24 Foetnj. [Chap. XX. 



Passion^ by Dr. Young, though mentioned under 

 a preceding head, is also entitled to a place among 

 the best satirical productions of the age. The 

 characters are, in general, well selected and ably 

 drawn, the illustrations are happy, the sentiments 

 just, the imagery correct and various, and the 

 satire at once easy, vivacious, and moral. 



The satirical poetry of dean Swift has various 

 kinds and a high degree of poetic excellence ; 

 but delicacy is by no means one of its attributes. 

 His wit is often extremely happy, and his ridicule 

 just, lively, and powerful. " His diction is cor- 

 rect, his numbers smooth, and his rhj^mes exact. 

 There seldom occurs a laboured expression, or a 

 redundant epithet. All his verses exemplify his 

 own definition of a good style ; they consist of 

 proper ivorcb in proper places ^ But the levity 

 Math which he frequently treats the most serious 

 subjects is altogether unpardonable * ; and the 



* " I know not," says Dr. Beattie, " whether this author is not 

 the only human being who ever presumed to speak in ludicrous 

 terms of the last judgement. His profane verses on thattremen* 

 dous subject were not published, so far as I know, till after his 

 death : for Chesterfield's letter to Voltaire, in which they are in- 

 serted, and spoken of with approbation (which is no more than 

 one should expect from such a critic), and said to be copied from 

 the original in Swift's hand-writing, is dated in 1752. But this 

 is no excuse for the author. We can guess at what was in his 

 rnind when ha wrote them ; and at w^hat remained in his mind 

 while he could have desti'oyed them, and would not. I mean 

 not to insinuate tl^at Swift was favourable to infidelity. There is 

 good reason to believe he was not ; and that, though many of his 

 levities are inexcusable, he could occasionally be both serious 

 and pious. In fact, an infidel clergyman would be such a com- 

 pound of execrable impiety, and contemptible meanness, that I 

 gm unwilling to suppose there can be such a monster. The pro.* 



