soldier, but an unlucky politician. He died in the Tower, where he is not
unlikely to have had leisure and reason to perfect himself in commination.
PAGE 31, l. 16. “_Lilly._”—The Latin grammarian, of course, not the
astrologer.
PAGE 32, l. 12. “_e’n’t_” I presume to be identical with _ain’t_.
PAGE 36, l. 21. It may seem strange that Mr. Wagstaff, who loves not
books and scholars, should refer to a grave philosopher. But fine
gentlemen in his youth had to know or seem to know their Hobbes.
PAGE 38, l. 26. “_Please._”—_sic_ in orig.
PAGE 41.—In this page Swift strikes in with his friends against the
“dunces.” One may suspect that Tom Brown was in the first draught, and
perhaps Dennis, Ward and Gildon being added later.
PAGE 42, l. 6.—Ozell, the translator of Rabelais. Stevens I do not know
or have forgotten, and the “Dunciad” knows him not.
PAGE 44, l. 26. “_The Craftsman._”—This must be one of the latest
additions, the “Craftsman” being the organ of Pulteney and the Opposition
in the great Walpolian battle.
PAGE 46, ll. 11, 17. “_Another for Alexander!_”
PAGE 50, l. 21. “_Those of Sir Isaac._”—Mr. Craik and others have
noticed that Swift’s grammar, especially in unrevised pieces, is not
always impeccable. But this, like other things in this Introduction, is
clearly writ in character, the character of the more polite than pedantic
Wagstaff.
PAGE 56, l. 26. “_Wit at Will._”—Readers of the minor and even of the
greater writers of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
will remember the interminable jingles and plays on these two words
wherever they could be introduced. The phrase “Wit at will” survived most
of its companions as a catchword.
PAGE 58, l. 3. “_Queen Elizabeth’s dead._”—A minute philosopher might
be pleased with the inquiry when Queen Anne superseded her gracious
predecessor in this phrase. Naturally that time had not come when the
“Conversation” was first planned.
PAGE 59, l. 2. “_Push-pin._”—Allusions to this old children’s game are
very common in the seventeenth century; rare, I think, in the eighteenth.
PAGE 64, l. 20. “_Vardi._”—See Introduction, p. 32, where the form is
“Verdi.”
PAGE 65, l. 28. “_Lob’s pound_” means an inextricable difficulty. In
Dekker’s paraphrase of the “Quinze Joyes du Mariage,” it is used to
render the French _dans la nasse_.
PAGE 72, l. 1. I do not understand “_Map-sticks_.”
PAGE 76, ll. 3, 4. “_Cooking._”—_I.e._ (as I suppose), putting the
bread-and-butter in the tea. I believe this atrocious practice is not
absolutely obsolete yet.
PAGE 76, last line but one. “_Head for the washing._”—I think this is
quite dead in English; _laver la tête_ is of course still excellent
French for to scold or rate.
PAGE 79, l. 3. “_A Lord._”—Lord Grimstone, whose production made the
wits merry for a long time. He is Pope’s “booby Lord,” and this absurd
play (which, however, he is said to have written at the age of 13), was
reprinted in his despite by the Duchess of Marlborough, with whom he had
an election quarrel. _Lady Sparkish_ is in orig., but is probably a slip
for Lady Answerall.
PAGE 82, l. 23. “_The Lord of the Lord knows what._”—A peerage revived
with slightly altered title by Peter Simple’s shipmates in favour of “the
Lord Nozoo.”
PAGE 103, l. 4. “_Ld. Smart._”—Erratum for “Ld. Sparkish.”
PAGE 103, l. 13. “_Tantiny Pig._”—The pig usually assigned as companion
to St. Anthony.
PAGE 105, l. 26. “_Poles._”—St. Paul’s.
PAGE 109, l. 4. “_Jommetry._”—See Introduction.
PAGE 110, l. 7.—I do not know the origin of Miss’s catchword. Julia, the
heroine of Dryden’s “Amboyna,” had used it beforehand.
PAGE 111, l. 25. “_Tansy_” has two senses, a plant and a sort of custard.
The reader may choose which suits the circumstances best for metaphorical
explanation.
PAGE 112, l. 11. “_Otomy_,” for “anatomy,” “skeleton.”
PAGE 114, l. 17. “_Ld. Smart_” again for “Ld. Sparkish;” at the foot of
the next page for “_Lady_ Smart.”
PAGE 117, last line. “_Smoke_,” “look at;” later, “twig.”
PAGE 118, l. 13. “_Lady Sparkish_,” probably for “Lady Smart,” as being
hostess.
PAGE 121, last line. “_Inkle._”—Ribbon or tape.
PAGE 129, l. 8. Scott has borrowed this vigorous protest of Miss in one
of his private letters.
PAGE 131, l. 7. “_Ld. Sparkish_” should evidently be “Ld. Smart.”
PAGE 135, l. 14. “_Kept a Corner for a Venison Pasty._”—Which Dr.
Goldsmith remembered in immortal verse.
PAGE 140, l. 12. I do not know whether this speech was meant for Lord
Sparkish or Lady Answerall.
PAGE 143, ll. 1, 3. An unnecessary double entry, but right in the
attribution.
PAGE 145, l. 9. “_In my Tip_,” “as I am drinking.”
PAGE 161, l. 4. “_Weily rosten_,” should probably be “_b_rosten,” _i.e._,
“well-nigh burst.”
PAGE 162, l. 9. Lord Smart might make this speech; but from the answer it
would seem to be his Lady’s.
PAGE 165, l. 13.—I don’t know whether Swift, who never forgot his feud
with “Cousin Dryden,” was indulging in a half-gird at “The corruption of
a poet is the generation of a critic.”
PAGE 176, l. 8. “_Concealer._”—A brilliant pun on “Counsellor.”
PAGE 181, l. 24. “_A Bone in my Leg._”—This odd phrase for a peculiar
cramp in the leg is not dead yet.
PAGE 183, l. 21. “_Quare._”—David Q., died in 1724. He had invented
repeaters, and throughout the eighteenth century was what Tompion was
later among watchmakers, what Joe Manton was long among gunmakers, a name
to conjure with and to quote.
PAGE 184, l. 24. “_Box it about; ’twill come to my Father._”—The famous
Jacobite cant-phrase for breeding disturbance in hopes of a fresh
Revolution.
CHISWICK PRESS:—CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.,
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE.