Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/177

Rh ever she moved the queen to discard some persons, who, upon all occasions, with great virulence, opposed the court, her majesty would constantly refuse, and at the same time condemn her for too much party-zeal." Such being the queen's system of conduct, it is evident that Swift must have been more obnoxious to her than any man living, as he was the most unwearied in his endeavours to counteract her views, by rooting out the whigs entirely, and therefore she must constantly have looked upon him with an evil eye. But when at last he made a direct artempt to get her to discharge her favourite, the duchess of Somerset, in a copy of verses addressed to the queen, the most bitter, with regard to the duchess, perhaps, that ever was penned, called The Windsor Prophecy; the queen gave evident marks of her displeasure, and took afterward an opportunity of showing her resentment to the author, by proclaiming a reward of three hundred pounds for discovering the author of a pamphlet, called The Public Spirit of the Whigs, which she knew to have been written by Swift, in support of the ministry. This fact he has commemorated, in a copy of verses on himself, where, speaking of the duchess of Somerset, he says,

From her red locks her mouth with venom fills, And thence into the royal ear instils. The queen incens'd, his services forgot, Leaves him a victim to the vengeful Scot: Now thro' the realm a proclamation spread. To fix a price on his devoted head: While innocent, he scorns ignoble flight. His watchful friends preserve him by a sleight. And