cleaning fhoes; because, said he, my kitchen-wench has a fcullion that does her drudgery, and one part of the business of my groom and footman is conftantly to clean her fhoes by turns: if they fcrupled this, the treaty was at an end; if not, he gave them a farther hearing. His kitchen-wench, however, was his cook, a woman of large fize, robuft conftitution, and coarse features, whofe face was very much feamed with the fmall-pox, and furrowed by age: this woman he always diftinguifhed by the name of Sweetheart. It happened one day that Sweetheart greatly overroafted the only joint he had for dinner; upon which he fent for her up, and, with great coolness and gravity, Sweetheart, fays he, take this down into the kitchen and do it lefs. She replied, that was impoffible. Pray then, faid he, if you had roafted it too little, could you have done it more? Yes, fhe faid, fhe could easily have done that: Why then, Sweetheart, replied the dean, let me advise you, if you must commit a fault, commit a fault that can be mended. To the rest of his fervants, indeed, he appeared to be churlish and auftere, but, in reality, was one of the best mafters in the world: he allowed them board-wages at the highest rate then known; and if he employed them about any thing out of the ordinary course of their fervice, he always paid them to the full value of the work, as he would have paid another with thefe emoluments, and the fragments from his table, he expected they should find themselves in victuals, and all other neceffaries, except the liveries which he gave them; if in this fituation their expences were greater than their income, it was judged a fufficient reafon to difcharge them ; but, on the contrary, as foon as they had faved a full year's wages, he constantly paid them legal interest for it, and took great pleafure in feeing it accumulate to a fum, which might fettle them in fome em ployment ployment if he fhould die, or if they found it advifeable to quit his fervice, which feldom happened; and he with whom his fervants live long, has indubitable witneffes that he is a good mafter. It is alfo certain, that, notwithstanding the apparent austerity of his temper, he did not confider his fervants as poor flaves, to whofe fervice Orrery, he had a right, in confideration merely of his money, and owed them no reciprocal obligation. 200. He had a fervant whom he ufed to call Saunders, that lived long with him, and at length fell fick and died. In his fickness, which lafted many months, Swift took care that all poffible relief and affiftance fhould be afforded him, and when he died he buri éd him in the fouth ifle of his cathedral, and erected a small piece of ftatuary to his memory, with this infcription: Here lieth the body of Alexander Magee, fervant to doctor Swift, His grateful mafter caufed this monument to be e rected in memory of his difcretion, fidelity, and diligence in that humble ftation. Ob. Mar. 24, 1721, Elat. 29. In the original copy, which the author of the Ob fervations faw in the dean's own hand, the expreffion was still stronger, and more to the dean's honour, thus: His grateful friend and mafter. But a perfon of the dean's acquaintance, who is much more diftinguished for vanity than wifdom, prevailed upon him to leave out fri nd, even in oppofition to his own well known maxim, that a faithful fervant fhould always be confidered not as a poor Aave, but an bumble friend. Of this perfon the name F 2 is is not told; but to conceal it is rather injuftice than mercy, for he ought, on this occafion to inherit a disgrace, at least, proportionate to the honour which he found means to with-hold from Swift. As a member of civil fociety, he was a zealous advocate for liberty, the detecter of fraud, and the fcourge of oppreffion. In his private capacity, he was not only charitable but generous; and whatever mifanthropy may be found in his writings, there does not appear to have been any in his life. peo His writings in defence of the poor infatuated ple of Ireland are well known; and that he might not be wanting himfelf while he pleaded their caufe with others, he conftantly lent out a large fum of money in small portions to honeft, diligent, and neceffitous tradefmen, who paid it with a small gratuity by way of intereft to the perfon who kept the account of the difburfements and weekly payments, for he received back thefe loans by a certain J.R. 203. fum out of the weekly profit of the borrowers trade, in fuch proportions as that the whole fhould be repaid in a year. 4. Befides this he frequently gave away 5 and rol. when proper objects offered, without any parade. He was indeed diligent to relieve the poor, and at the fame time to encourage induftry, even in the lowest station, and used regularly to vifit a great number of poor, chiefly women, as well in the public ftreets as in the bye allies; and, under the arches of Dublin, fome of thefe fold plums, fome hobnails, others tape, and others gingerbread; fome knitted, fome darned ftockings, and others cobbled fhoes, thefe women were most of them old, deformed, or crippled, and fome were all three. He faluted them with great kindness, asked how they throve, and what stock they had; if the ware of any of them was fuch as he could poffibly use, or pretend to ufe, he bought fome, and paid for every half-penny worth fix pence; if not, he always added fomething to their ftock, and strictly charged them to be indu ftrious and honest. It must be confeffed that these acts of bounty did not appear to be the effects of compaffion, for of the foft fympathy with diftrefs that fometimes fparkles in the eye, and fometimes glows upon the cheek, he fhewed no fign, and he may therefore be supposed to have wanted it; however, it is certain, that he was wholly free from ill-nature, for a man can have no complacence in that evil which he is continually busy to remove. His bounty had not indeed the indifcriminating ardour of blind inftinct, and, if it had, it would not have been the inftrument of equal happinefs: to feed idleness is to propagate mifery, and difcourage virtue; but to insure the reward of industry is to beltow a benefit at once upon the individual and the publick; it is to preserve from defpair those who struggle with difficulty and disappointment, it is to fupply food and reft to that labour which alone can make food tasteful and reft sweet, and to invigorate the community by the full use of thofe members which would otherwife become not only useless but hurtful, as a limb in which the vital fluid ceases to circulate will not only wither but corrupt. In this view then the bounty of Swift was, like every other Chriftian duty, a reasonable fervice; and that he felt no fecret pleasure in the calamities of others, may be fairly concluded not only from his general practice, but from many particular facts in which he appears to have been watchful and zealous to alleviate diftrefs by unfollicited and unexpected liberality. It happened that a young gentleman of his choir, being abroad with his gun, fuffered irreparable hurt by its going off accidentally. When the dean heard of it, he expreffed great concern, and, having paufed a little, F 3 a little, Well, faid he, this will be a good time at once to reward merit and alleviate diftrefs; I will make him a vicar, which he did accordingly the fame hour, There are fome infirmities to which the mind as well as the body naturally becomes fubject in the decline of life. The defire of accumulating wealth almost always increases in proportion as it becomes more abfurd, and those are most tenacious of money, to whom money can be of least use. It has been generally faid that this weakness is the effect of long acquaintance with mankind, who are found to deferve lefs confidence and lefs kindness, as they are more known; and indeed, though this opinion fhould not haftily be admitted, it must yet be confeffed, that the first article in which men leffen their expences, is generally the money they have been used to give away, and that they gradually lofe the inclination to do good as they acquire the power. But Swift, if he was not exempt from the infirmity, was yet clear of the vice. If his economy degenerated into avarice, it must be confeffed that his avarice did not contract his bounty, and he fuffers no degradation in his moral character, who, when the practice of any virtue is become more difficult, is yet able to exert it in the fame degree. Swift turned all the evil of exceffive frugality upon himself. It induced him to walk when he had been used to ride, and he would then fay he had earned a fhilling or eighteen-pence, which he had a right to do what he pleased with, and which he conftantly applied to his ufual charities, which by this expedient he could continue, and yet expend lefs upon the whole than before. But the diftribution even of this charity was marked with the peculiarity of his character, for that The might proportion his bounty to the neceffities and the merit of various objects, and yet give but one piece of money at a time, he conftantly. J. R. 13. kept a pocket full of all forts of coin, from a filver three-pence to a crown-piece. But |