The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 18/Letter from John Browne to Jonathan Swift - 1

by John Browne

FROM SIR JOHN BROWNE.

DAWSON STREET,

BY a strange fatality, though you were the only person in the world from whom I would conceal my being an author, yet you were unaccountably the only one let into the secret of it: the ignorant poor man who was entrusted by me to deliver out the little books^[1], though he kept the secret from all others, yet, from the nature of the subject, concluded that I could have no interest in concealing it from you, who were so universally known to be an indefatigable promoter of the welfare of Ireland. But, though the accident gave me some uneasiness at first; yet, when I consider your character, I cannot doubt (however slender the foundation of such a hope may be from any merits of my own) your generosity will oblige you to conceal what chance has revealed to you, and incline you to judge of me, not from the report of my enemies, but from what I appear in the little tracts which have waited on you.

I shall not presume, sir, to detain you with the narrative of the original and progress of the parliamentary accusations and votes against me; although, would you do me the honour to inquire, I could easily convince you, from my own particular case, that men have two characters, one which is either good or bad, according to the prevailing number of their friends or enemies; and one which never varies for either: one which has little or no regard to the virtue or vice of the subject, and one which regards that alone, is inherent (if I may say so) in the subject, and describes it what it really is, without regard either to friends or enemies.

All I shall beg of you is, to suspend your judgment upon it; since all parties allow that, although I had several summons from the committee for Monday, and many evidences on the road in obedience to their summons, yet I was tied down by the committee the preceding Saturday, and deprived of the benetit of all my evidences, notwithstanding any thing I could urge to the contrary. This, I hope, I may say without injury to Mr. Bingham: for sure he may be entirely innocent, and yet a magistrate under the immediate direction of the lord chief justice who takes examinations against him, examinations, that do not even contain matter to form an indictment upon, may be innocent also.

It shall suffice therefore to say, I went from Ireland loaded with the severest censures of the house of commons: injured, as I thought, and oppressed to the greatest degree imaginable; robbed of that character which was dearer to me than life itself; and all that by an overbearing, overpowering interest.

I sought in England for that peace and protection which was denied me at home. My publick character followed me: my countrymen avoided me. The nature of man is sociable: I was forced to herd with strangers. A prime minister, engaged in the success of a scheme, wants no emissaries to spy out all that makes for him, and to fly with what they have found to their employer. I was unfortunately set by those sort of creatures: my sentiments on the state of our money matters were industriously sifted through me; and when that was done, before I knew any thing of the matter, I was served with his majesty's summons: in a hurry I ran out of town, and staid in the country awhile; but, on my return again, found another summons at my lodgings; and terrified by the dismal effects of power at home from risking a second shipwreck abroad, I yielded to it, and appeared at the cockpit.

It is true, my appearance at the cockpit, to those who knew me only by the votes of the house of commons, must have looked like a design of a revenge; and I had many and powerful enemies, who gave all my actions the worst colour. But, to take the matter impartially, sir, is there no allowance to be made for a mind already broken by the dismal effects of prevailing power, and filled with the apprehensions of second dangers? Is there no allowance for a man, young in the knowledge of the world, under all these fears and misfortunes, if he has yielded to the repeated summons of the council of England, in which his majesty was present; and if he was there, after a long and strenuous opposition, forced to tell his sentiments, forced, sir, to tell his sentiments, not in the manner represented to the worlds but in a manner the most cautious of giving room for a pretence to oppose the inclinations of our parliament^[2]?

But, alas, the consequence! — You, sir, the defender of Ireland, were soon engaged against me on that account; and that fatal genius of yours, in an instant, ruined my character; but, even ruinbearing as it was, I blessed it: the cause which you undertook was dear to me; and, though fame is the last thing which one would sacrifice even for his country, yet I parted with that with pleasure, while you thought it necessary for the publick good so to do. But now the end is served, dear sir, may not the man have his mare again^[3]?

Plato, being told that certain persons aspersed his character, and represented him abroad as a very ill man; instead of expostulating with his enemies and returning reproach for reproach, concealed himself, saying, "No matter, my friends; the whole life of Plato shall give his accusers the lie."

Could I set before me a greater example? Under the general displeasure of my country, under all the censures which the restless malice of my enemies could devise, and under the keen edge of the drapier's wit; the only revenge in which I indulged myself was, by a steady love for my country, and by manifest acts of affection thereto, to be a silent reproach to the foul tongues of my enemies.

Permit then, sir, permit me in peace to take his great example; and no longer give way to the power of my enemies, by continuing to oppress me. They have already gained their cause by you: but I must say, it was not the sword of Ajax, but the armour of Achilles which he put on, that won the day.

The cause for which you undertook my ruin was the cause of my country: it was a good cause, and you shall ever find me of that side. You have carried it, and I know you will no longer be my enemy. But alas! as long as your works subsist, wherever they be read, even unto the end of time must I be branded as a villain? It is a hard sensence; and yet, unless the spear of Achilles, the same instrument which gave the wound, administer the remedy, it must be so.

In short, sir, you must be a man of honour, it is not possible that honour should be wanting, where all the distinguishing characteristicks of it are found: I cannot doubt it; and therefore I will let you fully into a secret, which accident has given you a part of; and I am sure you will keep it.

The source of all my misfortunes was the vote of the house of commons; but I have laboured however, as I always shall, to serve my country, and make myself agreeable to them: and, though the misfortune of a bad publick character deprived me of the private conversation of my countrymen, which is the surest and best way to know our true interest; yet I flatter myself that my little essays may be useful, at least they may be no bad beginning; and you know it is easy to add to a work once begun. But, if the work is known to be mine, the very name will condemn it, and render it useless to my country^[4].

Whatever the faults may be, I have publickly applied to you to amend them, before the bearer's mistake made me determine this private application to you: And I must say, that I shall reckon it no small degree of honour, if you take that trouble upon you.

In the mean time, I shall beg the favour of you to keep a secret, which no other person but my printer, my bookseller, and the bearer, knows.⁠I am,

Reverend sir, your most obedient servant,

JOHN BROWNE.

1. This treatise was, "A Memorial of the poor Inhabitants, Tradesmen, and Labourers, of the Kingdom of Ireland;" to which Dr. Swift immediately published an answer, dated March 25, 1728; and printed in this collection, vol. ix, p. 209.
2. By this passage, compared with the Drapier's third Letter, it appears that sir John Browne was one of the four evidences examined by the privy council in England, on behalf of Wood's patent.
3. It was probably on account of this letter, that the two passages respecting Browne in the Drapier's third Letter, which are restored in this edition, were struck out by the dean.
4. The dean, in his Answer to the Memorial, which was published before he had received this letter, says, "I received a paper from you, whoever you are, without any name of author or printer, and sent, I suppose, to me among others without any distinction. It contains a complaint of the dearness of corn; and some schemes for making it cheaper; which I cannot approve of." After objecting to several particulars in sir John Browne's plan, the dean adds, "Sir, upon the whole, your paper is a very crude piece, liable to more objections than there are lines: but, I think, your meaning is good, and so far you are pardonable."