e Whigs, but was rewarded for his Tory
principles in 1711 by a Commissionership of Customs.

31 "The twentieth parts are 12 pence in the pound paid annually out of
all ecclesiastical benefices as they were valued at the Reformation.
They amount to about 500 pounds per annum; but are of little or no value
to the Queen after the offices and other charges are paid, though of
much trouble and vexation to the clergy" (Swift's "Memorial to Mr.
Harley").

32 Charles Mordaunt, the brilliant but erratic Earl of Peterborough, had
been engaged for two years, after the unsatisfactory inquiry into his
conduct in Spain by the House of Lords in 1708, in preparing an account
of the money he had received and expended. The change of Government
brought him relief from his troubles; in November he was made
Captain-General of Marines, and in December he was nominated Ambassador
Extraordinary to Vienna.

33 Tapped, nudged.

34 I.e., told only to you.

35 Sir Hew Dalrymple (1652-1737), Lord President of the Court of
Session, and son of the first Viscount Stair.

36 Robert Benson, a moderate Tory, was made a Lord of the Treasury in
August 1710, and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the following June, and
was raised to the peerage as Baron Bingley in 1713. He died in 1731.

37 The Smyrna Coffee-house was on the north side of Pall Mall, opposite
Marlborough House. In the Tatler (Nos. 10, 78) Steele laughed at the
"cluster of wise heads" to be found every evening at the Smyrna; and
Goldsmith says that Beau Nash would wait a whole day at a window at
the Smyrna, in order to receive a bow from the Prince or the Duchess of
Marlborough, and would then look round upon the company for admiration
and respect.

38 See Letter 4, note 14.

39 See Letter 5, note 17.

40 An Irish doctor, with whom Swift invested money.

41 Enoch Sterne, Collector of Wicklow and Clerk to the House of Lords in
Ireland.

42 Claret.

43 Colonel Ambrose Edgworth, a famous dandy, who is supposed to have
been referred to by Steele in No. 246 of the Tatler. Edgworth was the
son of Sir John Edgworth, who was made Colonel of a Regiment of Foot
in 1689 (Dalton, iii, 59). Ambrose Edgworth was a Captain in the same
regiment, but father and son were shortly afterwards turned out of
the regiment for dishonest conduct in connection with the soldiers'
clothing. Ambrose was, however, reappointed a Captain in General Eric's
Regiment of Foot in 1691. He served in Spain as Major i