The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 09: Contributions to The Tatler, The Examiner, The Spectator, and The IntelligencerSwift, Jonathan
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The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 09: Contributions to The Tatler, The Examiner, The Spectator, and The Intelligencer
Swift, Jonathan
English essays -- 18th century; English prose literature -- 18th century
"Hence debt unthrifty, careless to repay,
And usury still watching for its day:
Hence perjuries in every wrangling court;
And war, the needy bankrupt's last resort,"
N. ROWE.
Lucan wrote "_et_ concussa," [T.S.]]
[Footnote 7: Commenting on this passage, "The Observator" of Nov. 8th
remarked: "One would take the author to be some very great man, since
he speaks so contemptuously of both Houses of Parliament; for they
actually found those doctrines, as then preached up, to be inconsistent
with the Revolution, and declared it loudly to the world without
whispering." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 8: Writing to the Earl of Peterborough (Feb. 1710/1), Swift
refers to "a pamphlet come out, called 'A Letter to Jacob Banks,' showing
that the liberty of Sweden was destroyed by the principle of passive
obedience." The pamphlet was written by one W. Benson, and bore
the title, "A Letter to Sir J---- B----, By Birth a S----,... Concerning
the late Minehead doctrine," etc., 1711. "This dispute," says
Swift to Peterborough, "would soon be ended, if the dunces who write
on each side, would plainly tell us what the object of this passive
obedience is in our country." (Scott, vol. xv., p. 423.)
See also, on this matter, "Examiner," Nos. 34 and 40 _post_. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 9: Eumenes of Cardia was secretary to Alexander the Great, and
distinguished himself both as a statesman and general. He was killed
B.C. 316. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 10: The land tax at the time was four shillings in the pound.
[T.S.]]
[Footnote 11: In her speech to Parliament on Nov. 27th, 1710, Anne said:
"The carrying on the war in all its parts, but particularly in Spain,
with the utmost vigour, is the likeliest means, with God's blessing, to
procure a safe and honourable peace for us and all our allies, whose
support and interest I have truly at heart" ("Journals of House of
Lords," xix, 166).]
[Footnote 12: This is a dig at the Duke of Marlborough, for what the
Tories thought an unnecessarily harsh insistence on the inclusion of a
clause in the preliminaries of the Gertruydenberg Treaty, which it was
thought he must have known would be rejected by Louis. They suspected
Marlborough did this in order to keep the war going, and so permit
himself further opportunities for enriching himself. The treaty for
peace, carried on at Gertruydenberg in 1710, was discussed by Marlborough
and Townshend acting for England, the Marquis de Torcy acting for France,
and Buys and Vanderdussen for the States. Several conferences took place,
and preliminary articles were even signed, but the Allies demanded a
security for the delivering of Spain. This Louis XIV. refused to do, and
the conference broke up in July, 1710. See Swift's "Conduct of the Allies"
(vol. v., pp. 55-123). [T.S.]]
[Footnote 13: Horace, "Odes," I. ii. 23, 24.
"Our youth will hear, astonished at our crimes,
That Roman armies Romans slew;
Our youth, alas! will then be few."--A. MAYNWARING.
[T.S.]]
NUMB. 15.[1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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