Orrery,

27.

the factions, which were diftinguished by the names of whig and tory; he had been educated among the whigs, but he at length attached himself to the tories, because, as he faid, the whigs had renounced their old principles and received others, which their forefathers held in utter abhorrence; he did not however write any political pamphlet from the year 1701 to the year 1708.

D.S. 148.

But though, by his frequent excurfions to England and a long abfence from his cures, he appears to have delayed the execution of his purpofe to excel as a preacher, yet he used to declare that he did not renounce it till his acquaintance with Harley, nor did he ever mention his fubfequent attach 7. R. ment to politics, without indubitable signs of penitence and regret.

41, 42, 266.

It is probable that he hoped to exert himself more effectually in the church, by acquiring fome other preferment, and that with this view he was follicitous to be near the court; for, before his acquaintance with lord Oxford, a bishopric was intended for him by the queen, but, archbishop Sharpe and a certain great lady having misrepresented his principles and character, her majefty gave it to another; of this injury, however, the archbishop was afterwards truly F.R 271. fenfible, expreffed great forrow for it, and defired his forgiveness.

After this disappointment it was not long before a new fcene opened before him; for in 1710, being then in England, he was impowered by his grace the lord primate of Ireland to follicit the queen to exonerate the clergy of Ireland from paying the twentieth parts and firft fruits. And upon this occafion his acquaintance with Harley commenced.

See Let

ters, vol.

XII.

As foon as he had received the bishop's letter, inftructions, and authority, he refolved to apply to Mr. Harley, not only because he was a principal perfon in the queen's miniftry, but becaufe by his intereft the VOL. I.

C

fame

fame favour had been granted to the clergy of England. That he might not wait upon Mr. Harley, to whom his name was well known, wholly without recommendation, he got himself reprefented as a person who had been extremely ill used by the laft miniftry, because he would not go certain lengths which they would have had him, this being in fome fort Mr. Harley's

Letter to
King,vol

own cafe.

Mr. Harley received him with the utmoft

XII. kindness and refpect, he fat with him two hours in company, and two hours he was with him alone; he not only engaged in the doctor's immediate bufinefs with the utmoft zeal, and foon after accomplished it, but told him he must bring him acquainted with Mr. St. John, invited him to dine with him, charged him to come often, and, when the doctor propofed attending at his levee, told him that was nơ place for friends. The doctor foon after became pers fonally acquainted with the reft of the minifters, who appear to have courted and careffed him with uncommon affiduity. He dined every Saturday at Mr. Harley's, with the lord keeper, Mr. fecretary St. John, and lord Rivers: on that day no other perfon was for fome time admitted; but this felect company was at length enlarged to fixteen, all men of the firft clafs, Swift included; they dined once a week at the houfes of each other by rotation, and went 317. under the general denomination of brothers. From this time the doctor fupported the interest of his new friends with all his power, in pamphlets, po ems, and periodical papers; his intimacy with them was fo remarkable, that he was thought not only to defend, but in fome degree to direct their measures; and fuch was his importance in the opinion of the oppo fite party, that many fpeeches were made against him in both houfes of parliament; a reward was alfo offered for difcovering the author of the Public Spirit of the Whigs.

D.S.227,

See vol. IX. p. 1. and note.

What

Whatever excellence we poffefs, or whatever honours we obtain, the pleasure which they produce is all relative to fome particular favourite, with whom we are tenderly connected, either by friendship or by love; or at moft it terminates, like rays collected by a burningglafs, in a very small circle, which is fcarce more than a point, and, like light, becomes fenfible only by reflection. Thus Swift, while he was courted and caressed by those whom others were making interest to approach, feems to have enjoyed his diftinction only inproportion as it was participated with Stella; for amidst all the bufinefs and all the honours that crouded upon him, he wrote every day an account of whatever occurred, and fent her a journal regularly dated every fortnight during the whole time of his connexion with queen Anne's miniftry. From thefe unreftrained effufions of his heart many particulars are known, which could have been known no other way. And by these it appears inconteftably that he was not only employed, but trufted; and that Harley, who is univerfally allowed to have been one of the most referved and mysterious of all politicians, was to him, in affairs of the utmost moment, open and explicit. The refult of one of their conferences, fo early as the year 1710, was to this effect; that the kingdom was as certainly ruined, as a bankrupt merchant; that a peace, whether bad or good, was abfolutely neceffary; that the confederacy muft foon break, and factions increafe; and D.S. 318. that the miniftry was upon too narrow a bottom, and ftood, like an ifthmus, between the whigs on one fide, and the violent tories on the other, a fituation in which they could not fubfift. These violent tories were formed into a fociety called the October club, of whom Swift fays, they are about an hundred parliament-men of ⚫ the country, who drink October beer at home, and meet every evening at a tavern near the parliament-house, to drive things on to extremes against the D.S. 319, whigs, to call the old miniftry to account, ⚫ and get off five or fix heads.'

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320.

But,

But, if Swift thought this party too precipitant, it is certain he thought lord Oxford too flow, and he once told him fo in a manner that thews both his integrity and the freedom of his converfation with those who have a prefcriptive right to fervility and adulation: he had received a prefent of a fine tortoife-fhell fnuff-box, lined with gold, and painted on the infide of the lid with a view of Venice. This prefent he fhewed one day to Harley, who, having admired the painting and the workmanship, at laft fpied a figure ftudded on the outfide of the bottom, which he thought resembled a goofe, upon which turning to the doctor, Jonathan, fays he, I think they have made a goofe of thee. Yes, my lord, fays the doctor, but, if your lordfhip will look a little farther, you will fee that I am driving a fnail before me, which indeed happened to be the device. To this the earl cooly replied, that is fevere enough, JoD.S. 146. nathan, but I deferve it.

It is equally true, and equally evident, that Swift had no expectations of advantage from his connexion with thefe perfons, that he knew they could not long preferve their power, that he did not honour it while it latted, and that he disdained pecuniary obligations. I use the ministry, fays he, like dogs, because I expect they will use me fo.-I never knew a miniftry do any thing for those whom they ⚫ make companions of their pleafures; but I

D.S. 322.

Letters to

S.

Lett, to S.

care not.'

In the fummer of 1711, he forefaw the ruin of the ministry by those misunderstandings among D.S.331. themfelves, which at last effected it; and it was not only his opinion, but their own, that, if they could not carry a peace, they would not be able to keep themselves out of the Tower, even though they fhould agree. In order therefore to facilitate this great event, Swift wrote the Conduct of the Allies, Lett to S. a piece which he confeffes coft him much pains, and which fucceeded even beyond his expectation. It was published on the 27th of Novem

D.S.332.

ber

ber, 1711, just ten days before the parliament met, and, before the 28th of January, above ele- D.S.335. ven thousand were fold, feven editions having

been printed in England, and three in Ireland. The tory members, in both houses, who fpoke, drew all their arguments from it, and the refolutions, which were printed in the votes, and which would never have paffed but for the Conduct of the Lett, to Allies, were little more than quotations from Stella.

it.

D.S.337.

D.S.340.

From this time till the year 1713, he continued to exert himself with unwearied diligence in the fervice of the ministry, and while he was at D.S. 156. Windfor, juft at the conclufion of the peace of Utrecht, he drew the first sketch of An Hiftory of the four last years of Queen Anne. The work would have been published foon after, if his friends in the ministry had not disagreed about it; and, after the queen's death, he spent much time in improving and correcting it, but it has not yet appeared.

Lett.to P. 10 Jan.

1721..

During all this time he received no gratuity or reward till the year 1713, and then he accepted the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin.

It may perhaps be thought ftrange, that his friends did not rather procure him a bishopric in England, and place him in the house of lords, where his political eloquence might have been employed with great advantage; but this was not in their power, and they might be willing to fecure to him fuch advantage as they could, knowing their own inftability, and foreseeing their fall.

S.343.

Lett. to

lord Oxf.

But with whatever view, or from whatever cause, the deanery of St. Patrick's was given him, he received it with lefs pleasure, than he would have done a fettlement with much less power and profit in England.

He immediately croffed the channel to take poffeffion of his new dignity, but did not stay in Ireland more than a fortnight, being urged by an hundred

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letters