Addison.—­You would undoubtedly have done very marvellous acts!  Perhaps you might then have been as zealous a Whig as my Lord Wharton himself; or, if the Whigs had unhappily offended the statesman as they did the doctor, who knows whether you might not have brought in the Pretender?  Pray let me ask you one question between you and me:  If your great talents had raised you to the office of first minister under that prince, would you have tolerated the Protestant religion or not?

Swift.—­Ha!  Mr. Secretary, are you witty upon me?  Do you think, because Sunderland took a fancy to make you a great man in the state, that he, or his master, could make you as great in wit as Nature made me?  No, no; wit is like grace, it must be given from above.  You can no more get that from the king than my lords the bishops can the other.  And, though I will own you had some, yet believe me, my good friend, it was no match for mine.  I think you have not vanity enough in your nature to pretend to a competition in that point with me.

Addison.—­I have been told by my friends that I was rather too modest, so I will not determine this dispute for myself, but refer it to Mercury, the god of wit, who fortunately happens to be coming this way with a soul he has brought to the Shades.

Hail, divine Hermes!  A question of precedence in the class of wit and humour, over which you preside, having arisen between me and my countryman, Dr. Swift, we beg leave—­

Mercury.—­Dr. Swift, I rejoice to see you.  How does my old lad?  How does honest Lemuel Gulliver?  Have you been in Lilliput lately, or in the Flying Island, or with your good nurse Glumdalclitch?  Pray when did you eat a crust with Lord Peter?  Is Jack as mad still as ever?  I hear that since you published the history of his case the poor fellow, by more gentle usage, is almost got well.  If he had but more food he would be as much in his senses as Brother Martin himself; but Martin, they tell me, has lately spawned a strange brood of Methodists, Moravians, Hutchinsonians, who are madder than ever Jack was in his worst days.  It is a great pity you are not alive again to make a new edition of your “Tale of the Tub” for the use of these fellows.  Mr. Addison, I beg your pardon; I should have spoken to you sooner, but I was so struck with the sight of my old friend the doctor, that I forgot for a time the respects due to you.

Swift.—­Addison, I think our dispute is decided before the judge has heard the cause.

Addison.—­I own it is in your favour, but—­