14 The tobacco was to be used as snuff.  About this time ladies much affected the use of snuff, and Steele, in No. 344 of the Spectator, speaks of Flavilla pulling out her box, “which is indeed full of good Brazil,” in the middle of the sermon.  People often made their own snuff out of roll tobacco, by means of rasps.  On Nov. 3, 1711, Swift speaks of sending “a fine snuff rasp of ivory, given me by Mrs. St. John for Dingley, and a large roll of tobacco.”

15 Katherine Barton, second daughter of Robert Barton, of Brigstock, Northamptonshire, and niece of Sir Isaac Newton.  She was a favourite among the toasts of the Kit-Cat Club, and Lord Halifax, who left her a fortune, was an intimate friend.  In 1717 she married John Conduitt, afterwards Master of the Mint.

16 William Connolly, appointed a Commissioner of the Revenue in 1709, was afterwards Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.  He died in 1729.  Francis Robarts, appointed a Commissioner of the Revenue in 1692, was made a Teller of the Exchequer in England in 1704, and quitted that office, in September 171O, on his reappointment, in Connolly’s place, as Revenue Commissioner in Ireland.  In 1714 Robarts was removed, and Connolly again appointed Commissioner.

17 Enoch Sterne, Collector of Wicklow and Clerk to the Irish House of Lords.  Writing to Dr. Sterne on Sept. 26, Swift said, “I saw Collector Sterne, who desired me to present his service to you, and to tell you he would be glad to hear from you, but not about business.”

18 In his “Character of Mrs. Johnson” Swift says, “She was never known to cry out, or discover any fear, in a coach.”  The passage in the text is obscure.  Apparently Esther Johnson had boasted of saving money by walking, instead of riding, like a coward.

19 John Radcliffe (165O-1714), the well-known physician and wit, was often denounced as a clever empiric.  Early in 1711 he treated Swift for his dizziness.  By his will, Radcliffe left most of his property to the University of Oxford.

20 Charles Barnard, Sergeant-Surgeon to the Queen, and Master of the Barber Surgeons’ Company.  His large and valuable library, to which Swift afterwards refers, fetched great prices.  Luttrell records Barnard’s death in his diary for Oct. 12, 171O.

21 Robert Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, had been appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in August 1710.  In May 1711 he was raised to the peerage and made Lord High Treasurer; and he is constantly referred to in the Journal as “Lord Treasurer.”  He was impeached in 1715, but was acquitted to 1717; he died in 1724.

22 The Right Hon. Thomas Bligh, M.P., of Rathmore, County Meath, died on Aug. 28, 1710.  His son, mentioned later in the Journal, became Earl of Darnley.

Letter 5.

1 Penalty.