should seem, that is what princes expect from him, though I cannot readily conceive the grounds they go upon; nor why, since they are God’s vicegerents, they do not think themselves at least equally obliged to preserve their master’s honour as their own; since this is what they expect from those they depute, and since they never fail to represent the disobedience of their subjects, as offences against God.  It is true, the visible reason of this neglect is obvious enough:  The consequences of atheistical opinions, published to the world, are not so immediate, or so sensible, as doctrines of rebellion and sedition, spread in a proper season.  However, I cannot but think the same consequences are as natural and probable from the former, though more remote:  And whether these have not been in view among our great planters of infidelity in England, I shall hereafter examine.

***** ***** ***** *****

A LETTER

TO

A YOUNG CLERGYMAN,

LATELY ENTERED INTO

HOLY ORDERS.

1719-20.

NOTE.

No stronger proof could be adduced of Swift’s genuine and earnest belief in the dignity of a clergyman of the Church than this letter.  In spite of the sarcasms which here and there are levelled against the mediocre members of the class, it is evident Swift felt that these might be made worthy teachers and preachers of the doctrines of an institution founded, in his opinion, for the best regulation of mankind.  The letter serves also to present us with an outline of a picture of the clergyman of his day; and if this picture be not flattering, it seems faithfully to reflect the social conditions which we know to have prevailed at the time.

The letter was written in the years of quiet which Swift enjoyed between the pamphleteering crusade against the Whigs, when Harley and St. John were in power, and the famous social and political troubles which began with Wood’s halfpence.

The text of this letter is practically that of the first edition; but I have collated this with the texts given by Hawkesworth, Scott, the first volume of the “Miscellanies” of 1728, and the second volume of the “Miscellanies” of 1745.  In the original edition, and in the reprints published to the time of Faulkner’s collected edition, the title reads “A Letter to a Young Gentleman,” etc.

[T.S.]

  A
  LETTER
  TO A
  YOUNG GENTLEMAN,
  LATELY ENTER’D INTO
  HOLY ORDERS

By a Person of QUALITY.

It is certainly known, that the following Treatise was writ in Ireland by the Reverend Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s in that Kingdom.

Dublin, January the 9th, 1719-20.

Sir,

Although it was against my knowledge or advice, that you entered into holy orders, under the present dispositions of mankind toward the Church, yet since it is now supposed too late to recede, (at least according to the general practice and opinion,) I cannot forbear offering my thoughts to you upon this new condition of life you are engaged in.