Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 12.djvu/131

Rh

SIR,

O begin by confessing myself in the wrong, will, I hope, be some proof to you, that none of the stations which I have gone through have hitherto had the effects upon me which you apprehend. If a month's silence has been turned to my disadvantage in your esteem, it has at least had this good effect, that I am convinced by the kindness of your reproaches, as well as by the goodness of your advice, that you still retain some part of your former friendship for me, of which I am the more confident from the agreeable freedom with which you express yourself: and I shall not forfeit my pretensions to the continuance of it, by doing any thing, that shall give you occasion to think that I am insensible of it.

But to come to the point: your first letter is dated the 28th May, your second the 9th of June. By the date of this you will see, that the interval of silence may be accounted for by a few excursions which I have made into the country: therefore I desire you will put the most favourable sense.

The principal affair you mention is under examination ; and till that is over, I am not informed sufficiently to make any other judgment of the matter, Rh