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 Killala--who were to have joined with him in the
negotiations--having 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) 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 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.
24 This is, of course, a joke; Swift was never introduced at Court.
25 Captain Delaval (see Letter 5, note 6).
26 Admiral Sir Charles Wager (1666-1743) served in the West Indies from 17O7
to 17O9, and gained great wealth from the prizes he took. Under George I. he
was Comptroller of the Navy, and in 1733 he became First Lord of the
Admiralty, a post which he held until 1742.
27 See Letter 7, note 27.
28 See Letter 5, note 13.
29 Isaac Bickerstaff's "valentine" sent him a nightcap, finely wrought by a
maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth (Tatler, No. 141). The "nightcap" was a
periwig with a short tie and small round head, and embroidered nightcaps were
worn chiefly by members of the graver professions.
30 Tatler, No. 237.
31 Tatler, No. 23O.
32 "Returning home at night, you'll find the sink
Strike your offended sense with double stink."
("Description of a City Shower, 11. 5, 6.)
33 Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
34 See Letter 1, note 3.
35 See Letter 8, note 5.
36 See Letter 6, note 4.
37 See Letter 1, note 11.
38 The bellman's accents. Cf. Pepys' Diary, Jan. 16, 1659-60: "I staid up
till the bellman came by with his bell just under my window as I was writing
of this very line, and cried, 'Past one of the clock, and a cold, frosty,
windy morning.'"
