The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 13/From Benjamin Motte to Jonathan Swift - 1
FROM MR. MOTTE.
I HAVE not had an opportunity of writing to you otherwise than by the post for above a twelvemonth, and though in that time I did trouble you with a letter or two relating to Mr. Lancelot's business, yet I thought proper to mention only what related to that particular, considering I was then under the hands of the law, whence I was not discharged till the last day of the last term. I do not doubt but you have heard before now, that Mrs. Barber was discharged at the same time.
I desired, therefore, Mrs. Hyde[1] to deliver this to your own hand, and make bold to trouble you with an account of some transactions which have happened within these two years, which I have long wished for the pleasure of doing by word of mouth, in hopes my behaviour would be excused at least (if not approved) by you, the assurance whereof I should receive with the utmost satisfaction.
Soon after Mr. Pilkington had received the twenty guineas you ordered me to pay him, the Life and Character was offered me, though not by his own hands, yet by his means, as I was afterward convinced by many circumstances: one was, that he corrected the proof sheets with his own hand; and as he said he had seen the original of that piece, I could not imagine he would have suffered your name to be put to it, if it had not been genuine. When I found, by your advertisement and the letter you were pleased to write to me, that I had been deceived by him, I acted afterward with more reserve, and refused a pamphlet about Norton's will, which he pretended came from an eminent hand. It was bought afterward by another bookseller, who printed it, and lost money by it.
He could not forbear observing my coldness, and applied to Mr. Gilliver about the copy of verses[2] for which we were all brought into trouble; and, by the way, when once an affair was communicated to two persons, it was not in the power of any one, how just and faithful soever, to answer for its being kept a secret. It was published three months before it was taken notice of: and when the printer was taken up, and had named Gilliver as the bookseller, and it was reported a warrant was out against G. and he was likely to be apprehended next morning, we two had a meeting over night, and I promised to take the advice of a gentleman of sense and honour, whose name I did not mention to him, and to meet G. early the next morning at a certain tavern, to consult farther. Accordingly I went to a gentleman in Cork street, and from thence to the tavern we had appointed to meet at, where, after I had waited above an hour, a message was sent me that I need stay no longer, for Mr. G. was gone to Westminster, and would not come. I went to see him in the messenger's hands; but he was so closely watched by a couple of sharp sluts, the messenger's daughters, that I could say nothing to him, but about indifferent matters. The consequence was, he was examined, and made a confession, like poor Dr. Yalden's, of all that he knew, and more too; naming Mr. Pilkington first, and then myself; which last, as many people have told me, was unnecessary: only, as he before said, he was resolved, if he came into trouble, I should have a share of it, though I offered, in case he would not name me, that I would bear one half of his expenses. This confession of his, together with his bearing the character of a wealthy man, exposed him to an information; but as it was not my business to be industrious in recollecting what passed three months before, I could not remember any thing that could affect me or any body else.
I am sorry for the trouble this has caused to poor Mrs. Barber. I saw her the other day: she was confined to her bed with the gout. She desired, when I wrote, that I would present her humble service to you.
I would be glad to receive your directions what I must do with the two notes I have under Mr. Pilkington's hand, of ten guineas each. They were allowed by you in the last account we settled; but whether you would please they should be destroyed or sent over to you, I am not certain. As for the state of the account, as I have heard no exceptions to it, I flatter myself you find it all right.
Mr. Faulkner's impression of four volumes has had its run. I was advised that it was in my power to have given him and his agents sufficient vexation, by applying to the law; but that I could not sue him without bringing your name into a court of justice, which absolutely determined me to be passive. I am told he is about printing them in an edition in twelves; in which case I humbly hope you will please to lay your commands upon him (which, if he has any sense of gratitude, must have the same power as an injunction in chancery) to forbear sending them over here. If you think this request to be reasonable, I know you will comply with it: if not, I submit.
As we once had a meeting upon this affair, and he may possibly have misrepresented the offers he then made me; I beg leave to assure you that his proposal was, that I should have paid him a larger price for the book than I could have had it printed for here in England; and surely I had the same right of printing them here, as he had in Ireland, especially having bought and paid for them. If he made any other offer, I declare I misunderstood him; and I am sure, if I had complied with those terms, I should have been a laughing stock to the whole trade.
Mr. Pope has published a second volume of his poetical works, of which, I suppose, he has made you a present. I am surprised to see he owns so little in the four volumes; and speaks of these few things as inconsiderable. I am a stranger to what part of the copy money he received[3]; but you who know better, are a competent judge whether he deserved it. "I always thought the Art of Sinking was his, though he there disowns it[4]."
Curll's edition of Letters to and from Mr. Pope, I suppose you have seen. They were taken notice of in the house of lords; and Curll was ruffled for them in a manner as, to a man of less impudence than his own, would have been very uneasy. It has provoked Mr. Pope to promise the world a genuine edition, with many additions. It is plain the rascal has no knowledge of those letters of yours that Ewin of Cambridge has. Few as they are, he would tack some trash to them, and make a five or six shilling book of them.
The Persian Letters have been well received, so I chose to send them; beside that, they make a convenient cover for this letter.
Mr. Tooke, who desires me to present his most humble service to you, acquainted me some time ago of your intention to erect an hospital for lunaticks and idiots. I am glad to find, by the newspapers, that so noble a design proceeds; for beside the general benefit to mankind that is obvious to every body, I am persuaded there will be a particular one arise by your example; namely, that you will lay down a scheme, which will be a pattern for future founders of publick hospitals, to prevent many of the vile abuses which, in process of time, do creep into those foundations, by the indolence, ignorance, or knavery of the trustees. I have seen so many scandalous instances of misapplications of that kind, as have raised my indignation so, that I can hardly think upon it with temper; and I heartily congratulate you that a heart to bestow is joined in you with a head to contrive: and therefore, without any mercenary views (at the same time not declining any instance of your favour) I would beg leave to say, that as, while your thoughts are employed in this generous undertaking, you must necessarily consider it in the light I have placed it in; so if you would please to communicate these thoughts to the publick, you might possibly give useful hints to persons of fortune and beneficent intentions, though of inferiour abilities. I heartily wish you success in this and all other your undertakings; being, with grateful respect, sir, your obliged and obedient humble servant,
- ↑ Widow to Mr. Hyde, bookseller in Dublin.
- ↑ See the "Poem to a Lady, who desired the Author to write some Verses upon her in the heroick Style," in Vol. VII, p. 346. Mrs. Barber was taken into custody by the king's messenger for this poem, and examined before the privy council.
- ↑ Mr. Pope sold the Miscellanies for a considerable sum; and offered part of it to Dr. Swift, which he refused.
- ↑ The Art of Sinking was written by Mr. Pope.