LITERARY NOTICES. 



705 



and other pleasing characteristics which all 

 animals exhibit, more or less, one to an- 

 other, in order to cultivate in his readers a 

 higher regard for all animals, and to lessen 

 the aversion with which some animals are 

 contemplated. The whole is varied and 

 illustrated with numerous anecdotes. The 

 usefulness of animals and the services they 

 render to man are discussed in a more gen- 

 eral manner, and the considerations which 

 should induce a kindly treatment of them 

 are presented in the final chapters. The 

 subject-matter of the work, its arrangement, 

 even to the chapter-titles, the method of 

 treatment, the anecdotes, the style, and the 

 author's genial manner, are all adapted to 

 excite and hold interest, and make the book 

 an excellent one to put into the hands of 

 children. 



Swift. By Leslie Stephen. Harper & 

 Brothers. 1882. 



This is an interesting example of the in- 

 fluence of modern knowledge upon our esti- 

 mate of character. Swift's life, as present- 

 ed by his earlier biographers, has left the 

 impression that he was so unlike the rest of 

 the world that he could not be judged by 

 ordinary rules ; that the traits of his char- 

 acter were inharmonious and inexplicable. 

 He has been set down as a sort of human 

 monster, as made up of the rarest genius, 

 the most unusual kindness, and the most 

 abominable cruelty. But, when we rise from 

 the perusal of this little volume, we find 

 that our abhorrence has been changed to 

 teuder sympathy for the misfortunes of this 

 extraordinary man. 



Mr. Stephen does not think that Swift 

 was a blameless man. In considering his 

 conduct toward the women he loved, when 

 he can no further unravel the threads of the 

 story and consistently explain events, he 

 closes with this sensible and kindly remark : 

 " It is one of the cases in which, if the act- 

 ors be our contemporaries, we hold that out- 

 siders arc incompetent to form a judgment, 

 as none but the principals can really know 

 the facts." 



As an example of Stephen's mode of 

 treatment, take the following. After giving 

 na account of the poverty endured by Swift 

 in his youth, the author remarks: " The mis- 

 ery of dependence was burned into his soul. 

 VOL. xxii. 45 



To secure independence became his most 

 cherished wish ; and the first condition of 

 independence was a rigid practice of econ- 

 omy. We shall see hereafter how deeply 

 this principle became rooted in his mind ; 

 here I need only notice that it is the lesson 

 which poverty teaches to none but men of 

 strong character." This trait is again re- 

 ferred to in connection with Swift's behav- 

 ior to Stella and Vanessa. He says : " Swift 

 had very obvious motives for not marrying. 

 In the first place, he became almost a mono- 

 maniac upon the question of money. His 

 hatred of wasting a penny unnecessarily, be- 

 gan at Trinity College and is prominent in 

 all his letters and journals. It colored even 

 his politics, for a conviction that the nation 

 was hopelessly ruined is one of his strong- 

 est prejudices. He kept accounts down to 

 half-pence and rejoices at every saving of a 

 shilling. 



" The passion was not the vulgar desire 

 for wealth of the ordinary miser. It sprang 

 from the conviction stored up in all his 

 aspirations that money meant independ- 

 ence. Like all Swift's prejudices, this be- 

 came a fixed idea which was always gath- 

 ering strength. He did not love money for 

 its own sake. He was even magnificent in his 

 generosity. He scorned to receive money 

 for his writings ; he abandoned the profit 

 to his printers in compensation for the risks 

 they ran, or gave it to his friends. His 

 charity was splendid, relatively to his means. 

 In later years he lived on a third of his in- 

 come, gave away a third, and saved the re- 

 maining third for his posthumous charity, 

 and posthumous charity, which involves 

 present saving, is charity of the most un. 

 questionable kind. His principle was that, 

 by reducing his expenditure to the lowest 

 possible point, he secured his independence, 

 and could then make a generous use of the 

 remainder. Until he received his deanery, 

 however, he could only make both ends meet. 

 Marriage would, therefore, have meant pov- 

 erty, probably dependence, and the complete 

 sacrifice of his ambition. If, under these 

 circumstances, Swift had become engaged 

 to Stella, he would have been doing what 

 was regularly done by fellows of colleges 

 under the old system. There is, however, 

 no trace of such an engagement. It would 

 be in keeping with Swift's character if we 



