SCOTT, Sir Walter (1771-1832). Novelist and Poet.
SCOTT AND SWIFT
Autograph Letter (third person) to a Mr. Smirke [?], 1 page 8vo, Abbotsford, Sunday evening, n.d. [c. 1814].
"Mr. Scotts Compliments to Mr Smirke [?] He sends a small volume of rare tracts which must be taken great care of. The first to be copied [Scott evidently means 'reprinted'] is a tract of eight pages called " the present Miserable state of Ireland " The introduction on a paper apart is laid in at the place. Mr. Scotts servant returns to Abbotsford on Wednesday & will bring any thing that may be sent to Castle Street [Scott's Edinburgh home] in the course of Tuesday."
The polemical tract The Present Miserable State of Ireland , by Jonathan Swift, was first published in 1727. In it Swift alleges that British economic policies, particularly restraints on trade, ae keeping Ireland in a state of underdevelopment and poverty:"We are apt to charge the Irish with laziness because we seldom find them employed: but then we do not consider that they have nothing to do: the want of trade is owing to cruel restrictions, rather than any disqualificaion of the people."
In 1814 Scott published his 19 volume edition of Swift's works, "with Notes and a Life of the Author", and this letter evidently relates to the preparation of the work.
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Autograph Letter Signed ("W. Scott") to Thomas Guthrie Wright at the Auditors Office, Parliament Square.
