The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume V.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume V.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
imagined himself a subtle diver, who dextrously shot down into the
profoundest regions of politics, he was suffered only to sound the
shallows nearest the shore, and was scarce admitted to descend below the
froth at the top. Swift was one of those strange kind of Tories, who
lord Bolingbroke, in his letter to Sir William Wyndham, calls the
Whimsicals, that is, they were Tories attach'd to the Hanoverian
succession. This kind of Tory is so incongruous a creature, that it is a
wonder ever such a one existed. Mrs. Pilkington informs us, that Swift
had written A Defence of the last Ministers of Queen Anne, from an
intention of restoring the Pretender, which Mr. Pope advised him to
destroy, as not one word of it was true. Bolingbroke, by far the most
accomplished man in that ministry (for Oxford was, in comparison of him,
a statesman of no compass) certainly aimed at the restoration of the
exiled family, however he might disguise to some people his real
intentions, under the masque of being a Hanoverian Tory. This serves to
corroberate the observation which lord Orrery makes of Swift: 'that he
was employed, not trusted, &c.'
By reflexions of this sort, says lord Orrery, we may account for his
disappointment of an English bishopric. A disappointment, which, he
imagined, he owed to a joint application, made against him to the Queen,
by Dr. Sharp, archbishop of York, and by a lady of the highest rank and
character. Archbishop Sharpe, according to Swift's account, had
represented him to the Queen as a person, who was no Christian; the
great lady had supported the assertion, and the Queen, upon such
assurances, had given away the bishopric, contrary to her Majesty's
intentions. Swift kept himself, indeed, within some tolerable bounds
when he spoke of the Queen; but his indignation knew no limits when he
mentioned the archbishop, or the lady.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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