SIR, 221. FROM DR. SWIFT. * I may probably know better, when they are disposed The case was thus: I did, with the utmost application, and desiring to lay all my credit upon it, desire Mr. Harley (as he then was called) to shew you mercy. He said, “he would, and wholly upon my account: that he would appoint you a day to see him that he would not expect you should quit any friend or principle.” Some days after, he told me," he had appointed you a day, and you had not kept it;" upon which he reproached me, as engaging for more than I could answer; and advised me to more caution another time. I told him, and desired my Lord Chancellor and Lord Bolingbroke to be witnesses, that I would never speak for or against you as long as I lived; only I would, and that it was still my opinion, you should have mercy till you gave farther provocations. This is the history of what you * "It has unluckily happened that two or three lines have been torn by accident from the beginning of this letter; and, by the same accident, two or three lines are missing towards the latter part, which were written on the back part of the paper which was torn off. But what remains of this letter will, I presume, be very satisfactory to the intelligent reader, upon many accounts." For this note, and for the letter itself, we are indebted to the late Deane Swift, esq. + See above, p. 273. Lord Harcourt. think fit to call, in the spirit of insulting," their laughing at me:" and you may do it securely; for, by the most inhuman dealings, you have wholly put it out of my power, as a Christian, to do you the least ill office. Next I desire to know, whether the greatest services ever done by one man to another, may not have the same turn as properly applied to them? And, once more, suppose they did laugh at me, I ask whether my inclinations to serve you merit to be rewarded by the vilest treatment, whether they succeeded or no? If your interpretation were true, I was laughed at only for your sake; which, I think, is going pretty far to serve a friend. As to the letter I complain of, I appeal to your most partial friends, whether you ought not either to have asked, or written to me, or desired to have been informed by a third hand, whether I were any way concerned in writing the Examiner? And, if I had shuffled, or answered indirectly, or affirmed, or said, I would not give you satisfaction; you might then have wreaked your revenge with some colour of justice. I have several times assured Mr. Addison, and fifty others, "that I had not the least hand in writing any of those papers; and that I had never exchanged one syllable with the supposed Author in my life, that I can remember, nor even seen him above twice, and that in mixed company, in a place where he came to pay his attendance *." One thing * It is clear that Swift all along alludes to Oldisworth as the Author of the Examiner. Steele, on the contrary, sets out on the supposition that those papers' were still the production of Swift and Mrs. Manley. more 1 more I must observe to you, that, a year or two ago, when some printers used to bring me their papers in manuscript, I absolutely forbid them to give any hints against Mr. Addison and you, and some others; and have frequently struck out reflections upon you in particular, and should (I believe) have done it still, if I had not wholly left off troubling myself about those kind of things. I protest, I never saw any thing more liable to exception, than every part is of the letter you were pleased to write me. You plead, "that I do not, in mine to Mr. Addison, in direct terms, say I am not concerned with the Examiner.” And is that, an excuse for the most savage injuries in the world a week before? How far you can prevail with the Guardian, I shall not trouble myself to enquire; and am more concerned how you will clear your own honour and conscience than my reputation. I shall hardly lose one friend by what I know not any you * you absurdity of yours. There are solecisms in morals as well as in languages; and to which of the virtues conduct to me, is past my will reconcile your imagination. Be pleased to put these questions to yourself: "If Dr. Swift be entirely innocent of what I accuse him, how shall I be able to make him satisfaction? and how do I know but he may be entirely innocent? If he was laughed at only because he solicited for me, is that sufficient reason for me to say the vilest things of him in print, un * Here the manuscript is torn. See p. 276. der der my hand, without any provocation? And how do I know but he may be in the right, when he says I was kept in my employment at his interposition? If he never once reflected on me the least in, any paper, and hath hindered many others from doing it, how can I justify myself, for endeavouring in mine to ruin his credit as a Christian and a clergyman?" I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, 222. TO DR. SWIFT. JON. SWIFT. I SIR, BLOOMSBURY, MAY 26, 1713. HAVE received yours, and find it is impossible for a man to judge in his own case. For an allusion to you, as one under the imputation of helping the Examiner *, and owning I was restrained out of * When the curious reader has considered what is forcibly alledged in the notes on the Tatler ut supra, he will probably be convinced of three things: 1. That Steele's estranged friend was really an accomplice of the Examiner, and an actual writer in that paper, long after the time commonly supposed; 2. That Steele was not guilty of that ingratitude to Mr. Harley, of which he has been accused; and, 3. That the disagreement of two such men as Swift and Steele is a melancholy proof of the lengths respect to you, you tell Addison, under your hand, you think me the vilest of mankind," and bid him tell me so. I am obliged to you for any kind things said in my behalf to the Treasurer; and assure you, when you were in Ireland, you were the constant subject of my talk to men in power at that time. As to the vilest of mankind, it would be a glorious world if I were: for I would not conceal my thoughts in favour of an injured man, though all the powers on earth gainsaid it, to be made the first man in the Nation. This position, I know, will ever obstruct my way in the world; and I have conquered my desires accordingly. I have resolved to content myself with what I can get by my own industry, and the improvement of a small estate, without being anxious whether I am ever in a Court again or not. I do assure you, I do not speak this calmly, after the ill usage in your letter to Addison, out of terror of your wit, or my Lord Treasurer's power; but pure kindness to the agreeable qualities I once so passionately delighted in, in you. You know, I know nobody, but one that talked after you, could tell "Addison had bridled me in point of party." This was ill hinted, both with relation to him, and, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, RICH. STEELE. lengths to which party madness will carry even the best of men. -But peace be to the manes of them both! The publisher of this volume will be happy if, by any little endeavour of his, the wreath of fame which they have so justly obtained should bloom more brightly. |