Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 12.djvu/284

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272
LETTERS TO AND FROM

hitherto undergone, as well as of those which in the course of nature and providence you have reason to expect. May God, who hath endowed you with so many virtues, add strength of mind and reliance upon his mercy in proportion to your present sufferings, as well as those he may think fit to try you with through the remainder of your life?

I fear my present ill disposition both of health and mind has made me but a sorry comforter[1]: however, it will show that no circumstance of life can put you out of my mind, and that I am, with the truest respect, esteem, and friendship,

Dear madam,

your most obedient,

and humble servant,





MY LORD,
JAN. 18, 1727-8.


I WAS informed, that your excellency having referred to the university here some regulation of his majesty's benefaction for professors; they have, in their answer, insinuated as if they thought it best, that the several professorships should be limited to their fellows, and to be held only as they continue to be so. I need not inform your excellency, how

  1. It was written little more than a month before Mrs. Johnson's death, an event which was then almost daily expected.
contrary