Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 11.djvu/137

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SIR,

HOUGH I should not value such usage from a secretary of state, and a great minister; yet when I consider the person it comes from, I can endure it no longer. I would have you know, sir, that if the queen gave you a dukedom and the garter to morrow with the treasury staff at the end of them, I would regard you no more than if you were not worth a groat. I could almost resolve, in spite, not to find fault with my victuals, or be quarrelsome to morrow at your table: but if I do not take the first opportunity to let all the world know some qualities in you that you take most care to hide, may my right-hand forget its cunning. After which threatening, believe me, if you please, to be with the greatest respect, sir, your most obedient,

J. SWIFT.

REVEREND SIR,

RECEIVED your's of December the 30th by the last packets; it found me in the extremity of the gout, which is the more cruel, because I have not had a fit of it for two years and a half. I strain myself