The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., Vol. VI

The Prose Works of Jonathan
Swift, Vol. VI; The Drapier's
Letters

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Title: The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. VI; The Drapier's
Letters
Author: Jonathan Swift
Release Date: June 29, 2004 [EBook #12784]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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_To be completed in 12 volumes, 3s. 6d. each_.
THE PROSE WORKS

OF
JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D.
EDITED BY
TEMPLE SCOTT
VOL. I. A TALE OF A TUB AND OTHER EARLY WORKS. Edited
by TEMPLE SCOTT. With a biographical introduction by W.E.H.
LECKY, M.P. With Portrait and Facsimiles.
VOL. II. THE JOURNAL TO STELLA. Edited by FREDERICK
RYLAND, M.A. With two Portraits of Stella and a Facsimile of one of
the Letters.
VOLS. III. & IV. WRITINGS ON RELIGION AND THE CHURCH.
Edited by TEMPLE SCOTT. With Portraits and Facsimiles of
Title-pages.
VOL. V. HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL TRACTS--ENGLISH.
Edited by TEMPLE SCOTT. With Portrait and Facsimiles of
Title-pages.
VOL. VI. THE DRAPIER'S LETTERS. Edited by TEMPLE SCOTT.
With Portrait, Reproductions of Wood's Coinage, and Facsimiles of
Title pages.
VOL. VIII. GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Edited by G. RAVENSCROFT
DENNIS. With Portrait, Maps and Facsimiles.
VOL. IX. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE "EXAMINER," "TATLER,"
"SPECTATOR," &c. Edited by TEMPLE SCOTT. With Portrait.
VOL. X. HISTORICAL WRITINGS. Edited by TEMPLE SCOTT.
With Portrait.
_To be followed by:_
VOL. VII. HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL TRACTS--IRISH.
VOL. XI. LITERARY ESSAYS.
VOL. XII. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND INDEX TO COMPLETE
WORKS.
* * * * *
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS.
BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY
* * * * *
THE PROSE WORKS OF JONATHAN SWIFT VOL. VI
GEORGE BELL AND SONS
LONDON: YORK ST. COVENT GARDEN CAMBRIDGE:

DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO.
[Illustration: Jonathan Swift from a painting in the National Gallery of
Ireland once in the possession of judge Berwick and ascribed to Francis
Bindon]

THE PROSE WORKS
OF
JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D.
EDITED BY
TEMPLE SCOTT
VOL. VI
THE DRAPIER'S LETTERS
LONDON
GEORGE BELL AND SONS
1903
CHISWICK PRESS CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO TOOKS
COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON

INTRODUCTION
In 1714 Swift left England for Ireland, disappointed, distressed, and
worn out with anxiety in the service of the Harley Ministry. On his
installation as Dean of St. Patrick's he had been received in Dublin with
jeering and derision. He had even been mocked at in his walks abroad.
In 1720, however, he entered for the second time the field of active
political polemics, and began with renewed energy the series of
writings which not only placed him at the head and front of the political
writers of the day, but secured for him a place in the affections of the
people of Ireland--a place which has been kept sacred to him even to
the present time. A visitor to the city of Dublin desirous of finding his
way to St. Patrick's Cathedral need but to ask for the Dean's Church,
and he will be understood. There is only one Dean, and he wrote the
"Drapier's Letters." The joy of the people of Dublin on the withdrawal
of Wood's Patent found such permanent expression, that it has
descended as oral tradition, and what was omitted from the records of
Parliament and the proceedings of Clubs and Associations founded in

the Drapier's honour, has been embalmed in the hearts of the people,
whose love he won, and whose homage it was ever his pride to accept.
The spirit of Swift which Grattan invoked had, even in Grattan's time,
power to stir hearts to patriotic enthusiasm. That spirit has not died out
yet, and the Irish people still find it seasonable and refreshing to be
awakened by it to a true sense of the dignity and majesty of Ireland's
place in the British Empire.
A dispassionate student of the condition of Ireland between the years of
Swift's birth and death--between, say, 1667 and 1745--could rise from
that study in no unprejudiced mood. It would be difficult for him to
avoid the conclusion that the government of Ireland by England had not
only degraded the people of the vassal nation, but had proved a
disgrace and a stigma on the ruling nation. It was a government of the
masses by the classes, for no other than selfish ends. It ended, as all
such