Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/163

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OF DOCTOR SWIFT.
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Swift therefore thought it but common justice in the ministry to do something for him; and, without any application from the doctor, or even any personal acquaintance with him, in the year 1711 he procured a place for his brother; who, by a failure in trade, had for some years, together with his whole family, been entirely supported by the doctor. This affair is thus related by Swift in his Journal. "Did I tell you that Sacheverell has desired mightily to come and see me? but I have put it off. He has heard that I have spoken to the secretary in behalf of a brother whom he maintains, and who desires an employment. T'other day, at the court of requests, Dr. Yalden saluted me by name; Sacheverell, who was just by, came up to me, and made many acknowledgments and compliments. Last night I desired lord treasurer to do something for that brother of Sacheverell. He said he never knew he had a brother; but thanked me for telling him, and immediately put his name in his tablebook. I will let Sacheverell know this, that he may take his measures accordingly; but he shall be none of my acquaintance." A letter from the doctor to Swift, dated January 31, 1711-12, begins thus: "Since you have been pleased to undertake the generous office of soliciting my good lord treasurer's favour in my behalf, I should be very ungrateful, if I did not return you my most hearty thanks for it, and my humblest acknowledgments to his lordship for the success it has met with." And in the conclusion, he says, "But for yourself, good doctor, who were the first spring to move it, I can never sufficiently acknowledge the obligation." Afterward, in the year 1713, soon

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