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 Middles.e.x.
17 Evelyn Pierrepont, fifth Earl of Kingston, was made Marquis of Dorchester in 1706. He became Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull in 1715, and died in 1726. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was his daughter.
18 See Letter 12, note 22.
19 Sir Thomas Thynne, first Viscount Weymouth, who died in 1714, aged seventy-four, married Frances, daughter of Heneage Finch, second Earl of Winchelsea.
20 See Letter 7, note 31.
21 Swift is referring to St. John"s defence of Brydges (see Letter 21, note 14.)
22 "He does not mean smoking, which he never practised, but snuffing up cut-and-dry tobacco, which sometimes was just coloured with Spanish snuff; and this he used all his life, but would not own that he took snuff" (Deane Swift).
23 Beaumont (see Letter 1, note 2).
24 Sir Alexander Cairnes, M.P. for Monaghan, a banker, was created a baronet in 1706, and died in 1732.
25 See Letter 6, note 44 and Letter 17, note 4.
26 Isaac Manley (see Letter 3, note 3.)
27 Sir Thomas Frankland.
28 See Letter 5, note 8.
29 Hockley-in-the-Hole, Clerkenwell, a place of public diversion, was famous for its bear and bull baitings.
30 Sir William Seymour, second son of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., of Berry Pomeroy, retired from the army in 1717, and died in 1728 (Dalton"s Army Lists). He was wounded at Landen and Vigo, and saw much service between his appointment as a Captain of Fusiliers in 1686 and his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1707.
31 No. 45.
32 "And now I conceive the main design I had in writing these papers is fully executed. A great majority of the nation is at length thoroughly convinced that the Queen proceeded with the highest wisdom, in changing her Ministry and Parliament" (Examiner, No. 45).
33 Edward Harley (see Letter 13, note 17).
34 See Letter 24, note 2.
35 Tom Ashe was an elder brother of the Bishop of Clogher. He had an estate of more than 1000 pounds a year in County Meath, and Nichols describes him as of droll appearance, thick and short in person: "a facetious, pleasant companion, but the most eternal unwearied punster that ever lived."
36 "Even Joseph Beaumont, the son, was at this time an old man, whose grey locks were venerable; yet his father lived until about 1719" (Deane Swift).
Letter 25.
1 Sir William Wyndham, Bart. (1687-1740), was M.P. for Somerset. He was a close partisan of Bolingbroke"s, and in 1713 introduced the Schism Bill, which drove Oxford from office. Wyndham became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was afterwards a leading opponent of Walpole. His wife, Lady Catherine Seymour (died 1713), was the second daughter of Charles, Duke of Somerset (see Letter 28, note 8).
2 Swift was afterwards President of this Club, which is better known as "the Society."
3 Perhaps Daniel Reading, M.P. for Newcastle, Co. Dublin.
4 Afterwards Congreve formed a friendship with the Whigs; or, as Swift put it, "Took proper principles to thrive, And so might every dunce alive."
5 Atterbury.
6 This pamphlet, published in February 1712, was called "A Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue, in a Letter to the... Lord High Treasurer."
7 No. 47
8 Francis Gastrell, Canon of Christ Church, was made Bishop of Chester in 1713. His valuable Not.i.tia Cestriensis was published in 1845-50.
9 Near Fulham.
10 See Letter 12, note 21.