three or four +days; for the Queen is laid up with the gout, and both Speakers out of +order, though one of them, the Lord Keeper, is almost well. I spoke +to the Duke of Ormond a good deal about Ireland. We do not altogether +agree, nor am I judge enough of Irish affairs; but I will speak to Lord +Treasurer to-morrow, that we three may settle them some way or other. +Nite sollahs both, rove Pdfr. + +2. I had a letter some days ago from Moll Gery;(11) her name is now +Wigmore, and her husband has turned parson. She desires nothing but that +I would get Lord Keeper to give him a living; but I will send her no +answer, though she desires it much. She still makes mantuas at Farnham. +It rained all this day, and Dilly came to me, and was coaching it into +the City; so I went with him for a shaking, because it would not cost +me a farthing. There I met my friend Stratford,(12) the merchant, who +is going abroad to gather up his debts, and be clear in the world. +He begged that I would dine with some merchant friends of ours there, +because it was the last time I should see him: so I did, and thought to +have seen Lord Treasurer in the evening, but he happened to go out +at five; so I visited some friends, and came home. And now I have +the greatest part of your letter to answer; and yet I will not do it +to-night, say what oo please. The Parliament meets to-morrow, but will +be prorogued for a fortnight; which disappointment will, I believe, vex +abundance of them, though they are not Whigs; for they are forced to be +in town at expense for nothing: but we want an answer from Spain, before +we are sure of everything being right for the peace; and God knows +whether we can have that answer this month. It is a most ticklish +juncture of affairs; we are always driving to an inch: I am weary of it. +Nite MD. + +3. The Parliament met, and was prorogued, as I said, and I found +some cloudy faces, and heard some grumbling. We have got over all +our difficulties with France, I think. They have now settled all the +articles of commerce between us and them, wherein they were very much +disposed to play the rogue if we had not held them to (it); and this +business we wait from Spain is to prevent some other rogueries of the +French, who are finding an evasion to trade to the Spanish West Indies; +but I hope we shall prevent it. I dined with Lord Treasurer, and he was +in good humour enough. I gave him that part of my book in manuscript to +read where his character was, and drawn pretty freely. He was reading +and correcting it with his pencil, when the Bishop of St. David's(13) +(now removing to Hereford) came in and interrupted us. I left him at +eight, and sat till twelve with the Provost and Bishop of Clogher at the +Provost's. Nite MD. + +4. I was to-day at Court, but kept out of Lord Treasurer's way, because +I was engaged to the Duke of Ormond, where I dined, and, I think, ate +and drank too much. I sat this evening with Lady Masham, and then with +Lord Masham and Lord Treasurer at Lord Masham's. It was last year, you +may remember, my constant evening place. I saw Lady Jersey(14) with Lady +Masham, who has been laying out for my acquaintance, and has forced a +promise for me to drink chocolate with her in a day or two, which I know +not whether I shall perform (I have just mended my pen, you see), for I +do not much like her character; but she is very malicious, and therefore +I think I must keep fair with her. I cannot send this letter till +Saturday next, I find; so I will answer oors now. I see no different +days of the month; yet it is dated January 3: so it was long a coming. +I did not write to Dr. Coghill that I would have nothing in Ireland, but +that I was soliciting nothing anywhere, and that is true. I have named +Dr. Sterne to Lord Treasurer, Lord Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Ormond, +for a bishopric, and I did it heartily. I know not what will come of +it; but I tell you as a great secret that I have made the Duke of Ormond +promise me to recommend nobody till he tells me, and this for some +reasons too long to mention. My head is still in no good order. I am +heartily sorry for poo Ppt, I'm sure. Her head is good for...(15) I'll +answer more to-mollow. Nite, dearest MD; nite dee sollahs, MD.(16) + +5. I must go on with oo letter. I dined to-day with Sir Andrew Fountaine +and the Provost, and I played at ombre with him all the afternoon. I +won, yet Sir Andrew is an admirable player. Lord Pembroke(17) came in, +and I gave him three or four scurvy Dilly puns, that begin with an IF. +Well, but oor letter, well, ret me see.--No; I believe I shall write no +more this good while, nor publish what I have done. Nauty (?) Ppt, oo +are vely tempegant. I did not suspect oo would tell Filby.(18) Oo are +so... (19) Turns and visitations--what are these? I'll preach and visit +as much for Mr. Walls. Pray God mend poopt's(20) health; mine is but +very indifferent. I have left off Spa water; it makes my leg swell. Nite +deelest MD. + +6. This is the Queen's Birthday, and I never saw it celebrated with so +much luxury and fine clothes. I went to Court to see them, and I dined +with Lord Keeper, where the ladies were fine to admiration. I passed the +evening at Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and came home pretty early, to answer oo +rettle again. Pray God keep the Queen. She was very ill about ten days +ago, and had the gout in her stomach. When I came from Lord Keeper's, I +called at Lord Treasurer's, because I heard he was very fine, and +that was a new thing; and it was true, for his coat and waistcoat were +embroidered. I have seen the Provost often since, and never spoke to him +to speak to the Temples about Daniel Carr, nor will; I don't care to do +it. I have writ lately to Parvisol. Oo did well to let him make up his +accounts. All things grow dear in Ireland, but corn to the parsons; for +my livings are fallen much this year by Parvisol's account. Nite dee +logues, MD. + + 7.(8) I was at Court to-day, but saw no Birthday clothes; the great folks +never wear them above once or twice. I dined with Lord Orkney, and sat +the evening with Sir Andrew Fountaine, whose leg is in a very dubious +condition. Pray let me know when DD's money is near due: always let me +know it beforehand. This, I believe, will hardly go till Saturday; for +I tell you what, being not very well, I dare not study much: so I let +company come in a morning, and the afternoon pass in dining and sitting +somewhere. Lord Treasurer is angry if I don't dine with him every second +day, and I cannot part with him till late: he kept me last night till +near twelve. Our weather is constant rain above these two months, which +hinders walking, so that our spring is not like yours. I have not seen +Fanny Manley(21) yet; I cannot find time. I am in rebellion with all my +acquaintance, but I will mend with my health and the weather. Clogher +make a figure! Clogher make a ----. Colds! why, we have been all dying +with colds; but now they are a little over, and my second is almost +off. I can do nothing for Swanton indeed. It is a thing impossible, and +wholly out of my way. If he buys, he must buy. So now I have answered oo +rettle; and there's an end of that now; and I'll say no more, but bid oo +nite, dee MD. + +8.(9) It was terrible rainy to-day from morning till night. I intended +to have dined with Lord Treasurer, but went to see Sir Andrew Fountaine, +and he kept me to dinner, which saved coach-hire; and I stayed with him +all the afternoon, and lost thirteen shillings and sixpence at ombre. +There was management! and Lord Treasurer will chide; but I'll dine +with him to-morrow. The Bishop of Clogher's daughter has been ill some +days,(22) and it proves the smallpox. She is very full; but it comes +out well, and they apprehend no danger. Lady Orkney has given me her +picture; a very fine original of Sir Godfrey Kneller's; it is now a +mending. He has favoured her squint admirably; and you know I love a +cast in the eye. I was to see Lady Worsley(23) to-day, who is just come +to town; she is full of rheumatic pains. All my acquaintance grow old +and sickly. She lodges in the very house in King Street, between St. +James's Street and St. James's Square, where DD's brother bought the +sweetbread, when I lodged there, and MD came to see me. Short sighs.(24) +Nite MD. + +9.(10) I thought to have dined with Lord Treasurer to-day, but he dined +abroad at Tom Harley's; so I dined at Lord Masham's, and was winning all +I had lost playing with Lady Masham at crown picquet, when we went to +pools, and I lost it again. Lord Treasurer came in to us, and chid me +for not following him to Tom Harley's. Miss Ashe is still the same, and +they think her not in danger; my man calls there daily after I am gone +out, and tells me at night. I was this morning to see Lady Jersey, and +we have made twenty parties about dining together, and I shall hardly +keep one of them. She is reduced after all her greatness to seven +servants, and a small house, and no coach.(25) I like her tolerably as +yet. Nite MD. + +10.(11) I made visits this morning to the Duke and Duchess of Ormond, +and Lady Betty, and the Duchess of Hamilton. (When I was writing this +near twelve o'clock, the Duchess of Hamilton sent to have me dine with +her to-morrow. I am forced to give my answer through the door, for my +man has got the key, and is gone to bed; but I cannot obey her, for our +Society meets to-morrow.) I stole away from Lord Treasurer by eight, and +intended to have passed the evening with Sir Thomas Clarges(26) and his +lady; but met them in another place, and have there sat till now. My +head has not been ill to-day. I was at Court, and made Lord Mansel walk +with me in the Park before we went to dinner.--Yesterday and to-day have +been fair, but yet it rained all last night. I saw Sterne staring at +Court to-day. He has been often to see me, he says: but my man has +not yet let him up. He is in deep mourning; I hope it is not for his +wife.(27) I did not ask him. Nite MD. + +12.(28) I have reckoned days wrong all this while; for this is the +twelfth. I do not know when I lost it. I dined to-day with our Society, +the greatest dinner I have ever seen. It was at Jack Hill's, the +Governor of Dunkirk. I gave an account of sixty guineas I had collected, +and am to give them away to two authors to-morrow; and Lord Treasurer +has promised us a hundred pounds to reward some others. I found a letter +on my table last night to tell me that poor little Harrison, the Queen's +Secretary, that came lately from Utrecht with the Barrier Treaty, was +ill, and desired to see me at night; but it was late, and I could not +go till to-day. I have often mentioned him in my letters, you may +remember.... I went in the morning, and found him mighty ill, and got +thirty guineas for him from Lord Bolingbroke, and an order for a hundred +pounds from the Treasury to be paid him to-morrow; and I have got him +removed to Knightsbridge for air. He has a fever and inflammation on his +lungs; but I hope will do well. Nite. + +13. I was to see a poor poet, one Mr. Diaper,(29) in a nasty garret, +very sick. I gave him twenty guineas from Lord Bolingbroke, and disposed +the other sixty to two other authors, and desired a friend to receive +the hundred pounds for poor Harrison, and will carry it to him to-morrow +morning. I sent to see how he did, and he is extremely ill; and I +very much afflicted for him, for he is my own creature, and in a very +honourable post, and very worthy of it. I dined in the City. I am in +much concern for this poor lad. His mother and sister attend him, and he +wants nothing. Nite poo dee MD. + +14. I took Parnell this morning, and we walked to see poor Harrison. +I had the hundred pounds in my pocket. I told Parnell I was afraid to +knock at the door; my mind misgave me. I knocked, and his man in tears +told me his master was dead an hour before. Think what grief this is to +me! I went to his mother, and have been ordering things for his funeral +with as little cost as possible, to-morrow at ten at night. Lord +Treasurer was much concerned when I told him. I could not dine with Lord +Treasurer, nor anywhere else; but got a bit of meat toward evening. No +loss ever grieved me so much: poor creature! Pray God Almighty bless +poor MD. Adieu. + +I send this away to-night, and am sorry it must go while I am in so much +grief. + + + + +LETTER 60.(1) + +LONDON, Feb. 15 (1712-13). + +I dined to-day with Mr. Rowe(2) and a projector, who has been teasing +me with twenty schemes to get grants; and I don't like one of them; and, +besides, I was out of humour for the loss of poor Harrison. At ten +this night I was at his funeral, which I ordered to be as private as +possible. We had but one coach with four of us; and when it was carrying +us home after the funeral, the braces broke; and we were forced to sit +in it, and have it held up, till my man went for chairs,(3) at eleven at +night in terrible rain. I am come home very melancholy, and will go to +bed. Nite... MD.(4) + +16. I dined to-day with Lord Dupplin and some company to divert me; but +left them early, and have been reading a foolish book for amusement. I +shall never have courage again to care for making anybody's fortune. The +Parliament meets to-morrow, and will be prorogued another fortnight, +at which several of both parties were angry; but it cannot be helped, +though everything about the peace is past all danger. I never saw such +a continuance of rainy weather. We have not had two fair days together +these ten weeks. I have not dined with Lord Treasurer these four days, +nor can I till Saturday; for I have several engagements till then, +and he will chide me to some purpose. I am perplexed with this hundred +pounds of poor Harrison's, what to do with it. I cannot pay his +relations till they administer, for he is much in debt;(5) but I will +have the staff in my own hands, and venture nothing. Nite poo dee MD. + +17. Lady Jersey and I dined by appointment to-day with Lord Bolingbroke. +He is sending his brother(6) to succeed Mr.(7) Harrison. It is the +prettiest post in Europe for a young gentleman. I lose my money at ombre +sadly; I make a thousand blunders. I play but(8) threepenny ombre; but +it is what you call running ombre. Lady Clarges,(9) and a drab I hate, +won a dozen shillings of me last night. The Parliament was prorogued +to-day; and people grumble; and the good of it is the peace cannot be +finished by the time they meet, there are so many fiddling things to do. +Is Ppt an ombre lady yet? You know all the tricks of it now, I suppose. +I reckon you have all your cards from France, for ours pay sixpence a +pack taxes, which goes deep to the box. I have given away all my Spa +water, and take some nasty steel drops, and my head has been better this +week past. I send every day to see how Miss Ashe does: she is very full, +they say, but in no danger. I fear she will lose some of her beauty. +The son lies out of the house. I wish he had them too, while he is so +young.--Nite MD. + +18. The Earl of Abingdon(10) has been teasing me these three months to +dine with him; and this day was appointed about a week ago, and I named +my company; Lord Stawel,(11) Colonel Disney,(12) and Dr. Arbuthnot; but +the two last slipped out their necks, and left Stawell and me to dine +there. We did not dine till seven, because it is Ash Wednesday. We had +nothing but fish, which Lord Stawell could not eat, and got a broiled +leg of a turkey. Our wine was poison; yet the puppy has twelve thousand +pound a year. His carps were raw, and his candles tallow. He(13) shall +not catch me in haste again, and everybody has laughed at me for dining +with him. I was to-day to let Harrison's mother know I could not +pay till she administers; which she will do. I believe she is an old +bawd,(14) and her daughter a ------. There were more Whigs to-day at +Court than Tories. I believe they think the peace must be made, and so +come to please the Queen. She is still lame with the gout. Nite MD. + +19. I was at Court to-day, to speak to Lord Bolingbroke to look over +Parnell's poem since it is corrected; and Parnell and I dined with him, +and he has shown him three or four more places to alter a little. Lady +Bolingbroke came down to us while we were at dinner, and Parnell stared +at her as if she were a goddess. I thought she was like Parnell's wife, +and he thought so too. Parnell is much pleased with Lord Bolingbroke's +favour to him, and I hope it may one day turn to his advantage. His poem +will be printed in a few days. Our weather continues as fresh raining as +if it had not rained at all. I sat to-night at Lady Masham's, where +Lord Treasurer came and scolded me for not dining with him. I told him +I could not till Saturday. I have stayed there till past twelve. So nite +dee sollahs, nite. + +20. Lady Jersey, Lady Catherine Hyde,(15) the Spanish Ambassador, the +Duke d'Atree,(16) another Spaniard, and I, dined to-day by appointment +with Lord Bolingbroke; but they fell a drinking so many Spanish healths +in champagne that I stole away to the ladies, and drank tea till eight; +and then went and lost my money at ombre with Sir Andrew Fountaine, who +has a very bad leg. Miss Ashe is past all danger; and her eye, which was +lately bad (I suppose one effect of her distemper), is now better. I do +not let the Bishop see me, nor shall this good while. Good luck! when I +came home, I warrant, I found a letter from MD, No.38; and oo write +so small nowadays, I hope oo poor eyes are better. Well, this shall go +to-morrow se'nnight, with a bill for MD. I will speak to Mr. Griffin(17) +to-morrow about Ppt's brother Filby, and desire, whether he deserves +or no, that his employment may be mended; that is to say, if I can see +Griffin; otherwise not; and I'll answer oo rettle hen I Pdfr think fit. +Nite MD. + +21. Methinks I writ a little saucy last night. I mean the last... (18) I +saw Griffin at Court. He says he knows nothing of a salt-work at Recton; +but that he will give Filby a better employment, and desires Filby will +write to him. If I knew how to write to Filby, I would; but pray do you. +Bid him make no mention of you; but only let Mr. Griffin know that +he has the honour to be recommended by Dr. S----, etc.; that he will +endeavour to deserve, etc.; and if you dictated a whole letter for him, +it would be better; I hope he can write and spell well. I'll inquire for +a direction to Griffin before I finish this. I dined with Lord Treasurer +and seven lords to-day. You know Saturday is his great day, but I sat +with them alone till eight, and then came home, and have been writing a +letter to Mrs. Davis, at York. She took care to have a letter delivered +for me at Lord Treasurer's; for I would not own one she sent by post. +She reproaches me for not writing to her these four years; and I have +honestly told her it was my way never to write to those whom I am never +likely to see, unless I can serve them, which I cannot her, etc. Davis +the schoolmaster's widow. Nite MD. + +22. I dined to-day at Lord Orkney's, with the Duke of Ormond and Sir +Thomas Hanmer.(19) Have you ever heard of the latter? He married the +Duchess of Grafton in his youth (she dined with us too). He is the +most considerable man in the House of Commons. He went last spring to +Flanders, with the Duke of Ormond; from thence to France, and was going +to Italy; but the Ministry sent for him, and he has been come over about +ten days. He is much out of humour with things: he thinks the peace is +kept off too long, and is full of fears and doubts. It is thought he is +designed for Secretary of State, instead of Lord Dartmouth. We have been +acquainted these two years; and I intend, in a day or two, to have an +hour's talk with him on affairs. I saw the Bishop of Clogher at Court; +Miss is recovering. I know not how much she will be marked. The Queen +is slowly mending of her gout, and intends to be brought in a chair to +Parliament when it meets, which will be March 3; for I suppose they +will prorogue no more; yet the peace will not be signed then, and we +apprehend the Tories themselves will many of them be discontented. Nite +dee MD. + +23. It was ill weather to-day, and I dined with Sir Andrew Fountaine, +and in the evening played at ombre with him and the Provost, and won +twenty-five shillings; so I have recovered myself pretty well. Dilly has +been dunning me to see Fanny Manley; but I have not yet been able to +do it. Miss Ashe is now quite out of danger; and hope will not be much +marked. I cannot tell how to direct to Griffin; and think he lives in +Bury Street, near St. James's Street, hard by me; but I suppose your +brother may direct to him to the Salt Office, and, as I remember, he +knows his Christian name, because he sent it me in the list of the +Commissioners. Nite dee MD. + +24. I walked this morning to Chelsea, to see Dr. Atterbury, Dean +of Christ Church. I had business with him about entering Mr. +Fitzmaurice,(20) my Lord Kerry's son, into his College; and Lady +Kerry(21) is a great favourite of mine. Lord Harley, Lord Dupplin, young +Bromley(22) the Speaker's son, and I, dined with Dr. Stratford(23) and +some other clergymen; but I left them at seven to go to Lady Jersey, +to see Monteleon the Spanish Ambassador play at ombre. Lady Jersey was +abroad, and I chid the servants, and made a rattle; but since I came +home she sent me a message that I was mistaken, and that the meeting is +to be to-morrow. I have a worse memory than when I left you, and every +day forget appointments; but here my memory was by chance too good. But +I'll go to-morrow; for Lady Catherine Hyde and Lady Bolingbroke are to +be there by appointment, and I listed(24) up my periwig, and all, to +make a figure. Well, who can help it? Not I, vow to...!(25) Nite MD. + +25. Lord Treasurer met me last night at Lord Masham's, and thanked me +for my company in a jeer, because I had not dined with him in three +days. He chides me if I stay away but two days together. What will this +come to? Nothing. My grandmother used to say, "More of your lining, and +less of your dining." However, I dined with him, and could hardly +leave him at eight, to go to Lady Jersey's, where five or six foreign +Ministers were, and as many ladies. Monteleon played like the English, +and cried "gacco," and knocked his knuckles for trump, and played at +small games like Ppt. Lady Jersey whispered me to stay and sup with the +ladies when the fellows were gone; but they played till eleven, and I +would not stay. I think this letter must go on Saturday; that's certain; +and it is not half full yet. Lady Catherine Hyde had a mighty mind I +should be acquainted with Lady Dalkeith,(26) her sister, the Duke of +Monmouth's eldest son's widow, who was of the company to-night; but I +did not like her; she paints too much. Nite MD. + +26. This day our Society met at the Duke of Ormond's, but I had business +that called me another way; so I sent my excuses, and dined privately +with a friend. Besides, Sir Thomas Hanmer whispered me last night at +Lady Jersey's that I must attend Lord Treasurer and Duke of Ormond at +supper at his house to-night; which I did at eleven, and stayed till +one, so oo may be sure 'tis late enough. There was the Duchess of +Grafton, and the Duke her son; nine of us in all. The Duke of Ormond +chid me for not being at the Society to-day, and said sixteen were +there. I said I never knew sixteen people good company in my life; no, +fais, nor eight either. We have no news in this town at all. I wonder +why I don't write you news. I know less of what passes than anybody, +because I go to(27) no coffee-house, nor see any but Ministers, and such +people; and Ministers never talk politics in conversation. The Whigs are +forming great schemes against the meeting of Parliament, which will be +next Tuesday, I still think, without fail; and we hope to hear by then +that the peace is ready to sign. The Queen's gout mends daily. Nite MD. + +27. I passed a very insipid day, and dined privately with a friend in +the neighbourhood. Did I tell you that I have a very fine picture of +Lady Orkney,(28) an original, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, three-quarters +length? I have it now at home, with a fine frame. Lord Bolingbroke +and Lady Masham have promised to sit for me; but I despair of Lord +Treasurer; only I hope he will give me a copy, and then I shall have all +the pictures of those I really love here; just half a dozen; only I'll +make Lord Keeper give me his print in a frame. This letter must go +to-morrow, because of sending ME a bill; else it should not till next +week, I assure oo. I have little to do now with my pen; for my grand +business stops till they are more pressing, and till something or other +happens; and I believe I shall return with disgust to finish it, it is +so very laborious. Sir Thomas Hanmer has my papers now. And hat is MD +doing now? Oh, at ombre with the Dean always on Friday night, with Mrs. +Walls. Pray don't play at small games. I stood by, t'other night, while +the Duke d'Atree(29) lost six times with manilio, basto, and three small +trumps; and Lady Jersey won above twenty pounds. Nite dee richar(30) MD. + +28. I was at Court to-day, when the Abbe Gaultier whispered me that a +courier was just come with an account that the French King had consented +to all the Queen's demands, and his consent was carried to Utrecht, +and the peace will be signed in a few days. I suppose the general peace +cannot be so soon ready; but that is no matter. The news presently ran +about the Court. I saw the Queen carried out in her chair, to take the +air in the garden. I met Griffin at Court, and he told me that orders +were sent to examine Filby; and, if he be fit, to make him (I think he +called it) an assistant; I don't know what, Supervisor, I think; but it +is some employment a good deal better than his own. The Parliament will +have another short prorogation, though it is not known yet. I dined with +Lord Treasurer and his Saturday company, and left him at eight to put +this in the post-office time enough. And now I must bid oo farewell, +deelest richar Ppt. God bless oo ever, and rove Pdfr. Farewell MD MD MD +FW FW FW FW ME ME ME Lele Lele. + + + + +LETTER 61.(1) + +LONDON, March 1, 1712-13. + +'Tis out of my head whether I answered all your letter in my last +yesterday or no. I think I was in haste, and could not: but now I see I +answered a good deal of it; no, only about your brother, and ME's bill. +I dined with Lady Orkney, and we talked politics till eleven at night; +and, as usual, found everything wrong, and put ourselves out of humour. +Yes, I have Lady Giffard's picture sent me by your mother. It is boxed +up at a place where my other things are. I have goods in two or three +places; and when I leave a lodging, I box up the books I get (for I +always get some), and come naked into a new lodging; and so on. Talk not +to me of deaneries; I know less of that than ever by much. Nite MD. + +2. I went to-day into the City to see Pat Rolt,(2) who lodges with a +City cousin, a daughter of coz Cleve; (you are much the wiser). I had +never been at her house before. My he-coz Thompson the butcher is dead, +or dying. I dined with my printer, and walked home, and went to sit with +Lady Clarges. I found four of them at whist; Lady Godolphin(3) was one. +I sat by her, and talked of her cards, etc., but she would not give +me one look, nor say a word to me. She refused some time ago to be +acquainted with me. You know she is Lord Marlborough's eldest daughter. +She is a fool for her pains, and I'll pull her down. What can I do for +Dr. Smith's daughter's husband? I have no personal credit with any +of the Commissioners. I'll speak to Keatley;(4) but I believe it will +signify nothing. In the Customs people must rise by degrees, and he +must at first take what is very low, if he be qualified for that. Ppt +mistakes me; I am not angry at your recommending anyone to me, provided +you will take my answer. Some things are in my way, and then I serve +those I can. But people will not distinguish, but take things ill, when +I have no power; but Ppt is wiser. And employments in general are very +hard to be got. Nite MD. + +3. I dined to-day with Lord Treasurer, who chid me for my absence, which +was only from Saturday last. The Parliament was again prorogued for a +week, and I suppose the peace will be ready by then, and the Queen +will be able to be brought to the House, and make her speech. I saw Dr. +Griffith(5) two or three months ago, at a Latin play at Westminster; +but did not speak to him. I hope he will not die; I should be sorry for +Ppt's sake; he is very tender of her. I have long lost all my colds, +and the weather mends a little. I take some steel drops, and my head +is pretty well. I walk when I can, but am grown very idle; and, not +finishing my thing, I gamble(6) abroad and play at ombre. I shall be +more careful in my physic than Mrs. Price: 'tis not a farthing matter +her death, I think; and so I say no more to-night, but will read a dull +book, and go sleep. Nite dee MD. + +4. Mr. Ford has been this half-year inviting me to dine at his lodgings: +so I did to-day, and brought the Provost and Dr. Parnell with me, and my +friend Lewis was there. Parnell went away, and the other three played at +ombre, and I looked on; which I love, and would not play. Tisdall is a +pretty fellow, as you say; and when I come back to Ireland with nothing, +he will condole with me with abundance of secret pleasure. I believe +I told you what he wrote to me, that I have saved England, and he +Ireland;(7) but I can bear that. I have learned to hear and see, and say +nothing. I was to see the Duchess of Hamilton to-day, and met Blith(8) +of Ireland just going out of her house into his coach. I asked her how +she came to receive young fellows. It seems he had a ball in the Duke +of Hamilton's house when the Duke died; and the Duchess got an +advertisement put in the Postboy,(9) reflecting on the ball, because +the Marlborough daughters(10) were there; and Blith came to beg the +Duchess's pardon, and clear himself. He's a sad dog. Nite poo dee +deelest MD. + +5. Lady Masham has miscarried; but is well almost again. I have many +visits to-day. I met Blith at the Duke of Ormond's; and he begged me to +carry him to the Duchess of Hamilton, to beg her pardon again. I did +on purpose to see how the blunderbuss behaved himself; but I begged the +Duchess to use him mercifully, for she is the devil of a teaser. The +good of it is, she ought to beg his pardon, for he meant no harm; yet +she would not allow him to put in an advertisement to clear himself from +hers, though hers was all a lie. He appealed to me, and I gravely gave +it against him. I was at Court to-day, and the foreign Ministers have +got a trick of employing me to speak for them to Lord Treasurer and Lord +Bolingbroke; which I do when the case is reasonable. The College(11) +need not fear; I will not be their Governor. I dined with Sir Thomas +Hanmer and his Duchess.(12) The Duke of Ormond was there, but we parted +soon, and I went to visit Lord Pembroke for the first time; but it was +to see some curious books. Lord Cholmondeley(13) came in; but I would +not talk to him, though he made many advances. I hate the scoundrel for +all he is your Griffith's friend.--Yes, yes, I am abused enough, if that +be all. Nite sollahs. + +6. I was to-day at an auction of pictures with Pratt,(14) and laid +out two pound five shillings for a picture of Titian, and if it were +a Titian it would be worth twice as many pounds. If I am cheated, I'll +part with it to Lord Masham: if it be a bargain, I'll keep it to myself. +That's my conscience. But I made Pratt buy several pictures for Lord +Masham. Pratt is a great virtuoso that way. I dined with Lord Treasurer, +but made him go to Court at eight. I always tease him to be gone. I +thought to have made Parnell dine with him, but he was ill; his head +is out of order like mine, but more constant, poor boy!--I was at Lord +Treasurer's levee with the Provost, to ask a book for the College.--I +never go to his levee, unless to present somebody. For all oor rallying, +saucy(15) Ppt, as hope saved, I expected they would have decided about +me long ago; and as hope saved, as soon as ever things are given away +and I not provided for, I will be gone with the very first opportunity, +and put up bag and baggage. But people are slower than can be thought. +Nite MD. + +7. Yes, I hope Leigh will soon be gone, a p-- on him! I met him once, +and he talked gravely to me of not seeing the Irish bishops here, and +the Irish gentlemen; but I believe my answers fretted him enough. I +would not dine with Lord Treasurer to-day, though it was Saturday (for +he has engaged me for to-morrow), but went and dined with Lord Masham, +and played at ombre, sixpenny running ombre, for three hours. There were +three voles(16) against me, and I was once a great loser, but came off +for three shillings and sixpence. One may easily lose five guineas at +it. Lady Orkney is gone out of town to-day, and I could not see her for +laziness, but writ to her. She has left me some physic. Fais, I never +knew MD's politics before, and I think it pretty extraordinary, and a +great compliment to you, and I believe never three people conversed so +much with so little politics. I avoid all conversation with the other +party; it is not to be borne, and I am sorry for it. O yes, things (are) +very dear. DD must come in at last with DD's two eggs a penny. There the +proverb was well applied. Parvisol has sent me a bill of fifty pounds, +as I ordered him, which, I hope, will serve me, and bring me over. Pray +God MD does not be delayed for it; but I have had very little from him +this long time. I was not at Court to-day; a wonder! Nite sollahs... +Pdfr. + +8. Oo must know, I give chocolate almost every day to two or three +people that I suffer to come to see me in a morning. My man begins to +lie pretty well. 'Tis nothing for people to be denied ten times. My man +knows all I will see, and denies me to everybody else. This is the +day of the Queen's coming to the Crown, and the day Lord Treasurer was +stabbed by Guiscard. I was at Court, where everybody had their Birthday +clothes on, and I dined with Lord Treasurer, who was very fine. He +showed me some of the Queen's speech, which I corrected in several +places, and penned the vote of address of thanks for the speech; but +I was of opinion the House should not sit on Tuesday next, unless they +hear the peace is signed; that is, provided they are sure it will be +signed the week after, and so have one scolding for all. Nite MD. + +9. Lord Treasurer would have had me dine with him to-day; he desired +me last night, but I refused, because he would not keep the day of his +stabbing with all the Cabinet, as he intended: so I dined with my +friend Lewis; and the Provost and Parnell, and Ford, was with us. I +lost sixteen shillings at ombre; I don't like it, as etc. At night Lewis +brought us word that the Parliament does not sit to-morrow. I hope +they are sure of the peace by next week, and then they are right in +my opinion: otherwise I think they have done wrong, and might have sat +three weeks ago. People will grumble; but Lord Treasurer cares not a +rush. Lord Keeper is suddenly taken ill of a quinsy, and some lords are +commissioned, I think Lord Trevor,(17) to prorogue the Parliament in his +stead. You never saw a town so full of ferment and expectation. Mr. Pope +has published a fine poem, called Windsor Forest.(18) Read it. Nite. + +10. I was early this morning to see Lord Bolingbroke. I find he was of +opinion the Parliament should sit; and says they are not sure the peace +will be signed next week. The prorogation is to this day se'nnight. I +went to look on a library I am going to buy, if we can agree. I have +offered a hundred and twenty pounds, and will give ten more. Lord +Bolingbroke will lend me the money. I was two hours poring on the books. +I will sell some of them, and keep the rest; but I doubt they won't take +the money. I dined in the City, and sat an hour in the evening with Lord +Treasurer, who was in very good humour; but reproached me for not dining +with him yesterday and to-day. What will all this come to? Lord Keeper +had a pretty good night, and is better. I was in pain for him. How do oo +do sollahs?... Nite MD.(19) + +11. I was this morning to visit the Duke and Duchess of Ormond, and +the Duchess of Hamilton, and went with the Provost to an auction of +pictures, and laid out fourteen shillings. I am in for it, if I had +money; but I doubt I shall be undone; for Sir Andrew Fountaine invited +the Provost and me to dine with him, and play at ombre, when I fairly +lost fourteen shillings. Fais, it won't do; and I shall be out of +conceit with play this good while. I am come home; and it is late, and +my puppy let out my fire, and I am gone to bed and writing there, and +it is past twelve a good while. Went out four matadores and a trump in +black, and was bested. Vely bad, fais! Nite my deelest logues MD. + +12. I was at another auction of pictures to-day, and a great auction it +was. I made Lord Masham lay out forty pounds. There were pictures sold +of twice as much value apiece. Our Society met to-day at the Duke of +Beaufort's: a prodigious fine dinner, which I hate; but we did some +business. Our printer was to attend us, as usual; and the Chancellor of +the Exchequer sent the author of the Examiner(20) twenty guineas. He is +an ingenious fellow, but the most confounded vain coxcomb in the world, +so that I dare not let him see me, nor am acquainted with him. I had +much discourse with the Duke of Ormond this morning, and am driving +some points to secure us all in case of accidents, etc.(21) I left the +Society at seven. I can't drink now at all with any pleasure. I love +white Portugal wine better than claret, champagne, or burgundy. I have a +sad vulgar appetite. I remember Ppt used to maunder, when I came from a +great dinner, and DD had but a bit of mutton. I cannot endure above one +dish; nor ever could since I was a boy, and loved stuffing. It was a +fine day, which is a rarity with us, I assure (you). Never fair two days +together. Nite dee MD. + +13. I had a rabble of Irish parsons this morning drinking my chocolate. +I cannot remember appointments. I was to have supped last night with the +Swedish Envoy at his house, and some other company, but forgot it; and +he rallied me to-day at Lord Bolingbroke's, who excused me, saying, the +Envoy ought not to be angry, because I serve Lord Treasurer and him the +same way. For that reason, I very seldom promise to go anywhere. I dined +with Lord Treasurer, who chid me for being absent so long, as he always +does if I miss a day. I sat three hours this evening with Lady Jersey; +but the first two hours she was at ombre with some company. I left Lord +Treasurer at eight: I fancied he was a little thoughtful, for he was +playing with an orange by fits, which, I told him, among common men +looked like the spleen. This letter shall not go to-morrow; no haste, +ung oomens; nothing that presses. I promised but once in three weeks, +and I am better than my word. I wish the peace may be ready, I mean that +we have notice it is signed, before Tuesday; otherwise the grumbling +will much increase. Nite logues. + +14. It was a lovely day this, and I took the advantage of walking a good +deal in the Park, before I went to Court. Colonel Disney, one of our +Society, is ill of a fever, and, we fear, in great danger. We all love +him mightily, and he would be a great loss. I doubt I shall not buy the +library; for a roguey bookseller has offered sixty pounds more than I +designed to give; so you see I meant to have a good bargain. I dined +with Lord Treasurer and his Saturday company; but there were but seven +at table. Lord Peterborrow is ill, and spits blood, with a bruise he got +before he left England; but, I believe, an Italian lady he has +brought over is the cause that his illness returns. You know old Lady +Bellasis(22) is dead at last? She has left Lord Berkeley of Stratton(23) +one of her executors, and it will be of great advantage to him; they say +above ten thousand pounds. I stayed with Lord Treasurer upon business, +after the company was gone; but I dare not tell you upon what. My +letters would be good memoirs, if I durst venture to say a thousand +things that pass; but I hear so much of letters opening at your +post-office that I am fearful, etc., and so good-nite, sollahs, rove +Pdfr, MD. + +15. Lord Treasurer engaged me to dine with him again to-day, and I +had ready what he wanted; but he would not see it, but put me off till +to-morrow. The Queen goes to chapel now. She is carried in an open +chair, and will be well enough to go to Parliament on Tuesday, if +the Houses meet, which is not yet certain; neither, indeed, can the +Ministers themselves tell; for it depends on winds and weather, and +circumstances of negotiation. However, we go on as if it was certainly +to meet; and I am to be at Lord Treasurer's to-morrow, upon that +supposition, to settle some things relating that way. Ppt(24) may +understand me. The doctors tell me that if poor Colonel Disney does not +get some sleep to-night, he must die. What care you? Ah! but I do +care. He is one of our Society; a fellow of abundance of humour; an old +battered rake, but very honest, not an old man, but an old rake. It was +he that said of Jenny Kingdom,(25) the maid of honour, who is a little +old, that, since she could not get a husband, the Queen should give her +a brevet to act as a married woman. You don't understand this. They give +brevets to majors and captains to act as colonels in the army. Brevets +are commissions. Ask soldiers, dull sollahs. Nite MD. + +16. I was at Lord Treasurer's before he came; and, as he entered, he +told me the Parliament was prorogued till Thursday se'nnight. They have +had some expresses, by which they count that the peace may be signed +by that time; at least, that France, Holland, and we, will sign some +articles, by which we shall engage to sign the peace when it is ready: +but Spain has no Minister there; for Monteleon, who is to be their +Ambassador at Utrecht, is not yet gone from hence; and till he is there, +the Spaniards can sign no peace: and (of) one thing take notice, that +a general peace can hardly be finished these two months, so as to be +proclaimed here; for, after signing, it must be ratified; that is, +confirmed by the several princes at their Courts, which to Spain will +cost a month; for we must have notice that it is ratified in all Courts +before we can proclaim it. So be not in too much haste. Nite MD. + +17. The Irish folks were disappointed that the Parliament did not meet +to-day, because it was St. Patrick's Day; and the Mall was so full of +crosses that I thought all the world was Irish. Miss Ashe is almost +quite well, and I see the Bishop, but shall not yet go to his house. I +dined again with Lord Treasurer; but the Parliament being prorogued, I +must keep what I have till next week: for I believe he will not see it +till just the evening before the session. He has engaged me to dine with +him again to-morrow, though I did all I could to put it off; but I don't +care to disoblige him. Nite dee sollahs 'tis late. Nite MD. + +18. I have now dined six days successively with Lord Treasurer; but +to-night I stole away while he was talking with somebody else, and so am +at liberty to-morrow. There was a flying report of a general cessation +of arms: everybody had it at Court; but, I believe, there is nothing in +it. I asked a certain French Minister how things went. And he whispered +me in French, "Your Plenipotentiaries and ours play the fool." None +of us, indeed, approve of the conduct of either at this time; but Lord +Treasurer was in full good-humour for all that. He had invited a good +many of his relations; and, of a dozen at table, they were all of the +Harley family but myself. Disney is recovering, though you don't care +a straw. Dilly murders us with his IF puns. You know them.... (26) Nite +MD. + +19. The Bishop of Clogher has made an IF pun that he is mighty proud of, +and designs to send it over to his brother Tom. But Sir Andrew Fountaine +has wrote to Tom Ashe last post, and told him the pun, and desired him +to send it over to the Bishop as his own; and, if it succeeds, 'twill +be a pure bite. The Bishop will tell it us as a wonder that he and his +brother should jump so exactly. I'll tell you the pun:--If there was a +hackney coach at Mr. Pooley's(27) door, what town in Egypt would it be? +Why, it would be Hecatompolis; Hack at Tom Pooley's. "Sillly," says Ppt. +I dined with a private friend to-day; for our Society, I told you, meet +but once a fortnight. I have not seen Fanny Manley yet; I can't help it. +Lady Orkney is come to town: why, she was at her country house; hat(28) +care you? Nite darling (?) dee MD. + +20. Dilly read me a letter to-day from Ppt. She seems to have scratched +her head when she writ it. 'Tis a sad thing to write to people without +tact. There you say, you hear I was going to Bath. No such thing; I am +pretty well, I thank God. The town is now sending me to Savoy.(29) Forty +people have given me joy of it, yet there is not the least truth that I +know in it. I was at an auction of pictures, but bought none. I was so +glad of my liberty, that I would dine nowhere; but, the weather being +fine, I sauntered into the City, and ate a bit about five, and then +supped at Mr. Burke's(30) your Accountant-General, who had been engaging +me this month. The Bishop of Clogher was to have been there, but was +hindered by Lord Paget's(31) funeral. The Provost and I sat till one +o'clock; and, if that be not late, I don't know what is late. Parnell's +poem will be published on Monday, and to-morrow I design he shall +present it to Lord Treasurer and Lord Bolingbroke at Court. The poor lad +is almost always out of order with his head. Burke's wife is his sister. +She has a little of the pert Irish way. Nite MD. + +21. Morning. I will now finish my letter; for company will come, and +a stir, and a clutter; and I'll keep the letter in my pottick,(32) +and give it into the post myself. I must go to Court, and you know on +Saturdays I dine with Lord Treasurer, of course. Farewell, deelest MD MD +MD, FW FW FW, MD ME ME ME Lele sollahs.(33) + + + + +LETTER 62.(1) + +LONDON, March 21, 1712-13. + +I gave your letter in this night. I dined with Lord Treasurer to-day, +and find he has been at a meeting at Lord Halifax's house, with four +principal Whigs; but he is resolved to begin a speech against them when +the Parliament sits; and I have begged that the Ministers may have a +meeting on purpose to settle that matter, and let us be the attackers; +and I believe it will come to something, for the Whigs intend to attack +the Ministers: and if, instead of that, the Ministers attack the Whigs, +it will be better: and farther, I believe we shall attack them on those +very points they intend to attack us. The Parliament will be again +prorogued for a fortnight, because of Passion Week. I forgot to tell you +that Mr. Griffin has given Ppt's brother(2) a new employment, about ten +pounds a year better than his former; but more remote, and consequently +cheaper. I wish I could have done better, and hope oo will take what can +be done in good part, and that oo brother will not dislike it.--Nite own +dear... MD. + +22. I dined to-day with Lord Steward.(3) There Frank Annesley(4) (a +Parliament-man) told me he had heard that I had wrote to my friends in +Ireland to keep firm to the Whig interest; for that Lord Treasurer would +certainly declare for it after the peace. Annesley said twenty people +had told him this. You must know this is what they endeavour to report +of Lord Treasurer, that he designs to declare for the Whigs; and a +Scotch fellow has wrote the same to Scotland; and his meeting with +those lords gives occasion to such reports. Let me henceforth call +Lord Treasurer Eltee, because possibly my letters may be opened. Pray +remember Eltee. You know the reason; L.T. and Eltee pronounced the same +way. Stay, 'tis five weeks since I had a letter from MD. I allow you +six. You see why I cannot come over the beginning of April; whoever has +to do with this Ministry can fix no time: but as(5) hope saved, it is +not Pdfr's fault. Pay don't blame poo Pdfr. Nite deelest logues MD.(6) + +23. I dined to-day at Sir Thomas Hanmer's, by an old appointment: there +was the Duke of Ormond, and Lord and Lady Orkney. I left them at six. +Everybody is as sour as vinegar. I endeavour to keep a firm friendship +between the Duke of Ormond and Eltee. (Oo know who Eltee is, or have oo +fordot already?) I have great designs, if I can compass them; but delay +is rooted in Eltee's heart; yet the fault is not altogether there, that +things are no better. Here is the cursedest libel in verse come out that +ever was seen, called The Ambassadress;(7) it is very dull, too; it has +been printed three or four different ways, and is handed about, but not +sold. It abuses the Queen horribly. The Examiner has cleared me to-day +of being author of his paper, and done it with great civilities to +me.(8) I hope it will stop people's mouths; if not, they must go on and +be hanged, I care not. 'Tis terribly rainy weather, I'll go sleep. Nite +deelest MD. + +24. It rained all this day, and ruined me in coach-hire. I went to +Colonel Disney, who is past danger. Then I visited Lord Keeper, who was +at dinner; but I would not dine with him, but drove to Lord Treasurer +(Eltee I mean), paid the coachman, and went in; but he dined abroad: so +I was forced to call the coachman again, and went to Lord Bolingbroke's. +He dined abroad too; and at Lord Dupplin's I alighted, and by good +luck got a dinner there, and then went to the Latin play at Westminster +School, acted by the boys; and Lord Treasurer (Eltee I mean again) +honoured them with his presence. Lady Masham's eldest son, about two +years old, is ill, and I am afraid will not live: she is full of grief, +and I pity and am angry with her. Four shillings to-day in coach-hire; +fais, it won't do. Our peace will certainly be ready by Thursday +fortnight; but our Plenipotentiaries were to blame that it was not done +already. They thought their powers were not full enough to sign the +peace, unless every Prince was ready, which cannot yet be; for Spain has +no Minister yet at Utrecht; but now ours have new orders. Nite MD. + +25. Weather worse than ever; terrible rain all day, but I was resolved +I would spend no more money. I went to an auction of pictures with Dr. +Pratt, and there met the Duke of Beaufort, who promised to come with me +to Court, but did not. So a coach I got, and went to Court, and did some +little business there, but was forced to go home; for oo must understand +I take a little physic over-night, which works me next day. Lady Orkney +is my physician. It is hiera picra,(9) two spoonfuls, devilish stuff! +I thought to have dined with Eltee, but would not, merely to save a +shilling; but I dined privately with a friend, and played at ombre, and +won six shillings. Here are several people of quality lately dead of +the smallpox. I have not yet seen Miss Ashe, but hear she is well. The +Bishop of Clogher has bought abundance of pictures, and Dr. Pratt has +got him very good pennyworths.(10) I can get no walks, the weather is so +bad. Is it so with oo, sollahs?... (11) + +26. Though it was shaving-day, head and beard, yet I was out early to +see Lord Bolingbroke, and talk over affairs with him; and then I went to +the Duke of Ormond's, and so to Court, where the Ministers did not come, +because the Parliament was prorogued till this day fortnight. We had +terrible rain and hail to-day. Our Society met this day, but I left them +before seven, and went to Sir A(ndrew) F(ountaine), and played at ombre +with him and Sir Thomas Clarges, till ten, and then went to Sir Thomas +Hanmer. His wife, the Duchess of Grafton, left us after a little while, +and I stayed with him about an hour, upon some affairs, etc. Lord +Bolingbroke left us at the Society before I went; for there is an +express from Utrecht, but I know not yet what it contains; only I know +the Ministers expect the peace will be signed in a week, which is a week +before the session. Nite, MD. + +27. Parnell's poem is mightily esteemed; but poetry sells ill. I am +plagued with that... (12) poor Harrison's mother; you would laugh to see +how cautious I am of paying her the 100 pounds I received for her son +from the Treasury. I have asked every creature I know whether I may do +it safely, yet durst not venture, till my Lord Keeper assured me there +was no danger. I have not paid her, but will in a day or two: though I +have a great mind to stay till Ppt sends me her opinion, because Ppt +is a great lawyer. I dined to-day with a mixture of people at a +Scotchman's, who made the invitation to Mr. Lewis and me, and has some +design upon us, which we know very well. I went afterwards to see a +famous moving picture,(13) and I never saw anything so pretty. You see a +sea ten miles wide, a town on t'other end, and ships sailing in the sea, +and discharging their cannon. You see a great sky, with moon and stars, +etc. I'm a fool. Nite, dee MD. + +28. I had a mighty levee to-day. I deny myself to everybody, except +about half a dozen, and they were all here, and Mr. Addison was one, and +I had chocolate twice, which I don't like. Our rainy weather continues. +Coach-hire goes deep. I dined with Eltee and his Saturday company, as +usual, and could not get away till nine. Lord Peterborow was making long +harangues, and Eltee kept me in spite. Then I went to see the Bishop of +Ossory, who had engaged me in the morning; he is going to Ireland. The +Bishop of Killaloe(14) and Tom Leigh was with us. The latter had wholly +changed his style, by seeing how the bishops behaved themselves, and he +seemed to think me one of more importance than I really am. I put the +ill conduct of the bishops about the First-Fruits, with relation to +Eltee and me, strongly upon Killaloe, and showed how it had hindered me +from getting a better thing for them, called the Crown rents, which the +Queen had promised. He had nothing to say, but was humble, and desired +my interest in that and some other things. This letter is half done in a +week: I believe oo will have it next. Nite MD. + +29. I have been employed in endeavouring to save one of your junior +Fellows,(15) who came over here for a dispensation from taking orders, +and, in soliciting it, has run out his time, and now his fellowship is +void, if the College pleases, unless the Queen suspends the execution, +and gives him time to take orders. I spoke to all the Ministers +yesterday about it; but they say the Queen is angry, and thought it +was a trick to deceive her; and she is positive, and so the man must be +ruined, for I cannot help him. I never saw him in my life; but the +case was so hard, I could not forbear interposing. Your Government +recommended him to the Duke of Ormond, and he thought they would +grant it; and by the time it was refused, the fellowship by rigour +is forfeited. I dined with Dr. Arbuthnot (one of my brothers) at his +lodgings in Chelsea, and was there at chapel; and the altar put me +in mind of Tisdall's outlandish would(16) at your hospital for the +soldiers. I was not at Court to-day, and I hear the Queen was not at +church. Perhaps the gout has seized her again. Terrible rain all day. +Have oo such weather? Nite MD. + +30. Morning. I was naming some time ago, to a certain person, another +certain person, that was very deserving, and poor and sickly; and +t'other, that first certain person, gave me a hundred pounds to give the +other, which I have not yet done. The person who is to have it never +saw the giver, nor expects one farthing, nor has the least knowledge or +imagination of it; so I believe it will be a very agreeable surprise; +for I think it is a handsome present enough. At night I dined in the +City, at Pontack's,(17) with Lord Dupplin, and some others. We were +treated by one Colonel Cleland,(18) who has a mind to be Governor of +Barbados, and is laying these long traps for me and others, to engage +our interests for him. He is a true Scotchman. I paid the hundred pounds +this evening, and it was an agreeable surprise to the receiver. We +reckon the peace is now signed, and that we shall have it in three days. +I believe it is pretty sure. Nite MD. + +31. I thought to-day on Ppt when she told me she suppose(d) I was +acquainted with the steward, when I was giving myself airs of being at +some lord's house. Sir Andrew Fountaine invited the Bishop of Clogher +and me, and some others, to dine where he did; and he carried us to the +Duke of Kent's,(19) who was gone out of town; but the steward treated +us nobly, and showed us the fine pictures, etc. I have not yet seen Miss +Ashe. I wait till she has been abroad, and taken the air. This evening +Lady Masham, Dr. Arbuthnot, and I, were contriving a lie for to-morrow, +that Mr. Noble,(20) who was hanged last Saturday, was recovered by +his friends, and then seized again by the sheriff, and is now in a +messenger's hands at the Black Swan in Holborn. We are all to send to +our friends, to know whether they have heard anything of it, and so we +hope it will spread. However, we shall do our endeavours; nothing shall +be wanting on our parts, and leave the rest to fortune. Nite MD. + +April 1. We had no success in our story, though I sent my man to several +houses, to inquire among the footmen, without letting him into the +secret; but I doubt my colleagues did not contribute as they ought. +Parnell and I dined with Darteneuf(21) to-day. You have heard of +Darteneuf: I have told you of Darteneuf. After dinner we all went to +Lord Bolingbroke's, who had desired me to dine with him; but I would +not, because I heard it was to look over a dull poem of one parson +Trapp(22) upon the peace. The Swedish Envoy told me to-day at Court that +he was in great apprehensions about his master;(23) and indeed we are +afraid that prince has(24) died among those Turkish dogs. I prevailed on +Lord Bolingbroke to invite Mr. Addison to dine with him on Good Friday. +I suppose we shall be mighty mannerly. Addison is to have a play of his +acted on Friday in Easter Week: 'tis a tragedy, called Cato; I saw it +unfinished some years ago.(25) Did I tell you that Steele has begun a +new daily paper, called the Guardian?(26) they say good for nothing. I +have not seen it. Nite dee MD. + +2. I was this morning with Lord Bolingbroke, and he tells me a Spanish +courier is just come, with the news that the King of Spain has agreed to +everything that the Queen desires; and the Duke d'Ossuna has left Paris +in order to his journey to Utrecht. I was prevailed on to come home with +Trapp, and read his poem and correct it; but it was good for nothing. +While I was thus employed, Sir Thomas Hanmer came up to my chamber, and +balked me of a journey he and I intended this week to Lord Orkney's at +Cliffden;(27) but he is not well, and his physician will not let him +undertake such a journey. I intended to dine with Lord Treasurer; but +going to see Colonel Disney, who lives with General Withers,(28) I liked +the General's little dinner so well, that I stayed and took share of +it, and did not go to Lord Treasurer till six, where I found Dr. +Sacheverell, who told us that the bookseller had given him 100 pounds +for his sermon,(29) preached last Sunday, and intended to print 30,000: +I believe he will be confoundedly bit, and will hardly sell above half. +I have fires still, though April has begun, against my old maxim; but +the weather is wet and cold. I never saw such a long run of ill weather +in my life. Nite dee logues MD. + +3. I was at the Queen's chapel to-day, but she was not there. Mr. St. +John, Lord Bolingbroke's brother, came this day at noon with an express +from Utrecht, that the peace is signed by all the Ministers there, but +those of the Emperor, who will likewise sign in a few days; so that now +the great work is in effect done, and I believe it will appear a most +excellent peace for Europe, particularly for England. Addison and I, and +some others, dined with Lord Bolingbroke, and sat with him till twelve. +We were very civil, but yet when we grew warm, we talked in a friendly +manner of party. Addison raised his objections, and Lord Bolingbroke +answered them with great complaisance. Addison began Lord Somers's +health, which went about; but I bid him not name Lord Wharton's, for I +would not pledge it; and I told Lord Bolingbroke frankly that Addison +loved Lord Wharton as little as I did: so we laughed, etc. Well, but +you are glad of the peace, you Ppt the Trimmer, are not you? As for DD +I don't doubt her. Why, now, if I did not think Ppt had been a violent +Tory, and DD the greater Whig of the two! 'Tis late. Nite MD. + +4. This Passion Week, people are so demure, especially this last day, +that I told Dilly, who called here, that I would dine with him, and so I +did, faith; and had a small shoulder of mutton of my own bespeaking. It +rained all day. I came home at seven, and have never stirred out, but +have been reading Sacheverell's long dull sermon, which he sent me. It +is the first sermon since his suspension is expired; but not a word in +it upon the occasion, except two or three remote hints. The Bishop of +Clogher has been sadly bit by Tom Ashe, who sent him a pun, which the +Bishop had made, and designed to send to him, but delayed it; and Lord +Pembroke and I made Sir Andrew Fountaine write it to Tom. I believe +I told you of it in my last; it succeeded right, and the Bishop was +wondering to Lord Pembroke how he and his brother could hit on the same +thing. I'll go to bed soon, for I must be at church by eight to-morrow, +Easter Day. Nite dee MD. + +5. Warburton(30) wrote to me two letters about a living of one Foulkes, +who is lately dead in the county of Meath. My answer is, that before I +received the first letter, General Gorges(31) had recommended a friend +of his to the Duke of Ormond, which was the first time I heard of its +vacancy, and it was the Provost told me of it. I believe verily that +Foulkes was not dead when Gorges recommended the other: for Warburton's +last letter said that Foulkes was dead the day before the date.--This +has prevented me from serving Warburton, as I would have done, if I had +received early notice enough. Pray say or write this to Warburton, to +justify me to him. I was at church at eight this morning, and dressed +and shaved after I came back, but was too late at Court; and Lord +Abingdon(32) was like to have snapped me for dinner, and I believe will +fall out with me for refusing him; but I hate dining with them, and I +dined with a private friend, and took two or three good walks; for it +was a very fine day, the first we have had a great while. Remember, was +Easter Day a fine day with you? I have sat with Lady Worsley till now. +Nite dee MD. + +6. I was this morning at ten at the rehearsal of Mr. Addison's play, +called Cato, which is to be acted on Friday. There were not above half a +score of us to see it. We stood on the stage, and it was foolish enough +to see the actors prompted every moment, and the poet directing them; +and the drab that acts Cato's daughter,(33) out in the midst of a +passionate part, and then calling out, "What's next?" The Bishop of +Clogher was there too; but he stood privately in a gallery. I went to +dine with Lord Treasurer, but he was gone to Wimbledon, his daughter +Caermarthen's(34) country seat, seven miles off. So I went back, +and dined privately with Mr. Addison, whom I had left to go to Lord +Treasurer. I keep fires yet; I am very extravagant. I sat this evening +with Sir A. Fountaine, and we amused ourselves with making IFS for +Dilly. It is rainy weather again; nevle saw ze rike.(35) This letter +shall go to-morrow; remember, ung oomens, it is seven weeks since oor +last, and I allow oo but five weeks; but oo have been galloping into +the country to Swanton's.(36) O pray tell Swanton I had his letter, but +cannot contrive how to serve him. If a Governor were to go over, I would +recommend him as far as lay in my power, but I can do no more: and you +know all employments in Ireland, at least almost all, are engaged +in reversions. If I were on the spot, and had credit with a Lord +Lieutenant, I would very heartily recommend him; but employments here +are no more in my power than the monarchy itself. Nite, dee MD. + +7. Morning. I have had a visitor here, that has taken up my time. I have +not been abroad, oo may be sure; so I can say nothing to-day, but that +I rove MD bettle zan ever, if possibbere. I will put this in the +post-office; so I say no more. I write by this post to the Dean, but it +is not above two lines; and one enclosed to you, but that enclosed to +you is not above three lines; and then one enclosed to the Dean, which +he must not have but upon condition of burning it immediately after +reading, and that before your eyes; for there are some things in it I +would not have liable to accident. You shall only know in general that +it is an account of what I have done to serve him in his pretensions on +these vacancies, etc. But he must not know that you know so much.(37) +Does this perplex you? Hat care I? But rove Pdfr, saucy Pdfr. Farewell, +deelest MD MD MD FW FW FW,... ME, MD Lele. + + + + +LETTER 63.(1) + +LONDON, April 7, 1713. + +I fancy I marked my last, which I sent this day, wrong; only 61, and it +ought to be 62. I dined with Lord Treasurer, and though the business I +had with him is something against Thursday, when the Parliament is to +meet, and this is Tuesday, yet he put it off till to-morrow. I dare not +tell you what it is, lest this letter should miscarry or be opened; but +I never saw his fellow for delays. The Parliament will now certainly +sit, and everybody's expectations are ready to burst. At a Council +to-night the Lord Chief-Justice Parker, a Whig, spoke against the peace; +so did Lord Chomley,(2) another Whig, who is Treasurer of the Household. +My Lord Keeper(3) was this night made Lord Chancellor. We hope there +will soon be some removes. Nite, dee sollahs; Late. Rove Pdfr.(4) + +8. Lord Chomley (the right name is Cholmondeley) is this day removed +from his employment, for his last night's speech; and Sir Richard +Temple,(5) Lieutenant-General, the greatest Whig in the army, is turned +out; and Lieutenant-General Palmes(6) will be obliged to sell his +regiment. This is the first-fruits of a friendship I have established +between two great men. I dined with Lord Treasurer, and did the business +I had for him to his satisfaction. I won't tell MD what it was.... (7) +for zat. The Parliament sits to-morrow for certain. Here is a letter +printed in Maccartney's name, vindicating himself from the murder of the +Duke of Hamilton. I must give some hints to have it answered; 'tis full +of lies, and will give an opportunity of exposing that party. To morrow +will be a very important day. All the world will be at Westminster. Lord +Treasurer is as easy as a lamb. They are mustering up the proxies of the +absent lords; but they are not in any fear of wanting a majority, which +death and accidents have increased this year. Nite MD. + +9. I was this morning with Lord Treasurer, to present to him a young +son(8) of the late Earl of Jersey, at the desire of the widow. There I +saw the mace and great coach ready for Lord Treasurer, who was going to +Parliament. Our Society met to-day; but I expected the Houses would +sit longer than I cared to fast; so I dined with a friend, and never +inquired how matters went till eight this evening, when I went to Lord +Orkney's, where I found Sir Thomas Hanmer. The Queen delivered her +speech very well, but a little weaker in her voice. The crowd was vast. +The order for the Address(9) was moved, and opposed by Lord Nottingham, +Halifax, and Cowper. Lord Treasurer spoke with great spirit and +resolution; Lord Peterborow flirted(10) against the Duke of Marlborough +(who is in Germany, you know), but it was in answer to one of Halifax's +impertinences. The order for an Address passed by a majority of +thirty-three, and the Houses rose before six. This is the account I +heard at Lord Orkney's. The Bishop of Chester,(11) a high Tory, was +against the Court. The Duchess of Marlborough sent for him some months +ago, to justify herself to him in relation to the Queen, and showed +him letters, and told him stories, which the weak man believed, and was +perverted. Nite MD. + +10. I dined with a cousin in the City, and poor Pat Rolt was there. +I have got her rogue of a husband leave to come to England from +Port-Mahon. The Whigs are much down; but I reckon they have some +scheme in agitation. This Parliament-time hinders our Court meetings +on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I had a great deal of business +to-night, which gave me a temptation to be idle, and I lost a dozen +shillings at ombre, with Dr. Pratt and another. I have been to see +t'other day the Bishop of Clogher and lady, but did not see Miss. It +rains every day, and yet we are all over dust. Lady Masham's eldest boy +is very ill: I doubt he will not live, and she stays at Kensington to +nurse him, which vexes us all. She is so excessively fond, it makes me +mad. She should never leave the Queen, but leave everything, to stick to +what is so much the interest of the public, as well as her own. This I +tell her; but talk to the winds. Nite MD. + +11. I dined at Lord Treasurer's, with his Saturday company. We had ten +at table, all lords but myself and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. +Argyle went off at six, and was in very indifferent humour as usual. +Duke of Ormond and Lord Bolingbroke were absent. I stayed till near ten. +Lord Treasurer showed us a small picture, enamelled work, and set in +gold, worth about twenty pounds; a picture, I mean, of the Queen, +which she gave to the Duchess of Marlborough, set in diamonds. When the +Duchess was leaving England, she took off all the diamonds, and gave +the picture to one Mrs. Higgins (an old intriguing woman, whom everybody +knows), bidding her make the best of it she could. Lord Treasurer sent +to Mrs. Higgins for this picture, and gave her a hundred pounds for it. +Was ever such an ungrateful beast as that Duchess? or did you ever hear +such a story? I suppose the Whigs will not believe it. Pray, try them. +Takes off the diamonds, and gives away the picture to an insignificant +woman, as a thing of no consequence: and gives it to her to sell, like a +piece of old-fashioned plate. Is she not a detestable slut? Nite deelest +MD. + +12. I went to Court to-day, on purpose to present Mr. Berkeley,(12) one +of your Fellows of Dublin College, to Lord Berkeley of Stratton. That +Mr. Berkeley is a very ingenious man, and great philosopher, and I have +mentioned him to all the Ministers, and given them some of his writings; +and I will favour him as much as I can. This I think I am bound to, +in honour and conscience, to use all my little credit toward helping +forward men of worth in the world. The Queen was at chapel to-day, +and looks well. I dined at Lord Orkney's with the Duke of Ormond, +Lord Arran, and Sir Thomas Hanmer. Mr. St. John, Secretary at Utrecht, +expects every moment to return there with the ratification of the peace. +Did I tell you in my last of Addison's play called Cato, and that I was +at the rehearsal of it? Nite MD. + +13. This morning my friend, Mr. Lewis, came to me, and showed me an +order for a warrant for the three vacant deaneries; but none of them +to me. This was what I always foresaw, and received the notice of it +better, I believe, than he expected. I bid Mr. Lewis tell Lord Treasurer +that I took nothing ill of him but his not giving me timely notice, as +he promised to do, if he found the Queen would do nothing for me. At +noon, Lord Treasurer hearing I was in Mr. Lewis's office, came to me, +and said many things too long to repeat. I told him I had nothing to +do but go to Ireland immediately; for I could not, with any reputation, +stay longer here, unless I had something honourable immediately given to +me. We dined together at the Duke of Ormond's. He there told me he had +stopped the warrants for the deans, that what was done for me might be +at the same time, and he hoped to compass it to-night; but I believe +him not. I told the Duke of Ormond my intentions. He is content Sterne +should be a bishop, and I have St. Patrick's; but I believe nothing will +come of it, for stay I will not; and so I believe for all oo... (13) oo +may see me in Dublin before April ends. I am less out of humour than you +would imagine: and if it were not that impertinent people will condole +with me, as they used to give me joy, I would value it less. But I will +avoid company, and muster up my baggage, and send them next Monday +by the carrier to Chester, and come and see my willows, against the +expectation of all the world.--Hat care I? Nite deelest logues, MD. + +14. I dined in the City to-day, and ordered a lodging to be got ready +for me against I came to pack up my things; for I will leave this end of +the town as soon as ever the warrants for the deaneries are out, +which are yet stopped. Lord Treasurer told Mr. Lewis that it should be +determined to-night: and so he will for(14) a hundred nights. So he said +yesterday, but I value it not. My daily journals shall be but short +till I get into the City, and then I will send away this, and follow it +myself; and design to walk it all the way to Chester, my man and I, by +ten miles a day. It will do my health a great deal of good. I shall do +it in fourteen days. Nite dee MD. + +15. Lord Bolingbroke made me dine with him to-day; he(15) was as good +company as ever; and told me the Queen would determine something for me +to-night. The dispute is, Windsor or St. Patrick's. I told him I would +not stay for their disputes, and he thought I was in the right. Lord +Masham told me that Lady Masham is angry I have not been to see her +since this business, and desires I will come to-morrow. Nite deelest MD. + +16. I was this noon at Lady Masham's, who was just come from Kensington, +where her eldest son is sick. She said much to me of what she had talked +to the Queen and Lord Treasurer. The poor lady fell a shedding tears +openly. She could not bear to think of my having St. Patrick's, etc. I +was never more moved than to see so much friendship. I would not stay +with her, but went and dined with Dr. Arbuthnot, with Mr. Berkeley, +one of your Fellows, whom I have recommended to the Doctor, and to Lord +Berkeley of Stratton. Mr. Lewis tells me that the Duke of Ormond has +been to-day with the Queen; and she was content that Dr. Sterne should +be Bishop of Dromore, and I Dean of St. Patrick's; but then out came +Lord Treasurer, and said he would not be satisfied but that I must be +Prebend(ary) of Windsor. Thus he perplexes things. I expect neither; but +I confess, as much as I love England, I am so angry at this treatment +that, if I had my choice, I would rather have St. Patrick's. Lady Masham +says she will speak to purpose to the Queen to-morrow. Nite,... dee MD. + +17. I went to dine at Lady Masham's to-day, and she was taken ill of a +sore throat, and aguish. She spoke to the Queen last night, but had +not much time. The Queen says she will determine to-morrow with Lord +Treasurer. The warrants for the deaneries are still stopped, for fear I +should be gone. Do you think anything will be done? I don't care whether +it is or no. In the meantime, I prepare for my journey, and see no great +people, nor will see Lord Treasurer any more, if I go. Lord Treasurer +told Mr. Lewis it should be done to-night; so he said five nights ago. +Nite MD. + +18. This morning Mr. Lewis sent me word that Lord Treasurer told him +the Queen would determine at noon. At three Lord Treasurer sent to me to +come to his lodgings at St. James's, and told me the Queen was at last +resolved that Dr. Sterne should be Bishop of Dromore, and I Dean of St. +Patrick's; and that Sterne's warrant should be drawn immediately. You +know the deanery is in the Duke of Ormond's gift; but this is concerted +between the Queen, Lord Treasurer, and the Duke of Ormond, to make room +for me. I do not know whether it will yet be done; some unlucky accident +may yet come. Neither can I feel joy at passing my days in Ireland; and +I confess I thought the Ministry would not let me go; but perhaps they +can't help it. Nite MD. + +19. I forgot to tell you that Lord Treasurer forced me to dine with +him yesterday as usual, with his Saturday company; which I did after +frequent refusals. To-day I dined with a private friend, and was not at +Court. After dinner Mr. Lewis sent me a note, that the Queen stayed till +she knew whether the Duke of Ormond approved of Sterne for Bishop. I +went this evening, and found the Duke of Ormond at the Cock-pit, and +told him, and desired he would go to the Queen, and approve of Sterne. +He made objections, desired I would name any other deanery, for he +did not like Sterne; that Sterne never went to see him; that he was +influenced by the Archbishop of Dublin, etc.; so all now is broken +again. I sent out for Lord Treasurer, and told him this. He says all +will do well; but I value not what he says. This suspense vexes me worse +than anything else. Nite MD. + +20. I went to-day, by appointment, to the Cock-pit, to talk with the +Duke of Ormond. He repeated the same proposals of any other deanery, +etc. I desired he would put me out of the case, and do as he pleased. +Then, with great kindness, he said he would consent; but would do it +for no man alive but me, etc. And he will speak to the Queen today or +to-morrow; so, perhaps, something will come of it. I can't tell. Nite +dee dee logues, MD. + +21. The Duke of Ormond has told the Queen he is satisfied that Sterne +should be Bishop, and she consents I shall be Dean; and I suppose the +warrants will be drawn in a day or two. I dined at an ale-house with +Parnell and Berkeley; for I am not in humour to go among the Ministers, +though Lord Dartmouth invited me to dine with him to-day, and Lord +Treasurer was to be there. I said I would, if I were out of suspense. +Nite deelest MD. + +22. The Queen says warrants shall be drawn, but she will dispose of all +in England and Ireland at once, to be teased no more. This will delay +it some time; and, while it is delayed, I am not sure of the Queen, my +enemies being busy. I hate this suspense. Nite deelest MD.(16) + +23. I dined yesterday with General Hamilton.(17) I forgot to tell oo. I +write short journals now. I have eggs on the spit. This night the Queen +has signed all the warrants, among which Sterne is Bishop of Dromore, +and the Duke of Ormond is to send over an order for making me Dean of +St. Patrick's. I have no doubt of him at all. I think 'tis now passed. +And I suppose MD is malicious enough to be glad, and rather have it than +Wells.(18) But you see what a condition I am in. I thought I was to pay +but six hundred pounds for the house; but the Bishop of Clogher says +eight hundred pounds; first-fruits one hundred and fifty pounds, and so, +with patent, a thousand pounds in all; so that I shall not be the better +for the deanery these three years. I hope in some time they will be +persuaded here to give me some money to pay off these debts. I must +finish the book I am writing,(19) before I can go over; and they expect +I shall pass next winter here, and then I will dun them to give me a +sum of money. However, I hope to pass four or five months with MD, and +whatever comes on it. MD's allowance must be increased, and shall be +too, fais... (20) I received oor rettle No. 39 to-night; just ten weeks +since I had your last. I shall write next post to Bishop Sterne. Never +man had so many enemies of Ireland(21) as he. I carried it with the +strongest hand possible. If he does not use me well and gently in +what dealings I shall have with him, he will be the most ungrateful of +mankind. The Archbishop of York,(22) my mortal enemy, has sent, by a +third hand, that he would be glad to see me. Shall I see him, or not? +I hope to be over in a month, and that MD, with their raillery, will +be mistaken, that I shall make it three years. I will answer oo rettle +soon; but no more journals. I shall be very busy. Short letters from +hence forward. I shall not part with Laracor. That is all I have to live +on, except the deanery be worth more than four hundred pounds a year. +Is it? If it be, the overplus shall be divided between MD and FW beside +usual allowance of MD.... (23) Pray write to me a good-humoured letter +immediately, let it be ever so short. This affair was carried with great +difficulty, which vexes me. But they say here 'tis much to my reputation +that I have made a bishop, in spite of all the world, to get the best +deanery in Ireland. Nite dee sollahs. + +24. I forgot to tell you I had Sterne's letter yesterday, in answer to +mine. Oo performed oor commission well, dood dallars both.(24) I made +mistakes the three last days, and am forced to alter the number.(25) I +dined in the City to-day with my printer, and came home early, and +am going to (be) busy with my work. I will send this to-morrow, and I +suppose the warrants will go then. I wrote to Dr. Coghill, to take care +of passing my patent; and to Parvisol, to attend him with money, if he +has any, or to borrow some where he can. Nite MD. + +25. Morning. I know not whether my warrant be yet ready from the Duke of +Ormond. I suppose it will by tonight. I am going abroad, and will keep +this unsealed, till I know whether all be finished. Mollow,(26) sollahs. + +I had this letter all day in my pocket, waiting till I heard the +warrants were gone over. Mr. Lewis sent to Southwell's clerk at ten; and +he said the Bishop of Killaloe(27) had desired they should be stopped +till next post. He sent again, that the Bishop of Killaloe's business +had nothing to do with ours. Then I went myself, but it was past eleven, +and asked the reason. Killaloe is removed to Raphoe, and he has a mind +to have an order for the rents of Raphoe, that have fallen due since the +vacancy, and he would have all stop till he has gotten that. A pretty +request! But the clerk, at Mr. Lewis's message, sent the warrants for +Sterne and me; but then it was too late to send this, which frets me +heartily, that MD should not have intelligence first from Pdfr. I +think to take a hundred pounds a year out of the deanery, and divide it +between MD and Pr,(28) and so be one year longer in paying the debt; but +we'll talk of zis hen I come over. So nite dear sollahs. Lele.(29) + +26. I was at Court to-day, and a thousand people gave me joy; so I ran +out. I dined with Lady Orkney. Yesterday I dined with Lord Treasurer +and his Saturday people as usual; and was so bedeaned! The Archbishop +of York says he will never more speak against me. Pray see that Parvisol +stirs about getting my patent. I have given Tooke DD's note to prove she +is alive. I'll answer oo rettle.... Nite. + +27. Nothing new to-day. I dined with Tom Harley, etc. I'll seal up this +to-night. Pray write soon.... MD MD MD FW FW FW ME ME ME Lele, lele. + + + + +LETTER 64.(1) + +LONDON, May 16 (1713). + +I had yours, No. 40, yesterday. Your new Bishop acts very ungratefully. +I cannot say so bad of it as he deserved. I begged at the same post +his warrant and mine went over, that he would leave those livings to my +disposal. I shall write this post to him to let him know how ill I take +it. I have letters to tell me that I ought to think of employing some +body to set the tithes of the deanery. I know not what to do at this +distance. I cannot be in Ireland under a month. I will write two orders; +one to Parvisol, and t'other to Parvisol, and a blank for whatever +fellow it is whom the last Dean employed; and I would desire you to +advise with friends which to make use of: and if the latter, let the +fellow's name be inserted, and both act by commission. If the former, +then speak to Parvisol, and know whether he can undertake it. I doubt it +is hardly to be done by a perfect stranger alone, as Parvisol is. He +may perhaps venture at all, to keep up his interest with me; but that is +needless, for I am willing to do him any good, that will do me no harm. +Pray advise with Walls and Raymond, and a little with Bishop Sterne +for form. Tell Raymond I cannot succeed for him to get that living of +Moimed. It is represented here as a great sinecure. Several chaplains +have solicited for it; and it has vexed me so, that, if I live, I will +make it my business to serve him better in something else. I am heartily +sorry for his illness, and that of the other two. If it be not necessary +to let the tithes till a month hence, you may keep the two papers, and +advise well in the meantime; and whenever it is absolutely necessary, +then give that paper which you are most advised to. I thank Mr. Walls +for his letter. Tell him that must serve for an answer, with my +service to him and her. I shall buy Bishop Sterne's hair as soon as his +household goods. I shall be ruined, or at least sadly cramped, unless +the Queen will give me a thousand pounds. I am sure she owes me a great +deal more. Lord Treasurer rallies me upon it, and I believe intends it; +but, quando? I am advised to hasten over as soon as possible, and so I +will, and hope to set out the beginning of June. Take no lodging for me. +What? at your old tricks again? I can lie somewhere after I land, and I +care not where, nor how. I will buy your eggs and bacon, DD... (2) +your caps and Bible; and pray think immediately, and give me some +commissions, and I will perform them as far as oo poo Pdfr can.(3) +The letter I sent before this was to have gone a post before; but an +accident hindered it; and, I assure oo, I wam very akkree(4) MD did +not write to Dean Pdfr, and I think oo might have had a Dean under your +girdle for the superscription. I have just finished my Treatise,(5) and +must be ten days correcting it. Farewell, deelest MD, MD, MD, FW, FW, +FW, ME, ME, ME, Lele. + +You'll seal the two papers after my name. + + +"LONDON, May 16, 1713. + +"I appoint Mr. Isaiah Parvisol and Mr. to set and let the tithes of the +Deanery of St. Patrick's for this present year. In witness whereof, I +hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year above written. + + (JONAT. SWIFT."(6)) + + +"LONDON, May 16, 1713. + +"I do hereby appoint Mr. Isaiah Parvisol my proctor, to set and let +the tithes of the Deanery of St. Patrick's. In witness whereof, I have +hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year above written. + + JONAT. SWIFT." + + + + +LETTER 65.(1) + +CHESTER, June 6, 1713. + +I am come here after six days. I set out on Monday last, and got here +to-day about eleven in the morning. A noble rider, fais! and all the +ships and people went off yesterday with a rare wind. This was told +me, to my comfort, upon my arrival. Having not used riding these three +years, made me terrible weary; yet I resolve on Monday to set out for +Holyhead, as weary as I am. 'Tis good for my health, mam. When I came +here, I found MD's letter of the 26th of May sent down to me. Had you +writ a post sooner I might have brought some pins: but you were lazy, +and would not write your orders immediately, as I desired you. I will +come when God pleases; perhaps I may be with you in a week. I will be +three days going to Holyhead; I cannot ride faster, say hat oo will. I +am upon Stay-behind's mare. I have the whole inn to myself. I would fain +'scape this Holyhead journey; but I have no prospect of ships, and it +will be almost necessary I should be in Dublin before the 25th instant, +to take the oaths;(2) otherwise I must wait to a quarter sessions. I +will lodge as I can; therefore take no lodgings for me, to pay in my +absence. The poor Dean can't afford it. I spoke again to the Duke of +Ormond about Moimed for Raymond, and hope he may yet have it, for I laid +it strongly to the Duke, and gave him the Bishop of Meath's memorial. +I am sorry for Raymond's fistula; tell him so. I will speak to Lord +Treasurer about Mrs. South(3) to-morrow. Odso! I forgot; I thought I +had been in London. Mrs. Tisdall(4) is very big, ready to lie down. Her +husband is a puppy. Do his feet stink still? The letters to Ireland go +at so uncertain an hour, that I am forced to conclude. Farewell, MD, MD +MD FW FW FW ME ME ME ME. + + Lele lele + lele logues and + Ladies bose fair + and slender. + +(On flyleaf.) + +I mightily approve Ppt's project of hanging the blind parson. When I +read that passage upon Chester walls, as I was coming into town, and +just received your letter, I said aloud--Agreeable B-tch. + + + +NOTES. + +These notes are referenced by 'Notes to the Introduction' or 'Letter +(number)', and the numbers in square brackets (thus -- (3)) in the body +of the Journal. + + + +Notes to the Introduction. + +1 Notes and Queries, Sixth Series, x. 287. + +2 See letter from Swift to John Temple, February 1737. She was then +"quite sunk with years and unwieldliness." + +3 Athenaeum, Aug. 8, 1891. + +4 Journal, May 4, 1711. + +5 Craik's Life of Swift, 269. + +6 Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift, pp. 189-96. + +7 In 1730 he wrote, "Those who have been married may form juster +ideas of that estate than I can pretend to do" (Dr. Birkbeck Hill's +Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift, p. 237). + +8 Scott added a new incident which has become incorporated in the +popular conception of Swift's story. Delany is said to have met +Swift rushing out of Archbishop King's study, with a countenance of +distraction, immediately after the wedding. King, who was in tears, +said, "You have just met the most unhappy man on earth; but on the +subject of his wretchedness you must never ask a question." Will it be +believed that Scott--who rejects Delany's inference from this alleged +incident--had no better authority for it than "a friend of his +(Delany's) relict"? + +9 This incident, for which there is probably some foundation of fact--we +cannot say how much--has been greatly expanded by Mrs. Woods in her +novel Esther Vanhomrigh. Unfortunately most of her readers cannot, of +course, judge exactly how far her story is a work of imagination. + +10 In October Swift explained that he had been in the country "partly to +see a lady of my old acquaintance, who was extremely ill" (Unpublished +Letters of Dean Swift, p. 198). + +11 There is a story that shortly before her death Swift begged Stella to +allow herself to be publicly announced as his wife, but that she replied +that it was then too late. The versions given by Delany and Theophilus +Swift differ considerably, while Sheridan alters the whole thing by +representing Swift as brutally refusing to comply with Stella's last +wishes. + +12 There has also been the absurd suggestion that the impediment was +Swift's knowledge that both he and Stella were the illegitimate children +of Sir William Temple--a theory which is absolutely disproved by known +facts. + +13 It is curious to note the intimate knowledge of some of Swift's +peculiarities which was possessed by the hostile writer of a pamphlet +called A Hue and Cry after Dr. S---t, published in 1714. That piece +consists, for the most part, of extracts from a supposed Diary by Swift, +and contains such passages as these: "Friday. Go to the Club... Am +treated. Expenses one shilling." "Saturday. Bid my servant get all +things ready for a journey to the country: mend my breeches; hire a +washerwoman, making her allow for old shirts, socks, dabbs and markees, +which she bought of me... Six coaches of quality, and nine hacks, this +day called at my lodgings." "Thursday. The Earl looked queerly: left him +in a huff. Bid him send for me when he was fit for company... Spent ten +shillings." + +14 The "little language" is marked chiefly by such changes of letters +(e.g., l for r, or r for l) as a child makes when learning to speak. +The combinations of letters in which Swift indulges are not so easy of +interpretation. For himself he uses Pdfr, and sometimes Podefar or FR +(perhaps Poor dear foolish rogue). Stella is Ppt (Poor pretty thing). +MD (my dears) usually stands for both Stella and Mrs. Dingley, but +sometimes for Stella alone. Mrs. Dingley is indicated by ME (Madam +Elderly), D, or DD (Dear Dingley). The letters FW may mean Farewell, or +Foolish Wenches. Lele seems sometimes to be There, there, and sometimes +Truly. + + + + +LETTER 1. + +1. Addressed "To Mrs. Dingley, at Mr. Curry's house over against the +Ram in Capel Street, Dublin, Ireland," and endorsed by Esther Johnson, +"Sept. 9. Received." Afterwards Swift added, "MD received this Sept. 9," +and "Letters to Ireland from Sept.1710, begun soon after the change of +Ministry. Nothing in this." + +2. Beaumont is the "grey old fellow, poet Joe," of Swift's verses "On +the little house by the Churchyard at Castlenock." Joseph Beaumont, a +linen-merchant, is described as "a venerable, handsome, grey-headed man, +of quick and various natural abilities, but not improved by learning." +His inventions and mathematical speculations, relating to the longitude +and other things, brought on mental troubles, which were intensified +by bankruptcy, about 1718. He was afterwards removed from Dublin to his +home at Trim, where he rallied; but in a few years his madness returned, +and he committed suicide. + +3. Vicar of Trim, and formerly a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. In +various places in his correspondence Swift criticises the failings of +Dr. Anthony Raymond, who was, says Scott, "a particular friend." His +unreliability in money matters, the improvidence of his large family, +his peculiarities in grammar, his pride in his good manners, all these +points are noticed in the journal and elsewhere. But when Dr. Raymond +returned to Ireland after a visit to London, Swift felt a little +melancholy, and regretted that he had not seen more of him. In July 1713 +Raymond was presented to the Crown living of Moyenet. + +4. A small township on the estuary of the Dee, between twelve and +thirteen miles north-west of Chester. In the early part of the +eighteenth century Parkgate was a rival of Holyhead as a station for the +Dublin packets, which started, on the Irish side, from off Kingsend. + +5. Dr. St. George Ashe, afterwards Bishop of Derry, who had been Swift's +tutor at Trinity College, Dublin. He died in 1718. It is this lifelong +friend who is said to have married Swift and Esther Johnson in 1716. + +6. The Commission to solicit for the remission of the First-Fruits and +twentieth parts, payable to the Crown by the Irish clergy, was signed +by the Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, and the Bishops of +Kildare, Meath, and Killala. + +7. Dr. William Lloyd was appointed Bishop of Killala in 1690. He had +previously been Dean of Achonry. + +8. Dr. John Hough (1651-1743). In 1687 he had been elected President of +Magdalen College, Oxford, in place of the nominee of James II. Hough was +Bishop of Oxford, Lichfield, and Worcester successively, and declined +the primacy in 1715. + +9. Steele was at this time Gazetteer. The Cockpit, in Whitehall, looked +upon St. James's Palace, and was used for various Government purposes. + +10. This coffee-house, the resort of the Whig politicians, was kept by a +man named Elliot. It is often alluded to in the Tatler and Spectator. + +11. William Stewart, second Viscount Mountjoy, a friend and +correspondent of Swift's in Ireland. He was the son of one of William's +generals, and was himself a Lieutenant-General and Master-General of the +Ordnance; he died in 1728. + +12. Catherine, daughter of Maurice Keating, of Narraghmore, Kildare, and +wife of Garret Wesley, of Dangan, M.P. for Meath. She died in 1745. On +the death of Garret Wesley without issue in 1728, the property passed to +a cousin, Richard Colley, who was afterwards created Baron Mornington, +and was grandfather to the Duke of Wellington. + +13. The landlady of Esther Johnson and Mrs. Dingley. + +14. Swift's housekeeper at Laracor. Elsewhere Swift speaks of his "old +Presbyterian housekeeper," "who has been my Walpole above thirty years, +whenever I lived in this kingdom." "Joe Beaumont is my oracle for public +affairs in the country, and an old Presbyterian woman in town." + +15. Isaiah Parvisol, Swift's tithe-agent and steward at Laracor, was an +Irishman of French extraction, who died in 1718 (Birkbeck's Unpublished +Letters of Dean Swift, 1899, p.85). + +Letter 2. + +1. In some MS. Accounts of Swift's, in the Forster Collection at South +Kensington there is the following entry:--"Set out for England Aug. 31st +on Thursday, 10 at night; landed at Parkgate Friday 1st at noon. +Sept. 1, 1710, came to London. Thursday at noon, Sept. 7th, with Lord +Mountjoy, etc. Mem.: Lord Mountjoy bore my expenses from Chester to +London." + +2. In a letter to Archbishop King of the same date Swift says he +was "equally caressed by both parties; by one as a sort of bough for +drowning men to lay hold of, and by the other as one discontented with +the late men in power." + +3. The Earl of Godolphin, who was severely satirised by Swift in his Sid +Hamet's Rod, 1710. He had been ordered to break his staff as Treasurer +on August 8. Swift told Archbishop King that Godolphin was "altogether +short, dry, and morose." + +4. Martha, widow of Sir Thomas Giffard, Bart., of County Kildare, the +favourite sister of Sir William Temple, had been described by Swift in +early pindaric verses as "wise and great." Afterwards he was to call her +"an old beast" (Journal, Nov. 11, 1710). Their quarrel arose, towards +the close of 1709, out of a difference with regard to the publication +of Sir William Temple's Works. On the appearance of vol. v. Lady +Giffard charged Swift with publishing portions of the writings from +an unfaithful copy in lieu of the originals in his possession, and in +particular with printing laudatory notices of Godolphin and Sunderland +which Temple intended to omit, and with omitting an unfavourable remark +on Sunderland which Temple intended to print. Swift replied that the +corrections were all made by Temple himself. + +5. Lord Wharton's second wife, Lucy, daughter of Lord Lisburn. She +died in 1716, a few months after her husband. See Lady M. W. Montagu's +Letters. + +6. Mrs. Bridget Johnson, who married, as her second husband, Ralph +Mose or Moss, of Farnham, an agent for Sir William Temple's estate, +was waiting-woman or companion to Lady Giffard. In her will (1722) Lady +Giffard left Mrs. Moss 20 pounds, "with my silver cup and cover." Mrs. +Moss died in 1745, when letters of administration were granted to a +creditor of the deceased. + +7. Dr. William King (1610-1729), a Whig and High Churchman, had more +than one difference with Swift during the twenty years following Swift's +first visit to London in connection with the First-Fruits question. + +8. Swift's benefice, in the diocese of Meath, two miles from Trim. + +9. Steele, who had been issuing the Tatler thrice weekly since April. +He lost the Gazetteership in October. + +10. James, second Duke of Ormond (1665-1745) was appointed Lord +Lieutenant on the 26th of October. In the following year he became +Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief. He was impeached of high treason +and attainted in 1715; and he died in exile. + +11. "Presto," substituted by the original editor for "Pdfr," was +suggested by a passage in the Journal for Aug. 2, 1711, where Swift says +that the Duchess of Shrewsbury "could not say my name in English, but +said Dr. Presto, which is Italian for Swift." + +12. Charles Jervas, the popular portrait-painter, has left two portraits +of Swift, one of which is in the National Portrait Gallery, and the +other in the Bodleian Library. + +13. Sir William Temple's nephew, and son of Sir John Temple (died +1704), Solicitor and Attorney-General, and Speaker of the Irish House of +Commons. "Jack" Temple acquired the estate of Moor Park, Surrey, by his +marriage with Elizabeth, granddaughter of Sir William Temple, and elder +daughter of John Temple, who committed suicide in 1689. As late as 1706 +Swift received an invitation to visit Moor Park. + +14. Dr. Benjamin Pratt, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, was +appointed Dean of Down in 1717. Swift calls him "a person of wit and +learning," and "a gentleman of good birth and fortune,... very much +esteemed among us" (Short Character of Thomas, Earl of Wharton). On his +death in 1721 Swift wrote, "He was one of the oldest acquaintance I had, +and the last that I expected to die. He has left a young widow, in very +good circumstances. He had schemes of long life.... What a ridiculous +thing is man!" (Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift, 1899, p. 106). + +15. A Westmeath landlord, whom Swift met from time to time in London. +The Leighs were well acquainted with Esther Johnson. + +16. Dr. Enoch Sterne, appointed Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1704. +Swift was his successor in the deanery on Dr. Sterne's appointment +as Bishop of Dromore in 1713. In 1717 Sterne was translated to the +bishopric of Clogher. He spent much money on the cathedrals, etc., with +which he was connected. + +17. Archdeacon Walls was rector of Castle Knock, near Trim. Esther +Johnson was a frequent visitor at his house in Queen Street, Dublin. + +18. William Frankland, Comptroller of the Inland Office at the Post +Office, was the second son of the Postmaster-General, Sir Thomas +Frankland, Bart. Luttrell (vi. 333) records that in 1708 he was made +Treasurer of the Stamp Office, or, according to Chamberlayne's Mag. +Brit. Notitia for 1710, Receiver-General. + +19. Thomas Wharton, Earl and afterwards Marquis of Wharton, had been +one of Swift's fellow-travellers from Dublin. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland +under the Whig Government, from 1708 to 1710, Wharton was the most +thorough-going party man that had yet appeared in English politics; and +his political enemies did not fail to make the most of his well-known +immorality. In his Notes to Macky's Characters Swift described Wharton +as "the most universal villain that ever I knew." On his death in 1715 +he was succeeded by his profligate son, Philip, who was created Duke of +Wharton in 1718. + +20. This money was a premium the Government had promised Beaumont for +his Mathematical Sleying Tables, calculated for the improvement of the +linen manufacture. + +21. The bellman was both town-crier and night-watchman. + +Letter 3. + +1. Dr. William Cockburn (1669-1739), Swift's physician, of a good +Scottish family, was educated at Leyden. He invented an electuary for +the cure of fluxes, and in 1730, in The Danger of Improving Physick, +satirised the academical physicians who envied him the fortune he had +made by his secret remedy. He was described in 1729 as "an old very rich +quack." + +2. Sir Matthew Dudley, Bart., an old Whig friend, was M.P. for +Huntingdonshire, and Commissioner of the Customs from 1706 to 1712, and +again under George I., until his death in 1721. + +3. Isaac Manley, who was appointed Postmaster-General in Ireland in 1703 +(Luttrell, v. 333). He had previously been Comptroller of the English +Letter Office, a post in which he was succeeded by William Frankland, +son of Sir Thomas Frankland. Dunton calls Manley "loyal and acute." + +4. Sir Thomas Frankland was joint Postmaster-General from 1691 to 1715. +He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father, Sir William +Frankland, in 1697, and he died in 1726. Macky describes Sir Thomas as +"of a sweet and easy disposition, zealous for the Constitution, yet not +forward, and indulgent to his dependants." On this Swift comments, "This +is a fair character." + +5. Theophilus Butler, elected M.P. for Cavan, in the Irish Parliament, +in 1703, and for Belturbet (as "the Right Hon. Theophilus Butler") in +1713. On May 3, 1710, Luttrell wrote (Brief Relation of State Affairs, +vi. 577), "'Tis said the Earl of Montrath, Lord Viscount Mountjoy... and +Mr. Butler will be made Privy Councillors of the Kingdom of Ireland." +Butler--a contemporary of Swift's at Trinity College, Dublin--was +created Baron of Newtown-Butler in 1715, and his brother, who succeeded +him in 1723, was made Viscount Lanesborough. Butler's wife was Emilia, +eldest daughter and co-heir of James Stopford, of Tara, County Meath. + +6. No. 193 of the Tatler, for July 4, 1710, contained a letter from +Downes the Prompter--not by Steele himself--in ridicule of Harley and +his proposed Ministry. + +7. Charles Robartes, second Earl of Radnor, who died in 1723. In the +Journal for Dec. 30, 1711, Swift calls him "a scoundrel." + +8. Benjamin Tooke, Swift's bookseller or publisher, lived at the Middle +Temple Gate. Dunton wrote of him, "He is truly honest, a man of refined +sense, and is unblemished in his reputation." Tooke died in 1723. + +9. Swift's servant, of whose misdeeds he makes frequent complaints in +the Journal. + +10. Deputy Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. In one place Swift calls him +Captain Pratt; and in all probability he is the John Pratt who, as we +learn from Dalton's English Army Lists, was appointed captain in General +Erle's regiment of foot in 1699, and was out of the regiment by 1706. In +1702 he obtained the Queen's leave to be absent from the regiment when +it was sent to the West Indies. Pratt seems to have been introduced to +Swift by Addison. + +11. Charles Ford, of Wood Park, near Dublin, was a great lover of the +opera and a friend of the Tory wits. He was appointed Gazetteer in 1712. +Gay calls him "joyous Ford," and he was given to over-indulgence in +conviviality. See Swift's poem on Stella at Wood Park. + +12. Lord Somers, to whom Swift had dedicated The Tale of a Tub, with +high praise of his public and private virtues. In later years Swift said +that Somers "possessed all excellent qualifications except virtue." + +13. At the foundation school of the Ormonds at Kilkenny. (see note 22.) + +14. A Whig haberdasher. + +15. Benjamin Hoadley, the Whig divine, had been engaged in controversy +with Sacheverell, Blackall, and Atterbury. After the accession of George +I. he became Bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester in +success. + +16. Dr. Henry Sacheverell, whose impeachment and trial had led to the +fall of the Whig Government. + +17. Sir Berkeley Lucy, Bart., F.R.S., married Katherine, daughter of +Charles Cotton, of Beresford, Staffordshire, Isaac Walton's friend. Lady +Lucy died in 1740, leaving an only surviving daughter, Mary, who married +the youngest son of the Earl of Northampton, and had two sons, who +became successively seventh and eighth Earls of Northampton. Forster and +others assumed that "Lady Lucy" was a Lady Lucy Stanhope, though they +were not able to identify her. It was reserved for Mr. Ryland to clear +up this difficulty. As he points out, Lady Lucy's elder sister, Olive, +married George Stanhope, Dean of Canterbury, and left a daughter +Mary,--Swift's "Moll Stanhope,"--a beauty and a madcap, who married, +in 1712, William Burnet, son of Bishop Burnet, and died in 1714. Mary, +another sister of Lady Lucy's, married Augustine Armstrong, of Great +Ormond Street, and is the Mrs. Armstrong mentioned by Swift on Feb. 3, +1711, as a pretender to wit, without taste. Sir Berkeley Lucy's mother +was a daughter of the first Earl of Berkeley, and it was probably +through the Berkeleys that Swift came to know the Lucys. + +18. Ann Long was sister to Sir James Long, and niece to Colonel +Strangeways. Once a beauty and toast of the Kit-Cat Club, she fell +into narrow circumstances through imprudence and the unkindness of her +friends, and retired under the name of Mrs. Smythe to Lynn, in Norfolk, +where she died in 1711 (see Journal, December 25, 1711). Swift said, +"She was the most beautiful person of the age she lived in; of great +honour and virtue, infinite sweetness and generosity of temper, and true +good sense" (Forster's Swift, 229). In a letter of December 1711, Swift +wrote that she "had every valuable quality of body and mind that could +make a lady loved and esteemed." + +19. Said, I know not on what authority, to be Swift's friend, Mrs. +Barton. But Mrs. Barton is often mentioned by Swift as living in London +in 1710-11. + +20. One of Swift's cousins, who was separated from her husband, a man of +bad character, living abroad. Her second husband, Lancelot, a servant of +Lord Sussex, lived in New Bond Street, and there Swift lodged in 1727. + +21. 100,000 pounds. + +22. Francis Stratford's name appears in the Dublin University Register +for 1686 immediately before Swift's. Budgell is believed to have +referred to the friendship of Swift and Stratford in the Spectator, +No. 353, where he describes two schoolfellows, and says that the man of +genius was buried in a country parsonage of 160 pounds a year, while +his friend, with the bare abilities of a common scrivener, had gained an +estate of above 100,000 pounds. + +23. William Cowper, afterwards Lord Cowper. + +24. Sir Simon Harcourt, afterwards Viscount Harcourt, had been counsel +for Sacheverell. On Sept. 19, 1710, he was appointed Attorney-General, +and on October 19 Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. In April 1713 he became +Lord Chancellor. + +25. This may be some relative of Dr. John Freind (see Letter 9), or, +more probably, as Sir Henry Craik suggests, a misprint for Colonel +Frowde, Addison's friend (see Journal, Nov. 4, 1710). No officer named +Freind or Friend is mentioned in Dalton's English Army Lists. + +26. See the Tatler, Nos. 124, 203. There are various allusions in the +"Wentworth Papers" to this, the first State Lottery of 1710; and two +bluecoat boys drawing out the tickets, and showing their hands to the +crowd, as Swift describes them, are shown in a reproduction of a picture +in a contemporary pamphlet given in Ashton's Social Life in the Reign of +Queen Anne, i. 115. + +27. A few weeks later Swift wrote, "I took a fancy of resolving to grow +mad for it, but now it is off." + +28. Sir John Holland, Bart., was a leading manager for the Commons in +the impeachment of Sacheverell. He succeeded Sir Thomas Felton in the +Comptrollership in March 1710. + +29. Dryden Leach. (see Letter 7.) + +30. William Pate, "bel esprit and woollen-draper," as Swift called him, +lived opposite the Royal Exchange. He was Sheriff of London in 1734, +and died in 1746. Arbuthnot, previous to matriculating at Oxford, lodged +with Pate, who gave him a letter of introduction to Dr. Charlett, +Master of University College; and Pate is supposed to have been the +woollen-draper, "remarkable for his learning and good-nature," who is +mentioned by Steele in the Guardian, No. 141. + +31. James Brydges, son of Lord Chandos of Sudeley, was appointed +Paymaster-General of Forces Abroad in 1707. He succeeded his father +as Baron Chandos in 1714, and was created Duke of Chandos in 1729. The +"princely Chandos" and his house at Canons suggested to Pope the Timon's +villa of the "Epistle to Lord Burlington." The Duke died in 1744. + +32. Charles Talbot, created Duke of Shrewsbury in 1694, was held in +great esteem by William III., and was Lord Chamberlain under Anne. In +1713 he became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and held various offices +under George I., until his death in 1718. "Before he was o. age," says +Macaulay, "he was allowed to be one of the finest gentlemen and finest +scholars of his time." + +33. See No. 230. + +34. William Cavendish, second Duke of Devonshire (1673-1729), who was +Lord Steward from 1707 to 1710 and from 1714 to 1716. Afterwards he was +Lord President of the Council. Swift's comment on Macky's character of +this Whig nobleman was, "A very poor understanding." + +35. John Annesley, fourth Earl of Anglesea, a young nobleman of +great promise, had only recently been appointed joint Vice-Treasurer, +Receiver-General, and Paymaster of the Forces in Ireland, and sworn of +the Privy Council. + +36. Nichols, followed by subsequent editors, suggested that "Durham" +was a mistake for "St. David's," because Dr. George Bull, Bishop of St. +David's, died in 1710. But Dr. Bull died on Feb. 17, 1710, though his +successor, Dr. Philip Bisse, was not appointed until November; and Swift +was merely repeating a false report of the death of Lord Crewe, Bishop +of Durham, which was current on the day on which he wrote. Luttrell +says, on Sept. 19, "The Lord Crewe.. . died lately"; but on the 23rd he +adds, "The Bishop of Durham is not dead as reported" (Brief Relation, +vi. 630, 633. + +37. Lady Elizabeth ("Betty") Butler, who died unmarried in 1750. + +38. Swift wrote in 1734, "Once every year I issued out an edict, +commanding that all ladies of wit, sense, merit, and quality, who had +an ambition to be acquainted with me, should make the first advances at +their peril: which edict, you may believe, was universally obeyed." + +39. Charles, second Earl of Berkeley (1649-1710), married Elizabeth, +daughter of Baptist Noel, Viscount Campden. The Earl died on Sept. 24, +1710, and his widow in 1719. Swift, it will be remembered, had been +chaplain to Lord Berkeley in Ireland in 1699. + +40. Lady Betty and Lady Mary Butler. (see Letter 7, notes 2 and 3.) + +41. Henry Boyle, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1702 to 1708, was +Secretary of State from 1708 to 1710, when he was succeeded by St. John. +In 1714 he was created Baron Carleton, and he was Lord President from +1721 until his death in 1725. + +42. On Sept. 29 Swift wrote that his rooms consisted of the first floor, +a dining-room and bed-chamber, at eight shillings a week. On his last +visit to England, in 1726, he lodged "next door to the Royal Chair" in +Bury Street. Steele lived in the same street from 1707 to 1712; and Mrs. +Vanhomrigh was Swift's next-door neighbour. + +43. In Exchange Alley. Cf. Spectator, No. 454: "I went afterwards to +Robin's, and saw people who had dined with me at the fivepenny ordinary +just before, give bills for the value of large estates." + +Letter 4. + +1 John Molesworth, Commissioner of the Stamp Office, was sent as Envoy +to Tuscany in 1710, and was afterwards Minister at Florence, Venice, +Geneva, and Turin. He became second Viscount Molesworth in 1725, and +died in 1731. + +2 Misson says, "Every two hours you may write to any part of the city or +suburbs: he that receives it pays a penny, and you give nothing when you +put it into the Post; but when you write into the country both he that +writes and he that receives pay each a penny." The Penny Post system had +been taken over by the Government, but was worked separately from the +general Post. + +3 The Countess of Berkeley's second daughter, who married, in 1706, +Sir John Germaine, Bart. (1650-1718), a soldier of fortune. Lady Betty +Germaine is said to have written a satire on Pope (Nichols' Literary +Anecdotes, ii. 11), and was a constant correspondent of Swift's. She was +always a Whig, and shortly before her death in 1769 she made a present +of 100 pounds to John Wilkes, then in prison in the Tower. Writing of +Lady Betty Butler and Lady Betty Germaine, Swift says elsewhere, "I saw +two Lady Bettys this afternoon; the beauty of one, the good breeding +and nature of the other, and the wit of either, would have made a fine +woman." Germaine obtained the estate at Drayton through his first wife, +Lady Mary Mordaunt--Lord Peterborough's sister--who had been divorced +by her first husband, the Duke of Norfolk. Lady Betty was thirty years +younger than her husband, and after Sir John's death she remained a +widow for over fifty years. + +4 The letter in No. 280 of the Tatler. + +5 Discover, find out. Cf. Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well, iii. +6: "He was first smoked by the old Lord Lafeu." + +6 A village near Dublin. + +7 Excellent. + +8 John Molesworth, and, probably, his brother Richard, afterwards third +Viscount Molesworth, who had saved the Duke of Marlborough's life at +the battle of Ramillies, and had been appointed, in 1710, colonel of a +regiment of foot. + +9 Presumably at Charles Ford's. + +10 The Virtues of Sid Hamet the Magician's Rod, published as a single +folio sheet, was a satire on Godolphin. + +11 Apparently Marcus Antonius Morgan, steward to the Bishop of Kildare +(Craik). Swift wrote to the Duke of Montagu on Aug. 12, 1713 (Buccleuch +MSS., 1899, i. 359). "Mr. Morgan of Kingstrope is a friend, and was, I +am informed, put out of the Commission of justice for being so." + +12 Dr. Raymond is called Morgan's "father" because he warmly supported +Morgan's interests. + +13 The Rev. Thomas Warburton, Swift's curate at Laracor, whom Swift +described to the Archbishop as "a gentleman of very good learning and +sense, who has behaved himself altogether unblamably." + +14 The tobacco was to be used as snuff. About this time ladies much +affected the use of snuff, and Steele, in No. 344 of the Spectator, +speaks of Flavilla pulling out her box, "which is indeed full of good +Brazil," in the middle of the sermon. People often made their own snuff +out of roll tobacco, by means of rasps. On Nov. 3, 1711, Swift speaks +of sending "a fine snuff rasp of ivory, given me by Mrs. St. John for +Dingley, and a large roll of tobacco." + +15 Katherine Barton, second daughter of Robert Barton, of Brigstock, +Northamptonshire, and niece of Sir Isaac Newton. She was a favourite +among the toasts of the Kit-Cat Club, and Lord Halifax, who left her +a fortune, was an intimate friend. In 1717 she married John Conduitt, +afterwards Master of the Mint. + +16 William Connolly, appointed a Commissioner of the Revenue in 1709, +was afterwards Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He died in 1729. +Francis Robarts, appointed a Commissioner of the Revenue in 1692, was +made a Teller of the Exchequer in England in 1704, and quitted that +office, in September 1710, on his reappointment, in Connolly's place, +as Revenue Commissioner in Ireland. In 1714 Robarts was removed, and +Connolly again appointed Commissioner. + +17 Enoch Sterne, Collector of Wicklow and Clerk to the Irish House of +Lords. Writing to Dr. Sterne on Sept. 26, Swift said, "I saw Collector +Sterne, who desired me to present his service to you, and to tell you he +would be glad to hear from you, but not about business." + +18 In his "Character of Mrs. Johnson" Swift says, "She was never known +to cry out, or discover any fear, in a coach." The passage in the text +is obscure. Apparently Esther Johnson had boasted of saving money by +walking, instead of riding, like a coward. + +19 John Radcliffe (1650-1714), the well-known physician and wit, was +often denounced as a clever empiric. Early in 1711 he treated Swift for +his dizziness. By his will, Radcliffe left most of his property to the +University of Oxford. + +20 Charles Barnard, Sergeant-Surgeon to the Queen, and Master of the +Barber Surgeons' Company. His large and valuable library, to which Swift +afterwards refers, fetched great prices. Luttrell records Barnard's +death in his diary for Oct. 12, 1710. + +21 Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, had been appointed +Chancellor of the Exchequer in August 1710. In May 1711 he was raised to +the peerage and made Lord High Treasurer; and he is constantly referred +to in the Journal as "Lord Treasurer." He was impeached in 1715, but was +acquitted to 1717; he died in 1724. + +22 The Right Hon. Thomas Bligh, M.P., of Rathmore, County Meath, died on +Aug. 28, 1710. His son, mentioned later in the Journal, became Earl of +Darnley. + +Letter 5. + +1 Penalty. + +2 Erasmus Lewis, Under Secretary of State under Lord Dartmouth, was a +great friend of Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot. He had previously been one +of Harley's secretaries, and in his Horace Imitated, Book I. Ep. vii., +Swift describes him as "a cunning shaver, and very much in Harley's +favour." Arbuthnot says that under George I. Lewis kept company with +the greatest, and was "principal governor" in many families. Lewis was +a witness to Arbuthnot's will. Pope and Esther Vanhomrigh both left him +money to buy rings. Lewis died in 1754, aged eighty-three. + +3 Charles Darteneuf, or Dartiquenave, was a celebrated epicure, who is +said to have been a son of Charles II. Lord Lyttleton, in his Dialogues +of the Dead, recalling Pope's allusions to him, selects him to represent +modern bon vivants in the dialogue between Darteneuf and Apicius. See +Tatler 252. Darteneuf was Paymaster of the Royal Works and a member of +the Kit-Cat Club. He died in 1737. + +4 No. 230. + +5 Good, excellent. + +6 Captain George Delaval, appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King of +Portugal in Oct, 1710, was with Lord Peterborough in Spain in 1706. In +May 1707 he went to Lisbon with despatches for the Courts of Spain +and Portugal, from whence he was to proceed as Envoy to the Emperor of +Morocco, with rich presents (Luttrell, vi. 52, 174, 192). + +7 Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, as Ranger of Bushey Park and Hampton +Court, held many offices under William III., and was First Lord of +the Treasury under George I., until his death in 1715. He was great as +financier and as debater, and he was a liberal patron of literature. + +8 John Manley, M.P. for Bossiney, was made Surveyor-General on Sept. 30, +1710, and died in 1714. In 1706 he fought a duel with another Cornish +member (Luttrell, vi. 11, 535, 635). He seems to be the cousin whom Mrs. +De la Riviere Manley accuses of having drawn her into a false marriage. +For Isaac Manley and Sir Thomas Frankland, see Letter 3, notes 3 and 4. + +9 The Earl of Godolphin (see Letter 2, note 3). + +10 Sir John Stanley, Bart., of Northend, Commissioner of Customs, whom +Swift knew through his intimate friends the Pendarves. His wife, Anne, +daughter of Bernard Granville, and niece of John, Earl of Bath, was aunt +to Mary Granville, afterwards Mrs. Delany, who lived with the Stanleys +at their house in Whitehall. + +11 Henry, Viscount Hyde, eldest son of Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, +succeeded his father in the earldom in 1711, and afterwards became Earl +of Clarendon. His wife, Jane, younger daughter of Sir William Leveson +Gower,--who married a daughter of John Granville, Earl of Bath,--was +a beauty, and the mother of two beauties--Jane, afterwards Countess of +Essex (see journal, Jan. 29, 1712), and Catherine, afterwards Countess +of Queensberry. Lady Hyde was complimented by Prior, Pope, and her +kinsman, Lord Lansdowne, and is said to have been more handsome than +either of her daughters. She died in 1725; her husband in 1753. Lord +Hyde became joint Vice-Treasurer for Ireland in 1710; hence his interest +with respect to Pratt's appointment. + +12 See Letter 3, note 10. + +13 Sir Paul Methuen (1672-1757), son of John Methuen, diplomatist and +Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Methuen was Envoy and Ambassador to Portugal +from 1697 to 1708, and was M.P. for Devizes from 1708 to 1710, and a +Lord of the Admiralty. Under George I. he was Ambassador to Spain, and +held other offices. Gay speaks of "Methuen of sincerest mind, as Arthur +grave, as soft as womankind," and Steele dedicated to him the seventh +volume of the Spectator. In his Notes on Macky's Characters, Swift calls +him "a profligate rogue... without abilities of any kind." + +14 Sir James Montagu was Attorney-General from 1708 to Sept. 1710, when +he resigned, and was succeeded by Sir Simon Harcourt. Under George I. +Montagu was raised to the Bench, and a few months before his death in +1723 became Chief Baron of the Exchequer. + +15 The turnpike system had spread rapidly since the Restoration, and +had already effected an important reform in the English roads. Turnpike +roads were as yet unknown in Ireland. + +16 Ann Johnson, who afterwards married a baker named Filby. + +17 An infusion of which the main ingredient was cowslip or palsy-wort. + +18 William Legge, first Earl of Dartmouth (1672-1750), was St. John's +fellow Secretary of State. Lord Dartmouth seems to have been a plain, +unpretending man, whose ignorance of French helped to throw important +matters into St. John's hands. + +19 Richard Dyot was tried at the Old Bailey, on Jan. 13, 1710-11, for +counterfeiting stamps, and was acquitted, the crime being found +not felony, but only breach of trust. Two days afterwards a bill of +indictment was found against him for high misdemeanour. + +20 Sir Philip Meadows (1626-1718) was knighted in 1658, and was +Ambassador to Sweden under Cromwell. His son Philip (died 1757) was +knighted in 1700, and was sent on a special mission to the Emperor in +1707. A great-grandson of the elder Sir Philip was created Earl Manvers +in 1806. + +21 Her eyes were weak. + +22 The son of the Sir Robert Southwell to whom Temple had offered Swift +as a "servant" on his going as Secretary of State to Ireland in 1690. +Edward Southwell (1671-1730) succeeded his father as Secretary of +State for Ireland in 1702, and in 1708 was appointed Clerk to the Privy +Council of Great Britain. Southwell held various offices under George I. +and George II., and amassed a considerable fortune. + +23 Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718), dramatist and poet laureate, and one of +the first editors of Shakespeare, was at this time under-secretary to +the Duke of Queensberry, Secretary of State for Scotland. + +24 No. 238 contains Swift's "Description of a Shower in London." + +25 This seems to be a vague allusion to the text, "Cast thy bread upon +the waters," etc. + +26 Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), the fashionable portrait-painter of +the period. + +27 At the General election of 1710 the contest at Westminster excited +much interest. The number of constituents was large, and the franchise +low, all householders who paid scot and lot being voters. There were, +too, many houses of great Whig merchants, and a number of French +Protestants. But the High Church candidates, Cross and Medlicott, +were returned by large majorities, though the Whigs had chosen popular +candidates--General Stanhope, fresh from his successes in Spain, and Sir +Henry Dutton Colt, a Herefordshire gentleman. + +28 Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676-1753), a distinguished antiquary, of an +old Norfolk family, was knighted by William III. in 1699, and inherited +his father's estate at Norfolk in 1706. He succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as +Warden of the Mint in 1727, and was Vice-Chamberlain to Queen Caroline. +He became acquainted with Swift in Ireland in 1707, when he went over as +Usher of the Black Rod in Lord Pembroke's Court. + +29 See Letter 2, note 17. The Bishop was probably Dr. Moreton, Bishop of +Meath (see Journal, July 1, 1712). + +30 The game of ombre--of Spanish origin--is described in Pope's Rape of +the Lock. See also the Compleat Gamester, 1721, and Notes and Queries, +April 8, 1871. The ace of spades, or Spadille, was always the first +trump; the ace of clubs (Basto) always the third. The second trump was +the worst card of the trump suit in its natural order, i.e. the seven in +red and the deuce in black suits, and was called Manille. If either of +the red suits was trumps, the ace of the suit was fourth trump (Punto). +Spadille, Manille, and Basto were "matadores," or murderers, as they +never gave suit. + +31 See Letter 3, note 30, + +32 In the Spectator, No. 337, there is a complaint from "one of the top +China women about town," of the trouble given by ladies who turn +over all the goods in a shop without buying anything. Sometimes they +cheapened tea, at others examined screens or tea-dishes. + +33 The Right Hon. John Grubham Howe, M.P. for Gloucestershire, an +extreme Tory, had recently been appointed Paymaster of the Forces. He is +mentioned satirically as a patriot in sec. 9 of The Tale of a Tub. + +34 George Henry Hay, Viscount Dupplin, eldest son of the sixth Earl of +Kinnoull, was made a Teller of the Exchequer in August, and a peer of +Great Britain in December 1711, with the title of Baron Hay. He married, +in 1709, Abigail, Harley's younger daughter, and he succeeded his father +in the earldom of Kinnoull in 1719. + +35 Edward Harley, afterwards Lord Harley, who succeeded his father as +Earl of Oxford in 1724. He married Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, +daughter of the Duke of Newcastle, but died without male issue in 1741. +His interest in literature caused him to form the collection known as +the Harleian Miscellany. + +36 William Penn (1644-1718), the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania. +Swift says that he "spoke very agreeably, and with much spirit." + +37 This "Memorial to Mr. Harley about the First-Fruits" is dated Oct. 7, +1710. + +38 Henry St. John, created Viscount Bolingbroke in July 1712. In the +quarrel between Oxford and Bolingbroke in 1714, Swift's sympathies were +with Oxford. + +39 I.e., it is decreed by fate. So Tillotson says, "These things are +fatal and necessary." + +40 See Letter 3, note 8. + +41 Obscure. Hooker speaks of a "blind or secret corner." + +42 Ale served in a gill measure. + +43 Scott suggests that the allusion is to The Tale of a Tub. + +44 An extravagant compliment. + +45 See Letter 8. + +46 L'Estrange speaks of "trencher-flies and spungers." + +47 See Letter 1, note 10. + +48 Samuel Garth, physician and member of the Kit-Cat Club, was knighted +in 1714. He is best known by his satirical poem, The Dispensary, 1699. + +49 Gay speaks of "Wondering Main, so fat, with laughing eyes" (Mr. +Pope's Welcome from Greece, st. xvii.). + +50 See Letter 5, note 10. + +51 See the letter of Oct. 10, 1710, to Archbishop King. + +52 See Letter 1. + +53 Seventy-three lines in folio upon one page, and in a very small +hand." (Deane Swift). + +Letter 6. + +1. I.e., Lord Lieutenant. + +2 Tatler, No. 238. + +3 See Letter 1, note 12. + +4 Charles Coote, fourth Earl of Mountrath, and M.P. for Knaresborough. +He died unmarried in 1715. + +5 Henry Coote, Lord Mountrath's brother. He succeeded to the earldom in +1715, but died unmarried in 1720. + +6 The Devil Tavern was the meeting-place of Ben Jonson's Apollo Club. +The house was pulled down in 1787. + +7 Addison was re-elected M.P. for Malmesbury in Oct. 1710, and he kept +that seat until his death in 1719. + +8 Captain Charles Lavallee, who served in the Cadiz Expedition of 1702, +and was appointed a captain in Colonel Hans Hamilton's Regiment of Foot +in 1706 (Luttrell, v. 175, vi. 640; Dalton's English Army Lists, iv. +126). + +9 See Letter 5. + +10 The Tatler, No. 230, Sid Hamet's Rod, and the ballad (now lost) on +the Westminster Election. + +11 The Earl of Galway (1648-1720), who lost the battle of Almanza to +the Duke of Berwick in 1707. Originally the Marquis de Ruvigny, a +French refugee, he had been made Viscount Galway and Earl of Galway +successively by William III. + +12 William Harrison, the son of a doctor at St. Cross, Winchester, had +been recommended to Swift by Addison, who obtained for him the post of +governor to the Duke of Queensberry's son. In Jan. 1711 Harrison began +the issue of a continuation of Steele's Tatler with Swift's assistance, +but without success. In May 1711, St. John gave Harrison the appointment +of secretary to Lord Raby, Ambassador Extraordinary at the Hague, and in +Jan. 1713 Harrison brought the Barrier Treaty to England. He died in +the following month, at the age of twenty-seven, and Lady Strafford says +that "his brother poets buried him, as Mr. Addison, Mr. Philips, and Dr. +Swift." Tickell calls him "that much loved youth," and Swift felt his +death keenly. Harrison's best poem is Woodstock Park, 1706. + +13 The last volume of Tonson's Miscellany, 1708. + +14 James Douglas, second Duke of Queensberry and Duke of Dover +(1662-1711), was appointed joint Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1708, and +third Secretary of State in 1709. Harrison must have been "governor" +either to the third son, Charles, Marquis of Beverley (born 1698), who +succeeded to the dukedom in 1711, or to the fourth son, George, born in +1701. + +15 Anthony Henley, son of Sir Robert Henley, M.P. for Andover, was +a favourite with the wits in London. He was a strong Whig, and +occasionally contributed to the Tatler and Maynwaring's Medley. Garth +dedicated The Dispensary to him. Swift records Henley's death from +apoplexy in August 1711. + +16 Sir William Ashurst, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, and Mr. John Ward were +replaced by Sir Richard Hoare, Sir George Newland, and Mr. John Cass at +the election for the City in 1710. Scott was wrong in saying that the +Whigs lost also the fourth seat, for Sir William Withers had been member +for the City since 1707. + +17 Sir Richard Onslow, Bart., was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons +in 1708. Under George I. he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +was elevated to the peerage as Baron Onslow in 1716. He died in the +following year. + +18 "The upper part of the letter was a little besmeared with some such +stuff; the mark is still on it" (Deane Swift). + +19 John Bolton, D.D., appointed a prebendary of St. Patrick's in 1691, +became Dean of Derry in 1699. He died in 1724. Like Swift, Bolton was +chaplain to Lord Berkeley, the Lord Lieutenant, and, according to Swift, +he obtained the deanery of Derry through Swift having declined to give a +bribe of 1000 pounds to Lord Berkeley's secretary. But Lord Orrery says +that the Bishop of Derry objected to Swift, fearing that he would be +constantly flying backwards and forwards between Ireland and England. + +20 See Letter 2, note 16. + +21 "That is, to the next page; for he is now within three lines of the +bottom of the first" (Deane Swift). + +22 See Letter 4, note 15. + +23 Joshua Dawson, secretary to the Lords Justices. He built a fine house +in Dawson Street, Dublin, and provided largely for his relatives by the +aid of the official patronage in his hands. + +24 He had been dead three weeks (see Letters 3 and 5). + +25 In The Importance of the Guardian Considered, Swift says that +Steele, "to avoid being discarded, thought fit to resign his place of +Gazetteer." + +26 As Swift never used the name "Stella" in the Journal, this fragment +of his "little language" must have been altered by Deane Swift, the +first editor. Forster makes the excellent suggestion that the correct +reading is "sluttikins," a word used in the Journal on Nov. 28, 1710. +Swift often calls his correspondents "sluts." + +27 Godolphin, who was satirised in Sid Hamel's Rod (see Letter 2, note +3). + +28 No. 230. + +29 "This appears to be an interjection of surprise at the length of his +journal" (Deane Swift). + +30 Matthew Prior, poet and diplomatist, had been deprived of his +Commissionership of Trade by the Whigs, but was rewarded for his Tory +principles in 1711 by a Commissionership of Customs. + +31 "The twentieth parts are 12 pence in the pound paid annually out of +all ecclesiastical benefices as they were valued at the Reformation. +They amount to about 500 pounds per annum; but are of little or no value +to the Queen after the offices and other charges are paid, though of +much trouble and vexation to the clergy" (Swift's "Memorial to Mr. +Harley"). + +32 Charles Mordaunt, the brilliant but erratic Earl of Peterborough, had +been engaged for two years, after the unsatisfactory inquiry into his +conduct in Spain by the House of Lords in 1708, in preparing an account +of the money he had received and expended. The change of Government +brought him relief from his troubles; in November he was made +Captain-General of Marines, and in December he was nominated Ambassador +Extraordinary to Vienna. + +33 Tapped, nudged. + +34 I.e., told only to you. + +35 Sir Hew Dalrymple (1652-1737), Lord President of the Court of +Session, and son of the first Viscount Stair. + +36 Robert Benson, a moderate Tory, was made a Lord of the Treasury in +August 1710, and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the following June, and +was raised to the peerage as Baron Bingley in 1713. He died in 1731. + +37 The Smyrna Coffee-house was on the north side of Pall Mall, opposite +Marlborough House. In the Tatler (Nos. 10, 78) Steele laughed at the +"cluster of wise heads" to be found every evening at the Smyrna; and +Goldsmith says that Beau Nash would wait a whole day at a window at +the Smyrna, in order to receive a bow from the Prince or the Duchess of +Marlborough, and would then look round upon the company for admiration +and respect. + +38 See Letter 4, note 14. + +39 See Letter 5, note 17. + +40 An Irish doctor, with whom Swift invested money. + +41 Enoch Sterne, Collector of Wicklow and Clerk to the House of Lords in +Ireland. + +42 Claret. + +43 Colonel Ambrose Edgworth, a famous dandy, who is supposed to have +been referred to by Steele in No. 246 of the Tatler. Edgworth was the +son of Sir John Edgworth, who was made Colonel of a Regiment of Foot +in 1689 (Dalton, iii, 59). Ambrose Edgworth was a Captain in the same +regiment, but father and son were shortly afterwards turned out of +the regiment for dishonest conduct in connection with the soldiers' +clothing. Ambrose was, however, reappointed a Captain in General Eric's +Regiment of Foot in 1691. He served in Spain as Major in Brigadier +Gorge's regiment; was taken prisoner in 1706; and was appointed +Lieutenant-Colonel of Colonel Thomas Allen's Regiment of Foot in 1707. + +44 This volume of Miscellanies in Prose and Verse was published by +Morphew in 1711. + +45 Dr. Thomas Lindsay, afterwards Bishop of Raphoe. + + +Letter 7. + +1 The first mention of the Vanhomrighs in the Journal. Swift had made +their acquaintance when he was in London in 1708. + +2 Lady Elizabeth and Lady Mary (see Letter 3, note 40 and below). + +3 John, third Lord Ashburnham, and afterwards Earl of Ashburnham +(1687-1737), married, on Oct. 21, 1710, Lady Mary Butler, younger +daughter of the Duke of Ormond. She died on Jan. 2, 1712-3, in her +twenty-third year. She was Swift's "greatest favourite," and he was much +moved at her death. + +4 Edward Wortley Montagu, grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich, and +M.P. for Huntingdon. He was a great friend of Addison's, and the second +volume of the Tatler was dedicated to him. In 1712 he married the famous +Lady Mary Pierrepont, eldest daughter of the Duke of Kingston, and under +George I. he became Ambassador Extraordinary to the Porte. He died in +1761, aged eighty. + +5 See Letter 5, note 27. No copy of these verses is known. + +6 Henry Alexander, fifth Earl of Stirling, who died without issue in +1739. His sister, Lady Judith Alexander, married Sir William Trumbull, +Pope's friend. + +7 "These words, notwithstanding their great obscurity at present, +were very clear and intelligible to Mrs. Johnson: they referred to +conversations, which passed between her and Dr. Tisdall seven or eight +years before; when the Doctor, who was not only a learned and faithful +divine, but a zealous Church-Tory, frequently entertained her with +Convocation disputes. This gentleman, in the year 1704, paid his +addresses to Mrs. Johnson" (Deane Swift). The Rev. William Tisdall +was made D.D. in 1707. Swift never forgave Tisdall's proposal to marry +Esther Johnson in 1704, and often gave expression to his contempt for +him. In 1706 Tisdall married, and was appointed Vicar of Kerry and +Ruavon; in 1712 he became Vicar of Belfast. He published several +controversial pieces, directed against Presbyterians and other +Dissenters. + +8 No. 193 of the Tatler, for July 4, 1710, contained a letter from +Downes the Prompter in ridicule of Harley's newly formed Ministry. +This letter, the authorship of which Steele disavowed, was probably by +Anthony Henley. + +9 William Berkeley, fourth Baron Berkeley of Stratton, was sworn of the +Privy Council in September 1710, and was appointed Chancellor of the +Duchy of Lancaster. He married Frances, youngest daughter of Sir John +Temple, of East Sheen, Surrey, and died in 1740. + +10 Probably the widow of Sir William Temple's son, John Temple (see +Letter 2, note 13). She was Mary Duplessis, daughter of Duplessis +Rambouillet, a Huguenot. + +11 The Rev. James Sartre, who married Addison's sister Dorothy, was +Prebendary and Archdeacon of Westminster. He had formerly been French +pastor at Montpelier. After his death in 1713 his widow married a Mr. +Combe, and lived until 1750. + +12 William Congreve's last play was produced in 1700. In 1710, when +he was forty, he published a collected edition of his works. Swift and +Congreve had been schoolfellows at Kilkenny, and they had both been +pupils of St. George Ashe--afterwards Bishop of Clogher--at Trinity +College, Dublin. On Congreve's death, in 1729, Swift wrote, "I loved him +from my youth." + +13 See Letter 4, note 11. + +14 Dean Sterne. + +15 See Letter 6, note 19. + +16 When he became Dean he withheld from Swift the living of St. Nicholas +Without, promised in gratitude for the aid rendered by Swift in his +election. + +17 Crowe was a Commissioner for Appeals from the Revenue Commissioners +for a short time in 1706, and was Recorder of Blessington, Co. Wicklow. +In his Short Character of Thomas, Earl of Wharton, 1710, Swift speaks of +Whartons "barbarous injustice to... poor Will Crowe." + +18 See Letter 3, note 10. + +19 See Letter 3, note 35. + +20 See Letter 1, note 15. + +21 Richard Tighe, M.P. for Belturbet, was a Whig, much disliked by +Swift. He became a Privy Councillor under George I. + +22 Dryden Leach, of the Old Bailey, formerly an actor, was son of +Francis Leach. Swift recommended Harrison to employ Leach in printing +the continuation of the Tatler; but Harrison discarded him. (See +Journal, Jan. 16, 1710-11, and Timperley's Literary Anecdotes, 600, +631). + +23 The Postman, which appeared three days in the week, written by M. +Fonvive, a French Protestant, whom Dunton calls "the glory and mirror +of news writers, a very grave, learned, orthodox man." Fonvive had a +universal system of intelligence, at home and abroad, and "as his news +is early and good, so his style is excellent." + +24 Sir William Temple left Esther Johnson the lease of some property in +Ireland. + +25 See Letter 5, note 23. + +26 An out-of-the-way or obscure house. So Pepys (Diary, Oct. 15, 1661) +"To St. Paul's Churchyard to a blind place where Mr. Goldsborough was to +meet me." + +27 Sir Richard Temple, Bart., of Stowe, a Lieutenant-General who saw +much service in Flanders, was dismissed in 1713 owing to his Whig views, +but on the accession of George I. was raised to the peerage, and was +created Viscount Cobham in 1718. He died in 1749. Congreve wrote in +praise of him, and he was the "brave Cobham" of Pope's first Moral +Essay. + +28 Richard Estcourt, the actor, died in August 1712, when his abilities +on the stage and as a talker were celebrated by Steele to No. 468 of the +Spectator. See also Tatler, Aug. 6, 1709, and Spectator, May 5, 1712. +Estcourt was "providore" of the Beef-Steak Club, and a few months before +his death opened the Bumper Tavern in James Street, Covent Garden. + +29 See Letter 5, note 49. + +30 Poor, mean. Elsewhere Swift speaks of "the corrector of a hedge press +in Little Britain," and "a little hedge vicar." + +31 Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke, was Lord Lieutenant from +April 1707 to December 1708. A nobleman of taste and learning, he was, +like Swift, very fond of punning, and they had been great friends in +Ireland. + +32 See Letter 3, note 11. + +33 See Letter 3, note 18. + +34 A small town and fortress in what is now the Pas de Calais. + +35 Richard Stewart, third son of the first Lord Mountjoy (see Letter 1, +note 11), was M.P. at various times for Castlebar, Strabane, and County +Tyrone. He died in 1728. + +Letter 8. + +1 See Letter 3, note 1. + +2 Swift, Esther Johnson, and Mrs. Dingley seem to have begun their +financial year on the 1st of November. Swift refers to "MD's allowance" +in the Journal for April 23, 1713. + +3 Samuel Dopping, an Irish friend of Stella's, who was probably related +to Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath (died 1697), and to his son Anthony +(died 1743), who became Bishop of Ossory. + +4 See Letter 2, note 17. + +5 The wife of Alderman Stoyte, afterwards Lord Mayor of Dublin. Mrs. +Stoyte and her sister Catherine; the Walls; Isaac Manley and his wife; +Dean Sterne, Esther Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, and Swift, were the +principal members of a card club which met at each other's houses for a +number of years. + +6 See Letter 1, note 12. + +7 "This cypher stands for Presto, Stella, and Dingley; as much as to +say, it looks like us three quite retired from all the rest of the +world" (Deane Swift). + +8 Steele's "dear Prue," Mary Scurlock, whom he married as his second +wife in 1707, was a lady of property and a "cried-up beauty." She was +somewhat of a prude, and did not hesitate to complain to her husband, in +and out of season, of his extravagance and other weaknesses. The other +lady to whom Swift alludes is probably the Duchess of Marlborough. + +9 See Letter 7, note 7. + +10 Remembers: an Irish expression. + +11 This new Commission, signed by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, +and William King, was dated Oct. 24, 1710. In this document Swift was +begged to take the full management of the business of the First-Fruits +into his hands, the Bishops of Ossory and Killala--who were to have +joined with him in the negotiations--having left London before Swift +arrived. But before this commission was despatched the Queen had granted +the First-Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish clergy. + +12 Lady Mountjoy, wife of the second Viscount Mountjoy (see Letter +1), was Anne, youngest daughter of Murrough Boyle, first Viscount +Blessington, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Charles Coote, +second Earl of Mountrath. After Lord Mountjoy's death she married John +Farquharson, and she died in 1741. + +13 Forster suggests that Swift wrote "Frond " or "Frowde" and there is +every reason to believe that this was the case. No Colonel Proud appears +in Dalton's Army Lists. A Colonel William Frowde, apparently third son +of Sir Philip Frowde, Knight, by his third wife, Margaret, daughter +of Sir John Ashburnham, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in Colonel +Farrington's (see note 18) Regiment of Foot in 1694. He resigned his +commission on his appointment to the First Life Guards in 1702, and he +was in this latter regiment in 1704. In November and December 1711 Swift +wrote of Philip Frowde the elder (Colonel William Frowde's brother) as +"an old fool," in monetary difficulties. It is probable that Swift's +Colonel Proud (? Frowde) was not Colonel William Frowde, but his nephew, +Philip Frowde, junior, who was Addison's friend at Oxford, and the +author of two tragedies and various poems. Nothing seems known of Philip +Frowde's connection with the army, but he is certainly called "Colonel" +by Swift, Addison, and Pope (see Forster's Swift, 159; Addison's Works, +v. 324; Pope's Works, v. 177, vi. 227). Swift wrote to Ambrose Philips +in 1705, "Col. Frond is just as he was, very friendly and grand reveur +et distrait. He has brought his poems almost to perfection." It will +be observed that when Swift met Colonel "Proud" he was in company with +Addison, as was also the case when he was with Colonel "Freind" (see +Letter 3, note 25). + +14 Charles Davenant, LL.D., educated at Balliol College, Oxford, was the +eldest son of Sir William Davenant, author of Gondibert. In Parliament +he attacked Ministerial abuses with great bitterness until, in 1703, he +was made secretary to the Commissioners appointed to treat for a union +with Scotland. To this post was added, in 1705, an Inspector-Generalship +of Exports and Imports, which he retained until his death in 1714. Tom +Double, a satire on his change of front after obtaining his place, was +published in 1704. In a Note on Macky's character of Davenant, Swift +says, "He ruined his estate, which put him under a necessity to comply +with the times." Davenant's True Picture of a Modern Whig, in Two Parts, +appeared in 1701-2; in 1707 he published "The True Picture of a Modern +Whig revived, set forth in a third dialogue between Whiglove and +Double," which seems to be the piece mentioned in the text, though Swift +speaks of the pamphlet as "lately put out." + +15 Hugh Chamberlen, the younger (1664-1728), was a Fellow of the College +of Physicians and Censor in 1707, 1717, and 1721. Atterbury and the +Duchess of Buckingham and Normanby were among his fashionable patients. +His father, Hugh Chamberlen, M.D., was the author of the Land Bank +Scheme of 1693-94. + +16 Sir John Holland (see Letter 3, note 28). + +17 Swift may mean either rambling or gambolling. + +18 Thomas Farrington was appointed Colonel of the newly raised 29th +Regiment of Foot in 1702. He was a subscriber for a copy of the Tatler +on royal paper (Aitken, Life of Steele, i. 329, 330). + +19 In The History of Vanbrugh's House, Swift described everyone as +hunting for it up and down the river banks, and unable to find it, until +at length they-- + + "-- in the rubbish spy + A thing resembling a goose pie." + +Sir John Vanbrugh was more successful as a dramatist than as an +architect, though his work at Blenheim and elsewhere has many merits. + +20 For the successes of the last campaign. + +21 John Sheffield, third Earl of Mulgrave, was created Duke of +Buckingham and Normanby in 1703, and died in 1721. On Queen Anne's +accession he became Lord Privy Seal, and on the return of the Tories +to power in 1710 he was Lord Steward, and afterward (June 1710) Lord +President of the Council. The Duke was a poet, as well as a soldier +and statesman, his best known work being the Essay on Poetry. He was +Dryden's patron, and Pope prepared a collected edition of his works. + +22 Laurence Hyde, created Earl of Rochester in 1682, died in 1711. He +was the Hushai of Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, "the friend of David +in distress." In 1684 he was made Lord President of the Council, and on +the accession of James II., Lord Treasurer; he was, however, dismissed +in 1687. Under William III. Rochester was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, an +office he resigned in 1703; and in September 1710 he again became Lord +President. His imperious temper always stood in the way of popularity or +real success. + +23 Sir Thomas Osborne, Charles II.'s famous Minister, was elevated to +the peerage in 1673, and afterwards was made successively Earl of Danby, +Marquis of Caermarthen, and Duke of Leeds. On Nov. 29, 1710, a few days +after this reference to him, the Duke was granted a pension of 3500 +pounds a year out of the Post Office revenues. He died in July 1712, +aged eighty-one, and soon afterwards his grandson married Lord Oxford's +daughter. + +24 This is, of course, a joke; Swift was never introduced at Court. + +25 Captain Delaval (see Letter 5, note 6). + +26 Admiral Sir Charles Wager (1666-1743) served in the West Indies from +1707 to 1709, and gained great wealth from the prizes he took. Under +George I. he was Comptroller of the Navy, and in 1733 he became First +Lord of the Admiralty, a post which he held until 1742. + +27 See Letter 7, note 27. + +28 See Letter 5, note 13. + +29 Isaac Bickerstaff's "valentine" sent him a nightcap, finely wrought +by a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth (Tatler, No. 141). The "nightcap" +was a periwig with a short tie and small round head, and embroidered +nightcaps were worn chiefly by members of the graver professions. + +30 Tatler, No. 237. + +31 Tatler, No. 230. + +32 "Returning home at night, you'll find the sink + + Strike your offended sense with double stink." + ("Description of a City Shower, 11. 5, 6.) + +33 Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. + +34 See Letter 1, note 3. + +35 See Letter 8, note 5. + +36 See Letter 6, note 4. + +37 See Letter 1, note 11. + +38 The bellman's accents. Cf. Pepys' Diary, Jan. 16, 1659-60: "I staid +up till the bellman came by with his bell just under my window as I +was writing of this very line, and cried, 'Past one of the clock, and a +cold, frosty, windy morning.'" + + + + +LETTER 9. + +1 John Freind, M.D. (1675-1728), was a younger brother of the Robert +Freind, of Westminster School, mentioned elsewhere in the Journal. +Educated under Dr. Busby at Westminster, he was in 1694 elected a +student of Christ Church, where he made the acquaintance of Atterbury, +and supported Boyle against Bentley in the dispute as to the authorship +of the letters of Phalaris. In 1705 he attended the Earl of Peterborough +to Spain, and in the following year wrote a defence of that commander +(Account of the Earl of Peterborough's Conduct in Spain). A steady Tory, +he took a share in the defence of Dr. Sacheverell; and in 1723, when +M.P. for Launceston, he fell under the suspicion of the Government, and +was sent to the Tower. On the accession of George II., however, he came +into favour with the Court, and died Physician to the Queen. + +2 See Letter 8, note 19. + +3 St. John was thirty-two in October 1710. He had been Secretary at +War six years before, resigning with Harley in 1707. Swift repeats +this comparison elsewhere. Temple was forty-six when he refused a +Secretaryship of State in 1674. + +4 Sir Henry St. John seems to have continued a gay man to the end of +his life. In his youth he was tried and convicted for the murder of +Sir William Estcourt in a duel (Scott). In 1716, after his son had been +attainted, he was made Viscount St. John. He died in 1742, aged ninety. + +5 "Swift delighted to let his pen run into such rhymes as these, which +he generally passes off as old proverbs" (Scott). Many of the charming +scraps of "Old Ballads" and "Old Plays" at the head of Scott's own +chapters are in reality the result of his own imagination. + +6 See Letter 3, note 18. + +7 Sir Richard Levinge, Bart., had been Solicitor-General for Ireland +from 1704 to 1709, and was Attorney-General from 1711 to 1714. +Afterwards he was Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and +Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland. + +8 See Letter 2, note 18. + +9 Thomas Belasyse, second Viscount Fauconberg, or Falconbridge +(died 1700), a nobleman of hereditary loyalty, married, in 1657, the +Protector's youngest daughter, Mary Cromwell, who is represented as +a lady of high talent and spirit. She died on March 14, 1712. Burnet +describes her as "a wise and worthy woman," who would have had a better +prospect of maintaining her father's post than either of her brothers. + +10 Richard Freeman, Chief Baron, was Lord Chancellor of Ireland from +1707 until his death in November 1710. + +11 See Letter 7, note 17. + +12 Sir Richard Cox, Bart. (1650-1733), was Lord Chancellor of Ireland +from 1703 to 1707. In 1711 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Queen's +Bench, but he was removed from office on the death of Queen Anne. His +zealous Protestantism sometimes caused his views to be warped, but he +was honest and well-principled. + +13 Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart. (1676-1746), succeeded Bromley as Speaker in +1714. In February 1713 Swift said, "He is the most considerable man in +the House of Commons." His edition of Shakespeare was published by the +University of Oxford in 1743-44. Pope called it "pompous," and sneered +at Hanmer's "superior air" (Dunciad, iv. 105). + +14 See Letter 5, note 8. + +15 Elliot was keeper of the St. James's Coffee-house (see Letter 1). + +16 Forster suggested that the true reading is "writhing." If so, it is +not necessary to suppose that Lady Giffard was the cause of it. Perhaps +it is the word "tiger" that is corrupt. + +17 The Hon. Charles Boyle (1676-1731), of the Boyle and Bentley +controversy, succeeded to the peerage as Lord Orrery in 1703. When he +settled in London he became the centre of a Christ Church set, a strong +adherent of Harley's party, and a member of Swift's "club." His son +John, fifth Earl of Orrery, published Remarks on the Life and Writings +of Jonathan Swift in 1751. + +18 William Domville, a landed proprietor in County Dublin, whom Swift +called "perfectly as fine a gentleman as I know." + +19 On May 16, 1711, Swift wrote, "There will be an old to do." The word +is found in Elizabethan writers in the sense of "more than enough." Cf. +Macbeth, ii. 3: "If a man were porter of hell gate, he should have old +turning the key." + +20 See Letter 3, note 10. Clements was related to Pratt, the Deputy +Vice-Treasurer, and was probably the Robert Clements who became Deputy +Vice-Treasurer, and whose grandson Robert was created Earl of Leitrim in +1795. + +21 Letter 5, note 11. + +22 Swift's sister Jane, who had married a currier in Bride Street, named +Joseph Fenton, a match to which Swift strongly objected. Deane Swift +says that Swift never saw his sister again after the marriage; he had +offered her 500 pounds if she would show a "proper disdain" of Fenton. +On her husband's dying bankrupt, however, Swift paid her an annuity +until 1738, when she died in the same lodging with Esther Johnson's +mother, Mrs. Bridget Mose, at Farnham (Forster's Swift, pp. 118-19). + +23 Welbore Ellis, appointed Bishop of Kildare in 1705. He was translated +to Meath in 1731, and died three years later. + +24 The expression of the Archbishop is, "I am not to conceal from you +that some expressed a little jealously, that you would not be acceptable +to the present courtiers; intimating that you were under the reputation +of being a favourite of the late party in power" (King to Swift, Nov. 2, +1710). + +25 This indignant letter is dated Nov. 23, 1710. It produced an +apologetic reply from the Archbishop (Nov. 30, 1710), who represented +that the letter to Southwell was a snare laid in his way, since if he +declined signing it, it might have been interpreted into disrespect to +the Duke of Ormond. Of the bishops King said, "You cannot do yourself a +greater service than to bring this to a good issue, to their shame and +conviction." + + + + +LETTER 10. + +1 William Bromley (died 1732) was M.P. for the University of Oxford. A +good debater and a strong High Churchman, he was Secretary of State from +August 1713 until the Queen's death in the following year. + +2 Colonel, afterwards Major-General, John Hill (died 1735) was younger +brother of Mrs. Masham, the Queen's favourite, and a poor relation of +the Duchess of Marlborough. He was wounded at Mons in 1709, and in 1711 +was sent on an unsuccessful expedition to attack the French settlements +in North America. In 1713 he was appointed to command the troops at +Dunkirk. + +3 "The footmen in attendance at the Houses of Parliament used at this +time to form themselves into a deliberative body, and usually debated +the same points with their masters. It was jocularly said that several +questions were lost by the Court party in the menial House of Lords +which were carried triumphantly in the real assembly; which was at +length explained by a discovery that the Scottish peers whose votes +were sometimes decisive of a question had but few representatives in the +convocation of lacqueys. The sable attendant mentioned by Swift, being +an appendage of the brother of Mrs. Masham, the reigning favourite, had +a title to the chair, the Court and Tory interest being exerted in his +favour" (Scott). Steele alludes to the "Footmen's Parliament" in No. 88 +of the Spectator. + +4 See Letter 1, note 3. + +5 A Court of Equity abolished in the reign of Charles I. It met in the +Camera Alba, or Whitehall, and the room appears to have retained the +name of the old Court. + +6 See Letter 6, note 2. + +7 Swift's first contribution to the Examiner (No. 13) is dated Nov. 2, +1710. + +8 Seduced, induced. Dryden (Spanish Friar) has "To debauch a king to +break his laws." + +9 Freeman (see Letter 9, note 10). + +10 "To make this intelligible, it is necessary to observe, that the +words 'this fortnight', in the preceding sentence, were first written +in what he calls their little language, and afterwards scratched out and +written plain. It must be confessed this little language, which passed +current between Swift and Stella, has occasioned infinite trouble in the +revisal of these papers" (Deane Swift). + +11 Trim. An attack upon the liberties of this corporation is among the +political offences of Wharton's Lieutenancy of Ireland set forth in +Swift's Short Character of the Earl of Wharton. + +12 Apologies. + +13 "A Description of the Morning," in No. 9 of the Tatler. + +14 See Letter 6, note 19. + +15 William Palliser (died 1726). + +16 See Letter 4, note 15. + +17 "Here he writ with his eyes shut; and the writing is somewhat +crooked, although as well in other respects as if his eyes had been +open" (Deane Swift). + +18 Tatler, No. 249; cf. p. 93. During this visit to London Swift +contributed to only three Tatlers, viz. Nos. 230, 238, and 258. + +19 St. Andrew's Day. + +20 No. 241. + +21 Tatler, No. 258. + +22 Lieutenant-General Philip Bragg, Colonel of the 28th Regiment of +Foot, and M.P. for Armagh, died in 1759. + +23 James Cecil, fifth Earl of Salisbury, who died in 1728. + +24 See Letter 2, note 13. + +25 See Letter 8, note 22. + +26 Kneller seems never to have painted Swift's portrait. + +27 On Nov. 25 and 28. + +28 Arthur Annesley, M.P. for Cambridge University, had recently become +fifth Earl of Anglesea, on the death of his brother (see Letter 3, note +35). Under George I. he was Joint Treasurer of Ireland, and Treasurer at +War. + +29 A Short Character of the Earl of Wharton, by Swift himself, though +the authorship was not suspected at the time. "Archbishop King," says +Scott, "would have hardly otherwise ventured to mention it to Swift in +his letter of Jan. 9, 1710, as 'a wound given in the dark.'" Elsewhere, +however, in a note, Swift hints that Archbishop King was really aware of +the authorship of the pamphlet. + +30 A false report. (See Letter 11, note 4.) + +31 None of these Commissioners of Revenue lost their places at this +time. Samuel Ogle was Commissioner from 1699 to 1714; John South from +1696 until his death in 1711; and Sir William St. Quintin, Bart., from +1706 to 1713. Stephen Ludlow succeeded South in September 1711. + +32 See Letter 7, note 35. + +33 James Hamilton, sixth Earl of Abercorn (1656-1734), a Scotch peer who +had strongly supported the Union of 1706. + + + + +LETTER 11. + +1 L'Estrange speaks of "insipid twittle twattles." Johnson calls this "a +vile word." + +2 A cousin of Swift's; probably a son of William Swift. + +3 Nicholas Sankey (died 1722) succeeded Lord Lovelace as Colonel of +a Regiment of Foot in Ireland in 1689. He became Brigadier-General in +1704, Major-General 1707, and Lieutenant-General 1710. He served in +Spain, and was taken prisoner at the battle of the Caya in 1709. + +4 See Letter 10, note 30. + +5 The Earl of Abercorn (see Letter 10, note 33) married, in 1686, +Elizabeth, only child of Sir Robert Reading, Bart., of Dublin, by Jane, +Dowager Countess of Mountrath. Lady Abercorn survived her husband twenty +years, dying in 1754, aged eighty-six. + +6 Charles Lennox, first Duke of Richmond and Gordon (1672-1723), was the +illegitimate son of Charles II. by Madame de Querouaille. + +7 Sir Robert Raymond, afterwards Lord Raymond (1673-1733), M.P. for +Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, was appointed Solicitor-General in May +1710, and was knighted in October. He was removed from office on the +accession of George I., but was made Attorney-General in 1720, and in +1724 became a judge of the King's Bench. In the following year he was +made Lord Chief-Justice, and was distinguished both for his learning and +his impartiality. + +8 Lynn-Regis. + +9 Richard Savage, fourth Earl Rivers, the father of Richard Savage, the +poet. Under the Whigs Lord Rivers was Envoy to Hanover; and after his +conversion by Harley, he was Constable of the Tower under the Tories. He +died in 1712. + +10 Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland from 1695 until his death in +1717. + +11 Lord Shelburne's clever sister, Anne, only daughter of Sir William +Petty, and wife of Thomas Fitzmaurice, Lord of Kerry, afterwards created +first Earl of Kerry. + +12 Mrs. Pratt, an Irish friend of Lady Kerry, lodged at Lord Shelburne's +during her visit to London. The reference to Clements (see Letter 9, +note 20), Pratt's relative, in the Journal for April 14, 1711, makes +it clear that Mrs. Pratt was the wife of the Deputy Vice-Treasurer of +Ireland, to whom Swift often alludes (see Letter 3, note 10). + +13 Lieutenant-General Thomas Meredith, Major-General Maccartney, +and Brigadier Philip Honeywood. They alleged that their offence only +amounted to drinking a health to the Duke of Marlborough, and confusion +to his enemies. But the Government said that an example must be made, +because various officers had dropped dangerous expressions about +standing by their General, Marlborough, who was believed to be aiming at +being made Captain General for life. For Maccartney see the Journal for +Nov. 15, 1712, seq. Meredith, who was appointed Adjutant-General of +the Forces in 1701, was made a Lieutenant-General in 1708. He saw much +service under William III., and Marlborough, and was elected M.P. for +Midhurst in 1709. He died in 1719 (Dalton's Army Lists, III. 181). +Honeywood entered the army in 1694; was at Namur; and was made a +Brigadier-General before 1711. After the accession of George I. he +became Colonel of a Regiment of Dragoons, and commanded a division at +Dettingen. At his death in 1752 he was acting as Governor of Portsmouth, +with the rank of General (Dalton, iv. 30). + +14 Or "malkin"; a counterfeit, or scarecrow. + +15 William Cadogan, Lieutenant-General and afterwards Earl Cadogan +(1675-1726), a great friend of Marlborough, was Envoy to the United +Provinces and Spanish Flanders. Cadogan retained the post of Lieutenant +to the Tower until 1715. + +16 Earl Cadogan's father, Henry Cadogan, barrister, married Bridget, +daughter of Sir Hardresse Waller, and sister of Elizabeth, Baroness +Shelburne in her own right. + +17 See Letter 5, note 30. + +18 Cadogan married Margaretta, daughter of William Munter, Counsellor of +the Court of Holland. + +19 Presumably the eldest son, William, who succeeded his father as +second Earl of Kerry in 1741, and died in 1747. He was at Eton and +Christ Church, Oxford, and was afterwards a Colonel in the Coldstream +Guards. + +20 Henry Petty, third Lord Shelburne, who became Earl of Shelburne in +1719. His son predeceased him, without issue, and on Lord Shelburne's +death, in 1751, his honours became extinct. His daughter Anne also died +without issue. + +21 The menagerie, which had been one of the sights of London, was +removed from the Tower in 1834. In his account of the Tory Fox Hunter +in No. 47 of the Freeholder, Addison says, "Our first visit was to the +lions." + +22 Bethlehem Hospital, for lunatics, in Moorfields, was a popular +"sight" in the eighteenth century. Cf. the Tatler, No. 30: "On Tuesday +last I took three lads, who are under my guardianship, a rambling, in a +hackney coach, to show them the town: as the lions, the tombs, Bedlam." + +23 The Royal Society met at Gresham College from 1660 to 1710. The +professors of the College lectured on divinity, civil law, astronomy, +music, geometry, rhetoric, and physic. + +24 The most important of the puppet-shows was Powell's, in the Little +Piazza, Covent Garden, which is frequently mentioned in the Tatler. + +25 The precise nature this negligent costume is not known, but it is +always decried by popular writers of the time. + +26 Retched. Bacon has "Patients must not keck at them at the first." + +27 Swift was born on November 30. + +28 Mrs. De la Riviere Manley, daughter of Sir Roger Manley, and cousin +of John Manley, M.P., and Isaac Manley (see Letter 3, note 3), wrote +poems and plays, but is best known for her "Secret Memoirs and Manners +of Several Persons of Quality, of both sexes. From the New Atalantis, +1709," a book abounding in scandalous references to her contemporaries. +She was arrested in October, but was discharged in Feb. 1710. In +May 1710 she brought out a continuation of the New Atalantis, called +"Memoirs of Europe towards the Close of the Eighth Century." In June +1711 she became editress of the Tory Examiner, and wrote political +pamphlets with Swift's assistance. Afterwards she lived with Alderman +Barber, the printer, at whose office she died in 1724. In her will +she mentioned her "much honoured friend, the Dean of St. Patrick, Dr. +Swift." + +29 "He seems to have written these words in a whim; for the sake of what +follows" (Deane Swift). + +30 See Letter 8, note 33. + +31 No. 249 (see Letter 10, note 18). + +32 See Letter 5, note 34. + +33 In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Tisdall, of Dec. 16, 1703, Swift said: +"I'll teach you a way to outwit Mrs. Johnson: it is a new-fashioned +way of being witty, and they call it a bite. You must ask a bantering +question, or tell some damned lie in a serious manner, and then she will +answer or speak as if you were in earnest; and then cry you, 'Madam, +there's a bite!' I would not have you undervalue this, for it is +the constant amusement in Court, and everywhere else among the great +people." See, too, the Tatler, No. 12, and Spectator, Nos. 47, 504: "In +a word, a Biter is one who thinks you a fool, because you do not think +him a knave." + +34 See Letter 9, note 4. + +35 "As I hope to be saved;" a favourite phrase in the Journal. + +36 See Letter 7, note 12. + +37 This statement receives some confirmation from a pamphlet published +in September 1710, called "A Condoling Letter to the Tatler: On Account +of the Misfortunes of Isaac Bickerstaf Esq., a Prisoner in the ---- on +Suspicion of Debt." + +38 Dr. Lambert, chaplain to Lord Wharton, was censured in Convocation +for being the author of a libellous letter. + +39 Probably the same person as Dr. Griffith, spoken of in the Journal +for March 3, 1713,--when he was ill,--as having been "very tender of" +Stella. + +40 See Letter 9, note 22. + +41 Vexed, offended. Elsewhere Swift wrote, "I am apt to grate the ears +of more than I could wish." + +42 Ambrose Philips, whose Pastorals had been published in the same +volume of Tonson's Miscellany as Pope's. Two years later Swift wrote, +"I should certainly have provided for him had he not run party mad." In +1712 his play, The Distrest Mother, received flattering notice in the +Spectator, and in 1713, to Pope's annoyance, Philips' Pastorals were +praised in the Guardian. His pretty poems to children led Henry Carey to +nickname him "Namby Pamby." + +43 An equestrian statue of William III., in College Green, Dublin. It +was common, in the days of party, for students of the University of +Dublin to play tricks with this statue. + +44 Lieutenant-General Richard Ingoldsby (died 1712) was Commander of the +Forces in Ireland, and one of the Lords Justices in the absence of the +Lord Lieutenant. + +45 This seems to have been a mistake; cf. Journal for July 13, 1711, +Alan Brodrick, afterwards Viscount Midleton, a Whig politician and +lawyer, was made Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench in Ireland in 1709, +but was removed from office in June 1711, when Sir Richard Cox succeeded +him. On the accession of George I. he was appointed Lord Chancellor +for Ireland. Afterwards he declined to accept the dedication to him of +Swift's Drapiers Letters, and supported the prosecution of the author. +He died in 1728. + +46 Robert Doyne was appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland +in 1695, and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1703. This appointment +was revoked on the accession of George I. + +47 See Letter 9, note 12. + +48 Of the University of Dublin. + +49 See Letter 2, note 18 and Letter 3, note 4. Sir Thomas Frankland's +eldest son, Thomas, who afterwards succeeded to the baronetcy, acquired +a fortune with his first wife, Dinah, daughter of Francis Topham, of +Agelthorpe, Yorkshire. He died in 1747. + +50 See Letter 8, note 21. + +51 see Letter 4, note 15. + +52 Mary, daughter of Sir John Williams, Bart., and widow of Charles +Petty, second Lord Shelburne, who died in 1696. She had married, as +her second husband, Major-General Conyngham, and, as her third husband, +Colonel Dallway. + +53 Dr. John Vesey became Bishop of Limerick in 1672, and Archbishop of +Tuam in 1678. He died in 1716. + +54 See Letter 3, note 39. + +55 Sex. + +56 Toby Caulfeild, third son of the fifth Lord Charlemont. In 1689 he +was Colonel to the Earl of Drogheda's Regiment of Foot, and about 1705 +he succeeded to the command of Lord Skerrin's Regiment of Foot. After +serving in Spain his regiment was reduced, having lost most of its men +(Luttrell, vi. 158). + +57 John Campbell, second Duke of Argyle (1680-1743), was installed a +Knight of the Garter in December 1710, after he had successfully opposed +a vote of thanks to Marlborough, with whom he had quarrelled. It was of +this nobleman that Pope wrote-- "Argyle, the State's whole thunder born +to wield, And shake alike the senate and the field." +In a note to Macky's Memoirs, Swift describes the Duke as an "ambitious, +covetous, cunning Scot, who had no principle but his own interests and +greatness." + +58 Harley's second wife, Sarah, daughter of Simon Middleton, of +Edmonton, and sister of Sir Hugh Middleton, Bart. She died, without +issue, in 1737. + +59 Elizabeth Harley, then unmarried, the daughter of Harley's +first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Foley, of Whitley Court, +Worcestershire. She subsequently married the Marquis of Caermarthen, +afterwards Duke of Leeds. + +60 Harcourt (see Letter 3, note 24). + +61 William Stawel, the third baron, who succeeded to the title in 1692, +was half-brother to the second Baron Stawel. The brother here referred +to was Edward, who succeeded to the title as fourth baron in 1742. + + + + +LETTER 12. + +1 Charles Finch, third Earl of Winchelsea, son of Lord Maidstone, and +grandson of Heneage, second Earl of Winchelsea. On his death in 1712 +Swift spoke of him as "a worthy honest gentleman, and particular friend +of mine." + +2 Vedeau was a shopkeeper, who abandoned his trade for the army +(Journal, March 28, April 4, 1711). Swift calls him "a lieutenant, who +is now broke, and upon half pay" (Journal, Nov. 18, 1712) + +3 Sir Edmund Bacon, Bart. (died 1721), of Herringflat, Suffolk, +succeeded his father in the baronetcy in 1686. + +4 The reverse at Brihuega. + +5 See Letter 8, note 12. + +6 John Barber, a printer, became Lord Mayor of London in 1732, and died +in 1741. Mrs. Manley was his mistress, and died at his printing office. +Swift speaks of Barber as his "very good and old friend." + +7 Bernage was an officer serving under Colonel Fielding. In August 1710 +a difficulty arose through Arbuthnot trying to get his brother George +made Captain over Bernage's head; but ultimately Arbuthnot waived the +business, because he would not wrong a friend of Swift's. + +8 See Letter 1, note 52. + +9 George Smalridge (1663-1719), the High Church divine and popular +preacher, was made Dean of Carlisle in 1711, and Bishop of Bristol in +1714. Steele spoke of him in the Tatler (Nos. 73, 114) as "abounding in +that sort of virtue and knowledge which makes religion beautiful." + +10 St. Albans Street, Pall Mall, was removed in 1815 to make way for +Waterloo Place. It was named after Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans. + +11 Ben Portlack, the Duke of Ormond's secretary. + +12 Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford (1684-1750), only son of Charles +Seymour, Duke of Somerset. Lord Hertford succeeded to the dukedom in +1748. From 1708 to 1722 he was M.P. for Northumberland, and from 1708 to +1713 he took an active part in the war in Flanders. + +13 See Letter 4. + +14 A Short Character of the Earl of Wharton (see Letter 10. note 29). + +15 See Letter 9. + +16 Henry Herbert, the last Baron Herbert of Cherbury, succeeded to the +peerage in 1709, and soon afterwards married a sister of the Earl of +Portsmouth. A ruined man, he committed suicide in 1738. + +17 Nos. 257, 260. + +18 See Letter 6, note 12. + +19 "AFTER is interlined" (Deane Swift). + +20 With this account may be compared what Pope says, as recorded in +Spence's Anecdotes, p. 223: "Lord Peterborough could dictate letters to +nine amanuenses together, as I was assured by a gentleman who saw him do +it when Ambassador at Turin. He walked round the room, and told each of +them in his turn what he was to write. One perhaps was a letter to the +emperor, another to an old friend, a third to a mistress, a fourth to +a statesman, and so on: yet he carried so many and so different +connections in his head, all at the same time." + +21 Francis Atterbury, Dean of Carlisle, had taken an active part in the +defence of Dr. Sacheverell. After a long period of suspense he received +the appointment of Dean of Christ Church, and in 1713 he was made Bishop +of Rochester and Dean of Westminster. Atterbury was on intimate terms +with Swift, Pope, and other writers on the Tory side, and Addison--at +whose funeral the Bishop officiated--described him as "one of the +greatest geniuses of his age." + +22 John Carteret, second Baron Carteret, afterwards to be well known as +a statesman, succeeded to the peerage in 1695, and became Earl Granville +and Viscount Carteret on the death of his brother in 1744. He died in +1763. In October 1710, when twenty years of age, he had married Frances, +only daughter of Sir Robert Worsley, Bart., of Appuldurcombe, Isle of +Wight. + +23 Dillon Ashe, D.D., Vicar of Finglas, and brother of the Bishop +of Clogher. In 1704 he was made Archdeacon of Clogher, and in 1706 +Chancellor of Armagh. He seems to have been too fond of drink. + +24 Henley (see Letter 6, note 15) married Mary, daughter of Peregrine +Bertie, the second son of Montagu, Earl of Lindsey, and with her +obtained a fortune of 30,000 pounds. After Henley's death his widow +married her relative, Henry Bertie, third son of James, Earl of +Abingdon. + +25 Hebrews v. 6. + + + + +LETTER 13. + +1 Probably Mrs. Manley and John Barber (see Letter 11, note 28 and +Letter 12, note 6). + +2 Sir Andrew Fountaine's (see Letter 5, note 28) father, Andrew +Fountaine, M.P., married Sarah, daughter of Sir Thomas Chicheley, Master +of the Ordnance. Sir Andrew's sister, Elizabeth, married Colonel Edward +Clent. The "scoundrel brother," Brig, died in 1746, aged sixty-four +(Blomefield's Norfolk, vi. 233-36). + +3 Dame Overdo, the justice's wife in Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair. + +4 See Letter 3, note 5. + +5 Atterbury, who had recently been elected Prolocutor to the Lower House +of Convocation. + +6 Dr. Sterne, Dean of St. Patrick's, was not married. + +7 January 6 was Twelfth-night. + +8 Garraway's Coffee-house, in Change Alley, was founded by Thomas +Garway, the first coffee-man who sold and retailed tea. A room upstairs +was used for sales of wine "by the candle." + +9 Sir Constantine Phipps, who had taken an active part in Sacheverell's +defence. Phipps' interference in elections in the Tory interest made +him very unpopular in Dublin, and he was recalled on the death of Queen +Anne. + +10 Joseph Trapp, one of the seven poets alluded to in the distich:-- +"Alma novem genuit celebres Rhedycina poetas, Bubb, Stubb, Gru + Trapp wrote a tragedy in 1704, and in 1708 was chosen the first +Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In 1710 he published pamphlets on behalf +of Sacheverell, and in 1712 Swift secured for him the post of chaplain +to Bolingbroke. During his latter years he held several good livings. +Elsewhere Swift calls him a "coxcomb." + +11 See Letter 7, note 21. + +12 The extreme Tories, who afterwards formed the October Club. + +13 Crowd. A Jacobean writer speaks of "the lurry of lawyers," and "a +lurry and rabble of poor friars." + +14 See Letter 5, note 10. + +15 St. John's first wife was Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Sir +Henry Winchcombe, Bart., of Berkshire, and in her right St. John enjoyed +the estates of Bucklebury, which on her death in 1718 passed to her +sister. In April 1711 Swift said that "poor Mrs. St. John" was growing +a great favourite of his; she was going to Bath owing to ill-health, and +begged him to take care of her husband. She "said she had none to trust +but me, and the poor creature's tears came fresh in her eyes." Though +the marriage was, naturally enough, unhappy, she did not leave St. +John's house until 1713, and she returned to him when he fell from +power. There are letters from her to Swift as late as 1716, not +only doing her best to defend his honour, but speaking of him with +tenderness. + +16 "Battoon" means (1) a truncheon; (2) a staff of office. Luttrell, in +1704, speaks of "a battoon set with diamonds sent him from the French +king." + +17 Edward Harley, second son of Sir Edward Harley, was M.P. for +Leominster and Recorder of the same town. In 1702 he was appointed +Auditor of the Imposts, a post which he held until his death in 1735. +His wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Foley, was a sister of Robert +Harley's wife, and his eldest son eventually became third Earl of +Oxford. Harley published several books on biblical subjects. + +18 See Letter 6, note 12. The last number of Steele's Tatler appeared on +Jan. 2, 1711; Harrison's paper reached to fifty-two numbers. + +19 Dryden Leach (see Letter 7, note 22). + +20 Cf. Letter 7, October 28th. + +21 Published by John Baker and John Morphew. See Aitken's Life of +Steele, i. 299-301. + +22 In No. 224 of the Tatler, Addison, speaking of polemical +advertisements, says: "The inventors of Strops for Razors have written +against one another this way for several years, and that with great +bitterness." See also Spectator, Nos. 428, 509, and the Postman for +March 23, 1703: "The so much famed strops for setting razors, etc., are +only to be had at Jacob's Coffee-house.... Beware of counterfeits, for +such are abroad." + +23 Sir John Holland (see Letter 3, note 28). + +24 Addison speaks of a fine flaxen long wig costing thirty guineas +(Guardian, No. 97), and Duumvir's fair wig, which Phillis threw into the +fire, cost forty guineas (Tatler, No. 54) + +25 Swift's mother, Abigail Erick, was of a Leicestershire family, and +after her husband's death she spent much of her time with her friends +near her old home. Mr. Worrall, vicar of St. Patrick's, with whom Swift +was on terms of intimacy in 1728-29, was evidently a relative of the +Worralls where Mrs. Swift had lodged, and we may reasonably suppose that +he owed the living to Swift's interest in the family. + +26 The title of a humorous poem by Lydgate. A "lickpenny" is a greedy or +grasping person. + +27 Small wooden blocks used for lighting fires. See Swift ("Description +of the Morning"), "The small-coal man was heard with cadence deep, + Till drowned in shriller notes of chimney-sweep;" and Gay (Trivia, ii. +35), "When small-coal murmurs in the hoarser throat, + From smutty dangers guard thy threatened coat." + +28 The Tory Ministers. + + + + +LETTER 14. + +1 See Letter 7, note 22. + +2 Thomas Southerne's play of Oroonoko, based on Mrs. Aphra Behn's novel +of the same name, was first acted in 1696. + +3 "Mrs." Cross created the part of Mrs. Clerimont in Steele's Tender +Husband in 1705. + +4 See Letter 12, note 7. + +5 George Granville, afterwards Lord Lansdowne, was M.P. for Cornwall, +and Secretary at War. In December 1711 he was raised to the peerage, +and in 1712 was appointed Comptroller of the Household. He died in 1735, +when the title became extinct. Granville wrote plays and poems, and +was a patron of both Dryden and Pope. Pope called him "Granville the +polite." His Works in Verse and Prose appeared in 1732. + +6 Samuel Masham, son of Sir Francis Masham, Bart., had been a page to +the Queen while Princess of Denmark, and an equerry and gentleman of the +bed-chamber to Prince George. He married Abigail Hill (see Letter 16, +note 7), daughter of Francis Hill, a Turkey merchant, and sister of +General John Hill, and through that lady's influence with the Queen he +was raised to the peerage as Baron Masham, in January 1712. Under George +I. he was Remembrancer of the Exchequer. He died in 1758. + +7 A roughly printed pamphlet, The Honourable Descent, Life, and True +Character of the... Earl of Wharton, appeared early in 1711, in reply to +Swift's Short Character; but that can hardly be the pamphlet referred +to here, because it is directed against libellers and backbiters, and +cannot be described as "pretty civil." + +8 "In that word (the seven last words of the sentence huddled into one) +there were some puzzling characters" (Deane Swift). + +9 Sir Robert Worsley, Bart., married, in 1690, Frances, only daughter +of the first Viscount Weymouth. Their daughter Frances married Lord +Carteret (see Letter 12, note 22) in 1710. In a letter to Colonel Hunter +in March 1709 Swift spoke of Lady (then Mrs.) Worsley as one of the +principal beauties in town. See, too, Swift's letter to her of April 19, +1730: "My Lady Carteret has been the best queen we have known in Ireland +these many years; yet is she mortally hated by all the young girls, +because (and it is your fault) she is handsomer than all of them +together." + +10 See Letter 3, note 1. + +11 See Letter 5, note 17. + +12 William Stratford, son of Nicholas Stratford, Bishop of Chester, was +Archdeacon of Richmond and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, until his +death in 1729. + +13 See Letter 3, note 22. + +14 James, third Earl of Berkeley (1680-1736), whom Swift calls a "young +rake" (see Letter 16, note 15). The young Countess of Berkeley was +only sixteen on her marriage. In 1714 she was appointed a lady of the +bed-chamber to Caroline, Princess of Wales, and she died of smallpox +in 1717, aged twenty-two. The Earl was an Admiral, and saw much +service between 1701 and 1710; under George I. he was First Lord of the +Admiralty. + +15 Edward Wettenhall was Bishop of Kilmore from 1699 to 1713. + +16 In the Dedication to The Tale of a Tub Swift had addressed Somers in +very different terms: "There is no virtue, either in public or private +life, which some circumstances of your own have not often produced upon +the stage of the world." + +17 Their lodgings, opposite to St. Mary's Church in Stafford Street, +Dublin. + + + + +LETTER 15. + +1 The Stamp Act was not passed until June 1712: see the Journal for Aug. +7, 1712. + +2 Both in St. James's Park. The Canal was formed by Charles II. from +several small ponds, and Rosamond's Pond was a sheet of water in the +south-west corner of the Park, "long consecrated," as Warburton said, +"to disastrous love and elegiac poetry." It is often mentioned as a +place of assignation in Restoration plays. Evelyn (Diary, Dec. 1, 1662) +describes the "scheets" used on the Canal. + +3 Mrs. Beaumont. + +4 The first direct mention of Hester Vanhomrigh. She is referred to +only in two other places in the Journal (Feb. 14, 1710-11, and Aug, 14, +1711). + +5 See Letter 3, note 17. + +6 No. 27, by Swift himself. + +7 No. 7 of Harrison's series. + +8 The printers of the original Tatler. + +9 Harley had forwarded to Swift a banknote for fifty pounds (see +Journal, March 7, 1710-11). + +10 At Moor Park. + +11 Scott says that Swift here alludes to some unidentified pamphlet of +which he was the real or supposed author. + +12 See Letter 11, note 13. + +13 The Examiner. + +14 See Letter 6, note 43. + +15 Mistaken. + +16 Mrs. De Caudres, "over against St. Mary's Church, near Capel Street," +where Stella now lodged. + +17 "A crease in the sheet" (Deane Swift). + +18 "In the original it was, good mallows, little sollahs. But in these +words, and many others, he writes constantly ll for rr" (Deane Swift). + +19 See Letter 4, note 19. + +20 "Those letters which are in italics in the original are of a +monstrous size, which occasioned his calling himself a loggerhead" +(Deane Swift). (Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of +this etext.) + +21 I.e., to ask whether. + + + + +LETTER 16. + +1 Harcourt. + +2 "A shilling passes for thirteenpence in Ireland" (Deane Swift). + +3 Robert Cope, a gentleman of learning with whom Swift corresponded. + +4 Archdeacon Morris is not mentioned in Cotton's Fasti Ecclesiae +Hiberniae. + +5 See Letter 14, note 6. + +6 See Letter 10, note 2. + +7 Abigail Hill, afterwards Lady Masham, had been introduced into the +Queens service as bed-chamber woman by the Duchess of Marlborough. Her +High Church and Tory views recommended her to Queen Anne, and in 1707 +she was privately married to Mr. Samuel Masham, a gentleman in the +service of Prince George (see Letter 14, note 6). The Duchess of +Marlborough discovered that Mrs. Masham's cousin, Harley, was using her +influence to further his own interests with the Queen; and in spite of +her violence the Duchess found herself gradually supplanted. From +1710 Mrs. Masham's only rival in the royal favour was the Duchess +of Somerset. Afterwards she quarrelled with Harley and joined the +Bolingbroke faction. + +8 See Letter 4, note 16. + +9 No. 14 of Harrison's series. + +10 See Letter 15, note 4. + +11 Richard Duke, a minor poet and friend of Dryden's, entered the Church +about 1685. In July 1710 he was presented by the Bishop of Winchester to +the living of Witney, Oxfordshire, which was worth 700 pounds a year. + +12 Sir Jonathan Trelawney, one of the seven bishops committed to the +Tower in 1688, was translated to Winchester in 1707, when he appointed +Duke to be his chaplain. + +13 See Letter 4, note 3. + +14 See Letter 3, note 39. + +15 See Letter 14, note 14. + +16 See Letter 7, note 28. + +17 Cf. Feb. 22, 1711. + +18 Esther Johnson lodged opposite St. Mary's in Dublin. + +19 This famous Tory club began with the meeting together of a few +extreme Tories at the Bell in Westminster. The password to the +Club--"October"--was one easy of remembrance to a country gentleman who +loved his ale. + +20 "Duke" Disney, "not an old man, but an old rake," died in 1731. Gay +calls him "facetious Disney," and Swift says that all the members of the +Club "love him mightily." Lady M. W. Montagu speaks of his + + "Broad plump face, pert eyes, and ruddy skin, + Which showed the stupid joke which lurked within." + +Disney was a French Huguenot refugee, and his real name was Desaulnais. +He commanded an Irish regiment, and took part in General Hill's +expedition to Canada in 1711 (Kingsford's Canada, ii. 465). By his will +(Wentworth papers, 109) he "left nothing to his poor relations, but very +handsome to his bottle companions." + +21 There were several Colonel Fieldings in the first half of the +eighteenth century, and it is not clear which is the one referred to by +Swift. Possibly he was the Edmund Fielding--grandson of the first +Earl of Denbigh--who died a Lieutenant-General in 1741, at the age of +sixty-three, but is best known as the father of Henry Fielding, the +novelist. + +22 Cf. Feb. 17, 1711. + +23 See Letter 3, note 37. + +24 "It is a measured mile round the outer wall; and far beyond any the +finest square in London" (Deane Swift). + +25 "The common fare for a set-down in Dublin" (ib.). + +26 "Mrs. Stoyte lived at Donnybrook, the road to which from Stephen's +Green ran into the country about a mile from the south-east corner" +(ib.). + +27 "Those words in italics are written in a very large hand, and so +is the word large" (ib.). (Italics replaced by capitals for the +transcription of this etext.) + +28 Deane Swift alters "lele" to "there," but in a note states how he +here altered Swift's "cypher way of writing." No doubt "lele" and other +favourite words occurred frequently in the MS., as they do in the later +letters. + + + + +LETTER 17. + +1 Sir Thomas Mansel, Bart., Comptroller of the Household to Queen Anne, +and a Lord of the Treasury, was raised to the peerage in December 1711 +as Baron Mansel of Margam. He died in 1723. + +2 Lady Betty Butler and Lady Betty Germaine (see Letter 3, note 40 and +Letter 4, note 3). + +3 James Eckershall, "second clerk of the Queen's Privy Kitchen." +Chamberlayne (Magnae Britanniae Notitia, 1710, p. 536) says that his +wages were 11 pounds, 8 shillings and a penny-ha'penny, and board-wages +138 pounds, 11 shillings and tenpence-ha'penny, making 150 pounds in +all. Afterwards Eckershall was gentleman usher to Queen Anne; he died at +Drayton in 1753, aged seventy-four. Pope was in correspondence with him +in 1720 on the subject of contemplated speculations in South Sea and +other stocks. + +4 In October 1710 (see Letter 6, note 44) Swift wrote as if he knew +about the preparation of these Miscellanies. The volume was published +by Morphew instead of Tooke, and it is frequently referred to in the +Journal. + +5 In 1685 the Duke of Ormond (see Letter 2, note 10) married, as his +second wife, Lady Mary Somerset, eldest surviving daughter of Henry, +first Duke of Beaufort. + +6 Arthur Moore, M.P., was a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations from +1710 until his death in 1730. Gay calls him "grave," and Pope ("Prologue +to the Satires," 23) says that Moore blamed him for the way in which his +"giddy son," James Moore Smythe, neglected the law. + +7 James, Lord Paisley, who succeeded his father (see Letter 10, note +33) as seventh Earl of Abercorn in 1734, married, in 1711, Anne, eldest +daughter of Colonel John Plumer, of Blakesware, Herts. + +8 Harley's ill-health was partly due to his drinking habits. + +9 Crowd or confusion. + +10 The first wife of Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset, was +Lady Elizabeth Percy, only daughter of Joscelyn, eleventh Earl of +Northumberland, and heiress of the house of Percy. She married the Duke, +her third husband, at the age of eighteen. + +11 John Richardson, D.D., rector of Armagh, Cavan, and afterwards +chaplain to the Duke of Ormond. In 1711 he published a Proposal for the +Conversion of the Popish Natives of Ireland to the Established Religion, +and in 1712 a Short History of the Attempts to Convert the Popish +Natives of Ireland. In 1709 the Lower House of Convocation in Ireland +had passed resolutions for printing the Bible and liturgy in Irish, +providing Irish preachers, etc. In 1711 Thomas Parnell, the poet, headed +a deputation to the Queen on the subject, when an address was presented; +but nothing came of the proposals, owing to fears that the English +interest in Ireland might be injured. In 1731 Richardson was given the +small deanery of Kilmacluagh. + +12 See Feb. 27, 1711. + +13 Harley. + +14 "Bank bill for fifty pound," taking the alternate letters (see Letter +15, note 9). + +15 See Letter 5, note 17. + +16 See Nos. 27 and 29, by Swift himself. + +17 "Print cannot do justice to whims of this kind, as they depend wholly +upon the awkward shape of the letters" (Deane Swift). + +18 See Letter 8, note 2. + +19 "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." + +20 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. + +21 Perhaps Henry Arundell, who succeeded his father as fifth Baron +Arundell of Wardour in 1712, and died in 1726. + +22 Antoine, Abbe 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 pounds +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 a Narrative of Guiscard's +Examination, and the incident greatly added to the security of Harley's +position, and to the strength of the Government. + +23 Harley's surgeon, Mr. Green. + +24 See Letter 9, note 20. + +25 Mrs. Walls' baby (see Feb 5, 1711). + +26 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." + +27 "There." + + + + +LETTER 18. + +1 See Swift's paper in the Examiner, No. 32, and Mrs. Manley's pamphlet, +already mentioned. + +2 Presumably Mrs. Johnson's palsy-water (see Letter 5, note 17). + +3 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. + +4 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. + +5 Swift never had the smallpox. + +6 See Letter 12, note 22. + +7 Heart. + +8 The first number of the Spectator appeared on March 1, 1711. + +9 In one of his poems Swift speaks of Stella "sossing in an easy-chair." + +10 See Letter 4, note 20. + +11 "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. + +12 Clobery Bromley, M.P. for Coventry, son of William Bromley, M.P. (see +Letter 10, note 1), 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. + +13 See Letter 5, note 4. + +14 See Letter 17, note 11. + +15 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. + +16 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. + + +Letter 19. + +1 John Hartstonge, D.D. (died 1717), was Bishop of Ossory from 1693 to +1714, when he was translated to Derry. + +2 See Letter 15, note 16. + +3 Thomas Proby was Chirurgeon-General in Ireland from 1699 until his +death in 1761. In his Short 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. + +4 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. + +5 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 his Advice to a very Young Lady on her +Marriage. Lady Betty's son Robert was created Earl of Belvedere in 1757. + +6 See Letter 17, note 23. Mr. Bussiere, of Suffolk Street, had been +called in directly after the outrage, but Radcliffe would not consult +him. + +7 The letter from Dr. King dated March 17, 1711, commenting on +Guiscard's attack upon Harley. + +8 See Feb. 10, 1710-11. + +9 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. + +10 See Letter 12, note 2. + +11 Swift means Godolphin, the late Lord Treasurer. + +12 Sir John Holland (see Letter 3, note 28). + +13 "It caused a violent daub on the paper, which still continues much +discoloured in the original" (Deane Swift). + +14 "He forgot here to say, 'At night.' See what goes before" (Deane +Swift). + +15 See Letter 17, note 1. + +16 Irishman. "Teague" was a term of contempt for an Irishman. + +17 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. + +18 Sir Thomas Mansel married Martha, daughter and heiress of Francis +Millington, a London merchant. + +19 Slatterning, consuming carelessly. + +20 "The candle grease mentioned before, which soaked through, deformed +this part of the paper on the second page" (Deane Swift). + +21 Harcourt. + +22 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. + +23 In relation to the banknote (see Letter 17, note 14). + +24 "Swift was, at this time, their great support and champion" (Deane +Swift). + +25 See Letter 14, note 15. + +26 See Letter 17, note 25. + +27 "Stella, with all her wit and good sense, spelled very ill; and Dr. +Swift insisted greatly upon women spelling well" (Deane Swift). + +28 "The slope of the letters in the words THIS WAY, THIS WAY, is to +the left hand, but the slope of the words THAT WAY, THAT WAY, is to the +right hand" (Deane Swift). + +29 See Letter 17, note 24. + +30 See Letter 5, note 11 and Letter 10, note 28. + + + + +LETTER 20. + +1 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. + +2 See Letter 11, note 39. + +3 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 the Postboy. +King thanked Swift for this action, explaining that he had been arguing +on Harley's behalf when someone instanced the story of Rufus. + +4 A Tory paper, published thrice weekly by Abel Roper. + +5 Sir Charles Duncombe, banker, died on April 9, 1711. The first wife of +the Duke of Argyle (see Letter 11, note 57) 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. + +6 The Rev. Dillon Ashe (see Letter 12, note 23). + +7 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. + +8 Lost or stupid person. + +9 Sir William Read, a quack who advertised largely in the Tatler and +other papers. He was satirised in No. 547 of the Spectator. 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. + +10 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's Esmond. He was severely +wounded at Malplaquet in 1709, and in 1710 was given the governorship of +the Isle of Wight. He died in 1724. + +11 Henry Campion, M.P. for Penryn, is mentioned in the Political State +for February 1712 as one of the leading men of the October Club. Campion +seems to have been Member, not for Penryn, but for Bossiney. + +12 See Letter 3, note 32. + +13 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. + +14 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. + +15 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. + +16 See Letter 11, note 12. + + + + +LETTER 21. + +1 In 1670 Temple thanked the Grand Duke of Tuscany for "an entire +vintage of the finest wines of Italy" (Temple's Works, 1814, ii. +155-56). + +2 Mrs. Manley (see Letter 17, note 22). + +3 Charles Caesar, M.P. for Hertford, was appointed Treasurer of the Navy +in June 1711, in the room of Robert Walpole. + +4 Joseph I. His successor was his brother Charles, the King of Spain +recognised by England. + +5 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. + +6 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). + +7 A special envoy. The Resident from Venice in 1710 was Signor Bianchi. + +8 See Letter 17, note 5. + +9 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. + +10 "Farnese" (Deane Swift). + +11 See Letter 20, note 3. + +12 Swift's changes of residence during the period covered by the Journal +were 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. + +13 At raffling for books. + +14 James Brydges, Paymaster-General, and afterwards Duke of Chandos (see +Letter 3, note 31). + +15 Thomas Foley, M.P. for Worcestershire, was created Baron Foley in +December 1711, and died in 1733. + +16 See 25th April, 1711 and Letter 20, note 3. + +17 See Letter 19, note 3. + +18 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. + +19 See Letter 11, note 44. + +20 See Letter 17, note 4. + +21 A Whig paper, for the most part by Mainwaring and Oldmixon, in +opposition to the Examiner. It appeared weekly from October 1710 to +August 1711. + +22 See Letter 17, note 22. + +23 See Spectator, No. 50, by Addison. + +24 In all probability a mistake for "Wesley" (see Letter 1, note 12). + + + + +LETTER 22. + +1 Lord Paisley (see Letter 17, note 7). + +2 See Letter 11, note 5. + +3 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 Letter +10, note 2), but owing to the want of due preparations and the severe +weather encountered, the fleet was compelled to return to England +without accomplishing anything. + +4 Robert Freind, elder brother of John Freind, M.D. (see Letter 9, +note 1), 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. + +5 Christopher Musgrave was Clerk of the Ordnance. + +6 Atterbury's wife, Katherine Osborn, has been described as "the +inspiration of his youth and the solace of his riper years." + +7 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." + +8 See Letter 8, note 22. 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." + +9 See Letter 11, note 11. + +10 See Letter 17, note 6. + +11 See Letter 18, note 4. + +12 See Letter 20, note 13. + +13 Swift's curate at Laracor. + +14 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. + +15 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 (see +Journal for 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. + +16 Tothill Fields, Westminster, was a favourite place for duels in the +seventeenth century. + +17 See Letter 13, note 17. + +18 Benjamin Burton, a Dublin banker, and brother-in-law of Swift's +friend Stratford (see Letter 3, note 22). Swift says he hated this +"rogue." + + + + +LETTER 23. + +1 The day on which the Club met. See letter from Swift to St. John, May +11, 1711. + +2 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's History of Santry. + +3 Probably Captain Cammock, of the Speedwell, 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. + +4 See Letter 7, note 21. + +5 See Letter 13, note 10. + +6 This valuable pamphlet is signed "J.G.," and is believed to be by John +Gay. + +7 Edmund Curll's collection of Swift's Miscellanies, published in 1711, +was an expansion of a pamphlet of 1710, "A Meditation upon a Broomstick, +and somewhat beside, of the same Author's." + +8 "In this passage DD signifies both Dingley and Stella" (Deane Swift). + +9 Sir Henry Craik's reading. The old editions have, "It would do: DD +goes as well as Presto," which is obviously corrupt. + +10 Cf. Journal, June 17, 1712. + +11 Cf. "old doings" (see Letter 9, note 19.) + +12 See Letter 17, note 11. + +13 Rymer's Foedera, in three volumes, which Swift obtained for Trinity +College, Dublin. + +14 See Letter 6, note 43 and 9th Feb. 1710-11. + +15 Stephen Colledge, "the Protestant joiner," was hanged in 1681. He had +published attacks on the Roman Catholics, and had advocated resistance +to Charles II. + +16 See Letter 3, note 39. + +17 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. + +18 See Letter 8, note 21. + +19 Swift's uncle Adam "lived and died in Ireland," and left no son. +Another daughter of his became Mrs. Whiteway. + +20 William Lowndes, M.P., secretary to the Treasury, whom Walpole called +"as able and honest a servant as ever the Crown had." + +21 The Lord Treasurer's staff: since the dismissal of Godolphin, the +Treasurership had been held in commission. + +22 "As I hope to be saved." + +23 Stella's maid. + +24 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. + + + + +LETTER 24. + +1 The Lord Treasurer's staff. + +2 Swift's "little parson cousin," the resident chaplain at Moor Park. He +pretended to have had some part in The 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. + +3 The Duke of Ormond's daughter, Lady Mary Butler (see Letter 7, notes 2 +and 3.) + +4 Thomas Harley, the Lord Treasurer's cousin, was secretary to the +Treasury. + +5 Lord Oxford's daughter Elizabeth married, in 1712, the Marquis of +Caermarthen. + +6 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. + +7 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. + +8 See Letter 23, note 24 and Letter 30, note 13. + +9 This was a mistake. Charles Hickman, D.D., Bishop of Derry, died in +November 1713. + +10 "These words in italics are written in a large round hand" (Deane +Swift). (Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of this +etext.) + +11 "This entry is interlined in the original" (Deane Swift). + +12 Colonel James Graham (1649-1730) held various offices under James +II., 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. + +13 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. + +14 "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). + +15 See Letter 14, note 14. + +16 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. + +17 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. + +18 See Letter 12, note 22. + +19 Sir Thomas Thynne, first Viscount Weymouth, who died in 1714, aged +seventy-four, married Frances, daughter of Heneage Finch, second Earl of +Winchelsea. + +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. (1687-1740), 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 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 (1671-1740) was made Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in +1708. 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 1705, +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. + +10 Winces. Lyly says, "Rubbe there no more, least I winch." + +11 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). + +12 Word obliterated. + +13 Distilled water prepared with rosemary flowers. In Fielding's Joseph +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." + +14 As I hope to be saved. + +15 Added on the fourth page, as the letter was folded. + + +Letter 45. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Johnson," etc. Endorsed "May 1st." + +2 A kind of clover, used for soothing purposes. + + + + +LETTER 46. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "May 15." + +2 Madam Ayris. + +3 Simpleton. + +4 Robert Benson (see Letter 6, note 36). + +5 See Letter 41, note 35 and Letter 43, note 7. + +6 The title was, An Appendix to John Bull still in his Senses: or, Law +is a Bottomless Pit. + +7 Arbuthnot. + +8 Enquiries by servants. + +9 See Letter 17, note 5. + +10 Sick. + +11 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 the Journal he 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 Letter 59, note 11). + +12 Because she is a good girl in other things. + + + + +LETTER 47. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "June 5." + +2 Sice, the number six at dice. + +3 At Laracor Swift had "a canal and river-walk and willows." + +4 Splenetic fellow. + +5 One of them was by Oldmixon: Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to the +Earl of Oxford. + +6 Beg your pardon. + +7 See Letter 25, note 9. + +8 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. + +9 See Letter 34, note 10. + +10 See Letter 23, note 13. + +11 "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." + +12 Several words obliterated. + +13 Several words obliterated. + +14 The bellman. + +15 This present writing. + +16 Please. + + + + +LETTER 48. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Rebecca Dingley," etc. Endorsed "June 23d." + +2 Mr. Ryland reads "second." + +3 As I hope to be saved. + +4 See Letter 30, Sept. 18, 1711. + +5 Glad at heart. + +6 The threepenny pamphlet mentioned in Letter 47, note 11. + +7 I.e., for. + + + + +LETTER 49. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley." Endorsed "July 8." + +2 See Letter 28, note 24. + +3 See Letter 10, note 2. + +4 See Letter 3, note 11. + +5 See Letter 48, note 4. + +6 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. + +7 "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." + +8 Bolingbroke. + +9 George Fitzroy, Duke of Northumberland (died 1716), a natural son of +Charles II., was also Viscount Falmouth and Baron of Pontefract. See +Notes and Queries, viii. i. 135. + +10 Enoch Sterne. + +11 Templeoag (see Letter 48, Jun. 17, 1712). + +12 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's Life of Steele, i. 347). + +13 Dr. William Moreton (1641-1715), Swift's diocesan, was translated +from the see of Kildare to that of Meath in 1705. + +14 Words obliterated. Forster reads conjecturally, "when ME wants me to +send. She ought to have it," etc. + + + + +LETTER 50. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "July 23." + +2 "N.33" seems a mistake. Letter No. 32 was received after Swift had +left Kensington and gone to Windsor; see Letter 51, Aug. 7, 1712 and +Letter 52, Sept. 18, 1712 (Ryland). + +3 Dr. Moreton (see Letter 49, note 13). + +4 Memoranda. + +5 Again. + +6 O Lord, drunken slut. + +7 There's for you now, and there's for your letter, and every kind of +thing. + +8 Bolingbroke. + +9 See Letter 13, note 10. + +10 Grub Street pamphlet. The title was, A Supposed Letter from the +Pretender to another Whig Lord. + +11 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. + + + + +LETTER 51. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Aug. 14." + +2 Perhaps this was influenza. + +3 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 Letter 15, note 1), and Defoe argued against the +Bill in the Review for April 26, 1712, and following numbers. Addison, +in the Spectator, No. 445, spoke of the mortality among authors +resulting from the Stamp Act as "the fall of the leaf." + +4 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. + +5 Poor Laracor. + +6 See Letter 12, note 1. + +7 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 Letter 24, note 7). + + + + +LETTER 52. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Oct. 1st. At Portraune" +(Portraine). + +2 Oxford and Bolingbroke. + +3 Including Hester Vanhomrigh. + +4 He died on Sept. 15, 1712. + +5 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. William III. gave her an Irish estate worth +26,000 pounds a year. Swift's opinion of her wisdom is confirmed by Lord +Lansdowne, who speaks, in his Progress of Poetry, of + + "Villiers, for wisdom and deep judgment famed, + Of a high race, victorious beauty brings + To grace our Courts, and captivate our Kings." + +The "beauty" seems a poetic licence; Swift says the lady squinted "like +a dragon." + +6 Cliefden. + +7 See Letter 12, note 7. + +8 Swift's sister (see Letter 9, note 22). + +9 Forster reads "returned." + +10 See Swift's letter to General Hill of Aug. 12, 1712 + +11 Swift's housekeeper at Laracor. + +12 I.e., be made freemen of the City. + + + + +LETTER 53. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Octr. 18. At Portraune." + +2 "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.). + +3 The History of the Works of the Learned, a quarto periodical, was +published from 1699 to 1711. + +4 See Letter 35, note 4. + +5 See Letter 28, note 25. + +6 Lady Elizabeth Savage, daughter of Richard, fourth Earl Rivers (see +Letter 11, note 9), 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. + +7 No. 32. + +8 Very sick. + +9 From "but I" to "agreeable" is partially obliterated. + +10 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." + +11 This sentence is partially obliterated. + +12 See Letter 51, note 2. + +13 See Letter 5, note 16. + +14 The latter half of this sentence is partially obliterated. + +15 Partly obliterated. + +16 See Letter 8, note 2. + +17 Wise. + +18 Partly obliterated. + +19 See Letter 6, note 45. + +20 This sentence is almost obliterated. + + + + +LETTER 54. + +1 The MS. of this letter has not been preserved. + +2 See Letter 26, note 2. + +3 Swift's friend, Dr. Pratt (see Letter 2, note 14), was then Provost of +Trinity College, Dublin. + +4 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. + +5 Probably "The Case of Ireland's being bound by Acts of Parliament in +England stated" (1698). + +6 Oxford and Bolingbroke. + +7 See Letter 36, note 18. + +8 See Letter 51, Aug. 7, 1712. + +9 George Ridpath (died 1726), a Whig journalist, of whom Pope (Dunciad, +i. 208) wrote-- "To Dulness Ridpath is as dear as Mist." He edited the +Flying Post for some years, and also wrote for the Medley in 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. + +10 See Letter 52, note 5. + +11 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. + +12 For the street criers, see the Spectator, No. 251. + + + + +LETTER 55. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley." Endorsed "Nov. 26, just come from +Portraine"; and "The band-box plot--D: Hamilton's murther." + +2 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. + +3 This duel between the Duke of Hamilton (see Letter 27, note 9) 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's Political State for 1712, pp. 297-326. + +4 "Will" (MS.). + +5 See Letter 27, note 9. + +6 George Maccartney (see Letter 11, note 13 and Letter 39, Jan. 22, +1711-12 ) 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. + +7 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. + +8 "That" (MS.). + +9 The story (as told in the Tory Postboy of 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. + +10 "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). + +11 Either "A 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, or "An Account of the Duel..., with Previous Reflections on Sham +Plots" (by A. Boyer), 1712. Swift's connection with the Bandbox Plot was +ridiculed in the Flying Post for Nov. 20 to 22. + +12 Cf. Letter 16, Feb. 20, 1710-11. + +13 This sentence is partially obliterated. + +14 Part of this sentence has been obliterated. + +15 See Letter 43, note 39. I have not been able to find a copy of the +paper containing Swift's paragraph. + +16 This sentence is partially obliterated. + +17 See Letter 12, note 2. + +18 Apparently Humphrey Griffith, who was one of the Commissioners of +Salt; but Swift gives the name as "Griffin" throughout. + +19 See Letter 53, note 13 and Letter 5, note 16. + +20 For these shorter letters Swift folded the folio sheet before +writing. + + + + +LETTER 56. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Decr. 18." + +2 Vengeance. + +3 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. + +4 The History of the Peace of Utrecht. + +5 See Letter 55, note 7. + +6 Lord Oxford's daughter Elizabeth married, on Dec. 16, 1712, Peregrine +Hyde, Marquis of Caermarthen, afterwards third Duke of Leeds (see Letter +42, note 23 and Letter 24, note 5). She died on Nov. 20, 1713, a few +days after the birth of a son. Swift called her "a friend I extremely +loved." + +7 "Is" (MS.). + +8 Disorders. + +9 See Letter 34, note 10. + +10 John Francis, Rector of St. Mary's, Dublin, was made Dean of Leighlin +in 1705. + +11 See Letter 9, note 7. + +12 Possibly "have." + +13 See Letter 55, notes 9, 10, 11. + +14 This clause is omitted by Mr. Ryland. + +15 See Letter 31, note 6. + +16 See Letter 54, Oct. 30, 1712. + +17 Thomas Jones, Esq., was M.P. for Trim in the Parliament of 1713-4. + +18 A Dutch agent employed in the negotiations with Lewis XIV. + +19 When I come home. + + + + +LETTER 57. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Jan. 13." + +2 "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. + +3 In this letter (Dec. 20, 1712) Swift paid many compliments to the +Duchess of Ormond (see Letter 17, note 5): "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." + +4 Tisdall's Conduct of the Dissenters in Ireland (see Letter 61, note +7). + +5 See Letter 9, note 20 and Letter 20, Apr. 13, 1711. + +6 Monteleon. + +7 See Letter 5, note 8 and Letter 3, note 3. + +8 Utrecht, North and South Holland, and West Frieseland. + +9 See Letter 46, note 11. + +10 See Letter 46, note 11. + +11 "On Queen Anne's Peace." + +12 See Letter 43, note 11. The poem was "Dryades, or the Nymph's +Prophecy." + +13 See Letter 35, note 4. + +14 See Letter 17, note 3. + +15 Dr. Tobias Pullen (1648-1713) was made Bishop of Dromore in 1695. + +16 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. James II. 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 Letter 52, note 5). +The difference between Lord Selkirk and the Earl of Abercorn (see Letter +10, note 33) to which Swift alludes was in connection with the claim to +the Dukedom of Chatelherault (see Letter 43, note 32). + +17 Heart. + +18 This sentence is almost illegible. + +19 A reward of 500 pounds was offered by the Crown for Maccartney's +apprehension, and 200 pounds by the Duchess of Hamilton. + +20 In the proposed History of the Peace of Utrecht. + +21 Mr. Ryland's reading. Forster has "Iss." These words are obliterated. + +22 Hoist. Cf."Hoised up the mainsail" (Acts xxvii. 40). + +23 It was afterwards found that Miss Ashe was suffering from smallpox. + +24 We are told in the Wentworth 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." + +25 A thousand merry new years. The words are much obliterated. + +26 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. + +27 The quarrel between Oxford and Bolingbroke. + +28 See Letter 19, note 1. + +29 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." + +30 Partially obliterated. + +31 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." + +32 On the third page of the paper. + +33 See Letter 7, note 3. + + + + +LETTER 58. + +1 To "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Feb. 4." + +2 This sentence is scribbled over. Forster reads the last word as +"lastalls," i.e. rascals, but it seems rather to be "ledles." + +3 Dr. Peter Brown was appointed Bishop of Cork in 1709. + +4 See Letter 5, note 22. + +5 See Letter 5, note 3. + +6 See Letter 5, note 11. + +7 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 +Letter 3, note 36). + +8 Thomas Keightley, a Commissioner of the Great Seal in Ireland. + +9 Nearly obliterated. Mr. Ryland reads, "deelest MD." + +10 See Letter 57, note 14. + +11 In the Examiner for 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. + +12 Earl Poulett (see Letter 20, note 7). + +13 "Say" (MS.). + +14 Dr. Pratt. + +15 See Letter 13, Jan. 6, 1710-11. + +16 This sentence is partially obliterated. + +17 See Letter 31, note 10 and, in the same letter, Oct. 5, 1711. + +18 Cf. the account of Beatrix's feelings on the death of the Duke in +"Esmond", book iii. chaps. 6 and 7. + +19 See Letter 21, note 3. + +20 "Her Majesty is all goodness and tenderness to her people and her +Allies. She has now prorogued the best Parliament that ever assembled in +her reign and respited her own glory, and the wishes, prayers, and wants +of her people, only to give some of her Allies an opportunity to +think of the returns they owe her, and try if there be such a thing as +gratitude, justice, or humanity in Europe. The conduct of Her Majesty +is without parallel. Never was so great a condescension made to the +unreasonable clamours of an insolent faction now dwindled to the most +contemptible circumstances."--Examiner, Jan. 12-16, 1712(-13). + +21 Mr. Collins's "Discourse of Freethinking, put into plain English +by way of Abstract, for the use of the Poor," an ironical pamphlet on +Arthur Collins's Discourse of Freethinking, 1713. + +22 The History of the Peace of Utrecht. + +23 A line here has been erased. Forster imagined that he read, "Nite +dear MD, drowsy drowsy dear." + +24 Hereford. + +25 Very well. + +26 Sentence obliterated. Forster professes to read, "Pay can oo walk +oftener--oftener still?" + +27 See Letter 57, note 15. + +28 Dr. Bisse, translated from St. David's. + +29 See Letter 58, note 7 and Letter 19, note 1. + + + + +LETTER 59. + +1 To "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Febr. 26." + +2 See Letter 58, note 21. + +3 See Letter 28, note 11. + +4 See Letter 55, note 9. + +5 A result of confusion between Erasmus Lewis and Henry Lewis, a Hamburg +merchant. See Swift's paper in the Examiner of Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, +reprinted in his Works under the title, "A Complete Refutation of the +Falsehoods alleged against Erasmus Lewis, Esq." + +6 Lord Dupplin (see Letter 5, note 34) had been created Baron Hay in +December 1711. + +7 A composition of inflammable materials. + +8 Assessors. + +9 See Letter 6, note 12. + +10 See Letter 59, note 5. + +11 See Letter 46, note 11. + +12 See Letter 3, notes 21 and 22, Letter 39, Jan. 12, 1711-12 and Letter +42, Mar. 1, 1711-12. + +13 Dr. Bisse. + +14 See Letter 33, note 10. + +15 Forster reads, "something." + +16 Hardly legible. + +17 See Letter 7, note 31. + +18 Stella's brother-in-law (See Letter 53, note 13, Letter 5, note 16 +and Letter 55, Nov. 18, 1712). + +19 Forster guesses, "Oo are so 'recise; not to oor health." + +20 For "poo Ppt's." Mr. Ryland reads, "people's." + +21 See Letter 57, 21 Dec. 1712. + +22 See Letter 57, note 23. + +23 See Letter 14, note 9. + +24 Obliterated; Forster's reading. + +25 Writing in October 1713, Lord Berkeley of Stratton told Lord +Strafford of "a fine prank of the widow Lady Jersey" (see Letter 29, +note 3). "It is well known her lord died much in debt, and she, after +taking upon her the administration, sold everything and made what money +she could, and is run away into France without paying a farthing of the +debts, with only one servant and unknown to all her friends, and hath +taken her youngest son, as 'tis supposed to make herself a merit in +breeding him a papist. My Lord Bolingbroke sent after her, but too late, +and they say the Queen hath writ a letter with her own hand to the King +of France to send back the boy" (Wentworth Papers, p. 357). See also +Letter 63, note 8. I am not sure whether in the present passage Swift is +referring to the widow or the younger Lady Jersey (see Letter 33, note +10). + +26 Sir Thomas Clarges, Bart. (died 1759), M.P. for Lostwithiel, +married Barbara, youngest daughter of John Berkeley, fourth Viscount +Fitz-Hardinge, and of Barbara Villiers (see Letter 54, note 11), +daughter of Sir Edward Villiers. + +27 See Letter 43, Mar. 21, 1711-12 and Letter 49, Jul. 1, 1712. + +28 Altered from "11" in the MS. It is not certain where the error in the +dates began; but the entry of the 6th must be correctly dated, because +the Feb. 6 was the Queen's Birthday. + +29 See Letter 43, note 11 and Letter 57, note 12. + + +Letter 60. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Mar. 7." + +2 See Letter 5, note 23. + +3 Sedan chairs were then comparatively novel (see Gay's Trivia). + +4 Some words obliterated. Forster reads, "Nite MD, My own deelest MD." + +5 Peter Wentworth wrote to Lord Strafford, on Feb. 17, 1713, "Poor Mr. +Harrison is very much lamented; he died last Saturday. Dr. Swift told me +that he had told him... he owed about 300 pounds, and the Queen owed him +500 pounds, and that if you or some of your people could send an account +of his debts, that I might give it to him, he would undertake to solicit +Lord Treasurer and get this 500 pounds, and give the remainder to his +mother and sister" (Wentworth Papers, 320). + +6 George St. John (eldest son of Sir Harry St. John by his second +marriage) was Secretary to the English Plenipotentiaries at Utrecht. He +died at Venice in 1716 (Lady Cowper's Diary, 65). + +7 Forster wrongly reads, "poor." + +8 "Putt" (MS.). + +9 See Letter 59, note 26. + +10 Montagu Bertie, second Earl of Abingdon (died 1743), was a strong +Tory. + +11 See Letter 11, note 61. These friends were together again on an +expedition to Bath in 1715, when Jervas wrote to Pope (Aug. 12, 1715) +that Arbuthnot, Disney, and he were to meet at Hyde Park Corner, +proceed to Mr. Hill's at Egham, meet Pope next day, and then go to Lord +Stawell's to lodge the night. Lord Stawell's seat, Aldermaston, was +seventeen miles from Binfield. + +12 See Letter 16, note 20. + +13 "I" (MS.). + +14 Obliterated. Forster reads, "devil," and Mr. Ryland, "bitch." + +15 See Letter 40, note 6. + +16 Victor Marie, duc d'Estrees, Marshal of France (died 1727). + +17 See Letter 55, note 18. + +18 Several words are obliterated. Forster reads, "the last word, God +'give me"; but "'give me" is certainly wrong. + +19 See Letter 9, note 13. Sir Thomas Hanmer married, in 1698, at the age +of twenty-two, Isabella, Dowager Duchess of Grafton, daughter of Henry, +Earl of Arlington, and Countess of Arlington in her own right. Hanmer +was not made Secretary of State, but he succeeded Bromley as Speaker of +the House of Commons. + +20 William Fitzmaurice (see Letter 11, note 19 and Letter 27, note 11) +entered Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating on March 10, 1712-13, at +the age of eighteen. + +21 See Letter 11, note 11. + +22 William Bromley, second son of Bromley the Speaker (see Letter 10, +note 1), was a boy of fourteen at this time. In 1727 he was elected M.P. +for Warwick, and he died in 1737, shortly after being elected Member for +Oxford University. + +23 See Letter 14, note 12. + +24 Sometimes "list" means to border or edge; at others, to sew together, +so as to make a variegated display, or to form a border. Probably it +here means the curling of the bottom of the wig. + +25 The last eight words have been much obliterated, and the reading is +doubtful. + +26 Lady Henrietta Hyde, second daughter of Laurence Hyde, first Earl +of Rochester (see Letter 8, note 22), married James Scott, Earl of +Dalkeith, son of the Duke of Monmouth. Lord Dalkeith died in 1705, +leaving a son, who succeeded his grandmother (Monmouth's widow) as +second Duke of Buccleuch. Lady Catherine Hyde (see Letter 40, note 6) +was a younger sister of Lady Dalkeith. + +27 Swift first wrote "I frequent." + +28 See Letter 52, note 5. + +29 D'Estrees. + +30 Little (almost illegible). + + + + +LETTER 61. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Mar. 27." + +2 See Letter 3, note 20. + +3 Formerly Lady Rialton (see Letter 40, note 3). + +4 See Letter 58, note 8. + +5 See Letter 11, note 39 and Letter 41, note 27. + +6 Pun on "gambol." + +7 See Letter 57, note 4. + +8 See Letter 41, note 7. + +9 "Upon Tuesday last, the house where His Grace the late Duke of +Hamilton and Brandon lived was hired for that day, where there was a +fine ball and entertainment; and it is reported in town, that a great +lady, lately gone to travel, left one hundred guineas, with orders that +it should be spent in that manner, and in that house" (Postboy, Feb. +26-28, 1712-13). The "great lady" was, presumably, the Duchess of +Marlborough. + +10 See Letter 36, note 14 and Letter 40, note 21. + +11 Trinity College, Dublin. + +12 See Letter 60, note 19. + +13 See Letter 36, note 15. + +14 Dr. Pratt, Provost of Trinity College. + +15 Obliterated, and doubtful. + +16 A deal at cards, that draws the whole tricks. + +17 Previous editors have misread "Trevor" as "Treasurer." Thomas Trevor, +Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas, was created Baron Trevor, of Bromham, +in January 1712. By commission of March 9, 1713, he occupied the +woolsack during the illness of the Lord Keeper, Harcourt. + +18 This is the only reference to Pope in the Journal. In his "Windsor +Forest" the young poet assisted the Tories by his reference to the peace +of Utrecht, then awaiting ratification. + +19 Several words have been obliterated. Forster reads, "Rove Pdfr, poo +Pdfr, Nite MD MD MD," but this is more than the space would contain. + +20 William Oldisworth (1680-1734), a Tory journalist and pamphleteer, +who published various works, including a translation of the Iliad. He +died in a debtors' prison. + +21 Some words obliterated. The reading is Forster's, and seems to be +correct. + +22 Susan Armine, elder daughter of Sir William Armine, Bart., of +Osgodby, Lincolnshire, was created a life peeress in 1674, as Baroness +Belasyse of Osgodby. She died March 6, 1713. Her first husband was the +Honourable Sir Henry Belasyse, son and heir of John, Baron Belasyse, of +Worlaby; and her second, Mr. Fortney, of Chequers. + +23 See Letter 7, note 9. + +24 A word before "Ppt" is illegible. Forster's reading, "yes," does not +seem right. + +25 In November 1711 it was reported that Miss Kingdom was privately +married to Lord Conway (Wentworth Papers, 207), but this was not the +case. Lord Conway was a widower in 1713, but he married an Irish lady +named Bowden. + +26 Forster reads, "Nite, my own dee sollahs. Pdfr roves MD"; but the +last three words, at least, do not seem to be in the MS. + +27 Probably the Bishop of Raphoe's son (see Letter 29, note 20). + +28 What. + +29 As Master of the Savoy. + +30 William Burgh was Comptroller and Accountant-General for Ireland from +1694 to 1717, when his patent was revoked. He was succeeded by Eustace +Budgell. + +31 William Paget, sixth Lord Paget, died in March 1713, aged +seventy-six. He spent a great part of his life as Ambassador at Vienna +and Constantinople. + +32 Pocket. + +33 Forster reads, "Lele lele logues"; Mr. Ryland, "Lele lele... " + + + + +LETTER 62. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Apr. 13." + +2 Esther Johnson's brother-in-law, Filby (see Letter 55, note 19). + +3 Earl Poulett (see Letter 20, note 7). + +4 Francis Annesley, M.P. for Westbury. His colleague in the +representation of that borough was Henry Bertie (third son of James, +Earl of Abingdon), who married Earl Poulett's sister-in-law, Anthony +Henley's widow (see Letter 12, note 24). + +5 "Has" (MS.). + +6 A dozen words are erased. The reading is Forster's, and appears to be +correct. + +7 The British Ambassadress's Speech to the French King. The printer was +sent to the pillory and fined. + +8 The Examiner (vol. iii. No. 35) said that Swift--"a gentleman of the +first character for learning, good sense, wit, and more virtues than +even they can set off and illustrate"--was not the author of that +periodical. "Out of pure regard to justice, I strip myself of all the +honour that lucky untruth did this paper." + +9 A purgative electuary. + +10 Bargains. + +11 Three or four words illegible. Forster reads, "Nite, nite, own MD." + +12 Forster reads, "devil's brood "; probably the second word is "bawd:" +Cf. Letter 60, note 14 and Feb. 18, 1712-13. + +13 Several "moving pictures," mostly brought from Germany, were on view +in London at about this time. See Tatler, No. 129, and Gay's Fables, No. +6. + +14 See Letter 6, note 45. + +15 "Mr. Charles Grattan, afterwards master of a free school at +Enniskillen" (Scott). + +16 So given in the MS. Forster suggests that it is a mistake for "wood." + +17 See Letter 28, note 11. + +18 It is probable that this is Pope's friend, William Cleland, who died +in 1741, aged sixty-seven. William Cleland served in Spain under Lord +Rivers, but was not a Colonel, though he seems to have been a +Major. Afterwards he was a Commissioner of Customs in Scotland and a +Commissioner of the Land Tax in England. Colonel Cleland cannot, as +Scott suggested (Swift's Works, iii. 142, xviii. 137-39, xix. 8), have +been the son of the Colonel William Cleland, Covenanter and poet, who +died in 1689, at the age of twenty-eight. William Cleland allowed his +name to be appended to a letter of Pope's prefixed to the Dunciad, and +Pope afterwards described him as "a person of universal learning, and an +enlarged conversation; no man had a warmer heart for his friends, or +a sincerer attachment to the constitution of his country." Swift, +referring to this letter, wrote to Pope, "Pray tell me whether your +Colonel (sic) Cleland be a tall Scots gentleman, walking perpetually in +the Mall, and fastening upon everybody he meets, as he has often done +upon me?" (Pope's Works, iv. 48, vii. 214). + +19 Henry Grey, Lord Lucas (died 1741), who became twelfth Earl of Kent +in 1702, was made Duke of Kent in 1710. He held various offices under +George I. and George II. + +20 Forster found, among the MSS. at Narford, the "lie" thus prepared for +All Fools' Day. Richard Noble, an attorney, ran away with a lady who +was the wife of John Sayer and daughter of Admiral Nevill; and he killed +Sayer on the discovery of the intrigue. The incident was made use of by +Hogarth in the fifth scene of "Marriage a la Mode." + +21 See Letter 5, note 3. + +22 See Letter 13, note 10. + +23 Charles XII. + +24 "Is" (MS.). + +25 Cibber says that he saw four acts of Cato in 1703; the fifth act, +according to Steele, was written in less than a week. The famous first +performance was on April 14, 1713. + +26 The first number of the Guardian appeared on March 12, and the paper +was published daily until Oct. 1, 1713. Pope, Addison, and Berkeley were +among the contributors. + +27 See Letter 52, note 6. + +28 See Letter 39, note 16. + +29 The first preached after the period of his suspension by the House +of Lords. It was delivered at St. Saviour's, Southwark, before his +installation at St. Andrew's, and was published with the title, "The +Christian's Triumph, or the Duty of praying for our Enemies". + +30 Swift's curate at Laracor. + +31 Richard Gorges (died 1728) was eldest son and heir of Dr. Robert +Gorges, of Kilbrue, County Meath, by Jane, daughter of Sir Arthur +Loftus, and sister of Adam, Viscount Lisburne. He was appointed +Adjutant-General of the Forces in Ireland 1697, Colonel of a +new Regiment of Foot 1703, Major-General of the Forces 1707, and +Lieutenant-General 1710 (Dalton's Army Lists, iii. 75). + +32 See Letter 60, note 10. + +33 Mrs. Oldfield. + +34 See Letter 56, note 6. + +35 Never saw the like. + +36 See Letter 53, note 10. + +37 The remainder has been partially obliterated. + + + + +LETTER 63. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "May 4." + +2 Lord Cholmondeley (see Letter 36, note 15). + +3 Harcourt. + +4 Forster's reading; the last two words are doubtful. + +5 See Letter 7, note 27. + +6 Francis Palmes, who was wounded at Blenheim, was made a +Lieutenant-General in 1709. In 1707 he was elected M.P. for West Loo; +in 1708 he was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to the Duke of Savoy, and in +1710 to Vienna. + +7 Apparently "so heed." + +8 Henry Villiers (died 1743), second son of the first Earl of Jersey +and of Barbara, daughter of William Chiffinch (see Letter 29, note 3 and +Letter 59, note 25). + +9 See Letter 61, Mar. 8, 1712-13. The Speech and Address are in the +Commons' Journals, xvii. 278, 280. For the draft Address, in Swift's +handwriting, see the Portland Papers (1899), v. 276. + +10 Scoffed, jeered. + +11 Dr. Gastrell (see Letter 25, note 8). + +12 George Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, but then a young man +of twenty-eight, came to London in January 1713. He was already known +by his "New Theory of Vision" and "Treatise on the Principles of Human +Knowledge", and he brought with him his "Three Dialogues between Hylas +and Philonous". Steele was among the first to welcome him, and he soon +made the acquaintance of Addison, Pope, and Swift. On March 27, Berkeley +wrote to Sir John Perceval of the breach between Swift and the Whigs: +"Dr. Swift's wit is admired by both of them (Addison and Steele), +and indeed by his greatest enemies, and... I think him one of the +best-matured and agreeable men in the world." In November 1713 +Swift procured for Berkeley the chaplaincy and secretaryship to Lord +Peterborough, the new Envoy to Sicily. + +13 Forster reads, "all oo sawcy Ppt can say oo may see me"; but the +words are illegible. + +14 Possibly "see," written in mistake for "say." + +15 "J" (MS.). + +16 Obliterated. Forster imagined that he read, "Nite dee logues. Poo +Mr." + +17 There were two General Hamiltons at this time; probably Swift's +acquaintance was Gustavus Hamilton (1639-1723), who was created Viscount +Boyne in 1717. Hamilton distinguished himself at the battle of the Boyne +and the capture of Athlone, and was made Brigadier-General in 1696, and +Major General in 1703. He took part in the siege of Vigo, and was made a +member of the Privy Council in 1710. + +18 See Letter 43, note 38. + +19 The History of the Peace of Utrecht. + +20 This is Forster's reading, and appears to be correct. The last word, +which he gives as "iss truly," is illegible. + +21 Belonging to Ireland. + +22 See Letter 40, note 1. + +23 Another excellent reading of Forster's. I cannot decipher the last +word, which he gives as "dee rogues." + +24 Sentence obliterated. + +25 The number at the beginning of each entry in the Journal. + +26 Mr. Ryland's reading. Forster has "morning, dee." + +27 Dr. Thomas Lindsay (see Letter 6, note 45). + +28 I think the "MD" is right, though Forster gives "M." The "Pr" is +probably an abbreviation of "Pdfr." + +29 The last three lines have been obliterated. + + +Letter 64. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "May 22." + +2 Illegible. Forster reads, "and dee deelest Ppt." + +3 The last few words have been partially obliterated. + +4 Am very angry. The last word is scribbled over. + +5 The History of the Peace of Utrecht. + +6 The signature has been cut off. + + +Letter 65. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Chester Letter." + +2 "Others" (MS.). + +3 See Letter 10, note 31 and Letter 31, note 1. + +4 See Letter 7, note 7. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal to Stella, by Jonathan Swift + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JOURNAL TO STELLA *** + +***** This file should be named 4208.txt or 4208.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/0/4208/ + +Produced by Les Bowler + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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