Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/542

 hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, I think, to five pounds. He took no interest, and only required that at repayment, a small fee should be given to the accomptant; but he required that the day of promised payment should be exactly kept. A severe and punctilious temper is ill qualified for transactions with the poor; the day was often broken, and the loan was not repaid. This might have been easily foreseen; but for this Swift had made no provision of patience or pity. He ordered his debtors to be sued. A severe creditor has no popular character; what then was likely to be said of him who employs the catchpoll under the appearance of charity? The clamour against him was loud, and the resentment of the populace outrageous; he was therefore forced to drop his scheme, and own the folly of expecting punctuality from the poor."

Now I do assert, from my own knowledge, that there is not one syllable of truth in this whole account, from the beginning to the end. I have before shown what wise precautions Swift took to prevent any diminution of this fund; which were so effectual, that it held out entire to the last, and the circulation of it continued unimpaired, till he was deprived of his understanding; as numbers of families, who now live in credit, and who originally owed their establishment to what was borrowed from that fund, can attest. From his first setting out in this passage, we see how willing the doctor was to depreciate this noble charity, where he says — "He set aside some hundreds to be lent in small sums to the poor, from five shillings, I think, to five pounds." Some hundreds, may mean two or three hundred, had he consulted any of his Memoir writers,