spite to his person which they ever expressed against his order." May 12, 1713, after several sparrings between the Examiner and the Guardian, Steele thus indirectly states, in the Guardian, N°. 53, that the Examiner was written either by Dr. Swift or Mrs. Manley: "I have been told, by familiar friends, that they saw me such a time talking to the Examiner; others, who have rallied me upon the sins of my youth, tell me it is credibly reported, that I have formerly lain with the Examiner. I have carried my point, and rescued innocence from calumny; and it is nothing to me, whether the Examiner writes against me in the character of an estranged friend, or an exasperated mistress.”—This paragraph raised the indignation of Swift*; who complained of it to their common friend Mr. Addison: " Is he so ignorant," Swift says, "of my temper, and of my style? Had he never heard that the author of the Examiner (to whom I am altogether a stranger) did a month or two ago, vindicate me from having any concern with it? Should not Mr. Steele have first expostulated with me as a friend ?"-In a letter which this produced from Steele it being "In the latter part of Swift's life, affliction throws a sacredness around him, that sets discernment and discrimination at defiance. My eye tries in vain to get a glimpse of his features; it can see nothing distinctly for tears. But in his best condition, his virulent treatment of Steele, and his very many unaccountable instances of insolence and caprice, seem to have been indications or ebullitions of that insanity, which afterwards overpowered him." Dr. Calder, in the notes on the Tatler, 1786, vol. v. p. 311. N. still insinuated that Swift was an accomplice of the Examiner: he thus indignantly repels the charge: "I appeal to your most partial friends, whether you might not either have asked or written to me, or desired to have been informed by a third hand, whether I were any way concerned in writing the Examiner? And if I had shuffled, or answered indirectly, or affirmed it, or said I would not give you satisfaction; you might then have wreaked your revenge with some colour of justice. I have several times assured Mr. Addison, and fifty others, that I had not the least hand in writing any of those papers; and that I had never exchanged one syllable with the supposed author in my life, that I can remember, nor even seen him above twice, and that in mixed company, or in a place where he came to pay his attendance." Of Swift's Examiners, Dr. Johnson observes, that "in argument he may be allowed to have the advantage; for, where a wide system of conduct, and the whole of a publick character, is laid open to inquiry, the accuser, having the choice of facts, must be very unskilful if he does not prevail."-Lord Orrery, who commends the Examiners for their "nervous style, clear diction, and great knowledge of the true landed interest of England," observes, that "their author was elated with the appearance of enjoying ministerial confidence;" that "he was employed, not trusted." Remarks, &c. Letter iv. The earl of Chesterfield also asserts, that "the lie of the day was coined and delivered out to him, to write Examiners and other political papers upon." It may be proper, proper, however, to take notice, that neither of these noble peers appear to have seen Swift's "Preface” to his "History of the Four last Years of the Queen ;" and, with all due deference to these great authorities, the present Editor cannot but be of opinion, that Swift's manly fortitude and very accurate discernment of the human heart would have prevented his being a dupe to the intrigues of a statesman, however dignified. He himself assures us, "that he was of a temper to think no man great enough to set him on work:" that "he absolutely refused to be chaplain to the lord treasurer, because he thought it would ill become him to be in a state of dependance." Indeed his whole conduct in that busy period (in which "it was his lot to have been daily conversant with the persons then in power; never absent in times of business or conversation, until a few weeks before her majesty's death; and a witness of every step they made in the course of their administration") demonstrates the respectable situation he then so ably filled. And when at last the time arrived in which he was to be rewarded for his services, in how different a light does he appear from that of a hireling writer ! He frankly told the treasurer," he could not with any reputation stay longer here, unless he had something honourable immediately given to him." Whilst his noble patrons were undetermined whether he should be promoted to St. Patrick's or to a stall at Windsor, he openly assured lord Bolingbroke, "he would not stay for their disputes." And we find he exerted his interest so effectually with the duke of Ormond, as to over rule rule a prejudice that nobleman had conceived against Dr. Sterne, whose promotion to the see of Dromore made the vacancy at St. Patrick's. "The duke, with great kindness, said, he would consent; but would do it for no man else but me." Swift acknowledges "this affair was carried with great difficulty;" but adds, "they say here, it is much to my reputation, that I have made a bishop in spite of the world, and to get the best deanery in Ireland." N. THE THE EXAMINER. NUMBER XIV. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1710. longa est injuria, longæ The tale is intricate, perplex'd, and long: IT 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 splenetic, profess such violent apprehensions for the publick, and represent the state of things in such formidable ideas, that I find myself disposed to share in their afflictions; although I know them |