"Ungrateful monsters (heretofore in a certain trading company), who
have endeavoured to vilify and sully one of the brightest characters
that ever existed."
I learn farther, from a volume of _Fugitive Pieces_, published by Dr.
Swinney, that he was the son of Major Mathew Swinney, whom after his
flourishing fashion he calls on another occasion "Mathew Swinney of
immortal memory;" from one of his dedications that the Doctor himself was
educated at Eton; from the books of the Royal Society that he was of Clare
Hall, Cambridge; from dates and dedications, that from 1764 to 1768, he was
generally resident at Scarborough; and from the _Gentleman's Magazine_,
that he died there 12th November, 1783.
That Swinney had been chaplain to the Russian Embassy I have no reason to
believe; but that he had been in the East for a time, possibly as chaplain
to the Embassy at Constantinople, is asserted in the brief biographical
notice in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, and would _seem to be proved_ by a
work which he published in 1769, called--
"A Tour through some parts of the Levant: in which is included An
Account of the Present State of the Seven Churches in Asia. Also a
brief Explanation of the Apocalypse. By Sidney Swinney, D.D."
Nothing, however, can be inferred from a title-page of Swinney's. Here we
have two or three distinct works referred to:--_A Tour_, including "An
Account of the Seven Churches," and the "Explanation of the Apocalypse."
Now I must direct attention to the fact, that from the peculiar punctuation
and phraseology--the full-stop after Asia in this title-page--it may have
been Swinney's intention to indicate, without asserting, that the Account
of the Apocalypse _only_ was by Sidney Swinney. If so, though Swinney's
name alone figures in the title-page of the work, he is responsible only
for one or two notes!
I would not have written conjecturally on this subject if I could have
avoided it; but though Swinney was a F.A.S. F.R.S., and though the work is
dedicated to the Fellows of those Societies, no copy of it is to be found
in the libraries of either, or in the British Museum. I cannot, therefore,
be sure that my own copy is perfect. What that copy contains is thus set
forth in half a dozen lines of introduction:
"Before I [S. S.] enter upon the more important part of my dissertation
[The Explanation of the Apocalypse], it may not be improper to give you
some account of the present state of the Seven Churches in Asia, as
they are, _which was communicated to me_ by a certain _friend of mine_,
in the description of a short tour which _he_ made through the
principal parts of the Levant: should they be accompanied with a few
casual notes _of my own_, I trust the work will not be less acceptable
to you on that account."
It must be obvious, after this declaration, that the _Tour_ set forth so
conspicuously in the title-page, was not written by Swinney. Now the
"Itinerary" which follows is advowedly "wrote by _the author of the
preceding account_," and this brings the reader and the work itself to "The
End!"
The truth I suspect to have been this:--Swinney was not prudent and was
poor, and raised money occasionally, after the miserable fashion of the
time, by publishing books on subscription, and receiving subscriptions in
anticipation of publication.
About this time, from 1767 to 1769, he published a _Sermon_; _The Ninth
Satire of Horace_, a meaningless trifle of a hundred lines, swollen, by
printing the original and notes, into a quarto; a volume of _Fugitive
Pieces_; and the first canto of _The Battle of Minden, a Poem in three
Books, enriched with critical Notes by Two Friends, and with explanatory
Notes by the Author_. Of the latter work, as of the _Tour_, I have never
seen but one copy, a splendid specimen of typography, splendidly bound,
containing the first and second canto. Whether the third canto was ever
published is to me doubtful; some of your correspondents may be able to
give you information. My own impression is that it was not, and for the
following reasons.
Swinney, it appears, had received subscriptions for the work, and promised
in his prospectus _a plan of the battle_, and _portraits_ of the heroes,
which the work does not contain. "However, to make some little amends" to
his "generous subscribers," Swinney announces his intention to present them
with "_three_ books instead of _one_."
The first book is dedicated to Earl Waldegrave, who commanded "the six
British regiments of infantry" on the "ever memorable 1st August, 1759,"
and a note affixed states that "Book the Second" will be published on 1st
January, and "Book the Third" on 1st of August.
But the public, as Swinney says, were kept "in suspense" almost three years
for the second book, which was not published until 1772; and in the
dedication of this second book, also to Earl Waldegrave, Swinney says:
"Doubtless many of my subscribers have thought me very unmindful of the
promise I made them in my printed proposal, in which I undertook to
publish my poem out of hand. Ill health has been the sole cause of my
disappointing their expectations. A fever of the nerves ... for these
four years, has rendered me incapable.... In my original proposals I
undertook to publish this work in two books. [In the introduction he
says, as I have just quoted, _one_ book.] Poetical {215} matter hath
increased upon me to such a degree, in the genial climate of Languedoc,
as to have enabled me to compose several more books on this interesting
subject, all which I purpose presenting my subscribers with at the
original price of half a guinea.... Many months ago this Second Book
was printed off; but on my arrival in town from Montauban (whither I
purpose to return), I found there were so many faults and blunders in
it throughout, that I was under the necessity of condemning five
hundred copies to the inglorious purpose of defending pye bottoms from
the dust of an oven.... Profit, my Lord, has not been my motive for
publishing: if it had, I should be egregiously disappointed, for
instead of gaining I shall be a considerable loser by the publication;
and yet many of my subscribers have _given me four, five, and six times
over and above the subscription-price for my Poem. How even the
remaining books will see the light must depend entirely upon my
pecuniary, not my poetical abilities_. The work is well nigh completed;
but not one solitary brother have I throughout the airy regions of Grub
Street who is poorer than I. It is not impossible, however, but when
_some of my partial friends shall know this_, they may _enable me by
their bounty_ to publish out of hand."
This leads me to doubt whether the third book was ever published, for I
think the most "partial" of his friends--those who had given "four, five,
and six times over and above the subscription price"--must have had enough
in two books. If it were not published, it is a curious fact that, in a
poem called _The Battle of Minden_, the battle of Minden is not mentioned;
though not more extraordinary perhaps than the omissions of the
"Explanation of the Apocalypse" in his previous work.
I come now to the question, Why did Junius speak so passionately and
disrespectfully of Swinney, and what are the probabilities that Swinney had
never before (July) 1769 spoken to Lord G. Sackville? These I must defer
till next week.