Note 4 — NOTE.

Colonel John Birch (1616-1691) was of Lancashire. Swift calls him "of Herefordshire," because he had been appointed governor of the city of Hereford, after he had captured it by a stratagem, in 1654. Devotedly attached to Presbyterian principles, Birch was a man of shrewd business abilities and remarkable oratorical gifts. On the restoration of Charles II., in which he took a prominent part on account of Charles's championship of Presbyterianism, Birch held important business posts. He sat in parliament for Leominster and Penrhyn, and his plans for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, though they were not adopted, were yet such as would have been extremely salutary had they been accepted. Of his eloquence, Burnet says: "He was the roughest and boldest speaker in the house, and talked in the language and phrases of a carrier, but with a beauty and eloquence, that was always acceptable." The reference to the carrier is purposely made, since Birch did not hide the fact that he had once pursued that occupation. Swift was twenty-four years of age when Birch died, so that he must have been a very young man when he heard Birch make the remark he quotes. [T. S.]