31 Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke, was Lord Lieutenant from April 17O7 to December 17O8.  A nobleman of taste and learning, he was, like Swift, very fond of punning, and they had been great friends in Ireland.

32 See Letter 3, note 11.

33 See Letter 3, note 18.

34 A small town and fortress in what is now the Pas de Calais.

35 Richard Stewart, third son of the first Lord Mountjoy (see Letter 1, note 11), was M.P. at various times for Castlebar, Strabane, and County Tyrone.  He died in 1728.

Letter 8.

1 See Letter 3, note 1.

2 Swift, Esther Johnson, and Mrs. Dingley seem to have begun their financial year on the 1st of November.  Swift refers to “MD’s allowance” in the Journal for April 23, 1713.

3 Samuel Dopping, an Irish friend of Stella’s, who was probably related to Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath (died 1697), and to his son Anthony (died 1743), who became Bishop of Ossory.

4 See Letter 2, note 17.

5 The wife of Alderman Stoyte, afterwards Lord Mayor of Dublin.  Mrs. Stoyte and her sister Catherine; the Walls; Isaac Manley and his wife; Dean Sterne, Esther Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, and Swift, were the principal members of a card club which met at each other’s houses for a number of years.

6 See Letter 1, note 12.

7 “This cypher stands for Presto, Stella, and Dingley; as much as to say, it looks like us three quite retired from all the rest of the world” (Deane Swift).

8 Steele’s “dear Prue,” Mary Scurlock, whom he married as his second wife in 17O7, was a lady of property and a “cried-up beauty.”  She was somewhat of a prude, and did not hesitate to complain to her husband, in and out of season, of his extravagance and other weaknesses.  The other lady to whom Swift alludes is probably the Duchess of Marlborough.

9 See Letter 7, note 7.

10 Remembers:  an Irish expression.

11 This new Commission, signed by Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Armagh, and William King, was dated Oct. 24, 1710.  In this document Swift was begged to take the full management of the business of the First-Fruits into his hands, the Bishops of Ossory and Killala—­who were to have joined with him in the negotiations—­having left London before Swift arrived.  But before this commission was despatched the Queen had granted the First-Fruits and Twentieth Parts to the Irish clergy.

12 Lady Mountjoy, wife of the second Viscount Mountjoy (see Letter 1), was Anne, youngest daughter of Murrough Boyle, first Viscount Blessington, by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Charles Coote, second Earl of Mountrath.  After Lord Mountjoy’s death she married John Farquharson, and she died in 1741.