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Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 19.djvu/165

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DR. SWIFT.
153


drunkard; I then discharged him as such; but how far his having been five years at sea may have mended his manners, I leave to the penetration of those who may hereafter choose to employ him.







DEAR SIR,
MAY 13, 1740.


I COULD never believe Mrs. Whiteway's gasconades in telling me of her acquaintance with you. But my age and perpetual disorders, and chiefly my vexatious deafness, with other infirmities, have completed the utter loss of my memory; so that I cannot recollect the names of those friends who come to see me twice or oftener every week. However, I remember to wish you a long lasting joy of being no longer a bachelor, especially because the teaser

    the dean would give him some sort of discharge, since the honour of having lived with him would certainly procure him a place. Accordingly the dean called for pen, ink, and paper; and gave him a dismission, with which and no other fortune, he set out for London. Among others, he applied to me, who had known him at his late master's; and produced his certificate; which, for its singularity, I transcribed. I advised him to go to Mr. Pope, who, on seeing the dean's handwriting, which he well knew, told the man, "If he could produce any credible person, who could attest that he was the servant the dean meant, be would hire him." On this occasion he applied to me; and I gave him a letter to Mr. Pope, assuring him, that I knew the man to have been footman to the dean. Upon this, Mr. Pope took him into his service; in which he continued till the death of his master.

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