| Treaty of Utrecht |
1713; agreement ending the War of the Spanish Succession; the Tory government under Bolingbroke ended the war with France, but was later prosecuted by the Whigs for the means by which the peace was arranged. |
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Van Diemen's Land
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Tasmania, island SE of Australia, discovered 1642. (See Australia's Early Exploration and Colonization); Gulliver is shipwrecked and swims ashore at Lilliput after a storm drives his ship to the northwest of Van Dieman's Land to a reading of Latitude 30 degrees 2 minutes South. (I:1;5)
When he leaves Blefuscu, "My Intention was to reach, if possible, one of those Islands, which I had reason to believe lay to the North-East of Van Diemen's Land." After three days heading northward, he is rescued by an English ship, "in the Latitude of 30 Degrees south" (I:8;9)
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| Vanessa | Swift's pet and literary name for Hester Vanhomrigh, one of the women in his life. |
| Hester Vanhomrigh | 1688-1723; "Vanessa" of Swift's poetry and letters; daughter of Bartholomew Vanhomrigh, Lord Mayor of Dublin, who died 1703; Swift made the acquaintance of the family 1708 when he was in London; Vanessa apparently fell passionately in love with Swift; their correspondence indicates Swift may at one time have reciprocated but had since regretted it; Swift wrote Cadenus and Vanessa for her possibly as an attempt to cool the relationship; instead Vanhomrigh pursued him all the more ardently, sometimes indescreetly, eventually moving to Ireland in 1714 to be nearer to him; there are rumors of a confrontation, shortly after which she died; Cadenus and Vanessa was published after her death, causing Swift to retreat on a long trip into the country. |
| Varina | Swift's pet name for Jane Waring, one of the women in his life |
| visit in form | formal or official audience |
| A
Voyage round the World | A New Voyage Round the World (1697) by William Dampier |
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