Britton, sit till eight, grow merry, no business done; we part, and appoint no time to meet again. This is the fault of all the present ministers; teazing me to death for my assistance, laying the whole weight of their affairs upon it, and slipping opportunities."

On these, and many other accounts, things wore but a very unpromising aspect on the side of the tories; especially as the leaders of the whig party were active, vigilant, let slip no opportunity; and at the same time, being exasperated to the last degree at the loss of their power, were determined to stop at nothing, to compass the ruin of those who had supplanted them. Yet, however gloomy the prospect might be, Swift was not of a temper to give way to despondency. It is certain, that from the time he took a nearer view of the state of things, he had little hopes that the cause in which he had engaged would be brought to a happy issue; yet he de termined, that, whenever it should fail, no part of the miscarriage should be laid at his door; and accordingly he exerted himself with the same sort of ardour, as is usually raised only by a near prospect of success, upon vigorous measures. Not content with performing every thing that was allotted to him in his own department, he let no opportunity slip of urging the ministers to do what was proper on their parts. He, with great freedom, told them of their faults or omissions, sometimes in a serious, sometimes in a jocose way, as opportunities offered. There is a little anecdote of that sort, which shows how freely he indulged himself in this vein. Swift had received a present of a curious snuff box from colonel Hill, beautifully painted with a variety of figures, which he showed to lord Oxford; who, after having examined the workmanship, turned up the bottom of the box, where he spied a figure resembling a goose, studded on the outside of the box;

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upon which, turning to Swift, he said, "Jonathan, I think the colonel has made a goose of you." true, my lord," replied Swift, but if you will look a little farther, you will see I am driving a snail before me" which indeed happened to be the device. "That's severe enough, Jonathan," said my lord, "but I deserved it."

On another occasion, he observed to lord Bolingbroke, that men of great parts are often unfortunate in the management of publick business, because they are apt to go out of the common road, by the quickness of their imagination: and he desired his lordship to take notice, that the clerks in his office used a sort of ivory knife, with a blunt edge, to divide a sheet of paper, which never failed to cut it even, only requiring a steady hand; whereas, if they should make use of a sharp penknife, the sharpness would make it go often out of the crease, and disfigure the paper.

These friendly admonitions of Swift, though they might sometimes produce good effects in particular cases, when properly timed, yet could they do but little toward eradicating faults which seem to have been in a great measure constitutional, and which were grown too strong by habit to be easily overcome. Happy therefore was it for the ministry, that they had, in Swift, such a faithful monitor, to remind them of their errours, and such an able coadjutor, to supply their deficiencies. As no man perhaps ever possessed a greater degree of natural sagacity than Swift, or was master of a deeper penetration from close observations made on human nature, he often warned the ministers of dangers in their own sphere, which they did not see, though they had the advantage of being much nearer the springs of action; but the acuteness of his sight more than made up for the different degrees of distance. This was sufficiently shown by the event, as all his conjectures proved to,

be well-founded; nor was there a single prognostick of his that failed. These he was never sparing to communicate to the ministers, though the phlegm of one, and dissipation of the other, generally rendered such notices of little effect. They were indeed so very dilatory or remiss in their preparations for the approaching contest, and their enemies so vigilant and active, that their ruin must inevitably have been accomplished soon after the meeting of the parliament, had it not been for the measures taken by Swift to prevent it. Finding that he could not rouse the minister to that activity, which so critical a juncture required, he determined to leave nothing undone, that lay in his own power, toward the support of the common cause. There were two points, which he thought of the utmost importance, and which therefore demanded the highest attention: the one was, to put an end to the cabals of the October club, which threatened the most dangerous consequences to the ministry: the other was, the making of a peace; without which, it was a maxim with him that the ministry could not stand. The first of these points he soon accomplished. He procured a meeting of some of the principal members of the club at the tavern; where he gave them such cogent reasons for the conduct of the ministry, as removed their fears and jealousies. This meeting occasioned a suspicion in many of the absent members, which was followed by a division of the club; after which, their meetings being neither so numerous nor so frequent, they gradually dwindled away; and, upon the seasonable publication of a little pamphlet, by Swift, called, "Some Advice to the Members of the October Club," they were in general so well satisfied, that their meetings were no more heard of; and these very members were afterward the staunchest friends that the ministry had in the house of commons. The affair of the peace was at a gteater dis

tance, and a point of infinitely more difficulty. Ne cessary as it was that it should be accomplished, in the disposition that the nation then was, the ministry did not even dare to hint it, and there was but one way in which they could attempt it, with the least degree of safety to themselves; and that was, by raising such a clamour for peace, as should make the steps taken toward it by the ministry, appear to be in consequence of the attention due to the general voice of the nation. This Swift undertook to accomplish; and with that view he took uncommon pains in drawing up that famous political tract, called, The Conduct of the Allies;" the effects of which will presently be shown.

But Swift had still a more difficult point to manage; and one, which was attended with more immediate danger than all the rest; I mean, that of keeping the ministry from quarrelling among themselves, which he foresaw must end in their total destruction. The treasurer and secretary were of such different dispositions, and so little agreed about the means to be pursued toward the attainment of the common end they had in view, that it required the utmost address to prevent their coming to an open rupture; which would probably have happened, even at that critical time, had it not been for Swift's interposition. Perhaps there was no man living so well qualified for the office of a mediator between them, as Swift. The case required the constant interposition of some common friend to both, who should not be suspected of any partiality to either, or of any interested views in the advice he should give; at the same time of one, who would speak his mind with

*Swift, in a letter to the archbishop of Dublin, says, "I take the safety of the present ministry to consist in the agreement of Three great men, lord keeper, lord treasurer, and Mr. secretary; -and so I have told them together, between jest and earnest, and Two of them separately, with more earnestness." S.

unlimited freedom to each separately, or both to gether, without fear of disobliging. He must therefore be a man, whose assistance was of so much moment to each in the prosecution of their several designs, that neither would dare to break with the other unreasonably, lest his whole weight should be thrown into the opposite scale. And perhaps there was no man living, at that juncture, who could perfectly answer this description, but Swift. Accordingly we find, that for the space of more than two years afterward, though there was much ill blood, and many bickerings between them, he kept them from coming to an open rupture; and the incurable breach, which afterward ensued, was made during his absence in Ireland, when he went to take possession of his deanery.

In this critical situation of affairs, and in the midst of that load of business which was thrown upon Swift's shoulders, let us stop a while, to admire the vigour and activity of his mind, which, at such a juncture, could find leisure to throw out, as if it were a holiday task, his favourite design, of establishing the English language on some solid foundation.

In a letter to the archbishop of Dublin, dated July 12, 1711, there is this passage: "I have been engaging my lord treasurer, and the other great men, in a project of my own, which they tell me they will embrace, especially his lordship. He is to erect some kind of society, or academy, under the patronage of the ministers, and protection of the queen, for correcting, enlarging, polishing, and fixing our language. The methods must be left to the society; only I am writing a letter to my lord treasurer, by way of proposals, and some general hints, which I design to publish, and he expects from me. All this may come to nothing, although I find the ingenious and learned men of all my acquaintance fall

VOL. I.