Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 2.djvu/55



Tale of a Tub was planned and composed about 1692, by Jonathan Swift, afterwards D. D. and Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; but whether by him alone, or in concert and conjunction with another of his family and name, is not quite so clear; as it is, that great part of it was designed in favour and in honour of sir William Temple, on whom the Swifts were dependent in some sort, and under obligations to him. When the Tale, &c. was first printed, Mr. Wotton speaks of it, as generally believed to have been written, or published however, by a brother of Jonathan's; which brother, he adds, was preferred by lord Somers, at sir W. Temple's request, to a very good benefice, in one of the most delicious parts of one of the Rh