[29b] The Right Hon. John Grubham Howe, M.P. for Gloucestershire, an extreme Tory, had recently been appointed Paymaster of the Forces. He is mentioned satirically as a patriot in sec. 9 of The Tale of a Tub.
[30a] George Henry Hay, Viscount Dupplin, eldest son of the sixth Earl of Kinnoull, was made a Teller of the Exchequer in August, and a peer of Great Britain in December 1711, with the title of Baron Hay. He married, in 1709, Abigail, Harley’s younger daughter, and he succeeded his father in the earldom of Kinnoull in 1719.
[30b] Edward Harley, afterwards Lord Harley, who succeeded his father as Earl of Oxford in 1724. He married Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, daughter of the Duke of Newcastle, but died without male issue in 1741. His interest in literature caused him to form the collection known as the Harleian Miscellany.
[30c] William Penn (1644–1718), the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania. Swift says that he “spoke very agreeably, and with much spirit.”
[30d] This “Memorial to Mr. Harley about the First-Fruits” is dated Oct. 7, 1710.
[30e] Henry St. John, created Viscount Bolingbroke in July 1712. In the quarrel between Oxford and Bolingbroke in 1714, Swift’s sympathies were with Oxford.
[31a] I.e., it is decreed by fate. So Tillotson says, “These things are fatal and necessary.”
[31c] Obscure. Hooker speaks of a “blind or secret corner.”
[31d] Ale served in a gill measure.