but I will contrive to see Stella’s mother [4f] some other way. I writ to the Bishop of Clogher from Chester; and I now write to the Archbishop of Dublin. [4g] Everything is turning upside down; every Whig in great office will, to a man, be infallibly put out; and we shall have such a winter as hath not been seen in England. Everybody asks me, how I came to be so long in Ireland, as naturally as if here were my being; but no soul offers to make it so: and I protest I shall return to Dublin, and the Canal at Laracor, [4h] with more satisfaction than ever I did in my life. The Tatler [5a] expects every day to be turned out of his employment; and the Duke of Ormond, [5b] they say, will be Lieutenant of Ireland. I hope you are now peaceably in Presto’s [5c] lodgings; but I resolve to turn you out by Christmas; in which time I shall either do my business, or find it not to be done. Pray be at Trim by the time this letter comes to you; and ride little Johnson, who must needs be now in good case. I have begun this letter unusually, on the post-night, and have already written to the Archbishop; and cannot lengthen this. Henceforth I will write something every day to MD, and make it a sort of journal; and when it is full, I will send it, whether MD writes or no; and so that will be pretty: and I shall always be in conversation with MD, and MD with Presto. Pray make Parvisol pay you the ten pounds immediately; so I ordered him. They tell me I am grown fatter, and look better; and, on Monday, Jervas [5d] is to retouch my picture. I thought I saw Jack Temple [5e] and his wife pass by me to-day in their coach; but I took no notice of them. I am glad I have wholly shaken off that family. Tell the Provost, [5f] I have obeyed his commands to the Duke of Ormond; or let it alone, if you please. I saw Jemmy Leigh [6a] just now at the Coffee-house, who asked after you with great kindness: he talks of going in a fortnight to Ireland. My service to the Dean, [6b] and Mrs. Walls, and her Archdeacon. [6c] Will Frankland’s [6d] wife is near bringing to-bed, and I have promised to christen the child. I fancy you had my Chester letter the Tuesday after I writ. I presented Dr. Raymond to Lord Wharton [6e] at Chester. Pray let me know when Joe gets his money. [6f] It is near ten, and I hate to send by the bellman. [6g] MD shall have a longer letter in a week, but I send this only to tell I am safe in London; and so farewell, etc.
LETTER III.
London, Sept. 9, 1710.
After seeing the Duke of Ormond, dining with Dr. Cockburn, [7a] passing some part of the afternoon with Sir Matthew Dudley [7b] and Will Frankland, the rest at St. James’s Coffee-house, I came home, and writ to the Archbishop of Dublin and MD, and am going to bed. I forgot to tell you, that I begged Will Frankland to stand Manley’s [7c] friend with his father in this shaking season for places. He told me, his father was in danger to be out; that several were now soliciting for Manley’s place; that he was accused of opening letters; that Sir Thomas Frankland [7d] would sacrifice everything to save himself; and in that, I fear, Manley is undone, etc.
10. To-day I dined with Lord Mountjoy at Kensington; saw my mistress, Ophy Butler’s [7e] wife, who is grown a little charmless. I sat till ten in the evening with Addison and Steele: Steele will certainly lose his Gazetteer’s place, all the world detesting his engaging in parties. [8a] At ten I went to the Coffee-house, hoping to find Lord Radnor, [8b] whom I had not seen. He was there; and for an hour and a half we talked treason heartily against the Whigs, their baseness and ingratitude. And I am come home, rolling resentments in my mind, and framing schemes of revenge: full of which (having written down some hints) I go to bed. I am afraid MD dined at home, because it is Sunday; and there was the little half-pint of wine: for God’s sake, be good girls, and all will be well. Ben Tooke [8c] was with me this morning.
11. Seven, morning. I am rising to go to Jervas to finish my picture, and ’tis shaving-day, so good-morrow MD; but don’t keep me now, for I can’t stay; and pray dine with the Dean, but don’t lose your money. I long to hear from you, etc.—Ten at night. I sat four hours this morning to Jervas, who has given my picture quite another turn, and now approves it entirely; but we must have the approbation of the town. If I were rich enough, I would get a copy of it, and bring it over. Mr. Addison and I dined together at his lodgings, and I sat with him part of this evening; and I am now come home to write an hour. Patrick [8d] observes, that the rabble here are much more inquisitive in politics than in Ireland. Every day we expect changes, and the Parliament to be dissolved. Lord Wharton expects every day to be out: he is working like a horse for elections; and, in short, I never saw so great a ferment among all sorts of people. I had a miserable letter from Joe last Saturday, telling me Mr. Pratt [9a] refuses payment of his money. I have told it Mr. Addison, and will to Lord Wharton; but I fear with no success. However, I will do all I can.
12. To-day I presented Mr. Ford [9b] to the Duke of Ormond; and paid my first visit to Lord President, [9c] with whom I had much discourse; but put him always off when he began to talk of Lord Wharton in relation to me, till he urged it: then I said, he knew I never expected anything from Lord Wharton, and that Lord Wharton knew that I understood it so. He said that he had written twice to Lord Wharton about me, who both times said nothing at all to that part of his letter. I am advised not to meddle in the affair of the First-Fruits, till this hurry is a little over, which still depends, and we are all in the dark. Lord President told me he expects every day to be out, and has done so these two months. I protest, upon my life, I am heartily weary of this town, and wish I had never stirred.
13. I went this morning to the city, to see Mr. Stratford the Hamburg merchant, my old schoolfellow; [9d] but calling at Bull’s [9e] on Ludgate Hill, he forced me to his house at Hampstead to dinner among a great deal of ill company; among the rest Mr. Hoadley, [9f] the Whig clergyman, so famous for acting the contrary part to Sacheverell: [9g] but to-morrow I design again to see Stratford. I was glad, however, to be at Hampstead, where I saw Lady Lucy [10a] and Moll Stanhope. I hear very unfortunate news of Mrs. Long; [10b] she and her comrade [10c] have broke up house, and she is broke for good and all, and is gone to the country: I should be extremely sorry if this be true.
14. To-day, I saw Patty Rolt, [10d] who heard I was in town; and I dined with Stratford at a merchant’s in the city, where I drank the first Tokay wine I ever saw; and it is admirable, yet not to the degree I expected. Stratford is worth a plum, [10e] and is now lending the Government forty thousand pounds; yet we were educated together at the same school and university. [10f] We hear the Chancellor [10g] is to be suddenly out, and Sir Simon Harcourt [11a] to succeed him: I am come early home, not caring for the Coffee-house.
15. To-day Mr. Addison, Colonel Freind, [11b] and I, went to see the million lottery [11c] drawn at Guildhall. The jackanapes of bluecoat boys gave themselves such airs in pulling out the tickets, and showed white hands open to the company, to let us see there was no cheat. We dined at a country-house near Chelsea, where Mr. Addison often retires; and to-night, at the Coffee-house, we hear Sir Simon Harcourt is made Lord Keeper; so that now we expect every moment the Parliament will be dissolved; but I forgot that this letter will not go in three or four days, and that my news will be stale, which I should therefore put in the last paragraph. Shall I send this letter before I hear from MD, or shall I keep it to lengthen? I have not yet seen Stella’s mother, because I will not see Lady Giffard; but I will contrive to go there when Lady Giffard is abroad. I forgot to mark my two former letters; but I remember this is Number 3, and I have not yet had Number 1 from MD; but I shall by Monday, which I reckon will be just a fortnight after you had my first. I am resolved to bring over a great deal of china. I loved it mightily to-day. [11d] What shall I bring?
16. Morning. Sir John Holland, [11e] Comptroller of the Household, has sent to desire my acquaintance: I have a mind to refuse him, because he is a Whig, and will, I suppose, be out among the rest; but he is a man of worth and learning. Tell me, do you like this journal way of writing? Is it not tedious and dull?
Night. I dined to-day with a cousin, a printer, [12a] where Patty Rolt lodges, and then came home, after a visit or two; and it has been a very insipid day. Mrs. Long’s misfortune is confirmed to me; bailiffs were in her house; she retired to private
