150 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2-^4 S. VII. Feb. 19. '59. 



Dean Svnft. — A critique upon Sir Walter 

 Scott's edition of Dean Swift's Worhs was pub- 

 lished in the Edinburgh Beview for September, 

 1816; and in the year 1819, there appeared a 

 tract entitled A Defence of Dr. Jonathan Swift, 

 Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin ; in Answer to cer- 

 tain Observations passed on his Life and Writings 

 in the Fifty-third Number of the Edinburgh Re- 

 view. Can you give me the names of the respec- 

 tive writers ? Abhba, 



[The article in TTie Edinburgh Review was by Francis 

 Lord Jeffrey, and is republished among his collected 

 pieces. The Defence of Dean Swift, by the Rev. Edward 

 Berwick, Editor of The Rawdon Papers. One can almost 

 fancy that Rowley Lascelles ("N. & Q.," 2°'i S. vi. 

 350-1.) had just perused Jeffrey's article when he penned 

 the following remarks: — "Even Swjft's memory had 

 been libelled, until ample justice had been done to it by 

 William Monck Mason's History of St. Patrick's Cathe- 

 dral. That Life should be published separately, as a 

 work b}' itself, being, where it now stands, out of all pro- 

 portion to the rest of the work ; and next to thrown away 

 in the notes. But that Life has vindicated talent and 

 virtue from personal envy, faction, and national prejudice. 

 In fact, the reputation of Swift had been again and again 

 rendered next to infamous by Scotch compliments, buried 

 under Johnson's criticisms, and absolutely damned by 

 Irish panegyric." — Liber Hibernice, ii. 22.] 



Sir Henry Colet. — Wanted information con- 

 cerning the arms and pedigree of Sir Henry 

 Colet, Lord Mayor of London in 1485, and father 

 of Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School ; 

 and also if any descendants are now living. 



SCEUTATOE. 

 [The particulars required by our correspondent will be 

 found in Knight's Life of Dr. John Colet, 8vo. 1724. The 

 pedigree at p. xiv. ; notices of his descendants at pp. 263. 

 iSec, and the will of Sir Henry Colet, p. 462. Arms: 

 Sa. on a chev. between three hinds trippant ar. as many 

 annulets of the first.] 



Hpplt'CiS. 



cableton's memoirs. 



(2""* S. vii. 54. 74.) 



The title of these Memoirs, as given by Wilson, 



in his Life and Times of Defoe, differs materially 



from the edition of 1728, in the Grenville Library, 



which last-mentioned corresponds exactly with the 



title-page quoted by Letheediensis. Probably 



neither of us has yet seen the original edition of 



the Memoirs!* From the fact of all the known 



• The earliest announcement of the work with which I 

 am acquainted occurs in The London Magazine for Nov. 

 1742, and is as follows: "The Memoirs of Capt. George 

 Carleton, an English Officer, who served in the two last 

 "Wars against France and Spai)i, and was present in 

 several Engagements both in the Fleet and Armj'. 

 Containing an Account of the Conduct of the Earl of 

 Peterborough, and other General Officers, Admirals, &c. 

 !ind several remarkable Transactions both by Sea and 

 Land. In which the Genius, Pride, and Barbarity of the 

 Spaniards, during the Author's being a Prisoner of War 

 among them, are set in a true Light. Printed for T. 

 .Vstley, price 4»." 



editions containing what purports to be a biogra- 

 phical sketch of the author, we might reasonably 

 infer that the work was a posthumous one. This, 

 however, was not the case. I am curious to know 

 upon what authority Sir Walter Scott termed his 

 edition of 1809 the fourth. He states, too, that 

 " the Memoirs were first printed in 1743" (a 

 double error, as I have before pointed out). 

 Whereupon Mr. Mabkland asks : " Was this 

 a mere inaccuracy?" Undoubtedly, if the "Eng- 

 lish Officer" may be permitted to answer for him- 

 self. In his account of the famous action fought 

 on the 28th May, 1672, between the combined 

 fleets of England and France under the Duke 

 of York, and the Dutch under De Ruyter, he 

 writes : — 



" Sir Harrj' Button Colt, who was on bpard the Vic- 

 tory, commanded by the Earl of Ossory, is the only 

 man now living that I can remember was in this engage- 

 ment." 



As Sir Harry deceased on the 25th April, 1731, 

 it follows that the Memoirs appeared twelve years 

 at least befoire the date assigned to them by Scott. 

 That fact, moreover, is corroborated by other in- 

 ternal evidence bearing upon the period of their 

 composition. The author states that, in the year 

 1674, he resolved to go into Flanders, in Order to 

 serve as a volunteer in the army under the Prince 

 of Orange. He joined the Prince's own company 

 of guards, composed partly of other English gen- 

 tlemen, also volunteers, and found amongst them 

 " Jlr. Hales, who lately died, and was for a long time 

 governor of Chelsea Hosjfltal." 



That was Col. John Hales, who was appointed 

 governor 11th Nov. 1702, and deceased 31st 

 March, 1726, set. 74. The Memoirs, therefore, 

 must have been composed between the years 1726 

 and 1728. 



There is another passage in the Memoirs which, 

 if we could happily discover the despatch it refers 

 to, would enable us to identify most completely 

 the author. He relates that when serving under 

 Sir Thomas Levingston in Scotland, during the 

 rebellion of 1689 in that country, he was particu- 

 larly recommended to the court of William and 

 Mary for his gallant behaviour. The passage to 

 which I allude occurs in his second chapter, and 

 is as follows : — 



" Upon this success [t. e. the defeat of the Highlanders 

 upon the Spey, near the Laird of Grant's Castle] Sir 

 Thos. wrote to Court, giving a full account of the whole 

 action. In which being pleased to make mention of my be- 

 haviour, with soine particularities, I had soon after a com- 

 mission ordered me for a company in the regiment under 

 the command of Brigadier Tiffin." 



I reserve for a future occasion a few remarks 

 upon the several notes which my original Query 

 has elicited respecting the authorship of the Me- 

 moirs. 0. 



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