The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume I (of 2), by Jonathan Swift, Edited by William Ernst Browning

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Title: The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume I (of 2)

Author: Jonathan Swift

Release Date: December 14, 2004 [eBook #14353]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D., VOLUME I (OF 2)***

E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, G. Graustein, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE POEMS OF JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D., VOLUME I

Edited by

WILLIAM ERNST BROWNING

Barrister, Inner Temple
Author of "The Life of Lord Chesterfield"

London
G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.

1910

[Illustration: Jonathan Swift
From the bust by Cunningham in St. Patrick's Cathedral]

PREFACE

The works of Jonathan Swift in prose and verse so mutually illustrate each other, that it was deemed indispensable, as a complement to the standard edition of the Prose Works, to issue a revised edition of the Poems, freed from the errors which had been allowed to creep into the text, and illustrated with fuller explanatory notes. My first care, therefore, in preparing the Poems for publication, was to collate them with the earliest and best editions available, and this I have done.

But, thanks to the diligence of the late John Forster, to whom every lover of Swift must confess the very greatest obligation, I have been able to do much more. I have been able to enrich this edition with some pieces not hitherto brought to light—notably, the original version of "Baucis and Philemon," in addition to the version hitherto printed; the original version of the poem on "Vanbrugh's House"; the verses entitled "May Fair"; and numerous variations and corrections of the texts of nearly all the principal poems, due to Forster's collation of them with the transcripts made by Stella, which were found by him at Narford formerly the seat of Swift's friend, Sir Andrew Fountaine—see Forster's "Life of Swift," of which, unfortunately, he lived to publish only the first volume. From Swift's own copy of the "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse," 1727-32, with notes in his own handwriting, sold at auction last year, I was able to make several corrections of the poems contained in those four volumes, which serve to show how Swift laboured his works, and revised and improved them whenever he had an opportunity of doing so. It is a mistake to suppose that he was indifferent to literary fame: on the contrary, he kept some of his works in manuscript for years in order to perfect them for publication, of which "The Tale of a Tub," "Gulliver's Travels," and the "Verses on his own Death" are examples.

I am indebted to Miss Wilmot-Chetwode, of Wordbrooke, for the loan of a manuscript volume, from which I obtained some various readings. By the advice of Mr. Elrington Ball, I applied to the librarians of Trinity College and of the National Library, and from the latter I received a number of pieces; but I found that the harvest had already been reaped so fully, that there was nothing left to glean which could with certainty be ascribed to Swift. On the whole, I believe that this edition of the Poems will be found as complete as it is now possible to make it.

In the arrangement of the poems, I have adopted nearly the same order as in the Aldine edition, for the pieces seem to fall naturally into those divisions; but with this difference, that I have placed the pieces in their chronological order in each division. With regard to the notes in illustration of the text, many of them in the Dublin editions were evidently written by Swift, especially the notes to the "Verses on his own Death." And as to the notes of previous editors, I have retained them so far as they were useful and correct: but to many of them I have made additions or alterations wherever, on reference to the authorities cited, or to other works, correction became necessary. For my own notes, I can only say that I have sought to make them concise, appropriate to the text, and, above all, accurate.

Swift and the educated men of his time thought in the classics, and his poems, as well as those of his friends, abound with allusions to the Greek and Roman authors, especially to the latter. I have given all the references, and except in the imitations and paraphrases of so familiar a writer as Horace, I have appended the Latin text. Moreover, Swift was, like Sterne, very fond of curious and recondite reading, in which it is not always easy to track him without some research; but I believe that I have not failed to illustrate any matter that required elucidation.

W. E. B.

May 1910.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I

Introduction xv

Ode to Doctor William Sancroft
Ode to Sir William Temple
Ode to King William
Ode to The Athenian Society
To Mr. Congreve
Occasioned by Sir William Temple's late illness and recovery
Written in a Lady's Ivory Table Book
Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition
A Ballad on the game of Traffic
A Ballad to the tune of the Cutpurse
The Discovery
The Problem
The Description of a Salamander
To Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough
On the Union
On Mrs. Biddy Floyd
The Reverse
Apollo Outwitted
Answer to Lines from May Fair
Vanbrugh's House
Vanbrugh's House
Baucis and Philemon
Baucis and Philemon
The History of Vanbrugh's House
A Grub Street Elegy
The Epitaph
A Description of the Morning
A Description of a City Shower
On the Little House
A Town Eclogue
A Conference
To Lord Harley on his Marriage
Phyllis
Horace, Book IV, Ode ix
To Mr. Delany
An Elegy
To Mrs. Houghton
Verses written on a Window
On another Window
Apollo to the Dean
News from Parnassus
Apollo's Edict
The Description of an Irish Feast
The Progress of Beauty
The Progress of Marriage
The Progress of Poetry
The South Sea Project
Fabula Canis et Umbrae
A Prologue
Epilogue
Prologue
Epilogue
Answer to Prologue and Epilogue
On Gaulstown House
The Country Life
Dr. Delany's Villa
On one of the Windows at Delville
Carberiae Rupes
Carbery Rocks
Copy of the Birthday Verses on Mr. Ford
On Dreams
Dr. Delany to Dr. Swift
The Answer
A Quiet Life and a Good Name
Advice
A Pastoral Dialogue
Desire and Possession
On Censure
The Furniture of a Woman's Mind
Clever Tom Clinch
Dr. Swift to Mr. Pope
A Love Poem
Bouts Rimez
Helter Skelter
The Puppet Show
The Journal of a Modern Lady
The Logicians Refuted
The Elephant; or the Parliament Man
Paulus; an Epigram
The Answer
A Dialogue
On burning a dull Poem
An excellent new Ballad
On Stephen Duck
The Lady's Dressing Room
The Power of Time
Cassinus and Peter
A Beautiful young Nymph
Strephon and Chloe
Apollo; or a Problem solved