yourself that you dare do." The man retired, more grieved that his master doubted his fidelity, than moved by this harsh treatment. He was replaced at the intercession of Stella; and Swift afterwards rewarded his fidelity, by the office of verger in the cathedral of St. Patrick's. The other anecdote bears, that while Harding was in jail, Swift actually visited him in the disguise of an Irish country clown, or spalpeen. Some of the printer's family or friends, who chanced to visit him at the same time, were urging him to earn his own release by informing against the author of the Drapier's Letters. Harding replied steadily, that he would rather perish in jail before he would be guilty of such treachery and baseness. All this passed in Swift's presence, who sat beside them in silence, and heard, with apparent indifference, a discussion which might be said to involve his ruin. He came and departed without being known to any one but Harding. When the bill against the printer of the Drapier's Letters was about to be presented to the grand jury, Swift addressed to that body a paper, entitled "Seasonable Advice," exhorting them to remember the story of the league made by the wolves with the sheep, on condition of their parting with their shepherds and mastiffs, after which they ravaged the flock at pleasure. A few spirited verses addressed to the citizens at large, and enforcing similar topics, are subscribed by the Drapier's initials, and are doubtless Swift's own composition. Alluding to the charge that he had gone too far in leaving the discussion of Wood's project to treat of the alleged dependence of Ireland, he concludes in these lines - If, then, oppression has not quite subdued, Think how he struggled for your liberty, And give him freedom, whilst yourselves are free.* 66 At the same time was circulated the memorable and apt quotation from scripture, by a Quaker :-" And the people said unto Saul, shall JONATHAN die, who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid : As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan that he died not."† Thus admonished by verse, law, and scripture, the grand-jury assembled. It was in vain that the same Lord Chief-Justice Whitshed, who had caused the Dean's former tract to be denounced as seditious, and procured a verdict against the printer, exerted himself strenuously upon this similar occasion. The hour of intimidation was past, and the grand-jury conscious of what the country expected from them, brought in a verdict of ignoramus upon the bill. Whitshed, after demanding, unconstitutionally, and with idecorous violence, the reasons of their verdict, could only gratify his impotent resentment, like his prototype Scroggs, on a similar occasion, by dissolving the grand-jury. They returned into the mass of general society, honoured and thanked for the part which they had acted, and the chief-justice, on the contrary, was execrated for his arbitrary conduct. Such means would injure a good cause, and, unless supported by tyrannical force, can never prop a bad one. The next grand-jury of the * See the whole address, Swift's Works, Vol. XII. p. 489. I. Samuel, chap. xiv. 54th verse. See two spirited letters addressed to him, probably by the Dean's friend and legal adviser, Robert Lindsay, whose counsel he had used during the whole controversy.-Swift's Works, Vol. VI. p. 467. And he received another broad hint of his unconstitutional proceeding, by publication of the Resolutions of the House of Commons in 1680, declaring the discharging of a grand-jury before the end of the term, or assizes, arbitrary, illegal, and destructive to public justice. Ibid. p. 466. There is room to believe, that his death, which speedily followed, was hastened by the various affronts which were heaped upon him. See Boulter's Letters. But Swift was determined to gibbet his very memory, and vindicates himself for doing so. Vol. VII. p. 178. county and city of Dublin presented Wood's scheme as a fraud and imposition on the public, and omitted not to express their gratitude to those patriots by whom it had been exposed. Three other Drapier's letters were published by Swift, not only in order to follow up his victory, but for explaining more decidedly the cause in which it had been won. The fifth letter is addressed to Lord Molesworth, and has for its principal object a justification of the former letters, and a charge of oppression and illegality, founded upon the proceedings against the author and printer. The sixth letter is addressed to Lord Chancellor Middleton, who strenuously opposed Wood's project, and resigned his office in consequence of the displeasure of the court being expressed on account of such resistance. It is written in the Dean's person, who pleads the cause of the Drapier, and, from several passages, does not appear anxious to conceal this identity. This also relates chiefly to the conduct of Whitshed, and the merits of the prosecution against Harding. The seventh letter, though last published, appears to have been composed shortly after the fourth. It enters widely into the national complaints of Ireland, and illustrates what has been already mentioned, that the project of Wood was only chosen as an ostensible and favourable point on which to make a stand against principles of aggression, which involved many questions of much more vital importance. This letter was not published until the Drapier's papers were collected into a volume. Meantime Carteret yielded to the storm,-Wood's patent was surrendered,—and the patentee indemnified by a grant of £3000 yearly, for twelve years. Thus victoriously terminated the first grand struggle for the independence of Ireland. The eyes of the kingdom were now turned with one consent on the man, by whose unbending fortitude and pre-eminent talents this triumph was accomplished. The Drapier's head became a sign, his portrait was engraved, woven upon handkerchiefs, struck upon medals, and displayed in every possible manner, as the liberator of Ireland. A club was formed in honour of the patriot, who held regular meetings to commemorate his excellencies, study his doctrines, and carouse to his health.* 'In all this, Swift's popularity did not probably exceed that of other patriots, who, at some decisive and critical period, have had the fortune to render a striking service to their country. Nor is it singular that the Dean's memory should, after death, be honourably and tenderly cherished by the nation which he did so much to rescue from subjection. But the period between the deeds on which a patriot rests his fame, and the time when they are recorded on his tomb-stone, is but rarely distinguished by the unclouded and steady glow of uniform popularity. History affords, in all countries, too many instances of the mutability of public favour, and exhibits a long list of those benefactors of nations who have heard the songs composed in their praise turned into libellous parodies, and the acclamations of their countrymen exchanged for as loud and general shouts of reprobation or derision. To the honour of the warm-hearted and generous people for whom he exposed his safety, the sun of Swift's popularity shone unclouded even after he was incapable of *To the Drapier's Club we owe the first collection of the Drapier's letters, published by Faulkner at their desire, under the following title:"Fraud Detected; or, the Hibernian Patriot, containing all the Drapier's letters to the people of Ireland on Wood's coinage, &c. interspersed with the following particulars, viz.-1. The addresses of the Lords and Commons of Ireland against Wood's coin.-2. His Majesty's answer to the said addresses.-3. The report of his Majesty's most honourable Privy-Council.-4. Seasonable advice to the Grand Jury.-5. Extract of the votes of the House of Commons of England, upon breaking a grand-jury.-6. Considerations on the attempts made to pass Wood's coin.-7. Reasons showing the necessity the people of Ireland are under, to refuse Wood's coinage. To which are added, Prometheus, a poem. Also, a new poem to the Drapier; and the songs sung at the Drapier's Club in Truck-street, Dublin, never before printed. With a preface explaining the usefulness of the whole."-Dublin: Reprint ed and sold by George Faulkner, in Pembroke Court, Castle-Street, 1725, 12mo. This publication contains five songs to the honour of the Drapier, to which some others might be added from the broadsides before the Editor. But they would only show the zeal and attachment of the worthy members of the Drapier's Club at Taplin's, Truck-Street, without doing any credit to their literary talents. distinguishing its radiance. While he was able to go abroad, a thousand popular benedictions attended his steps, and if he visited a town where he was not usually resident, his reception resembled that of a sovereign prince. The slightest idea of personal danger to THE DEAN, for by that title he was generally distinguished, aroused a whole district in his defence; and when, on one occasion, Walpole meditated his arrest, his proposal was checked by a prudent friend, who enquired if he could spare ten thousand soldiers to guard the messenger who should execute so perilous a commission. His foibles, though of a kind which seem peculiarly obnoxious to the observation and censure of the vulgar, were overlooked with the pious respect paid by filial affection to the imperfections of a parent. The governors of Ireland, from the courtly Carteret to the haughty Dorset, even while disliking his politics, if not his person, saw themselves under the necessity of respecting his influence, and temporizing with his zeal. And as he was mourned in his last stage of imbecility, and followed to the grave by the lamentations of his people, so there have been few Irish authors who have not since that period paid to the memory of Swift that tribute of gratitude, which is so peculiarly his due. One of the latest, as well as the most eloquent panegyrics which have decorated his monument, occurs in "A Sketch of the State of Ireland, past and present," published in 1810. With the just and concise character of the Dean of St. Patrick's, viewed as an Irish patriot, we close the present section. "On this gloom one luminary rose, and Ireland worshipped it with Persian idolatry; her true patriother first, almost her last. Sagacious and intrepid-he saw, he dared; above suspicion, he was trusted; above envy, he was beloved; above rivalry, he was obeyed. His wisdom was practical and prophetic-remedial for the present, warning for the future; he first taught Ireland that she might cease to be a despot. But he was a churchman. His gown impeded his course, and entangled his efforts,-guiding a senate, or heading an army, he had been more than Cromwell, and Ireland |