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.
