Letter 25.
1 Sir William Wyndham, Bart. (1687-174O), 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 Notitia Cestriensis was published in 1845-50.
9 Near Fulham.
10 See Letter 12, note 21.
11 The daughters of Meinhardt Schomberg, Duke of Leinster, in Ireland, and
third Duke of Schomberg. Lady Mary married Count Dagenfeldt, and Lady
Frederica married, first, the Earl of Holderness, and, secondly, Earl Fitz
Walter.
12 Thomas Harley.
13 See Letter 19, note 3.
