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The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.
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JONATHAN
SWIFT,
D.
D.
77
ces
on
the
throne,
so
far
as
it
was
only
a
revolution
of
state
:*
*
The
following
severe
lines
on
Dr
Sherlock ' s
original
refusal
to
take
the
oaths,
and
subsequent
compliance
with
the
revolution
government,
have
much
of
Swift ' s
spirit,
and
occur
in
the
collec
tion
from
which
so
many
of
his
unpublished
poems
have
been
re
trieved
:
From
the
Lanesborough
Manuscript,
Trinity
College,
Dublin,
tf
Whimsical
Medley, "
Vol.
I.
Appendix,
pages
52,
238.
TO
DR
SHERLOCK,
ON
HIS
NOT
TAKING
THE
OATHS.
Since
at
the
tavern
I
can ' t
meet
you,
With
paper
embassy
I
greet
you,
T*
advise
you
not
yourself
t '
expose
By
a
refusal
of
the
oaths
;
In
spite
of
fellowship
and
pupils,
To
weigh
your
conscience
out
in
scruples.
If,
as
you
Queen ' s-men
must
believe,
Two
nays
make
one
affirmative
;
Why,
in
the
name
of
the
predicaments,
And
all
your
analytic
sense,
Will
you
deny
poor
affirmations
In
their
turns,
too,
to
make
negations
?
This
postulatum
any
pate
Will
grant,
that ' s
not
prejudicate.
Nay,
th '
argument,
I
can
assure
you,
Appears
to
some
a
fortiori,
Hoc
data
et
concesso,
thus
I
In
Baralipton
blunderbuss
ye.
He
who
to
two
things
takes
an
oath,
Is
by
the
last
absolved
from
both
;
For
each
oath
being
an
affirmation,
Both,
as
' twas
own ' d,
make
a
negation.
Thus
scientifically
you
see
The
more
you ' re
bound,
the
more
you ' re
free.
As
jugglers
when
they
knit
one
more
Undo
the
knot
they
tied
before.
>>