from which indeed it was borrowed; and is more disagreeable than the hissing s, which has at least more of sharpness and spirit in it. On this account, as well as some other causes arising from the genius of our tongue, not necessary to be explained here, it has been long disused by our best writers; but as it yet remains in the translation of the Bible, and in the Common Prayerbook, it may be still employed, even to advantage, in sermons, and works of divinity; as it borrows a kind of solemnity, and somewhat of a sanctified air, from being found only in those sacred writings; on which account, I have suffered it to remain in such of Swift's Works as may be classed under those heads. “Those who are advocates for the change of s into eth, assign as a reason for it, that in so doing we avoid the frequent repetition of that hissing letter, objected to our language as an imperfection. But in this, as in many other instances where sound is concerned, they judge by the eye, not the ear; for the letter s, after every consonant in our language, except four, loses its own power, and assumes that of z, one of our most pleasing sounds. "In this edition I have given all the genuine Writings of Swift hitherto published, of whatever kind, and however trifling; as it was the general opinion, that an edition which should omit any thing of his, printed in a former one, would be considered as imperfect. The eagerness with which every thing has been sought after, which casually dropped from his pen, confirms this opinion. His slightest sketches, like those of some great painter, still show a masterly hand; and his most imperfect pieces, however great may be the quantity of alloy, still contain some particles of gold worth extracting. If the more fastidious critics should object that there is some trash to be found among them, I shall give them the same answer that lord Chesterfield did to one of that sort. 'It is true, there is some stuff to be found there, but still it is Swift's stuff." In 1783, some letters from Dr. Swift to Dr. Atterbury were given to the public, in the "Epistolary Correspondence" of the last mentioned very eminent Dignitary. In 1789, a small volume of Dean Swift's "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse" was published by Mr. Dilly; which the anonymous Editor thus modestly introduced: "To the Miscellanies now presented to the public* little preface is necessary. The productions of Dean Swift will ever speak for themselves. The publisher has only to lament that the death of a literary friend, to whom he owes the communication of the greater part of this volume, has deprived him of that satisfactory elucidation the collection would otherwise have received; and to acknowledge the assistance of another friend, from whom he has had some valuable additions. "Whenever a complete edition shall be formed of Swift's Writings, it must be by an accurate comparison of the seventeen volumes published by Mr. Sheridan, with the twenty-five volumes in the editions of Dr. 'Hawkesworth and Mr. Nichols. When that is done, the present volume will form an interesting part; and till then it may be considered either as an eighteenth volume of the one edition, or as a twenty-sixth of the other." In the same year, 1789, seven letters from Dr. Swift, and nine from his housekeeper Mrs. Whiteway, appeared in a valuable publication, by the late George Monck Berkeley, Esq. entitled, "Literary Relicks;" to which * In this volume was inserted the Dean's "Ode to King William on his successes in Ireland ;" which the present Editor had previous ly recovered, in 1780, in his "Select Collection of Poems," N. an elegant and spirited Inquiry into the life of Dean Swift is prefixed.* The Gentleman's Magazine for the last twenty years has been an occasional store-house, whence many of the articles now first collected have been carefully extracted. The only publication which remains to be mentioned is a collection of the Dean's Poetry, in "The works of the British Poets, with Prefaces Biographical and Critical, by Robert Anderson, M. D. 1795;" to which the ingenious editor has prefixed a Life of Dr. Swift, and some remarks on his character and writings. These are very properly closed with that furnished by Dr. Johnson; which, though "less favourable" than those of his preceding biographers, will "by no means warrant the severe recrimination of Mr. Sheridan.”+ * See some copious extracts from it at the end of vol. II. J. N. That the Reader may judge for himself, Dr. Johnson's character of Swift shall be inserted at the end of the Second Volume of the present edition. |