ciple it was
owing, that Swift's house was often a seraglio of very virtuous women,
who attended him from morning till night, with an obedience, an awe, and
an assiduity that are seldom paid to the richest, or the most powerful
lovers. These ladies had no doubt a pride in being thought the
companions of Swift; but the hours which were spent in his company could
not be very pleasant, as his sternness and authority were continually
exerted to keep them in awe.

Lord Orrery has informed us, that Swift took every opportunity to expose
and ridicule Dryden, for which he imagines there must have been some
affront given by that great man to Swift. In this particular we can
satisfy the reader from authentic information.

When Swift was a young man, and not so well acquainted with the world as
he afterwards became, he wrote some Pindaric Odes. In this species of
composition he succeeded ill; sublimity and fire, the indispensable
requisites in a Pindaric Ode not being his talent. As Mr. Dryden was
Swift's kinsman, these odes were shewn to him for his approbation, who
said to him with an unreserved freedom, and in the candour of a friend,
'Cousin Swift, turn your thoughts some other way, for nature has never
formed you for a Pindaric poet.'

Though what Dryden observed, might in some measure be true, and Swift
perhaps was conscious that he had not abilities to succeed in that
species of writing; yet this honest dissuasive of his kinsman he never
forgave. The remembrance of it soured his temper, and heated his
passions, whenever Dryden's name was mention'd.

We shall now take a view of Swift in his moral life, the distinction he
has obtained in the literary world having rendered all illustrations of
his genius needless.

Lord Orrery, throughout his excellent work, from which we have drawn our
account of Swift, with his usual marks of candour, has displayed his
moral character. In many particulars, the picture he draws of the Dean
resembles the portrait of the same person as drawn by Mrs. Pilkington.

'I have beheld him (says his lordship) in all humours and dispositions,
and I have formed various speculations from the several weaknesses to
which I observed him liable. His capacity, and strength of mind, were
undoubtedly equal to any talk whatsoever. His pride, his spirit, or his
ambition (call it by what name you please) was boundless; but his views
were checked in his younger years, and the anxiety of that
disappointment had