this; but the fear of your being gone abroad, if they went later, occasioned that trouble given you by, Sir,

Your most sincere,

and most faithful humble servant,

M. ORMOND.

TO LORD-TREASURER OXFORD,

ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER, THE MARCHIONESS OF CAERMARTHEN.

*

MY LORD,

November 21, 1713.

YOUR lordship is the person in the world to whom every body ought to be silent upon such an occasion as this, which is only to be supported by the greatest wisdom and strength of mind : wherein, God knows, the wisest and best of us, who would presume to offer their thoughts, are far your inferiors. It is true, indeed, that a great misfortune is apt to weaken the mind, and disturb the understanding. This, indeed, might be some pretence to us to administer our consolations, if we had been wholly strangers to the person gone. But, my lord, whoever had the honour to know her, wants a comforter as much as your lordship: be cause, though their loss is not so great, yet they

*The marchioness was married Nov. 15, 1712; brought to bed of a son (afterward Duke of Leeds), Nov. 6, 1713; and died Nov. 20, aged 28. The letter of consolation is beautifully and feelingly written.

have not the same firmness and prudence, to support the want of a friend, a patroness, a benefactor, as you have to support that of a daughter. My lord, both religion and reason forbid me to have the least concern for that lady's death, upon her own account; 'and he must be an ill Christian, or a perfect stranger to her virtues, who would not wish himself, with all submission to God Almighty's will, in her condition. But your lordship, who has lost such a daughter, and we, who have lost such a friend, and the world, which has lost such an example, have, in our several degrees, greater cause to lament, than, perhaps, was ever given by any private person before: for, my lord, I have sat down to think of every amiable quality that could enter into the composition of a lady, and could not single out one, which she did not possess in as high a perfection as human nature is capable of. But as to your lordship's own particular, as it is an unconceivable misfortune to have lost such a daughter, so it is a possession which few can boast of, to have had such a daughter. I have often said to your lordship, "That I never knew any one by many degrees so happy in their domestics as you:" and I affirm you are so still, though not by so many degrees: from whence it is very obvious, that your lordship should reflect upon what you have left, and not upon what you have lost.

To say the truth, my lord, you began to be too happy for a mortal; much more happy than is usual with the dispensations of Providence long to continue. You had been the great instrument of preserving your country from foreign and domestic ruin: you have had the felicity of establishing your family in the greatest lustre, without any obligation to the bounty of your prince, or any industry of your own: you have triumphed over the violence and treachery

of your enemies, by your courage and abilities; and by the steadiness of your temper, over the inconstancy and caprice of your friends. Perhaps your lordship has felt too much complacency within your self, upon this universal success: and God Almighty, who would not disappoint your endeavours for the public, thought fit to punish you with a domestic loss, where he knew your heart was most exposed; and at the same time, has fulfilled, his own wise purposes, by rewarding in a better life, that excellent creature he has taken from you,

I know not, my lord, why I write this to you, nor hardly what I am writing. I am sure, it is not from any compliance with form; it is not from thinking that I can give your lordship any ease. I think it was an impulse upon me that I should say some thing and whether I shall send you what I have written, I am yet in doubt, &c.

JON. SWIFT.

SIR,

FROM JUDGE NUTLEY. *

Dublin, Nov. 21, 1713.

I CANNOT help telling you that I think you do me great wrong in charging me with being too civil,

* Mr Richard Nutley went to Ireland as counsel to the commissioners of the forfeited estates in that kingdom; and acquired such practice as enabled him to allow Mr. William Nutley, a dissipated elder brother in England, 3001. a-year out of his profits, in lieu of an estate of 1401. a-year which he was fearful would be alienated from the family. William was the author of a little poem, called "Dr Radcliffe's Advice to Lady Dursley ;" and,

(

and with want of plainness in my letters to you. If you will be abundant in your favours to me, how can I forbear thanking you? and if you will call that by a wrong name, that is your fault, and not mine. I hope I shall be able to convince you of your mistake, by putting you in the place of the party obliged; and then I will show you that I can be as ready as you are in doing good offices for a friend, and when I have done them, can treat you as you do me, as if you were the benefactor, and I had received the favour: I am sorry I did not keep a copy of my letter to you, that I might compare it with that which I shall have from you, whenever I shall be so happy as to receive one from. you upon that subject; for I am thoroughly persuaded, you will then as much outdo me in civility of expression, as you do now in the power of conferring favours.

By this time I hope, I have satisfied you, that it is fit for me (and I am resolved) to express the sense I have of your friendship in as high a manner as I can, until I have an opportunity of making a better return but to show you, that it is as uneasy to me to write civil things, as it can be to you to read them, I will, as often as I can, do you services, that I may not be at the trouble or bear the reproach of being complaisant.

I am so much a philosopher as to know that to be great, is to be, but not to be thought, miserable; and I am of the opinion of those among them, who allow retaliation; and therefore since

when his circumstances were much in the decline, received a most poble benefaction from that benevolent physician.-.-F.

you have declared your intention of loading me with cares, I will, as far as I can, make you sensible of the hurt you do me, by laying a like burden

upon you.

I thank you most sincerely for the clear and full information you have given me of your grand church affair. It entirely agrees with my judgment; for I do think that what you propose will be the best service that has been done to this church and kingdom since the restoration, and the doing it soon will be of great advantage to the queen's affairs at this juncture. For, it has been given out among the party, that the ministry have an eye toward the whigs, and that if they now exert themselves, they will soon have an open declaration in their favour:

have a remarkable proof of this; for Mr Broderick has engaged a considerable number of the parliament men (many of them not of his party) to promise him their votes for speaker, by telling them he has the approbation of the ministry and lord-lieutenant; and since his grace has made known her majesty's pleasure, a new word is given out that the liberties of the people are in the last danger, and that the crown is attempting the nomination of a speaker. 1 I own I am no politician; but I think I understand the posture of affairs here, and I am assured that the church party is so strong, that if any thing be done on your side to excite their zeal, and discourage their adversaries, there will be but a short struggle here. But if the whigs are permitted to hope, or what is as bad, to boast of their expectations, and nothing is done to enable others to confute them, they will, it is probable, be able to give trouble to the government; and what is now easy to be effected, will become difficult by delay; and I fear the want of doing this in time will occa