two ago, when some printers used to bring me their papers in manuscript, I absolutely forbid them to give any hints against Mr Addison and you, and some others; and have frequently struck out reflections upon you in particular, and should (Ì believe) have done it still, if I had not wholly left off troubling myself about these kind of things. I protest I never saw any thing more liable to exception, than every part is of the letter you were pleased to write me. You plead, "That I do not in mine to Mr Addison, in direct terms, say I am not concerned in the Examiner. And is that an excuse for the most savage injuries in the world a week before? How far you can prevail with the Guardian, I shall not trouble myself to inquire; and am more concerned how you will clear your own honour and conscience, than my reputation. I shall hardly lose one friend by what you † * I know not any * * * laugh at me for any * absurdity of yours. There are solecisms in morals as well as in languages; and to which of the virtues you will reconcile your conduct to me, is past my imagination. Be pleased to put these questions to yourself: "If Dr Swift be entirely innocent of what I accuse him, how shall I be able to make him satisfaction? And how do I know but he may be entirely innocent? If he was laughed at only because he solicited for me, is that a sufficient reason for me to say the vilest things of him in print under my hand, without any provocation? And how do I know but he may be in the right, when he says I was kept in my employment at his + Here the manuscript is torn.-D. S. interposition? If he never once reflected on me the least in any paper, and has hindered many others from doing it, how can I justify myself, for endeavouring in mine, to ruin his credit as a Christian and a clergyman ?" I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, JON. SWIFT. FROM SIR THOMAS HANMER.* SIR, Tuesday. I KEEP Only the last book, † which I shall have gone through before night. The rest I send you, with the very few observations I made upon them, which yet were as many as I could see any occasion for; though, I do assure you, I read with the same strictness and ill-nature as in the former part. I am, your most humble servant, &c. TO ARCHBISHOP KING. London, May 23, 1713. MY LORD, I HAD the honour of a letter from your grace, the 18th instant, from Chester. I was confidently * Indorsed, "Received about May, 1713."-H. + Of the MS. History of the Peace of Utrecht.-B. told, about three weeks ago, that your grace was expected every day at the Bath; and you will find a letter there as old as that, with a requisition in favour of Dr Parnell, who, by his own merit, is in the esteem of the chief ministers here. I am very sensible, that the loss your grace has suffered in the removal of Dr Sterne, will never be made up by me, upon a great many accounts: however, I shall not yield to him in respect and veneration for your grace's character and person; and I return you my most grateful acknowledgments for the offer you make me of your favour and protection. I think to set out for Ireland on Monday sevennight, to be there before the term ends; for so they advise me, because the long vacation follows, in which I cannot take the oaths, unless at a quarter-sessions; and I had better have two chances than one. This will hinder me from paying my respects to your grace at the Bath; and indeed my own health would be better, I believe, if I could pass a few weeks there but my remedy shall be riding, and a sea voyage. I have been inquiring, and am told your grace's cause will hardly come on this session; but indeed I have been so much out of order for these ten days past, that I have been able to do nothing. As to the spire to be erected on St Patrick's steeple, I am apt to think it will cost more than * Dr Sterne (predecessor to Dr Swift, as Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, afterward Bishop of Dromore, from whence he was translated to the see of Clogher) left L. 1200 to erect a spire on the top of that steeple, which was built a few years after his lordship's death. It is an octagon of many feet high, built of white hard mountain stone, with a gilt ball at the top of it, which may be seen at the distance of many miles.-F. is imagined; and I am confident that no bricks made in that part of Ireland, will bear being exposed so much to the air: however, I shall inquire among some architects here. I hope your grace will find a return of your health in the place where you are. I humbly beg your blessing; and renain, with great respect, my Lord, Your grace's most dutiful and most humble servant, JON. SWIFT, SIR FROM MR STEELE. Bloomsbury, May 26, 1713. I HAVE received your's, and find it impossible for a man to judge in his own case. For an allusion to you, as one under the imputation of helping the Examiner, and owning I was restrained out of respect to you, you tell Addison, under your hand, you think me the vilest of mankind," and bid him tell me so, I am obliged to you for any kind things said in my behalf to the treasurer; and assure you, when you were in Ireland, you were the constant subject of my talk to men in power at that time. As to the vilest of mankind, it would be a glorious world if I were: for I would not conceal my thoughts in favour of an injured man, though all the powers on earth gainsaid it, to be made the first man in the nation This position, I know, will ever obstruct my way in the world; and I have conquered my desires accordingly. I have resolved to content myself with what I can get by my own industry, and the improvement of a small estate, without being anxious whether I am ever in a court again or not. I do assure you, I do not speak this calmly, after the ill usage in your letter to Addison, out of terror of your wit, or my lord-treasurer's power; but pure kindness to the agreeable qualities I once so passionately delighted in, in you. You know, I know nobody; but one that talked after you, could tell," Addison had bridled me in point of party." This was ill hinted, both with relation to him, and, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, I know no party; but the truth of the question is what I will support as well as I can, when any man I honour is attacked. TO MR STEELE. May 27, 1713. SIR, THE reason I give you the trouble of this reply to your letter, is because I am going in a very few days to Ireland; and although I intended to return toward winter, yet it may happen, from the common accidents of life, that I may never see you again. In your yesterday's letter, you are pleased to take the complaining side, and think it hard I should write to Mr Addison as I did, only for an allusion. This allusion was only calling a clergyman of some little distinction an infidel: a clergyman who was your friend, who always loved you, who had endeavoured |