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diff --git a/old/stlla10.txt b/old/stlla10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94459d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/stlla10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21510 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Journal to Stella +by Jonathan Swift +(#5 in our series by Jonathan Swift) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +This etext was produced by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset. + +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. + +l0. 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. + +2O. 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, 171O-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." + +2O. 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, 3O. 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. Vanhomrigb, 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 +For coach-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, 171O, +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, 171O. 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, 171O). Their quarrel arose, towards the close of +17O9, 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 +2O 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 (165O-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 17O9. 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 17O4), +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 17O6 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 17O4. 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 17O8 he was made Treasurer of the Stamp +Office, or, according to Chamberlayne's Mag. Brit. Notitia for 171O, 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 17O8 to 171O, 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 173O, 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 17O6 to 1712, and again +under George I., until his death in 1721. + +3. Isaac Manley, who was appointed Postmaster-General in Ireland in 17O3 +(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 +17O3, and for Belturbet (as "the Right Hon. Theophilus Butler") in 1713. On +May 3, 171O, 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. 3O, 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 17O6. In 17O2 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 +174O, 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, 171O, 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, 171O). No officer named Freind or +Friend is mentioned in Dalton's English Army Lists. + +26. See the Tatler, Nos. 124, 2O3. There are various allusions in the +"Wentworth Papers" to this, the first State Lottery of 171O; 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 171O. + +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 17O7. 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. 23O. + +34. William Cavendish, second Duke of Devonshire (1673-1729), who was Lord +Steward from 17O7 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, 171O, 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. 63O, 633. + +37. Lady Elizabeth ("Betty") Butler, who died unmarried in 175O. + +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 (1649-171O), married Elizabeth, daughter +of Baptist Noel, Viscount Campden. The Earl died on Sept. 24, 171O, 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 17O2 to 17O8, was Secretary +of State from 17O8 to 171O, 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 17O7 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. (165O-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. 28O 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 171O, 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 171O, +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 (165O-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, 171O. + +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. 23O. + +5 Good, excellent. + +6 Captain George Delaval, appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King of +Portugal in Oct, 171O, 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. 3O, 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 171O; +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 171O, 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. 171O, 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 (1672-175O), 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, 171O-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 170O, 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 (1671-173O) 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 171O 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 17O6. 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, 171O. + +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 172O. + +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. 171O, 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. 64O; Dalton's English Army Lists, iv. 126). + +9 See Letter 5. + +10 The Tatler, No. 23O, Sid Hamet's Rod, and the ballad (now lost) on the +Westminster Election. + +11 The Earl of Galway (1648-172O), 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. 23O. + +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 17O8, 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 +17O7. + +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 17O4, paid his addresses to Mrs. Johnson" (Deane Swift). The Rev. +William Tisdall was made D.D. in 17O7. Swift never forgave Tisdall's proposal +to marry Esther Johnson in 17O4, 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 174O. + +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 175O. + +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 17O6, 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, 17O9, 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 +17O7 to December 17O8. 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 +17O7, 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 17O2, and he was in this latter regiment in 17O4. +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 17O5, "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 17O3, he was made +secretary to the Commissioners appointed to treat for a union with Scotland. +To this post was added, in 17O5, 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 17O4. 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 17O1-2; in 17O7 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 17O7, 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 17O2. He was a subscriber for a copy of the Tatler on royal paper +(Aitken, Life of Steele, i. 329, 33O). + +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 17O3, 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 17O3; +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 17O7 +to 17O9, 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. 23O. + +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, Grubb, Crabb, Trapp, Young, Carey, Tickell, Evans." +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 (168O-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 17O7 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 17O7, 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, 171O, 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 172O 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 17O9 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 17O8. During the frost of +January 17O9 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 2O, 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 17O6, 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 17O5 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 (17O8), 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 17O9, 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. (1687-174O), was M.P. for Somerset. He was a +close partisan of Bolingbroke's, and in 1713 introduced the Schism Bill, which +drove Oxford from office. Wyndham became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was +afterwards a leading opponent of Walpole. His wife, Lady Catherine Seymour +(died 1713), was the second daughter of Charles, Duke of Somerset (see Letter +28, note 8). + +2 Swift was afterwards President of this Club, which is better known as "the +Society." + +3 Perhaps Daniel Reading, M.P. for Newcastle, Co. Dublin. + +4 Afterwards Congreve formed a friendship with the Whigs; or, as Swift put it, + "Took proper principles to thrive, + And so might every dunce alive." + +5 Atterbury. + +6 This pamphlet, published in February 1712, was called "A Proposal for +Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue, in a Letter to +the. . . Lord High Treasurer." + +7 No. 47 + +8 Francis Gastrell, Canon of Christ Church, was made Bishop of Chester in +1713. His valuable Notitia Cestriensis was published in 1845-50. + +9 Near Fulham. + +10 See Letter 12, note 21. + +11 The daughters of Meinhardt Schomberg, Duke of Leinster, in Ireland, and +third Duke of Schomberg. Lady Mary married Count Dagenfeldt, and Lady +Frederica married, first, the Earl of Holderness, and, secondly, Earl Fitz +Walter. + +12 Thomas Harley. + +13 See Letter 19, note 3. + + + +Letter 26. + +1 The widow of Sir John Lyndon, who was appointed a justice of the Court of +King's Bench in Ireland in 1682, and died in 1699. + +2 "Marmaduke Coghill, LL.D., was judge of the Prerogative Court in Ireland. +About this time he courted a lady, and was soon to have been married to her; +but unfortunately a cause was brought to trial before him, wherein a man was +sued for beating his wife. When the matter was agitated, the Doctor gave his +opinion, 'That although a man had no right to beat his wife unmercifully, yet +that, with such a little cane or switch as he then held in his hand, a husband +was at liberty, and was invested with a power, to give his wife moderate +correction'; which opinion determined the lady against having the Doctor. He +died an old man and a bachelor" (Deane Swift). See also Lascelles, Liber +Muner. Hibern., part ii. p. 80. + +3 This was a common exclamation of the time, but the spelling varies in +different writers. It seems to be a corruption of "God so," or "God ho," but +there may have been a confusion with "cat-so," derived from the Italian +"cazzo." + +4 See Letter 9, note 28. Mrs. Manley was now editing the Examiner. + +5 Sir Henry Belasyse was sent to Spain as Commissioner to inquire into the +state of the English forces in that country. The son of Sir Richard Belasyse, +Knight of Ludworth, Durham, Sir Henry finished a chequered career in 1717, +when he was buried in Westminster Abbey (Dalton's Army Lists, ii. 228). In +his earlier years he served under the United Provinces, and after the +accession of William was made a Brigadier-General in the English army, and in +1694, Lieutenant-General. In 1702 he was second in command of the expedition +to Cadiz, but he was dismissed the service in consequence of the looting of +Port St. Mary. Subsequently he was elected M.P. for Durham, and in 1713 was +appointed Governor of Berwick. + +6 Atterbury. + +7 See Letter 3, note 20. + +8 Sir John Powell, a Judge of the Queen's Bench, died in 1713, aged sixty- +eight. He was a kindly as well as able judge. + +9 See June 7th, 1711. + +10 This Tisdall has been described as a Dublin merchant; but in all +probability he was Richard Tisdall, Registrar of the Irish Court of Chancery, +and M.P. for Dundalk (1707-1713) and County Louth (1713-1727). He married +Marian, daughter of Richard Boyle, M.P., and died in 1742. Richard Tisdall +was a relative of Stella's suitor, the Rev. William Tisdall, and years +afterwards Swift took an interest in his son Philip, who became a Secretary of +State and Leader of the Irish House of Commons. + +11 "In Ireland there are not public paths from place to place, as in England" +(Deane Swift). + +12 See Letter 24, note 6. + +13 Probably a son of John Manley, M.P. (see Letter 5, note 8). + +14 See Letter 11, note 45. + +15 Dr. George Stanhope, who was Vicar of Lewisham as well as of Deptford. He +was a popular preacher and a translator of Thomas a Kempis and other religious +writers. + +16 See Letter 3, note 17. + +17 A favourite word with Swift, when he wished to indicate anything obscure or +humble. + +18 See Letter 17, note 11. + +19 See June 7th, 1711 and notes. + +20 See Letter 17, note 23. + +21 Thomas Mills (1671-174O) was made Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in 17O8. +A man of learning and a liberal contributor to the cost of church +restorations, he is charged by Archbishop King with giving all the valuable +livings in his gift to his non-resident relatives. + +22 Tooke was appointed printer of the London Gazette in 1711 (see Letter 3, +note 8). + +23 See Letter 5, note 10 + +24 Lady Jane Hyde, the elder daughter of Henry Hyde, Earl of Rochester (see +Letter 5, note 11), married William Capel, third Earl of Essex. Her daughter +Charlotte's husband, the son of the Earl of Jersey, was created Earl of +Clarendon in 1776. Lady Jane's younger sister, Catherine, who became the +famous Duchess of Queensberry, Gay's patroness, is represented by Prior, in +The Female Phaeton, as jealous, when a young girl, of her sister, "Lady +Jenny," who went to balls, and "brought home hearts by dozens." + +25 See Letter 3, note 2. + +26 John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, had held the Privy Seal from 17O5, and was +regarded by the Ministers as a possible plenipotentiary in the event of their +negotiations for a peace being successful. He married Lady Margaret +Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish, second Duke of +Newcastle, and was one of the richest nobles in England. His death, on July +15, 1711, was the result of a fall while stag-hunting. The Duke's only +daughter married, in 1713, Edward, Lord Harley, the Earl of Oxford's son. + + + +Letter 27. + +1 Alexander Forbes, fourth Lord Forbes, who was afterwards attainted for his +share in the Rebellion of 1745. + +2 Obscure (cf. Letter 7, note 30). + +3 Jacob Tonson the elder, who died in 1736, outlived his nephew, Jacob Tonson +the younger, by a few months. The elder Tonson, the secretary of the Kit-Cat +Club, published many of Dryden's works, and the firm continued to be the chief +publishers of the time during the greater part of the eighteenth century. + +4 John Barber. + +5 By his will Swift left to Deane Swift his "large silver standish, consisting +of a large silver plate, an ink-pot, and a sand-box." + +6 I.e., we are only three hours in getting there. + +7 Cf. Letter 15, note 9. + +8 The Examiner was revived in December 1711, under Oldisworth's editorship, +and was continued by him until 1714. + +9 James Douglas, fourth Duke of Hamilton, was created Duke of Brandon in the +English peerage in September 1711, and was killed by Lord Mohun in a duel in +1712. Swift calls him "a worthy good-natured person, very generous, but of a +middle understanding." He married, in 1698, as his second wife, Elizabeth, +daughter and heiress of Digby, Lord Gerard, a lady to whom Swift often refers +in the Journal. She outlived the Duke thirty-two years. + +10 See August 27th, 1711. + +11 William Fitzmaurice (see Letter 11, note 19). + +12 The Duke of Shrewsbury (see Letter 3, note 32) married an Italian lady, +Adelhida, daughter of the Marquis of Paliotti, of Bologna, descended +maternally from Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's favourite. +Lady Cowper (Diary, pp. 8, 9) says that the Duchess "had a wonderful art of +entertaining and diverting people, though she would sometimes exceed the +bounds of decency; . . . but then, with all her prate and noise, she was the +most cunning, designing woman alive, obliging to people in prosperity, and a +great party-woman." As regards the name "Presto," see Letter 2, note 11. + +13 Probably a cousin. + +14 Presumptuous: claiming much. + +15 See Letter 13, note 15. John Winchcombe, a weaver of Newbury, marched with +a hundred of his workmen, at his own expenses, against the Scots in 1513. + +16 Thomas Coke, M.P., of Derbyshire, was appointed a Teller of the Exchequer +in 1704, and Vice-Chamberlain to the Queen in 1706. In 1706 he married--as +his second wife--Mrs. Hale, one of the maids of honour (Luttrell, v. 411, 423; +vi. 113, 462; Lady Cowper's Diary, 15, 16), a lady whose "piercing" beauty it +was, apparently, that Steele described under the name of Chloe, in No. 4 of +the Tatler. Jervas painted her as a country girl, "with a liveliness that +shows she is conscious, but not affected, of her perfections." Coke was the +Sir Plume of Pope's Rape of the Lock. + +17 The committee of management of the Royal household. + +18 Francesca Margherita de l'Epine, the famous singer, and principal rival of +Mrs. Tofts, came to England in 1692, and constantly sang in opera until her +retirement in 1718, when she married Dr. Pepusch. She died in 1746. Her +sister, Maria Gallia, also a singer, did not attain the same popularity. + +19 Charles Scarborow and Sir William Foster were the Clerks of the Board of +Green Cloth. + +20 See Letter 27, note 16 on Thomas Coke. + +21 The Earl of Sunderland's second wife, Lady Anne Churchill, who died in +1716, aged twenty-eight. She was the favourite daughter of the Duke of +Marlborough, and was called "the little Whig." Verses were written in honour +of her beauty and talent by Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, Dr. Watts and +others, and her portrait was painted by Lely and Kneller. + +22 Mary, daughter of Sir William Forester, of Dothill, Shropshire. In 1700, +at the age of thirteen, she had been secretly married to her cousin, George +Downing, a lad of fifteen. Three years later, Downing, on his return from +abroad, refused to acknowledge his wife, and in 1715 both parties petitioned +the House of Lords for leave to bring in a Bill declaring the marriage to be +void; but leave was refused (Lords' Journals, xx. 41, 45). Downing had become +Sir George Downing, Bart., in 1711, and had been elected M.P. for Dunwich; he +died without issue in 1749, and was the founder of Downing College, Cambridge. + +23 In a discussion upon what would be the result if beards became the fashion, +Budgell (Spectator, No. 331) says, "Besides, we are not certain that the +ladies would not come into the mode, when they take the air on horseback. +They already appear in hats and feathers, coats and periwigs." + + + +Letter 28. + +1 Horse-racing was much encouraged by Charles II., who, as Strutt tells us, +appointed races to be made in Datchet Mead, when he was residing at Windsor. +By Queen Anne's time horse-racing was becoming a regular institution: see +Spectator, No. 173. + +2 John Montagu, second Duke of Montagu, married Lady Mary Churchill, youngest +daughter of the Duke of Marlborough. + +3 Of Clogher. + +4 John Adams, Prebendary of Canterbury and Canon of Windsor. He was made +Provost of King's College, Cambridge, in 1712, and died in 1720. + +5 The Hon. and Rev. George Verney, Canon of Windsor (died 1728), became fourth +Lord Willoughby de Broke on the death of his father (Sir Richard Verney, the +third Baron), in July 1711. Lord Willoughby became Dean of Windsor in 1713. + +6 Thomas Hare, Under Secretary of State in Bolingbroke's office. + +7 Richard Sutton was the second son of Robert Sutton, the nephew of the Robert +Sutton who was created Viscount Lexington by Charles I. Sutton served under +William III. and Marlborough in Flanders, and was made a Brigadier-General in +1710, in which year also he was elected M.P. for Newark. In 1711 he was +appointed Governor of Hull, and he died, a Lieutenant-General, in 1737 +(Dalton's Army Lists, iii. 153) + +8 Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset (1662-1748), known as "the proud +Duke of Somerset." Through the influence which his wife--afterwards Mistress +of the Robes (see Letter 17, note 10)--had obtained over the Queen, he bore no +small part in bringing about the changes of 1710. His intrigues during this +period were, however, mainly actuated by jealousy of Marlborough, and he had +really no sympathies with the Tories. His intrigues with the Whigs caused the +utmost alarm to St. John and to Swift. + +9 The third and last reference to Vanessa in the Journal. + +10 "Pray God preserve her life, which is of great importance" (Swift to +Archbishop King, Aug. 15, 1711). St. John was at this moment very anxious to +conciliate Mrs. Masham, as he felt that she was the only person capable of +counteracting the intrigues of the Duchess of Somerset with the Queen. + +11 Pontack, of Abchurch Lane, son of Arnaud de Pontac, President of the +Parliament of Bordeaux, was proprietor of the most fashionable eating-house in +London. There the Royal Society met annually at dinner until 1746. Several +writers speak of the dinners at a guinea a head and upwards served at +Pontack's, and Swift comments on the price of the wine. + +12 "His name was Read" (Scott). + +13 Up to the end of 1709 the warrants for the payment of the works at Blenheim +had been regularly issued by Godolphin and paid at the Treasury; over 200,000 +pounds was expended in this manner. But after the dismissal of the Whigs the +Queen drew tight the purse-strings. The 20,000 pounds mentioned by Swift was +paid in 1711, but on June 1, 1712, Anne gave positive orders that nothing +further should be allowed for Blenheim, though 12,000 pounds remained due to +the contractors. + +14 The piercing of the lines before Bouchain, which Villars had declared to be +the non plus ultra of the Allies, one of the most striking proofs of +Marlborough's military genius. + +15 See Letter 22, note 15. + +16 A fashionable gaming-house in St. James's Street. + +17 See Letter 6, note 15. The Grange, near Alresford, Hampshire, was Henley's +seat. His wife (see Letter 12, note 24) was the daughter of Peregrine Bertie, +son of Montagu Bertie, second Earl of Lindsey; and Earl Poulett (see Letter +20, note 7) married Bridget, an elder daughter of Bertie's. + +18 William Henry Hyde, Earl of Danby, grandson of the first Duke of Leeds (see +Letter 8, note 22), and eldest son of Peregrine Osborne, Baron Osborne and +Viscount Dunblane, who succeeded to the dukedom in 1712. Owing to this young +man's death (at the age of twenty-one), his brother, Peregrine Hyde, Marquis +of Caermarthen, who married Harley's daughter Elizabeth, afterwards became +third Duke of Leeds. + +19 See Letter 8, note 2. + +20 See Letter 3, note 7. + +21 William Gregg was a clerk in Harley's office when the latter was Secretary +of State under the Whig Administration. In 1707-8 he was in treasonable +correspondence with M. de Chamillart, the French Secretary of State. When he +was detected he was tried for high treason, and hanged on April 28. The Lords +who examined Gregg did their utmost to establish Harley's complicity, which +Gregg, however, with his dying breath solemnly denied. + +22 By Swift himself. The title was, Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet entitled, A +Letter to the Seven Lords of the Committee appointed to examine Gregg. + +23 See Letter 13, note 10. There is no copy in the British Museum. + +24 Thomas Parnell, the poet, married, in 1706, Anne, daughter of Thomas +Minchin, of Tipperary. In 1711 Parnell was thirty-two years of age, and was +Archdeacon of Clogher and Vicar of Clontibret. Swift took much trouble to +obtain for Parnell the friendship of Bolingbroke and other persons of note, +and Parnell became a member of the Scriblerus Club. In 1716 he was made Vicar +of Finglas, and after his death in 1718 Pope prepared an edition of his poems. +The fits of depression to which Parnell was liable became more marked after +his wife's death, and he seems to have to some extent given way to drink. His +sincerity and charm of manner made him welcome with men of both parties. + +25 Dr. Henry Compton had been Bishop of London since 1675. He was dangerously +ill early in 1711, but he lived until 1713, when he was eighty-one. + +26 See Letter 26, note 10. + +27 See Letter 7, note 21. + +28 L'Estrange speaks of "a whiffling fop" and Swift says, "Every whiffler in a +laced coat, who frequents the chocolate-house, shall talk of the +Constitution." + +29 Prior's first visit to France with a view to the secret negotiations with +that country which the Ministers were now bent on carrying through, had been +made in July, when he and Gaultier reached Calais in a fishing-boat and +proceeded to Fontainbleau under assumed names. He returned to England in +August, but was recognised at Dover, whence the news spread all over London, +to the great annoyance of the Ministers. The officer who recognised Prior was +John Macky, reputed author of those Characters upon which Swift wrote +comments. Formerly a secret service agent under William III., Macky had been +given the direction of the Ostend mail packets by Marlborough, to whom he +communicated the news of Prior's journey. Bolingbroke threatened to hang +Macky, and he was thrown into prison; but the accession of George I. again +brought him favour and employment. + +30 See Letter 12, note 7. + + + +Letter 29. + +1 See Letter 3, note 4. + +2 See Letter 6, note 4. + +3 Edward Villiers (1656-1711), created Viscount Villiers in 1691, was made +Earl of Jersey in 1697. Under William III. he was Lord Chamberlain and +Secretary of State, but he was dismissed from office in 1704. When he died he +had been nominated as a plenipotentiary at the Congress of Utrecht, and was +about to receive the appointment of Lord Privy Seal. Lord Jersey married, in +1681, when she was eighteen, Barbara, daughter of William Chiffinch, closet- +keeper to Charles II.; she died in 1735. + +4 Lord Paisley was the Earl of Abercorn's eldest surviving son (see Letter 17, +note 7). + +5 The Hon. John Hamilton, the Earl's second surviving son, died in 1714. + +6 Dr. John Robinson (1650-1723) had gone out as chaplain to the Embassy at the +Court of Sweden in 1682, and had returned in 1708 with the double reputation +of being a thorough Churchman and a sound diplomatist. He was soon made Dean +of Windsor, and afterwards Bishop of Bristol. He was now introduced to the +Council Board, and it was made known to those in the confidence of Ministers +that he would be one of the English plenipotentiaries at the coming Peace +Congress. In 1713 Dr. Robinson was made Bishop of London. + +7 John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675-1732), who was attainted for his part in the +Rebellion of 1715. His first wife, Lady Margaret Hay, was a daughter of Lord +Kinnoull. + +8 Thomas Hay, sixth Earl of Kinnoull (died 1719), a Commissioner for the +Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, and one of the Scotch +representative peers in the first Parliament of Great Britain. His son and +heir, Viscount Dupplin, afterwards Baron Hay (see Letter 5, note 34), who +married Harley's daughter Abigail, is often mentioned in the Journal. + +9 See Letter 3, note 5. + +10 The title of the pamphlet was, "A New Journey to Paris, together with some +Secret Transactions between the French King and an English Gentleman. By the +Sieur du Baudrier. Translated from the French." + +11 See Letter 11, note 44. + +12 See Letter 28, note 6. + +13 The Earl of Strafford (see Letter 18, note 3) married, on Sept. 6, 1711, +Anne, only daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Johnson, of Bradenham, +Buckinghamshire, a wealthy shipbuilder. Many of Lady Strafford's letters to +her husband are given in the Wentworth Papers, 1883. + +14 Samuel Pratt, who was also Clerk of the Closet. + +15 Alice Hill, woman of the bed-chamber to the Queen, died in 1762. + +16 Enniscorthy, the name of a town in the county of Wexford. + +17 Scrambling. + +18 "These words in italics are written in strange, misshapen letters, +inclining to the right hand, in imitation of Stella's writing" (Deane Swift). +[Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of this etext.] + +19 Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. + +20 John Pooley, appointed Bishop of Raphoe in 1702. + +21 "These words in italics are miserably scrawled, in imitation of Stella's +hand (Deane Swift). [Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of +this etext.] + +22 See Letter 8, note 2. + + + +Letter 30. + +1 See Letter 25, note 1. + +2 See Letter 9, note 22. + +3 See Letter 29, note 10. + +4 Cf. the entry on the 11th (note 3 above). + +5 See Letter 6, note 4. + +6 William, Lord Villiers, second Earl of Jersey (died 1721), a strong +Jacobite, had been M.P. for Kent before his father's death. He married, in +1704, Judith, only daughter of a City merchant, Frederick Herne, son of Sir +Nathaniel Herne, Alderman; she died in 1735. Lord Jersey, one of "the +prettiest young peers in England," was a companion of Bolingbroke, and stories +in the Wentworth Papers (pp. 149, 230, 395, 445), show that he had a bad +reputation. + +7 See Letter 28, note 4. + +8 The name of Arbuthnot's wife is not known: she died in 1730. + +9 James Lovet, one of the "Yeomen Porters" at Court. + +10 Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, who died without male issue in January +1712. Writing to Archbishop King on Jan. 8, Swift said, "Lord Ranelagh died +on Sunday morning; he was very poor and needy, and could hardly support +himself for want of a pension which used to be paid him." + +11 Arabella Churchill, maid of honour to the Duchess of York, and mistress of +James II., afterwards married Colonel Charles Godfrey, Clerk Comptroller of +the Green Cloth and Master of the Jewel Office. Her second son by James II. +was created Duke of Albemarle. + +12 See Letter 28, note 4. + +13 The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of Dublin, elected in August 1711, "not being +approved of by the Government, the City was obliged to proceed to another +election, which occasioned a great ferment among the vulgar sort" (Boyer, +Political State, 1711, p. 500). After two other persons had been elected and +disapproved of, Alderman Gore was elected Lord Mayor, and approved (ib. pp. +612-17). + +14 "These words in italics are written enormously large" (Deane Swift). +[Italics replaced by capitals for the transcription of this etext.] + +15 See Letter 3, note 39. + +16 Henry Lowman, First Clerk of the Kitchen. + +17 "The Doctor was always a bad reckoner, either of money or anything else; +and this is one of his rapid computations. For, as Stella was seven days in +journey, although Dr. Swift says only six, she might well have spent four days +at Inish-Corthy, and two nights at Mrs. Proby's mother's, the distance from +Wexford to Dublin being but two easy days' journey" (Deane Swift). + +18 Mrs. Fenton. + + + +Letter 31. + +1 See Letter 10, note 31. + +2 Charles Paulet, second Duke of Bolton, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of +Ireland in 1717, and died in 1722. In a note on Macky's character of the +Duke, Swift calls him "a great booby"; and Lady Cowper (Diary, p. 154) says +that he was generally to be seen with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. + +3 Stella's maid. + +4 See Letter 12, note 7. + +5 Colonel Fielding (see Letter 16, note 21). + +6 The envoys were Menager and the Abbe du Bois; the priest was the Abbe +Gaultier. + +7 See Letter 18, note 3. + +8 Sir Theophilus Oglethorpe, General, who died in 1702, married Eleanor, +daughter of Richard Wall, of Rogane, Tipperary. She died in 1732, and Swift +described her as so "cunning a devil that she had great influence as a +reconciler of the differences at Court." One of her sons was General James +Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, and friend of Dr. Johnson. + +9 "Worrit," trouble, tease. + +10 Sir John Walter, Bart. (died 1722), was M.P. for the city of Oxford. He +and Charles Godfrey (see Letter 30, note 11) were the Clerks Comptrollers of +the Green Cloth. + +11 See Letter 17, note 3. + +12 No doubt one of the daughters of Mervyn Tuchet, fourth Earl of Castlehaven, +who died in 1686. + +13 Henrietta Maria, daughter of Charles Scarborow (see Letter 27, note 19). +She married, in 1712, Sir Robert Jenkinson, Bart., M.P. for Oxfordshire, who +died without issue in 1717. See Wentworth Papers, 244. + +14 In July 1712 a Commission passed empowering Conyers Darcy and George +Fielding (an equerry to the Queen) to execute the office of Master of the +Horse. + +15 At Killibride, about four miles from Trim. + +16 Swift's "mistress," Lady Hyde (see Letter 5, note 11), whose husband had +become Earl of Rochester in May 1711. She was forty-one in 1711. + +17 See Sept. 19, 1711. + +18 See Letter 29, note 14. + +19 See Letter 22, note 3. + +20 See Letter 27, note 9. + +21 See Letter 26, note 10. + +22 "This happens to be the only single line written upon the margin of any of +his journals. By some accident there was a margin about as broad as the back +of a razor, and therefore he made this use of it" (Deane Swift). + + + +Letter 32. + +1 Lieutenant-Colonel Barton, of Colonel Kane's regiment. + +2 A nickname for the High Church party. + +3 See Letter 29, note 10. + +4 "From this pleasantry of my Lord Oxford, the appellative Martinus Scriblerus +took its rise" (Deane Swift). + +5 Cf. the Imitation of the Sixth Satire of the Second Book of Horace, 1714, +where Swift says that, during their drives together, Harley would + "gravely try to read the lines + Writ underneath the country signs." + +6 See Letter 23, note 15. + +7 See Letter 18, note 4. + +8 See Letter 23, note 17. + +9 Lord Pembroke (see Letter 7, note 31) married, in 1708, as his second wife, +Barbara, Dowager Baroness Arundell of Trerice, formerly widow of Sir Richard +Mauleverer, and daughter of Sir Thomas Slingsby. She died in 1722. + +10 Caleb Coatesworth, who died in 1741, leaving a large fortune. + +11 Abel Boyer, Whig journalist and historian, attacked Swift in his pamphlet, +An Account of the State and Progress of the Present Negotiations for Peace. +Boyer says that he was released from custody by Harley; and in the Political +State for 1711 (p. 646) he speaks of Swift as "a shameless and most +contemptible ecclesiastical turncoat, whose tongue is as swift to revile as +his mind is swift to change." The Postboy said that Boyer would "be +prosecuted with the utmost severity of the law" for this attack. + +12 The "Edgar." Four hundred men were killed. + +13 William Bretton, or Britton, was made Lieutenant-Colonel in 1702, Colonel +of a new Regiment of Foot 1705, Brigadier-General 1710, and Colonel of the +King's Own Borderers in April 1711 (Dalton, Army Lists, iii. 238). In +December 1711 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia +(Postboy, Jan. 1, 1712), and he died in December 1714 or January 1715. + +14 See Letter 24, note 14. + +15 It is not clear which of several Lady Gores is here referred to. It may be +(1) the wife of Sir William Gore, Bart., of Manor Gore, and Custos Rotulorum, +County Leitrim, who married Hannah, eldest daughter and co-heir of James +Hamilton, Esq., son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and niece of Gustavus Hamilton, +created Viscount Boyne. She died 1733. Or (2) the wife of Sir Ralph Gore, +Bart. (died 1732), M.P. for County Donegal, and afterwards Speaker of the +Irish House of Commons. He married Miss Colville, daughter of Sir Robert +Colville, of Newtown, Leitrim, and, as his second wife, Elizabeth, only +daughter of Dr. Ashe, Bishop of Clogher. Or (3) the wife of Sir Arthur Gore, +Bart. (died 1727), of Newtown Gore, Mayo, who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir +George St. George, Bart., of Carrick, Leitrim, and was ancestor of the Earls +of Arran. + +16 "Modern usage has sanctioned Stella's spelling" (Scott). Swift's spelling +was "wast." + +17 Mrs. Manley. + +18 Swift's own lines, "Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition." + +19 Thomas Coote was a justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, in Ireland, from +1692 until his removal in 1715. + +20 Probably a relative of Robert Echlin, Dean of Tuam, who was killed by some +of his own servants in April 1712, at the age of seventy-three. His son John +became Prebendary and Vicar-General of Tuam, and died in 1764, aged eighty- +three. In August 1731 Bolingbroke sent Swift a letter by the hands of "Mr. +Echlin," who would, he said, tell Swift of the general state of things in +England. + +21 "This column of words, as they are corrected, is in Stella's hand" (Deane +Swift). + + + +Letter 33. + +1 Swift's verses, "The Description of a Salamander," are a scurrilous attack +on John, Lord Cutts (died 1707), who was famous for his bravery. Joanna +Cutts, the sister who complained of Swift's abuse, died unmarried. + +2 See Letter 6, note 5. + +3 Fourteen printers or publishers were arrested, under warrants signed by St. +John, for publishing pamphlets directed against the Government. They appeared +at the Court of Queens Bench on Oct. 23, and were continued on their own +recognisances till the end of the term. + +4 Robert Benson (see Letter 6, note 36). + +5 "The South Sea Whim," printed in Scott's Swift, ii. 398. + +6 See Letter 21, Apr. 24, 1711, Letter 22, Apr. 28, 1711, and Letter 34, 17 +Nov. 1711. + +7 Count Gallas was dismissed with a message that he might depart from the +kingdom when he thought fit. He published the preliminaries of peace in the +Daily Courant. + +8 William, second Viscount Hatton, who died without issue in 1760. His half- +sister Anne married Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham, and Lord Hatton +was therefore uncle to his fellow-guest, Mr. Finch. + +9 Crinkle or contract. Gay writes: "Showers soon drench the camblet's +cockled grain." + +10 The Countess of Jersey (see Letter 30, note 6), like her husband, was a +friend of Bolingbroke's. Lady Strafford speaks of her having lately (November +1711) "been in pickle for her sins," at which she was not surprised. Before +the Earl succeeded to the title, Lady Wentworth wrote to her son: "It's said +Lord Villors Lady was worth fower scoar thoussand pd; you might have got her, +as wel as Lord Villors. . . . He [Lord Jersey) has not don well by his son, +the young lady is not yoused well as I hear amongst them, which in my openion +is not well." Wentworth Papers (pp. 214, 234). + +11 Cf. Letter 9, Nov. 11, 1710, and Letter 9, note 3. + +12 Charles Crow, appointed Bishop of Cloyne in 1702. + +13 Swift. + +14 Mrs. Manley. + +15 The titles of these pamphlets are as follows: (1) A True Narrative of . . +. the Examination of the Marquis de Guiscard; (2) Some Remarks upon a Pamphlet +entitled, A Letter to the Seven Lords; (3) A New Journey to Paris; (4) The +Duke of Marlborough's Vindication; (5) A Learned Comment on Dr. Hare's Sermon. + +16 See the pun this day above. + + + +Letter 34. + +1 See Letter 3, note 17. + +2 See Letter 11, note 44. + +3 Pratt (see Letter 2, note 14). + +4 Stella and Dingley. + +5 "Noah's Dove, an Exhortation to Peace, set forth in a Sermon preached on the +Seventh of November, 1710, a Thanksgiving Day, by Thomas Swift, A.M., formerly +Chaplain to Sir William Temple, now Rector of Puttenham in Surrey." Thomas +Swift was Swift's "little parson cousin" (see Letter 24, note 2). + +6 See Letter 6, note 11. The book referred to is, apparently, An Impartial +Enquiry into the Management of the War in Spain, post-dated 1712. + +7 Lord Harley (afterwards second Earl of Oxford) (see Letter 5, note 35) +married, on Oct. 31, 1713, Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only daughter of +John Holles, last Duke of Newcastle of that family (see Letter 26, note 26). + +8 Bolingbroke afterwards said that the great aim (at length accomplished) of +Harley's administration was to marry his son to this young lady. Swift wrote +a poetical address to Lord Harley on his marriage. + +9 Thomas Pelham, first Baron Pelham, married, as his second wife, Lady Grace +Holles, daughter of the Earl of Clare and sister of the Duke of Newcastle. +Their eldest son, Thomas, who succeeded to the barony in 1712, was afterwards +created Earl of Clare and Duke of Newcastle, + +10 Francis Higgins, Rector of Baldruddery, called "the Sacheverell of +Ireland," was an extreme High Churchman, who had been charged with sedition on +account of sermons preached in London in 1707. In 1711 he was again +prosecuted as "a disloyal subject and disturber of the public peace." At that +time he was Prebendary of Christ Church, Dublin; in 1725 he was made +Archdeacon of Cashel. + +11 Swift's pamphlet, The Conduct of the Allies. + +12 Lord Oxford's daughter Abigail married, in 1709, Viscount Dupplin, +afterwards seventh Earl of Kinnoull (see Letter 5, note 34). She died in +1750, and her husband in 1758, when the eldest son, Thomas, became Earl. The +second son, Robert, was made Archbishop of York in 1761. + +13 Kensington Gravel Pits was then a famous health resort. + +14 Draggled. Pope has, "A puppy, daggled through the town." + +15 Writing of Peperharrow, Manning and Bray state (Surrey, ii. 32, 47) that +Oxenford Grange was conveyed to Philip Froud (died 1736) in 1700, and was sold +by him in 1713 to Alan Broderick, afterwards Viscount Midleton. This Froud +(Swift's "old Frowde") had been Deputy Postmaster-General; he was son of Sir +Philip Frowde, who was knighted in 1665 (Le Neve's Knights, Harleian Society, +p. 190), and his son Philip was Addison's friend (see Letter 8, note 13). + +16 Probably the Charles Child, Esq., of Farnham, whose death is recorded in +the Gentleman's Magazine for 1754. + +17 Grace Spencer was probably Mrs. Proby's sister (see Letter 19, note 3). + +18 Cf. Shakespeare, As You Like It, v. 3: "Shall we clap into 't roundly, +without hawking or spitting, which are the only prologues to a bad voice?" + +19 In the "Verses on his own Death," 1731, Swift says + + "When daily howd'y's come of course, + And servants answer, 'Worse and worse!'" + +Cf. Steele (Tatler, No. 109), + +"After so many howdies, you proceed to visit or not, as you like the run of +each other's reputation or fortune," + +and (Spectator, No. 143), + + "the howd'ye servants of our women." + + + +Letter 35. + +1 See Letter 31, note 8. + +2 See Letter 14, note 9. + +3 The Tories alleged that the Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Montagu, +Steele, etc., were to take part in the procession (cf. Spectator, No. 269). +Swift admits that the images seized were worth less than 40 pounds, and not +1000 pounds, as he had said, and that the Devil was not like Harley; yet he +employed someone to write a lying pamphlet, A True Relation of the Several +Facts and Circumstances of the Intended Riot and Tumult, etc. + +4 A brother of Jemmy Leigh (see Letter 2, note 16), and one of Stella's card- +playing acquaintances. + +5 Of The Conduct of the Allies (see Letter 34, Nov. 10, 1711, and Letter 35, +Nov. 24, 1711). + +6 Sir Thomas Hanmer (see Letter 9, note 13) married, in 1698, Isabella, widow +of the first Duke of Grafton, and only daughter and heiress of Henry, Earl of +Arlington. She died in 1723. + +7 James, Duke of Hamilton (see Letter 27, note 9), married, in 1698, as his +second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Digby, Lord Gerard. She +died in 1744. + +8 The Conduct of the Allies. + +9 See Letter 25, note 6. + +10 Sir Matthew Dudley (see Letter 3, note 2) married Lady Mary O'Bryen, +youngest daughter of Henry, Earl of Thomond. + +11 See Letter 31, note 10. + +12 Sir John St. Leger (died 1743) was M.P. for Doneraile and a Baron of the +Exchequer in Ireland from 1714 to 1741. His elder brother, Arthur, was +created Viscount Doneraile in 1703. + +13 "Relation of the Facts and Circumstances of the Intended Riot on Queen +Elizabeth's Birthday." + +14 The Conduct of the Allies. + +15 See Letter 9, note 18. + +16 The first motto was "Partem tibi Gallia nostri eripuit," etc. (Horace, 2 +Od. 17-24). + +17 See Plautus's Amphitrus, or Dryden's Amphitryon. + +18 It is not known whether or no this was Dr. William Savage, Master of +Emmanuel College, Cambridge. No copy of the sermon--if it was printed--has +been found. See Courtenay's Memoirs of Sir William Temple. + +19 Of The Conduct of the Allies, a pamphlet which had a very wide circulation. +See a paper by Edward Solly in the Antiquarian Magazine, March 1885. + +20 Allen Bathurst, M.P. (1684-1775), created Baron Bathurst in December 1711, +and Earl Bathurst in 1772. His second and eldest surviving son was appointed +Lord Chancellor in the year preceding the father's death. Writing to her son +in January 1711 (Wentworth Papers, 173), Lady Wentworth said of Bathurst, "He +is, next to you, the finest gentleman and the best young man I know; I love +him dearly." + +21 See Letter 9, note 17. + +22 See Letter 16, note 20. + +23 Swift is alluding to the quarrel between Lord Santry (see Letter 23, note +2) and Francis Higgins (see Letter 34, note 10), which led to Higgins's +prosecution. The matter is described at length in Boyer s Political State, +1711, pp. 617 seq. + +24 See Letter 19, note 1. + +25 No doubt the same as Colonel Newburgh (see Journal, March 5, 1711-12). + +26 Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2 and Letter 26, Jul. 6, 1711). + +27 See Letter 31, note 1. + +28 Cf. Letter 15, Feb. 9, 1710-11. + +29 See Letter 35, note 3. + + + +Letter 36. + +1 See Letter 34, note 15. Debtors could not be arrested on Sunday. + +2 Sir George Pretyman, Bart., dissipated the fortune of the family. The title +became dormant in 1749. + +3 See the Introduction. + +4 For the Whites of Farnham, see Manning and Bray's Surrey, iii. 177. + +5 The Conduct of the Allies. + +6 The Percevals were among Swift's principal friends in the neighbourhood of +Laracor. In a letter to John Temple in 1706 (Forster's Life of Swift, 182) +Swift alludes to Perceval; in spite of different views in politics, "I always +loved him," says Swift, "very well as a man of very good understanding and +humour." Perceval was related to Sir John Perceval, afterwards Earl of Egmont +(see Letter 18, note 15). + +7 See Letter 1, note 12. + +8 See Letter 8, note 14. + +9 The Examiner was resumed on Dec. 6, 1711, under Oldisworth's editorship, and +was continued by him until July 1714. + +10 Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham, a staunch Tory, had quarrelled +with the Government and the Court. On Dec. 7, 1711, he carried, by six votes, +an amendment to the Address, to the effect that no peace would be acceptable +which left Spain in the possession of the House of Bourbon. Harley's counter- +stroke was the creation of twelve new peers. The Whigs rewarded Nottingham by +withdrawing their opposition to the Occasional Conformity Bill: + +11 This "Song" begins: + + "An orator dismal of Nottinghamshire, + Who had forty years let out his conscience for hire." + +12 The Conduct of the Allies. + +13 Robert Bertie, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and fourth Earl of Lindsey, was +created Marquis of Lindsay in 1706, and Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven in 1715. +He died in 1723. + +14 Lady Sunderland (see Letter 27, note 21) and Lady Rialton, ladies of the +bed-chamber to the Queen. + +15 Hugh Cholmondeley (died 1724), the second Viscount, was created Viscount +Malpas and Earl of Cholmondeley in 1706, and in 1708 was appointed Treasurer +of Her Majesty's Household, an office which he held until 1713, in spite of +his Whig sympathies. "Good for nothing, so far as ever I knew," Swift wrote +of him. + +16 Prov. xxv. 3. + +17 See Letter 31, note 8. + +18 Thomas Parker, afterwards created Earl of Macclesfield, was appointed Lord +Chief-Justice in March 1710. In September 1711 he declined Harley's offer of +the Lord Chancellorship, a post which he accepted under a Whig Government in +the next reign. + +19 The Bill against Occasional Conformity. + + + +Letter 37. + +1 The proposed visit to London of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the renowned +General, and friend of Marlborough, was viewed by the Government with +considerable alarm. + +2 Swift's "An excellent new Song; being the intended Speech of a famous orator +against Peace," a ballad "two degrees above Grub Street" (see Letter 36, note +11). + +3 Robert Walpole was then M.P. for King's Lynn, and Leader of the Opposition +in the House of Commons. He had been Secretary at War from February 1708 to +September 1710, and the Commissioners of Public Accounts having reported, on +Dec. 21, 1711, that he had been guilty of venality and corruption, he was +expelled from the House of Commons, and taken to the Tower. + +4 William King, D.C.L., author of the Journey to London in 1698, Dialogues of +the Dead, The Art of Cookery, and other amusing works, was, at the end of the +month, appointed Gazetteer, in succession to Steele, on Swift's +recommendation. Writing earlier in the year, Gay said that King deserved +better than to "languish out the small remainder of his life in the Fleet +Prison." The duties of Gazetteer were too much for his easy-going nature and +failing health, and he resigned the post in July 1712. He died in the +following December. + +5 At the bottom of St. James's Street, on the west side. + +6 The Rev. John Shower, pastor of the Presbyterian Congregation at Curriers' +Hall, London Wall. + +7 The Windsor Prophecy, in which the Duchess of Somerset (see Letter 17, note +10) is attacked as "Carrots from Northumberland." + +8 Merlin's Prophecy, 1709, written in pseudo-mediaeval English. + +9 See Letter 3, note 18. + +10 Dorothy, daughter of Sir Edward Leach, of Shipley, Derbyshire. + +11 Sir James Long, Bart. (died 1729), was at this time M.P. for Chippenham. + +12 The number containing this paragraph is not in the British Museum. + +13 Joseph Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2, Letter 26, Jul. 6, 1711 and Letter +35, note 26) + +14 See Letter 4, note 13. + +15 Apparently a misprint for "whether." + +16 See Letter 32, note 19. + +17 James Compton, afterwards fifth Earl of Northampton (died 1754), was +summoned to the House of Lords as Baron Compton in December 1711. Charles +Bruce, who succeeded his father as third Earl of Aylesbury in 1741, was +created Lord Bruce, of Whorlton, at the same time. + +18 James, Lord Compton, eldest son of the Earl of Northampton; Charles, Lord +Bruce, eldest son of the Earl of Aylesbury; Henry Paget, son of Lord Paget; +George Hay, Viscount Dupplin, the son-in-law of the Lord Treasurer, created +Baron Hay; Viscount Windsor, created Baron Montjoy; Sir Thomas Mansel, Baron +Mansel; Sir Thomas Willoughby, Baron Middleton; Sir Thomas Trevor, Baron +Trevor; George Granville, Baron Lansdowne; Samuel Masham, Baron Masham; Thomas +Foley, Baron Foley; and Allen Bathurst, Baron Bathurst. + + + +Letter 38. + +1 Juliana, widow of the second Earl of Burlington, and daughter of the Hon. +Henry Noel, was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Anne. She died in 1750, aged +seventy-eight. + +2 Thomas Windsor, Viscount Windsor (died 1738), an Irish peer, who had served +under William III. in Flanders, was created Baron Montjoy, of the Isle of +Wight, in December 1711. He married Charlotte, widow of John, Baron Jeffries, +of Wem, and daughter of Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. + +3 The Hon. Russell Robartes, brother of Lord Radnor (see Letter 3, note 7), +was Teller of the Exchequer, and M.P. for Bodmin. His son became third Earl +of Radnor in 1723. + +4 Gay (Trivia, ii. 92) speaks of "the slabby pavement." + +5 See Letter 17, note 1. + +6 George Granville (see Letter 14, note 5), now Baron Lansdowne, married Lady +Mary Thynne, widow of Thomas Thynne, and daughter of Edward, Earl of Jersey +(see Letter 29, note 3). In October 1710 Lady Wentworth wrote to her son, +"Pray, my dear, why will you let Lady Mary Thynne go? She is young, rich, and +not unhandsome, some say she is pretty; and a virtuous lady, and of the +nobility, and why will you not try to get her?" (Wentworth papers, 149). + +7 See Letter 24, note 4. + +8 Harness. + +9 On his birthday Swift read the third chapter of Job. + +10 See Letter 33, note 12. + +11 Sir George St. George of Dunmore, Co. Galway, M.P. for Co. Leitrim from +1661 to 1692, and afterwards for Co. Galway, died in December 1711. + +12 See Letter 35, note 11 and Letter 31, note 10. + +13 See Letter 4, note 16. + +14 Dr. Pratt (see Letter 2, note 14). + +15 King Henry VIII., act iv. sc. 2; "An old man broken with the storms," etc. + +16 "These words in the manuscript imitate Stella's writing, and are sloped the +wrong way" (Deane Swift), + +17 Archibald Douglas, third Marquis of Douglas, was created Duke of Douglas in +1703. He died, without issue, in 1761. + +18 Arbuthnot and Freind. + + + +Letter 39. + +1 Sir Stephen Evance, goldsmith, was knighted in 1690. + +2 Because of the refusal of the House of Lords to allow the Duke of Hamilton +(see Letter 27, note 9), a Scottish peer who had been raised to the peerage of +Great Britain as Duke of Brandon, to sit under that title. The Scottish peers +discontinued their attendance at the House until the resolution was partially +amended; and the Duke of Hamilton always sat as a representative Scottish +peer. + +3 Sir William Robinson (1655-1736), created a baronet in 1689, was M.P. for +York from 1697 to 1722. His descendants include the late Earl De Grey and the +Marquis of Ripon. + +4 See Letter 16, note 19. The full title was, Some Advice humbly offered to +the Members of the October Club, in a Letter from a Person of Honour. + +5 See Letter 38, note 11. + +6 "It is the last of the page, and written close to the edge of the paper" +(Deane Swift). + +7 Henry Somerset, second Duke of Beaufort. In September 1711 the Duke--who +was then only twenty-seven--married, as his third wife, Mary, youngest +daughter of the Duke of Leeds. In the following January Lady Strafford wrote, +"The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort are the fondest of one another in the world; +I fear 'tis too hot to hold. . . . I own I fancy people may love one another +as well without making so great a rout" (Wentworth Papers, 256). The Duke +died in 1714, at the age of thirty. + +8 "Upon the 10th and 17th of this month the Examiner was very severe upon the +Duke of Marlborough, and in consequence of this report pursued him with +greater virulence in the following course of his papers" (Deane Swift). + +9 A term of execration. Scott (Kenilworth) has, "A pize on it." + +10 See Letter 11, note 13. + +11 In a letter to Swift of Jan. 31, 1712, Sacheverell, after expressing his +indebtedness to St. John and Harley, said, "For yourself, good Doctor, who was +the first spring to move it, I can never sufficiently acknowledge the +obligation," and in a postscript he hinted that a place in the Custom House +which he heard was vacant might suit his brother. + +12 Thomas Yalden, D.D., (1671-1736), Addison's college friend, succeeded +Atterbury as preacher of Bridewell Hospital in 1713. In 1723 he was arrested +on suspicion of being involved in the Atterbury plot. + +13 Tablets. + +14 Sir Solomon de Medina, a Jew, was knighted in 1700. + +15 Davenant had been said to be the writer of papers which Swift contributed +to the Examiner. + +16 Henry Withers, a friend of "Duke" Disney (see Letter 16, note 20), was +appointed Lieutenant-General in 1707, and Major-General in 1712. On his death +in 1729 he was buried in Westminster Abbey. + +17 See Letter 36, note 18. + +18 Dyer's News Letter, the favourite reading of Sir Roger de Coverley +(Spectator, No. 127), was the work of John Dyer, a Jacobite journalist. In +the Tatler (No. 18) Addison says that Dyer was "justly looked upon by all the +fox-hunters in the nation as the greatest statesman our country has produced." +Lord Chief-Justice Holt referred to the News Letter as "a little scandalous +paper of a scandalous author" (Howell's State Trials, xiv. 1150). + + +Letter 40. + +1 Dr. John Sharp, made Archbishop of York in 1691, was called by Swift "the +harmless tool of others' hate." Swift believed that Sharp, owing to his +dislike of The Tale of a Tub, assisted in preventing the bishopric of Hereford +being offered to him. Sharp was an excellent preacher, with a taste for both +poetry and science. + +2 An edition of the Countess d'Aulnoy's Les Contes des Fees appeared in 1710, +in four volumes. + +3 Francis Godolphin, Viscount Rialton, the eldest son of Sidney, Earl of +Godolphin, succeeded his father as second Earl on Sept. 15, 1712. He held 3 +various offices, including that of Lord Privy Seal (1735-1740), and died in +1766, aged eighty-eight. He married, in 1698, Lady Henrietta Churchill, who +afterwards was Duchess of Marlborough in her own right. She died in 1733. + +4 See Letter 26, note 24. Ladies of the bed-chamber received 1000 pounds a +year. + +5 William O'Brien, third Earl of Inchiquin, succeeded his father in 1691, and +died in 1719. + +6 Lady Catherine Hyde was an unmarried daughter of Laurence Hyde, first Earl +of Rochester (see Letter 8, note 22). Notwithstanding Swift's express +statement that the lady to whom he here refers was the late Earl's daughter, +and the allusion to her sister, Lady Dalkeith, in Letter 60, note 26, she has +been confused by previous editors with her niece, Lady Catherine Hyde (see +Letter 26, note 24), daughter of the second Earl, and afterwards Duchess of +Queensberry. That lady, not long afterwards to be celebrated by Prior, was a +child under twelve when Swift wrote. + +7 Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), formerly Speaker of the House of Commons. + +8 See Letter 11, note 44. + +9 See Letter 34, note 10. + +10 See Letter 23, note 2. + +11 Charles Trimnel, made Bishop of Norwich in 1708, and Bishop of Winchester +in 1721, was strongly opposed to High Church doctrines. + +12 Jibe or jest. + +13 See Letter 22, note 4. + +14 The treaty concluded with Holland in 1711. + +15 Feb. 2 is the Purification of the Virgin Mary. + +16 See Letter 29, note 7. + +17 See Letter 11, note 53. + +18 Lady Mary Butler (see Letter 7, note 2 and Letter 3, note 40), daughter of +the Duke of Ormond, who married, in 1710, John, third Lord Ashburnham, +afterwards Earl of Ashburnham. + +19 See Letter 2, note 5. + +20 See Letter 36, note 14. + +21 Scroop Egerton, fifth Earl and first Duke of Bridgewater, married, in 1703, +Lady Elizabeth Churchill, third daughter of the Duke of Marlborough. She died +in 1714, aged twenty-six. + +22 See Letter 30, note 6. + +23 Heart. + +24 Edward Fowler, D.D., appointed Bishop of Gloucester in 1691, died in 1714. + +25 Isaac Manley (see Letter 3, note 3). + + + +Letter 41. + +1 This letter, the first of the series published by Hawkesworth, of which we +have the originals (see Preface), was addressed "To Mrs. Johnson at her +Lodgings over against St. Mary's Church, near Capell Street, Dublin, Ireland"; +and was endorsed by her "Recd. Mar. 1st." + +2 See Letter 10, note 28. + +3 See Letter 12, note 22. + +4 See Letter 23, note 2. + +5 Charles Ross, son of the eleventh Baron Ross, was Colonel of the Royal Irish +Dragoons from 1695 to 1705. He was a Lieutenant-General under the Duke of +Ormond in Flanders, and died in 1732 (Dalton, ii. 212, iii. 34). + +6 Charles Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, succeeded his father (see Letter 31, +note 2) as third Duke of Bolton in 1722. He married, as his second wife, +Lavinia Fenton, the actress who took the part of Polly Peacham in Gay's +Beggars Opera in 1728, and he died in 1754. + +7 John Blith, or Bligh, son of the Right Hon. Thomas Bligh, M.P. of Rathmore, +Co. Meath (see Letter 4, note 22). In August 1713 he married Lady Theodosia +Hyde, daughter of Edward, third Earl of Clarendon. Lord Berkeley of Stratton +wrote, "Lady Theodosia Hyde. . . is married to an Irish Mr. Blythe, of a good +estate, who will soon have enough of her, if I can give any guess" (Wentworth +Papers, 353). In 1715 Bligh was made Baron Clifton, of Rathmore, and Earl of +Darnley in 1725. He died in 1728. + +8 Obliterated. + +9 Word obliterated; probably "found." Forster reads "oors, dee MD." + +10 Words obliterated. + +11 See Letter 31, note 1 and Letter 10, note 31. + +12 See Letter 20, Apr. 13-14, 1711 and Letter 9, note 20. + +13 Words obliterated. Forster reads "fourth. Euge, euge, euge." + +14 Words obliterated; one illegible. + +15 See Letter 2, note 14. + +16 See Letter 1, note 12. + +17 Service. + +18 "Aplon"--if this is the right word--means, of course, apron--the apron +referred to on Letter 39, Jan. 25, 1711-12. + +19 Words obliterated. + +20 As the son of a "brother" of the Club. + +21 The Archbishop, Dr. King. + +22 See Tacitus, Annals, book ii. Cn. Calpurnius Piso, who was said to have +poisoned Germanicus, was found with his throat cut. + +23 This satire on Marlborough concludes-- + "And Midas now neglected stands, + With asses' ears and dirty hands." + +24 Dr. Robinson, Bishop of Bristol. + +25 Some Remarks on the Barrier Treaty. + +26 Several words are obliterated. Forster reads "MD MD, for we must always +write to MD MD MD, awake or asleep;" but the passage is illegible. + +27 See Letter 11, note 39 and Letter 61, note 5. + +28 A long erasure. Forster reads "Go to bed. Help pdfr. Rove pdfr. MD MD. +Nite darling rogues." + +29 Word obliterated. Forster reads "saucy." + +30 Letter from. + +31 Words partially obliterated. + +32 Swift wrote by mistake, "On Europe Britain's safety lies"; the slip was +pointed out by Hawkesworth. All the verse is written in the MSS. as prose. + +33 "Them" (MS.). + +34 See Wyons Queen Anne, ii. 366-7. + +35 A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue, +in a Letter to the Most Honourable Robert, Earl of Oxford, 1712. + +36 "Help him to draw up the representation" (omitting every other letter). + +37 See Letter 23, note 13. + +38 Robert Benson. + +39 The Story of the St. Albans Ghost, 1712. + +40 "Usually" (MS.). + +41 These words are partially obliterated. + +42 This sentence is obliterated. Forster reads, "Farewell, mine deelest rife +deelest char Ppt, MD MD MD Ppt, FW, Lele MD, ME ME ME ME aden FW MD Lazy ones +Lele Lele all a Lele." + + + +Letter 42. + +1 Endorsed by Stella "Recd. Mar. 19." + +2 "Would" (MS.). + +3 Conversation. + +4 John Guillim's Display of Heraldrie appeared first in 1610. The edition to +which Swift refers was probably that of 1679, which is wrongly described as +the "fifth edition," instead of the seventh. + +5 "One of the horses here mentioned may have been the celebrated Godolphin +Arabian from whom descends all the blue blood of the racecourse, and who was +the grandfather of Eclipse" (Larwood's Story of the London Parks, 99). + +6 See Letter 36, note 6. + +7 Dorothea, daughter of James Stopford, of New Hall, County Meath, and sister +of Lady Newtown-Butler, was the second wife of Edward, fourth Earl of Meath, +who died without issue in 1707. She afterwards married General Richard Gorges +(see Journal, April 5, 1713), of Kilbrue, County Meath, and Swift wrote an +epitaph on them--"Doll and Dickey." + +8 Here follow some obliterated words. + +9 Barber (see Letter 12, note 6). + +10 "The editors supposed Zinkerman (which they printed in capitals) to mean +some outlandish or foreign distinction; but it is the little language for +'gentleman'" (Forster). + +11 The Hon. Charles Butler, second son of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, eldest son +of James, Duke of Ormond, was elevated to the peerage of Ireland in 1693 as +Earl of Arran, and was also created a peer of England, as Baron Butler. He +held various offices under William III. and Queen Anne, and died without issue +in 1759. + +12 "They" (MS.). + +13 See Letter 31, Jan. 12, 1711-12 and Letter 3, note 22. + +14 See Letter 11, note 13. + +15 Sir William Wyndham, Bart., of Orchard Wyndham, married Lady Catherine +Seymour, daughter of the sixth Duke of Somerset (see Letter 25, note 1). +Their eldest son, Charles, succeeded his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, as Earl +of Egremont; and the second son, Percy, was afterwards created Earl of +Thomond. The Wyndhams' house was in Albemarle Street; the loss was over +20,000 pounds; but they were "much more concerned for their servants than for +all the other losses" (Wentworth Papers, 274). The Duke of Ormond "worked as +hard as any of the ordinary men, and gave many guineas about to encourage the +men to work hard." The Queen gave the Wyndhams temporary lodgings in "St. +James's house." + +16 See Letter 3, note 31. + +17 What. + +18 Devil's. + +19 "To" (MS.). + +20 See Letter 35, note 25. + +21 See Letter 41, note 34. + +22 See Letter 12, Jan. 1, 1710-11. + +23 Peregrine Hyde Osborne, Earl of Danby, afterwards Marquis of Caermarthen +and third Duke of Leeds (see Letter 56, note 6). His sister Mary was married +to the Duke of Beaufort (see Letter 39, note 7). + +24 See Letter 9, note 17. + +25 Several undecipherable words. Forster reads, "Pidy Pdfr, deelest Sollahs." + +26 "K" (MS.). It should, of course, be "Queen's." + +27 See Letter 22, note 18. + + + +Letter 43. + +1 Addressed "To Mrs. Johnson, at her lodgings over against St. Mary's Church, +near Capel Street, Dublin, Ireland." Endorsed "Mar. 30." + +2 See Letter 9, note 1. + +3 The Mohocks succeeded the Scowrers of William III.'s reign. Gay (Trivia, +iii. 325) says + "Who has not heard the Scowrers' midnight fame? + Who has not trembled at the Mohocks' name?" +Lady Wentworth (Wentworth Papers, 277) says: "They put an old woman into a +hogshead, and rolled her down a hill; they cut off some noses, others' hands, +and several barbarous tricks, without any provocation. They are said to be +young gentlemen; they never take any money from any." See also the Spectator, +Nos. 324, 332, and 347 (where Budgell alludes to "the late panic fear"), and +Defoe's Review for March 15, 1712. Swift was in considerable alarm about the +Mohocks throughout March, and said that they were all Whigs. The reports that +numbers of persons, including men of figure, had joined together to commit +assaults in the streets, made many fear to leave their houses at night. A +proclamation was issued for the suppressing of riots and the discovery of +those guilty of the late outrages; but it seems probable that the disorders +were not more frequent than might be expected from time to time in a great +city. + +4 Henry Davenant, son of Charles Davenant (see Letter 8, note 14), was +Resident at Frankfort. Macky described him as "very giddy-headed, with some +wit," to which Swift added, "He is not worth mentioning." + +5 Thomas Burnet, youngest son of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, was at +this time a young man about town of no good reputation. Afterwards he turned +his attention to the law, and was appointed a judge of the Court of Common +Pleas in 1741. He was knighted in 1745, and died in 1753. + +6 By Arbuthnot, written to recommend the peace proposals of the Government. +The full title was, Law is a Bottomless Pit. Exemplified in the case of the +Lord Strutt, John Bull, Nicholas Frog, and Lewis Baboon; who spent all they +had in a Law Suit. + +7 See Letter 25, note 6 and Letter 41, note 35. + +8 Our little language. + +9 Forster reads, "two deelest nauty nown MD." + +10 See Letter 6, note 12. + +11 William Diaper, son of Joseph Diaper of Bridgewater, was sent to Balliol +College, Oxford, in 1699, at the age of fourteen. He entered the Church, and +was curate at Brent, Somerset; but he died in 1717, aged twenty-nine. + +12 The Examiner (vol. ii. No. 15) complained of general bribery and oppression +on the part of officials and underlings in the public service, especially in +matters connected with the army; but the writer said that the head (Lord +Lansdowne) was just and liberal in his nature, and easy in his fortune, and a +man of honour and virtue. + +13 Sealed documents given to show that a merchant's goods are entered. + +14 Thomas Lawrence, First Physician to Queen Anne, and Physician-General to +the Army, died in 1714 (Gentleman's Magazine, 1815, ii. 17). His daughter +Elizabeth was second wife to Lord Mohun. + +15 See Letter 17, note 11. + +16 See Letter 26, note 2. + +17 No officer named Newcomb appears in Dalton's Army Lists; but the allusion +to General Ross, further on in Letter 43, adds to the probability that Swift +was referring to one of the sons of Sir Thomas Newcomen, Bart., who was killed +at the siege of Enniskillen. Beverley Newcomen (Dalton, iii. 52, iv. 60), who +was probably Swift's acquaintance, was described in a petition of 1706 as a +Lieutenant who had served at Killiecrankie, and had been in Major-General +Ross's regiment ever since 1695. + +18 Atterbury. + +19 Evidently a familiar quotation at the time. Forster reads, incorrectly, +"But the more I lite MD." + +20 See Letter 41, note 5. + +21 See Letter 12, note 1. + +22 In 1681, Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of John Ayres, of the City of +London, then aged about twenty, became the fourth and last wife of Heneage +Finch, Earl of Winchelsea, who died in 1689. She lived until 1745. + +23 See Letter 23, note 17. + +24 Enoch Sterne (see Letter 4, note 17). + +25 Lieut.-Col. Robert Sterne was in Col. Frederick Hamilton's Regiment in +1695. + +26 Letter. + +27 See Letter 13, note 10. + +28 The title was, John Bull in his Senses: being the Second Part of Law is a +Bottomless Pit. + +29 See Letter 36, note 6. + +30 Cf. note 9 above. Forster reads "nautyas," when the words would mean "as +naughty as nine," apparently. + +31 See note 19 above. + +32 In 1549, James, second Earl of Arran, was made Duke of Chatelherault by +Henry II. of France. His eldest son died without issue; the second, John, +became first Marquis of Hamilton, and was great-grandfather of Lady Anne +Hamilton (Duchess of Hamilton), mother of the Duke of Swift's Journal. The +Earl of Abercorn, on the other hand, was descended from Claud, third son of +the Earl of Arran, but in the male line; and his claim was therefore the +stronger, according to the French law of inheritance. + +33 Madams. + +34 This word is doubtful. Forster reads "cobbled." + +35 A mistake, apparently, for "writing." The letter was begun on March 8. + +36 Silly jade. + +37 O Lord, what a clutter. + +38 On the death of Dr. William Graham, Dean of Wells, it was reported that +Swift was to be his successor. Dr. Brailsford, however, received the +appointment. + +39 Abel Roper (1665-1726), a Tory journalist, published, thrice weekly, the +Postboy, to which Swift sometimes sent paragraphs. Boyer (Political State, +1711, p. 678) said that Roper was only the tool of a party; "there are men of +figure and distinction behind the curtain, who furnish him with such +scandalous reflections as they think proper to cast upon their antagonists." + +40 Joe Beaumont. + +41 Beg your pardon, Madams, I'm glad you like your apron (see Letter 41, note +18). + +42 This word was smudged by Swift. + +43 I cannot find Somers in contemporary lists of officials. Cf. Letter 30, +note 16 and Letter 17, note 3. + +44 Obliterated and doubtful. + +45 Words obliterated and illegible. Forster reads, conjecturally, "Pray send +Pdfr the ME account that I may have time to write to Parvisol." + + + +Letter 44. + +1 Addressed to "Mrs. Dingley," etc. Endorsed "Apr. 14." + +2 "Is" (MS.). + +3 The words after "yet" are partially obliterated. + +4 See Letter 7, note 35. + +5 John Cecil, sixth Earl of Exeter (died 1721). + +6 See Letter 22, note 5. + +7 Arbuthnot. + +8 A resort of the Tories. + +9 Deane Swift, a son of Swift's uncle Godwin, was a merchant in Lisbon. + +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, 28O. 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 Etext of The Journal to Stella +by Jonathan Swift + |