24 



NOTES AND QUERIES. C2"<« s. vi. 132., July 10. -ss. 



praedicare, Magister Ortuine, quas unquam in vita mea 

 nunquam per Deum Sanctum audivi, quas vos et alii 

 Colonienses magistri nostri (cum supportatione) fecistis 

 honestissimo et doctissirao viro D. Joaniii Reuchlin; et 

 tamen cum audivi, noa scivi in tantum mirare, quia cum 

 estis bicipites asini, et naturales Philosophi, intenditis 

 etiam misere et nebulonice vexare ita pios et doctos viros 

 . . . . Et ergo ad furcas cum vobia omnibus, ad quas per- 

 ducat vos lictor cum sociis suis, vobis dicentibus orate 

 pro nobis." 



The last sentence of this letter, and of the book, 

 seems intended to show that the Reuchlinist did 

 not put avyay dirty thoughts when he put off the 

 mask of the theologian. 



In another communication I shall make some 

 remarks on the history of this satire. 



A. De Morgan. 



SWIFTIANA. 



We have heard so much of " Swiftiana " lately 

 that I am induced to contribute my mite towards 

 it. 



Swift, Berkeley, and other distinguished Irish- 

 men received no inconsiderable portion of their 

 education in the ancient College of Kilkenny. 

 The modern building stands on a different site, 

 and is, I believe, of altogether a different cha- 

 racter. The elder establishment* had been an 

 addendum to the Priory of St. John the Baptist. 



The following details were communicated to 

 me in 1855 by Alderman Banim of Kilkenny, one 

 of the authors of the celebrated O'Hara Tales. I 

 afterwards heard that the anecdote had been pub- 

 lished in another form ; but I never saw it in 

 print, and Alderman Banim believes the facts in 

 question to be very little known. 



When the old College of Kilkenny was about 

 to be removed the materials were sold by auction. 

 A thriving shopkeeper named Barnaby Scott 

 purchased the desks, seats, and boards of the 

 school-room. On one of the desks was cut the 

 name in full — Jonathan Swift — doubtless with 

 Swift's pocket-knife, and by Swift's own hand. Mr. 

 Barnaby Scott, solicitor, the son of the purchaser 

 of the old desks and boards, died in 1856 ; but pre- 

 vious to his death he orally detailed the foregoing 

 and the succeeding circumstances to Alderman 

 Banim. Mr. Scott distinctly remembered having 

 seen the incised autograph when a boy, and added 

 that this particular board was, with others of the 

 same purchase, used for flooring his father's shop. 

 It no doubt still occupies the place wherein it was 

 fixed, seventy years ago. The house has been 

 lately rebuilt ; but the floor of the shop was -lot 

 removed, and 1 am informed that if any person 

 desires to communicate with Mr. Kenny Scott, 

 and give him a sum adequate to cover the ex- 



* An .iccurate and interesting description of the old 

 College of Kilkenny appears in John Banim's tale of The 

 Fetches. 



pense of the search, the inscribed board of Jona- 

 than Swift's desk may, it is more than probable, 

 be yet recovered. 



The biographers of Swift tell us that when his 

 mother was greatly reduced in circumstances, his 

 brother-in-law, William Swift, showed much prac- 

 tical kindness and sympathy towards her. 



It would also* appear from Lord Orrery's Ile- 

 marhs on the Life and Wi-itings of Swift (p. 16.), 

 that William Swift likewise assisted the future 

 Dean by " repeated acts of friendship and affec- 

 tion." His lordship adds : 



" I have a letter now before me which, though torn and 

 imperfect, shows his gratitude and devotion to the uncle 

 whom I have just now mentioned, and whom he calls the 

 best of his relations." 



As few biographies have been subjected to 

 fuller or more trivial illustration than those of 

 Dr. Swift, it may interest some of the Dean's ad- 

 mirers to trace one of the sources of that income 

 on which Uncle William so generously drew when 

 Mrs. Swift and her son Jonathan were struggling 

 hard against evil fortune. 



The Claims at Chichester House in 1701 (p. 16.) 

 records the right of " William Swift of the city of 

 Dublin, gent.," to an estate for sixty years by 

 lease dated Dec. 26, 1677, formerly belonging to 

 Mich. Chamberlain, and situated on " the south 

 side of a lane in St. Francis Street, called My 

 Lord of Howth's land." Again, at p. 139. we find 

 William Swift seised of the estate in fee of Berry- 

 more, CO. Roscommon, by lease and release dated 

 Nov. 29, 1680, from John Campbell and Priscilla 

 his wife, formerly the properly of L. Flinn and 

 Alderman McDermott. Witness John Deane. 



Until the brothers, Godwin, William, Adam, 

 and Jonathan Swift (the Dean's father) removed 

 from Yorkshire to Ireland, the name of Swift was, 

 I believe, unknown in that country ; and from 

 various circumstances I infer that the " Wm. 

 Swift, Gent." who figures in the Claims at Chi- 

 chester House was the generous uncle of the poet 

 Swift. 



The book referred to is very scarce. The last 

 copy offered for sale in Dublin was at the late Mr. 

 Justice Burton's auction, and fetched the high 

 price of 41. 4s. 



An old woman lately died in St. Patrick Street 

 at the advanced age of one hundred and ten years. 

 A friend of mine asked her if she remembered the 

 appearance of the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick. 

 She described it to him minutely, and added that 

 the great man never went outside the deanery 

 house that he was not attended through the 

 streets by a vast crowd of washed and unwashed 

 admirers. William John Fitz-Patkick. 



Stillorgan, Dublin. 



