SIR,

FROM LORD CARTERET.

Arlington-Street, June 20, 1724.

To begin by confessing, myself in the wrong, will, I hope, be some proof to you, that none of the stations which I have gone through have hitherto had the effects upon me which you apprehend. If a month's silence has been turned to my disadvantage in your esteem, it has at least had this good effect, that I am convinced by the kindness of your reproaches, as well as by the goodness of your advice, that you still retain some part of your former friendship for me, of which I am the more confident from the agreeable freedom with which you express yourself: and I shall not forfeit my pretensions to the continuance of it, by doing any thing that shall give you occasion to think that I am insensible of it.

But to come to the point: your first letter is dated the 28th of April, your second the 9th of June. By the date of this, you will see that the interval of silence may be accounted for by a few excursions which I have made into the country: therefore I desire you will put the most favourable sense.

The principal affair you mention is under examination, and till that is over, I am not informed sufficiently to make any other judgment of the

*That of Mr Wood's patent for coining halfpence and farthings for Ireland, which was referred to the lords of the privy-council of England, who, on the 24th of July 1724, drew up a report, justifying the patentee.-B.

matter, than that which I am naturally led to make, by the general aversion which appears to it in the

whole nation.

I hope the nation will not suffer by my being in this great station; and if I can contribute to its prosperity, I shall think it the honour and happiness of my life. I desire you to believe what I say, and particularly when I profess myself to be with great truth, Sir,

Your most faithful and

affectionate humble servant,

CARTERET.

TO LORD CARTERET.

MY LORD,

July 9, 1724.

I HUMBLY claim the privilege of an inferior, to be the last writer, yet, with great acknowledgments for your condescension in answering my letters, I cannot but complain of you for putting me in the wrong. I am in the circumstances of a waitingwoman, who told her lady, "That nothing vexed her more than to be caught in a lie.” But what is worse, I have discovered in myself somewhat of the bully; and after all my rattling, you have brought me down to be as humble as the most distant attender at your levee. It is well your excellency's talents are in few hands; for, if it were otherwise, we who pretend to be free speakers in quality of philosophers, should be utterly cured of our forwardness; at least I am afraid there will be an end of mine, with regard to your excellency. Yet, my lord, I am ten years older than I was when I had

the honour to see you last, and consequently ten times more testy. Therefore I foretel that you, who could so easily conquer so captious a person, and of so little consequence, will quickly subdue this whole kingdom to love and reverence you. I am, with the greatest respect,

My Lord, &c.

JON. SWIFT.

TO ARCHBISHOP KING.

MY LORD,

Dublin, July 14, 1724.

YOUR grace will have received, before this comes to your hands, an account of the primate's death, * who died yesterday, at twelve o'clock at noon.

He

* When our author was chaplain to Lord Berkeley, he was set aside from the deanery of Derry, on account of youth; but, as if his stars had destined to him a parallel revenge, he lived to see the Bishop of Derry afterward set aside on account of age. That prelate had been Archbishop of Dublin many years, and had been long celebrated for his wit and learning, when Dr Lindsay died. Upon his death, Archbishop King immediately laid claim to the primacy, as a preferment to which he had a right from his station in the see of Dublin, and from his acknowledged character in the church. Neither of these pretensions were prevalent: he was loaked upon as too far advanced in years to be removed. The reason alleged was as mortifying as the refusal itself: but the archbishop had no opportunity of showing his resentment, except to the new primate, Dr Boulter, whom he received at his own house, and in his dining-parlour, without rising from his chair; and to whom he made an apology, by saying, in his usual strain of wit, and with his usual sneering countenance, "My lord, I am certain your grace will forgive me, because you know I am too old to rise." See Orrery's Remarks, Let. iii.-W. B.

had left off spitting for about ten days before; and the want of that is thought to have been the immediate cause of his death, although he eat heartily until the two last days. He has left the Bishop of Kildare, and his steward, Mr Morgan, his executors, who were both out of town; but I suppose are sent for. Some who formerly belonged to him think he has left 40,000l.; others report he died poor.

The vogue is, that your grace will succeed him, if you please: but I am too great a stranger to your present situation at court to know what to judge. But if there were virtue enough, I could wish your grace would accept the offer, if it should be made you; because I would have your name left to posterity among the primates; and because entering into a new station is entering, after a sort, on a new lease of life; and because it might be hoped, that your grace would be advised with about a successor; and because that diocese would require your grace's ability and spirit to reform it; and because-but I should never be at an end if I were to number up the reasons why I would have your grace in the highest stations the crown can give you.

I found all the papers in the cabinet relating to Dr Stephen's hospital, and therefore I brought them home to the deanery. I opened the cabinet in the presence of Mr Bouhereau, † and saw one paper, which proved a bank note for 5001. The greatness of the sum startled me, but I found it belonged to the same hospital; I was in pain, because workmen were in the room and about the house. I therefore went this morning to St Sepulchre's; and,

*Dr Ellis.-N.

+ A French clergyman.-F.

in the presence of Mrs Green,* I took away the note, and have it secured in my cabinet, leaving her my receipt for it, and am very proud to find that a scrip under my hand will pass for 500l. I wish your grace a good journey to the establishment of your health; and am, with the greatest respect, My Lord,

Your grace's most dutiful

and most humble servant,

JON. SWIFT.

TO EDWARD, EARL OF OXFORD.

MY LORD,

July, 1724.

ALTHOUGH I had, for two years past, inured myself to expect the death of my lord your father, from the frequent accounts of the bad condition of his health, yet the news of it struck me so sensibly, that I had not spirit enough to condole with your lordship, as I ought to have done, for so great a loss to the world and yourself. It is true, indeed, you no longer wanted his care and tenderness, nor his example to incite you to virtue; but his friendship and conversation you will ever want, because they are qualities so rare in the world, and in which he so much excelled all others. It has pleased me, in the midst of my grief, to hear that he preserved the greatness, and calmness, and intrepidity of his mind to his last minutes: for it was fit that such a life

*The archbishop's housekeeper.-F.

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VOL. XVI.