LONDON, _Sept._ 9, 1710.
I GOT here last Thursday, {4a} after five days’ travelling, weary the
first, almost dead the second, tolerable the third, and well enough the
rest; and am now glad of the fatigue, which has served for exercise; and
I am at present well enough. The Whigs were ravished to see me, and
would lay hold on me as a twig while they are drowning, {4b} and the
great men making me their clumsy apologies, etc. But my Lord Treasurer
{4c} received me with a great deal of coldness, which has enraged me so,
I am almost vowing revenge. I have not yet gone half my circle; but I
find all my acquaintance just as I left them. I hear my Lady Giffard
{4d} is much at Court, and Lady Wharton {4e} was ridiculing it t’other
day; so I have lost a friend there. I have not yet seen her, nor intend
it; 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.