He said of the biography: "It is quite fair and moderate in politics; and perhaps rather too indulgent and tender towards individuals of all descriptions,--more full, at least, of kindness and veneration for genius and social virtue, than of indignation at baseness and profligacy.

Altogether it is not much like the production of a mere man of letters, or a fastidious speculator in sentiment and morality; but exhibits throughout, and in a very pleasing form, the good sense and large toleration of a man of the world." The very practical motives that inspired most of Swift's pamphlets would naturally attract Scott.

Probably it was the remembrance of the _Drapier's Letters_ that suggested to him a similar form of protest against proposed changes in the Scottish currency; certainly the _Letters of Malachi Malagrowther_ had an effect comparable to that of Swift's more consummately ingenious appeal.

Another quality in Swift's work that would naturally arouse Scott's admiration was the remarkable directness and lucidity of the style.

Scott appreciated the originality force of Swift, even when it was used in the service of satire.
Sometimes, he says, "the intensity of his satire gives to his poetry a character of emphatic violence which borders upon grandeur."[195] The editor's discussion of _Gulliver's Travels_ an acute and illuminating little essay, contains one comment that gives an amusing revelation of his point of view.