298 MEMOIRS OF

ness. All this passed in Swift ' s presence, who sat

beside them in silence, and heard, with apparent in

difference, a discussion which might be said to involve

his ruin. He came and departed without being known

to any one but Harding.

When the bill against the printer of the Drapier ' s

Letters was about to be presented to the grand jury,

Swift addressed to that body a paper, entitled " Sea

sonable Advice, " exhorting them to remember the

story of the league made by the wolves with the

sheep, on condition of their parting with their shep

herds and mastiffs, after which they ravaged the

flock at pleasure. A few spirited verses addressed to

the citizens at large, and enforcing similar topics, are

subscribed by the Drapier ' s initials, and are doubtless

Swift ' s own composition. Alluding to the charge

that he had gone too far in leaving the discussion of

Wood ' s project to treat of the alleged dependence of

Ireland, he concludes in these lines :

If, then, oppression has not quite subdued,

At once, your prudence and your gratitude ;

If you yourselves conspire not your undoing,

And don ' t deserve, and won ' t draw down your ruin ;

If yet to virtue you have some pretence ;

If yet you are not lost to common sense,

Assist your patriot in your own defence.

That stupid cant, He went too far, despise,

And know, that to be brave, is to be wise :