loved his land too much to hazard it on revolution principles. I am told that a lady of my acquaintance was the discoverer of this plot, having a lover among the true whigs, whom she preferred before an old battered husband.
You never saw any thing so fine as my new Dublin plantations of elms; I wish you would come and visit them; and I am very strong in wine, though not so liberal of it as you. — It is said that Kelly the parson[1] is admitted to Kelly the squire[2], and that they are cooking up a discovery between them, for the improvement of the hempen manufacture. It is reckoned that the best trade in London this winter will be that of an evidence. As much as I hate the tories, I cannot but pity them as fools. Some think likewise, that the pretender ought to have his choice of two caps, a red cap or a fool's cap. It is a wonderful thing to see the tories provoking his present majesty, whose clemency, mercy, and forgiving temper, have been so signal, so extraordinary, so more than humane, during the whole
- ↑ George Kelly, taken up on suspicion of treasonable correspondence, was tried by the house of lords, and found guilty, and sentenced to be confined in the Tower for life; but he made his escape in the year 1736.
- ↑ Captain Dennis Kelly, who had a very good estate in Ireland, was committed to the Tower in 1722, on suspicion of corresponding with the pretender; but nothing could be proved against him. Mr. Kelly's daughter was honoured with the friendship of Dr. Swift; and several of her letters are in the collection of his works.
he was at last discharged, after suffering severely in his health; and died Aug. 28, 1731, aged 57. His lordship's taste as a fine writer is well established; and the noble instrument invented by him, which bears his name, is a proof of his mechanical genius; he had also a peculiar turn to medicine; and bought and read whatever was published on that subject.