upon

adorned with the choiceft gifts that God hath yet thought fit to bestow the children of men*; a ftrong memory, a clear judgment, a vast range of wit and fancy, a thorough comprehenfion, an invincible eloquence, with a moft agreeable elocution. He had well cultivated all these talents by travel and ftudy, the latter of which he feldom omitted, even in the midft of his pleasures, of which he had indeed been too great and criminal a purfuer for, although he was perfuaded to leave off intemperance in wine, which he did for fome time, to fuch a degree that he feemed rather abstemious; yet he was faid to allow himfelf other liberties, which can by no means be reconciled to religion or morals; whereof, I have reafon to believe, he began to be fenfible. But he was fond of mixing pleasure and bufinefs, and of being efteemed excellent at both upon which account he had a great refpect for the characters of Alcibiades and Petronius, especially the latter, whom he would gladly be thought to refemble, His detractors charged him with fome degree of affectation, and perhaps, not altogether without grounds; fince it was hardly poffible for a young man, with half the bufinefs of the nation upon him, and the applaufe of the whole, to escape fome tincture of that infirmity. He had been early bred to bufinefs, was a moft artful negociator, and perfectly understood foreign affairs. But what I have often wondered at, in a man of his temper, was his prodigious application, whenever he thought it neceffary; for he would plod whole days and nights, like the lowest clerk in an office. His talent of fpeaking in public, for which he was fo very much celebrated, I know nothing of, except from the information of others; but undertanding men, of both parties, have affured me, that, in this point, in their memory and judgment, he was never equalled.'

OX FOR D.

The Earl of Oxford is a perfon of as much virtue as can poffibly confift with the love of power; and his love of power is no greater than what is common to men of his fuperior capacities; neither did any man ever appear to value it lefs t, after he had obtained it, or exert it with more moderation. He is the only inftance that ever fell within my memory or obfervation, of a perfon paffing from a private life, through the feveral ftages of greatnefs, without any perceivable impreffion on

If this be true, how highly aggravated was the guilt of that man, who made fo ungrateful a return to the ineftimable bounty of his Creator!

This is barely confiftent with what the Dean elsewhere fays of this minifter's fondness for being thought to poffefs more power, and influence with the queen, than he really had,

his temper or behaviour. As his own birth was illuftrious, being defcended from the heirs-general of the Vercs and the Mortimers, fo he feemed to value that accidental advantage in himself, and others, more than it could pretend to defeive. He abounded in good-nature, and good-humour; although fubject to paffion,-which, however, he kept under the strictest government till towards the end of his miniftry, when he began to grow foured, and to fufpect his friends. He was a great favourer of men of wit and learning, particularly the former, whom he careffed without diftinction of party, and could not endure to think that any of them fhould be his enemies; and it was his good fortune that none of them ever appeared to be fo; at least if one may judge by the libels and pamphlets published against him, which he frequently read by way of amusement, with a moft unaffected indifference :-neither do I remember ever to have endangered his good opinion fo much, as by appearing uneafy when the dealers in that kind of writing first began to pour out their fcurrilities against me; which he thought was a weakness altogether inexcufable in a man of virtue and liberal education. He had the greateft variety of knowlege that I have any where met; was a perfect mafter of the learned languages, and well fkilled in divinity. He had a prodigious memory, and a moft exact judgment. In drawing up any statepaper, no man had more proper thoughts, or put them in fo ftrong and clear a light. Although his ftile were not always correct, which, however, he knew how to mend; yet, often, to fave time, he would leave the fmaller alterations to others. I have heard that he fpoke but feldom in parliament, and then rather with art than eloquence: but no man equalled him in the knowlege of our conftitution; the reputation whereof made him be chofent fpeaker to three fucceffive parliaments.-His fagacity was fuch, that I could produce very amazing inftances of it, if they were not unfeasonable. In all difficulties, he immediately found the true point that was to be pursued, and adhered to it: and one or two others in the miniftry have confeffed very often to me, that after having condemned his opinion, they found him in the right, and themfelves in the wrong. He was utterly a ftranger to fear; and confequently had a prefence of mind upon all emergencies. His liberality, and contempt of money, were fuch, that he almoft ruined his cftate while he was in employment; yet his avarice for the public was fo great, that it nei

From this contradictory mode of expreffion, and fome other flight inaccuracies and coarsenets of diction, and redundancies, obfervable in the prefent tract, it appears that the Dean, the most correct of all writers, had not thoroughly prepared it for the prefs.

+ Vide the lait note.

ther confifted with the prefent corruptions of the age, nor the circumftances of the time. He was feldom mistaken in his judgment of men, and therefore not apt to change a good or ill opinion by the reprefentation of others; except towards the end of his miniftry. He was affable and courteous, extremely easy and agreeable in converfation, and altogether disengaged; regular in his life, with great appearance of piety; nor ever guilty of any expreffions that could poffibly tend to what was indecent or prophane. His imperfections were, at leaft, as obvious, although not fo numerous, as his virtues. He had an air of secrecy in his manner and countenance, by no means proper for a great minifter, because it warns all men to prepare against it. He often gave no answer at all, and very seldom a direct one: and I the rather blame this reservednels of temper, because I have known a very different practice fucceed much better.Another of his imperfections, univerfally known and complained of, was procraftination, or delay; which was, doubtlefs, natural to him, although he often bore the blame without the guilt, and when the remedy was not in his power; for never were prince and minifter better matched than his fovereign and he, upon that article: and therefore, in the difpofal of employments, wherein the queen was very abfolute, a year would often pass before they could come to a determination. He was likewife heavily charged with the common court-vice, of promifing very liberally, and feldom performing; of which, although I cannot altogether acquit him, yet I am confident, his intentions were generally better than his difappointed follicitors would believe, It may likewife be faid of him, that he certainly did not value, or did not understand, the art of acquiring friends; having made very few during the time of his power, and contracted a great number of enemies. Some of us used to obferve, that thofe whom he talked well of, or fuffered to be often near him, were not in a fituation of much advantage; and that his mentioning others with contempt, or dislike, was no hindrance at all to their preferment.'

This character of the celebrated Harley, appears to have been drawn with more impartiality than was common with Dean Swift; whofe violence of temper, of attachment, and of refentment, fellom permitted him to give each deed the exact intrinfic worth, as his friend Pope expreffes it. He tells us that he dwelt the longer on this great man's character, because he obferved it to be fo often mistaken by the wife reafoners, of both parties; and becaufe, having had the honour of a near acquaintance with him, without the leaft mercenary obligation, he thought it lay in his power to reprefent him to the world with impartiality and truth.

4, 5, and 6. Are small tracts of little account; the 7th is a fer mon

fermon Upon the Martyrdom of K. Charles I. preached a St. Patrick's, Dublin, Jan. 30, 1725-6, being Sunday.' It is a ftrange, illiberal, ranting piece of high-churchifm; fuited only to the taste and difpofition of a jacobite mob; and will be a lafting difgrace to the character and memory of the preacher.

8. An Account of the Court and Empire of Japan. Written in 1728. An infult on the memory of that worthy prince George the First; and a fevere fatire on the late Earl of Orford.

9. A Letter to the Writer of an occafional Paper: Vide the Craftsman, 1727.' Not of any great account. This article might as well have been committed to the flames as preserved.

10. Of Public Abfurdities in England.' The abfurdities here pointed out, are of a political nature; and some of them are here exploded with fuch manly freedom and true fterling fenfe, that one would hardly think this paper could come from the author of the thirtieth of January fermon just mentioned: but these instances will ferve to fhew how well the Dean could vary his style and manner, and even his fentiments, according to the difference of rank, or order, of the particular people for whom his compofitions were intended. The Sermon was accommodated to the understandings of the vulgar, the Obfervations on the Abfurdities, &c. were defigned for the notice of po liticians, and readers of the higher claffes.

The first of thefe abfurdities will not, however, be generally admitted, as fuch; for no diffenter from the established church, can poffibly agree with the Dean's affertion, that it is abfurd that any person who profeffeth a different form of worship from that which is national, fhould be trufted with a vote for electing members in the houfe of commons.'-Nay, few, we apprehend, of the more moderate churchman, will affent to this propofition, notwithstanding our Author's argument in support of his opinion, hath fomething fpecious in its appearance; viz, ? Because (says he) every man is full of zeal for his own religion, although he regards not morality; and therefore will endeavour, to his utmoft, to bring in a reprefentative of his own principles, which, if they be popular, may endanger the religion established; which, as it hath formerly happened, may alter the whole frame of government.'-Very true, Mr. Dean! and it is happy for this country, that the frame of our government hath been altered.'-And the enfuing obfervations, from this very paper, ftrongly intimate, that there is still room for conftitutional reformation.

The next abfurdity here pointed out, is contained in the following paragraph: A ftanding army in England, (fays the Dean) whether in time of peace or war, is a direct abfurdity. Fox, (adds he) it is no part of our bufinefs to be a warlike na

tion,

tion, otherwise than by our fleets. In foreign wars we have no concern, further than in conjunction with allies, whom we may either affift by fea, or by foreign troops paid with our money. But mercenary troops in England can be of no use, except to awe senates, and thereby promote arbitrary power in a monarchy or oligarchy.'-There is no date to these remarks; but one would almoft think the Writer had a prophetic forefight of after-times!

A ftill more glaring and felf-evident abfurdity is what next follows; viz. That the election of fenators should be of any charge to the candidates; but, (adds he) that it fhould be fo to a ministry, is a manifeft acknowledgment of the worst designs. If a miniftry intended the service of their prince and country, or well understood wherein their own fecurity beft confifted, (as it is impoffible that a parliament freely elected, according to the original inftitution, can do any hurt to a tolerable prince, or a tolerable ministry ;) they would use the strongest methods to leave the people to their own free choice.'-We refer to the book for our Author's arguments in fupport of this propofition; as they would take up too much of our room. Befide, they will only be laugh'd at by the statesmen and politicians of these days. Nevertheless, what he fays of the want of fagacity in our anceftors, who, in framing the old conftitution, fixed a determi nate fum for the value of a freehold in land, as a qualification to vote for a knight of the fhire, is extremely juft. Forty Shillings a-year, as he obferves, was, in those days, a fum equal to twenty pounds in ours. The law, therefore, fhould rather have fixed on a certain quantity of LAND, arable or pafture, fufficient to produce a certain quantity of corn or hay; which would have prevented the evil and the abfurdity now complained of; and which cries aloud for regulation.

Another abfurdity: that boroughs decayed are not absolutely extinguished,' becaufe, fays our Author, the returned members do, in reality, reprefent nobody. Is it not equally ab furd, that feveral large towns are not represented at all, though fuil of industrious inhabitants, who much advance the trade of the kingdom?

He mentions the claim of fenators, to have themselves and fervants exempted from law-fuits and arrefts,' as a' manifest abfurdity! The proceedings at law are already (adds he) fo fcandalous a grievance, upon account of the delays, that they need little any addition. Whoever is either not able, or not willing to pay his just debts, or, to keep other men out of their lands, would evade the decifion of the law, is furely but illqualified to be a legiflator !This evil has fince been, in fome meafure, remedied, by the act paffed, in 1764, for excluding bankrupts from privilege of parliament.

The