pointed at the pernicious Custom of contracting the English Language, the Dialect of which is naturally harsh, and that Harfhnefs is ftill increafed by improper Contractions.

THE frath Chapter is full of Severity and Satire. Some times it is exerted against the legislative Power, fometimes againft particular Politicians, &c.

HE feems to have finished his Voyage to Laputa in a carelefs hurrying Manner, elfe why was the Curtain dropt fo foon? One laments to find fo many illuftrious Ghofts vanish fo quickly, and fo abruptly from our Sight, many of whom were of the brighteft Characters in History.

GULLIVER tired of Heroes, changes the Scene, in the eighth Chapter of his Voyage to Laputa, and becomes curious to know the Situation of Poets and Philofophers, who, in their Turn, have as eagerly contended for Fame, as CÆSAR for Power, or BRUTUS for Liberty.

THE Description of STRULDBRUGGS in the tenth Chapter is an inftructive Piece of Morality, for if we consider it in a fèrious Light, it tends to reconcile us to our final Diffolution. Death when fet in contraft to the Immortality of the Struldbraggs is no longer the King of Terrors; he lofes his Sting; he appears to us as a Friend, and we cheerfully obey his Summons, because it brings certain Relief to the greatest Miseries. It is in this Defcription that SWIFT shines in a particular Manner.

THIS Volume concludes with Gulliver's Voyage to the Houynhnhams. In this laft Part of his Travels, SwIFT has. indulged a Mifanthropy that is intolerable.

THE FOURTH VOLUME contains a Collection of Tracts relative to the Kingdom of Ireland, not only local but temporary. In the Beginning of the Volume is a Pamphlet, intitled A Letter from a Member of the Houfe of Commons. in Ireland, to a Member of the House of Commons in England concerning the Sacramental Teft, written in the Year 1708. And it is preceeded by an explanatory Advertisement, that was either dictated or strictly revised by the Dean himself.

THIS Pamphlet is written particularly against repealing the Teft Alt; and whoever confiders himself related to the Kingdom of Ireland, will find in it fome Arguments of Weight and Confideration, in case any such Repeal fhould ever be attempted there.

THE next Tract is, A Propofal for the univerfal_Use of Irish Manufactures in Cloths and Furniture of Houses, &c. utterly rejecting and renouncing every Thing wearable, that comes from England; written in the Year 1720.

IN looking over the Dates of SWIFT's Works, he does. not appear as a political Writer, from the Year 1714, to 1720. The Reader will probably be curious to know in what Man

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ner he employed his Time from the Death of the Queen, till the South-Sea Year. Not in Poetry, for his poetical Pieces, during that Period, are in a Manner domestick, being scaree any more than Trifles to SHERIDAN, or Poematia to STELLA. The Chaẩm is to be filled up, as is fuppofed, by Gulliver's Travels, fuch a Work must, in all Likelihood, have engroffed his Leifure, during five or fix Years. When that was finifhed, he found an Opening to indulge his Love of Politicks, and to commence a Patriot for Ireland: And he made fe of the Opportunity, by increafing the natural Jealousy, which the leffer Ifland conftantly entertains of the greater. His Treatife or Propofal immediately raised a very violent Flame. The Printer was profecuted; and the Profecution had the fame Effect, which generally attends these Kind of Measures; it added Fuel to the Flame. But his greatest Enemies must confefs, that the Pamphlet is written in the Style of a Man, who had the Good of his Country nearest his Heart.

To the Propofal, in favour of the Irish Manufactures, fucceed fome Arguments againft enlarging the Power of Bishops in leting of Leafes. This Pamphlet is intermix'd with those mafterly Strokes of Irony which fo often appear in SWIFT'S Works. The general Subject of it gives an Occafion to recollect a Circumftance much to the Dean's Honour. could never be induced to take Fines for any of the Chapter Lands: He always chofe to raise the Rents, as the Method leaft oppreffive to the prefent Tenant, and most advantageous to all future Tenants and Landlords.

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WE are now come to the DRAPIER's Letters, those brazen Monuments of his Fame. They were written in the Year 1724. The Occafion of thofe Letters was a Scarcity of Copper Coin in Ireland, to fo great a Degree, that, for fome Time paft, the chief Manufacturers throughout the Kingdom, were obliged to pay their Workmen in Pieces of Tin, or in other Tokens of fuppofititious Value. Such a Method was very difadvantageous to the lower Parts of Traffick and was in general an Impediment to the Commerce of the State. To remedy this Evil, the late King granted a Patent to WILLIAM WOOD, to coin, during the Term of 14 Years, Farthings and Halfpence in England for the Ufe of Ireland, to the Value of a certain Sum fpecified.-But the Patent was thought to be of fuch dangerous Confequence to the Publick, and of fuch exorbitant Advantage to the Patentee, that the Dean, under the Character of M. B. DRAPIER, wrote a Letter to the People, warning them, not to accept Wood's Halfpence and Farthings as current Coin.

Ar the Sound of the DRAPIER's Trumpet, a Spirit arofe among the People, that, in the Eastern Phrafe, was like unto

Tempeft in the Day of the Whirlwind. Every Perfon was convinced, that the Admiffion of WOOD's Copper must prove fatal to the Commonwealth. The Papift, the Fanatick, the Tory, the Whig, all listed themselves Volunteers under the Banner of M. B. DRAPIER, and were all equally zealous to ferve the common Caufe. Much Heat, and many fiery Speeches against the Administration, were the Confequence of this Union; nor had the Flames been allayed, notwithstanding Threats and Proclamations, had not the Coin been totally fuppreffed, and had not WOOD withdrawn his Patent.

THE next Tract is, A fhort View of the State of Ireland in the Year 1727. Of this little Notice need be taken, fince the prefent State of Ircland is, in general, as flourishing as pofible; owing chiefly to a Spirit amongst the landed Gentlemen to promote Agriculture and Manufactures.

THE Vindication of his Excellency John Lord Carteret from the Charge of favouring none but Tories, High-Churchmen and Jacobites, written in the Year 1730, is entirely humorous, and fo are all the remaining Pamphlets of this Volume..

THE FIFTH VOLUME begins with the Conduct of the Allies. It is thought that the Publisher's Preface was compofed by the Dean himself, but affectedly written in a bad Style. The laft Paragraph, fays Lord OR RERY, makes me fufpect his Hand. It is plainly feen, fays the Publisher, that a Spirit of Liberty is diffused through all these Writings, and that the Author is an Enemy to Tyranny and Oppreffion in any Shape whatever." This is the Character at which SWIFT aimed, and this is the Character which indeed he deferved.

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As Faults have been freely pointed out, fo ought we to remember, that with all thofe Faults he was above Corruption, a Virtue in itself, fufficient to cover a Multitude of human Failings, fince from that Virtue alone, can flow Prosperity to the Commonwealth.

THE Conduct of the Allies was written in the Year 1712, and it is preparatory to the Peace, which the Ministers were then concerting, and which was afterwards perfected at UTRECHT. It begins by Reflexions on War in general, and then particularly mentions the feveral Civil Wars in our Kingdom.

THE Papers called the Examiners, at least those of which Dr. SWIFT is the Author, fill up the rest of the Volume They begin in November 1710, and are carried down to the End of July 1711. They are written in Defence of the new › Administration, and the particular Revolutions at Court, which had introduced the Earl of OXFORD, and had displaced the Earl of GODOLPHIN and his Friends.

MANY of SWIFT's Examiners are perfonally aimed at the General [Duke of MARLBOROUGH]. In a free Country, the Power of a General is always to be feared: The greater his Military Capacity, or the more fuccefsful his Arms, in the greater Danger are the Liberties of the People. On this Maxim SWIFT proceeded; and while he was writing in Defence of the Commonwealth, he had an Opportunity of giving a Loose to his own Severity of which the House of Pride, and feveral other Allegorical Effays are very spirited Examples.

BUT the Animadverfions on these Papers must be cut short. The prefent Times, and the Honour due to many noble Families defcended from the Perfons mentioned in the Examiners, make it neceffary to take as flight Notice as poffible even of the wittiest Paffages in them; because many of those Paffages arise from perfonal Reflexions, or Party-farcafms. In general, the several Points relating to the National Debt, (alas, how increafed fince the Year 1710!) the too long Continuance of the War, and other publick Topicks of Complaint, are melancholy Truths, justly becoming the Pen of a Man who loves his Country.

SWIFT, a Man of violent Paffions was, in confequence of thefe Paffions, violent in his Party; but as his Capacity and Genius were fo extraordinary and extensive, even his Partywritings carry with them Dignity and Inftruction: and in that Light the reading the Examiners is recommended, where may be found a nervous Style, a clear Diction, and great Knowledge of the true landed Intereft of England.

THE SIXTH VOLUME contains fuch a Mixture of Verfe, Profe, Politicks, Similies, Wit, Trifles, and polite Converfation, that it is not eafy to know in what Manner to treat it; or what particular Part to recommend. The two Letters from the Earl of PETERBOROUGH to Mr. POPE, are excellent in their Kind. Those of the Dean and of Mr. POPE, have much lefs Merit, or at least, are much less agreeable. At the Time when he wrote thofe two Letters, he had hung up his Helmet and his Buckler, and was retired to his Plough and his Wheelbarrow; wearied with Courts and difgufted with Statesmen.

THE publick Spirit of the Whigs, is a Pamphlet in answer to the Crifis, written by Sir RICHARD STEELE, but it contains fuch acute Satire against the Nobility of SCOTLAND, that in an Advertisement printed before it, we are told, "All "the Scots Lords then in London went in a Body to complain "against the Author, and the Confequence of that Complaint "was a Proclamation, offering a Reward of 300 1. to difco ver him. It was written in the Year 1712, by the Conent, if not the Encouragement of the Minister of that Æra.

In the Style and Conduct, it was one of the boldeft, as welf as one of the most masterly, Tracts that SWIFT ever

wrote.

AN Advice offered to the Members of the October Club, was written in 1711, and is fo applicable to that particular Time, that there is no Occafion to make any Animadverfions upon it. From political Tracts the true History of England is to be deduced, and if Foreigners were to enter into that Branch of Reading, they might frame a more diftinct Notion of our Legislature, and of our Manners, than from more la boured and connected Accounts of our Conftitution.

THE other Pieces in this Volume, except The Remarks on the Barrier-treaty, are not thought fufficiently ftriking to des ferve much Notice. Some of them are the Minutiffimae of SWIFT'S Writings, which, it is believed, he would fcarce have published, fond as he was of feeing his Works in Print, if he had been in the full Vigour of his Understanding, or had confidered, that those kind of Trifles, which are weak as Feathers, in fupporting a Reputation, are heavy as Lead in depreffing it.

THE SEVENTH VOLUME contains SWIFT's epifto lary Correfpondence from the Year 1714 to the Year 1737. It is an acknowledged Obfervation, that no Part of an Author's Writings give a greater Infight into his natural Difpofition, than his Letters, especially when written with Freedom and Sincerity.

THE Manners and Opinions of thofe Perfons with whom he corresponded, are in every Refpect fo blended with his own, as not to be easily feparated; and in fuch a kind of uni ted View, they will mutually reflect Light on each other. To a young Gentleman entering into the World the Subject may prove of particular Importance, as it may guide him not only in the Choice of his Correfpondents, but in his Manner of writing to them.

IN difcuffing this Volume of SwIFT's Letters, there is no fmall Difficulty. General Criticifms will be attended with Obfcurity; and it would be tedious to confider them in their exact Order. The Review therefore fhall be confined to what feems to deferve Attention. To begin then with the Letters that paffed between Dr. SWIFT and Mr. POPE. The Correfpondence had commenced in a very early Part of Mr. POPE's Life, and was carried on with fcarce any Interruption from the Death of the Queen. If Mr. POPE may be judged of from his Works, his chief Aim was to be esteemed a Man of Virtue. His Letters are written in that Style. His laft Volumes are all of the moral Kind. He has avoided Trifles, and confequently has escaped a Rock which has proved very injurious to SWIFT's Reputation. He has given his Imagination