fs of the Fleet, and
William Acton, Keeper of the Marshalsea Prison: 3 George II, A.D. 1729.
Report of the Com. of the House of Commons_.]

II.

Lord Hervey's bitter lines introduce us to Jonathan Swift. Nature,
together with the character of his time, made the great Dean a
misanthropist. Physical infirmity, disappointed hopes, and a long
series of humiliations destroyed the happiness which should have
belonged to his rare union of noble gifts,--his tall, commanding
figure, his awe-inspiring countenance, his acute wit, and magnificent
intellect. Naturally proud and sensitive to an abnormal degree, he was
obliged to suffer the most galling slights. From his earliest years he
hated dependence, and yet, until middle life he was forced to be a
dependent. His education was furnished by the charity of relatives,
between whom and himself there was no affection. His college degree was
conferred in a manner which made it a disgrace rather than an honor.
The long years which he passed in the household of Sir William Temple,
subject to the humors and caprices of his master, embittered his temper
at the time of life when it should have been most buoyant and hopeful.
Thus began the melancholy and misanthropy which marred his whole life,
darkening his triumphs, turning such love as he had to give into a
curse to those who received it, producing an eccentricity which often
gave him the appearance of a madman, and finally bringing him to a
terrible end--to die, as he himself foretold, like a blasted elm, first
at the top. He kept his birthday as a day of mourning. He solemnly
regretted his escape when nearly killed by an accident. He habitually
parted from a friend with the wish that they might never meet again.
Caesar's description of Cassius is wonderfully applicable to Swift:[151]

----He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men ----
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be amused to smile at any thing.

The character of Swift presents great apparent contradictions. Although
full of good-will and appreciation for individuals, although exercising
out of a small income the most discriminating and open handed
generosity, there has never lived a man more bitter in his misanthropy,
more fierce in his denunciation of mankind. Although capable of great
and disinterested affect