friend on the under secretary, which produced a misunderstanding between
them; for Mr. Budgell positively declared, he would never submit to any
such condition whilst he executed the office, and affected to treat Mr.
Webster himself, his education, abilities, and family, with the utmost
contempt. He was indiscreet enough, prior to this, to write a lampoon,
in which the lord lieutenant was not spared: he would publish it (so
fond was he of this brat of his brain) in opposition to Mr. Addison's
opinion, who strongly persuaded him to suppress it; as the publication,
Mr. Addison said, could neither serve his interest, or reputation. Hence
many discontents arose between them, 'till at length the lord
lieutenant, in support of his secretary, superseded Mr. Budgell, and
very soon after got him removed from the place of accomptant-general.
However, upon the first of these removals taking place, and upon some
hints being given by his private secretary, captain Guy Dickens (now our
minister at Stockholm) that it would not probably be safe for him to
remain any longer in Ireland, he immediately entrusted his papers and
private concerns to the hands of his brother William, then a clerk in
his office, and set out for England. Soon after his arrival he published
a pamphlet representing his case, intituled, A Letter to the Lord----
from Eustace Budgell, Esq; Accomptant General of Ireland, and late
Secretary to their Excellencies the Lords Justices of that Kingdom;
eleven hundred copies of which were sold off in one day, so great was
the curiosity of the public in that particular. Afterwards too in the
Post-Boy of January 17, 1718-19, he published an Advertisement to
justify his character against a report that had been spread to his
disadvantage: and he did not scruple to declare in all companies that
his life was attempted by his enemies, or otherwise he should have
attended his feat in the Irish Parliament. His behaviour, about this
time, made many of his friends judge he was become delirious; his
passions were certainly exceeding strong, nor were his vanity and