good reputation. I think above any young man

in the Kingdom.

I am yr most obt &c.

J. S.

NOTES ON XL.

Chetwode, who was to make his wife an allowance, feared she might incur debts for which the law would hold him answerable. Her brother was willing to give him bonds for repayment.

The "two Lines writ on a Card" may be those which Swift is said to have scratched on the window of the waiting-room in the castle :

"My very good Lord, 'tis a very hard task,

For a man to wait here who has nothing to ask."

Under which Lord Carteret wrote:

"My very good Dean, there are few who come here,
But have something to ask or something to fear."

"Sir William Fownes," wrote Swift, "had indeed a very good natural understanding, nor wanted a talent for poetry; but his education denied him learning, for he knew no other language except his own." There is an interesting letter of his to Swift which shows that in 1732 there was no madhouse in Ireland. He himself, when Lord Mayor of Dublin, had "had six strong cells made at the workhouse for the most outrageous." But so many

were brought that the Corporation refused to admit any for the future. "I own to you," he continues, "I was for some time averse to our having a public Bedlam, apprehending we should be overloaded with numbers under the name of mad. Nay, I was apprehensive our case would soon be like that in England; wives and husbands trying who could first get the other to Bedlam." He had come to the conclusion that a madhouse must be built, "but in a spot of ground free from the neighbourhood of houses, for the cries of the outrageous would reach a great way.'

Swift used to keep a record of his gains and losses at cards. "Whist❞ he sometimes spelled "whish," as the following account shows :

May 27th 1725.

SR, The Place I am in is 8 miles from the Post so it may be some days before I have convenience of sending this. I have recovered my hearing for some time, at least recovered it so as not to be troublesome to those I converse with, but I shall never be famous for acuteness in that Sense, and

am in daily dread of Relapses; against which I prepare my mind as well as I can; and I have too good a Reason to do so; For my eyes will not suffer me to read small Prints; nor anything by Candlelight, and if I grow blind, as well as deaf, I must needs become very grave, and wise, and insignificant. The Weather has been so unfavourable, and continues so, that I have not been able to ride above once; and have been forced for Amusem' to set Irish Fellows to work, and to oversee them-I live in a Cabin and in a very wild Country; yet there are some Agreeablenesses in it, or at least I fancy so, and am levelling Mountains and raising Stones, and fencing against inconveniencyes of a scanty Lodging, want of vittalls, and a thievish Race of People.

I detest the world because I am growing wholly unfit for it, and could be onely happy by never coming near Dublin, nor hearing from it, or anything that passes in the Publick.

I am sorry your Enemyes are so restless to torment you, and truly against the opinion of Philosophers I think, next to Health a man's Fortune is the tenderest Point; for life is a Trifle; and Reputation is supply'd by Innocence, but the Ruin of a man's Fortune makes him a Slave, which is infinitely worse than loss of Life or Credit; when a man hath not deserved either; and I repent

nothing so much, as my own want of worldly wisdom, in squandring all I had saved on a Cursed Wall ; although I had your Example to warn me, since I had often ventured to railly you for your Buildings; which have hindred you from that Command of money; you might otherwise have had. I have been told that Lenders of money abound; not from the Riches of the Kingdom, but by the want of Trade-but whether Chattles be good security I can not tell. I dare say M Lightburn will be able to take up what he wants, upon the Security of Land, by the Judgm1 of the H. [House] of Lords ; and I reckon he is almost a Lawyer, and would make a very good Solliciter. I can give you no Encouragement to go out of your way for a visit to this dismal Place; where we have hardly room to turn our selves, and where we send five miles round for a lean sheep. I never thought I could battle with so many Inconveniencyes, and make use of so many Irish Expedients, much less could I invite any Friend to share in them; and we are 8 miles from Kells, the nearest habitable Place-These is the State of Affairs here. But I should be glad to know you had taken some Method to lump your Debts. I could have wished M Stopford had let me know his Intentions of travelling with Graham; I know not the Conditions he goes on, and there is but one