rnaments of doubtful taste; but Jack ripped and tore off the
trimmings of his dress to such an extent that he was in clanger of
exposing his nakedness. It is said that the invective was so strong and
the satire so bitter, that they presented a bar to that preferment which
Swift might otherwise have obtained. He appears at this time to have cared
little for public opinion, except that it should fear his trenchant wit
and do homage to his genius.

THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS.--In the same year, 1704, he also published _The
Battle of the Books_, the idea of which was taken from a French work of
Courtraye, entitled "_Histoire de la guerre nouvellement declaree entre
les Anciens et les Modernes_." Swift's work was written in furtherance of
the views of his patron, Temple, who had some time before engaged in the
controversy as to the relative merits of ancient and modern learning, and
who, in the words of Macaulay, "was so absurd as to set up his own
authority against that of Bentley on questions of Greek history and
philology."

_The Battle of the Books_ is of present value, as it affords information
upon the opinions then held on a question which, in various forms, has
been agitating the literary world ever since. In it Swift compares Dryden,
Wotten, and Bentley with the old authors in St. James's Library, where the
battle of the books is said to have taken place.

Upon the death of Sir William Temple, in 1699, Swift had gone to London.
He was ambitious of power and money, and when he found little chance of
preferment among the Whigs, he became a Tory. It must be said, in
explanation of this change, that, although he had called himself a Whig,
he had disliked many of their opinions, and had never heartily espoused
their cause. Like others already referred to, he watched the political
horizon, and was ready for a change when circumstances should warrant it.
This change and its causes are set forth in his _Bickerstaff's Ridicule of
Astrology_ and _Sacramental Test_.

The Whigs tried hard to retain him; the Tories were rejoiced to receive
him, and modes of preferment for him were openly canvassed. One of these
was to make him Bishop of Virginia, with metropolitan powers in America;
but it failed. He was also recommended for the See of Hereford; but
persons near the queen advised her "to be sure that the man she was going
to make a bishop was a Christian." Thus far he had only been made rector
of Agher and vicar of Laracor and