purpose of removing from man the powers of hell, and restoring to order all things in the spiritual world, and all things in the church: that he removed from man the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them; in which consisted the great work of redemption that by the same acts, which were his temptations, the last of which was the passion of the cross, he united, in his humanity, divine truth to divine good, or divine wisdom to divine love, and so returned into his divinity in which he was from eternity, together with, and in, his glorified humanity; whence he for ever keeps the infernal powers in subjection to himself: and that all who believe in him, with the understanding, from the heart, and live accordingly, will be saved. "3, That the Sacred Scripture, or Word of God, is divine truth itself, containing a spiritual sense heretofore unknown, whence it is divinely inspired and holy in every syllable; as well as a literal sense, which is the basis of its spiritual sense, and in which divine truth is in its fullness, its sanctity, and its power: thus that it is accommodated to the apprehension both of angels and men: that the spiritual and natural senses are united, by correspondences, like soul and body, every natural expression and image answering to, and including, a spiritual and divine idea; and thus that the Word is the medium of communication with heaven and of conjunction with the Lord. "4, That the government of the Lord's divine love and wisdom is the divine providence; which is universal, exercised according to certain fixed laws of order, and extending to the minutest particulars of the life of all men, both of the good and of the evil: that in all its operations it has respect to what is infinite and eternal, and makes no account of things transitory but as they are subservient to eternal ends : thus, that it mainly consists, with man, in the connection of things temporal with things eternal; for that the continual aim of the Lord, by his divine providence, is to join man to himself and himself to man, that he may be able to give him the felicities of eternal life : and that the laws of permission are also laws of the divine providence; since evil cannot be prevented without destroying the nature of man as an accountable agent; and because, also, it cannot be removed unless it be known, and cannot be known unless it appear: thus, that no evil is permitted but to prevent a greater; and all is overruled, by the Lord's divine providence, for the greatest possible good. "5, That man is not life, but is only a recipient of life from the Lord, who, as he is love itself and wisdom itself, is also life itself; which life is communicated by influx to all in the spiritual world, whether belonging to heaven or to hell, and to all in the natural world; but is received differently by every one, according to his quality and consequent state of reception.

"6, That man, during his abode in the world, is, as to his spirit, in the midst between heaven and hell, acted upon by influences from both, and thus is kept in a state of spiritual equilibrium between good and evil; in consequence of which he enjoys free will, or freedom of choice, in spiritual things as well as in natural, and possesses the capacity of either turning himself to the Lord and his kingdom, or turning himself away from the Lord and connecting himself with the kingdom of darkness: and that, unless man had such freedom of choice, the Word would be of no use; the church would be a mere name; man would possess nothing by virtue of which he could be conjoined to the Lord; and the cause of evil would be chargeable on God himself.

"7, That man at this day is born into evil of all kinds, or with tendencies towards it: that, therefore, in order to his entering the kingdom of heaven, he must be regenerated or created anew; which great work is effected in a progressive manner, by the Lord alone, by charity and faith as mediums, during man's co-operation; that as all men are redeemed, all are capable of being regenerated, and consequently saved, every one according to his state; and that the regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and the unregenerate with the spirits of hell: but that no one is condemned for hereditary evil, any further than as he makes it his own by actual life; whence all who die in infancy are saved, special means being provided by the Lord in the other life for that purpose.

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"8, That repentance is the first beginning of the church in man; and that it consists in a man's examining himself, both in regard to his deeds and his intentions, in knowing and acknowledging his sins, confessing them before the Lord, supplicating him for aid, and begin ning a new life: that, to this end, all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or of life, are to be abhorred and sbunned as sins against God, and because they proceed from infernal spirits, who in the aggregate are called the Devil and Satan; and that good affections, good thoughts, and good actions are to be cherished and performed, because they are of God and from God: that these things are to be done by man as of himself; nevertheless, under the acknowledgement | and belief that it is from the Lord, operating in him and by him: that so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far they are removed, remitted, or forgiven: so far also he does good, not from himself, but from the Lord; and in the same degree he loves truth, has faith, and is a spiritual man: and that the Decalogue teaches what evils are sing.

"9, That charity, faith, and good works are unitedly necessary to man's salvation, since charity, without faith, is not spiritual, but natural; and faith, without charity, is not living, but dead; and both charity and faith,without good works, are merely mental and perish

able things, because without use or fixedness: and that nothing of faith, of charity, or of good works is of man, but that all is of the Lord, and all the merit is his alone.

"10, That Baptism and the Holy Supper are sacraments of divine institution, and are to be permanently observed: baptism being an external medium of introduction into the church, and a sign representative of man's purification and regeneration; and the Holy Supper being an external medium, to those who receive it worthily, of introduction, as to spirit, into heaven, and of conjunction with the Lord; of which also it is a sign and seal.

"11, That immediately after death, which is only a putting off of the material body, never to be resumed, man rises again in a spiritual or substantial body, in which he continues to live to eternity: in heaven, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been good; and in hell, if his ruling affections, and thence his life, have been evil.

"12, That now is the time of the second advent of the Lord, which is a coming, not in person, but in the power and glory of his Holy Word that it is attended, like his first coming, with the restoration to order of all things in the spiritual world, where the wonderful divine operation, commonly expected under the name of the Last Judgment, has in consequence been performed; and with the preparing of the way for a New Church on the earth,-the first Christian Church having spiritually come to its end or consummation, through evils of life and errors of doctrine, as foretold by the Lord in the Gospels: and that this New or Second Christian Church, which will be the Crown of all Churches, and will stand for ever, is what was representatively seen by John, when he beheld the holy city, New Jerusa lem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

(For further particulars see Reports of the Society for Printing and Publishing the Writings of the Hon. E. Swedenborg, London; Reports of the London Missionary and Tract Society of the New Jerusalem Church; Minutes of the General Conference of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation; also Tafel, Magazin für die wahre Christliche Religion, pp. 1 to 70, Tübingen, 1841, which contains an elaborate account of all the Swedenborgian periodicals.) SWIETEN, GERARD VAN, was born at Leyden in 1700. He received his general education there and at Louvain, and studied medicine at Leyden under Boerhaave, of whom he soon became the favourite pupil, and by whose influence he was appointed to a professorship of medicine very soon after taking his diploma of doctor in 1725. His lectures were well attended, but objections were made against him on the ground of his being a Roman Catholic, and he was obliged to resign his chair. In 1745 Maria Theresa of Austria appointed him her first physician, and in this capacity he used his influence to establish a system of clinical instruction at Vienna, to rebuild the university, and accomplish many other important measures for the advancement of science. During eight years also he lectured on the 'Institutes' of Boerhaave. He died in 1772, and Maria Theresa, who, besides many other honours, had made him a baron of the empire, had a statue to his memory placed in the hall of the university.

Van Swieten was one of the few great physicians of his day, who, though he founded a school (and that one of the most important of the time), did not attempt to establish himself as the head of a sect. He was content to adopt the system of Boerhaave; in his commentaries on whose aphorisms he has embodied the results of a most extensive experience in clinical medicine, and has shown himself to have been a physician of great erudition and of some practical merit. The work is entitled 'Commentaria in Hermanni Boerhaavii Aphorismos de cognoscendis et curandis morbis;' it was first published at Leyden in 5 volumes, 4to, between 1741 and 1772; and has since been repeatedly edited in Latin, English, French, and German. It consists of long commentaries, not only on each aphorism, but on every portion of each of them. To confirm their truth he introduces passages from the writers of all preceding times and countries, and relates numerous cases from his own and their practice. Van Swieten wrote treatises also on the diseases of armies, on epidemics, and on the structure and offices of arteries; but they are of little importance in comparison with his commentaries, and are now seldom referred to. He maintained also a long opposition against the practice of inoculating small-pox.

SWIFT, JONATHAN, D.D., Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was descended from an ancient family which was originally settled in Yorkshire. His grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Swift, was vicar of Goodrich, in Herefordshire; and had ten sons, Godwin, Thomas, William, Dryden, Willoughby, Jonathan, Adam, and three others, of whom Godwin, William, Jonathan, and Adam settled in Ireland; he had also four daughters. Dryden was named after his mother, who was a near relation of Dryden the poet. Jonathan was the father of the dean of St. Patrick's: he married Abigail Erick, of an ancient family in Leicestershire, but poor. He was bred to the law, and in 1665 was appointed steward of the King's Inns, Dublin. He died in 1667, leaving his widow in great poverty, with an infant daughter, and pregnant with the future dean of St. Patrick's.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, November 30, 1667. When about a year old he was carried to Whitehaven, in Cumberland, by his

nurse, who went there to receive a legacy; he remained with her in that town nearly three years, and she had taught him to spell before he was taken back to his mother in Dublin. Mrs. Swift's means of support for herself and her two children were derived chiefly from her brother-in-law Godwin, who was a lawyer, and was supposed to be rich. Jonathan, when six years old, was sent to the school of Kilkenny, whence he was removed to Trinity College, Dublin, where he was received as a pensioner, April 24, 1682. The cost of his education and maintenance was defrayed by his uncle Godwin, who however supplied him with the means of subsistence in so niggardly and ungracious a manner, that Swift ever afterwards spoke of him with great asperity. Before Swift's education was completed, Godwin died, and it was then discovered that he had for some time been in embarrassed circumstances, the result of unsuccessful speculations. The charge of Swift's education now devolved chiefly upon his uncle William, of whom he always spoke with affectionate gratitude as "the best of his relations;" not that he was much more liberally supplied with money than he had been by Godwin, for William also was in difficulties, but for the kindness with which it was bestowed. The degree of B.A. was conferred on Swift, February 15, 1685: this was done, as he himself says, speciali gratia, which, he informs us, was, in Trinity College, a discreditable intimation of scholastic insufficiency. Indeed there is abundant evidence that he had not only neglected the study of the school logic which was then required in order to qualify him for taking a degree, but that, after he had taken his degree, as well as before, his conduct generally was careless, irregular, and reckless, and that he had incurred frequent penalties and censures. It is probable however that he had a scholarship in Trinity College, for he remained there till 1688, when, on the breaking out of the war in Ireland, he passed over into England, and travelled on foot to Leicester, where his mother had been residing for some years in a state of precarious dependence on her relations, one of whom was the wife of Sir William Temple, whose seat was Moor Park, near Farnham, in Surrey.

Swift, after residing some months with his mother, waited upon Sir William Temple, by whom he was received with kindness, and was admitted into his family. From this time Swift's careless and idle habits were entirely abandoned; he studied eight hours a day, and became useful to his patron as his private secretary. A surfeit of stone-fruit, to which Swift always ascribed the giddiness with which he was afterwards so severely afflicted, brought on an ill-state of health, for the removal of which, after he had been about two years with Sir William, he went to Ireland, but soon returned. He was now treated with greater kindness than before: he occasionally attended King William, who was a frequent guest at Moor Park, in his walks in the garden, while Temple was laid up with the gout, and won so much on his majesty's favour, that he not only taught him how to cut asparagus in the Dutch manner, but offered to make him captain of a troop of horse, which however Swift declined. Sir William employed him to endeavour to persuade the king to consent to the bill for triennial parliaments, and Swift's vanity was much hurt when he found that his reasoning was not sufficiently strong to overcome the king's obstinacy.

Swift went to Oxford in 1692, and entered himself of Hart Hall, for the purpose of taking his degree of M.A., to which he was admitted on the 4th of July in that year, together with Thomas Swift (the son of his uncle Thomas), who had studied with Jonathan at Trinity College, Dublin, and was afterwards rector of Puttenham in Surrey. Some time after his return to Moor Park, finding that no provision was made for him beyond subsistence in Sir William's family, Swift became tired of his state of dependence, and in some degree dissatisfied with his patron. He made his complaint to Sir William, who then offered him a situation worth 100%. a year in the Rolls in Ireland, of which Sir William was Master. Swift declined the offer, and said he preferred going to Ireland and endeavouring to obtain preferment in the church. They were both displeased, and so parted. Swift went to Ireland, but was deeply mortified when he found that he could not obtain orders without a certificate from Sir William, which he was therefore compelled to solicit from his offended patron. The certificate was given; Swift was admitted to deacon's orders, October 18, 1694, and to priest's orders, January 13, 1695. Soon afterwards Lord Capel, then Lord-Deputy of Ireland, bestowed upon him the prebend of Kilroot, in the diocese of Conner, worth about 1007. a year, whither he immediately went to perform the duties of a country clergyman. Sir William Temple appears to have soon felt the want of Swift's services, and it was not long before he sent him a kind letter, with an invitation to return to Moor Park. Swift, on the other hand, however fond of independence, must have felt strongly the contrast between the dull life of a clergyman in a remote town in Ireland and the refined society of Moor Park. He did not hesitate long to accept Sir William's invitation; and having become acquainted with a learned and worthy curate in his neighbourhood, who had a family of eight children, and only 40l. a year, he rode to Dublin, resigned his prebend, and obtained a grant of it for his poor friend.

Swift, on his return to Moor Park in 1695, was treated by Sir William Temple rather as a friend than as a mere secretary, and they continued to live together till Sir William's death, January 27, 1698. Some time before his death, Temple had obtained from King William

a promise that Swift should have a prebend of Canterbury or Westminster: Sir William also left him a legacy, with the task of editing his posthumous works, and any benefit which might arise from the publication of them.

During the the early part of his residence at Moor Park, Swift wrote some Pindaric Odes, which he is said to have shown to Dryden, who, after having read them, said, "Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet; " a remark which is supposed to have occasioned that feeling of dislike which Swift always manifested towards Dryden. These Odes are written in the style of the Pindaric Odes of Cowley, and are indeed bad imitations of a bad model. Swift also wrote, as he himself has stated, a great number of other things, nearly all of which he destroyed. During the latter part of his residence at Moor Park he wrote the 'Battle of the Books in St. James's Library,' in support of Sir William Temple, and in opposition to Dr. William Wotton and Dr. Bentley. A dispute had arisen in France as to the superiority of ancient or of modern writers: the dispute passed over to England, and the cause of the moderns was supported by Wotton, in his 'Reflections on Antient and Modern Learning.' Temple took the part of the ancients, but unfortunately praised the Epistles of Phalaris,' which Bentley, in an Appendix to the second edition of Wotton's 'Reflections,' proved to be spurious. Swift's work is a well-constructed allegory, abounding in wit and humour. It was not published however till after Sir William's death. Swift is supposed to have likewise finished about this time his 'Tale of a Tub,' a satirical allegory, in ridicule of the corruptions of the Church of Rome and the errors of the Dissenters, and in favour of the Church of England, though not without an occasional touch at her faults also. This is one of his most laboured and most perfect works. Though he completed it at Moor Park, there is evidence that he had sketched it out roughly at Trinity College. It was during Swift's second residence at Moor Park that the acquaintance commenced between him and Miss Esther Johnson, more generally known by the poetical name which he gave to her of Stella (the Star). Her father was a London merchant, according to Scott, or steward to Sir William Temple, according to Sheridan. Swift himself however says that she was born at Richmond in 1681, "her father being the younger brother of a good family in Nottinghamshire, her mother of a lower degree," and hence it has been suggested that she was an illegitimate daughter of Sir William Temple, and a sort of half-sister to Swift. But that Swift was so closely related to Temple has been satisfactorily disproved, and there seems to be no real ground for the other part of the scandal. Her mother lived with Lady Gifford, Sir William Temple's sister, who, with Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, resided at this time at Moor Park. Swift assisted in her education, which appears to have been little attended to previously, and she seems to have acquired a fondness for her tutor.

Swift however, previously to his acquaintance with Miss Johnson, had professed an attachment to Miss Jane Waryng, on whom he bestowed the title of Varina; she was sister of a fellow-student at Trinity College, and Swift offered to marry her; but she was coy and cold, and gave a temporary refusal on the plea of ill-health. By degrees, as Swift's passion abated, hers grew warmer, and she wrote to express her willingness to accept his former offer. Swift did not refuse to fulfil his promise, but in his reply laid down such conditions as to the duties of her who should become his wife, that no further correspondence took place between them.

After Sir William Temple's death Swift repaired to London to superintend the publication of his patron's posthumous works, a task which he performed carefully, and prefixed a Life of Sir William and a dedication to the king; but finding that the king took no notice of the works, the dedication, or himself, he accepted an offer made to him by Lord Berkeley in 1699, who had just been appointed one of the lords justices of Ireland, to attend him there as his chaplain and private secretary. He acted as secretary till they arrived in Dublin, when a person of the name of Bush obtained the office for himself by representing to Lord Berkeley the unsuitableness of such an office to the character and duties of a clergyman. Lord Berkeley however, to compensate Swift for the loss of his office, promised that he should have the first good preferment in his gift that became vacant. To this arrangement Swift assented. The rich deanery of Derry was soon afterwards at Lord Berkeley's disposal, and Swift intimated to him that he expected him to keep his word. Lord Berkeley told him that Bush had obtained the promise of it for another, but, observing Swift's indignation, advised him to apply to Bush to see if the matter could not be arranged: he did so, when the secretary frankly told him that 1000l. had been offered for it, but that if he would put down the same sum he should have the preference. Swift, in a rage, exclaimed, "God confound you both for a couple of scoundrels," and immediately left the castle, intending to return no more. Lord Berkeley however was unwilling, if it could be avoided, to risk exposure; he therefore offered to him the rectory of Agher and the vicarages of Laracor and Rathbeggan, then vacant, in the diocese of Meath. Though not worth a third of the deanery, as they only amounted together to 230l. a year, Swift deemed it prudent to accept the livings: he still retained his office of chaplain, and continued to reside with the family till Lord Berkeley retired from the government of Ireland. The prebend of

Dunlavin was bestowed upon him in 1700, which increased his income to between 350%, and 400l. a year. While he resided in Lord Berke ley's family he produced some of the first specimens of that original vein of humour on which, more perhaps than on any other of his rare talents, his reputation is founded: among these are 'The Humble Petition of Frances Harris,' and the Meditation on a Broomstick.' About this time Swift's sister married a person of the name of Fenton. Swift had expressed himself strongly against this marriage, and when it took place he was highly offended. Scott, on the authority of Theophilus Swift, says that Fenton was a worthless character, on the point of bankruptcy at the time, and that Swift afforded his sister the means of decent support in the destitution which her imprudence brought upon her.

In the year 1700, on the return of Lord Berkeley to England, Swift took possession of his living at Laracor. He performed his duties as a country clergyman with exemplary diligence, and expended a considerable sum in repairing the church. Some years afterwards he purchased for 250l. the tithes of the parish of Effernock near Trim, which he left by his will to the vicars of Laracor for the time being, as long as the present episcopal religion continues to be the established faith in Ireland; but if any other form of Christian religion becomes the established faith, he then directs that the profits as they come in shall be paid to the poor of the parish of Laracor.

Swift had not been long at Laracor when it was arranged between Miss Johnson and himself that she should come to reside in his neighbourhood. She had a small independence, about 1500l., of which 1000l. had been left to her as a legacy by Sir William Temple, since whose death she had resided with Mrs. Dingley, a relation of the Temple family, a widow of middle age, whose income was only about 25l. a year. Mrs. Johnson continued to reside with Lady Gifford. When Miss Johnson removed to Ireland she was accompanied by Mrs. Dingley; and the ostensible ground for leaving England on the part of both was that the rate of interest was much higher in Ireland: it was then 10 per cent. They took lodgings in the town of Trim, where they generally resided, except in Swift's absence, when they occupied the vicarage-house. Miss Johnson was then about eighteen years of age; her features were beautiful, her eyes and hair black, and her form symmetrical, though a little inclined to fullness. She was a woman of strong sense, though not highly educated, of agreeable conversation, and elegant manners.

Swift appears to have passed over to England at least once a year, and remained two or three months, chiefly in London, where he officiated as chaplain in Lord Berkeley's family, but generally paid a visit to his mother at Leicester. In 1701, during the first of these annual residences in England, he published his first political tract, 'A Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions between the Nobles and Commons at Athens and Rome.' It was intended to check the popular violence which had occasioned the impeachment of Lords Somers, Halifax, Oxford, and Portland for their share in the Partition Treaty. It was published anonymously, but attracted much attention. On his second visit to England, in 1702, he avowed himself to be the anthor of this tract, and was immediately admitted into the society of the leading Whigs, Somers, Halifax, and Sunderland, and also into that of the leading wits, Addison, Steele, Arbuthnot, and others, who used then to assemble at Button's coffee-house.

In 1704 Swift published anonymously the Tale of a Tub,' together with The Battle of the Books.' The Tale of a Tub' was at the time generally supposed to be Swift's, and its wit was much admired, but it made him some powerful enemies by its imputed irreligious tendency. In 1708 Swift was employed by the Irish prelates to solicit a remission of the first fruits for Ireland, which had already been granted in England. His application was made to Lord Godolphin, but was unsuccessful. About this time there were two or three plans for Swift's preferment, but all of them were failures. He was to have accompanied Lord Berkeley as secretary of embassy to Vienna, but Lord Berkeley found himself too infirm to venture upon the employment: he was to have gone out to Virginia as a sort of metropolitan over the colonial clergy in America, but neither did this appointment take place; and he was promised Dr. South's prebend of Westminster, but South, though very old, continued to live for several years longer. During the years 1708 and 1709 Swift published several tracts. 'An Argument against abolishing Christianity,' is a piece of grave irony; A Project for the Advancement of Religion,' was dedicated to Lady Berkeley, who was a woman of strict piety, highly respected by Swift: it is the only work to which he ever put his name: it made a strong impression on the religious classes, and was very favourably received by the public. In his Letter on the Sacramental Test' he opposed any relaxation of the restrictive laws against the Dissenters. In this opinion he differed strongly from the Whigs, and this difference seems to have been a principal cause of his soon afterwards joining the Tories. About this time he also published the 'Sentiments of a Church-of-England Man,' as well as some of his lighter pieces, especially the humorous attacks on Partridge the almanac-maker, which came out under the name of Isaac Bickerstaff. In 1710 Swift's mother died. "If the way to heaven," said he, "be through piety, truth, justice, and charity, she is there."

On the change of ministry in 1710 the hopes of the Irish prelates

were again revived for a remission of the first-fruits; and Swift was again deputed, in conjunction with the bishops of Ossory and Killaloe, to solicit the boon. On the 1st of September 1710, he left Ireland on this mission, but found, on his arrival in London, that the bishops, who had gone to England before him, had left that country without having done anything.

Swift now found himself courted by the leaders of both parties, with the exception of Godolphin, who treated him with such marked coldness that he vowed revenge, a vow which he performed on the 1st of October, by the publication of 'Sid Hamet's Rod.' Swift soon made up his mind to join the Tories, and on the 4th of October was introduced to Harley, then chancellor of the exchequer, by whom he was received with the most flattering kindness, and was introduced by him to St. John, who was then one of the secretaries of state. In a few days he received a promise that the first-fruits should be remitted, and immediately began to put his literary battery in action in the defence of his new friends. During the time that Swift remained in London on this occasion he wrote a Journal, or diary, which was addressed in a series of letters to Miss Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, but obviously intended for the former. This Journal, written as it was chiefly in the morning and evening of each successive day of the most busy part of Swift's life, affords a picture as minute as it is evidently trustworthy of the events in which he was concerned and the thoughts which arose out of them.

The Examiner,' a weekly periodical, had been begun by St. John, Prior, and others, in support of the new ministry. Thirteen numbers had been published with little effect, when it was taken up by Swift, November 10, 1710, and was continued by him till June 14, 1711, a period of seven months, when he resigned it into other hands. Every one of these papers was written by himself, besides several satirical pamphlets. He assailed his opponents not only as a body, but individually: the shafts of his satire were particularly directed against Wharton, Godolphin, Walpole, Sunderland, Cowper, and Marlborough. With surprising readiness and versatility, he assumed every shape suitable for the annoyance of his enemies or the support of his friends. Harley, who, though he maintained the most friendly and confidential intercourse with Swift, seems not at that time to have properly appreciated his character or understood his views, sent him a note for 507., which Swift indignantly returned, and obstinately refused his invitation till he had made an apology. After the attempt upon the life of Harley by the Marquis de Guiscard, he was created lord treasurer and Earl of Oxford, in May 1711, and offered to make Swift his chaplain, who refused this offer also. "I will be no man's chaplain alive," says he in his Journal. He evidently thought that his services and his merits deserved no worse a place than a bishopric. He continued, as long as he remained in England, to be treated, both in private and public, with the most flattering civility, especially by Lord Oxford, and also by St. John, who in July 1712, was created Lord Bolingbroke. He formed the society of Brothers, which consisted of sixteen persons of the highest rank and most distinguished talents among the Tories, of which society indeed he was the most active member.

It having become obvious that the existence of the Tory government depended upon making peace with France, Prior was sent to Paris to enter into a negociation for that purpose, and Swift, in furtherance of the same object, wrote The Conduct of the Allies,' which was published anonymously, November 27, 1711, while the question of peace or war was under discussion in parliament. The sale of this tract was unprecedented at that time, four large editions having been exhausted in a week. It furnished the Tory members in the House of Commons with facts and arguments, while the Whigs in the Lords threatened to bring the author to the bar of the house. The effect upon the public mind was such as to produce a determined spirit of opposition to the war, proving, as it did, that the allies, the late Whig ministry, and especially the Duke of Marlborough, were the only parties who had derived advantage from the expenditure of so much English blood and treasure.

The Peace of Utrecht was concluded May 5, 1713, and Swift undertook to write the history of it, but the progress and publication of the work were hindered by the growing dissension between Oxford and Bolingbroke. This work he afterwards expanded into the History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne's Reign,' but it was not published till 1758, some years after his death. The only work unconnected with politics which Swift produced during this busy period of his life, was his letter to the Earl of Oxford, containing A Proposal for correcting, improving, and ascertaining the English Tongue,' an object which was to be acccomplished by a society similar to that of the French Academy. Swift was very anxious to have this scheme carried into effect, but Oxford was too busy at that time to second his views, which indeed met with little favour from the public.

While Swift was thus assisting his friends, he obtained nothing for himself but empty honour, a species of reward which hardly any man ever valued less. He was too proud to make any direct solicita tion; he was aware that Lord Oxford well knew what he expected, but he was not aware that he had a private and obstinate enemy in Queen Anne, who had been taught by Archbishop Sharp that the supposed author of the Tale of a Tub' was little, if at all, better than an infidel. He now felt that his situation was uncomfortably