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 a.s.sured by a gentleman who saw him do it when Amba.s.sador at Turin. He walked round the room, and told each of them in his turn what he was to write. One perhaps was a letter to the emperor, another to an old friend, a third to a mistress, a fourth to a statesman, and so on: yet he carried so many and so different connections in his head, all at the same time."
21 Francis Atterbury, Dean of Carlisle, had taken an active part in the defence of Dr. Sacheverell. After a long period of suspense he received the appointment of Dean of Christ Church, and in 1713 he was made Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster. Atterbury was on intimate terms with Swift, Pope, and other writers on the Tory side, and Addison--at whose funeral the Bishop officiated--described him as "one of the greatest geniuses of his age."
22 John Carteret, second Baron Carteret, afterwards to be well known as a statesman, succeeded to the peerage in 1695, and became Earl Granville and Viscount Carteret on the death of his brother in 1744. He died in 1763. In October 1710, when twenty years of age, he had married Frances, only daughter of Sir Robert Worsley, Bart., of Appuldurcombe, Isle of Wight.
23 Dillon Ashe, D.D., Vicar of Finglas, and brother of the Bishop of Clogher. In 1704 he was made Archdeacon of Clogher, and in 1706 Chancellor of Armagh. He seems to have been too fond of drink.
24 Henley (see Letter 6, note 15) married Mary, daughter of Peregrine Bertie, the second son of Montagu, Earl of Lindsey, and with her obtained a fortune of 30,000 pounds. After Henley"s death his widow married her relative, Henry Bertie, third son of James, Earl of Abingdon.
25 Hebrews v. 6.
LETTER 13.
1 Probably Mrs. Manley and John Barber (see Letter 11, note 28 and Letter 12, note 6).
2 Sir Andrew Fountaine"s (see Letter 5, note 28) father, Andrew Fountaine, M.P., married Sarah, daughter of Sir Thomas Chicheley, Master of the Ordnance. Sir Andrew"s sister, Elizabeth, married Colonel Edward Clent. The "scoundrel brother," Brig, died in 1746, aged sixty-four (Blomefield"s Norfolk, vi. 233-36).
3 Dame Overdo, the justice"s wife in Ben Jonson"s Bartholomew Fair.
4 See Letter 3, note 5.
5 Atterbury, who had recently been elected Prolocutor to the Lower House of Convocation.
6 Dr. Sterne, Dean of St. Patrick"s, was not married.
7 January 6 was Twelfth-night.
8 Garraway"s Coffee-house, in Change Alley, was founded by Thomas Garway, the first coffee-man who sold and retailed tea. A room upstairs was used for sales of wine "by the candle."
9 Sir Constantine Phipps, who had taken an active part in Sacheverell"s defence. Phipps" interference in elections in the Tory interest made him very unpopular in Dublin, and he was recalled on the death of Queen Anne.
10 Joseph Trapp, one of the seven poets alluded to in the distich:-- "Alma novem genuit celebres Rhedycina poetas, Bubb, Stubb, Gru Trapp wrote a tragedy in 1704, and in 1708 was chosen the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In 1710 he published pamphlets on behalf of Sacheverell, and in 1712 Swift secured for him the post of chaplain to Bolingbroke. During his latter years he held several good livings.
Elsewhere Swift calls him a "c.o.xcomb."
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 pa.s.sed 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts, 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 t.i.tle 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 hoa.r.s.er throat, From s.m.u.tty 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.