Painted by J. Burgess from the original Picture by Bindon, in the Deanery House of St Patricks Dublin

JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D.D.S.P.D.

THE

WORKS

OF

JONATHAN SWIFT, D. D.

DEAN OF ST PATRICK'S, DUBLIN ;

CONTAINING

ADDITIONAL LETTERS, TRACTS, AND POEMS,

NOT HITHERTO PUBLISHED;

WITH

NOTES,

AND

A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,

BY

WALTER SCOTT, ESQ.

VOLUME I. /

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH;

WHITE, COCHRANE, AND CO. AND GALE, CURTIS, AND FENNER, LONDON; AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBLIN.

1814.

LENOX LIEN

e ai

ADVERTISEMENT.

No Author in the British language has enjoyed the extensive popularity of the celebrated Dean of St Patrick's. Neither the local and temporary nature of the subjects on which his pen was frequently engaged, nor other objections of a more positive nature, have affected the brilliancy of his reputation. In spite of the antiquated and unpopular nature of his politics,—in spite of the misanthropical and indelicate tone of some of his writings, and the trifling character of others, the vivid and original power of his genius has supported him in the general opinion, to an extent only equalled by his friend Pope, and far surpassing any other of

those geniuses who flourished in the ugustan age of Queen Anne.

Yet of all authors, perhaps, who ever wrote, Swift appears to have been the most inattentive to literary reputation, and to have flung from him his numerous productions, with the least interest in their future fate. The valuable and laborious edition of Mr Nicol, was the first which presented to the public any thing resembling a complete collection of Swift's works; and unquestionably those who peruse it, must admire the labour and accuracy of the editor. It has nevertheless been generally understood, that fugitive pieces of the Dean of St Patrick's, letters and anecdotes throwing light on his remarkable history and character, still remained excluded from this ample collection; and above all, that a distinct and combined account of his life, selected from the various sources afforded by his contradictory biographers and commentators, continued to be a desideratum.