Wikisource

The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 11/From Jonathan Swift to William Swift - 1

< The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift‎ | Volume 11
←
To the rev. Mr. Kendall
The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 11
 (1692)
by Jonathan Swift, edited by Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, John Boyle, Patrick Delany, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift, William Bowyer, John Birch, and George Faulkner
To Mr. William Swift
To Mr. Deane Swift
→
1547821The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 11
— To Mr. William Swift1692Jonathan Swift
​

TO MR. WILLIAM SWIFT[1].


Sir,
MOORE PARK, NOV. 29, 1692.


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.

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Dr. Swift was at this time employed in revising sir William Temple's works for the press.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Works_of_the_Rev._Jonathan_Swift/Volume_11/From_Jonathan_Swift_to_William_Swift_-_1&oldid=10240375"