Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/10

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vm. JAN. i, 1021. second of these sections there are severa pieces relating to English politics, such a 'The Run upon the Bankers,' 'The Horric Plot discovered by Harlequin, the Bishc of Rochester's Dog,' 'The Dog and Thief and ' Mr. Pulteney being put out of th Council.' No attention has been paid t chronology in placing the pieces written during the agitation against Wood's coppe coinage and some of these pieces ar separated by an interval of many page from the others. Finally, the last section is devoted to pieces which are designated Trifles, bu presented as they are without method o comment they might more fitly be termec Nonsense. Pieces which have an importan bearing on Swift's life are mixed with pieces of no value, and by the ingenuity of successive editors the battle of rime between Swift and Sheridan has been broken up until it is unintelligible. No verse requires annotation more than that of Swift. In it the spirit of poetry has no part, and each piece has its origin in some public or private incident. Wha1 light is thrown on ' A Ballad on the Game Traffic ' and 'A Ballad to the Tune of the Cut-purse,' when it is known that they were written at the same time in the summer of 1702 after the famous Gloucestershire elec- tion in which Jack Howe was a protagonist, and that the scene was Berkeley Castle and not as one of the headings states Dublin Castle. What interest does it give to ' The Journal of a Modern Lady ' and ' An Epistle to a Lady who desired the Author to make Verses on her in the Heroic Style,' when it is known that the lady was the wife of Lord Gosford's ancestor, Sir Arthur Acheson, and the only child of Philip Savage, one of the great men of Ireland in Swift's day. What light is thrown on ' The Progress of Marriage ' when it is known that the marriage in question was that of Dean Pratt, erstwhile Provost of Trinity College, to Lady Philippa Hamilton, and that the autograph is dated January, 1722, a few weeks after Pratt 's death. Again what light is thrown on the 'Directions for making & Birthday Song ' when it is known that the autograph is dated October, 1729, and that its recipient was the wily Matthew Pilkington who produced soon afterwards aij ode for the birthday of George II. The present collection of Swift's verse has been the work of many hands. The first collection was in the Miscellanies which were issued by John Morphew in 1711. It comprised thirteen pieces. That collection was followed by the one in the Miscellanies in which Swift and Pope joined in 1727. It added twenty-two pieces to the thirteen,, which were reprinted in it. To these there were added in another volume of Swift and Pope's Miscellanies, published in 1732, ten more pieces. Then in 1735 the prince of Dublin printers as Swift called George Faulkner, issued as the second volume of his edition of Swift's Works a collection in which an addition of sixty pieces was made to the forty -five previously collected. To that collection Faulkner added further in the sixth, eighth and eleventh volumes of his edition of Swift's Works issued respectively in 1738, 1746,. and 1762. Meantime in England Dr. John- son's contemporary, John Hawkesworth,. whose ambition was greater than his per- formance, took a part, and to him suc- ceeded John Nichols, whose researches in relation to Swift have afforded vast material for subsequent editors and biographers. Finally, Vice-Provost Barrett, whose fame now rests more on his penurious habits than on his academic attainments, and Sir Walter Scott gave their aid. The efforts of the later contributors to the collection have resulted in the addition not only of pieces of doubtful authenticity, >ut even of pieces actually known to be written by others. Amongst these are Jack Frenchman's Lamentation,' which as Prof. Firth kindly pointed out to me was written by Congreve ; ' The Garden Plot, ' which was written by Dr. William King ; A Town Eclogue,' which was written by Jonathan Smedley, Leonard Welsted, and )wo others ; ' John Deritiis, the Sheltering ^oet's Invitation to Richard Steele,'; 'A r'arody on the Speech of the Provost of ^rinity College to the Prince of Wales ' ; Dr. Delany's Villa,' which was written by heridan ; ' To the Citizens ' ; 'A Young ^ady's Complaint for the stay of Dean wift in England ' ; ' The Logicians Refuted, ? which is claimed as the work of Goldsmith ,' A Vindication of the Libel,' which was written by William Dunkin ; ' An Ode to lumphrey French, ' and ' An Answer to a friend's Question.' In addition John ^orster has attributed to Swift ' An Answer .o Lines from Mayfair, ' which appears to * aave been written by Prior. On the other land several pieces correctly attributed to wift, by the earlier contributors to the ollection have been rejected by their uccessors. Amongst these are 'The Life