out for England; days of the emperor Trajan, I have not been confined to the same person for twenty years together; but have passed' from one abode to another much quicker than the Pythagorean system generally allows. By this means I have seldom had a body to myself, but have lodged up and down wherever I found a genius suitable to my own. In this manner I continued some time with the top wit of France; at another with that of Italy, who had a statue erected to his memory in Rome. Toward the end of the seventeenth century I set but the gentleman I came over in dying as soon as he got to shore, I was obliged to look out again for a new habitation. It was not long before I met with one to my mind; for, having mixed myself invisibly with the literati of this kingdom, I found it was unanimously agreed among them, That nobody was endowed with greater talents than Hiereus; or consequently, would be better pleased with my company. I slipped down his throat one night as he was fast asleep; and the next morning, as soon as he awaked, he fell to writing a treatise that was received with great applause, though he had the modesty not to set his name to that nor to any other of our productions. Some time after he published a paper of predictions, which were translated into several languages, and alarmed some of the greatest princes in Europe. To these he prefixed the name of Isaac Bickerstaff, esq., which I have been extremely fond of ever since, and have taken care that most of the writings I have been concerned in should be distin guished by it; though I must observe, that there have been many counterfeits imposed upon the pub lick by this means. This extraordinary man being VOL. XVIII. P called called out of the kingdom by affairs of his own, I resolved however to continue somewhat longer in a country where my works had been so well received, and accordingly bestowed myself with Hilario *. His natural wit, his lively turn of humour, and great penetration into human nature, easily determined me to this choice, the effects of which were soon after produced in this paper, called the Tatler. I know not how it happened, but in less than two years time Hilario grew weary of my company, and gave me warning to be gone. In the height of my resentment, I cast my eyes on a young fellow, of no extraordinary qualifications, whom for that very reason I had the more pride in taking under my direction, and enabling him by some means or other to carry on the work I was before engaged in. Lest he should grow too vain upon this encouragement, I to this day keep him under due mortification. I seldom reside with him when any of his friends are at leisure to receive me, by whose hands however he is duly supplied. As I have passed through many scenes of life, and a long series of years, I choose to be considered in the character of an old fellow, and take care that those under my influence should speak consonantly to it. This account, I presume, will give no small consolation to Sylvia, who may rest assured, That Isaac Bickerstaff is to be seen in more forms than she dreamt of; out of which variety she may choose what is most agreeable to her fancy. On Tuesdays, he is sometimes a black proper young gentleman, with a mole on his left cheek. On Thursdays, * Mr. Steele. + Mr. Harrison. Probably Dr. Swift, the Hiereus of the preceding page; and the Obadiah Greenhat of the Tatler, N° 59. a decent a decent well looking man, of a middle stature, long flaxen hair, and a florid complexion*. On Saturdays, he is somewhat of the shortest, and may be known. from others of that size by talking in a low voice, and passing through the streets without much precipitation. Having copied those Tatlers which could properly be ascribed to the dean: it is but justice to mention FOUR, which (having been said to be his) he has thus disclaimed." The Tatler [237] upon "Milton's Spear is not mine." Journal to Stella, Nov. 1, 1710." The Tatler of the shilling [249] was not mine, more than the hints and two or three "general heads for it. I have much more important business on my hands." Nov. 8.-" You are mistaken in your guesses about Tatlers: I "did neither write that on Noses [260] nor Re ligion [257]; nor do I send him of late any hints at all." Jan. 1, 1710-11. THE EXAMINER†. N° 46. THURSDAY JUNE 14, 1711. "Melius non tangere clamo." WHEN a general has conquered an army, and reduced a country to obedience, he often finds it Perhaps Mr. Henley. necessary + In Vol. III, p. 249, this Examiner is referred to as No. 45, in conformity to the numbers there used; but it should certainly have been called, as it originally was, No. 46. necessary to send out small bodies, in order to take in petty castles and forts, and beat little straggling parties, On the third of August 1710, appeared the first number of The Examiner, the ablest vindication of the measures of the queen and her new ministry. "About a dozen of these papers,” Dr. Swift tells us, "written with much spirit and sharpness, some by secretary St. John, since lord Bolingbroke; others by Dr. Atterbury, since bishop of Rochester; and others again by Mr. Prior, Dr. Freind, &c. were published with great applause. But these gentlemen being grown weary of the work, or otherwise employed, the determination was, that I should continue it; which I did accordingly eight months. But, my style being soon discovered, and having contracted a great number of enemies, I let it fall into other hands, who held it up in some manner until her majesty's death." The original institutors are supposed to have employed Dr. King as their publisher, or ostensible author, before they prevailed on their great champion to undertake that task. Mr. Oldmixon thought that Mr. Prior had a principal hand in the early numbers; and it is well known that he wrote No. 6, professedly against Dr. Garth, Dr. King was the author of No. 11, October 12 and of No. 12, October 19. Who was the author of No. 13, does not appear; but it is remarkable that, when the Examiners were first collected by Mr. Barber into a volume, No. 13 was omitted; the original 14 being then marked 13; and so on to 45 inclusive, which is marked 44; and this misarrangement has of course been continued by Dr. Hawkesworth and Mr. Sheridan. No. 14, which was published Nov. 2, was written by Dr. Swift, who aided in writing a part of No. 46, when Mrs. Manley took it up, and finished the first volume. Mr. Prior, however, was by many still considered as the author, as appears by the Journal to Stella, Feb. 9, 1710-11.-In a subsequent letter, Nov. 3, 1711, Swift says "The first thirteen Examiners were written by several hands, some good, some bad; the next three and thirty were all by one hand; that makes fortysix: then the author, whoever he was, laid it down, on purpose to confound guessers; and the last six were written by a woman. The printer is going to print them in a small volume; it seems the author is too proud to have them printed by subscription, though his friends offered, they say, to make it worth five hundred pounds ta parties, which are otherwise apt to make head, and infest the neighbourhood. This case exactly resembles mine. I count the main body of the whigs entirely subdued; at least, till they appear with new reinforcements, I shall reckon them as such; and therefore do now find myself at leisure to examine inferiour abuses. The business I have left is, to fall on those wretches that will be still keeping the war on foot, when they have no country to defend, no forces to bring into the field, nor any thing remaining, but their bare good will toward faction and mischief: I mean the present set of writers, whom I have suffered, without molestation, so long to infest the town. Were there not a concurrence from prejudice, party, weak understanding, and misrepresentation, I should think them too inconsiderable in themselves to deserve correction. But as my endeavour has been to expose the gross impositions of the fallen party, I will give a taste, in the following petition, of the sincerity of these their factors, to show how little those writers for the whigs were to him." In a note on this passage, Mr. Deane Swift has observed, "that the doctor's memory failed him a little; and that he should have said, the first twelve were written by several hands, and the next thirty-two by one person."-The dean, however, was right. The original volume of Examiners consists of fifty-two numbers. It appears above, the last six were written by a woman [Mrs. Manley]; consequently Dr. Swift ended with No. 46. Our author, in the Journal of July 15, says, "I do not like any thing in the Exami "ner after the 45th, except the first part of the 46th." And on the zzd of June (the day after No. 47 was published) he says, "Yesterday's was a sad Examiner; and last week's was very indifferent, though some scraps of the old spirit, as if he had given hints."-But, as that paper will best speak for itself, we shall not apologize for copying the first part of No. 46, to complete those which have been inserted in our third volume. |