The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 18/A Pretended Letter of Thanks from Lord Wharton to the Bishop of St. Asaph
A PRETENDED
LETTER OF THANKS
FROM
TO THE
IN THE NAME OF
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
REMARKS ON THE BISHOP'S PREFACE.
FIRST PRINTED IN 1712.
"Do you know that Grub street is dead and gone last week? No more ghosts or murders now for love or money. I plied it close the last fortnight, and published at least seven papers[1] of my own, beside some of other people's; but now every single half sheet pays a halfpenny to the queen. The Observator is fallen; the Medleys are jumbled together with the Flyingpost; the Examiner is deadly sick; the Spectator keeps up, and doubles its price; I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked with? methinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny."
MY LORD,
IT was with no little satisfaction I undertook the pleasing task, assigned me by the gentlemen of the Kitcat club[3], of addressing your lordship with thanks for your late service so seasonably done to our sinking cause, in reprinting those most excellent discourses, which you had formerly preached with so great applause, though they were never heard of by us till they were recommended to our perusal by the Spectator, who some time since, in one of his papers[4], entertained the town with a paragraph out of the Postboy, and your lordship's extraordinary preface.
The world will perhaps be surprised, that gentlemen of our complexion, who have so long been piously employed in overturning the foundations of religion and government, should now stoop to the puny amusement of reading and commending sermons. But your lordship can work miracles, as well as write on them; and I dare assure your lordship and the world, that there is not an atheist in the whole kingdom (and we are no inconsiderable party) but will readily subscribe to the principles so zealously advanced and so learnedly maintained in those discourses.
I cannot but observe with infinite delight, that the reasons your lordship gives for reprinting those immortal pieces are urged with that strength and force which is peculiar to your lordship's writings, and is such as all who have any regard for truth, or relish for good writing, must admire, though none can sufficiently commend.
In a word, the preface is equal to the sermons: less than that ought not, and more cannot, be said of it. In this you play the part of a prophet, with the same address as that of a preacher in those; and, in a strain no ways inferiour to Jeremiah, or any of those old pretenders to inspiration, sagely foretel those impending miseries which seem to threaten these nations, by the introduction of popery and arbitrary power. This a man of less penetration than your lordship, without a spirit of divination, or going to the devil for the discovery, may justly, "fear and presage, from the natural tendency of several principles and practices which have of late been so studiously revived." I know your lordship means those long since exploded doctrines of obedience, and submission to princes, which were only calculated to make "a free and happy people slaves and miserable." Who but asses, and packhorses, and beasts of burden, can entertain such servile notions? What! shall the lives and liberties of a freeborn nation be sacrificed to the pride and ambition, the humour and caprice of any one single person? Kings and princes are the creatures of the people, meer state pageants, more for show than use; and shall we fall down and worship those idols, those golden calves of our own setting up? No, never, as long as I can hold a sword, or your lordship a pen.
It was suitable to that admirable foresight, which is so conspicuous in every part of your lordship's conduct, to take this effectual method of delivering yourself "from the reproaches and curses of posterity, by publickly declaring to all the world, that though, in the constant course of your ministry, you have never failed, on proper occasions, to recommend the loving, honouring, and reverencing the prince's person," so as never to break his royal shins, nor tread upon his heels; yet you never intended men should pay any submission or obedience to him any longer than he acted according to the will and pleasure of his people. This, you say, is the opinion of Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul: and, faith, I am glad to hear it; for I never thought that they had been whigs before. But, since your lordship has thus taught them to declare for rebellion, you may easily persuade them to do as much for prophaneness and immorality; and then they, together with your lordship, shall be enrolled members of our club. Your lordship, a little after, (I suppose, to strengthen the testimony of the aforementioned authors) takes care to tell us, that "this always was, and still is, your own judgment in these matters." You need not fear we should suspect your constancy and perseverance; for my lord Somers, that great genius, who is the life and soul, the head and heart, of our party, has long since observed, that we have never been disappointed in any of our whig bishops; but they have always unalterably acted up, or, to speak properly, down to their principles.
It is impossible for me, my lord, in this short address, to do justice to every part of your incomparable preface: nor need I run riot in encomium and panegyrick, since you can perform that part so much better for yourself; for you only give those praises, which you only can deserve; as you have formerly proved in the dedication of your "Essay upon Miracles[5]," to Dr. Godolphin[6], where you declare your work to be the most perfect of any upon that subject, in order to pay a very uncommon compliment to your patron, by telling him you had prevailed with your modesty to say so much of your performance, because you would not be thought to make so ill a compliment to him, as to present him with what you had nor a great esteem for yourself.
Though I cannot go through the whole preface, yet I think myself obliged in gratitude to thank your lordship in a more particular manner for the last part of it, where you display the glories of the whig ministry in such strong and lasting colours, as must needs cheer and refresh the sight of all whig spectators, and dazzle the eyes of the tories. Here your lordship rises, if possible, above yourself. Never was such strength of thought, such beauty of expression, so happily joined together. Heavens! such force, such energy, in each pregnant word! such fire, such fervour, in each glowing line! One would think your lordship was animated with the same spirit with which our hero fought. Who can read, unmoved, these following strokes of oratory? "Such was the fame, such was the reputation, such was the faithfulness and zeal, to such a height of military glory, such was the harmony and consent, such was the blessing of God," &c. O! the irresistible charm of the word such! Well, since Erasmus wrote a treatise in praise of Folly[7]; and my lord Rochester an excellent poem upon Nothing, I am resolved to employ the Spectator, or some of his fraternity (dealers in words), to write an encomium upon Such. But, whatever changes our language may undergo (and every thing that is English is given to change), this happy word is sure to live in your immortal preface. Your lordship does not end yet; but, to crown all, has another such in reserve, where you tell the world, "We were just entering on the ways that lead to such a peace as would have answered all our prayers," &c. Now, perhaps, some snarling tory might impertinently inquire, when we might have expected such a peace? I answer, when the Dutch could get nothing by the war, nor we whigs lose any thing by a peace; or, to speak in plain terms (for every one knows I am a free speaker as well as a freethinker), when we had exhausted all the nation's treasure (which every body knows could not have been long first), and so far enriched ourselves, and beggared our fellow subjects, as to bring them under a necessity of submitting to what conditions we should think fit to impose; and this too we should have effected, if we had continued in power. But, alas I just in that critical juncture, when (as we thought) our designs were ripe for execution, the scene changed: "God, for our sins," as your lordship wisely observes, "permitted the spirit of discord" (that is, the doctrine of obedience and submission to princes) "to go forth, and, by troubling the camp, the city, and the country (and O that it had spared the places sacred to his worship!) to spoil, for a time, this beautiful and pleasing prospect, and give us in its stead, I know not what . . . . . ." O exquisite! how pathetically does your lordship complain of the downfall of whiggism, and Daniel Burgess's meeting house[8]! The generous compassion your lordship has shown upon this tragical occasion makes me believe your lordship will not be unaffected with an accident that had like to have befallen a poor whore of my acquaintance about that time, who, being big with whig, was so alarmed at the rising of the mob, that she had like to have miscarried upon it; for the logical jade presently concluded (and the inference was natural enough) that, if they began with pulling down meeting houses, it might end in demolishing those houses of pleasure where she constantly paid her devotion; and, indeed, there seems a close connexion between extempore prayer and extempore love. I doubt not, if this disaster had reached your lordship before, you would have found some room in that moving parenthesis, to have expressed your concern for it.
I come now to that last stroke of your lordship's almighty pen; I mean that expressive dash . . . . . . . which you give when you come to the new ministry, where you break off with an artful aposiopesis, and, by refusing to say any thing of them yourself, leave your readers to think the worst they possibly can. Here your lordship shows yourself a most consummate orator, when even your very silence is thus eloquent.
Before I take my leave, I cannot but congratulate your lordship upon that distinguishing mark of honour which the house of commons has done your preface, by ordering it to be burnt[9]. This will add a never failing lustre to your character, when future ages shall read, how a few pages of your lordship's could alarm the representative body of the nation. I know your lordship had rather live in a blaze, than lie buried in obscurity; and would at any rate purchase immortality, though it be in flames. Fire, being a mounting element, is a proper emblem of your lordship's aspiring genius.
I shall detain your lordship no longer; but, according to your example, conclude with a short prayer (though praying, I confess, is not my talent) — May you never want opportunities of thus signalizing yourself; but be "transmitted to posterity," under the character of one who dares sacrifice every thing that is most dear to you (even your own darling labours) to promote the interest of our party; and stand sainted in the whig calendar, as a martyr for the cause! This is the sincere wish of the greatest (next yourself) of your lordship's admirers,
- ↑ One of these was probably the pamphlet here reprinted.
- ↑ Dr. William Fleetwood.
- ↑ This club, which consisted of the most distinguished wits and statesmen among the whigs, was remarkable for the strictest zeal toward the house of Hanover. They met at a little house in Shire lane, and took their title from the real name of a pastrycook who excelled in making mutton pies, which were regularly a part of their entertainment. The portraits of this society, drawn by sir Godfrey Kneller, were all at Barnes, in the possession of the late Mr. Jacob Tonson, whose father was a member. Sir Godfrey's own portrait is among them, of a smaller size than the others. From these portraits, "Kitcat" became a technical term in painting. — Dr. King, who was undoubtedly a first rate writer de re culinaria, has pointed out the merits of their proveditor, in his admirable Art of Cookery,
"Immortal made as Kitcat by his Pies!"
- ↑ The Spectator, No. 384, May 21, 1712. The preface was severely reprehended by the Examiner, No. 26, May 29; and more humourously in the remarks annexed to this letter.
- ↑ Which was first published in 1701.
- ↑ Vice provost of Eaton, and residentiary of St. Paul's.
- ↑ The "Moriæ Encomium" Erasmus wrote, within the compass of a week, at the house of his friend More, with whom he lodged on his arrival in England. A copy of it was sent to France, and printed there with abundance of faults; yet it took so well, that in a few months it went through seven editions.
- ↑ The mob that attended Dr. Sacheverell to his trial attacked Mr. Burgess's meeting house, Feb. 28, 1709-10; and, having pulled down the pulpit, pews, &c. made a bonfire of them in Lincoln's Inn Fields; and would have thrown the preacher in, if they had found him. A proclamation was issued, March 2, offering a reward of a hundred pounds, for apprehending any of the rioters. It appears that the only two who were discovered (whose names were Damaree and Purchase) were unhappy ignorant whigs, who did not even know which party their conduct was assisting: they both received the queen's pardon.
- ↑ This was performed May 12, 1712. See an admirable letter on that occasion to bishop Burnet, June 17, 1712, in the preface to bishop Fleetwood's works. — The vote was carried in the house by a majority of 119, against 54; among the dissenting voices, were sir Peter King, sir Joseph Jekyll, Mr. Lechmere, and others of the long robe. "The complaint" (says the bishop) "was made by Hungerford, and seconded by Manley (people that indeed should have been ordered to have burnt it), and thirded by what we call the court; and carried by numbers, without a wise word said against it." — The dean's "Remarks on the Bishop's Preface," formerly printed at the end of this tract, will be found in vol. XVI. p. 339.