863 



SWIFT, JONATHAN, D.D. 



SWIFT, THEOPHILUS. 



864 



he was a strict economist of time and money, aud kept minute 

 accounts of the expenditure of both ; he used much exercise, both 

 walking and riding; he drank wiuo daily, but never to excess; in 

 eating he appears to have been somewhat of an epicure. In liis 

 disposition ho was social ; and when his company pleased him his 

 conversation was delightful, abounding in anecdote, aud rather 

 distinguished for liveliness and humour than for seriousness. In 

 repartee he was considered unrivalled. He had peculiarities of 

 manner, which however were not constant and habitual, but generally 

 arose from the indulgence of some occasional whim. From the time 

 of his admission into Trinity College he had mixed much in society, 

 generally of the best kind : he was an observer of society of a lower 

 kind, but he never willingly mixed with it. He spoke iu public with 

 force and fluency. The distinguishing feature of his character was 

 pride a complete consciousness and appreciation of the value of the 

 power which he had acquired by a severe course of study and observa- 

 tion, combined as it was with a Determination of purpose which no 

 danger could intimidate, and which turned aside from no labour 

 necessary to the accomplishment of his aims. He. was thoroughly 

 honest, but his honesty was often combined with a straightforward 

 bluntness which was offensive to fastidiousness and vanity. In spite 

 of the sternness of his character, which was often indeed more in 

 appearance than reality, he was a man of deep feeling, devotedly 

 attached to his friends, and active in promoting their interests ; uor 

 were his friends less attached to him. 



There was much appearance of paradox in Swift's character, which 

 often arose from his assuming, in speaking aud writing, a character 

 which did not belong to him. He hated hypocrisy, he hated the 

 assumption of virtue, and he ran into the opposite extreme. Thus 

 the levity of manner with which he censured the corruptions of 

 Christianity induced many to suppose that he was not a Christian : 

 and the tone of misanthropy which pervades many of his writings was 

 ill suited to the real character of one who annually expended a third 

 part of his income in well-directed charity ; who, of the first 5QQI. 

 he had to spare, formed a loan fund for the use, without interest, of 

 poor tradesmen and others; who was a warm and steady friend, a 

 liberal patron, and a kind master. He who always spoke of Ireland 

 as a country hateful to him, was yet the firm, fearless, and constant 

 assertor of her rights and protector of her liberties. Johnson speaks 

 of his love of a shilling. Habits of strict economy have given many a 

 man the appearance of loving a shilling who thinks nothing of giving 

 away pounds. We have spoken of the use which he made of his 

 money : in the obtaining of it he was no less free from eordidness. 

 Of the numerous works which he published, most of which were 

 extremely popular, it is doubtful if he ever received for any one a 

 tingle shilling of direct remuneration. Pope obtained something for 

 Swift's share of the ' Miscellanies,' but there is reason to suspect that 

 he directed his friend, who did love a shilling, to keep the sum for 

 his trouble. 



Swift's conduct towards Stella and Vanessa is that part of his 

 character of which least can be said by way of justification. We have 

 given the details of that conduct briefly, and leave the reader to draw 

 his own conclusions. 



In his political principles he was rather a Whig than a Tory, but 

 party, as a distinction which prevents the intercourse of individuals, 

 he regarded with dislike and scorn. He approved of triennial parlia- 

 ments, nay annual parliaments; he was the defender of popular 

 rights, and frequently exposed himself to danger in defending them ; 

 he was a steady advocate of constitutional freedom. His hatred of 

 tyranny was almost a passion. The oppression which he saw prac- 

 tised in Ireland was one chief cause of his dislike to living in that 

 country. He was vexed to see the tame submission with which the 

 Irish yielded to the tyranny of their rulers. He always spoke of his 

 residence in Ireland as an exile, and, with intense bitterness of feeling, 

 of himself as one condemned to die there " like a poisoned rat iu a 

 hole." The separation from his friends in England certainly con- 

 tributed to produce this feeling. 



In his religious principles he was a violent high-church bigot. He 

 would admit of no toleration either of Roman Catholics or of Dissenters 

 as a body, and Jews he classed with infidels. But he did riot extend 

 these intolerant principles to individuals. Probably he did not know 

 that Bolingbroke was an infidel, but he did know that Pope was a 

 Roman Catholic. 



Swift's acquaintance with the Greek and Latin writers was extensive, 

 but not profound. French he wrote and spoke with facility, and he 

 understood Italian, lie was well read in Chaucer and Milton, but 

 never mentions Shakspere, and dot-s not appear to have had a copy of 

 his works. His acquaintance with English prose writers was chiefly 

 among the historians, especially Clarendon. 



Swift, almost beyond any other writer, is distinguished for originality. 

 Ho was an observer for himself, and was disdainful of obligation for 

 anything but such fact: as were not within his reach. His modes of 

 combining and comparing those facts, whether ludicrous or serious, 

 were always his own. 



As a prose writer, his style is distinguished by plainness, simplicity, 

 and perspicuity ; it is sometimes uugrammatical and often heavy, but 

 is occasionally forcible and pointed. As to his numerous political 

 tracts, when they hnd accomplished the end for which they were 



written, he cared no more about them; and most readers now care as 

 little. He could hardly be said to be at all ambitious of the 'reputa- 

 tion of an author. His object in writing waa to produce an cfl'ect 

 upon the public, or to please his friends. The object once attained, he 

 thought no more about the means by which it had been accomplished. 

 His letters, of which a great number have been published, are excel- 

 lent specimens of that species of composition ; written, without any 

 view to publication, either to keep up the intercourse of friendship 

 or for purposes of business, they abound in practical good sense, 

 clear, unaffected, unenibellished, with occasional touches of wit and 

 humour, such as appear to have arisen, without being sought for, in 

 the writer's mind at the moment of writing. A few of his Sermons 

 have been published ; they are of Uie most plain and practical cha- 

 racter. As a party writer, he used no arms but such as are considered 

 fair iu that species of warfare. He was not one of those who make 

 false statements; ho was no assailant of virtuous character. The 

 vices and the faults of those public men to whom he was opposed 

 were censured with unsparing severity, or covered with ridicule ; but 

 the men were such as Wharton and Wood and Bettesworth. Men of 

 less objectionable character were touched more lightly. 



Swift's permanent reputation as a prose writer is likely to depend, 

 to a considerable extent, upon his humorous pieces, but chiefly upon 

 his ' Gulliver's Travels.' For this satirical romance he derived hints 

 from Luciau, Bergerac, and Rabelais; but he derived nothing more 

 than hints. His claim to originality is unaffected by any resemblance 

 which his romance bears to these sources. The style of the work is 

 an admirable imitation of the plain, dry, and minute style of the old 

 voyagers, such as Dampier ; and the character of Gulliver himself, as a 

 representative of this class, is never for a moment lost sight of. The 

 work consists of four voyages. The Voyage to Lilliput is for the 

 most part a satire on the manners and usages of the court of George I. 

 The Voyage to Brobdingnag is a more extended satire on the politics of 

 Europe generally. These two voyages are indisputably the most 

 delightful parts of the book ; and are read by most readers with great 

 pleasure 'as mere tales, with such admirable skill is an air of truth and 

 reality thrown over the narrative. The Flying Island is a satire 

 directed against speculative philosophy, especially mathematics. For 

 this part of his task Swift was but poorly qualified, and except that 

 part which is aimed at projectors and quacks, the satire for the most 

 part falls harmless. The fourth voyage, in which Gulliver gets among 

 the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos, is an exaggerated satire on the vices of 

 mankind. The fiction is in itself unnaturally impossible, and the 

 details are sometimes disgustingly filthy. 



Swift's poems are not, properly speaking, poetry, nor ia Swift a 

 poet; his imagination is not of the kind which produces poetry ; it is 

 not filled with the beauty and magnificence of nature, but with the petty 

 details of artificial life; he is a satirist of the first cla-s; as a poetical 

 describer of manners, he has never been excelled : as a poetical 

 humourist he almost stands alone ; indetd the most delightful of his 

 poems are those iu which he expresses the notions and uses the 

 language of some assumed character, as iu ' Mrs. Harris's Petition.' In 

 this species of humour he had no model, and, with the exception of 

 Thomas Hood, no imitator has ever approached him. Of the general 

 style of his poems, Dr. Johnson remarks that " the diction is correct, 

 the numbers are smooth, and the rhymes exact. There seldom occurs 

 a hard-laboured expression or a redundant epithet. All his verses 

 exemplify his own definition of a good style they consist of proper 

 words iu proper places." 



SWIFT, DEANE, was the grandson of Godwin Swift, the eldest of 

 the uncles of the Dean of St. Patrick's. The Christian name of Deane 

 was derived from his grandmother, daughter and heiress of Admiral 

 Deane, who served the Commonwealth during the civil wars. He 

 studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards resided at Gocdrich 

 in Herefordshire. He married a daughter of Mrs. Whiteway by her 

 first husband, the Rev. T. Harrison. Deane Swift wrote an 'Essay 

 upon the Life, Character, and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift; inter- 

 spersed with some occasional Animadversions upon the Remarks of a 

 late critical Author, and upon the Observations of an anonymous 

 Writer on these Remarks ; to which is added that Sketch of Dr. Swift's 

 Life, written by the Dr. himself, which was lately presented by the 

 Author of this Essay to the University of Dublin,' Svo, London, 1755. 

 He also published ' The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. 

 Patrick's, collected and revised by Deane Swift, Esq., of Goodrich in 

 Herefordshire,' 12mo, London, 1765, about 20 vols. Deaue Swift con- 

 tributed a portion of correspondence to Kichols's edition of Swift's 

 Works, 19 vols. Svo. He died at Worcester, July 12, 1763. 



SWIFT, THEOPHILUS, was the son of Deane Swift, and was bom 

 at Goodrich in Herefordshire. He wrote ' The Gamblers,' a poem, 

 4to; 'The Temple of Folly,' in 4 cantos, London, 1787; 'Poetical 

 Addresses to his Majesty,' 4to, 1788; 'Letter to the King on the 

 Conduct of Colonel Lennox,' 4to, 1789. His remarks in this letter 

 gave offence to Colonel Lennox, who demanded satisfaction, and a 

 duel was the consequence, in which Swift received a pistol wound. 

 In the year 171)0 a man lurked at night in the streets of London, and 

 wounded females with a sharp instrument. He e=caped detection for 

 some time, and the public called him ' The Monster.' A person of the 

 name of Williams, an artificial-flower maker, was at length arrested, 

 tried, found guilty, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. 



