Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 3.djvu/351

Rh without communication is not, in my opinion, balanced by the anonymous protestation prefixed, in which all knowledge of the French book is peremptorily disowned.

For some time after, Swift was probably employed in solitary study, gaining the qualifications requisite for future eminence. How often he visited England, and with what diligence he attended his parishes, I know not. It was not till about four years afterwards that he became a professed author; and then one year (1708) produced "The sentiments of a Church-of-England Man;" the ridicule of Astrology, under the name of "Bickerstaff;" the "Argument against abolishing Christianity;" and the defence of the "Sacramental Test."

"The sentiments of a Church-of-England Man" is written with great coolness, moderation, ease, and perspicuity. The "Argument against abolishing Christianity" is a very happy and judicious irony. One passage in it deserves to be selected. "If