SWIFT 



5655 



SWIFT 



The American swift has been forced almost 

 entirely to the chimney as a home. In perch- 

 ing it clings to the wall with its feet, bracing 

 itself with its spine-pointed tail. It is said to 

 break off the twigs for its nest with its beak as 



THE SWIFT AND ITS NEST 



it flies. The nest is semicircular in form, 

 firmly cemented to the side of the chimney. 

 The eggs are white in color and four to six in 

 number. Two broods are usually reared in a 

 season. 



SWIFT, JONATHAN (1667-1745), an English 

 satirist and clergyman, born in Dublin. He 

 was unusually advanced as a child could spell 

 at three and at five could read any chapter in 

 the Bible. At the Kilkenny School, and later 

 at Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, 

 where he was 

 poorly supported 

 by the charity of 

 an uncle, his 

 course of study 

 was most irregu- 

 lar. History and 

 poetry appealed 

 to him, and he 

 read them 'greed- 

 ily, but for the 

 set course of 

 study he had 

 nothing but scorn. 

 In consequence, JONATHAN SWIFT 



it was only by special favor that he obtained 

 his degree. 



Early Discouragements. At twenty-one he 

 became secretary to Sir William Temple, of 

 Moor Park, Surrey, at a salary of twenty 



pounds ($100) a year. He was treated as a 

 half servant, and forced to eat at the second 

 table, but though his pride was extreme he re- 

 tained his office for five years, finding some 

 solace in the fact that he had much time to 

 devote to study and writing. In 1694, in an 

 attempt at independence, he accepted a small 

 parish in the Irish Church, - in a distant, se- 

 cluded place, but his dissatisfaction was deeper 

 than before, and in a short time he returned 

 to the Temple household. Here he remained 

 until the latter's death. In Temple's family he 

 became acquainted with a beautiful girl, Esther 

 Johnson, who was to play so important a part 

 in his life and whom he made famous as the 

 "Stella" of his writings. 



His Literary Career. In 1699 Swift attended 

 the Earl of Berkeley as secretary and chaplain 

 on a journey to Ireland, and was made vicar 

 of Laracor and Rathbeggan. During all his 

 clerical career he engaged in political writing, 

 and in 1704 won wide fame on the publication 

 of his Tale of a Tub, a humorous and forceful 

 satire on insincerity and pedantry in literature 

 and in theology. Such a work could not, how- 

 ever, fail to injure his chances for preferment 

 in the Church. In the decade that followed he 

 became a conspicuous figure in politics. Begin- 

 ning as a Whig, he became so opposed to the 

 principles of his party that in 1710 he turned 

 from it entirely, making plain the change by 

 accepting the editorship of the Tory Examiner. 

 Through his essays he exerted a strong influ- 

 ence on the trend of public thought, but in 

 1714 he shared the Tory loss of power and was 

 forced to content himself with an appointment 

 to the deanery of Saint Patrick's, Dublin. 



During his residence in Ireland previous to 

 1710, Swift had urged Miss Johnson and her 

 friend Mrs. Dingley to make their home near 

 him, and thus he enjoyed a continuance of his 

 early friendship. While he was in England, 

 from 1710 to 1713, he wrote the letters that 

 compose the Journal to Stella, a work of deep 

 biographical interest. In the same period he 

 became involved in a connection with Miss 

 Hester Vanhomrigh which caused him great 

 embarrassment and resulted tragically. Upon 

 his departure from England the young lady, 

 driven by her love for him, followed him and 

 settled near him in Ireland, and by some secret 

 communication learned of his friendship for 

 Stella, to whom she finally wrote. Having thus 

 incurred Swift's anger, Miss Vanhomrigh died 

 of the grief caused by the rupture of their 

 friendship (1723). 



