* * * * *
"THAT SWINNEY."
(_Continued from_ p. 215.)
Swinney was the devoted servant of all men in power--of all who had
been or were likely to be in power--except, perhaps, the peace-makers,
who, curiously enough, did not please this minister of peace--of all,
perhaps, who subscribed to his publications, or had the means to
subscribe; and who, if they did not, might hereafter. Swinney's volume of
_Fugitive Pieces_ was dedicated to the Duke of Grafton. A third edition
contains additions which show how Swinney's great zeal outran his little
discretion. The following verses appeared originally in _The Public
Advertiser_ on the 27th of May, 1768, and are bad enough to be preserved
as a curiosity:
_"An Extempore Effusion on reading a Scurrilous Invective
against the Duke of G----n [Grafton], published in yesterday's
Newspapers._
Cursed be the Wretch, and blasted rot his name,
Who dares to stab an injured G----n's fame!
Who (while his public virtue stands confest,
And lives within his ROYAL MASTER'S breast)
Can rake for Scandal in his private life,
And widen breaches between man and wife;
Who casts a stone (like some unthinking Elf),
That haply shall recoil against himself!
Anguish, Remorse, and Terror seize his Soul,
And waste it quick where fiends malicious howl;
May those rank pests through which his father fell,
Announce his coming to the Gates of Hell!
And yet, or ere he plunge into the Lake,
Where no cool stream his endless thirst can slake,
May CHRIST in mercy deprecate his doom,
And may to HIM his promised Kingdom come!
"SIDNEY SWINNEY."
Not content with future punishment, the Doctor, in another poem,
threatens present vengeance:
"But hark thee, wretch; believe him while he swears;
SID (by the gods) will crop thine asses ears,
Should thou persist a G----n to impeach,
And blast those virtues thou canst never reach."
As Draper had taken Granby under his protection, so Swinney must needs
play the chivalrous in defence of Grafton. The dedication of _The Battle
of Minden_ is dated 20th May, 1769, and the poet in the _exordium_ goes
out of his way to notice, as I suppose, the attacks of Junius:
"His [Sid's] blood recoils with an indignant rage,
'Gainst the base hirelings of a venal age.
Wretches! that spare nor ministers nor kings,
Blend good with bad, profane with sacred things;
Whose vengeful hearts, with wrath and malice curst,
Blast virtuous deeds; and then, with envy burst,
They dart their arrows, innocence traduce,
And load e'en G----n with their vile abuse."
To this passage he appends the following note, which occupies, in his
magnificent typographical volume, a whole quarto page:
"It is observable that this amiable personage [the Duke of
Grafton], and most consummate statesman, has been bespattered
with as much low calumny and abuse, from various quarters, as
if he had been the declared enemy of his country, instead of
having manfully and courageously stood up in support of its
true interests.--S."
Let us consider now, What are the probabilities of Swinney never having
spoken to Lord George Sackville?
That he did on that occasion speak to Lord George--that he did ask him
"whether or no he was the author of Junius"--may be assumed: and it is
very probable that Junius heard of it, at first or at second hand, from
Swinney himself; for the impertinent blockhead that would ask such a
question, was just the man to tell what he had done, and to think it a
good thing. But had he never before spoken to Sackville? Was this a fact
or a flourish--an affectation of secret information, like the "sent" and
"went" about Garrick--the "every particular next day"--which we now know
to have been untrue.
That Swinney had been chaplain to one of the British regiments serving
in Germany is manifest from twenty different references in the poem and
the notes. I lay no stress on his poetical flights about Euphorbus;
but he speaks repeatedly from personal experience--specially refers to
circumstances occurring when quartered at a farm-house near Embden--at
the camp at Crossdorf--acknowledges personal favours received during the
{239} campaign from General Harvey, and on another occasion attentions
from Granby. Here, for example, is a poetical picture which brings
Swinney vividly before us:
"At Marienbourn, the vaunting army halts,
...
_A pastor_ from the heav'n-devoted train,
Brings hams and fowls, and spreads them on the plain:
The jovial officers their bellies fill,
_Rally their chaplain_, and applaud him still."
Swinney must therefore have served under Sackville; for, as he tells us,
Sackville
"by George was made
Good Marlbro's successor"--
and certainly the probabilities are that he must have been personally
known to--had before spoken to him. Sackville must at this very time have
been particularly anxious about Swinney and his doings, wise or unwise.
That fatal battle of Minden had been the ruin of all his hopes--the
overthrow of all his ambition. In my opinion, Sackville had been
shamefully and shamelessly run down on that occasion; but whether justly
or unjustly stripped of his honours and degraded for his conduct, here
was a man about to write a poem on the battle, to immortalise those who
fought in it; and Sackville must have been keenly alive to what he might
say of him. Swinney foreshadowed what his opinion would be in the First
Book, where he enumerates Sackville amongst his "choice leaders"--
"Good Marlbro', Sackville, Granby, Waldgrave bold,
Brudenell and Kingsley."
This was published early in 1769.
In the Second Book Lord George is brought prominently forward. The
"bewilder'd Ferdinand," "doubtful himself," summons a council of war, and
calls first on Sackville for advice.
"Sackville, disclose the secret of thy breast:
Say, shall we linger in ignoble rest?
Shall we retreat? advance, or perish here?
Resolve our queries: state thy judgment clear."
Sackville now plays the "high heroical," and talks through six pages; but
to what purpose I am unable to conjecture. There _seems_ to be a great
deal of angry remonstrance--of offensive remonstrance:
"When I ask [says Sackville to Ferdinand], didst ever thou consult
A chief, till now, and wait the sage result?
When Aalm's camp was deluged all in rain,
And floods rusht o'er an undistinguisht plain,
To thy flint heart remonstrances were vain:
What, then, avail'd neglected Marlbro's prayers!
His instances? His unremitted cares?
The Elector's stables had sufficient room,
Stalls, without end, anticipate the doom
Of British chargers, forced to march, at noon,
Beneath their riders' weight and scorching sun."
Swinney then gives in a note what he calls the genuine queries proposed
by Prince Ferdinand, with Sackville's answer: which answer is nearly
as void of distinct meaning as the poetry, but in favour I think of
risking a battle. The general purport, however, foreshadows what
Swinney's conclusion would have been--that Sackville, the friend of
the British soldier, protested against the frauds by which they were
robbed and starved; protested against their being called on to do all
the work, and run all the risks of the campaign; and disdains to humour
or flatter Prince Ferdinand. These were, in brief, the explanations
given by Sackville's friends as the cause of his disgrace--Granby
the favoured, a gallant soldier indeed, but a mere soldier, being
comparatively indifferent about such commissarial matters, and much more
easily deceived by the cunning of the selfish Germans and English. This
intention is made still more clear in another note, wherein Swinney
states:
"We may be enabled to account for a certain disgraceful event,
in some future observation of ours, equally to _the honour
of the person disgraced_, and to the innocent cause of that
disgrace."
Under these circumstances there can be little doubt that Sidney
Swinney, D.D., was the party alluded to by Junius; as little, I think,
that Swinney had before, and long before, spoken to Lord George
Sackville,--must have been dear to Sackville, as one of the few who
had served under, and yet had a kind word to say for him,--had said it
indeed, and was about to repeat it emphatically. That Swinney was the
fool Junius asserted, the extract already given must have abundantly
proved; but I will conclude with one other, in which he not only
anticipated Fitzgerald, but anticipated the burlesque exaggerations in
the "Rejected Addresses:"
"Horse, Foot, Hussars, or ere they march review'd.
...
The Foot, that form the first and second line,
All smartly drest, like Grecian heroes shine;
Their bold cock'd hats, their spatterdashers white,
And glossy shoes, attract his ravish'd sight."