The contents of this volume of genuine and acknowledged Miscellanies shall here be given :

I. "A Discourse of the Contests and Dissentions between the Nobles and Commons in Athens and Rome, 1701; 2. "The Sentiments of a Church of England Man, 1708;" 3. " Argument to prove that the abolishing of Christianity," &c. 1708 4. "A Project for Advancement of Religion," 1709; 5. " Meditation on a Broomstick," 1704; 6 "Various Thoughts, moral and diverting," 1706; 7. "Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind," 1707; 8. Predictions for the year 1708;" 9. "Account of Partridge's Death," 1708; 10. " Vindication of Bickerstaff," 1709; II. A famous Prediction of Merlin," 1709; 12. "Letter on the Sacramental Test," 1708. The Poems were, "Verses in a Lady's Ivory Table-book;""Frances Harris's Petition;""Ballad on Lady Betty Berkeley's adding a stanza to a former Ballad; "Van's

House;" "The Salamander;" "Baucis and Philemon;""To Biddy Floyd;" "The History of Van's. House ;' "Grub-street Elegy on Partridge;" Apollo outwitted;" " "Description of the Morning;" "A City Shower;" and "The Virtues of Sid Hamet's Rod."

66

In 1712 Swift deviated from his accustomed habit, by affixing his name to a favourite project, in a "Letter to the Lord Treasurer;" and in 1714 he had prepared for the press a History of the four last years of the Queen;" on which he had bestowed much attention, but which the decease of his Royal Mistress threw wholly into the shade: nor, after that period was he at all solicitous for acquiring reputation as an author.

2

The Drapier's Letters" were presented singly to the publick as they came out. The copy of "Gulliver's Travels" which in 1726 was transmitted to the press through the medium of Mr. Pope, is thus alluded to by the Dean, in a letter to Mr. Pulteney, May 12, 1735: "I never got a farthing by any thing I writ, except once about eight years ago, and that by Mr. Pope's prudent management for The sum which was received for Gulliver is stated to have been 2001.; and on the publication of three volumes of their joint Miscellanies, which were left wholly to the disposal of Ir. Pope, the profit was 1501*.

me."

In July 1732, the Dean gave to Mrs. Pilkington the following loose assignment, the original of which is in the hands of the present editor :

"Whereas several scattered papers, in prose and verse, for three or four years last past, were printed in Dublin, by Mr. George Faulkner, some of which were sent in manuscript to Mr. William Bowyer, of London, printer; which pieces are supposed to be written by me; and are now, by the means of the Reverend Matthew Pilkington, who delivered or sent them to the said Faulkner and Bowyer, become the property of the said Faulkner and Bowyer: I do here, without specifying the said .papers, give up all manner of right, I may be thought to have in the said papers, to Mr. Matthew Pilkington aforesaid, who informs me that he in

*These particulars were communicated in 1749 to Dr. Birch by Mr. Faulkner; who added that "Dr. Swift had long conceived a mean opinion of Mr. Pope, on account of his jealous, peevish, avaricious temper."

tends to give up the said right to Mr. Bowyer aforesaid.

Witness my hand, July 22, 1732. JONATH, SWIFt. From the Deanery-house in Dublin, the day and year above-written."

"Pursuant to an assignment, dated the 22d day of July, 1732, granted to me by the Rev. Doctor Swift, of several pieces in prose and verse, supposed to be written by him, which pieces were printed by Mr. Faulkner in Dublin, and Mr. Bowyer in London, most of which pieces were conveyed to them by me; I do hereby give up all manner of right which is conveyed to me by the said assignment to Mr. William Bowyer of London, printer, as empowered by the Rev. Doctor Swift aforesaid.

In witness whereof, I have set my hand, this 5th day of October, 1732.

"MATT. PILKINGTON." Four volumes of the Dean's Miscellanies were published by Mr. Faulkner in 1734; and speedily reprinted in England. These were followed in both kingdoms by several other single volumes. But the earliest regular edition was in twelve volumes, 8vo. 1755 (reprinted in 1767), under the respectable name of the late Dr. JOHN HAWKESWORTH, who thus very properly introduced them:

"The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift were written and published at very distant periods of his life, and had passed through many editions before they were collected into volumes, or distinguished from the productions of contemporary wits, with whom he was known to associate.

"The Tale of a Tub, the Battle of the Books, and the Fragment, were first published together in 1704; and the Apology, and the notes from Wot

VOL I.

ton, were added in 1710; this edition the Dean revised a short time before his understanding was impaired, and his corrections* will be found in this impression.

"Gulliver's Travels were first printed in the year 1726, with some alterations which had been made by the person through whose hands they were con veyed to the press; but the original passages were restored to the subsequent editions.

Many other pieces, both in prose and verse, which had been written between the years 1691 and 1727, were then collected and published by the Dean, in conjunction with Mr. Pope, Dr. Arbuthnot, and Mr. Gay, under the title of Miscellanies ↑. Of all these pieces, though they were intended to go down to posterity together, the Dean was not the author, as appeared by the title pages: but they continued undistinguished till 1742; and then Mr. Pope, having new-classed them, ascribed each performance among the prose to its particular author in a table of contents; but of the verses he distinguished only the Dean's, by marking the rest with an asterisk.

"In the year 1735, the pieces of which the Dean was the author were selected from the Miscellany, and, with Gulliver's Travels, the Drapier's Letters, and some other pieces which were written upon particular occasions in Ireland, were published. by Mr. George Faulkner, at Dublin, in four volames. To these he afterward added a fifth and a sixth, containing the Examiners, Polite Conver

* From a corrected copy then in the hands of the late Deane Swift, esq.

See the joint Preface of Pope an! Swift in vol XXIII. "At all adventures, yours and my name shall stand linked friends to posterity both in verse and prose." Pute to Swift, March 23, 1727-8.

sation, and some other tracts; which were soon followed by a seventh volume of letters, and an eighth of posthumous pieces.

In this collection, although printed in Ireland, the tracts relating to that country, and in particular the Drapier's Letters, are thrown together in great confusion; and the Tale of a Tub, the Battle of the Books, and the Fragment, are not included.

"In the edition which is now offered to the publick*, the Tale of a Tub, of which the Dean's corrections sufficiently prove him to have been the author, the Battle of the Books, and the Fragment, make the first volume; the second is Gulliver's Travels; the Miscellanies will be found in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth; and the contents of the other volumes are divided into two classes, as relating to England or Ireland. As to the arrangement of particular pieces in each class, there were only three things that seemed to deserve attention, or that could direct the choice; that the verse and prose should be kept separate; that the posthumous and doubtful pieces should not be mingled with those which the Dean is known to have published himself; and that those tracts which are parts of a regular series, and illustrate each other, should be ranged in succession, without the intervention of other matter: such are the Drapier's Letters, and some other papers published upon the same occasion, which have not only in the Irish edition, but in every other, been so mixed as to misrepresent some facts and obscure others: such also are the tracts on the Sacramental Test, which are now first put together in regular order, as they should always be read by those who would see their whole strength and propriety.

*This was Dr. Hawkesworth's arrangement; Mr. Sheridan's will be described hereafter.