EXTRACT FROM THE MS. DIARY OF BP. KENNET.*

When

"1713. DR SWIFT came into the coffeehouse, and had a bow from every body but me. I came to the antichamber to wait before prayers, Dr Swift was the principal man of talk and business, and acted as a master of requests. He was soliciting the Earl of Arran to speak to his brother the Duke of Ormond, to get a chaplain's place established in the garrison of Hull for Mr Fiddes, a clergyman in that neighbourhood, who had lately been in gaol, and published sermons to pay fees. He was promising Mr Thorold to undertake with my lordtreasurer, that, according to his petition, he should obtain a salary of 2001. per annum, as minister of the English church at Rotterdam. He stopped F. Gwynne, Esq., going in with the red bag to the queen, and told him aloud he had something to say to him from my lord-treasurer. He talked with the son of Dr Davenant to be sent abroad, † and took out his pocket-book and wrote down several things, as memoranda, to do for him. He turned to the fire, and took out his gold watch, and telling him the time of the day, complained it was very late. A gentleman said. he was too fast.' 'How can I help it,' says the doctor, if the cour

* Formerly in the library of the late Marquis of Lansdowne; and now in the British Museum. This is a very remarkable memorandum, and shows the extent of Swift's political importance at this moment. The whig principles of the bishop seem to have been tolerably acrimonious.

+ See the preceding letter.

tiers give me a watch that won't go right? Then he instructed a young nobleman, that the best poet in England was Mr Pope (a papist),* who had begun a translation of Homer into English verse, for which ' he must have them all subscribe;' fór,' says he, 'the author shall not begin to print till I have a thousand guineas for him.' Lord-treasurer, after leaving the queen, came through the room, beckoning Dr Swift to follow him: both went off just before prayers.

"Nov. 3.-I see and hear a great deal to confirm a doubt, that the pretender's interest is much at the bottom of some hearts: a whisper that Mr Nelson had a prime hand in the late book for hereditary right; and that one of them was presented to majesty itself, whom God preserve from the effect of such principles and such intrigues!"

FROM THE DUCHESS OF ORMOND.

DOCTOR,

Nov. 3, 1713, Eleven at Night.

I HOPE your servant has told you, I sent to beg the favour of you to come hither to-night; but since you could not conveniently, I hope you will not deny me the satisfaction of seeing you tomorrow morning. My lord joins with me in that request, and will see no company but you. I hope you will come before ten o'clock, because he is to go at that hour to Windsor. I beg your pardon for sending so early as I have ordered them to carry

*Nota bene.

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.

November 21, 1713.

MY LORD,

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 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 something and whether I shall send you what I have written, I am yet in doubt, &c.

JON. SWIFT.

B

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 com missioners 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,