friends, and many enemies; and the last are
more constant in their nature. I have no shuddering at all to think of
retiring to my old circumstances, if you can be easy; but I will always
live in Ireland as I did the last time; I will not hunt for dinners
there, nor converse with more than a very few.

23. Morning. This goes to-day, and shall be sealed by and by. Lord
Treasurer takes physic again to-day: I believe I shall dine with Lord
Dupplin. Mr. Tooke brought me a letter directed for me at Morphew's the
bookseller. I suppose, by the postage, it came from Ireland. It is a
woman's hand, and seems false spelt on purpose: it is in such sort of
verse as Harris's petition;(18) rallies me for writing merry things,
and not upon divinity; and is like the subject of the Archbishop's last
letter, as I told you. Can you guess whom it came from? It is not ill
written; pray find it out. There is a Latin verse at the end of it all
rightly spelt; yet the English, as I think, affectedly wrong in many
places. My plaguing time is coming. A young fellow brought me a
letter from Judge Coote,(19) with recommendation to be lieutenant of a
man-of-war. He is the son of one Echlin,(20) who was minister of Belfast
before Tisdall, and I have got some other new customers; but I shall
trouble my friends as little as possible. Saucy Stella used to jeer
me for meddling with other folks' affairs; but now I am punished for
it.--Patrick has brought the candle, and I have no more room. Farewell,
etc. etc.

Here is a full and true account of Stella's new spelling:--(21)

Plaguely, Plaguily. Dineing, Dining. Straingers, Strangers. Chais,
Chase. Waist, Wast. Houer, Hour. Immagin, Imagine. A bout, About.
Intellegence, Intelligence. Merrit, Merit. Aboundance, Abundance.
Secreet, Secret. Phamphlets, Pamphlets. Bussiness, Business.

Tell me truly, sirrah, how many of these are mistakes of the pen, and
how many are you to answer for as real ill spelling? There are but
fourteen; I said twenty by guess. You must not be angry, for I will have
you spell right, let the world go how it will. Though, after all,
there is but a mistake of one letter in any of these words. I allow you
henceforth but six false spellings in every letter you send me.

LETTER 33.

LONDON, Oct. 23, 1711.

I dined with Lord Dupplin as I told you I would, and put my
thirty-second into the post-office my own self; and I believe there has
not been one moment since we parted wherein