. Ireland in London. d their labours. Before the introduction of the newspaper properthere were, of course, Irish literary men in Lon-don. Such were the dramatists, the Southernes,Earquhars, and others mentioned in former?chapters ; the poets like Denham and Roscommon,to mention but two; and one or two philosophersand divines. Novelists were, strictly speaking,unknown in England, and the only works pub-lished in those days were the political andphilosophical pamphlets, the poems—no matterhow short—and the dramatic works of ; all published separately, be it re-membered, for w
. Ireland in London. d their labours. Before the introduction of the newspaper properthere were, of course, Irish literary men in Lon-don. Such were the dramatists, the Southernes,Earquhars, and others mentioned in former?chapters ; the poets like Denham and Roscommon,to mention but two; and one or two philosophersand divines. Novelists were, strictly speaking,unknown in England, and the only works pub-lished in those days were the political andphilosophical pamphlets, the poems—no matterhow short—and the dramatic works of ; all published separately, be it re-membered, for want of the vehicle of a newspaper•or other means of reaching the public. An ag-grieved individual in those times, instead of, asnow, airing his grievances in the columns of a?congenial newspaper, issued his brochure tothe world; and such was the comparative dearth ofliterature, that it was doubtless read. Steelefound this state of things in existence when he?conceived The Tatler. >«,v~*> A remarkable group of Irish literary men wereliving at this period, including William Molyneux,the author of the splendid indictment of Englishrule in Ireland—The Case of Ireland Stated;John Leland, the philosopher, whose works, thoughof a heterodox nature, evidence his immenselearning and ability ; Dr. George Berkeley, thegreat propounder of the Idealistic Philosophy;Thomas Paruell, the traiiquil poet; and DeanSwift, the unapproach-able master of irony andof scorn. Swift has oftenbeen compared with Vol-taire as a satirist, butthey were as wide apartas the poles upon nearlyevery point. One thingthey had in common, ahatred of injustice andtyranny. As satirists,they differed in their .„ methods; Voltaire aimed LELAND. to make his opponents, orthe abuses he satirised, as ridiculous and absurd aspossible, believing in Ridicule as a mighty weaj>on;while Swift tried to make his objects of attackas contemptible as possible, by depicting them inthe blackest colours. Steele posed
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