Szuiyrs Hoax. 233 



not at that time have been viewed with any very great favor. 

 This, however, is an unwarranted conclusion in the case of Swift, 

 at all events, and of his circle of friends ; the unusually miscellaneous 

 character of his allusions reveals the fact that he made excursions 

 into many fields of fiction and romance. 



There are in his works, in the first place, a large number of 

 references to books of chivalry ; i and in the specific case of Don 

 Quixote, 2 there can be no doubt that Swift knew and intensely ad- 

 mired that work, for it is mentioned by him with great frequency. 

 He was acquainted also with the noted rogue story Guzman dc 

 Alfarache,^ a ]:)ook widely current not only in the original Spanish, 

 but in translations. But there is a peculiar interest in a statement 

 of his Journal to Stella:'^ "I borrowed one or two idle books of 

 Contes dcs Fees, and have been reading them these two days, 

 although I have much business upon my hands. " 



This is ample evidence of his love of simple tales, even of fairy 

 stories. In his Tale of a Tub, it will be recalled, he makes use of 

 the old story of the three rings. Again, in Martinus Scriblerus'^ 

 there is a " recipe to make an epic poem " which urges the poet 

 to use certain romances of chivalry. Just so in Pope's Key to the 

 Lock, the mention of romantic and adventurous tales, such as the 

 fiction of Petronius Arbiter, Lucian's True History, Barclay's Argenis, 

 und Rabelais' Gargantua, shows that such fiction was well-known 

 in Swift's circle of friends. ^ 



1 Cf . Works, iv, p. 144 : A preface to the Bishop of Sarum's introduction 

 to the 3rd volume of the history of the Reformation of the Church of 

 England, etc. : •' I was debating with myself, whether this hint of pro- 

 ducing a small pamphlet to give notice of a large foHo, was not borrowed 

 from the ceremonial in Spanish romances, -where a dw^arf is sent out upon 

 the battlements, to signify to all passengers what a mighty giant there 

 is in the castle, etc." ; v, p. 301 : The Behavior of the Queen's last ministrj^ : 

 ••it will ... be reckoned such a strain upon truth and probability, as is 

 hard to be equalled in a Spanish romance, etc. " ; v, p. 432 : The character 

 of Richard Steele : " he has behaved himseH with such mighty prowess 

 in his first encounter, that it is suspected . . . that his sliield and his 

 sword are the gift of some famous necromancer, and equal in virtue to 

 Mambrino's helmet." 



- Do?i QiLixote is referred to often ; characteristic passages are : Vol. ix, 

 p. 231 ; X, Tale of a tub, j)p. 41, 78 ; xvi, p. 471 ; etc. 



3 Cf. Vol. v. p. 407. 



* Cf. ii, no. 29, p. 4B8. 



^ Cf. Vol. xiii, chap. 15. 



« Cf. Vol. xiii, p. 1.55. 



