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.
NOTES.
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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 Killalawho were to have joined with him in the negotiationshaving 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) NOTES.
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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 NOTES.
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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.