Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/34

xvi in the paths of just and candid criticism, instead of associating himself with lord Orrery to the band of true criticks. Of which body he has shown himself no unworthy member, not on this occasion only, but in the many severe strictures passed on the lives and writings of some of the greatest geniuses this country has produced; to the no small indignation of their several admirers, and to the great regret of the doctor's own. As this work is more likely to be generally read than any of the others, both on account uf the great reputation of the author, and as it will of course present itself to the eyes of all who shall go through his collection of lives, I shall hereafter take an opportunity of making some comments upon those passages, which tend to depreciate and misrepresent the character of so great a man. These several publications, which place the life and character of Swift in very different, and often opposite points of light, have occasioned great diversity in the judgments formed of them by the world, according to the different degrees of prejudice, or candour, in their several readers. But as the sale of the first essay on this subject, written by lord Orrery, was infinitely superiour to that of all the others put together, the prepossessions in favour of the accounts delivered by him, have, for reasons already assigned, made too deep an impression on the bulk of mankind, to be easily erased. I have before taken notice of the scantiness of his materials, which yet he has not ranged in any regular order; and which consist chiefly of detached facts and unconnected anecdotes, so that there is no appearance of a whole. The portrait he has drawn of him, puts one in mind of tain