late king's time. There did not appear even the least ground for a suspicion of it; nor did Hamilton, who appeared in court, pretend to tax him with it, which would have been in truth accusing himself of the utmost baseness, in letting the murderer of his friend go off from the field of battle, without either resentment, pursuit, or even accusation, till three days afterwards. This lie was invented to inflame the Scotch nation against the Whigs; as the other, that prince Eugene intended to murder lord Oxford, by employing a set of people called Mohocks, which society, by the way, never existed, was calculated to inflame the mob of London. Swift took those hints de la meilleure foi du monde, and thought them materials for history. So far he is blameless."[5]

[Footnote 4: See page 178 of this volume.]

[Footnote 5: "Chesterfield's Works," pp. 498-499.]

Ignoring Chesterfield's indignation, we must believe that the references made by him to Macartney and Eugene, must have been in the manuscript Bolingbroke read; else how could Bolingbroke tell Chesterfield of their meaning? If this be so, we have a still further warrant for a strong presumption in favour of authenticity. There can really be very little doubt on the matter.

What we may doubt, however, is not the authenticity, but the value of the History as an historical document. Without question, Swift wrote in good faith; but he also wrote as a partisan, and a partisan with an affectionate leaning for the principal character in the drama he was describing. Orrery was right when he called it "a pamphlet," and "the best defence of Lord Oxford's administration." As a pamphlet and as a defence it has some claim on our attention. As a contribution to the history of the treaty of Utrecht it is of little account. Swift could not, had he even known everything, write the true story of the negotiations for publication at the time. In the first place, he would never have attempted it—the facts would have been demoralizing; and in the second place, had he accomplished it, its publication would have been a matter for much more serious consideration than was given even to the story he did write. For Swift's purpose, it was much better that he did not know the full extent of the ministry's perfidy. His affection for Oxford and his admiration for Bolingbroke would have received a great shock. He knew their weaknesses of character, though not their infidelity to honour. There can be no defence of the Oxford administration, for the manner in which it separated England from its allies and treated with a monarch who was well known to it as a political chicaner. The result brought a treaty by which Louis XIV. gained and the allies lost, and this in spite of the offers previously made by the bankrupt monarch at Gertruydenberg.

The further contents of this volume deal with what might better be called Swiftiana. They include a collection of very interesting annotations made by Swift in his copies of Macky's "Characters," Clarendon's "History of the Rebellion," Burnet's "History of his Own Time," and Addison's "Freeholder." The notes to Clarendon and Burnet have always found an important place in the many editions of these well-known works which have been issued from time to time. As here reprinted, however, they have in all cases been compared with the originals themselves. It will be found that very many additions have been made, the result of careful comparison and collation with the originals in Swift's handwriting.

My obligations are again due to Mr. W. Spencer Jackson for very valuable assistance in the collation of texts; to Mr. George Ravenscroft Dennis for several important suggestions; to Mr. Percy Fitzgerald for the use I have made of his transcriptions; and to Mr. Strickland of the National Gallery of Ireland for his help in the matter of Swift portraits.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. C. Litton Falkiner of Killiney, co. Wicklow, for his untiring assistance to me during my stay in Dublin; to the Very Rev. the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral for permission to consult the Marsh collection; and to the Rev. Newport J.D. White, the courteous librarian of the Marsh Library, for enthusiastic aid in my researches. I also owe very hearty thanks to Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole for introductions to the librarians of Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy.

The portrait prefixed to this volume is a reproduction of the bust by
Roubiliac in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

TEMPLE SCOTT.

DUBLIN,

August 14th, 1902.

CONTENTS

THE HISTORY OF THE FOUR LAST YEARS OF THE QUEEN

AN ABSTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND:
  From the invasion of it by Julius Caesar to the Reign of Henry the Second

REMARKS ON THE CHARACTERS OF THE COURT OF QUEEN ANNE

REMARKS ON LORD CLARENDON'S "HISTORY OF THE REBELLION"

REMARKS ON BISHOP BURNET'S "HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME"

NOTES ON THE "FREEHOLDER"

INDEX

THE HISTORY OF

THE FOUR LAST YEARS

OF THE QUEEN.

By the late

JONATHAN SWIFT,

D.D. D.S.P.D.

Published from the

Last MANUSCRIPT Copy, Corrected and

Enlarged by the Author's OWN HAND.

LONDON:

Printed for A. MILLAR, in the Strand:

MDCCLVIII.

ADVERTISEMENT

PREFIXED TO THE EDITION OF 1758.[1]

[Footnote 1: This advertisement was written by the editor, Dr. Charles Lucas of Dublin. This Lucas was the patriot who created such a stir in Irish politics between the years 1743 and 1750. Lord Townshend, in a letter to the Marquis of Granby, called him "the Wilkes of Ireland." As an author he seems to have been very prolific, though of no polish in his writings. Lucas's disclaimers of sympathy with the opinions contained in the work he edited are somewhat over-stated, and his criticisms are petty. A full account of this hot-headed physician may be found in the Dictionary of National Biography. It was Dr. Johnson, in his life of Swift, who first published the information that Lucas edited this "History." [T.S.]]

Thus, the long wished for History of the Four Last Years of the Queen's Reign is at length brought to light, in spite of all attempts to suppress it!

As this publication is not made under the sanction of the name, or names, which the author and the world had a right to expect; it is fit some account of the works appearing in this manner should be here given.

Long before the Dean's apparent decline, some of his intimate friends, with concern, foresaw the impending fate of his fortune and his works. To this it is owing, that these sheets, which the world now despaired of ever seeing, are rescued from obscurity, perhaps from destruction.

For this, the public is indebted to a gentleman, now in Ireland, of the greatest probity and worth, with whom the Dean long lived in perfect intimacy. To this gentleman's hands the Dean entrusted a copy of his History, desiring him to peruse and give his judgment of it, with the last corrections and amendments the author had given it, in his own hand.

His friend read, admired, and approved. And from a dread of so valuable and so interesting a work's being by any_ _accident lost or effaced, as was probable by its not being intended to be published in the author's lifetime; he resolved to keep