Riassunto
Excerpt from The Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D, Vol. 2: Containing Additional Letters, Tracts, and Poems, Not Hitherto Published
Swift's handwriting was excessively minute, he crowded nearly thirty words into a line and over seventy lines. Into a small folio page, he used many abbreviations, and oblitera tions often occur. Under the circumstances it will easily be understood that differences of opinion may occur as to the true reading of the ms. I have in all cases examined the readings given by John Forster at the end of his unfinished Life of Swift, although I have not been always able to accept them.
Of the remaining forty letters the original manuscripts no longer remain, and accordingly the first edition of these letters, published by Deane Swift in 1768, is here followed.
The Notes, though short, will, it is hoped, prove quite sufficient to enable the general reader to understand the text.
For valuable assistance in collating the first forty Letters, for the full Index, and for many useful suggestions, I am indebted to Miss Constance Jacob.
The facsimile letter given after the Introduction is a very faithful representation of the appearance of the shorter letters, such as those Swift wrote during and after his illness in the spring of 1712. They occupy a small quarto page, about half the size of his usual paper. The Arabic figures in the left-hand upper corner are Swift's own, for he numbered all his letters to MD, and they did the same with theirs. The Roman figures in the middle were apparently added when the letter was filed, and the figures at the right hand corner indicate the folio in the British Museum volume. The indorsement on the left, which gives the date of receipt (july is Stella's, and it will be seen how closely her hand resembles the Dean's. The other indorsement (july 1) is probably Swift's. The seal is an exact copy of that on the original letter.
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