857 



SWIFT, JONATHAN, D.D. 



SWIFT, JONATHAN, D.D. 



53 



Dunlavin was bestowed upou him in 1700, which increased his income 

 to between 350/. and 400/. a year. While he resided in Lord Berke- 

 ley's family he produced some of the first specimens of that original 

 vein of humour on which, more perhaps than on any other of his rare 

 talents, his reputation is founded : among these are ' The Humble 

 Petition of Frances Harris,' and the ' Meditation on a Broomstick.' 



About this time Swift's sister married a person of the name of 

 Fenton. Swift had expressed himself strongly against this marriage, 

 and when it took place lie was highly offended. Scott, on the authority 

 of Tlieophilus Swift, says that Feuton was a worthless character, on 

 the point of bankruptcy at the time, and that Swift afforded his sister 

 the means of decent support in the destitution which her imprudence 

 brought upon her. 



In the year 1700, on the return of Lord Berkeley to England, Swift 

 took possession of his living at Laracor. Ho perforir.ed his duties as 

 n country clergyman with exemplary diligence, and expended a con- 

 siderable sum in repairing the church. Some years afterwards he 

 purchased for 250^. the tithes of tho parish of Effernock near Trim, 

 which he left by his will to the vicars of Laracor for the time being, 

 as long as the present episcopal religion continues to be the established 

 faith in Ireland ; but if any other form of Christian religion becomes 

 the established faith, he then directs that the profits as they come in 

 shall be paid to the poor of the parish of Laracor. 



Swift had not been long at Laracor when it was arranged between 

 Miss Johnson and himself that she should come to reside in his neigh- 

 bourhood. She had a small independence, about 1500/., of which 

 10001. had been left to her as a legacy by Sir William Temple, since 

 whose death she had resided with Mrs. Dingley, a relation of the 

 Temple family, a widow of middle age, whose income was only about 

 251. a year. Mrs. Johnson continued to reside with Lady Gifford. 

 When Miss Johnson removed to Ireland she w;is accompanied by Mrs. 

 Dingley; and the ostensible ground for leaving England on the part 

 of both was that the rate of interest was much higher in Ireland : it 

 was then 10 per cent. They took lodgings in the town of Trim, where 

 they generally reside^, except in Swift's absence, when they occupied 

 the vicarage-house. Miss Johnson was then about eighteen years of 

 age ; her features were beautiful, her eyes and hair black, and her form 

 symmetrical, though a little inclined to fullness. She was a woman of 

 strong sense, though not highly educated, of agreeable conversation, 

 and elegant manners. 



Swift appears to have passed over to England at least once a year, 

 and remained two or three months, chiefly in London, where lie 

 officiated as chaplain in Lord Berkeley's family, but generally paid a 

 visit to his mother at Leicester. In 1701, during the first of these 

 annual residences in England, he published his first political tract, 

 'A Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions between the Nobles and 

 Commons at Athens and Rome.' It was intended to check the popular 

 violence which had occasioned the impeachment of Lords Somers, 

 Halifax, Oxford, and Portland for their share in the Partition Treaty. 

 It was published anonymously, but attracted much attention. On 

 his second visit to England, in 1702, he avowed himself to be the 

 author of this tract, and was immediately admitted into tho society 

 of the leading Whigs, Somers, Halifax, and Sunderland, and also into 

 that of the leading wits, Addison, Sieele, Arbuthnot, and others, who 

 used then to assemble at Button's coffee-house. 



In 1704 Swift published anonymously the ' Tale of a Tub,' together 

 with ' The Battle of the Books.' The ' Tale of a Tub ' was at the 

 time generally supposed to be Swift's, and its wit was much admired, 

 but it made him some powerful enemies by its imputed irreligious 

 tendency. 



In 1708 Swift was employed by the Irish prelates to solicit a remis- 

 sion of the first fruits for Ireland, which had already been granted 

 in England. His application was made to Lord Qodolphin, but was 

 unsuccessful. About this time there were two or three plans for 

 Swift's preferment, but all of them were failures. He was to have 

 accompanied Lord Berkeley as secretary of embassy to Vienna, but 

 Lord Berkeley found himself too infirm to venture upon the employ- 

 ment : he was to have gone out to Virginia as a sort of metropolitan 

 over tho colonial clergy in America, but neither did this appointment 

 take place ; and he was promised Dr. South's prebend of Westminster, 

 but South, though very, old, continued to live for several years longer. 



During the years 1708 and 1709 Swift published several tracts. 

 ' An Argument against abolishing Christianity,' is a piece of grave 

 irony ; ' A Project for the Advancement of Religion,' was dedicated 

 to Lady Berkeley, who was a woman of strict piety, highly respected 

 by Swift : it is the only work to which he ever put his name : it made 

 a strong impression on the religious classes, and was very favourably 

 received by the public. In his ' Letter on the Sacramental Test ' lie 

 opposed any relaxation of the restrictive laws against the Dissenters. 

 In this opinion he differed strongly from the Whigs, and this difference 

 seems to have been a principal cause of his soon afterwards joining 

 the Tories. About this time he also published the ' Sentiments of a 

 Church-of-England Man,' as well as some of his lighter pieces, espe 

 cially the humorous attacks on Partridge the almanac-maker, which 

 came out under the name of Isaac Bickerstaff. In 1710 Swift's mother 

 died. " If the way to heaven," said he, " be through piety, truth, 

 justice, and charity, she is there." 



On the change of ministry in 1710 the hopes of the Irish prelates 



were again revived for a remission of the first-fruits ; and Swift was 

 again deputed, in conjunction with the bishops of Ossory and Killaloe, 

 to solicit the boon. On the lat of September 1710, ho left Ireland on 

 this mission, but found, on his arrival in London, that tho bishops, 

 who had gone to England before him, had left that country without 

 having done anything. 



Swift now found himself courted by the leaders of both parties, 

 with the exception of Qodolphin, who treated him with such marked 

 coldness that he vowed revenge, a vow which he performed on the 

 ] st of October, by the publication of ' Sid Hamet's Rod.' Swift soon 

 made up his mind to join the Tories, and on the 4th of October was 

 introduced to Harley, then chancellor of the exchequer, by whom he 

 was received with tho most flattering kindness, and was introduced 

 by him to St. John, who was then one of the secretaries of state. In 

 a few days he received a promise that tho first-fruits should be 

 remitted, and immediately began to put his literary battery in action 

 in the defence of his new friends. During the time that Swift remained 

 in London on this occasion he wrote a Journal, or diary, which was 

 addressed in a series of letters to Miss Johnson and Mrs. Dingley, but 

 obviously intended for the former. This Journal, written as it was 

 chiefly in the morning and evening of each successive day of the most 

 busy part of Swift's life, affords a picture as minute as it is evidently 

 trustworthy of the events in which he was concerned and the thoughts 

 which arose out of them. 



' The Examiner,' a weekly periodical, had been begun by St. John, 

 Prior, and others, in support of the new ministry. Thirteen numbers 

 had been published with little effect, when it was taken up by Swift, 

 November 10, 1710, and was continued by him till June 14, 1711, a 

 period of seven months, when he resigned it into other hands. Every 

 one of these papers was written by himself, besides several satirical 

 pamphlets. He assailed his opponents not only as a body, but indi- 

 vidually : the shafts of his satire were particularly directed against 

 Wharton, Godolphin, Wai pole, Sunderland, Cowper, and Marlborough. 

 With surprising readiness and versatility, he assumed every shape 

 suitable for the annoyance of his enemies or the support of his friends. 

 Harley, who, though he maintained the most friendly and confidential 

 intercourse with Swift, seems not at that time to have properly 

 appreciated his character or understood his views, sent him a note for 

 501., which Swift indignantly returned, and obstinately refused hia 

 invitation till he had made an apology. After the attempt upon the 

 life of Harley by the Marquis de Guiscard, he was created lord 

 treasurer and Earl of Oxford, in May 1711, and offered to make Swift 

 his chaplain, who refused this offer also. " I will be no man's chaplain 

 alive," says he in his Journal. He evidently thought that his services 

 and his merits deserved no worse a place than a bishopric. He con- 

 tinued, as long as he remained in England, to be treated, both in 

 private and public, with the most flattering civility, especially by 

 Lord Oxford, and also by St. John, who in July 1712, was created 

 Lord Bolingbroke. He formed the society of Brothers, which con- 

 sisted of sixteen persons of the highest rank and most distinguished 

 talents among the Tories, of which society indeed he was the most 

 active member. 



It having become obvious that the existence of the Tory govern- 

 ment depended upon making peace with France, Prior was sent to 

 Paris to enter into a negociation for that purpose, and Swift, in further- 

 ance of the same object, wrote ' The Conduct of the Allies,' which 

 was published anonymously, November 27, 1711, while the question 

 of peace or war was under discussion in parliament. The sale of this 

 tract was unprecedented at that time, four large editions having been 

 exhausted in a week. It furnished the Tory members in the House 

 of Commons with facts and arguments, while the Whigs in the Lords 

 threatened to bring the author to the bar of the house. The effect 

 upon the public mind was such as to produce a determined spirit of 

 opposition to the war, proving, as it did, that the allies, the late Whig 

 ministry, and especially the Duke of Marlborough, were the only 

 parties who had derived advantage from the expenditure of so much 

 English blood and treasure. 



The Peace of Utrecht was concluded May 5, 1713, and Swift under- 

 took to write the history of it, but the progress and publication of the 

 work were hindered by the growing dissension between Oxford and 

 Bolingbroke. This work he afterwards expanded into the ' History of 

 the Four last Years of Queen Anne's Reign,' but it was not published 

 till 1758, some years after his death; Tho only work unconnected 

 with politics which Swift produced during this busy period of his life, 

 was his letter to the Earl of Oxford, containing ' A Proposal for cor- 

 recting, improving, and ascertaining the English Tongue," an object 

 which was to be accomplished by a society similar to that of the 

 French Academy. Swift was very anxious to have this scheme carried 

 into effect, but Oxford was too busy at that time to second his views, 

 which indeed met with little favour from the public. 



While Swift was thus assisting his friends, he obtained nothing for 

 himself but empty honour, a species of reward which hardly any 

 man ever valued less. He was too proud to make any direct solicita- 

 tion ; he was aware that Lord Oxford well knew what he expected, 

 but he was not aware that he had a private and obstinate enemy in 

 Queen Anne, who had been taught by Archbishop Sharp that the 

 supposed author of the ' Tale of a Tub ' was little, if at all, better 

 than an infidel. He now felt that hia situation was uncomfortably 



