The "Intelligencer"

The first collected edition of the periodical "The Intelligencer", which Swift and Sheridan set up in 1728. Published in Dublin, the essays and poems focus on the Irish establishment centred in the city, and throw light on the contemporary political and social world.

In 1728-9, Jonathan Swift and his friend Thomas Sheridan anonymously published the Intelligencer. This Dublin periodical offered trenchant and often witty commentary on the Irish social and political scene in the year before A Modest Proposal. The frequently anthologized review of The Beggar's Opera (no. 3) is not only the best contemporary criticism of it but also Swift's central pronouncement on satire. Several essays lash important enemies, anger being always a great creative stimulus to both Swift and Sheridan. This is the first collected edition of the Intelligencer since 1730. It is based on the rare original Dublin pamphlets, each known copy of which has been collated. Full commentary and appendices draw upon contemporary pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and manuscripts to site the Intelligencer papers in the personal, social, and political controversies in which they are engaged. There is also a fresh bibliographical analysis of the Intelligencer's textual transmission.

Illustrations
Abbreviations and short titles
General introduction
Characteristics and emphases
Publication and reception
Sheridan's life
Sheridan the writer
Swift, Sheridan, and the Intelligencer
Dates of the Intelligencer
A note on the annotation
Textual introduction
The Intelligencer, Nos. 1-20
Appendices: A. Archbishop King on the taxation of Ireland
B. Unpublished contemporary comment
C. Duncombe's essay on The Beggars Opera
D. Commentary in Mist's and Fog's
E. A True Character and On Paddy's Character
F. Building in Dublin c.1728
G. Published replies to No.16
H. The spurious No. 20
I. The Bowyer-Davis preface
J. Intended papers: Swift's manuscript hints
K. To the Author of Those Intelligencers Printed at Dublin
L. Unauthorized titles of the Intelligencers
Textual notes
Index