of
Hamilton (Examiner, Nov. 20, 1712). The whole subject is discussed from
the Whig point of view in Boyer's Political State for 1712, pp. 297-326.

4 "Will" (MS.).

5 See Letter 27, note 9.

6 George Maccartney (see Letter 11, note 13 and Letter 39, Jan. 22,
1711-12 ) fought at Almanza, Malplaquet, and Douay. After the duel,
Maccartney escaped to Holland, but on the accession of George I. he
returned to England, and was tried for murder (June 1716), when Colonel
Hamilton gave evidence against him. Hamilton's evidence was discredited,
and he found it necessary to sell his commission and leave the country.
Maccartney was found guilty as an accessory, and "burnt" in the hand.
Within a month he was given an appointment in the army; and promoted to
be Lieutenant-General. He died in 1730.

7 Colonel John Hamilton, of the Scots Guards. He surrendered himself,
and was tried at the Old Bailey on Dec. 12, 1712, when he was found
guilty of manslaughter, on two indictments; and on the following day
he was "burnt" in the hand. Hamilton died in October 1716, soon after
Maccartney's trial, from a sudden vomiting of blood.

8 "That" (MS.).

9 The story (as told in the Tory Postboy of Nov. 11 to 13) was that on
Nov. 4 a bandbox was sent to the Earl of Oxford by post. When he began
to open it he saw a pistol, whereupon a gentleman present (Swift) asked
for the box, and opening it, by the window, found powder, nails, etc.,
so arranged that, if opened in the ordinary way, the whole would have
been fired, and two barrels discharged different ways. No doubt a box
so packed was received, but whether anything serious was intended, or
whether it was a hoax, cannot be said with any certainty. The Earl of
Oxford is said to have met allusions to the subject with a smile, and
Swift seems to have been annoyed at the reports which were put into
circulation.

10 "We have received a more particular account relating to the box sent
to the Lord Treasurer, as mentioned in our last, which is as follows,"
etc. (Evening News, Nov. 11 to 13, 1712).

11 Either "A Letter to the People, to be left for them at the
Booksellers, with a word or two of the Bandbox Plot" (by T. Burnet),
1712, or "An Account of the Duel..., with Previous Reflections on Sham
Plots" (by A. Boyer), 1712. Swift's connection with the Bandbox Plot was
ridiculed in the Flying Post for Nov. 20 to 22.

12 Cf. Letter 16, Feb. 20, 1710-11.

13 This sentence is partially obliterated