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on his authority alone. If the story is true in any part, it is rather strange that it did not interrupt the friendly harmony of the parties, which it certainly never did; and the idea suggested by Thomas Sheridan was undoubtedly correct, that it was done, not so much to secure the debt, as to screen Steele's property from other creditors. The debt was real, without question; Addison could not take such a step in collusion with Steele without giving it the aspect of an underhand proceeding, where fraud or conspiracy there was none. As this solution is perfectly consistent with Addison's character, who had not the least severity in his nature to lead him to such painful extremes, we should receive it at once as the satisfactory explanation; that is, if any was needed beyond the circumstance, that the brains of both Steele and Savage were often rolling in those fine frenzies in which visions become reality, and the boundary separating fact and fiction becomes as variable as the profile of a wave of the sea.

Of the difficulty of ascertaining any fact thus told, and therefore of believing it, we have an illustration in what is said of Swift, who must be prominent in any history where he appears, and who was so wayward and peculiar, that his habits attracted more attention than those of other persons equally high. Odd enough, in all conscience, he was; but this same Sheridan, in his biography, has represented him as making his appearance at Button's coffee-house, then the resort of the wits, in a rusty dress, with a rude and unsocial manner, and a freedom of talk, which, if it did not transcend all propriety, at least hung over the outer edge. These peculiarities gained him the name of the "Mad parson," a title to which he had, probably, a more serious claim than those who applied it were able to discern. The date of these proceedings was somewhere between Swift's first political pamphlet in 1701, and his Tale of a Tub in 1704; and, unless the relater of the story could plead somnambulism to the satisfaction of the great jury of the public, there was something in the dates, which, if challenged, must have sorely "plagued the inventor." Addison, who presided in these merry scenes, was all this while residing quietly in Europe; and he did not set up his servant Button in this establishment, till some time after his return at the close of 1703; so that it was in some preëxistent state that Button and his coffee-house must have been regaled with the exploits of the "Mad parson." It seems a pity to spoil these pleasant stories by this narrow searching into their truth. In common cases, they may go for what they are worth; but where a great man is charged with inhumanity, entirely at variance with all that is known of his character, there seems to be a reason for applying the test of circumstantial evidence, and figures which do not indulge themselves in lying, but on the contrary sometimes expose the carelessness, to say the least, of those who indiscreetly use them.

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The whole history of Addison's relations with Swift is one that does him the greatest honor. It was no easy matter to keep always on good terms with such a man, whose natural disposition was cynical and sarcastic, and who was wrought up, by his strange fortune in politics, to a state of exasperation against all mankind; - against the Whigs, because they had not prevented the necessity of his going over to the enemy; and against the Tories, because, with his sharp discernment, he saw that they disliked while they flattered, and distrusted while they used him. He was not blind to the fact, that, with all his power to serve their cause, he had no power to serve his own interests, which he had no idea of disregarding. He fondly persuaded himself that he could do much for others, but it was clear that he could do nothing for himself; and he was not the man to hold a barren sceptre, and be content with the gratification of vanity alone. This unsatisfactory position in which he stood soured his temper, which was not originally of the same growth with sugar-cane, and made his wayward humor, where he put no constraint upon it, about as much as the most Christian spirit could bear.

We have an example in the story told by Pope, of his paying him a visit in company with Gay, and not arriving till after the hour of supper. Swift felt it as a reflection on his hospitality; he therefore calculated how much the meal would have cost him, and forced each of them to accept half a crown, in order that, if they told the story with the idea of his housekeeping which it implied, they might be under the necessity of reporting themselves as the subjects of his munificence too. There have been many attempts to solve the problem of his unhappy history; but it seems to us, there can be no reasonable doubt that in these eccentricities of life, some of which were so painful, we see the approach of that insanity which clouded his fine understanding at last.

There are many shades of this unsoundness of mind, before it reaches the point at which responsibility ceases. Where that line is, and when the wayward mind passes over it, can be determined only by Him who reads the heart. There are many cases in which it would be consoling to believe, in spite of modern theologians, that demoniacal possession has not yet wholly ceased from the world.

Considering what Swift's character was, there was something remarkable in his constant respect and attachment for Addison, who was so prominent in the opposite party. Addison regarded him as the first writer of the age, and he, with the greatest deference for Addison's ability, paid a still more enviable homage to his acknowledged virtues. Even when there had been something like estrangement between them, on account of politics, he wrote to Stella, - " I yet know no man half so agreeable to me as he is." When Addison first went to Ireland, Swift expressed the hope, in a letter to Archbishop King, that business might not spoil the best man in the world. To Addison himself he says, that every creature in the island who had a grain of worth venerated him, the Tories contending with the Whigs which should say the most in his praise; and if he chose to be king of Ireland, there was not a doubt that all would submit to his power. At the same time, he says, - "I know there is nothing in this to make you of more value to yourself; and yet it ought to convince you that the Irish are not an undistinguishing people."

When Addison was in England, and Swift was daily expecting to hear of the predominance of his own party, he wrote to the Whig secretary to learn whether it was expedient to come over, knowing that he could trust his friendship and wisdom, though on the opposite side. His aim appears to have been a prebend then held by South; but the old man, who was never particularly complaisant, was not disposed to die in order to oblige him. Addison was also consulted with the same sort of confidence by Wharton, who wished to hold his post to the last moment, and not resign till the new ministry were likely, if he delayed, to save him the trouble. But in those times of fierce excitement, when the nation was stunned by the fall of Marlborough, it was not possible for a man with Addison's powers to remain an inactive observer. He soon began to write in reply to the Examiner, then conducted by Prior, a deserter from the Whigs; and, without answering in the same tone of abuse which Prior employed, he showed how easy it was to put him down. Prior had brought forward in one of his papers the letter of a solemn correspondent, who recommended the Examiner to the people; Addison said it reminded him of a physician in Paris, who walked the streets with a boy before him proclaiming, 一 "My father cures all sorts of diseases !" to which the doctor responded, in a grave and composed manner, - "The child says nothing but the truth!"

When the Whig Examiner, in which Addison wrote, came to an end, Swift rejoiced in his journal to Stella, that it was at last " down among the dead men," using the words of a popular song of the day. Johnson, though of the same party, remarks, - "He might well rejoice at the death of that which he could not have killed." The critic, with unusual impartiality, goes on to say, that since party malevolence has died away (it is pleasant to know that party spirit is not immortal), every reader must wish for more of the Whig Examiners; since on no occasion was the genius of the writer more vigorously exerted, and the superiority of his powers more evidently displayed. Swift did not begin writing for the Examiner till Addison had ceased from the Whig Examiner; they met often and with mutual satisfaction, but on some points there was necessarily a reserve. Swift remarks in his journal, "We are as good friends as ever, but we differ a little about party." Ata later period, "I love him as much as ever, though we seldom meet." Early in the next year, he speaks of their never meeting; but in the autumn he records that he supped at Addison's lodgings, and says, that there was no man whose society was so attractive.

The alienation seems to have been wholly on Swift's side; it arose from his identifying Addison and Steele, for which he had no reason, and considering the former as laid under obligation by his attempts to save the latter. It is clear that Addison had no concern with Steele's contrivances to secure a plank for himself at the shipwreck of his party; he did not choose to talk with Swift on the subject, and the successful politician was wounded by this reserve. He complained that Addison hindered Steele from soliciting his services, because he did not wish that his thoughtless friend should be obliged to a Tory; while, in the same sentence, he says that Addison is asking his good offices to make another friend secretary in Geneva, which he shall use his influence to do. Even so it is with the jealous, ready to believe impossible contradictions. He resents Addison's unwillingness to ask a favor for one friend at the very moment when he is asking one for another. Truly, it must have required all Addison's wisdom, or rather his unconscious integrity, to avoid giving irritation to such a temper as this.

Johnson, speaking of Swift's kind services to Addison and his friends, says he wished others to believe what he probably believed himself, that they were indebted to his influence for keeping their places; a form of expression which implies that the Doctor himself did not put implicit faith in his power. But the queen's death finished that overthrow of the Tory party which the quarrels of Oxford and Bolingbroke had begun, and Swift, losing by it the grant of a thousand pounds from the treasury, which he surrendered multa gemens, retreated to his deanery in Ireland, a home which he detested, but which was the only preferment that the ministers dared to give to a person of such unclerical fame. When Addison went again to Ireland as secretary to Sunderland, that nobleman, who, with a most affectionate indulgence for himself, was rather unforgiving to others, desired that he would hold no communication with Swift; but with a spirit which did him honor, Addison chose to be the judge of his own society, and refused to give the pledge required. There is reason to suppose that they met in Ireland, though nothing is particularly set down respecting it; and it is well known that they corresponded with each other till the death of Addison, each maintaining the greatest respect and regard for the other. Now, obviously, no man was ever less gifted with reverence by nature than Swift; no one ever had a sharper eye to look through the follies and weaknesses of other men; and it does seem to us, that his profound respect and confidence afford a better testimonial to the excellence of Addison than volumes of mere enthusiastic praise.

While the Whig party was shivering in the wind, and after it had gone down, Addison was more at leisure for literary labors. With the single exception of the Whig Examiner, and some not very complimentary notice of

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