Add MS 39839

JONATHAN SWIFT; correspondence with Esther Vanhomrigh (" Vanessa"), 1711-1722. Printed from this MS. by A. Martin Freeman, Vanessa and her Correspondence with Jonathan Swift, 1921. Included are letters to Sir Andrew Fountaine (f. 2) [4 Nov. 1711, see Journal to Stella, ed. Aitken, p. 332], and Miss [Anne] Long (f. 5). The latter (dat. " Dec. 18th, 1711 ") was sent under cover to Vanessa with the intention that she should read it before forwarding it to Miss Long, but it was never forwarded, Miss Long dying 22 Dec. 1711. The covering letter to this was the first of the series addressed to Vanessa (f. 4), which should be dated 18 or 19 Dec. 1711, and not, as Elrington Ball, Correspondence, i, p. 299, dates it conjecturally, 7 Nov., though Swift did send a letter to Miss Long on that day (cf. the account of letters despatched and received, Corr., 1, p. 385). The correspondence continues until 7 Aug. 1722 (Vanessa died in 1723). One letter (f. 21) is to Esther Vanhomrigh, " Vanessa's " motlher, 6 June 1713. Swift's letters are the letters as sent, Vanessa's are her drafts. Paper ; ff. i + 82. Quarto. The letters at Vanessa's death appear to have passed into the hands of her executors, Bishop Berkeley and Robert Marshall, see Ball, Corr., iii, Appendix iii ; Freeman, p. 39. It was long supposed that they had been destroyed, and all editions before Mr. Freeman's derive from inaccurate copies. A letter from D. Hailes to Robert (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel, 2 Apr. 1816, may refer to the originals : " Mr. Hailes presents his compliments to Mr. Peel, and takes the liberty of begging him to forward the volume sent herewith to the Lord Lieutenant by his next Courier. It is a literary curiosity which came by the Post to Mr. H. from Lord Whitworth, being a correspondence between Dean Swift and the celebrated Vanessa " (Add. MS. 40254, f. 10). At f. i is an envelope (postmarked 1892) addressed to Miss Leslie, Glaslough, co. Monaghan (cf. a note by Mr. Shane Leslie in Freeman, p. 4). One cover of the original binding of brown calf, with stamps of arms in centre of covers intentionally obliterated, is now preserved inside the front cover. Belonged to Alfred Morrison (sale-cat., Sotheby's, 6 May 1919, lot 3101), but not in the printed Catalogue, 1883-1892.

Esther Vanhomrigh, called 'Vanessa.': Correspondence with Dean Swift: [1711]-1722.

Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin; author: Correspondence with Miss Vanhomrigh: [1711]-1722.

includes:

• f. i Miss Leslie of Glaslough, county Monaghan: Envelope addressed to: 1892.
• f. 2 Sir Andrew Fountaine: Letter to, from Dean Swift: 1711.
• f.2 Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin; author: Letter to Sir A. Fountaine: [1711].
• f. 5 Anne Long: Letter to, from Dean Swift: 1711.
• f. 6 Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin; author: Letter to Miss Long: 1711.
• f. 21 Esther Vanhomrigh, mother of ' Vanessa.': Letter to, from Dean Swift: 1713.
• f.21 Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin; author: Letter to Mrs. Vanhomrigh: 1713.
• ff. 47, 47 b, 53 Poetry ENGLISH: Verses by Dean Swift, in letters to " Vanessa": 1720.: Autogr.