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character at least was known to the great men in both 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 Orrery, 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

27.

D. S. 148.

the year 1708.

But though by his frequent excurfions to England and a long absence 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 re

J. R.

41, 42,

266.

nounce it till his acquaintance with Harley, nor did he ever mention his fubfequent attachment to politics without indubitable figns of penitence and regret.

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 bishoprick was intended for him by the queen, but archbishop Sharpe and a certain great lady having mifreprefented his principles and character, her majefty gave it to another; of this injury, however, the archbishop was afterwards J.R. 271. truly fenfible, expreffed great forrow for it, and defired his forgiveness.

After this disappointment it was not long before a new scene 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 twenSeelet- tieth parts and firft fruits. And upon this occafion his acquaintance with Harley commenced.

ters, Vol.

XII.

As foon as he had received the bishop's letter, inftructions,

ftructions, and authority, he refolved to apply to Mr. Harley, not only because he was a principal perfon in the queen's miniftry, but becaule by his intereft the 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 te Jaft ministry, because he would not go certain lengths which they would have had him, this being in fome fort Mr. Harley's own cafe.

Letter to
King,val.
XII.

Mr. Harley received him with the utmost 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 muft 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 levy, told him that was no place for friends. The doctor foon after became perfonally 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 inlarged to fixteen, all men of the first clafs, Swift included; they dined once a week at the houses of each other by rotation, and went under the general denomination of brothers.

D.S. 227,

317.

From this time the doctor fupported the intereft of his new friends with all his power, in pamphlets, poems, 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

C 3

oppo

oppofite party, that many speeches were made against him in both houses of parliament; a reward was also offered for discovering the author of the Public Spirit of the Whigs.

See vol.

IX. p. 1. and note.

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 most it terminates, like rays collected by a burning-glass, in a very fmall circle which is fcarce more than a point, and like light becomes fenfible only by reflection. Thus Swift, while he was courted and careffed by thofe whom others were making interest to approach, feems to have enjoyed his diftinction only in proportion as it was participated with Stella; for amidst all the bufinefs, and all the honours that crowded 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 unrestrained effufions of his heart many particuJars 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 myfterious 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 necefD. S. 318. fary, that the confederacy muft foon break, and factions increase; and that the ministry was upon too narrow a bottom, and stood like an ifthmus between the whigs on one fide, and the violent tories on the other, a fituation in which they could not fubfift. Thefe violent tories were formed into a fociety called the October club, of whom Swift fays.

they are a bout

bout 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 extreams against the whigs, to call the

old miniftry to account and get off five or fix heads."

D. S. 319,

320.

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 fhews both his integrity and the freedom of his conversation with thofe who have a prescriptive 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 last spied a figure ftuded 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 lordship 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 D.S. 146. fevere enough, Jonathan, 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 lafted, and that he difdained pecuniary obligations.

I use the ministry fays he like dogs, because I expect they will ufe me fo.-I never knew a mini- D. S. 322. ftry do any thing for thofe whom they make Letters to companions of their pleasures, but I carenot. S.

D.S. 33

In the fummer of 1711, he forefaw the ruin of the - miniftry by thofe mifunderstandings among themselves which at laft effected it; and it was not only his opinion, but their own, that if they could not carry a peace, they would not

Lett. to 3.

Lett. to S.

be able to keep themfelves out of the Tower, even though they should agree. In order therefore to facilitate this great event, Swift wrote the D.S. 332. Conduct of the Allies, a piece which he confeffes coft him much pains, and which fucceeded even beyond his expectation. It was publifhed on the 27th of November, 1711, juft ten days before the parliament met, and, before the 28th of January, above eleven thousand were fold, seven editions having been printed in England, and three in Ireland. The tory members in both houses who fpoke, drew all their arguments from

D.S. 335.

P.S.337
Lett. to
Stella.

it, and the refolutions which were printed in the votes, and which would never have paffed but for the Conduct of the Allies, were little more than quotations from it. From this time till the year 1713, he continued to exert himself with unwearied diligence in D. S. 156. the fervice of the ministry, and while he was at Windfor, juft at the conclufion of the peace of Utrecht, he drew the first sketch of An Hiftory of the four laft 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.

D. S. 340. 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 bishoprick 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, D.S. 343 and they might be willing to fecure to him Lett. to fuch advantage as they could, knowing their lord Oxf. own inftability, and foreseeing their fall.

But

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