The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 11/From Jonathan Swift to William Swift - 1
MY sister told me you was pleased (when she was here) to wonder I did so seldom write to you. I .... been so kind to impute it neither to ill mann .... respect. I always .... thought that sufficient from one who has always been but too troublesome to you. Besides, I know your aversion to impertinence, and God knows so very private a life as mine can furnish a letter with little else, for I often am two or three months without seeing any body beside the family; and now my sister is gone, I am likely to be more solitary than before. I am still to thank you for your care in my testimonium; and it was to very good purpose, for I never was more satisfied than in the behaviour of the university of Oxford to me. I had all the civilities I could wish for, and so many .... favours, that I am ashamed to have been more obliged in a few weeks to strangers, than ever I was in seven years to Dublin college. I am not to take orders till the king gives me a prebend; and sir William Temple, though he promises me the certainty of it, yet is less forward than I could wish, because (I suppose) he believes I shall leave him, and, upon some accounts, he thinks me a little necessary to him[2]. If I were .... entertainment, or doing you any satisfaction by my letters, I should be very glad to perform it that way, as I am bound to do it by all others. I am sorry my fortune should fling me so far from the best of my relations; but hope that I shall have the happiness to see you some time or other. Pray my humble service to my good aunt, and the rest of my relations, if you please.
- ↑ This letter to his uncle (though somewhat imperfect, and manifestly written in a hurry) certainly merits our regard, as helping to clear up seme passages in the writer's life.
- ↑ Dr. Swift was at this time employed in revising sir William Temple's works for the press.