The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume IV | Page 4

those papers are, they seem to be
levelled to the understandings of a great number; they are grown a
necessary part in coffee-house furniture, and some time or other may
happen to be read by customers of all ranks, for curiosity and
amusement; because they lie always in the way. One of these authors
(the fellow that was pilloried I have forgot his name)[4] is indeed so
grave, sententious, dogmatical a rogue, that there is no enduring him;
the _Observator_[5] is much the brisker of the two, and I think farther
gone of late in lies and impudence, than his Presbyterian brother. The
reason why I mention him, is to have an occasion of letting you know,
that you have not dealt so gallantly with us, as we did with you in a
parallel case: Last year, a paper was brought here from England, called,
"A Dialogue between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Higgins,"
which we ordered to be burnt by the common hangman, as it well
deserved; though we have no more to do with his Grace of
Canterbury[6] than you have with the Archbishop of Dublin[7]; nor can
you love and reverence your prelate more than we do ours, whom you
tamely suffer to be abused openly, and by name, by that paltry rascal of
an _Observator_; and lately upon an affair wherein he had no concern;
I mean the business of the missionary at Drogheda, wherein our
excellent primate was engaged, and did nothing but according to law
and discretion. But because the Lord Archbishop of Dublin hath been
upon several occasions of late years, misrepresented in England, I
would willingly set you right in his character. For his great sufferings
and eminent services he was by the late King promoted to the see of
Derry. About the same time, he wrote a book to justify the Revolution,
wherein was an account of King James's proceedings in Ireland, and the
late Archbishop Tillotson recommended it to the King as the most
serviceable treatise that could have been published at such a juncture.[8]

And as his Grace set out upon those principles, he has proceeded so
ever since, as a loyal subject to the Queen, entirely for the succession in
the Protestant line, and for ever excluding the Pretender; and though a
firm friend to the Church, yet with indulgence toward dissenters, as
appears from his conduct at Derry, where he was settled for many years
among the most virulent of the sect; yet upon his removal to Dublin,
they parted from him with tears in their eyes, and universal
acknowledgments of his wisdom and goodness. For the rest, it must be
owned, he does not busy himself by entering deep into any party, but
rather spends his time in acts of hospitality and charity, in building of
churches, repairing his palace, in introducing and preferring the
worthiest persons he can find, without other regards; in short, in the
practice of all virtues that can become a public or private life. This and
more, if possible, is due to so excellent a person, who may be justly
reckoned among the greatest and most learned prelates of his age,
however his character may be defiled by such mean and dirty hands as
those of the Observator or such as employ him.[9]
[Footnote 2: The Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, had
lately expelled Edward Forbes for the cause mentioned in the text. [S.]]
[Footnote 3: Faulkner prints: "But sufficient care hath been taken to
explain it." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 4: Daniel Defoe (1663?-1731), the son of a Cripplegate
butcher. Entered business as a hosier, but failed. In 1695 he was
appointed one of the commissioners for duties on glass. Wrote "The
True Born Englishman" (1701); "The Shortest Way with the
Dissenters," for which he was pilloried, fined, and imprisoned; and
numerous other works, including "Robinson Crusoe;" "Life of Captain
Singleton;" "History of Duncan Campbell;" "Life of Moll Flanders;"
"Roxana;" "Life of Colonel Jack;" "Journal of the Plague;" "History of
the Devil;" and "Religious Courtship." He edited a paper called "The
Review," to which Swift here refers, and against which Charles Leslie
wrote his "Rehearsals." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 5: John Tutchin, a virulent writer of the reign of James II.
For a political work in defence of Monmouth he was sentenced by
Judge Jefferies to be whipped through several market towns. He wrote
the "Observator" (begun April, 1702), and suffered at the hands of the
Tories for his writings. He died in great poverty in 1708, at the age of

forty-seven. He was also the author of a play entitled, "The Unfortunate
Shepherd." Pope refers to these punishments meted out to Defoe and
Tutchin, in the second book of the "Dunciad":
"Earless on high, stood unabashed De Foe, And Tutchin flagrant from