Beschreibung:

SWIFT, Jonathan (1667-1745). Autograph letter to Rebecca Dingley [and Esther Johnson, 'Stella'], London, 9 [September] 1710 , informing them that 'Henceforth I will writt something every day to Md and make it a sort of Journal, & when it is full I will send it whether MD writes or no; and so that will be plitty, and I shall always be in conversation with MD, and MD with Pdfr [Swift]', announcing his arrival in London after five days journey, describing his reception, 'The Whigs were ravisht to see me, and would lay hold on me as a Twig while they are drowning ... my Ld Treasr [Godolphin] receivd me with a great deal of coldness ... I am almost vowing Revenge', referring to the political agitation, 'Every thing is turning upside down. Every Whig in great office will to a man be infallible putt out', and his own prospects, 'Every body asks me how I came to be so long in Ireld, as naturally as if here were my Being, but no soul offers to make it so', writing that he will return to Dublin and to Laracor 'with more Satisfaction than I ever did in my Life', urging Stella to ride 'little Johnson who must needs be now in good Case', describing his own health, 'They tell me I am grown Fatter, but look better ... on Monday Jervis [Charles Jervas] is to retouch my Picture', and ending with news of mutual friends and the promise of a longer letter, 'I send this onley to tell I am safe in London', 2 pages, 4to , 12 lines lightly crossed through, and other (?editorial) marks (with a two-line printed facsimile of Swift's hand-writing pasted on page two), integral address leaf 'To Mrs Dingley at Mr Curry's House over against the Ram in Capel Street Dublin Ireland', (remains of seal, seal tear repaired, folds strengthened). LETTER II OF THE SERIES OF 'JOURNALS' WRITTEN BY SWIFT BETWEEN 1710 AND 1713 to Esther Johnson, the woman who at the time, and until her death in 1728, was most closely linked with his life. In September 1710 Swift arrived in London with a commission to plead the cause of the Irish clergy, remaining in England until June 1713 when he returned for his installation as Dean of St. Patrick's. In the course of his absence he wrote sixty-five letters to Esther Johnson. (Swift, at the time he wrote these letters, had not begun to call her Stella; the name was in use in 1719, when the first of the birthday poems addressed to her was written.) It is uncertain when Swift first met her. Writing in 1726, he states that they had been 'perfect friends' for thirty-five years; it was on his advice that Stella and her life-long companion Rebecca Dingley moved to Ireland about 1700. These letters are addressed to Stella and Rebecca Dingley, and were first brought together in a single group by Sheridan in his edition of Swift's Works , 1784, under the title Dr. Swift's Journal to Stella . This letter is written in the compact script characteristic of the other 25 surviving letters in the series which were presented to the British Museum by the bookseller who published an edition of Swift's letters in 1766. The 25 letters in the British Library are numbered I and XLI-LXV with the exception of LIV: twelve are folio and the remainder 4to, and all but three are addressed to Rebecca Dingley. The present letter lacks postmarks, but there is no doubt that it has been folded and sealed. There is no indication of where or when it was acquired by Richard Monckton Milnes, but an entry in the English Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne describes a breakfast party on 11 July 1856 at Monckton Milnes's house, when Hawthorne was shown a collection of autographs including 'a leaf from Swift's "Journal to Stella"'. Letter II was first published by Deane Swift in his edition of Swift's Works of 1768. Harold Williams was unsuccessful in his efforts to locate this manuscript, and it has not been examined by modern scholars. In addition to the use of what Swift called 'our language', he also introduced odd combinations of letters both as terms of endearment and