Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/30

xii extinguished by his death, as in the case of others, because his immortal works still continued a living war against the base measures they pursued. It was with delight therefore they read over a work, which painted him in the same colours, in which they had always endeavoured to represent him. The bulk of mankind, finding that the accounts there given, coincided with the general prejudices founded on common fame, readily received them as true. And that spirit of envy, an inmate in the breasts of most men, which delights in seeing those of superiour talents degraded, and brought down more to a level with themselves, was highly gratified by the perusal of that book. Nor was it the least cause of an extensive sale, that it was written by a lord; a thing so rare in latter times! Wonder, usually accompanied by a bad taste, looks out only for what is uncommon; and if a work comes abroad under the name of a thresher, a bricklayer, or a lord, it is sure to be eagerly sought after by the million.

To these, and similar causes, was owing the favourable reception this book met with; which, in itself, contains little that could be approved of by men of true taste. What relates to Swift's Life, from the scantiness of his materials, does not take up a sixth portion of the whole. The greater part of the remainder, consists of useless or invidious criticisms on his works. Yet all this not being sufficient to make up a just volume, (according to the booksellers phrase) he has eked it out from his commonplace book, in order to show his learning, by introducing several dissertations, foreign to the subject in hand: such as those on madness, idiotism; characters of Homer, Aristotle; of Ramus, Scotus, and nas;