Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 2.djvu/15

Rh thought more eligible to put them together; in the text innumerable passages have been restored, which were evidently corrupt in every other edition, whether printed in England or Ireland.

"Among the notes will be found some remarks on those of another writer; for which no apology can be thought necessary, if it be considered that the same act is justice if the subject is a criminal, which would have been murder if executed on the innocent.

"Lord Orrery has been so far from acting upon the principle on which Mr. Pope framed this petition in his Universal Prayer,

"Teach me To hide the faults I see,"

that, where he has not found the appearance of a fault, he has laboured hard to make one.

"Lord Orrery has also supposed the Dean himself to have been the editor of at least six volumes of the Irish edition of his works; but the contrary will incontestibly appear upon a comparison of that edition with this, as well by those passages which were altered under colour of correction, as by those in which accidental imperfections were suffered to remain.

"The editor of the Irish edition has also taken into his collection several spurious pieces in verse, which the Dean zealously disavowed, and which therefore he would certainly have excluded from any collection printed under his inspection and with his consent. But there is evidence of another kind to prove that the Dean never revised any edition of his works for Faulkner to print; and that on the contrary he was unwilling that Faulkner should print then