nisters. It seems generally agreed that the present dauphin cannot live, and upon that depend many measures to be taken. * This afternoon the bill for appointing commissioners to inquire into the grants, &c. was thrown out of the house of lords, the voices being equal, which is a great disappointment to the court, and matter of triumph to the other party. But it may possibly be of the worst consequence to the grants next session, when it is probable the ministry will be better settled, and able to procure a majority. I am, with great respect, my Lord, Your grace's most dutiful and most humble servant, JON. SWIFT. MADAM, TO MRS HILL. † July, 1712. I WAS Commanded some days ago to do what I had long a mind to, but avoided because I would not offend your prudence, or strain your eyes. But my Lord Masham assures me there is no danger of either; and that you have courage enough to read a letter, though it comes from a man, provided it be one of *The great impediment to peace was the probability that France and Spain might fall one day under the dominion of the same monarch, a danger which was considerably increased by the death of the dauphin. + The wife of General Hill, and sister-in-law to the reigning favourite, Mrs Masham, now Lady Masham. Her husband was appointed governor of Dunkirk, when it was ceded to the Engfish. no consequence, which his lordship would insinuate to be my case; but I hope you will not affront me so highly as to understand it so. There is not a grain of news in this town, or five miles about it, worth sending you; and what we receive from Windsor is full as insignificant, except the accounts of the queen's health, and your housekeeping. We are assured that you keep a constant table, and that your guests leave you with full stomachs and full pockets; that Dr Arbuthnot sometimes leaves his beloved green cloth, to come and receive your chidings, and pick up your money. We intend shortly to represent your case to my lord-treasurer, as what deserves commiseration: but we hope the matter is already settled between his lordship and you, and that you are instructed to be thus magnificent, in order to carry on the cause. We reckon his lordship's life is now secure, since a combination of bandboxes and inkhorns, the engines of late times, were employed in vain to destroy him. * He will do me the justice to tell you, that I never fail of toasting you under the name of "the governess of Dunkirk," and that you have the honour to be very particularly in my good graces. My Lady Masham still continues in a doubtful state of neither up nor down; and one of her servants told mine, "that they did not expect she would cry out this fortnight." I saw yesterday our brother Hill, † who promises to be more thrifty of his health, and seems * For an account of this mysterious business, which the whigs termed in derision the "bandbox plot," see Vol. III. p. 118. + An elder brother of the general. He was placed in the custom-house by the Duke of Marlborough, and got promotion there. to have a pretty good stock of it. I hope you receive no visits from the headache and the spleen : and one who knows your constitution very well, advises you by all means, against sitting in the dusk at your window, or on the ground, leaning on your hand, or at see-saw in your chair. I am, Madam, &c. SIR, TO GENERAL HILL. * Windsor Castle, Aug. 12, 1712. WITH great difficulty I recovered your present of the finest box in France † out of the hands of Mrs Hill she allowed her own to be the prettiest, but then mine was the handsomest; and in short, she would part with neither. I pleaded my brotherhood, and got my Lord and Lady Masham to intercede; and at last she threw it me with a heavy *This gentleman was brother to Lady Masham, which was in truth his only pretext to favour; but although Queen Anne had been fortunate enough to find the first general of the time in the husband of her former favourite, the brother of the Duchess of Marlborough's successor in royal favour was gifted with a very inferior degree of military knowledge. He was employed in an unsuccessful expedition against Quebec, and, at the date of this letter, was governor of Dunkirk, which had been ceded to the British in security of the preliminaries of peace. From this place he sent Swift the snuff-box, to which this lively letter has refer ence. + This snuff-box, Swift informed Stella, was the finest in England, though it cost only L. 20. of Hamilton made him a pocket to wear it in. p. 105. allowed to be The Duchess See Vol. III. sigh but now it is in my possession, I wish you had sent a paper of directions how I shall keep it. You that sit at your ease, and have nothing to do but keep Dunkirk, never consider the difficulties you have brought upon me: twenty ladies have threatened to seize or surprise my box; and what are twenty thousand French or Dutch in comparison of those? Mrs Hill says, it was a very idle thing in you to send such a present to a man who can neither punish nor reward you, since Grub Street is no more; for the parliament has killed all the Muses of Grub Street, who yet, in their last moments, cried out nothing but Dunkirk. My lordtreasurer, who is the most malicious person in the world, says, you ordered a goose to be drawn at the bottom of my box, as a reflection upon the clergy; and that I ought to resent it. But I am not angry at all, and his lordship observes by halves: for the goose is there drawn pecking at a snail, just as I do at him, to make him mend his pace in relation to the public, although it be hitherto in vain. And besides, Dr Arbuthnot, who is a scholar, says, "you meant it as a compliment for us both: that I am the goose who saved the Capitol by my cackling: and that his lordship is represented by the snail; because he preserves his country by delays." But my Lord Masham is not to be endured: he observed, that in the picture of the inside, which represents a great company dancing, there stands a fool with a cap and bells; and he would needs understand that figure as applied to me. And the worst of it was, that I happened last night to be at my lady Duchess of Shrewsbury's ball: where, looking a little singular among so many fine ladies and gentlemen, his lordship came and whispered me to look at my box; which I resented so highly, that I went away in a rage without staying for supper. However, considering of it better, after a night's sleep, I find all this is nothing but envy, and a design to make a quarrel between you and me: but it shall not do so; for I hope your intentions were good, however malice may misrepresent them. And though I am used ill by all the family, who win my money and laugh at me; yet, to vex them more, I will forgive them for your sake; and as soon as I can break loose, will come to Dunkirk for a fortnight, to get a little ease from my many persecutions, by the Harleys, the Mashams, and the Hills: only I intend to change my habit, for fear Colonel Killigrew should mistake me for a chimney-sweeper. In the mean time, I wish you all success in your government, loyal French subjects, virtuous ladies, little champaign, and much health: and am, with the truest respect and esteem, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant and brother. LORD BOLINGBROKE TO MR PRIOR. * September 10, 1712. I was equally surprised and vexed to find that by the uncouth way of explaining the queen's sense, * This letter, which is strictly confidential, may be allowed to bear evidence in history as to the private transactions of the Treaty of Utrecht. Nothing was more remarkable than the dexterity with which the French, during the negociation, perceived and availed themselves of the necessity of making peace, under which the |
