IX. On the Causes of the wretched Condition of Ireland, 105 X. On sleeping in Church, 119 XI. On the Wisdom of the World, 129 XII. Doing good: a Sermon on the Occasion of Wood's Pro * Mr. Collins's Discourse on Freethinking put into plain Eng lish, by way of Abstract, for the Use of the Poor, On mean and great Figures, made by several Persons, The Answer of the Right Honourable William Pulteney, Esq. to the Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole, 261 Memoirs of Captain John Creichton, : 271 A Discourse to prove the Antiquity of the English Tongue, 351 TWELVE SERMONS, BY DR. SWIFT.* Though the Dean's first and most laudable ambition was to excel asa preacher, he frequently declared that he had not talents for it; and therefore would not publish any Sermons, though often pressed by his friends to do it. He was, however, well attended by a crowded audience every fifth Sunday at his Cathedral, when the preaching came to his turn, which was well known in Dublin; and his Sermons are certainly curious, for such reasons as would make other works despicable. They were written in a careless hurrying manner, the offspring of necessity, not of choice: so that we see the original force of his genius more in these compositions, that were the legitimate sons of duty, than in other pieces, that were the natural sons of love. They were held in such low esteem in his own thoughts, that, some years before he died, he gave away the whole collection to Dr. Sheridan, with the utmost indifference. "Here," says he, "are a bundle of my old Sermons; you may have them if you please; they may be of use to you; they have never been of any to me." The parcel given to Dr. Sheridan consisted of about five-and-thirty Sermons. Twelve of these having come to light at different periods of time, are here collected; and a perusal of any one of them must excite a wish for those which we have not been so happy as to recover. N. VOL. XIV. The following form of prayer, which Dr. Swift constantly used in the pulpit before his sermons, is copied from his own hand-writing: "Almighty and most merciful God! forgive us all our sins. Give us grace heartily to repent them, and to lead new lives. Graft in our hearts a true love and veneration for thy holy name and word. Make thy pastors burning and shining lights, able to convince gainsayers, and to save others and themselves. Bless this congregation here met together in thy name; grant them to hear and receive thy holy word, to the salvation of their own souls Lastly, we desire to return thee praise and thanksgiving for all thy mercies bestowed upon us; but chiefly for the Fountain of them all, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, in whose name and words we further call upon thee, saying, Our Fa ther, &c. SERMON I. THE DIFFICULTY OF KNOWING ONE'S SELF.* SECOND KINGS, viii. PART OF THE 13TH VERSE. And Hazael said, But what! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? We have a very singular instance of the deceitfulness of the heart, represented to us in the person of Hazael: who was sent to the prophet Elisha, to inquire of the Lord, concerning his master the king of Syria's When I first gave this sermon to be published, I had some doubts whether it were genuine; for, though I found it in the same parcel with three others in the Dean's own hand, and there was a great similitude in the writing, yet as some of the letters were differently cut, and the hand in general much fairer than his, I gave it to the world as dubious. But as some manuscripts of his early poems have since fallen into my hands, transcribed by Stella, I found, upon comparing them, that the writing was exactly the same with that of the sermon! which was therefore copied by her. Swift, in his Journal to that lady, takes notice that he had been her writing-master, and that there was such a strong resemblance between their hands, as gave occasion to some of his friends to rally him, upon seeing some of her letters addressed to him at the bar of the coffee-house, by asking him how long he had taken up the custom of writing letters to himself? So |