Note 468a — JOURNAL TO STELLA (continued 11)

The story (as told in the Tory Postboy of Nov. 11 to 13) was that on Nov. 4 a bandbox was sent to the Earl of Oxford by post. When he began to open it he saw a pistol, whereupon a gentleman present [Swift] asked for the box, and opening it, by the window, found powder, nails, etc., so arranged that, if opened in the ordinary way, the whole would have been fired, and two barrels discharged different ways. No doubt a box so packed was received, but whether anything serious was intended, or whether it was a hoax, cannot be said with any certainty. The Earl of Oxford is said to have met allusions to the subject with a smile, and Swift seems to have been annoyed at the reports which were put into circulation.