gy of that kingdom, in conjunction with the Bishops of Ossory and Killaloe; but it appears pretty evidently from his own writings, that a principal motive of his journey was the expectation of obtaining preferment. He arrived in London in September, 1710, when the influence of the Whig ministry was manifestly on the decline, and with them, under such circumstances, he appears to have taken little pains to maintain a friendly intercourse. This indifference was on his part soon converted into hostility, as a cause for which, he alleged the neglect with which he had so long been treated, and before a month had elapsed he had formed an intimate acquaintance with Harley and St. John (afterwards Lord Bolingbroke); who after having been excluded from the administration of which they had for a time formed a part, had now obtained a decided superiority, and were delighted to find in their former opponent, an associate no less qualified by his abilities, than inclined by his resentment, to espouse their cause. The pamphlets which Swift produced on this occasion were written in the strength of his talents, and were as close and argumentative in their matter, as they were keen and sarcastic in their manner, towards his former friends. The characters of Lord Somers, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Lord Sunderland, Lord Wharton, Lord Cowper, and the Earl of Nottingham, are portraits in which truth and fiction are so artfully mingled as to present a more

disgusting picture than even falsehood itself could have produced. If however we wish to obtain an intimate acquaintance with the secret springs and causes of one of the most important political events that has occurred in the history of our country, we must have recourse to his Journal to Stella; the most extraordinary instance of egotism, ability, shrewdness, and humour, that ever was offered to the surprise, the information, and the amusement of mankind.

During the continuance of the Whig administration, an association, or society, had been formed, consisting of noblemen and gentlemen of rank, who were zealously attached to the Protestant succession, which was known by the name of the KitKat Club, from a person named Christopher Katt, a pastry-cook, at whose house in Shire-lane they met and dined together. Amongst the members were the Dukes of Somerset, Richmond, Grafton, Devonshire, and Marlborough, the Earls of Dorset, Sunderland, Manchester, Wharton, and Kingston, Lords Halifax and Somers, Sir Richard Steele, Addison, Congreve, Garth, Mainwaring, Pulteney, and many other persons distinguished as well by their talents as their rank.* The objects of the society were not confined to politics, but

* Of this society, Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, was secretary, and employed Sir Godfrey Kneller to paint for him the portraits of the members, of a size which admitted of representing the hands, and which has since been called the Kit-Kat size,

extended to subjects of literature, and it is recorded that on one occasion a sum of 400 guineas was subscribed for the encouragement of good comedies.

This club, which continued its meetings after the change in administration had taken place, seems to have given rise to an opposition club, which was established between Swift and the principal members of the new administration, under the name of the October club, alluding to the month in which the great alteration in the ministry took place. Although rather of a political than of a literary nature, this society was composed of several persons of rank and ability, who were looked up to as some of the principal patrons of the taste and literature of the times. Amongst its members were Harley, Lord Treasurer and Earl of Oxford, St. John Lord Bolingbroke, Secretary of State, Mr. afterwards Lord Masham, Sir William Wyndham, Lord Bathurst, Dr. Arbuthnot, Swift, and other persons of rank and celebrity.

In this society, the members of which always addressed each other by the name of brothers, Swift seems to have enjoyed himself at his ease, and to have exercised great authority in the rejection or admission of its members. Here all new publications, whether of a political or literary kind, were generally brought and discussed, and the countenance and encouragement of the society was liberally afforded to all such persons of ability as en

deavoured by their writings to promote the political views of the members, and opposed themselves to the numerous and powerful band of writers, who still continued to advocate, with undiminished zeal, the principles of the Revolution, and the cause of civil and religious liberty.

The members and advocates of the new administration were indeed as loud in their professions of attachment to the liberties of their country and the succession of the House of Brunswick, as the Whigs themselves; and affected, in many instances, to keep up that friendly intercourse which had formerly subsisted between them. To these impressions Swift appears not to have been insensible; and if we may credit his own testimony, he conducted himself not only with forbearance but with kindness towards the Whigs. In his Journal to Stella, he says: "I met Mr. Addison and Pastoral Philips on the Mall to-day, and took a turn with them; but they both looked terribly dry and cold. A curse of party! And do you know I have taken more pains to recommend the Whig wits to the favour and mercy of the ministers, than any other people. Steele I have kept in his place. Congreve I have got to be used kindly, and secured. Rowe I have recommended, and got a promise of a place. Philips I should certainly have provided for, if he had not run party mad, and made me withdraw my recommendation. I set Addison so right at first that he might have been employed, and I have partly secured him the place

he has; yet I am worse used by that faction than any man."

But whatever might be the animosity or the attachment of the eminent literary characters of the age towards each other, certain it is, that the political struggles of the times did not prevent or impede that rapid progress towards improvement which was then taking place, and which shortly afterwards arrived at its highest degree of elevation. Whether this is to be attributed to the rivalship between the different parties in genius as well as in politics, or merely to the additional vigour which the human faculties derive from being exercised in the transactions of public life, may perhaps be doubted, but the effect produced upon the character of the age is apparent and indisputable. Were we curiously to inquire to which of the two contending parties we are most indebted for so great an accession to our national literature, we might perhaps be allowed to give the precedency to the Whigs; but this by no means proves, that if political circumstances had been reversed, their opponents might not have had the pre-eminence. Suddenly divested of those public situations which had occupied their talents and their time, the literary adherents to the principles of the Revolution, neither overwhelmed nor disheartened by the change which had taken place, applied their abilities towards new objects, and looking beyond the temporary struggles of the day, produced works which were destined to direct the taste and