"So says the right reverend Annotator. And yet it is certain, that a friend of Dr. Swift's took occasion (in some conversation with lord Bolingbroke at Battersea in 1750) to ask his lordship about the facts mentioned in the said work, alleging, "that a great part of the materials was furnished from his lordship's papers, when secretary of state;" who replied, "That indeed he did not recollect any thing he might object to, as concerning the matters of fact, but one; which was about the suspension of arms being mentioned there as a transaction of the Queen's ministry. Whereas, said he, I do assure you, I was utterly unacquainted with that measure; having advised against it, until it was fully agreed upon in concert with Dr. Swift's hero (meaning lord Oxford); nor had I any other hand in that matter more than to ask the queen in council, after the written order for suspending all military operations was put into my hands, Madam, is it your Majesty's pleasure that this order be signed?

"In a letter to Mr. Pope, Jan. 10, 1721, the Dean says, "I had indeed written some memorials of the four last years of the Queen's reign, with some other informations which I received, as necessary materials to qualify me for doing something in a place then designed me*; but, as it was at the disposal of a person who had not the smallest share of steadiness or sincerity, I disdained to accept it."

Mrs. Whiteway, in a letter to Mr. Pope, May 16, 1740, says,

"A few years ago he burnt most of his writings unprinted, except a few loose papers which are in my possession, and which I promise you (if I outlive

* The office here alluded to was in the gift of Henry Grey, duke of Kent,

him) shall never be made publick without your approbation. There is one Treatise in his own keeping, called Advice to Servants, very unfinished and incorrect; yet what is done of it has so much humour, that it may appear as a posthumous work. The History of the four last years of Queen Anne's Reign I suppose you have seen with Dr. King, to whom he sent it some time ago, and, if I am rightly informed, is the only piece of his (except Gulliver) which he ever proposed making money by, and was given to Dr. King with that design.'

Encouraged by the favourable attention of the publick, the twenty-fourth volume* was brought forward in 1776, with this apology:

"Additions to the works of an Author already esteemed too voluminous, it is acknowledged, should be made with caution. The Editor, however, with confidence relies on the merit as well as authenticity of his materials; and, if any particular article which has been admitted should appear liable to objection, will rest his appeal on the real motive for entering on a task not unattended with labour-a desire of preserving those scattered materials without which the works of Swift can never be completed: an event the world has long had reason to expect from the person in every respect best qualified for such an undertaking. Many of the Doctor's writings' (says Mr. Deane Swift, the worthy guardian of his kinsman's fame), long since printed, are not to be met with in any collection of his works.

The

The volumes of Letters were at that time numbered XVIII-XXIII.

+ See before, p. xxxiv.

The pieces now presented to the reader are exactly under this predicament; and some of them, it is presumed, are part of what Mr. Swift alludes to.

"In the state in which the Dean's writings now stand, the Editor flatters himself, he shall not be censured for what is added. He does not pretend to say, that the whole ought to be adopted in a regular edition: yet, whenever such a work shall be actually undertaken, he doubts not but the present volume will be considered as an interesting part of it*; and at the same time will be a proper appendage to all former editions; being strictly, what it professes to be, a Collection of Miscellanies by Dr. Swift and hismost intimate friends.

"The first part consists of several scarce tracts, originally published in that memorable period the four last years of the Queen: some of which are avowedly the Dean's, though hitherto they have never appeared under his name; and others are ascribed to him, on his own authority, either as having written a part of them, or at least as having suggested the hints.

"As the sound politican and indefatigable champion of Ireland, our Author already stands unrivalled. But, when we consider him as the confidential friend of an able ministry involved in perpetual disputes†, in vain do we look among his works for the writings which exalted him to such consequence. The Examiners excepted, they are thinly scattered through the

This was the case in Mr. Sheridan's edition of 1784. "My letters will at least be a good history, to shew you the steps of this change," says Dr. Swift to Stella, on an interesting event, Dec. 9, 1711.-And again, "My letters would be good memoirs, if I durst venture to say a thousand things that pass." March 14, 1712:13.

the collection, and far inferior in number to what might naturally be expected from the pen of so steady a writer. Like Virgil's mariners,

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Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto !"

"That he was not idle in that busy period, a slight perusal of the Journal to Stella will demonstrate; and what is here collected may be considered as a specimen of his labours.

"It is much to be lamented indeed that he did not follow the advice given him in the year 1733: 'I have long had it at heart,' says his friend Mr. Ford,

to see your works collected, and published with care. It is become absolutely necessary, since that jumble with Pope, &c. in three volumes, which put me in a rage whenever I meet with them. I know no reason why, at this distance of time, the Examiners, and other political papers written in the Queen's reign, might not be inserted. I doubt you have been too negligent in keeping copies: but I have them Lound up, and most of them single besides *. I lent Mr. Corbet that paper to correct his Gulliver by; and it was from that I mended my own. There is every single alteration from the original copy; and the printed book abounds with all those errours which should be avoided in the new edition.'

"Had Dr. Swift attended to this advice, the present publication would undoubtedly have been superseded; or, could the Editor have fortunately obtained the collection so diligently made by Mr. Ford, it would have been a collateral proof of authenticity, and have probably increased the number of the Dean's political pamphlets. Those which are now printed

Many others are here preserved.

Dr. Swift's successor as dean of 'St. Patrick's.

are

are all which the Editor has met with; and each of them is separately left to vouch for its own excellence, and for the authority on which it has been admitted into this volume.

"The lighter prose parts of the collection have been selected, by various accidents, from different For a few of them, the editor readily acknowledges himself indebted to Mr. Faulkner; to whose diligence the reader is also obliged for the additional letters; and for some entertaining anecdotes, particularly in matters relative to Ireland.

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Many of the poetical essays are the Dean's, and all of them such as are immediately connected with his writings. Among these, the productions of Dr. Delany are particularly distinguished.

"Facts and circumstances of a temporary nature are so soon forgotten, that little apology seems neces→ sary for the number and minuteness of the notes. It has ever been the Editor's opinion, that every book should include an explanation of the obscure and less known passages in it, without obliging the reader to refer to other sources of information. When it is considered that these helps are designed for the use of such as are not general readers, it is presumed those who are more informed will pardon the insertion of some circumstances, which to them may appear superfluous."

To these, in 1779, was added the twenty-fifth volume; from the preface to which, a very few lines shall be taken:

"After what the Editor of this volume has prefixed to those he before introduced to the press, it is needless to enlarge on the motives, or even on the contents, of the present publication. The numerous

corrections