Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3.djvu/11



longa est injuria, longæ Ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.

The tale is intricate, perplex'd, and long: Hear then, in short, the story of her wrong.

T is a practice I have generally followed, to converse in equal freedom with the deserving men of both parties; and it was never without some contempt, that I have observed persons wholly out of employment, affect to do otherwise. I doubted, whether any man could owe so much to the side he was of, although he were retained by it; but without some great point of interest, either in possession or prospect, I thought it was the mark of a low and narrow spirit.

It is hard that for some weeks past, I have been forced, in my own defence, to follow a proceeding that I have so much condemned in others. But several of my acquaintance among the declining party, are grown so insufferably peevish and Rh