[123b] St. John’s first wife was Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Winchcombe, Bart., of Berkshire, and in her right St. John enjoyed the estates of Bucklebury, which on her death in 1718 passed to her sister. In April 1711 Swift said that “poor Mrs. St. John” was growing a great favourite of his; she was going to Bath owing to ill-health, and begged him to take care of her husband. She “said she had none to trust but me, and the poor creature’s tears came fresh in her eyes.” Though the marriage was, naturally enough, unhappy, she did not leave St. John’s house until 1713, and she returned to him when he fell from power. There are letters from her to Swift as late as 1716, not only doing her best to defend his honour, but speaking of him with tenderness.
[123c] “Battoon” means (1) a truncheon; (2) a staff of office. Luttrell, in 1704, speaks of “a battoon set with diamonds sent him from the French king.”
[124a] Edward Harley, second son of Sir Edward Harley, was M.P. for Leominster and Recorder of the same town. In 1702 he was appointed Auditor of the Imposts, a post which he held until his death in 1735. His wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Foley, was a sister of Robert Harley’s wife, and his eldest son eventually became third Earl of Oxford. Harley published several books on biblical subjects.
[124b] See p. [36]. The last number of Steele’s Tatler appeared on Jan. 2, 1711; Harrison’s paper reached to fifty-two numbers.
[124c] Dryden Leach (see p. [51]).
[125a] Cf. Letter 7, October 28th.
[125b] Published by John Baker and John Morphew. See Aitken’s Life of Steele, i. 299–301.
[125c] In No. 224 of the Tatler, Addison, speaking of polemical advertisements, says: “The inventors of Strops for Razors have written against one another this way for several years, and that with great bitterness.” See also Spectator, Nos. 428, 509, and the Postman for March 23, 1703: “The so much famed strops for setting razors, etc., are only to be had at Jacob’s Coffee-house. . . . Beware of counterfeits, for such are abroad.”