[206a] Sir Hovenden Walker. The “man midwife” was Sir Chamberlen Walker, his younger brother. The “secret expedition” against Quebec conveyed upwards of 5000 soldiers, under the command of General John Hill (see p. [76]), but owing to the want of due preparations and the severe weather encountered, the fleet was compelled to return to England without accomplishing anything.
[206b] Robert Freind, elder brother of John Freind, M.D. (see p. [66]), became headmaster of Westminster School in 1711, and held the appointment until 1733. He was Rector of Witney, and afterwards Canon of Windsor, Prebendary of Westminster, and Canon of Christ Church. He died in 1751, aged eighty-four.
[206c] Christopher Musgrave was Clerk of the Ordnance.
[207a] Atterbury’s wife, Katherine Osborn, has been described as “the inspiration of his youth and the solace of his riper years.”
[207b] The original Chelsea Bun House, in Jew’s Row, was pulled down in 1839. Sir R. Philips, writing in 1817, said, “Those buns have afforded a competency, and even wealth, to four generations of the same family; and it is singular that their delicate flavour, lightness, and richness have never been successfully imitated.”
[208a] See p. [60]. King wrote to Swift (May 15, 1711), “The death of the Earl of Rochester is a great blow to all good men, and even his enemies cannot but do justice to his character. What influence it will have on public affairs God only knows.”