eminence among writers of the first class, is written by one of uncommon
abilities:--One possess'd of the power (as Shakespear says) _of looking
quite thro' the deeds of men_; we are furnished with one of the highest
entertainments a man can enjoy:--Such an author also presents us with a
true picture of human nature, which affords us the most ample
instruction:--He discerns the passions which play about the heart; and
while he is astonished with the high efforts of genius, is at the same
time enabled to observe nature as it really is, and how distant from
perfection mankind are in this world, even in the most refined state of
humanity. Such an intellectual feast they enjoy, who peruse the life of
this great author, drawn by the masterly and impartial hand of lord
Orrery. We there discern the greatness and weakness of Dean Swift; we
discover the patriot, the genius, and the humourist; the peevish master,
the ambitious statesman, the implacable enemy, and the warm friend. His
mixed qualities and imperfections are there candidly marked: His errors
and virtues are so strongly represented, that while we reflect upon his
virtues, we forget he had so many failings; and when we consider his
errors, we are disposed to think he had fewer virtues. With such candour
and impartiality has lord Orrery drawn the portrait of Swift; and, as
every biographer ought to do, has shewn us the man as he really was.
Upon this account given by his lordship, is the following chiefly built.
It shall be our business to take notice of the most remarkable passages
of the life of Swift; to omit no incidents that can be found concerning
him, and as our propos'd bounds will not suffer us to enlarge, we shall
endeavour to display, with as much conciseness as possible, those
particulars which may be most entertaining to the reader.
He was born in Dublin, November the 30th, 1667, and was carried into
England soon after his birth, by his nurse, who being obliged to cross
the sea, and having a nurse's fondness for the child at her breast,
convey'd him ship-board without the knowledge of his mother or
relations, and kept him with her at Whitehaven in Cumberland, during her
residence about three-years in that place. This extraordinary event made
his return seem as if he had been transplanted to Ireland, rather than
that he owed his original existence to that soil. But perhaps he tacitly
hoped to inspire different nations with a contention for his birth; at
least in his angry moods, when he was peevish and provoked at the
ingratitude of Ireland, he was frequently heard to say, 'I am not of
this vile country, I am an Englishman.' Such an assertion tho' meant
figuratively, was often received literally; and the report was still
farther propagated by Mr. Pope, who in one of his letters has this
expression. 'Tho' one, or two of our friends are gone, since you saw
your native country, there remain a few.' But doctor Swift, in his
cooler hours, never denied his country: On the contrary he frequently
mentioned, and pointed out, the house where he was born.
The other suggestion concerning the illegitimacy of his birth, is
equally false. Sir William Temple was employed as a minister abroad,
from the year 1665, to the year 1670; first at Brussels, and afterwards
at the Hague, as appears by his correspondence with the earl of
Arlington, and other ministers of state. So that Dr. Swift's mother, who
never crossed the sea, except from England to Ireland, was out of all
possibility of a personal correspondence with Sir William Temple, till
some years after her son's birth. Dr. Swift's ancestors were persons of
decent and reputable characters. His grand-father was the Revd. Mr.
Thomas Swift, vicar of Goodridge, near Ross in Herefordshire. He enjoyed
a paternal estate in that county, which is still in possession of his
great-grandson, Dean Swift, Esq; He died in the year 1658, leaving five
sons, Godwin, Thomas, Dryden, Jonathan, and Adam.
Two of them only, Godwin and Jonathan, left sons. Jonathan married Mrs.
Abigail Erick of Leicestershire, by whom he had one daughter and a son.
The daughter was born in the first year of Mr. Swift's marriage; but he
lived not to see the birth of his son, who was born two months after his
death, and became afterwards the famous Dean of St. Patrick's.
The greatest part of Mr. Jonathan Swift's income had depended upon
agencies, and other employments of that kind; so that most of his
fortune perished with him[1], and the remainder being the only support
that his widow could enjoy, the care, tuition, and expence of her two
children devolved upon her husband's elder brother, Mr. Godwin Swift,
who voluntarily became their guardian, and supplied the loss which they
had sustained in a father.
The faculties of the mind appear and shine forth at different ages in
different men. The infancy of Dr. Swift pass'd on without any marks of
distinction. At six years old he was sent to school at Kilkenny, and
about eight years afterwards he was entered a student of Trinity College
in Dublin. He lived there in perfect regularity, and under an entire
obedience to the statutes; but the moroseness of his temper rendered him
very unacceptable to his companions, so that he was little regarded, and
less beloved, nor were the academical exercises agreeable to his genius.
He held logic and metaphysics in the utmost contempt; and he scarce
considered mathematics, and natural philosophy, unless to turn them into
ridicule. The studies which he followed were history and poetry. In
these he made a great progress, but to all other branches of science, he
had given so very little application, that when he appeared as a
candidate for the degree of batchelor of arts, he was set aside on
account of insufficiency.
'This, says lord Orrery, is a surprising incident in his life, but it is
undoubtedly true; and even at last he obtained his admission Speciali
Gratiâ. A phrase which in that university carries with it the utmost
marks of reproach. It is a kind of dishonourable degree, and the record
of it (notwithstanding Swift's present established character throughout
the learned world) must for ever remain against him in the academical
register at Dublin.'
The more early disappointments happen in life, the deeper impression
they make upon the heart. Swift was full of indignation at the treatment
he received in Dublin; and therefore resolved to pursue his studies at
Oxford. However, that he might be admitted Ad Eundem, he was obliged to
carry with him the testimonium of his degree. The expression Speciali
Gratiâ is so peculiar to the university of Dublin, that when Mr. Swift
exhibited his testimonium at Oxford, the members of the English
university concluded, that the words Speciali Gratâ must signify a
degree conferred in reward of extraordinary diligence and learning. It
is natural to imagine that he did not try to undeceive them; he was
entered in Hart-Hall, now Hartford-College, where he resided till he
took his degree of master of arts in the year 1691.
Dr. Swift's uncle, on whom he had placed his chief dependance, dying in
the Revolution year, he was supported chiefly by the bounty of Sir
William Temple, to whose lady he was a distant relation. Acts of
generosity seldom meet with their just applause. Sir William Temple's
friendship was immediately construed to proceed from a consciousness
that he was the real father of Mr. Swift, otherwise it was thought
impossible he could be so uncommonly munificent to a young man, so
distantly related to his wife.
'I am not quite certain, (says his noble Biographer) that Swift himself
did not acquiesce in the calumny; perhaps like Alexander, he thought the
natural son of Jupiter would appear greater than the legitimate son of
Philip.'
As soon as Swift quitted the university, he lived with Sir William
Temple as his friend, and domestic companion. When he had been about two
years in the family of his patron, he contracted a very long, and
dangerous illness, by eating an immoderate quantity of fruit. To this
surfeit he used to ascribe the giddiness in his head, which, with
intermissions sometimes of a longer, and sometimes of a shorter
continuance, pursued him till it seemed to compleat its conquest, by
rendering him the exact image of one of his own STRULDBRUGGS; a
miserable spectacle, devoid of every appearance of human nature, except
the outward form.
After Swift had sufficiently recovered to travel, he went into Ireland
to try the effects of his native air; and he found so much benefit by
the journey, that pursuant to his own inclinations he soon returned into
England, and was again most affectionately received by Sir William
Temple, whose house was now at Sheen, where he was often visited by King
William. Here Swift had frequent opportunities of conversing with that
prince; in some of which conversations the king offered to make him a
captain of horse: An offer, which in his splenetic dispositions, he
always seemed sorry to have refused; but at that time he had resolved
within his own mind to take orders, and during his whole life his
resolutions, like the decrees of fate, were immoveable. Thus determined,
he again went over to Ireland, and immediately inlisted himself under
the banner of the church. He was recommended to lord Capel, then
Lord-Deputy, who gave him, the first vacancy, a prebend, of which the
income was about a hundred pounds a year.
Swift soon grew weary of a preferment, which to a man of his ambition
was far from being sufficiently considerable. He resigned his prebend in
favour of a friend, and being sick of solitude he returned to Sheen,
were he lived domestically as usual, till the death of Sir William
Temple; who besides a legacy in money, left to him the care and trust of
publishing his posthumous works.
During Swift's residence with Sir William Temple he became intimately
acquainted with a lady, whom he has distinguished, and often celebrated,
under the name of Stella. The real name of this lady was Johnson. She
was the daughter of Sir William Temple's steward; and the concealed but
undoubted wife of doctor Swift. Sir William Temple bequeathed her in his
will 1000 l. as an acknowledgment of her father's faithful services. In
the year 1716 she was married to doctor Swift, by doctor Ashe, then
bishop of Clogher.
The reader must observe, there was a long interval between the
commencement of his acquaintance with Stella, and the time of making her
his wife, for which (as it appears he was fond of her from the beginning
of their intimacy) no other cause can be assigned, but that the same
unaccountable humour, which had so long detained him from marrying,
prevented him from acknowledging her after she was his wife.
'Stella (says lord Orrery) was a most amiable woman both in mind and
person: She had an elevated understanding, with all the delicacy, and
softness of her own sex. Her voice, however sweet in itself, was still
rendered more harmonious by what she said. Her wit was poignant without
severity: Her manners were humane, polite, easy and unreserved.--
Wherever she came, she attracted attention and esteem. As virtue was her
guide in morality, sincerity was her guide in religion. She was
constant, but not ostentatious in her devotions: She was remarkably
prudent in her conversation: She had great skill in music; and was
perfectly well versed in all the lesser arts that employ a lady's
leisure. Her wit allowed her a fund of perpetual cheerfulness within
proper limits. She exactly answered the description of Penelope in
Homer.
A woman, loveliest of the lovely kind,
In body perfect, and compleat in mind.'
Such was this amiable lady, yet, with all these advantages, she could
never prevail on Dr. Swift to acknowledge her openly as his wife. A
great genius must tread in unbeaten paths, and deviate from the common
road of life; otherwise a diamond of so much lustre might have been
publickly produced, although it had been fixed within the collet of
matrimony: But that which diminished the value of this inestimable jewel
in Swift's eye was the servile state of her father.
Ambition and pride, the predominant principles which directed all the
actions of Swift, conquered reason and justice; and the vanity of
boasting such a wife was suppressed by the greater vanity of keeping
free from a low alliance. Dr. Swift and Mrs. Johnson continued the same
oeconomy of life after marriage, which they had pursued before it. They
lived in separate houses; nothing appeared in their behaviour
inconsistent in their decorum, and beyond the limits of platonic love.
However unaccountable this renunciation of marriage rites might appear
to the world, it certainly arose, not from any consciousness of a too
near consanguinity between him and Mrs. Johnson, although the general
voice of some was willing to make them both the natural children of Sir
William Temple. Dr. Swift, (says lord Orrery) was not of that opinion,
for the same false pride which induced him to deny the legitimate
daughter of an obscure servant, might have prompted him to own the
natural daughter of Sir William Temple.[2]
It is natural to imagine, that a woman of Stella's delicacy must repine
at such an extraordinary situation. The outward honours she received are
as frequently bestowed upon a mistress as a wife; she was absolutely
virtuous, and was yet obliged to submit to all the appearances of vice.
Inward anxiety affected by degrees the calmness of her mind, and the
strength of her body. She died towards the end of January 1727,
absolutely destroy'd by the peculiarity of her fate; a fate which
perhaps she could not have incurred by an alliance with any other person
in the world.
Upon the death of Sir William Temple, Swift came to London, and took the
earliest opportunity of delivering a petition to King William, under the
claim of a promise made by his majesty to Sir William Temple, that Mr.
Swift should have the first vacancy which might happen among the
prebends of Westminster or Canterbury. But this promise was either
totally forgotten, or the petition which Mr. Swift presented was drowned
amidst the clamour of more urgent addresses. From this first
disappointment may be dated that bitterness towards kings and courtiers,
which is to be found so universally dispersed throughout his works.
After a long and fruitless attendance at Whitehall, Swift reluctantly
gave up all thoughts of a settlement in England: Pride prevented him
from remaining longer in a state of servility and contempt. He complied
therefore with an invitation from the earl of Berkley (appointed one of
the Lords Justices in Ireland) to attend him as his chaplain, and
private secretary.--Lord Berkley landed near Waterford, and Mr. Swift
acted as secretary during the whole journey to Dublin. But another of
lord Berkley's attendants, whose name was Bush, had by this time
insinuated himself into the earl's favour, and had whispered to his
lordship, that the post of secretary was not proper for a clergyman, to
whom only church preferments could be suitable or advantageous. Lord
Berkley listened perhaps too attentively to these insinuations, and
making some slight apology to Mr. Swift, divested him of that office,
and bestowed it upon Mr. Bush.
Here again was another disappointment, and a fresh object of
indignation. The treatment was thought injurious, and Swift expressed
his sensibility of it in a short but satyrical copy of verses, intitled
the Discovery. However, during the government of the Earls of Berkley
and Galway, who were jointly Lords Justices of Ireland, two livings,
Laracor and Rathbeggan, were given to Mr. Swift. The first of these
rectories was worth about 200, and the latter about 60 l. a year; and
they were the only church preferments which he enjoyed till he was
appointed Dean of St. Patrick's, in the year 1713.
Lord Orrery gives the following instances of his humour and of his
pride.
As soon as he had taken possession of his two livings, he went to reside
at Laracor, and gave public notice to his parishioners, that he would
read prayers on every Wednesday and Friday. Upon the subsequent
Wednesday the bell was rung, and the rector attended in his desk, when
after having sat some time, and finding the congregation to consist only
of himself and his clerk Roger, he began with great composure and
gravity; but with a turn peculiar to himself. "_Dearly beloved_ Roger,
_the scripture moveth you and me in sundry places, &c_." And then
proceeded regularly thro' the whole service. This trifling circumstance
serves to shew; that he could not resist a vein of humour, whenever he
had an opportunity of exerting it.
The following is the instance of his pride. While Swift was chaplain to
lord Berkley, his only sister, by the consent and approbation of her
uncle and relations, was married to a man in trade, whose fortune,
character, and situation were esteemed by all her friends, and suitable
to her in every respect.
But the marriage was intirely disagreeable to her brother. It seemed to
interrupt those ambitious views he had long since formed: He grew
outragious at the thoughts of being brother-in law to a trademan. He
utterly refused all reconciliation with his father; nor would he even
listen to the entreaties of his mother, who came over to Ireland under
the strongest hopes of pacifying his anger; having in every other
instance found him a dutiful and obedient son: But his pride was not to
be conquered, and Mrs. Swift finding her son inflexible, hastened back
to Leicester, where she continued till her death.
During his mother's life time, he scarce ever failed to pay her an
annual visit. But his manner of travelling was as singular as any other
of his actions. He often went in a waggon, but more frequently walked
from Holyhead to Leicester, London, or any other part of England. He
generally chose to dine with waggoners, ostlers, and persons of that
rank; and he used to lye at night in houses where he found written over
the door, Lodgings for a Penny. He delighted in scenes of low life. The
vulgar dialect was not only a fund of humour for him; but seems to have
been acceptable to his nature, as appears from the many filthy ideas,
and indecent expressions found throughout his works.
A strict residence in a country place was not in the least suitable to
the restless temper of Swift. He was perpetually making excursions not
only to Dublin, and other places in Ireland, but likewise to London; so
rambling a disposition occasioned to him a considerable loss. The rich
deanery of Derry became vacant at this time, and was intended for him by
lord Berkley, if Dr. King, then bishop of Derry, and afterwards
archbishop of Dublin, had not interposed; entreating with great
earnestness, that the deanery might be given to some grave and elderly
divine, rather than to so young a man 'because (added the bishop) the
situation of Derry is in the midst of Presbyterians, and I should be
glad of a clergyman, who might be of assistance to me. I have no
objection to Mr. Swift. I know him to be a sprightly ingenious young
man; but instead of residing, I dare say he will be eternally flying
backwards and forwards to London; and therefore I entreat that he may be
provided for in some other place.'
Swift was accordingly set aside on account of youth, and from the year
1702, to the change of the ministry in the year 1710, few circumstances
of his life can be found sufficiently material to be inserted here. From
this last period, 'till the death of Queen Anne, we find him fighting on
the side of the Tories, and maintaining their cause in pamphlets, poems,
and weekly papers. In one of his letters to Mr. Pope he has this
expression, 'I have conversed, in some freedom, with more ministers of
state, of all parties, than usually happens to men of my level; and, I
confess, in their capacity as ministers I look upon them as a race of
people, whose acquaintance no man would court otherwise, than on the
score of vanity and ambition.' A man always appears of more consequence
to himself, than he is in reality to any other person. Such, perhaps,
was the case of Dr. Swift. He knew how useful he was to the
administration in general; and in one of his letters he mentions, that
the place of historiographer was intended for him; but in this
particular he flattered himself; at least, he remained without any
preferment 'till the year 1713, when he was made dean of St. Patrick's.
In point of power and revenue, such a deanery might be esteemed no
inconsiderable promotion; but to an ambitious mind, whose perpetual view
was a settlement in England, a dignity in any other country must appear
only a profitable and an honourable kind of banishment. It is very
probable, that the temper of Swift might occasion his English friends to
wish him promoted at a distance. His spirit was ever untractable. The
motions of his genius were often irregular. He assumed more of the air
of a patron, than of a friend. He affected rather to dictate than
advise. He was elated with the appearance of enjoying ministerial
confidence. He enjoyed the shadow indeed, but the substance was detained
from him. He was employed, not entrusted; and at the same time he
imagined himself a subtle diver, who dextrously shot down into the
profoundest regions of politics, he was suffered only to sound the
shallows nearest the shore, and was scarce admitted to descend below the
froth at the top. Swift was one of those strange kind of Tories, who
lord Bolingbroke, in his letter to Sir William Wyndham, calls the
Whimsicals, that is, they were Tories attach'd to the Hanoverian
succession. This kind of Tory is so incongruous a creature, that it is a
wonder ever such a one existed. Mrs. Pilkington informs us, that Swift
had written A Defence of the last Ministers of Queen Anne, from an
intention of restoring the Pretender, which Mr. Pope advised him to
destroy, as not one word of it was true. Bolingbroke, by far the most
accomplished man in that ministry (for Oxford was, in comparison of him,
a statesman of no compass) certainly aimed at the restoration of the
exiled family, however he might disguise to some people his real
intentions, under the masque of being a Hanoverian Tory. This serves to
corroberate the observation which lord Orrery makes of Swift: 'that he
was employed, not trusted, &c.'
By reflexions of this sort, says lord Orrery, we may account for his
disappointment of an English bishopric. A disappointment, which, he
imagined, he owed to a joint application, made against him to the Queen,
by Dr. Sharp, archbishop of York, and by a lady of the highest rank and
character. Archbishop Sharpe, according to Swift's account, had
represented him to the Queen as a person, who was no Christian; the
great lady had supported the assertion, and the Queen, upon such
assurances, had given away the bishopric, contrary to her Majesty's
intentions. Swift kept himself, indeed, within some tolerable bounds
when he spoke of the Queen; but his indignation knew no limits when he
mentioned the archbishop, or the lady.
Most people are fond of a settlement in their native country, but Swift
had not much reason to rejoice in the land where his lot had fallen; for
upon his arrival in Ireland to take possesion of the deanery, he found
the violence of party raging in that kingdom to the highest degree. The
common people were taught to consider him as a Jacobite, and they
proceeded so far in their detestation, as to throw stones and dirt at
him as he passed thro' the streets. The chapter of St. Patrick's, like
the rest of the kingdom, received him with great reluctance. They
opposed him in every point he proposed. They avoided him as a
pestilence, and resisted him as an invader and an enemy to his country.
Such was his first reception, as dean of St. Patrick's. Fewer talents,
and less firmness must have yielded to so outrageous an opposition. He
had seen enough of human nature to be convinced that the passions of
low, self-interested minds ebb and flow continually. They love they know
not whom, they hate they know not why. They are captivated by words,
guided by names, and governed by accidents. But to few the strange
revolutions in this world, Dr. Swift, who was now the detestion of the
Irish rabble, lived to be afterwards the most absolute monarch over
them, that ever governed men. His first step was to reduce to reason and
obedience his revd. brethren the the chapter of St. Patrick's; in which
he succeeded so perfectly, and so speedily, that, in a short time after
his arrival, not one member in that body offered to contradict him, even
in trifles: on the contrary, they held him in the highest respect and
veneration, so that he sat in the Chapter-House, like Jupiter in the
Synod of the Gods.