The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-07
SOME NEW BOOKS.


stoir. u. H., edited by +. ELRiNGroN
BAIL G,ondon: @. Bell and Sons: Mac.
millans), IL complete. The l49 letters
20 or By the Dean Of St Patrlcks
that are noted or printed in whole
or in part n ;his volume date from
April. 1897. IN April. 17t4. Swift died
on October ~. 1915. over these let
ters lies the shadow OF a great mind
IN decay. but too much may easily
he made - that. Readers and re-
viewers may dwell upon Swifts mel
sncholy decline hIs bodily aches and
pains. his sad consciousness OF cere-
bral inhrmty and distressing appre-
henson Of catastrophe. but that is
only part II the story. and 2 part
FOR which the brighter part should
not be sacrificed There Is in this
closing chapter Of the correspond
ence an abundance Of cheerful bio
graphical matter.
1Teredity and environment hold in
dual grasp the pencil that draws the
Line Of character through the pattern
Of mans career. OF Swifts hered-
fly We know. historically. nothing Of
decisive value. the one Unborn quail
fly OF which. reading the life, We can
be certain is the restless. resistless
ambition that urged him to his sue
cesses and measured the bitter
ness Of his disa ppointmentS. COM
pretending within its generous
compass the lesser contributory
traits that interest the moral
and psychological analyst. His en-
vironment may be divided into the
accidental. into which he was born.
and the essential. into which he made
his own way. impelled BY that tyran-
nous ambition. Much has been said
more or loss luminously, about Swift's
early poverty and attendant embit:er-
m-nt Fine crops have been raised
in the hard soil Of poverty cultivated
with endurance But the crops vary:
n there be fortll.zing application OF
special sort Of courage. the virtues
OF character flourish: II the endur-
ance b. defiant. the harvest IL apt TO
h OF achievement rather than Of at
tsinment Dean Swft's bitterness,
often held 10 view as a consequence
OF early tribulation. was g.rminally
antecedent Such speculations lead
back 10 the matter Of heredity. The
conclusion is that the congenital am
hitiousness ~ Jonathan was egotistIc.
seated in the Crarial cavity and not
under the hfth rio. Not that he v-5s
AL head and no heart" That sort Of
creature does not suffer. whatever suf-
fering he might inhict. Swift had heart
enough 10 furaish his busy brain wiki
in-Nhaustible stores 81 material for
the study Of human frailty and fatu-
fly. material Of satire and cynicism.
Swft's intellect and his emotional
nature were al odds: he had enough
Of tho first to ~ out one very great
man. and Of the second 70 equip one
very good man.
These qualities not constitutionally
irreconcilablc. might have been COM
fortably merged i'm him. except for tho
additional component of high ten
sion nervous system. It should have
been sOoth-d, held back: ne drove II
unspgringly. even with q fierce delight
IN raclling it's mechanism 10 tho last
limit Of endurance. The "seva in
dlgnatio" OF his auto-epitaph was
very dear to him. Name the eccen-
tricities Of genius and let Il 60 az
that; though when genius iuclines 80
the eccentric IL sits cruel heavy on
the back OF that willing old hack the
public. Eccentric genius scorns tho
public II deems gull.hic: the r-a'
knowing public H. compllcent, seeing
quite clearly that eccentric genius
pays for the pleasures Of pose. The
pose Of being never so happy az when
one is unhappy play at first for the
mental muscles. becomes IL long sus-
tanned a habit 81 the fibre and a cause
OF "cramp." Swift made his own bed
and profe,sed TO hate the world for
making him lie in it.
Recalling long afterward his early
years In the care Of his uncle, Goodwin
Swift. he accused his uncle OF giving
him "thc education Of dos " But
the uncle. seeming rich, had made
bad Investments and was pretty hard
nut 10 II himself: he chose To- seem
uuCcncrous rather than to confess his
straits. lie may have becn enough
like his nephew 10 increase his own
discomfort aud involve others in II by
assumption Of the poor mask Of sar-
casm and cyniCism. At any rate, II Ia
apparent that Jonathan had less justi-
fication than little Mr.. Twist in his
cry for more" and much less philoso-
phic composure in the acceptance of
limited allowance. As a pensioner
at Trinity College. Dublin. Swift
heated himself the iron that entered
his soul. One might rebel against
thos" monsters Of scholasiic!sm, the
KecEcrnarnuscs. Smiglociuers. &c.,;
might chafc under the restraints Of
academic discipline, cultivate self-sur-
veycd cNtracurroular territories o;
learning, and still dwell at peace with
the constituted authorities. Such
polite concessions Of the semblance
for the substance, II no part OF the
theory, are plentiful in the practice
Of education. But futile defiant re-
bellion better suited his taste. II the
Dublin degree "special gratia' was
improved upon by oxford, II is not
neces sary to explain either by oxford
Ignorance OF Dublin Latin or by
erasure in the Irish diploma; the OK
ford Swift was a man doing himself
Justice. the Trinity College Swift was
self-outlawed. He got his just deserts
both times. And in these carly com
plications was foreshadowed the un-
happy opposition Of impulses that ulti-
mately deprived him, contributor to
the fortunes OF two parties, OF reward
from either and connected him. idol of
two splendid women, with the despair
and death OF both. Hero OF his Irish
countrVmpn he Chafed i'm his political