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673 collected into four volumes 12mo., and have gone through several impressions. The seventh and last was printed in 1771.

1745. The Biographia Britannica commenced. This work was undertaken by John Campbell, and published in weekly numbers. It was completed in seven volumes folio. In 1777 a new edition was begun under the superintendence of Dr. Andrew Kippis; it is a work of considerable magnitude, and still holds a respectable station in our national literature.

1745, Oct. 19. Died,, the celebrated dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin. Of a life so various, and so full of business as Swift's we know not what part we could select consistent with the limits of this work, that would not rather excite curiosity than gratify it. Swift was born in Dublin, November 30, 1667, at No. 7, Hoey's-court. The earlier part of his life was spent chiefly in England, and in connexion with the Whigs; he afterwards became a Tory, and was the friend of Pope, Bolingbroke, and other wits of that party. His works are chiefly of a political character, and were written only to serve a temporary end; yet they are such models of satirical composition, that they still continue to form a constituent portion of every good English library. They are written with great plainness, force, and intrepidity, and always advance at once to the matter in dispute. Their distinguishing feature, however, is the force and vehemence of the invective in which they abound; the copiousness, the steadiness, the perseverance, and the dexterity, with which abuse and ridicule are showered upon the adversary. This was, beyond all doubt, Swift's great talent, and the weapon by which he made himself formidable. His earliest work of importance was his Tale of a Tub, published anonymously in 1704, and designed as a burlesque of the disputes among the Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians. For some years after, he was employed entirely in political and occasional writings, the most remarkable of which was his pamphlet called The Conduct of the Allies, published in 1711, by which he disposed the nation to submit to a peace, then anxiously desired by the ministry. The displacement of his party in 1714, by George I., sent him into retirement in Ireland, and he scarcely resumed his pen till 1724, when he published a series of letters under the signature of M. B. Drapier, already alluded to. By these and other tracts, in behalf of the popular party in Ireland, he became the idol of the common people, and is said to have possessed far more real power than the highest of the constituted authorities. An archbishop, who was also a lord-justice of the kingdom, once taxed him with exasperating the mob; when Swift promptly refuted the charge by saying, "If I had lifted up my little finger they would have torn you to pieces." These writings, however, did not so much proceed from any real sympathy with the people, as from a hatred of the party who had then possession of the government. The most perfect of the larger compositions of Swift, and that by which he will probably be longest remembered, is the extraordinary work called Gulliver's Travels, which appeared in 1726, and was altogether a novelty in English literature. Its main design is, under the form of fictitious travels, to satirize mankind and the institutions of civilized countries; but the scenes and nations which it describes are so wonderful and amusing, that the book is as great a favourite with children, as with those who delight in contemplating the imperfections of human nature. The curiosity it excited at its first appearance was unbounded; it was the universal topic of discourse; prints from it filled the shopwindows; it gave denominations to fashions; and, what is a stronger proof of its popularity, it introduced words which have become a part of the English language. In the latter part of his life, he published another burlesque on the social world, under the title of Polite Conversation, being an almost exact representation of the unpremeditated talk of ordinary persons. A still more ludicrous and satirical work appeared after his death, under the title of Directions to Servants. Swift also wrote many letters, which rank among the best compositions of that kind