Imagination full Scope, and yet has preferved a perpetual Guard upon his Conduct. The Conftitution of his Body and Mind might early incline him to Habits of Caution and Referve; his Manners were delicate, easy and engaging; and he treated his Friends with a Politeness that charmed, and a Generofity that was much to his Honour. Every Guest was made happy within his Doors. Pleasure dwelt under his Roof, and Elegance prefided at his Table. Dr. SwIFT was of a different Difpofition: To his Domesticks he was paffionate and churlifh, to his Equals and Superiors rather an entértaining than defirable Companion. He told a Story in an admirable Manner: his Sentences were fhort and perfpicuous, his Obfervations were piercing. He was, perhaps, as he faid himfelf, too proud to be vain. When he was polite, it was in a Manner entirely his own. In his Friendships_he was conftant and undifguifed. He was the fame in his Enmities. He generally spoke as he thought in all Companies, and at all Times. NOTWITHSTANDING the Diffimilitude of Minds and Manners which was apparent between these two great Men, yet the fame Sort of Friendship feems to have fubfifted be tween them, as between VIRGIL and HORACE. The mutual Affection of the two English Poets appears throughout their Works: And therefore the Report very induftriously fpread, and not without fome Degree of Succefs, cannot avoid being taken notice of; "That the Friendship between SWIFT "and POPE was not fo firm and perfect at the latter End as at the Beginning of their Lives," On Dr. SWIFT'S Side, fays Lord ORRERY, he is certain it remained unalterable. Nor did it appear lefs fervent on the Side of Mr. POPE. Their Letters are the best Evidence to determine the Doubt. In one of SWIFT's latest Letters to his Lordship, he fay's, "When you see my dear Friend POPE, tell him I "will answer his Letter foon; I love him above all the rest "of Mankind." He adds, that in his long Correspondence with Mr. POPE, he scarce ever received the least Billet from him, without the kindest Mention of Dr. SWIFT; and the tendereft Anxiety for his Health; fo that the Friendship and Affection of SWIFT and POPE fubfifted as entire and uninterrupted as their Friends could with, or their Enemies regret. IN all SWIFT's Writings will be found his own peculiar Vein of Humour. The fame Liberty of Expreffion would have been improper and abfurd in any other Writer, but it produced the Confequences which he defired. His feeming Arrogance gained him more Favour, than the Humility and affected Benevolence of others. His Raillery and Freedom of Cenfure, are conveyed in a Manner more prevalent, and perhaps often more agreeable, than Flattery. He feldom praised, clear; praised, but where Merit was confpicuous. A fingle Stroke of his Pen pleafed more, and gave more Honour, than a long fattering Dedication from any other Author. His Style was mafterly, correct and strong: Never diffufive, yet always and if we confider it in comparison with his Predeceffors, he has outdone them all, and is one, perhaps the Chief, of thofe few select English Writers, who have excelled in Elegance and Propriety of Language. But he is not intitled alone to the Olive Garland. He has had his Coadjutors in the Victory. The Triumvirate, to whom we owe an Elegance and Propriety unknown to our Forefathers, are, SWIFT, ADDISON, and BOLINGBROKE. At the Sight of fuch Names no Difpute can arife in preferring the English Moderns to the English Antients. The prefent Century, and indeed all future Generations may be congratulated upon the Acquifition of three fuch Men. THROUGHOUT his various Correspondence may be difcovered very strong Marks of an anxious, benevolent Friend: And the Mifanthrope is often loft in the good-natured Man. His Letters to GAY, and thofe to Dr. SHERIDAN in the eighth Volume, confirm this Opinion. The Letters from Lord BOLINGBROKE, which are inferted in this Collection, are written with an Elegance and Politeness, that distinguish them from all the reft: We fee they were not intended for the Prefs. But how valuable are the most careless Strokes from fuch a Pen? .8 GAY's Letters have nothing in them ftriking or recommendatory. His Sentiments are those of an honeft, indolent, good-natured Man. He loved SWIFT to a Degree of Veneration, and the Friendship was returned with great Sincerity. AT the latter End of the SEVENTH VOLUME is a Pamphlet, written in the Year 1714, intitled, Free Thoughts on the prefent State of Affairs. Lord ORRERY advifes his Son in thefe Words: When you have read it, Digito compefce labellum. THE EIGHTH VOLUME begins with Directions to Servants; which Tract is unfinished. A Preface and Dedica tion were to have been added to it. The Earl of ORRERY, in one of his Letters, fays, He thinks it was not published till after the Dean's Death; but that he remembers the Manufcript handed about, and much applauded, in his Lifetime. To fay what can be offered in its Favour: The Tract is written in fo facetious a kind of low Humour, that it must please many Readers: Nor is it without fome Degree of Me rit, by pointing out with an amazing Exactnefs (and what in a lefs trivial Cafe muft have been called Judgment) the Faults, Blunders, Tricks, Lies and various Knaveries of domeftick Servants. How much Time must have been em¬ ployed in putting together fuch a Work? What an Intense nefs nefs of Thought must have been bestowed, upon the lowest and most flavish Scenes of Life? It is one of those Compofitions, that the utmoft Strength of Wit can scarce sustain from finking. A Man of SWIFT's exalted Genius, ought conftantly to have foared in higher Regions. It is to be wished his Thoughts had taken another Turn. Poor SWIFT! Why did he fink below himself, before he was deprived of Reason? Let him be forgiven that Error, and a Vail of Oblivion drawn over certain Excrefcences of Wit and Humour; he will then be admired, as an Honour to the Publick, and a Scourge to all the Knaves and Fools of his Time. THE Pamphlet which follows the Directions to Servants, is intitled, Reafons humbly offered to the Parliament of Ireland, for repealing the Sacramental Teft in favour of the Catholicks. This Tract is written under the affumed Character of a Roman · Catholick, by which Means the Author attacks his Adversaries with a great Advantage. The greatest Art, and the keenest Strokes of Irony difplay themselves throughout the whole Compolition; and the Conclufion of it is drawn up with a Mixture of ferious and ironical Arguments that seem to defy all kind of Refutation. THE two next Pamphlets, for fettling the Tythe of Hemp,, &c. by a Modus, are entirely adapted to the Clergy of Ireland; but in thofe Papers may be obferved a greater Fund of Calmness, not a lefs Degree of Spirit, than in many other of SWIFT's political Writings. NEXT follow two Poems: The firft was artfully publifhed by Dr. SWIFT, in a Manner fo different from thofe Rules of Poetry to which he confined himself, that he hoped the Publick might mistake it for a fpurious, or incorrect Copy, ftolen by Memory from his original Poem. THE fecond Poem, intitled, Verfes on the Death of Dr. SWIFT occafioned by reading a Maxim in RoCHEFOUCAULT, is a moft pointed Piece of Sarcafm. Not any of the Dean's Poems have more Wit, nor any of them more fevere. In it he has fummoned together his whole Powers of Satire and Poetry. It is a parting Blow; the Legacy of Anger and Difappointment. THE Remainder of this Volume, fays Lord ORRER Y, is like a Garden over-run with Docks and Thistles, among which fome Rofe-trees accidentally make their Appearance. The Beauty of the Rofes will particularly appear in three Sermons that are curious. THIS Volume concludes with Dr. SWIFT's Will, which, like all his other Writings, is drawn up in his own peculiar Manner; even in fo ferious a Composition, he cannot help indulging himself, in leaving Legacies that carry with them an Air The Life and Character of the Reverend Dr. SWIFT. Air of Raillery and Jeft.-Faulkner's Edition goes no farther. THE NINTH VOLUME contains, the Tale of a Tub; the Battle of the Books in St. James's Library; and the Fragment. The Tale of a Tub has made much Noife in the World. It was one of SWIFT's earliest Performances, and has never been excelled in Wit and Spirit by his own or any other Pen. The Cenfures that are paffed upon it are various. The most material of which were fuch as reflected upon Dr. SWIFT, in the Character of a Clergyman and a Christian. THE beft, and, what is more extraordinary, the most serious Apology that can be made for the Author, was written by himself, and is dated June 3. 1709, from which Time it has been conftantly printed in a prefatory Manner to the Work itself. In this Apology Dr. SWIFT candidly acknowledges, "That there are feveral youthful Sallies, which, from "the grave and the wife, may deferve a Rebuke." further adds, "That he will forfeit his Life, if any one Opinion can be deduced from the Book, which is contrary to Religion or Morality." 46 And THE Battle of the Books took its Rise from the Controverly between Sir William Temple and Mr. Wotton: a Contro⚫ verfy which made much Noife, and employed many Pens, towards the latter End of the last Century. This humorous Treatife is drawn up in an heroick comick Style, in which SWIFT, with great Wit and Spirit gives the Victory to the former. THE Fragment, or, a Difcourfe concerning the mechanical Operation of the Spirit, is a Satire against Enthufiafm, and thofe affected Infpirations, which conftantly begin in Folly, and very often end in Vice. To conclude this Account, we have fubjoined a Copy of a Letter addreffed to the Printer of the DUBLIN JOURNAL, and published in January 1752. I have at last finished, what you have often heard me with I might be able to do, a Monument for the greatest Genius of our Age, the late Dean of St. Patrick's. The Thing in itfelf is but a Trifle, but it is more than ever I fhould have attempted, had I not with Indignation feen a Country (fo honoured by the Birth of fo great a Man, and fo faithfully ferved by him all his Life) fo long and fo fhamefully negligent in erecting fome Monument of Gratitude to his Memory. Countries are not wife in fuch Neglect; for they hurt themselves. Men of Genius are encouraged to apply their Talents to the Service of their Country, when they fee in it Gratitude to the Memory of thofe that have deferved well of them.-It was with this View, that I determined to throw in my Mite. IN IN a fine Lawn below my House, I have planted an Hippodrome. It is a circular Plantation, confifting of five Walks; the Central of which is a Horse Course, and three Rounds make exactly a Mile. All the Lines are fo laid out, that from the Center the fix Rows of Trees appear but one, and form 100 Arches round the Field; in the Center of which I have erected a Mount, and placed a Marble Column on its proper Pedestal, with all the Decorations of the Order; on the Summit of which I placed a Pegasus, juft feeming to take Flight to Heaven; and on the Dye of the Pedestal I have engraved the following Inscription, wrote by an ingenious Friend. In memoriam JONATHAN SWIFT S. T. P. viri fine pari. Aonidum fontes aperis, divine poeta, Arte nova; athercas propriis ut Pegafus alis Scande domos aternum addet tua fama columna Pectora fcrutetur, latumque interroget orbem. $750. I have also appointed a small Fund for annual Premiums to be diftributed in the Celebration of Games at the Monument yearly. The Ceremony is to last three Days, beginning the first of May yearly. On this Day, young Maids and Men in the Neighbourhood are to affemble in this Hippodrome, with their Garlands and Chaplets of Flowers, and to dance round the Monument, finging the Praises of this ingenious Patriot, and ftrowing with Flowers all the Place: After which they are to dance for a Prize; the best Dancer among the Maids is to be prefented with a Cap and Ribbons; and, after the Dance, the young Men are to run for a Hat and Gloves. THE fecond Day, there is to be a large Market upon the Ground: And the Girl who produces the finest Hank of Yarn, and the most regular Reel and Count, is to have a Guinea Premium; and the Perfon who buys the greatest Quantity of Yarn is to have a Premium of two Guineas. THE third Day, the Farmer who produces the beft yearling Calf of his own breed, is to have two Guineas Premium; and he that produces the fairest Colt or Filly, of his own breed likewife, not over two Years old, fhall receive a Premium of two Guineas also. Thus the whole will not exceed ten Pounds, and all these useful Branches of our Growth and Manufacture will be encouraged in remembering the Patron who with fo much Care and Tendernefs recommended them to others, and cherished them himself.- I am, &c. |