SUPPLEMENTAL LETTERS CDXVIIIA. [Scott.] MISS ESTHER VANHOMRIGH TO SWIFT Dublin, 1714.1 WELL! now I plainly see how great a regard you have for me. You bid me be easy, and you would see me as often as you could; you had better have said as often as you could get the better of your inclinations so much, or as often as you remembered there was such a person in the world. If you continue to treat me as you do, you will not be made uneasy by me long. It is impossible to describe what I have suffered since I saw you last; I am sure I could have borne the rack much better than those killing, killing words of yours. Sometimes I have resolved to die without seeing you more, but those resolves, to your misfortune, did not last long; for there is something in human nature that prompts one so to find relief in this world, I must give way to it, and beg you would see me, and speak kindly to me, for I am sure you would not condemn anyone to suffer what I have done, could you but know it. The reason I write to you is, because I cannot tell it you, should I see you; for when I begin to complain, then you are angry, and there is something in your look so awful, that it strikes me dumb. Oh! that you may but have so much regard for me left, that this complaint may touch your soul with pity. I say as little as ever I can. Did you but know what I thought, I am sure it would move you. Forgive me, and believe me, I cannot help telling you this, and live.' If this date is correct, the letter must have been written in the last three months of the year according to old style. It cannot have been sent before Vanessa's letter in December (supra, p. 259). 2 To this letter Forster appends the comment, "flinging herself at him" (Forster Collection). CDXVIIIB. [Scott.] SWIFT TO MISS ESTHER VANHOMRIGH Four o'clock. I DINED with the Provost,' and told him I was coming here, because I must be at prayers at six. He said you had been with him, and would not be at home this day, and went to Celbridge to-morrow. I said I could, however, go try. I fancy you told him so, that he might not come to-night; if he comes, you must piece it up as you can, else he will think it was on purpose to meet me, and I hate anything that looks like a secret. I cannot possibly call after prayers; I therefore came here in the afternoon while people were in church, hoping certainly to find you. I am truly affected for poor Moll, who is a girl of infinite value, and I am sure you will take all possible care of her, and I hope to live to see the sincerest friendship in the world long between you. I pray God of Heaven protect you both, and am, entièrement. CDXVIIIC. [Original] SWIFT TO ARCHDEACON WALLS Thursday morning, Eight o'clock.' THIS letter is to go to the Bishop of Clogher' on Saturday, and should have gone last night, if I had not thought you might be such a fool as to copy it to-day, and send it to the Bishop of Dromore on Saturday likewise. If you will come this morning and do it here, we will dine together and get the Provost or Worrall. I send you the print also, which The fact that Pratt was appointed Dean of Down in June 1717 (supra, p. 384, n. 3) enables the date of this letter to be approximately fixed as between 1715 and 1717. In a subsequent letter Swift refers to him as Dr. Pratt. It is probable that Pratt had made Vanessa's acquaintance in London. 2 In the possession of Mr. John Murray. See Preface. 3 The original letter is endorsed 1716. 4 I.e., Ashe. may go with your copy to Dromore; and because you will not understand some things in the letter, that are known well enough in London, I will explain them to you, and so send the notes with it to Dromore. If there be a greater fool than I, who took pains to write it, it must be he that copies it out. Adieu. Addressed-To the Reverend Mr. Archdeacon Walls. CDXVIIID. [Original.'] SWIFT TO ISAIAH PARVISOL MR. PARVISOL, Tuesday morning.2 As you go into town,' pray call upon Archdeacon Walls, and desire him to send immediately to Mrs. Brent, that she would cover the hogsheads of wine with straw and litter, to prevent their being hurt by the frost, not only the three hogsheads in my cellar, but those two which are in the Bishop's cellar. I hope the paper will be sent to us by the Mite, so as to be sent by us by nine to-morrow morning; therefore you need not stay, but desire Mr. Walls to be at home at nine or ten o'clock to-morrow morning; for we design to send the map to him to be sent to Dr. Coghill or his clerk. Yours, Leave [this] line for the Archdeacon if he be not [at home]. Addressed-For Mr. Parvisol. In the possession of Mr. John Murray. See Preface. "This letter was evidently written at Trim while the negotiations for the purchase of the glebe lands were pending (supra, p. 345). 3 3 I.e., Dublin. CDXVIIIE. [Original] SWIFT TO ARCHDEACON WALLS Saturday morning, Eight o'clock." YOUR acquaintance may possibly be a very honest man, and a good preacher, but he seems to have the least wit, manners or discretion in his jesting, of any pretender to it I ever knew; I mean except he were drunk when he writ the enclosed, as in charity to his understanding I would willingly believe. All I can further pick out of his note is that he does not intend to preach for me to-morrow, therefore I must beg you to provide somebody, for I have got so terrible a cold that I shall not be able, I fear, so much as to read at the altar. Adieu. I dine with you to-day, you know. Pray show the enclosed to Mrs. Johnson, to see whether she be of my opinion. CDXVIIIF. [Copy.3] SWIFT TO KNIGHTLEY CHETWODE Friday. I LOOK[ED] over the enclosed some time ago, and again just now; it contains many good things, and wants many alterations. I have made one or two, and pointed at others, but an author can only set his own things right. Endorsed-This was my advice to a young lady.* 1 In the possession of Mr. John Murray. See Preface. 2 Endorsed, 1716. 3 In the Forster Collection (supra, p. 241, n. 1). * Some verses with a few words altered by Swift are said to have been enclosed. APPENDIX I A LIE AND OTHER TRIFLES A LIE "THIS evening Lady Masham, Dr. Arbuthnot and I were contriving a lie for to-morrow," writes Swift on the eve of All Fools' Day in 1713,' "that Mr. Noble, who was hanged last Saturday, was recovered by his friends, and then seized again by the Sheriff, and is now in a messenger's hands at the Black Swan in Holborn. We are all to send to our friends to know whether they have heard anything of it, and so we hope it will spread." A copy of the missive by which they sought to delude their friends was found by Forster amongst the Narford manuscripts (supra, vol. i, p. 153, n. 1), and is as follows: "Do you know that Mr. Noble was but half-hanged, and was brought to life by his friends, and was since seized again, and is now in a messenger's hands at the Black Swan in Holborn—this was talked all over the Court last night." It is not surprising to find that their friends declined to be deluded, and that Swift had to confess to Stella the failure of "the lie." THE STORY OF THE BAKER Is the story of the baker-man bran new? I shall sift it to-day. Yeasterday I heard no such thing. Pray keep aloaf from such tittletattle. I suppose it was told you by my Lord Crum-arty. O-vain man to believe it. If Miles had told it me, I would have said to him rot-you-low-rum." "Prose Works," ii, 449. * Richard Noble, who committed a murder in connection with an intrigue, and was hanged on 29 March, 1713, has found a place in the "D. N. B." (x1, 183ster Collection. 15 December, 1906. Ibid. The original was sold at Sotheby's Rooms on |