worth, according to a fcheme which I laid before him in the intimacy of our friendship. I cannot therefore be expected to fay much of a life, con→ cerning which I had long fince communicated my thoughts, to a man capable of dignifying his narra- ́ tion, with fo much elegance of language, and force of fentiment." Accordingly he has produced little new on the fubject, except fome obfervations of his own, which are far from being favourable to the character of Swift. It is much to be lamented, that a man of his great abilities, did not choose to follow his friend Hawksworth in the paths of juft and candid criticism, inftead of affociating himself with Lord Orrery to the band of true critics. Of which body he has fhewn himself no unworthy member, not on this occafion only, but in the many fevere strictures paffed on the Lives and Writings of fome of the greatest geniufes this country has produced; to the no small indignation of their several admirers, and to the great regret of the Doctor's own. As this Work is more likely to be generally read than any of the others; both on account of the great reputation of the Author, and as it will of courfe prefent itself to the eyes of all who fhall go through his collection of Lives, I fhall hereafter take an op portunity of making some comments upon those paffages, which tend to depreciate and mifrepresent the character of so great a män.

These several publications, which place the Life and Character of Swift in very different, and often oppofite points of light, have occafioned great diverfity in the judgments formed of them by the world, according to the different degrees of preju

dice, or candour, in their feveral readers. But as the fale of the first Effay on this fubject, written by Lord Orrery, was infinitely superior to that of all the others, put together, the prepoffeffions in favour of the accounts delivered by him, have, for reafons already afligned, made too deep an impreffion on the bulk of mankind, to be easily erafed. I have before taken notice of the fcantinefs of his materials, which yet he has not ranged in any regular order; and which confift chiefly of detached facts, and unconnected Anecdotes, fo that there is no appearance of a whole. The portrait he has drawn of him, puts one in mind of certain paintings to be feen at the optician's in St. Paul's church-yard, where we behold fome fcattered and distorted features, covered with blotches of various colours, fo that we cannot difcover what it is intended to reprefent: 'till, by the application of a cylindrical mirrour, we are furprised too fee ftart forth a face of the finest proportioned features, and most beautiful complexion. By fuch an application of the mirrour of truth I hope to fhew Swift in a fimilar light.

I have long wifhed for leisure to fet about this tafk, which a life spent in a variety of laborious occupations has hitherto prevented. And even now I am obliged to fufpend purfuits of more advantageous kind with regard to myself, in order to accomplish it. But, reflecting, at this advanced period of life, on the near approaches of old age, which might foon difqualify me from carrying my defign into execution, I determined to postpone all other confiderations, that might stand in the way of an object

I have had fo much at heart. The love I had to

his perfon, and the reverence in which I was taught, from my earliest days, to hold his character, and with which I had an opportunity of being well acquainted, on account of the long intimacy fubfifting between him and my father; and, above all, the means I have in my power of refcuing his good name from the afperfions thrown on it by foulmouthed calumny, have made me think it an indifpenfible duty, no longer to delay doing juftice to his memory.

From the above acknowledgement of my early prepoffeffions in his favour, it may be thought that I fhall prove not an unprejudiced historian: but, though I am confcious to myself that I fhall never be guilty of any wilful mifrepresentations, I know too well how little weight all profeffions of impartiality carry with them on fuch occafions, to trouble the reader with any. I defire no credit to be given to affertions or opinions not fupported by the moft convincing proofs: which therefore, in all difputable points, I hope I fhall be indulged in producing at full length. And I doubt not but that the difplay of Swift's true character and conduct in life, though to the confufion of his maligners, and disappointment of the envious and malevolent, will give great fatisfaction to all good minds; as it is of moment to the general cause of religion and morality, to make it appear, that the greatest Genius of the age, was, at the fame time, a man of the trueft piety, and most exalted virtue.

THE

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DOCTOR SWIFT.

SWI

SECTION I.

WIFT was defcended from an ancient family in Yorkshire, of no fmall note, and confiderable property. He was of the younger branch *. His grandfather, the Revd. Thomas Swift, was poffeffed of a good eftate, and was diftinguished above any man of his station in life, for his attachment to Charles I. and the sufferings he underwent in fupport of the royal cause, by which his fortune was entirely ruined. He had ten fons, and three daughters. Five of his fons went to feek their fortune in Ireland: the fourth of whom, Jonathan, was father to the famous Dr. Swift. He had married Mrs. Abigail Erick, defcended from an ancient family of that name in Leicestershire, but with little or no fortune. He died young, in about two years after his marriage, seven months before the birth of his only fon; and as he was but just beginning the world, left his widow in very diftreffed circumstances.

* For farther particulars of Swift's family, vid. Appendix.

JONATHAN SWIFT, afterwards the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's, was born on the 30th of November 1667, in Hoey's-court, Dublin. When he was but a year old, he was, without the knowledge of his mother or relations, ftolen away by his nurse, and carried to Whitehaven; which place fhe was under a neceffity of vifiting, on account of the illness of a relation, from whom he expected a legacy; and, as is ufual among Irish nurses, she bore fuch an affection to the child, that she could not think of going without him. There he continued for almoft three years; and fhe took fuch care of him, that he had learned to spell, and could read any chapter in the Bible before he was five years old.

At the age of fix he was fent to the fchool of Kilkenny; and at fourteen admitted into the University of Dublin. The expence of his education being defrayed by his uncle Godwin Swift, the eldest of the brothers who had fettled in Ireland. He was a lawyer of great eminence, and had made confiderable fums of money, which were for the most part fquandered away in idle projects. By means of which, foon after his nephew had entered the College, he found himself involved in great difficulties; and being father of a numerous offfpring by four wives, he was under a neceffity of reducing the ftipend allowed to his nephew for his fupport at the University, as low as poffible. The real fituation of Godwin's affairs not being then known to the world, and as he was looked upon to be much the richeft of the family, Swift's other relations feemed at that time to think that their aid was not at all neceffary; fo that he was obliged to make the best shift he could, with the wretched allowance that his uncle gave him. Thus was one of the most aspiring and liberal minds in the world, early checked and confined, by the narrowness