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The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift 221
of his time. At the same time no one can be surprised that such a
charge should be brought against a writer who wrote as Swift had
done in the “Tale of a Tub” about the Roman Catholic doctrine
concerning the Sacrament and the Calvinistic doctrine concerning
inspiration. And although the “Tale of a Tub” is an extreme example,
the same spirit pervades many of his other performances, especially
those wonderful lines about the Judgment of the World by Jupiter,
which Chesterfield sent to Voltaire. 1 His wit was perfectly unbridled.
His unrivalled power of ludicrous combination seldom failed to get
the better of his prudence, and he found it impossible to resist a jest.
It must be added that no writer of the time indulged more habitually
in coarse, revolting, and indecent imagery; that he delighted in a strain
of ribald abuse peculiarly unbecoming in a clergyman; that he was the
intimate friend of Bolingbroke and Pope, whose freethinking opinions
were notorious, and that he frequently expressed a strong dislike
for his profession. In one of his poems he describes himself as—
“A clergyman of special note
For shunning those of his own coat,
Which made his brethren of the gown
Take care betimes to run him down.”
In another poem he says:
“A genius in a reverend gown
Will always keep its owner down;
‘Tis an unnatural conjunction,
And spoils the credit of the function.
. . . . . . . .
“And as, of old, mathematicians
Were by the vulgar thought magicians,
So academic dull ale-drinkers
Pronounce all men of wit freethinkers.”
At the same time, while it must be admitted that Swift was far
from being a model clergyman, it is, I conceive, a misapprehension
to regard him as a secret disbeliever in Christianity. He was admirably
described by St. John as “a hypocrite reversed.” He disguised
as far as possible both his religion and his affections, and took a