P. 300. Burnet, speaking of the Scotch clergy refusing to be made bishops, says:—­They had an ill opinion of the court, and could not be brought to leave their retirement.—­Swift. For that very reason they should have accepted bishoprics.

P. 301. Burnet, after mentioning the murder of the Duchess of Orleans, says:—­I will set down one story of her, that was told me by a person of distinction, who had it from some who were well informed of the matter.—­Swift. Poor authority.

P. 303. Burnet. Madame [the Duchess of Orleans] had an intrigue with another person, whom I knew well, the Count of Treville.  When she was in her agony, she said, “Adieu, Treville.”  He was so struck with this accident, that it had a good effect on him; for he went and lived many years among the Fathers of the Oratory, and became both a very learned, and devout man.  He came afterwards out into the world.  I saw him often.  He was a man of a very sweet temper, only a little too formal for a Frenchman.  But he was very sincere.  He was a Jansenist.  He hated the Jesuits.—­Swift. Pretty jumping periods.

P. 304. Burnet. Lord Shaftesbury laid the blame of this chiefly on the Duke of Buckingham:  For he told me, ...  And therefore he blamed him.—­Swift. Who blamed whom.

Ibid. Burnet. The Duke of Savoy was encouraged to make a conquest of Genoa.—­Swift. Geneva.

Ibid. Burnet. When a foreign minister asked the King’s leave to treat with him [Lockhart] in his master’s name, the King consented; but with this severe reflection, That he believed he would be true to anybody but himself.—­Swift. Does he mean, Lockhart would not be true to Lockhart?

P. 305. Burnet. They [the French] so possessed De Groot, then the Dutch ambassador at Paris, or they corrupted him into a belief that they had no design on them, etc.—­Swift. Who on whom?

P. 306. Burnet. The Earl of Shaftesbury was the chief man in this advice [recommending the King to shut up the exchequer].—­Swift. Clifford had the merit of this.

P. 318. Burnet, after mentioning the death of William II., Prince of Orange, says of the Princess:—­As she bore her son a week after his death, in the eighth month of her time, so he came into the world under great disadvantages.—­Swift. A pretty contrast.

Ibid. Burnet mentions an astrological prediction of the Prince’s fate, and adds:—­But that which was most particular was, that he was to have a son by a widow, and was to die of the small-pox in the twenty-fifth year of his age.—­Swift.  Was, was, was, was.

P. 320. Burnet.  They set it also up for a maxim.—­Swift.  He can vary a phrase; set up for a maxim, and lay down for a maxim.

P. 321. Burnet.  His oath was made to them, and by consequence it was in their power to release the obligation that did arise from it to themselves.—­Swift.  Bad casuist.