But though in this Swift acted the part of a philofopher, yet no one could feel more for the diftreffes of his former friends, and the uncomfortablenefs of his own fituation. In a letter to Pope, June 28, 1715, he says, "You know how well I loved both Lord Oxford, and Bolingbroke, and how dear the Duke of Ormond is to me: and do you imagine I can be eafy while their enemies are endeavouring to take off their heads? I nunc, verfus tecum medicare canoros. Do you imagine I can be easy, when I think on the probable confequences of thefe proceedings, perhaps upon the very peace of the nation, but certainly of the minds of fo many hundred thousand good subjects?" And in one to Mr. Gay, he fays, "I was three years reconciling myfelf to the fcene, and the bufinefs, to which fortune hath condemned me, and ftupidity was that I had recourfe to.” In another to the fame, he gives this account of himfelf. "I would describe to you my way of living, if any method could be called fo in this country. I choofe my companions among thofe of leaft confequence, and most compliance: I read the moft trifling books I can find, and when I write, it is upon the moft trifling fubjects: but riding, walking, and fleeping, take up could not stir out, he was confined. Swift afked, had he taken phyfic? Cope faid, no, but that he was confined by the Parliament, and was then in cuftody of the Serjeant at Arms. Swift, with an air of perfect ignorance, and fimplicity, enquired the meaning of that, as if he had never heard of a Serjeant at Arms, or of any fuch power in the Parliament; and foon after took his leave. When he was gone, Povey said it would be well for the Church and the kingdom, if the Clergy minded state affairs as little as that honeft gentleman, who he durft fay, was a good parish Minister, residing at his living, and minding his own affairs, without troubling his head about those of the public. Pray what is his name? Swift. Is he any relation of the Dean of St. Patrick's? The very man, fays Cope. The very man! replied Povey; damn him, he has bit me, and left the room in fome confufion. eighteen eighteen of the twenty-four hours. I procraftinate more than I did twenty years ago, and have feveral things to finish, which I put off to twenty years hence." In this manner did he pass seven years of his life from his arrival in Ireland, little known there as an author, except on account of his political writings, which, in that change of times rendered him an object of general deteftation. There had been then no collection made of his Works, and his detractors in England had robbed him of the merit of his principal work, The Tale of the Tub, by denying him to be the author. Many calumnies were induftriously propagated against him, taken from the writings of the hirelings on the Whig fide, whereof the number was fo great, that Swift in one place fays, that there were upwards of a thousand Papers and Pamphlets published against him in the space of a few years. But, wrapped in the consciousness of his integrity, he had the fortitude to treat all this with filent contempt. To counterbalance the ill-treatment he met with from the public, he, by degrees, contracted an intimacy with a felect few, who had tafte to relish the author, and virtue to admire the man *. He had alfo the fupreme fatisfaction of conftantly * In a passage above quoted from his letter to Gay, where he fays, "I choose my companions among thofe of leaft confequence, and moft compliance." We are to understand only fach humble friends as were always at his devotion, to be let in, or fent away without ceremony, according as he was in the humour. It was pro bably this paffage which furnished Lord Orrery with an occafion of exercifing his ufual difpofition to depreciate the Dean as much as poffable, in the following paragraphs. "After the great names, which I have just now mentioned, it is matter of aftonishment to find the fame perfon, who had enjoyed the highest and the best converfation, equally delighted with the lowest and the worst; and yet it is certain, from Swift's fettlement in Dublin as Dean of St. Patrick's, his choice of companions in general, fhewed him of a very depraved tafte." "From ftantly enjoying the fociety of the amiable and accom plished Stella, whofe conversation, by his own account, was "From the year 1714, till he appeared in the year 1720, a cham. pion for Ireland against Wood's half-pence, his fpirit of politicks and of patriotism was kept almost closely confined within his own breast. Idleness and trifles engroffed too many of his hours: fools and fyco phants too much of his converfation." His answerer, Dr. Delany, fired with indignation at this falfe charge, replies to him in the following manner : "My Lord, you have been fo grofsly abused, in the accounts which dictated those two paragraphs to you, that I am almost ashamed to set you right. "The meanest man I ever heard of his converfing with during that period, was Mr. Worrall, a Clergyman, a Master of Arts, a Reader and Vicar of his Cathedral, and a Master of the Song. He was nearly of his own standing in the College; a good walker, a man of fenfe, and a great deal of humour. Mr. Worrall's fituation in the Church, naturally engaged his attendance upon the Dean, every time he went thither: and their walks naturally ended either in the Dean's dining with him, or he with the Dean. But as the Dean was a fingle man, the former happened more frequently: and this intercourse at last ended in the Dean's dining with him, as often as he pleased, at a certain rate, and inviting as many friends as he pleafed upon the fame terms." The Doctor then proceeds to relate his intimacy with the Grattans, a numerous race of brothers, all in affluent or easy circumstances, a fet of men as generally acquainted, and as much beloved, as any one family in the nation. After a particular description of each of thefe, he proceeds thus: "Thefe, my Lord, were men of open hearts, and free fpirits: who as little deserved, and as much disdained the character and office of fycophants, as any Nobleman of your's, or any nation. And yet thefe, with their allies, the Jackfons, &c. genteel, agreeable, and well bred men and women, were the companions of many of Swift's easiest and happieft hours: fuch companions, as no wife man ever wanted, or at least would want, if he could help it; any more than he would his night-gown, his couch, or his eafy chair." "Whether the Grattans led Swift, or he them, into the acquaintance of their friends, George Rochfort, and Peter Ludlow, I cannot fay. But this I know, that he lived much with thofe gentlemen, and cultivated their friendship with a very diftinguished affection, and esteem: was the most engaging of any he had ever met with, either in man or woman. And he found in Dr. Sheridan, that best cordial of life, a bofom friend, to whom he could open himself without reftraint, in all humours, and who was peculiarly calculated for the Bagatelle, of which Swift at that time profeffed himself fo fond, as the only means of keeping up his fpirits in the gloom that furrounded him. He had the pleafure of hearing often from his former friends, whose letters breathed the fame cordial affection, and high efteem which they always profeffed for him. Among this number were Lord Bolingbroke, Lord Harley, Mr. Addison, Dr. Arbuthnot, Prior, Pope, Lewis, &c. the Duchefs of Ormond, and Lady Bolingbroke. In the year 1715, when Lord Oxford was committed to the Tower, Swift wrote pref : efteem and it is certain, that they well deferved the highest regard and diftinction he could pay them. 06 Quales animæ neque candidiores terra tulit, Nec queis te magis optaffes amicum. Such fouls! more candid never earth produced, Nor whom you could more wifely with your friends. "They were men of fortune, fcholars, men of parts, men of humour, men of wit, and men of virtue Greater companions Swift might have converfed with, but better he neither did, nor could. Let me add to these another gentleman, for whom the Dean had a particular esteem, Matthew Forde, a man of family, and fortune: a fine gentleman, and the beft lay-fcholar of his time, and nation." These, with the Fellows of the College, Dr. Walmsley, Dr. Helfham, Dr. Delany, Mr. Stopford (now Bishop of Cloyne) and Dr. Sheridan, among the men: and Lady Eullace, Mrs. Moore, Lady Betty Rochfort, and Mrs. Ludlow, Ladies fufficiently diftinguished, of the other fex; were, with Stella, and her friends, Swift's principal acquaintance and companions, during the period you mention, and treat as the æra of his infamy. "I might mention fome others of very diftinguished characters, who made up, I will not fay, that admired, but I can fay with truth, that envied fociety, in which Swift paffed his life at that period. But, I hope I have already faid fufficient to fet you right.” fingly to him that he might be permitted to attend him there. His letter begins thus.. "My Lord, it may look like an idle or officious thing in me, to give your Lordship any interruption under your prefent circumftances: yet I could never forgive myself, if, after having been treated for several years with the greatest kindness and diftinction, by a perfon of your Lordship's virtue, I should omit making you at this time the humbleft offers of my poor fervice and attendance. It is the first time I ever follicited you in my own behalf; and if I am refused, it will be the first request you ever refused me." But Lord Oxford, however defirous he might be of the presence of fuch a friend, whofe converfation might contribute more than any thing in the world to foften the rigour of confinement, was too generous to put him to fuch an inconvenience on that account. Yet immediately on his release from the Tower, he expreffed his defire of seeing him in England, if it might be confiftent with his affairs; in a letter full of the warmest expreffions of friendship and affection. August 6, 1717. "Two years retreat has made me taste the converfation of my dearest friend, with a greater relish than ever, at the time of my being charmed with it in our frequent journies to Windfor. My heart is often with you, but I delayed writing in expectation of giving a perfect answer about my going to Brampton; but the truth is, the warmth of rejoicing in thofe parts, is fo far from abating, that I am perfuaded by my friends to go into Cambridge fhire, where you are too juft not to believe you will be welcome before any one in the world. The longing your friends have to see you must be fubmitted to the judgment yourself makes of all circumftances. At prefent this feems to be a cooler climate, |