dbruggs in the third voyage (particularly the controls imposed on
the senile creatures in order to prevent their engrossing the civil
power) as an attack on the religious dissenters demonstrates that
Curll and Swift agreed on the issue of an established church. The
clergy who wished to separate state from church, or as Curll describes
the situation,

that implacable Spirit and Rancour ... [of] those _English_
Ecclesiasticks, who have asserted the _Independency_ of the
_Church_ upon the _State_ ... ought to the latest Posterity in
_England_, to be called _Struldbruggs_. For it will be found ...
that, _whenever they assume the_ Civil Power, _their want_ of
Abilities _to_ manage, _must end in the_ Ruin _of the_ Publick.
(III, 32)

Indeed, among the most interesting of Currl's annotations are those
which suggest that a religious reading of the _Travels_ was by no
means unappreciated by Swift's contemporaries. Thus, again, besides
his unusual politico-religious comment on the Struldbruggs, Curll is
fairly sharp in his annotation of the passage on religious differences
in Chapter V of the fourth voyage, concerning "_Transubstantiation_ as
believed by the _Papists_," "Cathedral-worship," kissing the Crucifix,
vestments,--and resulting furious religious wars (IV, 12-13). All in
all, however, the _Keys_ are singularly shallow and agreeably bland.
Curll simply agrees with Gulliver-Swift, and reinforces the meaning by
practically repeating the text, as he does at this point when
deploring inessential differences in ritual as needless causes of
cruel conflict. Although Curll was aware of the presence of politics
and religion in Swift's allegories, his annotations do not reflect
unfavorably on Swift's character.

But it was not long before an attack on Swift was mounted. It began
with _A Letter from a Clergyman to His Friend, With an Account of the
Travels of Capt. Lemuel Gulliver: And a Character of the Author. To
Which is Added, The True Reasons Why a Certain Doctor Was Made a Dean_
(1726)--the first substantial attack on Swift resulting from the
publication of his most celebrated work. The identity of the author is
unknown. Steele, Swift's implacable political enemy, had retired to
the country at this time and was soon to die. Because of the numerous
references to Swift's treacherous disloyalty to Steele's friendship,
we could speculate on a connection between the anonymous author and
Stee