never once attended her but by command. Mrs. Howard, first lady of the bedchamber to the princess, and her chief favourite, was the person who usually sent for him. As she was a lady of fine taste, and uncommon understanding, she soon contracted a high esteem for Swift, which was matured into a friendship, by the frequent opportunities she had of conversing with him in company with Pope and Gay, who were her great favourites. The peculiar marks of distinction shown him both by the princess and her favourite, together with the general discourse of the family at Leicester House, made his friends imagine that the first opportunity would be taken of making a suitable provision for him in England, from that quarter; and he himself, both then, and for some time after, seems to have formed some expectations of that kind, though naturally, and from his frequent disappointments in life, he was far from being of a sanguine disposition.

During his stay in England, his time was passed chiefly between Twickenham and Dawley, with his friends, Pope and Bolingbroke, where he was visited by all the old fraternity. It was then Pope published his volumes of miscellanies, consisting of some of his own works, and Arbuthnot's, but chiefly of select pieces of Swift's. As this was the first time that any of his works were printed collectively, the sale was immense, and produced a considerable sum to Pope, who had the whole profit, as Swift was at all times above making any pecuniary advantage of his writings. During these transactions, he received several successive accounts of the desperate state of health, to which his dear friend Mrs. Johnson was reduced, and the little hopes there were of her recovery*. The distress of

"The pleasure of popularity was soon interrupted by domestick misery. Mrs. Johnson, whose conversation was to him

mind which he suffered on this occasion, together with a long fit of his old complaint, giddiness and deafness, had so totally disqualified him for society, that he stole away from his host at Twickenham, and retired into private lodgings, with an old relation for his nurse. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered to bear the fatigue of a journey, he set out for Ireland, with the gloomy prospect of receiving the last breath of the person dearest to him in the world. However, before his departure, he took leave of the princess, who was very gracious to him, made apologies for not having some medals ready which she had promised him, and said she would send them to him before Christmas. On his arrival in Dublin, he had the satisfaction to find Mrs. Johnson on the mending hand, and her recovery, though slow, afforded the pleasing prospect of a long continuance to a life so dear to him.

During this visit to London, it was not only at Leicester House, but at St. James's also, that he met with a favourable reception; of which he makes mention in a letter to lady Betty Germain, Jan. 8, 1732-3. Walpole was at that time very civil to me, and so were all the people in power. He invited me, and some of my friends, to dine with him at Chelsea. After dinner I took an occasion to say, what I had observed of princes and great ministers, that if they heard an ill thing of a private person who expected some favour, although they were af

the great softener of the ills of life, began in the year of the Drapier's triumph to decline; and, two years afterwards, was so wasted with sickness, that her recovery was considered as hopeless. Swift was then in England, and had been invited by Lord Bolingbroke to pass the winter with him in France; but this call of calamity hastened him to Ireland, where perhaps his presence contributed to restore her to imperfect and tottering health." Dr. JOHNSON.

terward convinced that the person was innocent, yet they would never be reconciled. Mr. Walpole

knew well enough that I meant Mr. Gay*. But he gave it another turn; for he said to some of his friends, and particularly to a lord, a near relation of your's, 'that I had dined with him, and had been making apologies for myself."

He afterward had an interview with sir Robert Walpole, through the intervention of lord Peterborow; of which he gives the following account, in a letter to the said earl.

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+ My Lord,

April 28, 1726.

"Your lordship having at my request, obtained for me an hour from sir Robert Walpole; I accordingly attended him yesterday at eight o'clock in the morning, and had somewhat more than an hour's conversation with him. Your lordship was this day pleased to inquire what passed between that great minister and me, to which I gave you some general answers, from whence you said you could comprehend little or nothing.

"I had no other design in desiring to see sir Robert Walpole, than to represent the affairs of Ireland to him in a true light, not only without any view to

To make this intelligible, it will be necessary to quote a former passage in that letter; where, speaking of Gay, he says, "He had written a very ingenious book of Fables for the use of her (the princess's) younger son, and she oftent promised to provide for him. But some time before, there came out a libel against Mr. Walpole, who was informed it was written by Mr. Gay; and although Mr. Walpole owned he was convinced that it was not written by Gay, yet he neverwould pardon him, but did him a hundred ill offices to the princess." S.

+ Lord Peterborough, in a note to Swift, a little previous to the date of this letter, says, "Sir Robert Walpole, any morning, except Tuesday and Thursday which are his publick days, about nine in the morning, will be glad to see you at his London house. On Monday, if I see you, I will give you a farther account."

S.

:

myself, but to any party whatsoever and because I understood the affairs of that kingdom tolerably well, and observed the representations he had received, were such as I could not agree to; my principal design was to set him right, not only for the service of Ireland, but likewise of England, and of his own administration.

"I failed very much in my design; for I saw he conceived opinions, from the examples and practices of the present, and some former governors, which I could not reconcile to the notions I had of liberty; a possession always understood by the British nation to be the inheritance of a human creature.

"Sir Robert Walpole was pleased to enlarge very much upon the subject of Ireland, in a manner so alien from what I conceived to be the rights and privileges of a subject of England, that I did not think proper to debate the matter with him so much, as I otherwise might, because I found it would be in vain."

In the remainder of the letter he enumerates the many intolerable burdens and grievances, under which that country laboured, and concludes it thus:

"I most humbly entreat your lordship to give this paper to sir Robert Walpole, and desire him to read it, which he may do in a few minutes. I am, &c."

I thought it necessary to lay this matter at large before the publick, because, in consequence of this interview, all the Walpolians, and the whole party of the whigs, gave out, that Swift at that time made a tender of his pen to sir Robert, by whom the offer was rejected; and even to this day I am well informed that some of that family, and their connexions, assert it as a fact*. But I would have those

*On this subject, Mr. Coxe, who on other occasions, in his "Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole," is sufficiently severe against the Dean, is wholly silent. N.

gentlemen consider, in the first place, what little credit they do to sir Robert's understanding, in declining the assistance of the first writer of the age, at a time when he was throwing away immense sums upon authors of mean talents. In the next place, it is to be hoped that candour will oblige them to retract what they have said, as so convincing a proof is here produced of the falsehood of the charge. For, it is impossible to suppose that Swift would have made such a representation of the interview, utterly disclaiming all views to himself, and desiring that it might be shown to Walpole, if the other had had it in his power to contradict it, and by so doing render him contemptible in the eyes of his noble friend, as well as of all his adherents. I have a letter before me written at that time to the Rev. Mr. Stopford, then abroad at Paris, (afterward through his means bishop of Cloyne) in which he gives the same account. "I was lately twice with the chief minister; the first time by invitation, and the second, at my desire, for an hour, wherein we differed in every point: but all this made a great noise, and soon got to Ireland. From whence, upon the late death of the bishop of Cloyne, it was said I was offered to succeed, and I received many letters upon it, but there was nothing of truth in it; for I was neither offered, nor would have received, except upon conditions which would never be granted. For I absolutely broke with the chief minister, and have never seen him fince. 'And I lately complained of him to the princess, because I knew she would tell him." I think it is hardly probable that Swift would have complained of him to the princess, if he had such a story to tell of him. His complaint certainly related to Walpole's unjust and impolitick maxins with regard to Ireland, which was the sole subject of their discourse. And it appears that he had often in his conversations with the princess, re