us; the _Satire_
trite and worn out, and the _Instructions_ much better perform'd
by many other Pens. I call on his _Lilliputian Art of
Government_, and _Education of Children_ for Proof. (p. xix)

It comes as no surprise to see that Smedley's Whiggish bias encourages
him to detect "hints" in the _Travels_ of Swift's "Zeal for High
Church and Toryism" (p. 280), so that obviously the work is
"_Trifling_" and "_Nothing_."

The pious Dean has done what in him lies to render _Religion_,
_Reason_, and _common_ Sense ridiculous, and to set up in their
stead, _Buffoonry_, _Grimace_, and _Impertinence_, and, like
_Harlequin_, carries it off all with a _Grin_. (p. 267)[7]

Among Smedley's clever parodies of Swift's writings are those of _A
Tale of a Tub_, _Against Abolishing Christianity_, and _Gulliver's
Travels_. The comprehensiveness of abuse is demonstrated in the nasty
Gulliverian allegory, in which Swift is accused of being an ignorant,
hypocritical, atheistical Irishman, high-flying Tory, and Jacobite
Papist. Even Swift's sex life--his relationship with Stella and
Vanessa--is made ugly (pp. 1-10). Indeed, Smedley believes that it is
his duty to keep his readers well-informed about Swift's "odd"
conduct; thus with evident relish he advises the poet to

Tell us what _Swift_ is now a doing:
Or whineing Politicks or Wooing;
With Sentence grave, or Mirth uncommon,
Pois'ning the Clergy, and the Women. (p. 41)

Among the ballads, one will see the infamous "Verses, fix'd on the
Cathedral Door, the Day of Dean Gulliver's Installment," which begins
with the following delectable quatrain:

Today, this Temple gets a _Dean_,
Of Parts and Fame, uncommon;
Us'd, both to Pray, and to Prophane,
To serve both _God_ and _Mammon_.

Then the poem proceeds with the usual diatribe of Swift's desertion of
the Whigs, his atheism, high-church sympathies, and sacrilegious humor
(pp. 77-79).

In almost every conceivable literary style Smedley takes exception to
Swift's divinity and politics and attempts to blacken Swift's
character. As we should expect, differences over politics and religion
were determining causes. Thus Smedley adores the outstanding literary
Whig Addison, contrasting the polish and beauty of Addison's style
with Swift's failures, ugliness, ineptitude, vulgarity, intolerable
filthiness. Likewise, following the author of the _Letter_, he writes
favorably of Steele,