Swift himself might have envied the chapter on the causes of the paleness of physicians.
Of his Latin works the Epistles are the most generally known and admired.

As compositions they are certainly superior to his essays.
But their excellence is only comparative.

From so large a collection of letters, written by so eminent a man, during so varied and eventful a life, we should have expected a complete and spirited view of the literature, the manners, and the politics of the age.

A traveller--a poet--a scholar--a lover--a courtier--a recluse--he might have perpetuated, in an imperishable record, the form and pressure of the age and body of the time.

Those who read his correspondence, in the hope of finding such information as this, will be utterly disappointed.