r quality in Swift's
work that would naturally arouse Scott's admiration was the remarkable
directness and lucidity of the style. Scott appreciated the originality
force of Swift, even when it was used in the service of satire.
Sometimes, he says, "the intensity of his satire gives to his poetry a
character of emphatic violence which borders upon grandeur."[195] The
editor's discussion of _Gulliver's Travels_ an acute and illuminating
little essay, contains one comment that gives an amusing revelation of
his point of view. He says in regard to the fourth part of the story:
"It is some consolation to remark that the fiction on which this libel
on human nature rests is in every respect gross and improbable, and, far
from being entitled to the praise due to the management of the first two
parts, is inferior in plan even to the third."[196] This is a sound
verdict, even if it does contain an extra-literary element. Scott
surpassed most of his contemporaries, except the younger Romantic
writers, in his ability to eliminate irrelevant considerations in
estimating any literary work; and if occasionally his strong moral
feeling appears in his criticism, it serves to remind us how much less
often this happens than a knowledge of his temperament would lead us to
expect. In spite of the qualities in his subject that might naturally
bias Scott's judgment, his criticism throughout this edition of Swift
seems on the whole very judicious. It defines the literary importance
and brings out plainly the power of a man whose work presents unusual
perplexities to the critic.

_The Somers Tracts_

Character of the collection and of Scott's work on it--Occasional
carelessness--Purpose of the notes--Scott's attitude towards these
studies.

While Scott was working on his _Dryden_ and before he began the _Swift_
he undertook to edit the great collection which had been published fifty
years before as _Somers' Tracts_. His task was to arrange, revise, and
annotate pamphlets which represented every reign from Elizabeth to
George I. He grouped them chronologically by reigns, and separated them
further into sections under the headings,--Ecclesiastical, Historical,
Civil, Military, Miscellaneous; he also added eighty-one pamphlets, all
written before the time of James II. The largest number of additions in
any one section was historical and had reference to Stafford. Among the
miscellaneous tracts that he incorporated were Derrick's _