795 
SWIFT. 
Svrcnius. The Sax. ppipan means the same.] Moving far 
in a short time; quick; fleet; speedy; nimble; rapid. 
Thou art so far before, 
That swiftest wing of recompence is slow 
To overtake thee. Shalcspeare. 
Beady; prompt.—To mischief swift. Milton. 
SWIFT, s. The current of a stream.—He can live in 
the strongest swifts of the water. Walton. 
SWIFT, s. [from the quickness of their flight; apusi] 
A bird like a swallow; a martin .—Swifts and swallows have 
remarkably short legs, and their toes grasp any thing very 
strongly. Derham. 
SWIFT (Jonathan), the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick’s, 
was descended from the younger branch of an ancient 
family in Yorkshire, of no small note and considerable 
property. His grandfather, Thomas Swift, was a clergyman, 
possessed of a good estate near Ross, in Herefordshire, but 
by his sufferings in the cause of Charles I., his fortune was 
ruined. He had ten sons, one of whom, named Jonathan, 
married Abigail Erick, a lady of good family in Leicester¬ 
shire, with little or no fortune. He died young, about two 
years after his marriage, seven months before the birth of his 
only son, the subject of this article, and left his widow in 
very distressed circumstances. Being kindly invited by her 
husband's,eldest brother, Godwin, she removed to his house 
in Dublin, where her son Jonathan was born on the 30th 
of November, 1667. When he was but a year old, he was 
carried away by his nurse, without the knowledge of his 
mother or kindred, to Whitehaven, whither she went to visit 
a sick relation, from whom she expected a legacy ; and here 
he continued for almost three years, his nurse taking care of 
him, and teaching him to spell, so that he could read any 
chapter in the Bible before he was five years old. At the 
age of six he was sent to the school of Kilkenny, founded 
and endowed by the Ormond family ; and at the age of 
fourteen he was admitted into the university of Dublin, 
where the expense of his education was defrayed by his 
uncle Godwin Swift, the eldest of his father’s brothers, who 
had settled in Ireland. His uncle, who impaired his fortune 
by expensive projects, could afford him but a small pittance; 
and the straightness of his circumstances restrained the efforts 
of his genius, and discouraged his application to those 
branches of literature to which his attention was directed. 
For mathematics, and the barbarous logic of that age, he 
had no taste ; and as he had employed his hours of study 
in history and poetry, which were more suitable to his incli¬ 
nation, his proficiency had been so inconsiderable, that in 
his first examination for the degree of bachelor of arts, he 
was rejected, and it was at last conferred upon him “spe- 
ciali gratia,” or by favour rather than merit. In other 
pursuits adapted to his taste he was diligent, and employed 
eight hours a day in study. It was at this time, or at the age 
of nineteen, that he planned and partly executed his “ Tale 
of a Tub,” in which he displayed an uncommon stock of 
miscellaneous reading. Soon after this his uncle Godwin 
died; and the incompetent support he then continued to 
enjoy was derived from the bounty of another uncle (Wil¬ 
liam), whose circumstances would not allow any very liberal 
contribution. A cousin, however, named Willoughby 
Swift, the eldest son of his uncle Godwin, who was then a 
considerable merchant at Lisbon, hearing of his destitute 
condition, sent him a supply ; from this time he never knew 
what it was to want any thing in his purse. 
Swift was now in his twenty-first year, altogether without 
prospect of advancement either in the church or in any 
secular department; without any great reputation as a scho¬ 
lar, from the disgraceful manner in which he obtained his 
degree, and with a splenetic, morose temper, occasioned, 
or at least aggravated, by his dependent, penurious, and 
distressed circumstances, and disqualifying him for making 
personal friends. Nevertheless, it is to these circumstances, 
says one of his biographers, that the world owes a “ Swift;” 
to the want of money, want of learning, want of friends. 
His poverty and his pride were the subordinate guards of 
his virtue at college; and hence it happened that during 
his residence there, no flaw was to be found in his moral 
character, however low his talents and attainments might be 
rated. In 1688, being then in his twenty-first year. Swift 
left Ireland, and determined to visit his mother, who had 
found an asylum among some of her relations in Leicester¬ 
shire. His mode of travelling was that of a pedestrian, 
with an occasional relief in a carrier’s waggon. His mother, 
altogether dependent, could afford him no permanent pro¬ 
tection and assistance; but induced him to apply to the lady 
of Sir William Temple, who then lived in retirement at 
Moor Park in Surrey. Swift was kindly received, con¬ 
tinuing with Sir William, as an inmate, at Moor Park and 
Sheene for two years. This circumstance greatly contributed 
to the prosperous events of his future life. In the company 
and conversation of Sir William Temple, he made consider¬ 
able improvement, and was actually employed by him in 
the revival and correction of his works; and by him he was 
introduced to king William, and had repeated opportunities 
of intercourse with him. In the year 1692, he made a 
journey to Oxford, and took a master’s degree. He returned 
to Moor Park, but finding no disposition in Sir William 
Temple to promote his settlement in the world, he left him 
in 1694, not without some tokens of displeasure. In 1695, 
Lord (Japel, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, to whom he had 
been recommended, gave him the prebend of Kilroot, in 
the diocese of Connor, worth about 100/. year. A letter 
from Sir William himself determined him upon returning 
to England, and having resigned his Irish prebend, with 
about 80/. in his pocket, the whole stock which he then 
possessed, he embarked for England, and arrived at Moor 
Park in the year 1695. In this situation he remained about 
four years, in the greatest harmony, with tokens of mutual 
confidence and esteem, till the death of Sir William in 1699, 
who bequeathed to him a pecuniary legacy and his MSS. 
During this period of his life, Swift diligently prosecuted 
his studies, and regularly discharged his clerical functions in 
the family. He also became preceptor to a young lady, 
niece to Sir William Temple, who resided at the house; and 
at the same time Miss Johnson, afterwards well known by the 
name of “ Stella,” partook of the benefit of the same in¬ 
struction. Miss Johnson was daughter to Sir William’s 
steward, and being at that time about fourteen years of age, 
beautiful in her person, and possessed of fine talents. Swift 
took great delight in cultivating and forming her mind. At 
this time he also wrote his famous digressions, found in the 
“ Tale of a Tub,” and the “Battle of the Books,” in ho¬ 
nour of his great and learned friend. From the MSS. of 
Sir William Temple, Swift selected two volumes of letters, 
which he published, with a dedication to king William; to 
whom he also addressed a memorial, reminding him of the 
promise given by his majesty to the deceased, that the first 
vacant prebend of Canterbury or of Westminster should be 
conferred on himself; but no farther notice of him was ever 
taken by the king. Failing in his expectations from this 
quarter, he accepted an invitation from the Earl of Berkeley, 
appointed one of the lords-justices in Ireland, to accompany 
him in the quality of chaplain and private secretary. Upon 
their arrival at Dublin, the earl was persuaded to take a lay 
secretary ; and as his lordship intended to present his chap¬ 
lain to the deanery of Derry, just become vacant, Swift was 
again disappointed by an application which secured that 
preferment to another person : so that he was put off with 
the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin, in the diocese of 
Meath, which conjunctly were not of half or one-third the 
value of the deanery. The effect of these disappointments 
was the increase of that irascibility and misanthropy, which 
are so strongly marked in Swift’s writings, and in his general 
conduct. Swift continued in the family of Berkeley during 
that nobleman’s stay in Ireland ; and it was at this time that 
his true humorous vein in poetry began to display itself, in 
several little pieces, written for the private entertainment 
of the earl’s family. After Lord Berkeley’s removal from 
Ireland, 
