New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-23
upon his own death, Swift quoted the origina
French. and then went on as follows:


Points out some circumstance to please u.s."
Swift has been thought debtor to a certain rare
French work for the form OF " GULL vers Travels"
| but have always considered that his obligation
| was a small one; and there were several books
which might have helped him to his idea OF satire
| written under the form which he adopted. Prob
| ably his main obligation was to Rabelais, with
| whom Pope directly compared him. In book
written by one Sullivan, and published early in tho
last century, find the following: II is worthy OF
remark. that the Pulingars on the Malbar side of
India are known to live generally in trees; and
that on sight of Bramn they are obliged to cry.
| with as audible voice as in their power: fahu!
Yehup that no accidental encounter should con-
taminate the sacred order Of Drama" Hence, per-
| hans the groundwork of that picture OF deformty
delineated by Swift in his Gullivers Voyage 10 tho
Houvbupms There is q coincidence between the
| cry and the name Yahoo" which he bestowed
upon his horrible and disgusting hbels upon
humanity but the misanthropy, fear, was oil MS
own, and had its origin in that contempt Tor his
species to which his friendship for Pope. Gay,
Bolingbroko and AIbutbnot was but an exception.
Does the reader remember Swifts half whimsical
EXPLANATION of this: hate the whole, but like q
few: l detest tho species. but except Tom and
Dicknf There is q striking passage in one OF MS
letters 10 Mr. Pulteney, in which the Dean breaks
ont with savage vehemence as follows: L uesro
that my prescription of living may be puosned LOT
the benefit of mankind which, however, do not
yalue a rush. nor the an.Cal ITSELF as 1t now acts
neither will l ever more value myself as Phlan-
thropus, because it is ereature-taking vast
maiority-that I hate more than toad viper.
stork fox or any other that you will be pleased to
add" One wonders what should have been tho
reason of Swift's antipathy to stork. which has
always been regarded as q respectable and we'll
mentioned bird 1t is the fashion just now 20
consider the Dean OF ST. Patrick as little better than
one of his own monsters Mr.. Thackeray who ap-
pears to have led tho way, giving tone 10 the
talk and writing about him. But great allowances
must be made for one who, perhaps was never
absolutely sane, and who tells us that he was all
his lite tho victim of headache contracted by eat
ing too many peaches in Sir William Temples gar
den. cannot help thinking that Mr. Alibone the
compiler OF the great biographical dictionary. was
rather hard upon him when he concluded his article
on Berkeley with the following outburstiof virtuous
wrath and moral indignation: Young man! to
whom God hath granted mental capacity and intel
lectual wealth, look first upon this picture and on
this, and say which shall be the object of thy ambi-
ton, Jonathan Swift or George BerkeleyP The
young man thus feryently and aflectonately ap-
peaed to need not spend much time in making up
his juvenile mind. The Bishop of Cloype is un
doubtealy tho superior person and the most worthy
example. should little pity the lad who made
Swift his model. 1t is rather better if Mr.. A'ibone
will permit to say to select as the object OF
ambition one who does not stand quite so high.
And speaking of Berkeley, may mention that he,
too, wrote fictitious volume OF travels which for
some reason or other has not got into the bbo-
praphes. Swift, it has been thought, formed his
manEor much upon that OF John Eachard. his
vein of pleasantly being very similar. Eachard
was famous writer in Swifts days, and specially
about the timewhen he was writing The Tale OF o
Tub" of which he used to say in his old ago.
@Ah! what q genius l had when 1 wrote that
bookw Swift himself mentions Eachard in q rather
complimentary way, observing that he was happy
enough at ridicule. but also "upon grave subjects
perfectly stupid" DR.. johnson, who never liked
Swift much, used to question whether he really
wrote "The Tale of Tub" the authorship of
which he never directly owned. DR.. johnson said
to Boswell: "Swift has q higher reputation than
he deserves His excellence is strong sense for his
humor. though veIy we'll, is not remarkably
good. doubt whether The Tale Of Tub be
his, for he never owned it, and it is much above
his usual manner" Author not, the reputation
OF having written it is said to have cost him
bishopric. Archbishop Sharpe showed it to Queen
Ammo. who was doubtless told that 1t was rbald
attack upon Christianity; and Her Majesty was
ono who loved nothing better than Christianity,
except hunting johnson once called the at
tention of the company to the fact that Swift put
his name to but two things, after he had name to
put, "The Plan for the Improvement OF the English
Language" and the last "Drapiers Letter" john
son added contemptuousy OF "Gullivers Travels"
-" When once you have thought OF big men and lit
tie men, it is very easy to do the rest But Rabelss
had thought Of big men and little men" long be-
FORE DR.. johnson, when he was on his death bed,
seems to have amused himself when not in the
4 t. a.
tors. Heberden and Brocklesby. and by quoting. in
reference to their deliberations and dubosties about
his case these lines from Swifts Verses His Own
Death:
"The DOCTORS tender of their fame
Wisely on one lay all the blame;
we must confess bis nice,
But he would never take advice;
Had he been ruled, for aught appears,
lie might have lived this twenty years;
For when opened him we found
That all his vital parts were sound"
Dr. johnson always insisted that Sterne was a dull
fellow, only amusing because he had found ont
new way of being 3d. And speaking of Sterne. re-
minds me of one of these condolences, which it is
the purpose of this article to illustrate Soon after
1.-THE Sentimental Journey" was published one
Paterson put out humorous book of travels. enti-
tied Coriat Junior" Everybody said that it was
an imitation of Sterne, upon which MIR. Paterson,
who was O worthy dealer in old books, published q
pamphlet. showing that his work was written before
Sterne's. The author of Tristram Shandy " is now
usually spoken of as plagarst, but nobody has
yet told us from whence he borrowed the inimtabe
characters of My Uncle Toby, My Father and DIR.
slop. Dr. John Ferriars Illustrations of Sterne
Is not now common. but is certainly an amusing
volume. He cites many ludicrous writers from
whom Sterne probably took general ideas or partc-
ular passages referring the main design Of Shandy
to Rabeais. that design being to write "a general
satire on the abuse of speculative opinions" Some of
Sternes passages are borrowed completely from the