234 R. Schevill, 



Though Swift ma}' have known many of these romances in Eng- 

 hsh versions, it is also certain that he could have read them in 

 the original Italian, Spanish, or French languages, the last two of 

 which he read and even wrote without difficult}'. Of this there is 

 ample evidence. " If at night I am deserted," he says, " I read a 

 little philosophy tirst, then some poetry or a little vSpanish prose, 

 and never awake out of my studies till all the house is asleep." ^ 

 And in the Preface to Sir William Temple's Works he says: "I 

 have also made some literal amendments, especially in the Latin, 

 French and Spanish." 2 Swift's knowledge of Spanish must have 

 been known to his friends also, for in a letter from America, his 

 friend HvinterS quotes Don Quixote in Spanish, apropos of Sancho's 

 opinion on government. Moreover on foreign languages he has 

 the decided opinions of one who reads them frequently and under- 

 stands their peculiar qualities ; and in comparing them with Eng- 

 lish, he even dwells on the superiority which, in some respects, 

 Italian, Spanish, and French have over his own speech. ^ Finally 

 Swift's knowledge of Spanish affairs and, of the general condition of 

 the Peninsula was very extensive, as an examination of his writings 

 of a historical and political nature clearly shows. 



If Swift's acquaintance with Spanish fiction, and so probably 

 with one of its foremost figures, Tirso de Molina, can be asserted 

 after what has been said, his reading must have been stimulated 

 also by the interest and familiarity which several of his intimate 

 friends showed in the literature of Spain. His close friend Dr. 

 Thomas Sheridan was occupied for a long time in collecting several 

 volumes of stories and anecdotes culled from the foremost litera- 

 tures of Europe. Swift speaks of this collection on several occasions, 



> Cf. Vol. vii, p. 203: Two letters to the publisher of the Dublin 

 Weekly. 



2 Cf. Vol. ix, p. 105. 



^ Then governor of New York ; cf. Vol. xvi, p. 2G. . 



■* Cf. Vol. Ix, p. 87: The Intelligencer, iii. "I agree with Sir William 

 Temple, that the word (humour) is peculiar to our English tongue ; but 

 I differ from him in the opinion, that the thing itself is peculiar to the 

 English nature, because the conti-ary may be found in mmiy Spanish. 

 Italian and Trench productions : and particularly, whoever has a taste 

 for ti'ue humour, will find a hundred instances of it in those volumes 

 printed in France under the luime of Lc Theatre Italicn : to say nothing 

 of Rabelais, Cervantes and many others. Cf . also j). 88 ; p. 137 (a letter 

 to the Lord High Treasurer) and ji. 141. 



