[vol. 8. p. 155.], " It is an impofture, mean and trivial, and full of the cant that I moft defpife." It appears alfo by a letter of Mr. Pope, dated Sept. 15. 1734, [vol. 8. p. 165.] that the Dean had strongly difavowed this piece, not to him only, but to Lord Carteret, and others; and that there was reafon to believe it the performance of a person who offered a piece in profe to a bookfeller as the Dean's, which he afterwards confeffed to be his own *. In the Irish copy of the verfes on his death many paffages are to be found which Mr. Pope rejected; for when he added these verses to the Mifcellany in 1742, he took nothing from the Irish copy, which he had then feen; and upon his authority the Irish variations are rejected in this edition t. But * It were to be wifhed, that Mr. Hawkefworth had pointed out thofe fpurious pieces in verfe that the Dublin editor took into his edition. If there are any fuch fpurious pieces, they must be very few; for, upon examination, it will appear, that there are just five copies of verfes in that edition that are not in Hawkefworth's; and it certainly lies upon him to prove them fpurious. These pieces are, A letter to the Rev. Dr. Sheridan; Verfes upon stealing a crown when the Dean was afleep, with the Dean's answer; Pro batur aliter; and, The life and genuine character of Dr. Swift. As to the laft, it is true, that the Dean disavowed it, as Mr. Hawkefworth fays. But Lord Orrery, who cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of what the Dean hadsaid upon that affair, is of opinion, that thofe verses are genuine, though defignedly wrote by the author in a manner different from his usual practice [vol. 6. p. 5.] and Mr. Deane Swift quotes it as a genuine work [Elay, p. 190.] But whether this piece be genuine or not, it was thought proper to infert it among the other poetical pieces, leawing every one to judge of it as he pleases. As to the Verfes on the Dean's death [vol. 6. p. 220.] we are fold in his own letters [vol. 8. p. 128, 55.] that he had wrote near 500 lines on that subject; and yet that copy which Mr. Pope ad. ded to the Mifcellanies in 1742, and from whence Mr. Hawkefworth has taken it, confifts only of 375: fo that it can hardly be thought to be a complete copy. It is therefore most probable, that the copy inferted in the Dublin edition is the genuine one, as it confifts of near soo lines. One reason why several paffages were fuppreffed in the London editions may have been, the fear of giving offence, as it contained fome reflexions upon a lady of the highest rank, and some great men at court. But as there are in it many beautiful verfes not unworthy of the author; and as in feveral places the fenfe may appear to fome to be imperfect, through the want of the passages which Mr. Pope, or the Eng But there is evidence of another kind to prove, that the Dean never revifed any edition of his works for Faulkner to print, and that on the contrary he was unwilling that Faulkner should print them at all. Faulkner, in an advertisement published Oct. 15, 1754, calls himself the editor as well as publisher of the Dublin edition; and the Dean has often renounced the undertaking in exprefs terms. In his letter to Mr. Pope dated May 1. 1733, Evol. 8. p. 157] he fays, that when the printer applied to him for leave to print his works in Ireland, he told him he would give no leave; and when he printed them without, he declared it was much to bis difcontent. The fame fentiment is alfo more ftrongly expreffed in the following extract from a letter now in the hands of the publisher, which was written by the Dean to the late Mr. Benjamin Motte, his bookfeller in London, dated: Nov. I. 1735. "Mr. Faulkner, in printing thofe volumes, did what I "much disliked, and yet what was not in my power to "hinder; and all my friends preffed him to print them, "and gave him what manufcript copies they had occa lif editors, difcarded, it has been thought proper to replace them. But to enable the reader to judge of the merit and propriety of the difcarded lines, now replaced, they are these following. lines Pag. Vol. 6. 221. 14. 15. 303.-306. 311 312. 230 231. ib. 232. ib. 233. 371-382. p. 233- ib, 341-356. 238. ib. 409.-498. p. 237. This poem, as in the Dublin edition, consists of 484 lines; as in that of Hawkefworth, of 375; as in the prefent, of 545, 170 lines being taken into it from the Dublin edition. In the poem intitled, The life and character of Dr. Swift, there are 61 lines which are also to be found in the Verfes on the death of Dr. Swift, as in Hawkesworth's edition; which 61 lines added to the 484 Jines, of which the Dublin copy of these verfes confifts, make just $45 lines, as in the prefent edition. "fionally b 2 My defire was, that those "fionally gotten from me. "works fhould have been printed in London, by an agreement between thofe who had a right to them. -I am," &c. We now proceed to give fome account of the present. edition. As to the arrangement of the different pieces, we have claffed them in the order which appeared to us the most natural, and by which we could moft conveniently bring the work into eight volumes, of a fize near équal*. The first volume contains the Tale of a Tub, the Battle of the Books, the Fragment, fome tracts relating to religion, and the pofthumous fermons. In the fecond are part of the mifcellanies relating to politics. The Drapier's letters, and the tracts concerning the facramental test, and Irifh affairs, will be found in the third. Gulliver's travels, and fome humorous and political pieces, compofe the fourth. The fifth confifts of thofe tracts which Dr. Swift wrote in conjunction with Dr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Gay; which are now first collected in one volume. The fixth and feventh contain the mifcellanies. in verfe. In the seventh is likewife a part of the miscellanies in profe, with Polite Converfation, and Directions to fervants. The eighth and last contains a complete collection of all the letters to and from the Dean, with a variety of pofthumous pieces, and his laft will. As to the notes, this edition will be found to contain double the number that is inferted in any former one. Moft part of those notes to which no name is annexed, are taken from the Dublin and the London editions. To fuch as appeared to have been wrote by Mr. Hawkefworth, (for he has not diftinguished his own notes) his name is fubjoined. The greateft part of the other notes are taken from the Earl of Orrery's remarks on the life and writings of Dr. Swift †, Mr. Deane Swift's * See the notes, above, p. viii. & ix. These remarks are contained in twenty-four letters written by his Lordship to his fon the Hon. Hamilton Boyle, published in 1752. Effay Ellay on the fame fubject *, and Warburton's edition of Pope's works. A few notes of reference, and fome hiftorical remarks, are inferted by the editors. Mr. Hawkefworth had taken some of Lord Orrery's remarks into his edition by way of notes; but most of these are now confiderably enlarged, and many more are added. To fome of the large extracts from Orrery and Swift, we have given the title of Criticifms, as at the beginning of the ift, 6th, and 8th volumes. And care has been taken not to omit any remark of importance contained in the writings of those authors upon any piece of Swift's works. Several pieces, both in prose and verse, do now make their first appearance in Dr. Swift's works. Among the profe, the most confiderable are, Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, in vol. 5. and the letters I. 90. 91. 92. and 93. with the address of the inhabitants of the liberty of St. Patrick's, &c. in vol. 8. Among the poetry are the following: Stella to Dr. Swift on his birthday: Toland's invitation to Difmal; Mrs. Pilkington to Dr. Swift on his birthday; An epitaph on the Dean's dog; Swift's letter to the Athenian fociety: A dialogue between Dr. Swift and a lawyer, &c. Thefe pieces are moftly taken from Orrery's Letters, and Mr. Deane Swift's Effay. And that this edition is more complete than any preceding one, will be evident to every person, who shall take the trouble to compare them. However, we shall here point out feveral pieces contained in this edition, befides those mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, none of which are to be found in that of Mr. Hawkefworth, though it is more complete than any that preceded it. In vol. 1, the 5th fermon; and, A propofal for preventing the growth of Popery. In vol. 2. the laft fix Examiners. In vol. 3. Confiderations about palling Wood's brafs money; The Drapier demolished; and the Intelligencer, No 15. * Mr. Swift's Effay, published in 1755, is interspersed with occafional remarks on Orrery's letters, and on the obfervations on those letters, by J. R. Mr. Deane Swift fays, [Essay, p. 279.] that this is the pamph. let referred to in Dr. Swift's letter to Dr. Sheridan, of June 29. 1725, in vol. 8. p. 230. In vol. 6. p. 245. A letter from Dr. Swift to Dr. She ridan. In vol. 7. The preface to the beasts confeffion to the prieft; Verfes upon stealing a crown when the Dean was afleep, by Dr. Sheridan; The Dean's answer; Probatur aliter; Tom's metamorphofis into a poet and fpaniel; and, The life and character of Dr. Swift. In vol. 8. befides the letters already mentioned, all those from No 2. to N° 89; A letter from Dr. Swift to Mr. Kendall; A defence of the Lady's dreffing room*, &c. As to the difference betwixt the present and the Scotch edition in 1752, which was printed from the Dublin one, and on the fame plan, with the addition of a ninth and a tenth volume, it is unneceffary to defcend to par ticulars. Upon a very flight comparison, it will be found that this edition contains upwards of a hundred pieces more than it. As to the life of Dr. Swift, many accounts have been published of it, fays Mr. Hawkefworth. Thefe have mutually reflected light upon each other, afcertained controverted facts, and rectified miftakes, which, if they had still been traditional and oral, would still have been believed. Several little incidents, which fhewed the peculiarities of his converfation and domeftic life, were related by Mrs. Pilkington in her memoirs; though these could be believed only in proportion as they verified themselves. Lord Orrery's letters contained many of the principal events, intermingled with many characteriftic incidents, fupported in general upon better authority; but fometimes founded upon false information. Some of these mistakes were detected by a volume of letters figned J. R. in which were alfo fome new materials; and the account fince published by Mr. Swift, with an imperfect sketch by the Dean himfelft, has furnished yet more. From a comparison of all thefe with each other, Mr. Hawkefworth has compiled his account * Mr. Hawkefworth appears to have had an intention of in. ferting this piece in his 12th volume; for at the end of a note on the poem, intitled, The lady's dressing-room, he says, “ See a "Defence of this poem, vol. 12." + This sketch, intitled, The family of Swift, is prefixed to our account of Dr. Swift's life. |