Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 13.djvu/40

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LONDON, FEB. 6, 1732–3.

ELIEVE me, sir, and it is with great truth I speak it, that there is not a person in the world I would sooner oblige than yourself; and I should be glad to have it in my power to serve Mrs. Barber in the way you mention; but it is odds it may not be in my power, for many things may fall, that her spouse is not fit for; as, all places relating to the law, he can have no pretensions to. There are a dozen persons in my house, called lord major's officers, who wear black gowns, and give from eight to nine hundred pounds for their places, which at first they make about sixty pounds per annum of, and rise in time to three or four hundred pounds; but they are generally young men. These places, I suppose, should any one fall, would not be thought good enough. There are many other places in my gift. We have had mayors gone through the office who have not got one hundred pounds, and others have got ten thousand pounds: it is all chance. I have gone through the fourth part of my year, and have got only about two hundred guineas, by the deaths of one of the city musick, and a porter to Guildhall.

But suppose a place should fall worth fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds, that he may be fit for, one