Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/171

 he says, "Remember, if I am used ill and ungratefully, as I have formerly been, 'tis what I am prepared for, and shall not wonder at it.' And in that of October following, he says to Stella, "I have no shuddering at all to think of retiring to my old circumstances, if you can be easy."

But while Swift was thus letting occasions slip, and the ministers deferring the reward of his services, there was a cabal forming at court, which put a stop to his promotion for a while, and had nearly prevented a possibility of it during that reign. It is to be observed, that however high he was in favour with the ministry, it does not appear that he ever stood well with the queen, or that she once gave him the least mark of her countenance or favour. Swift had mentioned to Stella, early in his Journal, that Mr. Harley had said, he would present him to the queen; but in his subsequent one of January 1710-11, he says, "Mr. Harley, of late, has said nothing of presenting me to the queen. — I was overseen when I mentioned it to you. He has such a weight of affairs on him, that he cannot mind all; but he talked of it three or four times to me, long before I dropt it to you." Nor does it appear afterward, through the course of the Journal, that this was ever done, or that the queen took the least notice of him. On the contrary, it is to be seen in many places of Swift's works, that she had imbibed strong prejudices against him; first, from Dr. Sharpe, archbishop of York, who represented him as a freethinker, or infidel; a character which that religious queen must, above all others, detest in a clergyman: and next, from the duchess of Somerset, her favourite, who