reason it will be "very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to the children." The only objection he can think of to his proposal is, "that the number of people will be thereby much lessened in the kingdom," and this, he freely owns, was one principal design in offering it to the world." Extreme satire, irony, this is, but it is not truly harsh or savage: it merely shows in what the author con

Agamet you, I hair but one reg road, that when I west last in England, and just after the present. Hings accession, I resolved to ycf that frummer in France, for which I had then a most lucky opportuously from which those who seemed to love we will dift naded me by your adres and when I sent you a vela conjuring you to lay aside the charcese of a Courier and a faccrete upon that occasion your antur positively dieekd que not to go in that junchere, and you said the same thong to my

frunde

FACSIMILE OF MANUSCRIPT OF SWIFT.

(British Museum.)

siders the most effective way the utter helplessness of the Irish people.

the death of

He fell

Insanity. About the time when Swift wrote The Modest Proposal a great sorrow came into his life Esther Johnson, from which he never recovered. into a state of melancholy, which soon developed into insanity; and this in the last few years of his life took a violent form. His estate, valued at about £12,000 (equivalent to perhaps $500,000 to-day), he left to establish a hospital

that Swift

person. Either or both may be true, but neither story rests on unquestionable evidence.

Swift's Personality. The great Dean does not appear as an attractive person. Addison, it is true, described him as "the most agreeable companion, the truest friend; and the friendship of the two men survived years of political controversy when they led on opposite sides. Other men not easy to be friends with Alexander Pope, for instance

retained and valued Swift's friendship; but few could long tolerate his ironical tongue and his imperious temper. When Thackeray asks, "Would you have liked to be a friend of the great Dean? most of us are forced to answer, as the great novelist implies that he himself would, in the negative.

Swift's Literary Art. Of the Dean's intellect, of his literary powers the extent of his vocabulary, the clearness and simplicity of his sentences, the logical structure of his essays there can be only one opinion. If he does not occupy a pinnacle alone among the prose-writers of his day, there is not more than one who can dispute his preeminence. Even the reader who dislikes his irony, his bitterness, his hatred of mankind, must rise from the reading of Swift feeling that here indeed is a master of style. Quotations in brief can show little; but wherever one dips into his pages, one finds literary art in its finest form, and in a form admirable as a model.

DANIEL DEFOE, 1659-1731

Defoe a Newspaper Man. Defoe was the first newspaper man to attain a position in literature. By this is not meant that he was connected with a newspaper - there were no newspapers for him to be connected with, but that his

on the side of King William, Defoe wrote in support of that monarch's right to the throne a number of pamphlets, and one composition in verse, The True-born Englishman. The writer's services were recognized by an appointment under the government; and he seems to have been in good financial circumstances until the death of William in 1702, and the accession of Anne and the choice of a Tory ministry.

A Famous Pamphlet. In this year Defoe published one of his most famous pamphlets, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which pretended to take the position of the extreme Tories and High-Churchmen, but was meant to arouse opposition to these by exaggeration of their opinions. The author pretended to advocate "rooting out Dissenters, and treating their ministers as if guilty of a capital offence. Defoe, taken seriously at first, was condemned by Dissenters, and approved by not a few Tories. When the pamphlet was rightly understood, the leaders of the Dissenters were beyond pacifying, and the Tories were furious. The government felt it necessary to punish Defoe severely, and he was fined, sentenced to stand in the pillory, and to be imprisoned during the Queen's pleasure. His exposure in the pillory was anything but a punishment; for the rank and file of the people liked him for his verses (especially The True-born Englishman), and admired him for his defiance of the government.

In Prison." The Review." - Defoe's prison term of something more than a year was scarcely more of a punishment than was his exposure in the pillory. He had much liberty; he used it largely in writing; and the authorities saw fit not to prevent him from publishing. The Review was begun during this time; and the freedom of his mind is well shown by the range of subjects in the periodical