of industrious emendation will not be thrown away, these Memoirs form an excellent illustrative companion to the excellent story of Old Mortality,' in the celebrated Tales of My Landlord;' the scenes in which the author was engaged, being precisely those which the imaginative facility therein displayed, have rendered so forcibly descriptive, and so dramatically interesting.

ADVERTISEMENT.

WHEN Dr Swift was at sir Arthur Acheson's, at Markethill in the county of Armagh, an old gentleman was recommended to him, as being a remarkable cavalier in the reigns of Charles II, James II, and William III; who had behaved with great loyalty and bravery in Scotland during the troubles of those reigns, but was neglected by the government, although he deserved great rewards from it. As he was reduced in his circumstances, Dr Swift made him a handsome present; but said at the same time, "Sir, this trifle cannot support you long, and your friends may grow tired of you; therefore, I would have you contrive some honest means of getting a sum of money sufficient to put you into a way of life of supporting yourself with independency in your old age." To which captain Creichton (for that was the gentleman's name) answered, "I have tired all my friends, and cannot expect any such extraordinary favours." Then Dr Swift replied, "Sir, I have heard much of your adventures ; that they are fresh in your memory; you can tell them with great humour; and that you have taken memorandums of them in writing." To which the captain said, "I have; but no one can understand them but myself." Then Dr Swift rejoined, "Sir, get your manuscripts, read them to me, and tell me none but genuine stories; and then I will place them in order for you, prepare them for the press, and endeavour to get you a subscription among

my friends, as you may do among your own." The captain soon after waited on the dean with his papers, and related many adventures to him, which the dean was so kind as to put in order of time, to correct the style, and make a small book of, intitled The Memoirs of Captain John Creichton.' A subscription was immediately set on foot by the dean's interest and recommendation, which raised for the captain above two hundred pounds, and made the remaining part of his life very happy and easy.

TO THE READER.

THE author of these Memoirs, captain John Creichton, is still alive (1731) and resides in the northern parts of this kingdom. He is a very honest and worthy man, but of the old stamp; and it is probable that some of his principles will not relish very well in the present disposition of the world. His memoirs are therefore to be received like posthumous work, and as containing facts which very few alive, except himself, can remember; upon which account none of his generous subscribers are in the least answerable for many opinions relating to the public, both in church and state, which he seems to justify; and in the vindication of which, to the hazard of his life and the loss of his fortune, he spent the most useful part of his days. Principles, as the world goes, are little more than fashion; and the apostle tells us, that "the fashion of this world passeth away." We read with pleasure the memoirs of several authors, whose party we disapprove, if they be written with nature and truth. Curious men are desirous to see what can be said on both sides; and even the virulent flat relation of Ludlow, though written in the spirit of rage, prejudice, and vanity, doth not want its advo

cates. This inclines me to think that the memoirs of captain Creichton may not be unacceptable to the curious of every party; because, from my knowledge of the man, and the testimony of several considerable persons, of different political denominations, I am confident that he hath not inserted one passage or circumstance which he did not know, or, from the best intelligence he could get, believed to be true.

These memoirs are therefore offered to the world in their native simplicity. And it was not with little difficulty that the author was persuaded by his friends to recollect and put them in order, chiefly for his own justification, and partly by the importunity of several eminent gentlemen, who had a mind that they should turn to some profit to the author.

The captain having made over all his little estate to a beloved daughter upon her marriage, on condition of being entertained in her house for the small remainder of his life, hath put it out of his own power either to supply his incidental wants, or pay some long-contracted debts, or to gratify his generous nature in being farther useful to his family; on which accounts, he desires to return his most humble thanks to his worthy subscribers, and hopes they will consider him no farther than as an honest well-meaning man, who, by his own personal courage and conduct, was able to distinguish himself, under many disadvantages, to a degree that few private lives have been attended with so many singular and extraordinary events.

Besides the great simplicity in the style and manner