Rev. William Diaper
Jonathan Swift, Journal to Stella, 12 March 1712; Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, ed. John Nichols (1801) 15:283.
Here is a young Fellow has writt some Sea Eclogues, Poems of Mermen, resembling pastorals and Shepherds, and they are very pretty, and the thought is new. Mermen are he mermaids; Tritons, natives of the Sea. Do you understand me? I think to recommend him to our society to morrow. His name is Diaper. P— on him, I must do something for him, and get him out of the way. I hate to have any new wits rise; but when they do rise I would encourage them: but they tread on our heels, and thrust us off the stage. Night, dearest MD.