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.
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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 Dukewho was then only twenty−sevenmarried, 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.
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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.
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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.
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17 Service.
18 “Aplon”if this is the right wordmeans, of course, apronthe 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.