Letter 26.
1 The widow of Sir John Lyndon, who was appointed a justice of the Court of
King's Bench in Ireland in 1682, and died in 1699.
2 "Marmaduke Coghill, LL.D., was judge of the Prerogative Court in Ireland.
About this time he courted a lady, and was soon to have been married to her;
but unfortunately a cause was brought to trial before him, wherein a man was
sued for beating his wife. When the matter was agitated, the Doctor gave his
opinion, 'That although a man had no right to beat his wife unmercifully, yet
that, with such a little cane or switch as he then held in his hand, a husband
was at liberty, and was invested with a power, to give his wife moderate
correction'; which opinion determined the lady against having the Doctor. He
died an old man and a bachelor" (Deane Swift). See also Lascelles, Liber
Muner. Hibern., part ii. p. 80.
3 This was a common exclamation of the time, but the spelling varies in
different writers. It seems to be a corruption of "God so," or "God ho," but
there may have been a confusion with "cat-so," derived from the Italian
"cazzo."
4 See Letter 9, note 28. Mrs. Manley was now editing the Examiner.
5 Sir Henry Belasyse was sent to Spain as Commissioner to inquire into the
state of the English forces in that country. The son of Sir Richard Belasyse,
Knight of Ludworth, Durham, Sir Henry finished a chequered career in 1717,
when he was buried in Westminster Abbey (Dalton's Army Lists, ii. 228). In
his earlier years he served under the United Provinces, and after the
accession of William was made a Brigadier-General in the English army, and in
1694, Lieutenant-General. In 1702 he was second in command of the expedition
to Cadiz, but he was dismissed the service in consequence of the looting of
Port St. Mary. Subsequently he was elected M.P. for Durham, and in 1713 was
appointed Governor of Berwick.
6 Atterbury.
7 See Letter 3, note 20.
8 Sir John Powell, a Judge of the Queen's Bench, died in 1713, aged sixty-
eight. He was a kindly as well as able judge.
9 See June 7th, 1711.
10 This Tisdall has been described as a Dublin merchant; but in all
probability he was Richard Tisdall, Registrar of the Irish Court of Chancery,
and M.P. for Dundalk (1707-1713) and County Louth (1713-1727). He married
Marian, daughter of Richard Boyle, M.P., and died in 1742. Richard Tisdall
was a relative of Stella's suitor, the Rev. William Tisdall, and years
afterwards Swift took an interest in his son Philip, who became a Secretary of
State and Leader of the Irish House of Commons.
11 "In Ireland there are not public paths from place to place, as in England"
(Deane Swift).
12 See Letter 24, note 6.
13 Probably a son of John Manley, M.P. (see Letter 5, note 8).
14 See Letter 11, note 45.
15 Dr. George Stanhope, who was Vicar of Lewisham as well as of Deptford. He
was a popular preacher and a translator of Thomas a Kempis and other religious
writers.
16 See Letter 3, note 17.
17 A favourite word with Swift, when he wished to indicate anything obscure or
humble.
18 See Letter 17, note 11.
19 See June 7th, 1711 and notes.
20 See Letter 17, note 23.
21 Thomas Mills (1671-174O) was made Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in 17O8.
A man of learning and a liberal contributor to the cost of church
restorations, he is charged by Archbishop King with giving all the valuable
livings in his gift to his non-resident relatives.
22 Tooke was appointed printer of the London Gazette in 1711 (see Letter 3,
note 8).
23 See Letter 5, note 10
24 Lady Jane Hyde, the elder daughter of Henry Hyde, Earl of Rochester (see
Letter 5, note 11), married William Capel, third Earl of Essex. Her daughter
Charlotte's husband, the son of the Earl of Jersey, was created Earl of
Clarendon in 1776. Lady Jane's younger sister, Catherine, who became the
famous Duchess of Queensberry, Gay's patroness, is represented by Prior, in
The Female Phaeton, as jealous, when a young girl, of her sister, "Lady
Jenny," who went to balls, and "brought home hearts by dozens."
25 See Letter 3, note 2.
26 John Holles, Duke of Newcastle, had held the Privy Seal from 17O5, and was
regarded by the Ministers as a possible plenipotentiary in the event of their
negotiations for a peace being successful. He married Lady Margaret
Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish, second Duke of
Newcastle, and was one of the richest nobles in England. His death, on July
15, 1711, was the result of a fall while stag-hunting. The Duke's only
daughter married, in 1713, Edward, Lord Harley, the Earl of Oxford's son.
