56 57 58 He went to take possession of his deanery as soon as he had obtained it; but he was not suffered to stay in Ireland more than a fortnight before he was recalled to England', that he might reconcile Lord Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke, who began to look on one another with malevolence, which every day increased 2, and which Bolingbroke appeared to retain in his last years 3. Swift contrived an interview, from which they both departed discontented; he procured a second, which only convinced him that the feud was irreconcilable: he told them his opinion, that all was lost. This denunciation was contradicted by Oxford, but Bolingbroke whispered that he was right. Before this violent dissension had shattered the Ministry, Swift had published, in the beginning of the year (1714), The publick Spirit of the Whigs5, in answer to The Crisis, a pamphlet for which Steele was expelled from the House of Commons 6. Swift was now so far alienated from Steele as to think him no longer entitled to decency, and therefore treats him sometimes with contempt, and sometimes with abhorrence 7. of retiring to my old circumstances, See also ib. ii. 263, iii. 15, He wrote in 1737- 'When I came to Ireland to take this deanery I could not stay here above a fortnight, being recalled by a hundred letters.' 16. xix. 72. He stayed nearly three months. He was appointed on April 23, 1713, and started for Dublin on June 1. Ib. iii. 151, 157. Lewis (ante, GAY, 13) wrote to recall him on July 9, July 30, and Aug. 6. Ib. xvi. 50, 53, 57. He returned early in September. Craik, p. 272. The first misunderstanding took its rise' in March, 1710-11, at the time of the attempt on Harley's life. 'Mr. St. John,' writes Swift, 'affected to say in several companies, "That Guiscard intended the blow against him," which, if it were true, the consequence must be that Mr. St. John had all the merit, while Mr. Harley remained with nothing but the danger and pain.' Works, iii. 191. On Aug. 15, 1711, Swift first mentions his efforts at a reconciliation. Ib. ii. 320. See also ib. ii. 333, 378, iii. 46, 144, xv. 446. 3 In 1734 he described Oxford to Swift as one who 'knew neither how to use power, nor how to wear honours, and yet who was jealous of one and fond of the other, even to ridicule.' Ib. xviii. 196. See also ib. v. 277, xvii. 251. This meeting was in May, 1714. Swift, in 1737, described it in a letter to Oxford's son. Ib. xix. 72. On July 22, 1714, Charles Ford wrote to Swift:They often eat, and drink, and walk together, as if there was no sort of disagreement; and when they part, I hear they give one another such names as nobody but ministers of state could bear without cutting throats.' Ib. xvi. 156. 5 Ib. iv. 215. 6 On March 18, 1713-14. Parl. Hist. vi. 1268. A few days earlier the House of Lords had addressed the Queen to offer a reward for the discovery of the author of The Publick Spirit of the Whigs. Wentworth Papers, pp. 359, 360. For Steele see ante, ADDISON, 36, 73. On May 13, 1713, Swift wrote to Addison: Mr. Steele knows very well that my Lord-Treasurer has kept In this pamphlet the Scotch were mentioned in terms so pro- 59 voking to that irritable nation, that, resolving not to be offended with impunity 2,' the Scotch Lords in a body demanded an audience of the Queen, and solicited reparation 3. A proclamation was issued, in which three hundred pounds was offered for discovery of the author. From this storm he was, as he relates, 'secured by a sleight,' of what kind, or by whose prudence, is not known; and such was the increase of his reputation that 'the Scottish Nation applied again that he would be their friend ".' He was become so formidable to the Whigs, that his familiarity 60 with the Ministers was clamoured at in Parliament, particularly by two men, afterwards of great note, Aislabie and Walpole'. him in his employment upon my entreaty and intercession.' Steele replied :-'They laugh at you if they make you believe your interposition has kept me thus long in my office.' Works, xvi. 39. 'Mr. Steele might have been safe enough, if his continually repeated indiscretions and a zeal mingled with scurrilities had not forfeited all title to lenity.' SWIFT, Works, v. 16. ' For 'the extreme jealousy of the Scotch' see Boswell's Johnson, ii. 306. 2 'Nemo me impune lacessit '-the motto of Scotland. 3 According to Orrery (p. 196) this fact is stated in an advertisement printed before the pamphlet.' The printer and publisher were brought before the House. Parl. Hist. vi. 1263. The fault,' writes Swift,' was calling the Scots "a poor, fierce, northern people" [Works, iv. 244].' Ib. xvi. 109. Oxford sent Swift secretly £100 for the two men. Ib. xvi. 100. For a second reward of £300 for the discovery of Swift as an author see post, SWIFT, 78. 5 The Queen incensed, his services forgot, Leaves him a victim to the vengeful Scot. Now through the realm a proclamation spread, To fix a price on his devoted head. The Scottish nation, whom he durst offend, Again apply that Swift would be their friend.' Ib. xii. 304. ❝ 'Finch, famed for tedious elocution, That Swift oils many a spring Inform the Commons that the In 1721 John Aislabie, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was expelled the House and committed to the Tower for his share in the South Sea Bubble. Parl. Hist. vii. 749; Coxe's Walpole, i. 149. 'It pleased Mr. Walpole,' writes Swift, in the Queen's time to make a speech directly against me by name in the House of Commons.' Works, vii. 9. In The History of the Four Last Years of Queen Anne he speaks of Walpole as one Mr. Robert Walpole.' He adds:-'The reader must excuse me for being so particular about one who is otherwise altogether obscure.' lb. v. 40, 99. He retained 61 62 But, by the disunion of his great friends, his importance and his designs were now at an end; and seeing his services at last useless, he retired about June (1714) into Berkshire, where, in the house of a friend, he wrote what was then suppressed, but has since appeared under the title of Free Thoughts on the present State of Affairs3. While he was waiting in this retirement for events which time or chance might bring to pass, the death of the Queen broke down at once the whole system of Tory politicks; and nothing remained but to withdraw from the implacability of triumphant Whiggism, and shelter himself in unenvied obscurity *. 63 The accounts of his reception in Ireland, given by Lord Orrery and Dr. Delany, are so different, that the credit of the writers, both undoubtedly veracious, cannot be saved but by supposing, what I think is true, that they speak of different times. When Delany says that he was received with respect 3, he means for the first fortnight, when he came to take legal possession; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was pelted by these unworthy sneers when he re- 'He labour'd many a fruitless hour But finding vain was all his care, He left the Court in mere despair.' Works, xiv. 331. * Parson Gery, of Upper Letcombe, near Wantage'a melancholy, thoughtful man,' Swift described him. 'We dine exactly between twelve and one; at eight we have some bread and butter, and a glass of ale, and at ten he goes to bed.' Ib. xix. 330. Swift arrived there about June 2 and left on Aug. 16. Ib. xvi. 193 n., xix. 329. For Pope and Parnell's visit to him see Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), vii. 468. See also ante, SWIFT, 12 n. 3 Works, v. 228. His printer, Barber, wrote on July 6:-I have shown it only to one person [Bolingbroke], who is charmed with it, and will make some alterations and addi tions to it, with your leave.' Ib. xvi. 129. It was these alterations that led to its suppression. Ib. pp. 140, 337. On Dec. 9, 1711, fearing the Whigs were returning to power, he asked for a post abroad, as Queen's Secretary, where I may remain till the new ministers recal me; and then I will be sick for five or six months till the storm has spent itself. ...I should hardly trust myself to the mercy of my enemies, while their anger is fresh.' Ib. ii. 426. See also ib. viii. 47. Nevertheless on Sept. 7, 1714, Arbuthnot wrote of him: Though like a man knocked down, you may behold him still with a stern countenance, and aiming a blow at his old adversaries.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), vii. 473. Johnson's account is the truer one. He did 'shelter himself in unenvied obscurity' for many years. 5 I am well assured by persons who knew it well, that the reception he met with from all sorts of men was as kind and honourable as he could wish.' Delany, p. 87. the populace 1, he is to be understood of the time when, after the Queen's death, he became a settled resident. The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some disturbance 64 in the exercise of his jurisdiction; but it was soon discovered, that between prudence and integrity he was seldom in the wrong; and that, when he was right, his spirit did not easily yield to opposition 2. Having so lately quitted the tumults of a party and the 65 intrigues of a court, they still kept his thoughts in agitation, as the sea fluctuates a while when the storm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with some historical attempts, relating to 'the Change of the Ministers" and 'the Conduct of the Ministry ".' He likewise is said to have written a History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne, which he began in her lifetime, and afterwards laboured with great attention, but never published. It was after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King". A book under that title was published, with Swift's For some years after the Queen's death his politics were despised and his person was detested."' Deane Swift, p. 29. 2 Delany, p. 88. Swift wrote on June 28, 1715:-'My amusements are defending my small dominions against the archbishop [King], and endeavouring to reduce my rebellious choir.' Works, xvi. 226. He thus described his 'dominions' on July 8, 1733-'I am lord mayor of 120 houses; I am absolute lord of the greatest cathedral in the kingdom; am at peace with the neighbouring princes, the Lord Mayor of the City, and the Archbishop of Dublin; only the latter, like the King of France, sometimes attempts encroachments on my dominions, as old Lewis did upon Lorraine.' Ib. xviii. 123. See also ib. xvi. 244, 263, xvii. 105, 112, 117. The Archbishop,' he said, 'was a wit and a scholar, but I hate him as I hate garlick.' Craik, p. 125. In the Drapier Letters he describes him as 'renowned for his piety and wisdom and love of his country.' Works, vi. 439. 3 Ib. iii. 161. It was written in Oct. 1714. Works, 1803, vi. 261. + Written in June, 1715. Works, v. 260. 5 Dr. King was 'Dr. King of Oxford.' Ante, DRYDEN, 187. Swift in 1737 said he wrote it at Windsor, 'above a year before the Queen's death.' Works, xix. 72, 90. He was there a good deal in July, Aug. and Sept. 1712-about two years before her death. Ib. iii. 39, 43, 45, 50. Bolingbroke and Oxford, he said, 'could not agree about printing it.' Ib. xix. 73. See also ib. v. 13. In Jan. 1720-21 he was 'digesting these papers into order.' Ib. xvi. 338. See also ib. v. 17. According to Warburton, he took it to England' some years after' it was written-in 1726 or 1727; but Bolingbroke dissuaded him from publishing it. 'Swift told a common friend that since L. B. did not approve his History, he would cast it into the fire, though it was the best work he had ever written.' Warburton's Pope, ix. 12. The second Earl of Oxford read it at that time. Works, xix. 88. In 1736 Dr. King undertook to get it printed; but in 1738 pointed out that it might 'in 66 name, by Dr. Lucas'; of which I can only say that it seemed by no means to correspond with the notions that I had formed of it, from a conversation which I once heard between the Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis 2. Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was to contrive how he might be best accommodated in a country where he considered himself as in a state of exile 3. It seems that his first recourse was to piety. The thoughts of volve every one concerned in a certain ruin.' Works, xix. 10, 20, 134. Erasmus Lewis gave the same warning. Ib. p. 131. Orrery read it in MS. Remarks, p. 308. In 1740 Mrs. Whiteway wrote of it to Pope: 'If I am rightly informed, it is the only piece of his, except Gulliver, which he ever proposed making money by.' Works, xix. 230. In 1749 Lucas fled from an Irish prison, to which he was committed by the House of Commons for seditious writings. In 1756 Johnson defended him as 'the friend of his country.' Boswell's Johnson, i. 311. Lucas prefixed to the first edition of the book (1758) an 'Advertisement' beginning:-Thus the long-wished-for History, &c., is at length brought to light, in spite of all attempts to suppress it.' Swift's Works, v. 3. 2 For Lewis (not Erasmus Lewis) see ante, FENTON, 4n. Johnson in The Idler, No. 65, says 'this History had perished, had not a straggling transcript fallen into busy hands.' Chesterfield describes it as 'a party pamphlet founded on the lie of the day, which, as Lord Bolingbroke, who had read it, often assured me, was coined and delivered out to him to write Examiners and other political papers upon.' Misc. Works, iv. 276. One of these 'lies' thus incorporated was that, on Prince Eugene's suggestion that Harley 'should be taken off à la négligence, a crew of obscure ruffians were accordingly employed.' Works, v. 51. 'Can one wonder that Lord Bolingbroke and Pope always tried to prevent Swift from exposing himself by publishing this wretched ignorant Îibel!' HORACE WALPOLE, Works, i. 430. 'Burke,' writes Mr. E. J. Payne, 'had remarked the peculiarities of the style, though he never thought of pronouncing it a forgery.' Burke's Select Works, i. Intro. p. 43. [The reference is to The Annual Register, 1758, p. 256, where extracts from the History are given, with remarks evidently, as Mr. Payne says (Select Works, i. 277), by Burke.] Macaulay, in a MS. marginal note, has described it as 'wretched stuff, and I firmly believe not Swift's.' Craik, p. 523. See ib. p. 518, for a convincing argument of its authenticity. The characters of Somers, Marlborough, Godolphin, Sunderland, Wharton, Cowper, Nottingham, and Harley (Works, v. 23-32, 109112) are surely in Swift's inimitable style. The History itself, party pamphlet as it was, dealing also with the negotiations of a Peace, must soon have become unreadable. It ends moreover fifteen months before the Queen's death, so that it tells nothing of the struggle between Bolingbroke and Oxford. 3 Ante, SWIFT, 2; post, 96, 136. In 1731 he wrote of himself:'In exile, with a steady heart, He spent his life's declining part.' Works, xiv. 334. In 1735 he spoke of himself as an obscure exile in a most obscure and enslaved country.' 16. xviii. 308.‘I am condemned for ever to another country,' he wrote in 1723. Ib.xvi. 389. Pope (Dunciad, i. 25) and Gay (Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), v. 175) described him as being in Boeotia. I know nothing in his letters that shows this except his statement on Sept. 14, 1714, that he goes 'every day once to prayers.' Works, xvi. 213. |