the dregs of fevers and other violent diftempers. The laft was the cafe of the Dean of St. Patrick's, according to the account fent me by his two relations Mrs. Whiteway and Mr. Swift*: neither of whom, I think, make the least mention of a deafness that, from time to time, attacked the Dean, and rendered him extremely miferable. You will find him complaining of this misfortune in feveral parts of his writings; efpecially in his letters (of the tenth volume) to Dr. Sheridan. Poffibly fome internal preffure upon his brain might firft have affected the auditory nerves, and then, by degrees, might have increased, fo as entirely to ftop up that fountain of ideas, which had before fpread itself in the most diffufive and furprifing manner. Having just now hinted to you the advantages that have accrued to madmen, I ought not to omit the honours that have been paid to fools. In former ages the courts of France and England were not thought completely imbellifhed without a favourite idiot, who bore the title of the King's jefter and who was as remarkably diflinguished by a cap and bells, as his royal mafter was diftinguifhed by a diadem and robes. This animal, like Junius Brutus, frequently affumed the face and behaviour of folly, to answer his own particular views and advantages. His bluntnefs and fimplicity recommended him in thofe places, where truths, if fpoken by a man of fenfe, were disagreeable and dangerous. If he had not the honour, like Brutus, to fave his country, at leaft he had the happiness to fecure himself: and his expreffions were often fo full of humour and farcafm, that, to this day, they are recorded as pieces of wit. Such was the famous reply of Archy to K. James I. when his Majesty, amidst all his wifdom, was fufficiently infpired with folly, to fend his only son into Spain. But * Above, F. 315 -319. E e 2 fools fools at prefent are no longer admired in courts ; or, if they are, they appear there without their cap and bells. And now, to quit reflections that tend in general rather to terrify than to improve the underftanding, let me obferve, in honour of my friend. Swift, that his establishment of an hospital for idiots and lunatics, is remarkably generous; as the unhappy perfons who receive the benefit, muft for ever remain infenfible of their benefactor. An An account of a MONUMENT erected to the memory of Dr. SWIFT in Ireland. I Taken from the DUBLIN JOURNAL. SIR, Have at last finished what you have often heard me wish 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 itself is but a trifle; but it is more than I should ever have attempted, had I not with indignation feen a country (fo honoured by the birth of so great a man, and so 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 wise in such a neglect; for they hurt themselves. Men of genius are encouraged to apply their talents to the fervice of their country, when they fee in it gratitude to the memory of thofe that have deserved well of them. The ingenious Pere Caftell told me at Paris, that he reckoned it the greatest misfortune to him, that he was not born an Englifhman; and when he explained himself, it was only for this, that, after two hundred years, they had erected a monument to Shakespear and another to a modern, but to the greatest of them, Sir Ifaac Newton. Great fouls are very difinterested in the affairs of life; they look for fame and immortality, fcorning the mean paths of intereft and lucre: and, furely, in an age fo mercenary as ours, men fhould not be fo fparing to give public marks of their gratitude to men of fuch virtue, dead, however they may treat them living; fince, in fo doing, E e 3 : doing, they befpeak, and almost insure to themfelves a fucceffion of fuch useful perfons in fociety. It is with this view that I determined to throw in my mite. In a fine lawn below my houfe, I have planted an hippodrome. It is a circular plantation, confifting of five walks; the central of which is a horfe-courfe, and three rounds make exactly a mile. All the lines are fo laid out, that, from the centre, the fix rows of trees appear but one, and form 100 arches round the field; in the centre 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 fummit of which I placed a Pegafus, juft feeming to take flight to heaven; and on the dye of the pedestal I have engraved the following infcription, wrote by an ingenious friend. In memoriam JONATHAN SWIFT, S.T.P. viri fine pari. Aonidum fontes aperis, divine poeta, Arte nova; athereas propriis ut Pegafus alis I have alfo appointed a small fund for annual premiums to be diftributed in the celebration of games at the monument yearly. The ceremony is to laft three days, beginning the ift of May yearly. On this day, young maids and men in the neighbourhood are to affemble in the hippodrome, with their garlands and chaplets of flowers, and to dance round : round the munument, 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 presented with a cap and ribbands; and after the dance, the young men are to run for a hat and gloves. The second 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 greateft 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 tilly, of his own breeding likewise, not over two years old, fhall receive a premium of two guineas alfo.- -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 tenderness recommended them to others, and cherished them himself. I am, &c. Anec |