"ber of fourscore, with their wives and families, "will inevitably starve, having been bound to no "other calling.

"Your petitioners desire your honours will ten"derly consider the premises, and suffer your "said petitioners to continue their trade (those "who set them at work being still willing to employ them, though at lower rates;) and

your said petitioners will give security to "make use of the same stuff, and dress in "the same manner, as they always did, and 66 no other. "And your petitioners, &c."

In the SPECTATOR, No. 575, August 2, 1714, the following article was proposed by Dr. Swift:

"The following question is started by one of the schoolmen Supposing the whole body of the earth were a great ball or mass of the finest sand, and that a single grain or particle of this sand should be annihilated every thousand years. Supposing then that you had it in your choice to be happy all the while this prodigious mass of sand was consuming by this slow method, until there was not a grain of it left, on condition you were to be miserable for ever after; or supposing that you might be happy for ever after, on condition you would be miserable until the whole mass of sand were thus annihilated at the rate of one sand in a thousand years: which of these two cases would you make your choice?"

CHARACTER OF HERODOTUS.

THE underwritten is copied from Dr. Swift's (dean of St. Patrick's) own handwriting in an edition of Herodotus, by Paul Stephens, the gift of the earl of Clanricard to the library of Winchester college.

"Judicium de Herodoto post longum tempus "relecto. Ctesias mendacissimus Herodotum men"daciorum arguit, exceptis paucissimis, (ut mea fert "sententia) omnimodo excusandum. Cæterum di"verticulis abundans hic pater historicorum filum "narrationis ad tædium abrumpit: unde oritur (ut par est) legentibus confusio, et exindè oblivio. Quin "et forsan ipsæ narrationes circumstantiis nimium pro re scatent. Quod ad cætera, hunc scriptorem "inter apprimè laudandos censeo, neque Græcis "neque Barbaris plus æquo faventem aut iniquum : "in orationibus ferè brevem, simplicem, nec nimis "frequentem. Neque absunt dogmata e quibus erudi"tus lector prudentiam tam moralem quam civilem "haurire poterit.

"Julii 6, 1720."

"J. SWIFT*."

* Attestation of dean Swift's printer.

"I do hereby certify that the above is the handwriting of the late Dr. Jonathan Swift, D. S. P. D., from whom I have had "many letters, and printed several pieces from his original MSS. "GEORGE FAULKNER."

"Dublin, "August 21, 1762."

SKETCH

SKETCH OF THE CHARACTER

OF

ARISTOTLE*.

ARISTOTLE, the disciple of Plato, and tutor to

Alexander the Great. His followers were called peripateticks, from a Greek word which signifies to walk, because he taught his disciples walking. We have not all his works, and some of those which are imputed to him are supposed not genuine. He writ upon logick, or the art of reasoning; upon moral and natural philosophy; upon oratory, poetry, &c. and seems to be a person of the most comprehensive genius that ever lived.

*This fragment is preserved in the Essay of Deane Swift, esq., who tells us," he transcribed it without any variation; and that "he found it by accident in a little book of instructions, which "Dr. Swift was pleased to draw up for the use of a lady, enjoining "her to get it all by heart."-Having mentioned the character given by the dean of this philosopher in the Battle of the Books, Mr. Swift observes, "The portrait of Aristotle is equally strong "and masterly; he stooped much, and made use of a staff; that is, "he thought, he considered, he ruminated; he pondered deeply "on the most intricate and abstruse points relating to the sciences; "and, by the force of reasoning, which is meant by his staff, he "cleared his way through briars and thorns, until he struck into "the road which leads to science and philosophy. The remaining "part of Aristotle's portrait is only the representation of an ab "stracted scholar, worn away and decayed with years, hard study, "nocturnal lucubrations, and the want of bodily exercise." Essay, page 283.

REMARKS

age, with a very

A TALL, handsome man for his obliging address, of a wonderful presence of mind,

SO

*These characters, drawn up in the name of John Macky, (but written by Mr. Davis, an officer in the customs) were annexed to Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, esq., during the reigns of king William, queen Anne, and king George I; printed in 1739, from a MS., said to be attested by his son, Spring Macky, esq.

+ Dr. Swift's notes are transcribed from a copy formerly belonging to John Putland, esq., a near relation to the dean, who took them from Swift's own handwriting. This volume afterward came into the possession of Philip Carteret Webb, esq.; and is now the property of Thomas Astle, esq., a gentleman to whom the publick are indebted for some very accurate and curious publications,

and

so as hardly ever to be discomposed; of a very clear head, and sound judgment; very bold, never daunted for want of success; every way capable of being a great man, if the great success of his arms, and the heaps of favours thrown upon him by his sovereign, do not raise his thoughts above the rest of the nobility, and consequently draw upon him the him the envy of the people of England. He is turned of 50 years of age. Detestably covetous.

DUKE OF ORMOND.

WITH all the qualities of a great man, except that of a statesman, hating business. He is about 40 years of age. Fairly enough writ.

DUKE OF SHREWSBURY.

NEVER was a greater mixture of honour, virtue [none], and good sense, in any one person, than in him a great man, attended with a sweetness of behaviour, and easiness of conversation, which charms all who come near him: Nothing of the stiffness of a statesman, yet the capacity and knowledge of a piercing wit. He speaks French and Italian as well as his native language: And although but one eye, yet he has a most charming countenance, and is the most generally beloved by the ladies of any gentleman in his time. He is turned of 40 years old.

and whose valuable collections are rendered infinitely more so by that obliging readiness with which he communicates them at all times, when they are likely to promote the success of any literary undertaking.

DUKE