nd who
agrees with the cynical judgment of Carlyle, that men are mostly fools.
Swift, however, did not consider fools useless, but observes that they
'are as necessary for a good writer as pen, ink, and paper.' Never was
volume written which betrayed in larger characters the opinions and
disposition of its author. Swift was consistent in defending the
National Church as a political institution; but in the _Tale of a Tub_
he does so with weapons an atheist might use if he possessed the skill.
The author maintains that in his ridicule of the Church of Rome and of
Protestant dissenters, he is only displaying the abuses which deform the
Christian Church; but no defence can be urged for his wild and
irreverent method of turning subjects into ridicule which by a vast
number of people are regarded as sacred. In judging of Swift's satire
from a moral standing-point, one test, as Mr. Leslie Stephen observes,
may be supposed to guide our decision. 'Imagine the _Tale of a Tub_ to
be read by Bishop Butler and by Voltaire, who called Swift a _Rabelais
perfectionne_. Can anyone doubt that the believer would be scandalized,
and the scoffer find himself in a thoroughly congenial element? Would
not any believer shrink from the use of such weapons, even though
directed against his enemies?'[44]

Although the wit poured out with such profusion in the _Tale of a Tub_,
in so far as it offends the moral sense, fails to give pleasure, the
reader is astonished, as Swift in later life was himself, at the genius
displayed in this allegory, the argument of which may be told in a few
words.

A man is supposed to have three sons by one wife, and all at a birth. On
his deathbed he leaves to each of them a new coat, which he says will
grow with their growth, and last as long as they live. In his will he
leaves directions, saying how the coats are to be used, and warning them
against neglecting his instructions. For some years all goes well, the
will is studied and followed, and the brothers, Peter (the Church of
Rome), Martin (the Church of England), and Jack (the Calvinist), live in
unity. How by degrees they misinterpret their father's will, how Peter
begins by adding topknots to his coat, and afterwards grows so
scandalous that his brothers resolve to leave him, and then fall out
between themselves, is told with abundant wit. A great part of the
volume consists of digressions written in Swift's most vigorous style,
and with the cynical humour in