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GEORGE FALLE Divinity and Wit: Swift's Attempted Reconciliation Swift's assertion in a poem of 1714 that 'He reconcil'd Divinity and Wit" raises certain questions that are not without a characteristic Swiftian complexity. What precisely is involved in his use of the word 'Divinity: and what is his precise understanding of 'Wit' and its functions? If positive definitions are unlikely, one can perhaps begin negatively. It is generally admitted that in the formal sense Swift had little theology and less metaphysics. He was firmly of the opinion that in matters relating to Holy Writ disputation served little if any purpose, and he doubtless agreed with the statement of Tertullian (one of his favourite patristic authors) that 'discussion of the Scriptures can avail nothing except to lead, in some sort, to a sheer turning of the stomach or of the brain.'2 While he certainly had 'thoughts on religion: he avoided theological controversies and preferred to speak of 'Principles of ReHgion" in accordance with orthodox Christian doctrine 'as the Church holds it' (lX, 77). The matter of'Wit' is more vexing since it brings into play such rhetorical terms as irony and satire and at the same time must frequently be accommodated to a comic perspective and dimension. In ironic satire, which, as in A Tale of a Tub, focuses upon 'the numerous and gross Corruptions in Religion and Learning' (I, 1) - and one might include the 'Argument against Abolishing Christianity' - wit becomes a viable possibility ; but in homiletic exhortations to right uses (either ironic or non-ironic) is Swift successful in effecting the reconciliation of divinity and wit to the same degree? And again, when the spirit of comedy hovers over the area of wit, irony, and satire, can the implications of the human comedy be sustained without sacrificing the autonomy of discrete qualities ? Here Gulliver's Travels is clearly a case in point. While the later work may lack the phantasmagoric verbal brilliance of the Tale, the evidence of wit, irony, and satire within the comic context provide a greater critical complexity. It is to questions of this kind that this paper will address itself. That Swift was 'not the gravest of Divines' is evident upon his own admission, in the last birthday poem he wrote to Stella and also in a number of those poetic pieces in which he delights in establishing his clerical image with wit and, upon occasion, disarming irony. In 171} and UTQ , Volume XLVI, Number I , Fal11976 DIVINITY AND WIT 15 1714, while enjoying the favour of, and rendering valuable services to, the first ministers of England's government, he tells us that he was little inclined to consort with his fellow churchmen. Rather, he was AClergyman of special Note, For shunning those of his own Coat; Which made his Brethren of the Gown Take care betimes to run him down: No Libertine, nor Over-nice, Addicted to no sort of Vice; Went where he pleas'd, said what he thought, Not Rich, but ow'd no Man a Groat ... Kept Company with Men of Wit, Who often fother'd what he writ; His Works were hawk'd in ev'ry Street, But seldom rose above 0 Sheet... (P, 1, 1 71-2) and he declined to frequent the favourite haunts of the London clergy, Where Town and Country Vicars flock in Tribes, Securd by Numbers from the Lay-men's Gibes; And deal in Vices of the graver Sort, Tobacco, Censure, Coffee, Pride, and Port. (P, 1,194) While Swift would never tolerate the contemptuous animadversions upon the Anglican clergy so frequent in the polemics of the Dissenters, he never concealed his scorn for those whose witless folly, ambition, or avarice he considered a disgrace to their ecclesiastical dignity. Although his admiration and respect for the integrity of William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, are recorded in an early ode, and his regard for Archbishop Tillotson as both divine and preacher is consistent, one recalls more vividly his contempt for Gilbert Burnet, Bishop ofSalisbury, and the withering couplet with which he repaid John Sharp, Archbishop of York, for his official evaluation of A Tale of a Tub as 'A dang'rous Treatise...

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