Jonathan Swift and Charles Leslie

This essay examines literary relations between two famous and important propagandists, the juring High Churchman Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) and the Nonjuror Charles Leslie (1650–1722). It will draw attention to the evidence of Swift’s elective affinities with Leslie in political theology and rhetorical strategy despite the official political distance between them. Leslie was not just another pious Nonjuror. He was an incendiary Jacobite polemicist whose explosive rhetoric ignited paper wars. Reviled by the Whigs, Leslie was outré for the Tories. To quote or be associated with so polemical a figure as Leslie was to be tainted with treason. In print Tory writers kept their distance from him, even when essentially taking Leslie’s side, as is well illustrated in one of Mary Astell’s pamphlets published in 1704, the full title of which is: A Fair Way with the Dissenters and their Patrons. Not Writ by Mr. L[esle]y, or any other Furious Jacobite, whether Clergyman or Layman; but by a very Moderate Person and Dutiful Subject to the Queen.1 It seems incredible that Swift, while protesting that he was not a Jacobite, should be prepared to cite Leslie favourably in print. In his willingness to record his respect for Leslie, Swift was perhaps unique among literary figures of his time. This essay will indicate that Swift drew upon Leslie’s polemical arsenal in his own polemic and satire.