Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/398

362 not think proper to state what those motives were; and after having drawn Sheridan's character, with as little regard to truth, and in many points, as little resemblance to the original as any of his other portraits, he assigns Swift's close attachment to him to the meanest and most selfish motives; where he says, "In this situation, and with this disposition, Swift fastened upon him as upon a prey, with which he intended to regale himself whenever his appetite should prompt him. Sheridan therefore was kept constantly within his reach; and the only time he was permitted to go beyond the limits of his chain, was, to take possession of a living in the county of Corke, which had been bestowed upon him by the then lord lieutenant of Ireland."

For many years after this fruitless attempt to serve his friend, Swift had it not in his power to promote his interests in any other way, being the most obnoxious of any man living to those who were then in power. But on the appointment of lord Carteret to the government of Ireland, who had been one of his old friends, doctor Sheridan was the first he recommended to his protection. He got him appointed one of his domestick chaplains, with a promise of making a provision for him in the church. Lord Carteret, who was himself an excellent scholar, soon distinguished the doctor's merit in that line, nor was he less pleased with him as a companion, often inviting him to his private parties, and sometimes, laying his state aside, he would steal out from the castle in a hackney chair, to pass the evening at Sheridan's with Swift, and the select set which used to meet there. By the desire of the lord lieutenant, the doctor had one of the tragedies of Sophocles performed by his scholars for his entertain-