His delegation relative to the First Fruits was, however, the foundation of his political eminence; for Mr. Harley, to whom he applied on this account, very speedily discovered his genius and talents, and very shortly afterwards admitted him to the most unbounded confidence and familiarity.

In consequence of this connection with the Tory ministers of Queen Anne, Swift, who had hitherto been esteemed a Whig, now eagerly embraced the measures of government; and, on the 2d of November, 1710, wrote and published the thirteenth number of the Examiner, a paper of great warmth and virulence, in defence of Tory principles, and which he continued without interruption until June 7, 1711.

From this period to the death of Queen Anne in 1714, our author continued the confidential friend of St. John and Harley; planned and directed many of the most efficient measures of the state, and became one of a select ministerial association which met weekly under the appellation of Brothers. His pen was of course strenuously employed in the support of his party, and sometimes with a success which exceeded even the most sanguine expectations of government. Thus, in 1712, when it was the aim of administration to reconcile the nation to a peace, he pub

lished the Conduct of the Allies; a pamphlet which so completely answered the purpose for which it was written, that it produced an entire revolution in the opinions of the people; and Marlborough, who had hitherto been the favourite, and almost idol of the kingdom, was now generally believed, in consequence of Swift's representation, to have protracted the war merely with a view to his own interest. Such was the eagerness to peruse this celebrated treatise, that it passed through seven editions in the course of a few days, and eleven thousand copies were sold in less than a month.

The demand upon the abilities of our author increased with the danger which threatened the ministers; they were assailed on all sides by a formidable body of Whigs; and the single arm of Swift was employed to disperse a host. He continued to defend the cause with unabated vigour, and published in its support Reflections on the Barrier Treaty; Remarks on the Bishop of Sarum's Introduction to his third Volume of the History of the Reformation; and, in the commencement of 1714, The Public Spirit of the Whigs, in answer to Sir Richard Steele's Crisis. These tracts display a fund of humour, ridicule, and wit; but the last so offended the Scotch nation, that, through the solicitations of its Lords, a proclamation was

issued, offering a reward of three hundred pounds for the discovery of the author. Swift, however, remained concealed; and the Scotch, a short time subsequent to this transaction, were happy to secure him in their interest.

The influence, the dignity, and importance which attached to Swift, from his very intimate connection with administration, involved him in a perpetual hurry of business; and he was courted and solicited by hundreds, who expected, through his interference, the completion of their views and wishes.

In the mean time, whether from indifference on his part, inability on the side of ministers, or an apprehension of offending the clergy, who still looked upon our author with distrust and indignation, no recompence or promotion reached him until April, 1713, when he was presented with the Deanery of St. Patrick in Ireland; the highest preferment which, notwithstanding all his political consequence, he ever attained.

Though Swift immediately crossed the channel to take possession of his newly acquired dignity, little more than a fortnight elapsed before he was importunately urged to return, in order that he might endeavour to soften the animosity which had broken out between Harley and Bo

lingbroke, and which threatened, in its consequences, the entire dissolution of the ministry.

The attempt failed; a complete disunion took place, and Swift, in disgust, returned, in June, 1714, to the house of a friend in Berkshire, where he composed his treatise entitled, Some free Thoughts upon the present State of Affairs, intended as a disclosure of the causes which had occasioned the want of confidence and cordiality among the members of administration. This tract was ably written, and might have proved serviceable, had not the death of the Queen, which occurred very soon after it was committed to the press, at once annihilated the Tory ministry, and stript the Dean of all his political influence.

To escape from the triumph of the opposite party, was now with Swift an object devoutly to be wished; and he therefore hastened to the Sister Kingdom, to bury his chagrin and disappointment in the shades of a literary privacy. The important part, however, which he had acted with the Tories, permitted him not, for some time, to obtain the oblivion that he sought: the Whigs maliciously seized every opportunity of insulting him; he was abused, and even pelted, as he passed along the streets of Dublin; nor could he walk

or ride securely without the attendance of servants armed for his protection. The storm at length subsided; the friend and counsellor of Oxford and Bolingbroke was forgotten; and a calm of six years' duration intervened, ere popularity again accompanied the footsteps of our author.

His pen during this seclusion was not altogether idle; he drew up Memoirs relating to that Change which happened in the Queen's Ministry in the Year 1710, written in October, 1714; and An Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's last Ministry, with relation to their Quarrels among themselves, and the Design charged upon them of altering the Succession to the Crown. It is probable also, that during this period he revised, corrected, and enlarged, his History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne, a work which had been destined for publication in 1713, but which political circumstances at that time, and, in the subsequent year, the decease of the Queen, arrested in its way to the press; obstacles which occasioned its consignment to the desk for nearly half a century. Much information, and much developement of mystery, were expected from its appearance; but when printed in 1758 it is said to have greatly disappointed the public expectations.

It was in the year 1720 that the Dean resumed