The power of satire lies in
contrast; we must compare the evil in men with the good: when the whole
race is included in one sweeping condemnation, and an inferior being
exalted, in opposition to all possibility, the standard is absurd, and the
satirist loses his pains.
The horses are the _Houyhnhnms_, (the name is an attempt to imitate a
neigh,) a noble race, who are amazed and disgusted at the Yahoos,--the
degraded men,--upon whom Swift, in his sweeping misanthropy, has exhausted
his bitterness and his filth.
STELLA AND VANESSA.--While Swift's mysterious associations with Stella and
Vanessa have but little to do with the course of English Literature, they
largely affect his personality, and no sketch of him would be complete
without introducing them to the reader. We cannot conjure up the tall,
burly form, the heavy-browed, scowling, contemptuous face, the sharp blue
eye, and the bushy black hair of the dean, without seeing on one side and
the other the two pale, meek-eyed, devoted women, who watch his every
look, shrink from his sudden bursts of wrath, receive for their
infatuation a few fair words without sentiment, and earnestly crave a
little love as a return for their whole hearts.
Pages:
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454