Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 11.djvu/165

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REVEREND SIR,

HAD the favour of your'syours [sic] of the 10th instant, by the last packets, and cannot return you sufficient acknowledgment for your kind and prudent management of that affair so much to my advantage. I confess that I did not much fear that such a vile report would do me any great injury with Mr. Harley; for I was persuaded he is too wise to believe such an incredible story. But the publishing it to the world might have influenced some to my disadvantage; and no man can be well pleased to be the subject of a libel, though it often happens to be the fate of honest men.

I doubt not but you will hear of an unlucky contest in the city of Dublin about their mayor. You may remember (I think while you were here, that is, in 1709) alderman Constantine, by a cabal, for so I must call it, lost his election; and a junior alderman, one Forrest, was elected mayor for the ensuing year. Constantine petitioned the council board not to approve the election; for you must know, by the new rules, settled in pursuance of an act of parliament for the better regulation of corporations, their chief officers must be approved of by the governor and council after they are elected, before they can enter into any of their respective offices; and if not approved of in ten days, the corporation that chose them must go to a new election. Now, alderman Constantine, upon the corporation's return of Forrest, complained