point of difficulty to choose an exact middle between two ill extremes, it may be worth inquiring in the present case, which of these a wise and good man would rather seem to avoid: taking therefore their own good and ill characters, with due abatements and allowances for partiality and passion, I should think, that in order io preserve the constitution entire in church and state, whoever has a true value for both, would be sure to avoid the extremes of whig for the sake of the former; and the extremes of tory, on account of the latter."

On the "Argument against abolishing Christianity," written in 1708, we have only to remark, that its spirit goes against the Whigs as the supporters of the Low Church party, whose looseness of principle gave offence to Swift. Mr. Scott, in his note upon it, (Vol. VIII. p. 183.) seems to treat it as a satire of more general application, and he may be so far right, that it does apply but too faithfully to "the greater part of all parties in all ages"-but there are other passages in Swift's writings, besides his own declaration, which satisfy us that it was peculiarly levelled against the particular party which then bore sway in the state.

The "Letter concerning the sacramental test," written in 1708, opposes on principle the Whiggish concession to the dissenters who were aggrieved by the test. Mr. Scott says of it," that it may be considered as decisive of the breach between Swift and Godolphin's administration."

Upon the whole, the candid reader of the works now briefly adverted to, will have no difficulty in allowing the truth of what Swift says of them, that they were "published in opposition to the measures of the Whigs." All of them appeared long before the commencement of his acquaintance with Harley, and while the Whigs stood in the plenitude of power and of royal favour!

Swift's correspondence with Archbishop King and Dean Sterne, at this period, 1708-9, given in Vol. XV. merits particular attention, as it describes the state of the two parties, and his own views. In a letter to Sterne in 1708, he expresses himself most strongly on the subject of the test, which shews how fixed his opinions were on that point. "Here has the Irish

Speaker been soliciting to get the test-clause repealed by an act here; for which I hope he will be impeached when your Parliament meets again:" and afterwards, "I beg you will endeavour among you that the Church of Ireland gentlemen may send an address to set the Queen and court right about the test, which every one here is of opinion you should do; or else, I have reason to fear, it will be repealed here next session; which will be of terrible consequence, both as to the thing and the manner," &c. The letter to King, which relates to his own tract on the test, is curious, and we doubt can hardly be freed from the charge of insincerity, by the suggestion given in Scott's note, (p. 292,) "that he wished to have King's unbiassed opinion on its merits." But however this may be, what he says of his having told the ministry as to his opinion of their attempt to repeal the

test, is both confirmative of his consistency in maintaining and his openness in promulgating his High Church opinions."They all," says he, "believe I differ from them on that point." P. 293.

What we have stated is, we think, sufficient to prove the incorrectness, to say no more, of the account which has been given of Swift's leaving the Whigs, which is characterized as the most "barefaced avowal of political apostasy" upon record: as a "desertion of his first principles"-" neither gradual nor early," and of its being "without even the pretext of a public motive." We shall by-and-bye state more particularly the occasion and the manner of Swift's joining Harley's administration: at present we shall take leave to point out another mis-statement, which tends to fix upon Swift the equally foul crime of ingratitude to his benefactors, than which, we will venture to say, no charge was ever more void of foundation.

It is stated in the Review, p. 10, that "his first patrons were Somers, Portland, and Halifax; and under that ministry, the members of which he courted in private, and defended in public, he received Church preferment to the value of near £400 a-year, (equal, at least, to £1200 at present,) with a promise of still farther favours." We confess we are astonished at this statement, as it is demonstrable that Swift never received the least preferment from Lords Somers, Portland, and Halifax, and that, so far from courting them, he had not even any acquaintance with them till two or three years after he had obtained his livings in Ireland! The matter deserves to be fully explained.

It may excite surprise, we remark in the first place, that in the enumeration of Swift's patrons, it should have been omitted to mention Sir William Temple, with whom he lived eight or nine years in the quality of companion, and, probably, at whose recommendation to Lord Capel, when Lord-deputy of Ireland, he had obtained the prebendary of Kilroot, which he resigned on his going to reside for the second time at Moorpark. It is true that Sir William's patronage was not very efficient, any more than that of Lords Somers and Halifax; but he did what he could in introducing him to King William, and obtaining for him a promise of promotion from that monarch. He also bequeathed him at his death the property of his literary works, which he doubtless conceived to be a legacy of no small value. But neither an edition of these works, which was dedicated to the King, nor a petition reminding his Majesty of his promise to his old and tried friend, could obtain for Swift the smallest mark of royal favour. We shall add the rest in Mr. Scott's own words: "Swift now, in the prime of life, and well known both to the great and learned, could not long want an honourable provision, and accordingly received and accepted an invitation to attend the Earl of Berkeley, one of the Lords Justices of Ireland, to that country, in the capacity of chaplain and

private secretary. But this plurality of offices gave umbrage to a Mr. Bushe, who had pitched upon the latter situation for himself, and who contrived, under pretence of its incompatibility with the character of a clergyman, to have Swift superseded in his own favour. Lord Berkeley, with a poor apology,' promised to make his chaplain amends, by giving him the first good church-living that should become vacant. But neither in this did he keep his word; for when the rich Deanery of Derry was in his gift, Bushe entered into a negociation to sell it for a bribe of a thousand pounds, and would only consent to give Swift the preference upon his paying a like sum. Incensed alike at the secretary and his principal, whom he supposed to be accessary to this unworthy conduct, Swift returned the succinct answer, God confound you both for a couple of scoundrels;' and instantly left Lord Berkeley's lodgings in the Castle. He had already given vent to his resentment in one or two keen personal satires; and his patron, alarmed for the consequences of an absolute breach with a man of his temper and talents, was glad to reconcile, or, at least to pacify him, by presenting him with the rectory of Agher, and the vicarages of Laracor and Rathbeggan. These livings united, though far inferior in value to the Deanery of Derry, formed yet a certain and competent fund of subsistence, amounting to about £230 yearly. The prebend of Dunlavin being added in the year 1700, raised Swift's income to betwixt £350 and £400, which was its amount, until he was preferred to the Deanery of St. Patrick's." This statement is detailed by every one of Swift's biographers, nor have we ever seen any other account given of the manner in which he got these livings. How very erroneous, then. is it to represent Lords Somers, Portland, and Halifax as his first patrons, and to interpret his receiving these livings as the consequence of ministerial favour!

Laracor, Agher, and Rathbeggan, were conferred upon Swift in 1699, and in 1700 the prebend of Dunlavin was added. In 1701, Lords Somers, Portland, and Halifax were impeached, when Swift wrote, in their defence, the "Discourse on the Contests and Dissensions in Athens and Rome." The pamphlet excited much attention, and as the author's name was indus triously concealed, the public attributed it to names of no less reputation than those of Lord Somers himself and Bishop Burnet. Its effect may be imagined from the circumstance, that the reverend prelate was compelled to disown it publicly, in order to avoid the resentment of the commons. It was not till the accession of Queen Anne, in 1709, when the reasons for secrecy no longer remained, that Swift avowed himself the author, and was thereupon introduced to Lords Somers and Halifax. That he received great civilities from these Lords, and other eminent persons of the Whig party, we do not deny; but it may positively be asserted, that they never conferred upon him any solid obligation. He had received his Irish livings two years before he knew them, and he never got any thing else till he was made Dean of St. Patrick's! We are told of their having made him promises, but this we think just makes the matter worse. promises were made, why were they not fulfilled? Lord Hali

If

fax could give a place in the Customs to Congreve worth £600 a-year, besides other favours, for writing a licentious play *, but he had no good gifts in reserve for Swift, who had exposed himself to prosecution by writing in his defence, at a time when he and his party were on the brink of ruin. Swift had conferred a lasting obligation on the Whig Lords; they, and not he, were the party who were obliged-and they, not he, ought to be branded as ungrateful. It is difficult to account for this, as Halifax in particular aimed at the reputation of a patron of men of genius. There was no prejudice at this time against Swift on account of the Tale of a Tub, as what is related of that book being shewn to the Queen by the Archbishop of York, if it really be true, did not occur till Lord Oxford's administration. On the contrary, we must presume that a favourable impression would be made in that quarter, by the sentiments contained in the "Project," which tract was presented to her Majesty by the same reverend prelate, who afterwards was made, as Swift says, "the harmless tool of others' hate," in doing him the ill office now mentioned. But we know how narrowminded party usually is; and we are mistaken, if the frank declaration of Swift to these Lords, as to his High Church principles, was not the real obstruction to his promotion. It was evidently to this that he himself attributed his disappointment; and if so, no one will wonder that he considered himself ill-used.

Such was the situation of Swift at the period of Mr. Harley's accession to power, when Queen Anne, tired of the intolerable bondage in which she had been kept by Marlborough and his party, and of the unbounded insolence and rapacity of the Duchess, had found means to shake off the yoke, and form another ministry under new auspices. Of Swift's conduct on this occasion, it is said that "having been sent over on the affairs of the Irish clergy in 1710, when he found the Whig ministry in a tottering condition, he temporized for a few months till he saw that their downfall was inevitable, and then without even the pretext of any public motive, but on the avowed ground of not having been sufficiently rewarded for his former services, he went over in the most violent and decided manner to the prevailing party; for whose gratification he abused his former friends and benefactors, with a degree of virulence and rancour, to which it would not be too much to apply the term of brutality."

What has been already said, in a great degree disproves this statement. Swift assuredly had cause of umbrage at the Whig ministers for non-fulfilment of promises. But it is demonstrated, that he had differences with them on principle which he has repeatedly explained, and, for our own parts, we think it easy to

The Old Bachelor. See Life of Congreve.

understand, how, consistently with what he avowed to be his sentiments on important topics, he might readily be gratified with their loss of power, and how, in perfect consistency with these sentiments, he might feel himself at liberty to lend his aid to the new administration. Harley, it will be recollected, had been himself a Whig, and, together with his colleague St. John, was formerly a member of Godolphin's ministry, from which he was turned out on account of his opposition to the war. He had been speaker in three parliaments, once in King William's reign, and twice in that of Anne; and he held the highest character for talents in business, and moderation in politics. It was he who, in the former reign, introduced the bill for extending the Protestant succession, and settling the crown on the House of Hanover; and although in forming the new administration he was compelled to avail himself of the support and co-operation of the Tories, yet we know it was one of his principles to moderate and restrain the zeal of that party, and not to allow them too large a sway in the government. It was a point which he is known to have inculcated on the Queen, and which afterwards tended considerably to embarrass his own administration, not to allow either of the parties an exclusive ascendancy, but to preserve a sort of balance between them, which would leave her more at liberty in the choice of her measures. There are many

good reasons to be stated against such a line of policy; at the same time until its fallaciousness was demonstrated by experiment, there were many plausible arguments to be advanced in its favour; and it corresponds entirely with some of the views of Swift, as stated in the political tracts which we have just noticed. Upon the whole, considering the entire bearing of Swift's avowed principles in matters both of church and state, we see no political inconsistency whatever in his conduct upon this occasion. The principles, views, doctrines, and opinions of Harley at this period, so far as they could be known from his professions, or inferred from the previous tenor of his public life, seem to have been as nearly coincident with Swift's as those of any two men can possibly be; and they appear morcover to have possessed that congeniality of mind and turn of thinking which lead men to form strict and indissoluble friendship. The consequences of Swift's introduction to Harley are well known. We think them quite natural; and we do not wonder that a man with Swift's genius and temper took exactly the course which he did, to testify his dislike of those who had ill-treated him, and who, besides maintaining principles of which he could not approve, urged him to measures inconsistent with his declared creed.

There is not the least foundation that we can see for the asser