of promoting a man of no weight or confideration, to a higher ftation, to make room for him. And the Miniftry certainly fhewed the greateft readiness to gratify him in any thing which he fhould defire, when they confented to the promotion of a man, whom they difliked, to make room for his preferment, in a way alfo which they did not approve of, merely becaufe he made a point of it. So that, however fmall a recompenfe the Deanery itself might have been confidered for Swift's fervices, yet as there was a Bifhoprick beftowed at the fame time, purely to make way for this, and to be charged wholly to his account, the Miniftry certainly cannot be taxed with a want of a due fenfe of his merits, and a fuitable defire of rewarding them. And however out of humour he might be, where he fays, "This affair was carried with great difficulty, which vexes me," Yet he very juftly adds, "But they say here, it is much to my reputation, that I have made a Bishop in spite of all the world, and to get the best Deanery in Ireland." He afterwards fhews how entirely this was his work, against all oppofition, where he fays, "I fhall write next poft to Bifhop Sterne. Never man had fo many enemies of Ireland as he; I carried it with the strongest hand poffible. If he does not use me well, and gently, in what dealings I fhall have with him, he will be the moft ungrateful of mankind."

In his whole account of this tranfaction, which exhibits a lively picture of his state of mind to the moment, he seems to have been much under the influence of humour. Though he was confcious that the Queen herself was the chief bar to his promotion, yet he speaks as peevishly of the Treasurer, as if the fole blame lay with him. At one time he seems earnest about obtaining St. Patrick's, and is angry with the Treafurer for putting any rub in the way, though in favour of ano

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more.

ther measure, which would certainly have pleafed him When he mentions the Queen's having confented to Swift's arrangement of the Bishoprick, and Deanery, he adds, much out of humour," but then out came Lord Treasurer, and faid he would not be fatisfied, but that I must be a Prebendary of Windfor. Thus he perplexes things. I expect neither; but I confefs as much as I love England, I am fo angry at this treatment, that, if I had my choice, I would rather have St. Patrick's." And yet in his Journal of the 18th, the day but one after this, when he learns from the Treasurer, that the Queen was at laft refolved upon the arrangement propofed, he fays," Neither can I feel joy at paffing my days in Ireland, and I confefs I thought the Ministry would not let me go; but perhaps they cannot help it." How contrary is this to his former decla ration! But in the whole of this affair, Swift feems to have been deserted by his usual firmness of mind, and' to have acted with the frowardness of a humourfome child, who either does not know his own mind, or will not tell it; and yet expects that others fhould find it out, and do what he wants.

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Another reafon for his not defiring to procure the Bishoprick for himself, might perhaps arife from his, fuppofing that this might be confidered as a full equivalent for his fervices, and the ne plus ultra of his preferment, to the exclufion of all future profpects in Eng-* land, where all his wifhes centered. But I am perfuaded, that the chief motive to his extraordinary conduct on this occafion, and his fo pertinaciously adhering to that particular mode, and no other, of providing for him, in oppofition to the defire of his best friends, and particularly of the Duke of Ormond, was, that he had promised to make Sterne a Bishop the first opportunity. As he was remarkably tenacious of his word, he was determined

determined to keep it on this occafion, though he feems, by fome expreffions, not to have looked upon Sterne as his friend, but rather to have refentment against him, on account of fome ill treatment received at his hands*. In his Journal to Stella, October 28; 1712, he says, "I had a letter to-day from Dr. Coghill, defiring me to get Raphoe for Dean Sterne, and the Deanery for myself. I shall indeed, I have fuch obligations to Sterne. But, however, if I am afked who will make a good Bishop, I fhall name him before any body."

In the February following, he fays, in the fame Journal, "I did not write to Dr. Coghill, that I would have nothing in Ireland, but that I was foliciting nothing any where, and this is true. I have named Dr. Sterne to Lord Treasurer, Lord Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Ormond, for a Bifhoprick, and I did it heartily. I know not what will come of it; but I tell you, as a great fecret, that I have inade the Duke of Ormond promise me to recommend no body till he tells me, and this for fome reafons, too long to mention."

The caufe of his refentment is thus fet forth, in a letter to Sterne, then Bishop of Clogher, dated July 1733. "When I first came ac quainted with you, we were both private Clergymen in a neighbour hood: you were afterwards Chancellor of St. Patrick's, then was chofen Dean; in which election, I was the most busy of all your folicitors. When the compromise was made between the government and you, to make you eafy, and Dr. Syuge Chancellor, you abfolutely and fre= quently promifed to give me the + Curacy of St. Nicholas Without 1 you thought fit, by concert with the Archbishop, to hold it yourself, and apply the revenue to build another Church. Upon the Queen's death, when I had done for ever with Courts, I returned to refide at my poft, yet with fome kind of hopes of getting fome credit with you, very unwifely; because, upon the affair of St. Nicholas, I had told you frankly," That I would always refpect you, but never hope for the leaft friendship from you."

Though this be called a Curacy, yet it is in reality a living of confiderable value,

While

While the matter was in agitation, he thus writes to Stella, on the 7th of the March following. "I write by this poft to the Dean, but it is not above two lines, and one inclosed to you is not above three lines; and in that, one inclofed to the Dean, which he must not have, but on condition of burning it immediately after reading, and that before your eyes; for there are fome things in it I would not have liable to accidents. You fhall only know in general, that it is an account of what I have done to ferve him, in his pretenfions on thefe vacancies, &c. but he must not know, that you know fo much."

It is evident, from fome of the above quotations, that Swift was far from having any cordial regard for Sterne, and that he had thought himself, on fome occafions, to have been ill treated by him. Nothing therefore can, in my opinion, account for his obftinate perfeverance in making him a Bishop, in fpite of all the world, as he himself expreffes it, but the facrednefs of an engagement.

Whatever ill opinion Swift had formed of Sterne be fore, was thoroughly confirmed by his very ungrateful behaviour to him, immediately after he had made him a Bishop. In his Journal of May 16, he writes thus, "Your new Bishop acts very ungratefully. I cannot fay fo bad of him as he deserves. I begged, by the fáme post his warrant and mine went over, that he would leave those livings to my difpofal. I fhall write this post to him, to let him know how ill I take it *.

* Swift had afterwards cause to complain farther of his ingratitude, where he fays to him in a letter, dated 1733. "But trying to forget all former treatments, I came, like others, to your house, and fince you were a Bishop, have once or twice recommended perfons to you, who were no relations or friends of mine, but merely for their general good character; which availed fo little, that thofe very perfons had the greatest share of your neglect."

SECTION

SECTION IV.

AS the brightest and most important part of Swift's life paffed during the four laft years of Queen Anne, when his faculties were all in full vigour, and occafions for difplaying them arofe adequate to their greatnefs; I fhall omit no circumftance which may serve to delineate the features and limbs of his mind, (if I may be allowed the expreffion) before difeafe and age had impaired the bloom of the one, and the strength and agility of the other. To have a perfect portrait and just likeness of a friend, had we our choice of time,: we should certainly prefer that period of his life, when he was in his prime, to that of his decay. There have been already given many inftances of fuch a nobleness of mind, fuch a difinterefted fpirit in Swift, as are rarely to be found in the annals of history. Yet the part which he acted by his friend Oxford, about the time of the Queen's death, exhibits thofe qualities in a higher point of view than ever they had appeared in before. It has been already mentioned, that, finding all his endeavours to reconcile his great friends ufelefs, he had retired to Letcomb, in order to make one effort more to compel them to unite for their common intereft, by the publication of his "Free Thoughts," &c. Lord Bolingbroke, to whom this Piece was shewn by Barber, contrived to have the printing of it: deferred, as he was then just upon the point of accomplishing his long concerted plan, of turning out Lord Oxford, and stepping into his place. This was effected just four days before the Queen's death, on the 27th of July, 1714. One of Lord Bolingbroke's first objects, upon getting into power, was to fecure Swift to

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