The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 13/From William King (St Mary Hall) to Deane Swift - 1
FROM DR. KING TO DEANE SWIFT, ESQ.[1]
I DID not receive your letter of the 4th till yesterday. It was sent after me to London, and from thence returned to Oxford.
I am much concerned that I cannot see you before you go to Ireland, because I intended to have sent by you a packet for the dean. It has been no fault of mine that he has not heard from me. I have written two letters for him (both enclosed to Mrs. Whiteway) since I received the manuscript from lord Orrery. I wrote again to Mrs. Whiteway, when I was last week in London, to acquaint her, that I would write to the dean by a friend of mine, who is going for Ireland in a few days. I do not wonder my letters by the post have been intercepted, since they wholly related to the publication of [2], which, I am assured, is a matter by no means agreeable to some of our great men, nor indeed to some of the dean's particular friends in London. In short, I have been obliged to defer this publication till I can have the dean's answer to satisfy the objections which have been made by some of his friends. I had likewise a particular reason of my own for deferring this work a few months, which I have acquainted the dean with.
I must beg the favour of you to leave behind you the copy of The Toast, at least to show it to nobody in Ireland: for as I am upon the point of accommodating my suit, the publication of the book would greatly prejudice my affairs at this juncture. But this is a caution I believe I needed not have given you.
Your friends in the Hall are all well. We are now very full.
Believe me to be, sir, your most affectionate and most humble servant,
- ↑ Then at Monmouth.
- ↑ Dr. Swift's History of the Four Last Years of Q. Anne.