SWIFTS POWER OP INVECTIVE. 



263 



in excellent condition, and written 

 in a very beautiful character. They 

 were" received with profound re- 

 spect by those who knew nothing of 

 the matter ; but as soon as those 

 acquainted with the language cast 

 their eyes upon them, they disco- 

 vered that these rare volumes were 

 common registers and account-books 

 of Arabian merchants ! Riswn te- 

 neatis amid. 



SWIFT'S POWER OF INVECTIVE. 

 Jeffrey, in his review of the 

 works of SwiCt, more especially 

 the Tale of a Tub, Gulliver, and the 

 Polite Conversation, characterizes 

 them as follows : " Their distin- 

 guishing feature, however, is the 

 force and vehemence of the invec- 

 tive in which they abound; the 

 copiousness, the steadiness, the 

 perseverance, and the dexterity 

 with which abuse and ridicule 

 are showered upon the adversary. 

 This, we think, was, beyond all 

 doubt, Swift's great talent, and the 

 weapon by which he made himself 

 formidable. He was, without ex- 

 ception, the greatest and most effi- 

 cient libeller that ever exercised 

 the trade ; and possessed, in an 

 eminent degree, all the qualifica- 

 tions which it requires: a clear 

 head a cold heart a vindictive 

 temper no admiration of noble 

 qualities no sympathy with suf- 

 fering not much conscience not 

 much consistency a ready wit 

 a. sarcastic humour a thorough 

 knowledge of the baser parts of 

 human nature and a complete 

 familiarity with everything that 

 is low, homely, and familiar in 

 language. These were his gifts ; 

 and he soon felt for what ends 

 they were given. Almost all his 

 "works are libels ; generally upon 

 individuals, sometimes upon sects 

 and parties, sometimes upon hu- 

 man nature. Whatever be his 

 nd, however, personal abuse, di- 

 a'ect, vehement, unsparing invec- 



tive, is his means. It is his sword 

 and his shield, his panoply, and his 

 chariot of war. In all his writings, 

 accordingly, there is nothing to 

 raise or exalt our notions of hu- 

 man nature but everything to 

 vilify and degrade. We may learn 

 from them, perhaps, to dread the 

 consequences of base actions, but 

 never to love the feelings that 

 lead to generous ones. There is 

 no spirit, indeed, of love or of ho- 

 nour in any part of them ; but an 

 unvaried and harassing display of 

 insolence and animosity in the 

 writer, and villany and folly in 

 those of whom he is writing. 

 Though a great polemic, he makes 

 no use of general principles, nor 

 ever enlarges his views to a 

 wide or comprehensive conclusion. 

 Everything is particular with him, 

 and, for the most part, strictly per- 

 sonal. To make amends, however, 

 we do think him quite without a 

 competitor in personalities. With 

 a quick and sagacious spirit, and a 

 bold and popular manner, he joins 

 an exact knowledge of all the 

 strong and the weak parts of every 

 cause he has to manage ; and, with- 

 out the least restraint from deli- 

 cacy, either of taste or of feeling, 

 he seems always to think the most 

 effectual blows the most advisable, 

 and no advantage unlawful that is 

 likely to be successful for the mo- 

 ment. Disregarding all the laws 

 of polished hostility, he uses, at 

 one and the same moment, his 

 sword and his poisoned dagger 

 his hands, and his teeth, and his 

 envenomed breath and does not 

 even scruple, upon occasion, to imi- 

 tate his own yahoos, by discharging 

 on his unhappy victims a shower 

 of filth, from which neither courage 

 nor dexterity can afford any pro- 

 tection. Against such an antago- 

 nist, it was, of course, at no time 

 very easy to make head; and ac- 

 cordingly his invective seems, for 

 the most part, to have been as 



