Note 176c — JOURNAL TO STELLA (continued 4)

Thomas Proby was Chirurgeon-General in Ireland from 1699 until his death in 1761. In his Short Character of Thomas, Earl of Wharton, Swift speaks of him as “a person universally esteemed,” who had been badly treated by Lord Wharton. In 1724 Proby’s son, a captain in the army, was accused of popery, and Swift wrote to Lord Carteret that the charge was generally believed to be false: “The father is the most universally beloved of any man I ever knew in his station. . . . You cannot do any personal thing more acceptable to the people of Ireland than in inclining towards lenity to Mr. Proby and his family.” Proby was probably a near relative of Sir Thomas Proby, Bart., M.P., of Elton, Hunts, at whose death in 1689 the baronetcy expired. Mrs. Proby seems to have been a Miss Spencer.