that he has taken the two
famous universities of this land under his immediate care, and does
hereby promise all tutors and pupils, that he will hear what can be said
of each side between them, and to correct them impartially, by placing
them in orders and classes in the learned world, according to their
merit.[326]

[Footnote 311: See Nos. 25, 26, 28, 29.]

[Footnote 312: Probably meant for Llanbadern Vawr, if not a name coined
for the occasion.]

[Footnote 313: Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's book was published in 1514.]

[Footnote 314: See Nos. 28, 134.]

[Footnote 315: See Selden, "De Duello" (1610), p. 19.]

[Footnote 316: A prize-fighter mentioned in Lansdowne's epilogue to "The
Jew of Venice."]

[Footnote 317: "AEneid," v. 437 _seq._]

[Footnote 318: Suetonius, "Life of Nero," chap. 12.]

[Footnote 319: An allusion to the rubrics in Roman missals.]

[Footnote 320: The fields at the back of Montague House, Bloomsbury,
were a favourite place for duels in the first half of the eighteenth
century. Cf. _Spectator_, No. 91: "I shall be glad to meet you
immediately in Hyde Park or behind Montague House, or attend you to Barn
Elms, or any other fashionable place that's fit for a gentleman to die
in."]

[Footnote 321: It has been suggested, with some probability, that this
letter is by Swift.]

[Footnote 322: See No. 4.]

[Footnote 323: Borago was a plant formerly used as a cordial.]

[Footnote 324: See No. 21.]

[Footnote 325: Young Man's Coffee-house at Charing Cross, had a back
door into Spring Garden. It seems to have been specially frequented by
officers.]

[Footnote 326: "Mr. Bickerstaff has received the advices from Clay Hill,
which, with all intelligence from honest Mr. Sturdy and others, shall
have their place in our future story" (folio).]

No. 32. [SWIFT AND STEELE.

From _Tuesday, June 21_, to _Thursday, June 23, 1709._

* * * * *

White's Chocolate-house, June 22.

An answer to the following letter being absolutely necessary to be
despatched with all expedition, I must trespass upon all that come with
horary questions into my ante-chamber, to give the gentlemen my opinion.

#"_To Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq._#

"_June 18_, 1709.

"SIR,

"I know not whether you ought to pity or laugh at me; for I am fallen
desperately in love with a professed Platonne, the most unaccountable
creature of her sex. To hear her talk seraphics, and run over
Norris,[