[399b] This letter, the first of the series published by Hawkesworth, of which we have the originals (see Preface), was addressed “To Mrs. Johnson at her Lodgings over against St. Mary’s Church, near Capell Street, Dublin, Ireland”; and was endorsed by her “Recd. Mar. 1st.”
[400d] Charles Ross, son of the eleventh Baron Ross, was Colonel of the Royal Irish Dragoons from 1695 to 1705. He was a Lieutenant-General under the Duke of Ormond in Flanders, and died in 1732 (Dalton, ii. 212, iii. 34).
[400e] Charles Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, succeeded his father (see p. [302]) as third Duke of Bolton in 1722. He married, as his second wife, Lavinia Fenton, the actress who took the part of Polly Peacham in Gay’s Beggars Opera in 1728, and he died in 1754.
[401a] John Blith, or Bligh, son of the Right Hon. Thomas Bligh, M.P. of Rathmore, Co. Meath (see p. [22]). In August 1713 he married Lady Theodosia Hyde, daughter of Edward, third Earl of Clarendon. Lord Berkeley of Stratton wrote, “Lady Theodosia Hyde . . . is married to an Irish Mr. Blythe, of a good estate, who will soon have enough of her, if I can give any guess” (Wentworth Papers, 353). In 1715 Bligh was made Baron Clifton, of Rathmore, and Earl of Darnley in 1725. He died in 1728.
[401b] Obliterated.
[401c] Word obliterated; probably “found.” Forster reads “oors, dee MD.”
[401d] Words obliterated.