Rerves—On a Letter of John Forster’s. 5 
accurate archivist, was not likely to err in so simple a matter. Dr. 
William Moreton was Bishop of Kildare from 1681 to 1705, when he 
was translated to Meath, so that his episcopate in Kildare amply 
covered the period of Swift’s ordination, and during this time he was 
Darensis Episcopus. 
Yet Forster, in a note upon the passage above quoted, observes :— 
‘Swift knew of this insertion; but his Orders both of Dean and Priest 
were undoubtedly conferred by King, then Bishop of Derry. The 
original parchments came into the hands of Mr. Monck Mason, at 
whose sale I bought them many years ago, and they are still in my 
possession.”’? Further on in the work the biographer states, in the 
substance of the narrative :—‘‘ His Deacon’s Orders date the 28th of 
October; his Priest’s are dated the 13th January, 1694-5; and into 
both he was ordained by King, Bishop of Derry, afterwards Archbishop 
of Dublin.’ 
No doubt King was Bishop of Derry at this date, for he filled that 
See from 1690 to 1702; and no doubt he was William King also,* and 
thus at the required date was Episcopus Derensis. Strange to say, 
Mr. Monck Mason, the able compiler of that admirable work, the 
History of St. Patrick's Cathedral, who was at the time in possession 
of Switt’s Letters of Orders, while correcting Sir Walter Scott as to 
the date of Swift’s ordinations, commits the unaccountable error of 
saying ‘‘ he was ordained into both [orders] by William King, bishop 
of Derry.’’® Forster, whose biographical obligations were, in the case 
of Swift, as great to Mason as they were, in the case of Goldsmith, to 
Prior, caught at this statement as a correction of Swift himself; and 
thus paid the penalty of being wise above what was written. 
It happened that when the present Bishop of Killaloe was Arch- 
deacon of Kildare, a dealer in old books and papers offered for sale 
a parchment document which Dr. Fitzgerald recognized as a Subscrip- 
tion Roll of the diocese of Kildare, and which, having been recovered, 
was restored to its proper depository. While in his possession, he per- 
ceived among the signatures that of Thomas Wilson, afterwards the 
celebrated Bishop of Sodor and Man; and further on, in his firm and 
unmistakeable hand, that of Jonathan Swift, as ordained by Gulielmus 
Darensis Episcopus. After the lapse of many years, namely, in 1875, 
Mr. Forster’s book appeared, and the Bishop of Killaloe, observing the 
misstatements above mentioned, wrote to the author to say that, when 
Archdeacon of Kildare, he had himself seen Swift’s subscription in his 
3 Life of Swift, note 2. I presume they are now preserved, among Mr. 
Forster’s literary collections, in South Kensington Museum. 
* Tbid., p. 76. 
° Shortly after his promotion to the episcopate, he preached before William IIT. 
at St. Patrick’s, on which occasion his Majesty, on complimenting the preacher, 
said (what was with him exceptional) facetiously, “there is, after all, but little 
difference between me and you, for I am King William, and you are William 
King.” 
© History of St. Patrich’s Cathedral, p. 235. 
