strangely at variance with his courtly patron. His position was extremely galling, for he was at first only treated as a kind of upper servant. He was shy and awkward, and felt, as he afterwards confessed, keenly a word of disapprobation from Temple. His college habits doubtless gave an additional roughness to his manners; and the ill health, which had already begun to prey upon him, an additional acerbity to his temper. However, as time advanced, his position at Moor Park improved. He devoted himself most assiduously to study for several years, and thus compensated for his idleness at the University. His favourite subjects appear to have been the classics and French literature; and he read them with the energy of enthusiasm. In 1692 he took his degree of Master of Arts at Oxford, for which University he ever after entertained feelings of grateful regard. He also rose rapidly in Sir W. Temple's estimation, and hoped, through his influence, soon to obtain an independent position. He believed, however (whether justly or unjustly we need not too curiously enquire), that Temple's patronage was very languid, and he at last left Moor Park in anger, and proceeded to Ireland to be ordained. He there found, to his inexpressible dismay, that a letter of recommendation from Temple was an indispensable preliminary to ordination. For months he shrank from the humiliation of asking the letter, but at last he wrote. for and received it. He was ordained, and almost immediately after he obtained a small preferment at a place called Kilroot, in the diocese of Connor. Temple, however, in the meantime, had found that Swift's presence was absolutely necessary to his enjoyment. The extreme amiability of his disposition prevented him. from retaining any feelings of bitterness, and he made overtures which soon drew the young clergyman from a retirement that was as unsuited to his happiness as to his genius. Swift returned to England, and lived with Temple till the death of the latter, which took place four years after. During this time he was treated not as a dependent, but as a friend. He was admitted into his patron's confidence; his genius was fully recognised; and the bias of his mind determined for life. Living with an old statesman of great experience, sagacious judgment, and varied knowledge, it was natural that his attention should be chiefly turned to politics. His first pamphlet-the Dissentions of the Nobles and Commons of Athens'-was published somewhat later in the Whig interest. It was extremely successful, and was generally attributed to Bishop Burnet. He had several opportunities of seeing the King, and some of the leading statesmen of the day, who visited Moor Park-of gauging their intellects, and correcting his theories by their experience. On one occasion he was deputed by Temple to endeavour to persuade the King to consent to triennial parliaments-a mission in which he did not succeed. He also attended largely to literature. He assisted Temple in revising his works, and he defended him against the well-known assaults of Bentley. Temple had rashly committed himself to the authenticity of some spurious letters attributed to Phalaris, and had launched into a eulogium of these letters in particular, and generally of ancient as opposed to modern literature. The dispute had been warmly taken up by Boyle and Atterbury on one side, and by Bentley on the other. The scholarship of Bentley proved overwhelming, and his opponents were at last driven from the field; but Swift, avoiding judiciously all direct argumentative collision with so formidable an opponent, produced his Battle of the Books,' which was then and is now unrivalled in its kind. But it was not merely the gratification of political or literary ambition that made the last portion of Swift's residence. at Moor Park so attractive. That strange romance which tinged all his later years had begun, and his life was already indissolubly connected with that of Esther Johnson. Esther Johnson, so well known by the name of Stella, was the reputed daughter of the steward of Sir W. Temple, but many persons maintained that Temple himself was her father, and they imagined they could detect the parentage in her features. The peculiar position she seems to have occupied at Moor Park, and the large legacy left her by Temple, go far to corroborate the supposition. At the time we speak of she was in the very zenith of her charms. Her figure, which in after-years lost much of its grace and symmetry, was then faultless in its proportions, and her biographers dilate with rapture on the intellectual beauty of her pale but not pensive countenance, shadowed by magnificent raven hair, and illumined by dark, lustrous, and trembling eyes. Her temperament was singularly serene, patient, and unimpassioned, admirably suited for social life, and for sustained friendship, but a little too cold for real love, and she appears to have acquiesced for many years, without repining, in a kind of connection which few women would have tolerated. But great as were her personal charms, her intellectual gifts were far more remarkable, and she seems to have lived more from the head than from the heart. She had read much and in many fields, and her wit made her the delight of every society in which she moved. Swift said that in whatever company she appeared it seemed to be invariably admitted that she had said the best thing of the evening, and though the witticisms he has preserved exhibit quite as much coarseness as point, her principal extant poem-that to Swift on his birthday in 1721— fully sustains her reputation.' I do not intend in the present sketch to enter at length into an examination of the controversy about the nature of the connection that subsisted for so many years between Swift and Esther Johnson. Such matters are perhaps given a rather disproportionate place in the lives of men of genius; and, at all events, the object of this work is to deal with the political aspects of his career. There appears, however, to be no real doubt that that connection was always purely platonic. They lived in Ireland in different houses, except during the illnesses of Swift. Stella presided at the table of Swift when he received company. Their correspondence was of the most affectionate character, and Stella has acquired an immortality of fame through the poetry of her friend. At the same time, that poetry, though indicating the affection of a friend, is wholly unlike that of a lover, and it is curious to observe how constantly Swift decries her personal beauty, and directs his most graceful compliments to her other qualities. But, Stella, say what evil tongue Reports that you're no longer young; To your defects adapts my sight; There is one other short poem, 'Lines to Jealousy,' ascribed to her. GOES TO IRELAND. And wrinkles undistinguished pass, 6 Upon the death of Temple, Swift was once more thrown upon the world, but his prospects were exceedingly favourable. Temple (who during his long, painful illness, had found Swift unwearied in his attention) had taken every means of ensuring his future prosperity. He left him a pecuniary legacy, together with the charge and profit of publishing his posthumous works, and he had procured for him from King William a promise of a prebend either at Canterbury or Windsor. Temple's posthumous works were rapidly published and dedicated to the King, who, however, took no notice of the dedication, of his old servant's request, or of his own promise. Shortly afterwards, Swift obtained the position of secretary to the Earl of Berkeley, who had been appointed one of the Lords Justices in Ireland; but a person named Bushe succeeded in persuading the Earl that the office should not be held by a clergyman, and in obtaining it for himself. Another disappointment followed. He was almost appointed to the deanery of Down, but the appointment was stayed by the interposition of Archbishop King, who objected to his extreme youth. Lord Berkeley, as if to compensate for these disappointments, then gave him the living of Laracor and Rathbeggan. He remained for some time at Laracor in the discharge of his clerical |