as "a shameless and most contemptible ecclesiastical turncoat, whose
tongue is as swift to revile as his mind is swift to change." The
Postboy said that Boyer would "be prosecuted with the utmost severity of
the law" for this attack.

12 The "Edgar." Four hundred men were killed.

13 William Bretton, or Britton, was made Lieutenant-Colonel in 1702,
Colonel of a new Regiment of Foot 1705, Brigadier-General 1710, and
Colonel of the King's Own Borderers in April 1711 (Dalton, Army Lists,
iii. 238). In December 1711 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the
King of Prussia (Postboy, Jan. 1, 1712), and he died in December 1714 or
January 1715.

14 See Letter 24, note 14.

15 It is not clear which of several Lady Gores is here referred to.
It may be (1) the wife of Sir William Gore, Bart., of Manor Gore, and
Custos Rotulorum, County Leitrim, who married Hannah, eldest daughter
and co-heir of James Hamilton, Esq., son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and
niece of Gustavus Hamilton, created Viscount Boyne. She died 1733.
Or (2) the wife of Sir Ralph Gore, Bart. (died 1732), M.P. for County
Donegal, and afterwards Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He
married Miss Colville, daughter of Sir Robert Colville, of Newtown,
Leitrim, and, as his second wife, Elizabeth, only daughter of Dr. Ashe,
Bishop of Clogher. Or (3) the wife of Sir Arthur Gore, Bart. (died
1727), of Newtown Gore, Mayo, who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir
George St. George, Bart., of Carrick, Leitrim, and was ancestor of the
Earls of Arran.

16 "Modern usage has sanctioned Stella's spelling" (Scott). Swift's
spelling was "wast."

17 Mrs. Manley.

18 Swift's own lines, "Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition."

19 Thomas Coote was a justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, in Ireland,
from 1692 until his removal in 1715.

20 Probably a relative of Robert Echlin, Dean of Tuam, who was killed by
some of his own servants in April 1712, at the age of seventy-three. His
son John became Prebendary and Vicar-General of Tuam, and died in 1764,
aged eighty-three. In August 1731 Bolingbroke sent Swift a letter by
the hands of "Mr. Echlin," who would, he said, tell Swift of the general
state of things in England.

21 "This column of words, as they are corrected, is in Stella's hand"
(Deane Swift).

LETTER 33.

1 Swift's verses, "The Description of a Salamander," are a scurrilous
attack on John, Lord Cutts (died 1707), who was famous for his
bravery. Joanna Cutts