The mind of Swift was totally deftitute of that quality, which we denominate tafte. His occupations were often fo mean and trifling as to be below contempt. And this, not because his understanding was not vigorous and decifive; not because he was not capable of the greateft affairs, or the moft unremitted attention: but becaufe he had abfolutely no faculty to diftinguish between that which is beautiful, and that which is deformed; between that which is elegant, and that which is fqualid, loathfome, and deteftable. A remarkable inftance of the triflingnefs and infipidity of the mind of Dr. Swift, we have in our opinion, in those two celebrated performances, the Polite Converfation, and the Directions to Servants. The idea upon which they are founded may be ludicrous enough for an extempore piece of gaiety; but we cannot help feeling a fpecies of contempt for the mind, that turns it over from day to day, and swells it into volumes. If fuch be our opinion of great originals, the reader will eafily collect what honours we think to be due to their humble imitators. Though neither his temper nor his habits difpofed him to gallantry, his fuccefs with the fex was uncommon. Mifs Efther Vanhomrigh, while young, rich, and beautiful, made him the offer of her hand; and what is remarkable, continued to love him after he had refufed it. Her fondness, however, though it may have flattered his vanity, did not increase his attachment; and he appears to have been infpired with a greater tenderness for Stella *. In his treatment, notwithstanding, of both, he difcovered the uniform feverity of his temperament. The former fell a victim to his neglect; and when he married the latter, he did not permit her to take his name. He was ambitious that it should be understood, that he never converfed with her, but in the company of a third perfon. There is doubtlefs a great mixture of caprice in the female character; and to this principle we muft impute the love which thefe unfortunate ladies conceived of a man who had fo little of the foftness and delicacy which in general, are fo feducing to women of sentiment and condition. His compofitions are various and of high merit; his wit is pointed; his expreffions are nervous; and his diction is natural. But perhaps there is too little variety in his manner; for it fatigues, notwithstanding his perfpicuity. We wifh for fomething of dignity, declamation, and ornament to support the attention. He never rifes into the pathetic; and is perpetually addreffing himself to the understanding. He never furprizes with any ftrokes of eloquence. He defpiles every figure of speech, and is an enemy to rhetorical arts. He difregards too much his reader to interrupt for one moment his drynefs and aufterity. To the learned languages, and to the knowledge of antiquity he had applied intenfely for a courfe of many years; and that, at a time of life when the powers of his mind had arrived at full maturity. But, if we except politicks, there was no fcience in which he was an eminent proficient. He has produced, accordingly, no great and fyftematic work and of his political tracts, it is fit to obferve, that they were calculated chiefly for the times in which they were written, and were vehicles of faction. As a political writer, however, he fhone unrivalled in the age in which he lived. Other politicians might excell him, in that which he avoided, figurative diction, and what the herd of critics call elegant compofition. But in perfpicuity, and energy, he was not furpaffed even by Bolingbroke; while with thete qualities he united the humour of Arbuthnot, and the fimplicity of Gay. His Drapier's Letters, above all his other works, entitle him to this praife. The fuccefs of thefe letters was equal to their merit. No political publication was ever read with fuch avidity, except perhaps the Letters of Junius, and none, these not excepted, ever produced fuch effects. To hiftorical compofition his talents were not fuited. The fhort inquiries he has made into the older periods of the Englith ftory are without exactness or dignity; and his hiftory of the four laft years of Queen Anne, if compared with the hiftoric productions of the prefent age, muft be contented to rank as a pamphlet, or a petty narrative or detail of affairs. The real and important objects of hiftory, impartiality and difpaffion, a narration in which there are order, gracefulness, elevation, and character, were attainments which he could not reach. His verfe like his profe is remarkable for fimplicity and correctnefs. But his poetical topicks while they are feldom interefting, are too often trifling and indecent. Nor do his works exhibit any one pocm which for its conduct, invention, or extent, deferves any confiderable praife. It ap-. pears, that to him, poetry was an amufement in which he had no other defign than to beguile the paffing hour, or to indulge the prefent and ruling appetite. His verfes therefore mark his peculiarities, and may be read once with pleasure and curiofity. But they confer not the fame and immortality which accompany the happy flights of the tragic or the epic In his epiftolary correfpondence he is perfectly at his cafe, and writes without affectation or hypocrify, which, it must be owned, is the perfection of this fpecies of writing. But his letters, confidered merely as compofitions, are certainly, after all, inferior, in fome refpects to thofe of Bolingbroke or Pope They want the polite urbanity, and the flowing harmony of the former; and while they attain not the fuavity of the latter, they abound not fo much with just and ingenious fentiments. When he ceafed to be a tory, and cured of ambition turned his cares towards Ireland, he appears in his faireft light. His public fervices to that country, of which he yet defired not to be thought a native, were in a file of true patriotifm. He intiled himself to the thanks of a generous nation; and his memory is ftill revered by it in the greatest degree.. From fome paffages in the tale of a tub, which is the most original, but at the fame time, the, moft unequal of all his pieces, it has been conjectured that his religious fentiments were loofe and improper. It is, however, to be remarked that he was not only warm but zealous for the church, that his deteftation of infidels was ftrong and loud, and that he is to be ranked among the firm believers in chriftianity. The powers of his pen were fometimes exercifed againt Tindal and Toland; and in this age of licentioufnefs and infidelity, it were to be wifhed, that the more dignified clergy were equally active to promote the caufe of religion, and equally grateful for the emoluments they receive in its fervice. The literary portrait of Dr. Swift is diftinguished from that of almoft every other writer by a remarkable feature. He employed none of thofe arts, by which all authors of an inferior clafs, and fome whofe productions might want fuch meretricious recommendations, endeavour to fix the regard of their contemporaries. If we except the battle of books, one of the earlieft effays of his genius, in which he earnestly deprecates the charge of plagiarifm, in his other works he is not anxious to foothe his readers by apology or fubmifiion. Neither does he appear to look forward to future times, with that defire and confidence of fame, which ufually accompanies and invigorates great powers of mind. His pen was devoted to the fervice of his party, and to the gratification of his humour, which fluctuated between malevolence and levity. On one occafion indeed patriotifm and reason brightened the gloom of his temper. But ftill the great motives by which other men are ftimulated to mental exertions, had little influence upon him, and the fame difdainful difpofition, which prevented him from offering incenfe to inENG. REV. Vol. III. April 1784. U dividuals, dividuals, forbade him to court the applauses either of the prefent or future generations. It is known of Dr. Swift that he was parfimonious; but he took a pleasure in exerting his confequence to ferve his friends. In his affociates he required fervility and fubmiffion. His dictates he promulgated with the force of legal authority; and he delighted in adulation and flattery. But though his arrogance was often pleased and exercised, his deftiny disposed him to complaints and infelicity. Difappointments, afperity of temper, and the fullennefs of pride preyed by degrees upon his intellects and deftroyed them. After engaging the admiration of his compatriots, he became a melancholy fubject of their pity, and died an inftructive inftance of the vanity of human excellence and ambition. MONTHLY CATALOGUE. For APRIL, 1784. RT. 17. Letters from a Peerefs of England to her eldest Son. AR An advertisement prefixed to these letters informs us, that they were found in a pocket book, in the foot-path that leads from Fulham to Hammerfmith. Whether this account be true or falfe is of little confequence to criticifm. Their defign is to point out the causes which render matrimony, among perfons of rank and fortune, fo feldom productive of happiness; and to teach hufbands the importance of attending to an extreme delicacy of manners, if they would preferve the affections of their wives, and keep alive the ardour of their own paffions. Thefe inftructions are conveyed in a lively, though rather inaccurate, style; and are evidently the refult of a confiderable acquaintance with the human heart. We do not hesitate to believe them the production of a woman; from the extenfive range which is given to the flights of imagination. Men, however, may receive from thefe letters, a fpecies of inftruction, which is more intimately connected with their happiness in the married ftate than is commonly imagined. Art. 18. The Air Ballon: or Flying Mortal. 4to. 1s. Macklew. 1784. A Poem. In the laft ftanza of this poem, the author indulges the following flight, which, though too bold for philofophy is not unpoetical. "How few the worldly evils now I dread, "No more confined this narrow earth to tread. "And leave the creeping world to fink and die." This is the only ftanza that is tolerable in the performance before us, Art. |