Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 11.djvu/426

414

AUG. 12, 1714.

HAD your letter last post, and before you can send me another, I shall set out for Ireland. I must go and take the oaths; and the sooner the better. If you are in Ireland when I am there, I shall see you very seldom. It is not a place for any freedom; but it is where every thing is known in a week, and magnified a hundred degrees. These are rigorous laws that must be passed through: but it is probable we may meet in London in winter; or if not, leave all to fate, that seldom comes to humour our inclinations. I say all this out of the perfect esteem and friendship I have for you. These publick misfortunes have altered all my measures, and broke my spirits. God Almighty bless you. I shall, I hope, be on horseback in a day after this comes to your hand. I would not answer your questions for a million: nor can I think of them with any ease of mind. Adieu. FROM