Add MS 38671

TEN LETTERS Of Jonathan Swift to members of the Rochfort family, etc., 1711-1737, with tripos verses and other jeux d'esprit, l7th-18th cent. Contents: 1. Letters of Swift to Thomas Staunton (ff. 1, 4, 6), Mrs. Rochfort, wife of Robert Rochfort (f. 2), Robert Percival (ff. 8, 10), and John Rochfort (ff. 12-16). For Swift's relations with the Rochforts see Dict. Nat. Biog. sub Rochfort, Robert. Thomas Staunton was a relation by marriage of the Rochforts. The first letter in the collection describes an interesting interview between Swift and Henry Temple, afterwards Viscount Palmerston, to whom Swift recommended the unnamed addressee for employment. Swift had recommended Thomas Staunton to Palmerston (cf. Correspondence, ed. Elrington Ball, iii. p. 298), and Staunton's dismissal was one of the grounds of the quarrel between the two. The letter was, therefore, in all probability addressed to Thomas Staunton. One only of the letters has been printed, the second to Percival (f. 10), see Correspondence, iv. p. 118. At the end (f. 18) are some notes, not in Swift's hand, relating to his glebe at Laracor, etc. f. 1.

2. Tripos verses and other satirical compositions, in a hand of the late l7th cent., composed in Trinity College, Dublin, probably between 1679 and 1688, a period covering Swift's residence there. For Triposes at Trinity College in this period see J. Barrett, Essay on the Earlier Part of the Life of Swift, 1808, where a Tripos attributed to John Jones, a contemporary of Swift, is printed, and the assertion made (without sufficient proof) that Swift was the real author. The pieces are: (a) A Tripos in three Acts in prose and verse, very closely resembling the one printed by Barrett. A reference to Monmouth's rebellion ("audivi, mi frater, te Angliam aditurum esse ad debellandum Monmouth," f. 25 b) shows that it was composed in 1685. Lat. and Engl. f. 19; (b) Tripos in two cautos of Hudibrastic verse, with prologue, headed "The prologue to Mr. Bradeis Tripus," beg. "To long ungratfull wee with dint of scorne." Tripos beg. "This Canto treats of errant knight." The author was probably the student Bredy, an associate of Swift, expelled, 19 Sept. 1687, "for writing and publishing a scandalous libel on some ladies of quality" (Barrett, p. 10). f. 28 b ; (c) "On Doctor Drydens coming over to be provost of Trinity College," beg. "Haile Rhyming Atheist may thy passage be:" a satire on the poet, John Dryden, composed between 1686, the date of his conversion to Rome, and the Revolution of 1688. f. 31b ; (d) "Another satyr on the same," beg. "Escape by all the gods he never shall." f. 32; (e) "A Satyr on Doctor Dryden by Mrs. Bhen," beg. "Scorning religion all thy life time past:" an attack on Dryden's change of faith, attributed to [? Aphara] Behn (d. 1689). f. 32 b; (f) "On Mallory's Mandamus," beg. "Now for some days had the grave brethren sat:" satirical account of a college meeting under Dr. Narcissus Marsh (Provost, 1679-1684). f. 33; (g) "On the Provosts cow that was killed," beg. "Full 14 quarts of milk didst thou:" on Doctor Marsh's cow. f. 34; (h) "Advice to a Tripus," beg. "Gods band was surely in't or how cou'd they:" advice to a "Terrae filius." f. 34 b; (i) Baxters farewell," beg. "Hence to some distant region let us goe:" attack on the fellows. f. 35 b; (k) "On the beautifull Deborah," beg. " 'Tis mean, 'tis sordid, and 'tis low:" irregular ode, attacking Deborah, sister of Dr. Narcissus Marsh, who is often mentioned in the other pieces. f. 36; (l) "Downs his Instalment," beg. "That all to love sometime must homage pay:" account of the election of Dive Downes to a fellowship under Narcissus Marsh. f. 35.

3. Miscellaneous collection of note, burlesques and squibs: (a) Various historical notes apparently in Robert Rochfort's band. f. 41 ; (b) Three burlesque letters, two addressed to John Rochfort. ff. 50-54 ; (c) Draft of will of Robert Rochfort (d. 1727). f. 55 b; (d) Collection of epigrams on set subjects in Latin elegiacs. The author's name is appended to each. Various references show that they were written at Oxford (some at Christchurch), and allusions to the Treaty of Utrecht (no. 15) and the performance of Addison's Cato (no. 36) date them in 1713. f. 57 ; (e) Imitation of Horace, Odes ii. 16, composed circ. 1745. f. 64; (f) Imitation of Horace, Sat. i. 6, dated 2 Apr. 1736, and burlesque resolutions of the Irish House of Commons, dated "Die Satani 1736." f. 67 ; (g) Squib on the Institutionum logicarum libri tres of Franco Burgersdijck, in form of a funeral oration in Lat. f.69; (h) Satire, in English heroics, on various Dublin notabilities during the second Viceroyalty of the Earl of Dorset (1750-1755), from the point of view of a member of the Opposition, beg. "When Liffy's silver tide shall backwards run." f. 70b; (i) Three Latin epigrams, on the portrait of Daniel Jackson by [Charles] Jervas. f. 72; (k) Catechism in Latin, written by George Bishop. f. 76 ; (l) Playbill for the performance at the Theatre Royal, [Dublin], 20 Aug. 1806, of the opera 'The Cabinet,' for the benefit of [Thomas] Philipps. Printed. f. 84. Presented by Mrs. E. Bromley.