recovery, are of a different mood, and express strongly and pathetically the miseries of the precarious situation under which his proud and independent spirit was then struggling. He thus addresses his muse, which, since Cowley's time, was the established mode in which a poet expressed his complaints:

"Wert thou right woman, thou should'st scorn to look On an abandoned wretch, by hopes forsook ;

Forsook by hopes, ill fortune's last relief,
Assign'd for life to unremitting grief;

For let Heaven's wrath enlarge these weary days,
If hope e'er dawn the smallest of its rays,
Time o'er the happy takes so swift a flight,
And treads so soft, so easy, and so light,
That we the wretched, creeping far behind,
Can scarce th' impression of his footsteps find.

To thee I owe that fatal bend of mind,
Still to unhappy restless thoughts inclin'd;
To thee, what oft I vainly strive to hide,
That scorn of fools, by fools mistook for pride;
From thee whatever virtuc takes its rise,
Grows a misfortune, or becomes a vice;
Such were thy rules to be poetically great,
Stoop not to interest, flattery, or deceit;
Nor with hired thoughts be thy devotion paid;
Learn to disdain their mercenary aid;

Be this thy sure defence, thy brazen wall,
Know no base action, at no guilt look pale;
And since unhappy distance thus denies
T'expose thy soul, clad in this poor disguise;
Since thy few ill-presented graces seem

To breed contempt where thou hast hoped estee m

These last lines probably allude to the coldness of Sir William Temple, and to a disagreement which began to take place between them. Swift sighed after independence, and seems to have thought that Temple delayed providing for him, from the selfish view of retaining his assistance, now become nécessary to him. Temple, on the other hand, regarded his impatience as if tinctured with ingratitude. He offered him, but with coldness, an employment worth L. 100 a-year, in the office of the rolls in Ireland, of which he was then master. To this Swift answered, that since this offer relieved him from the charge of being driven into the church for a maintenance, he was resolved to go to Ireland to take holy orders. And thus they parted in mutual displeasure: Temple positively refusing to pledge himself by any promise of provision, in the event of his consenting to remain with him; and Swift determined to exert and maintain his independence.

When Swift arrived in Ireland, he found that the bishops, to whom he applied for orders, required some certificate of his conduct during the time he had resided with Sir William Temple. This must have been a grating task, for to obtain such a testimonial, required both submission and entreaty; and, accordingly, Swift appears to have paused nearly five months before endeavouring to procure it*. The submis

* Swift's letter to his cousin, Deane Swift, is dated at Moor

sion, however, was at length made, and the entreaty listened to, and "Swift's penitentiary letter," formed, probably, the ground-work of reconciliation with his patron. Within less than twelve days after the date of that letter, he must have received the testimonial he desired, for his letters for deacon's orders are dated 18th October 1694, and those for priest's orders on the 13th January following *. It seems probable that Sir William Temple added to the certificate desired, some recommendation to Lord Capel, then lord-deputy of Ireland, for, almost immediately upon taking orders Swift obtained the prebend of Kilroot, in the diocese of Connor, worth about one hundred pounds a-year. To this small living he retired, and assumed the character of a country clergyman.

R

Swift's life at Kilroot, however, so different from that which he had led with Sir William Temple, where he shared the society of all that were ennobled, either by genius or birth, soon became insipid. In the mean while, Temple, who had learned, by the loss of Swift, his real value,

park, 3d June 1694, and he then says he left Sir William Temple a month before. The penitentiary letter is dated

6th October following.

* Mr Sheridan believed him to be ordained in the preceding September, but that he was mistaken is obvious, from the letter to Sir William Temple, and from the dates of the official certificates of ordination, which are now before the editor.

became solicitous that he should return to Moorpark. While Swift hesitated between relinquishing the mode of life which he had chosen, and returning to that which he had relinquished, his resolution appears to have been determined by a circumstance highly characteristic of his exalted benevolence. In an excursion from his habitation, he met a clergyman, with whom he formed an acquaintance, which proved him to be learned, modest, well-principled, the father of eight children, and a curate at the rate of forty pounds a-year. Without explaining his purpose, Swift borrowed this gentleman's black mare, having no horse of his own,-rode to Dublin, resigned the prebendary of Kilroot, and obtained a grant of it for this new friend. When he gave the presentation to the poor clergyman, he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the old man's face, which, at first, only expressed pleasure at finding himself preferred to a living; but when he found that it was that of his benefactor, who had resigned in his favour, his joy assumed so touching an expression of surprise and gratitude, that Swift, himself deeply affected, declared he had never experienced so much pleasure as at that moment. The poor clergyman, at Swift's departire, pressed upon him the black mare, which he did not choose to hurt him by refusing, and thus nounted, for the first time, on a horse of his own, with fourscore pounds in his purse, Swift again

embarked for England, and resumed his situation at Moorpark, as Sir William Temple's confidential secretary.

These are the outlines of a transaction, upon which, long after Swift's death, malice or madness endeavoured to fix a construction fatal to his reputation. This scandalous falsehood is only mentioned here, that it may never be repeated on any future occasion *.

In an edition of the Tatler in six volumes, 1786, executed with uncommon accuracy and care, there occurs a note upon No. 188, which, among other strictures on Swift's history, mentions the following alleged fact: "Lord Wharton's remarkable words allude, not only to the odium Swift had contracted as the known or supposed author of the Tale of a Tub, &c. but they seem to point more particu larly to a flagrant part of his criminality at Kilroot, not so generally known. A general account of this offence is all that is requisite here, and all that decency permits. In consequence of an attempt to ravish one of his parishioners, a farmer's daughter, Swift was carried before a magistrate of the name of Dobbs, (in whose family the examinations taken onthe occasion are said to be still extant at this day); and, to avoid the very serious consequences of this rash action, imnediately resigned the prebend, and quitted the kingdom. This intelligence was communicated, and vouched as a fact vell known in the parish even now, by one of Swift's successor; in the living, and is rested on the authority of the present prebendary of Kilroot, February 6, 1785.”

It was not to be supposed, that a charge so inconsistent vith Swift's general character for virtue, religion, and temperaice, should remain unanswered. Accordingly, a reply was addresed to the cditor of the Gentleman's Magazine, by Theophilus