SWIFT, JONATHAN, the greatest of English satirists, and the most original writer of his age, was born in Dublin, but of English parents, on Nov. 30, 1667. He was a pos thumous child, reared amid circumstances of abject poverty and dependence, the rec ollection of which galled his proud irascible spirit, and embittered much of his future existence. He was supported by relatives, and educated at Kilkenny school and Trinity college, Dublin. He proved a negligent and turbulent student, more intent on personal satires and political rhymes than academical honors: but he remained at college about seven years. He then removed to England, visited his mother in Leicestershire, and by her recommendation was admitted into the house of sir William Temple, who had long known the Swift family. He seems at first not to have conciliated the regard of the retired minister, for in the following year (May, 1690), Temple made an offer of the ser vices of his protégé to sir Robert Southwell (then about to proceed to Ireland as secretary of state), recommending him as diligent and honest, qualified either to wait on sir Rob ert as a gentleman, or to write under him as a clerk. No appointment followed; Swift remained with Temple, studying hard, till 1694, when he went to Ireland, took orders in the church, and obtained a small living, which he threw up in two years, and returned to England, in consequence of Temple, who missed his society and assistance, urging him to come back. Temple died in 1698, and Swift in the following year, published his posthumous works, after which he again repaired to Ireland, obtaining from lord Berke ley some church preferments, including the vicarage of Laracor, worth in all about £400 per annum, which was all the professional income he enjoyed till he was appointed dean of St. Patrick's, in his 46th year, Before this, be had written the wildest and wittiest and most powerful satirical work of the 18th c., The Tale of a Tub (1704), also a few essays on ecclesiastical subjects, some inimitable ridicule of astrology under the name of Isaac Bickerstaff, and poetical pieces possessing a peculiar vein of humor and descrip tion. In 1710 he went over to the tories, conceiving himself neglected by the whig min isters, and exerted himself strenuously in behalf of his new allies, Harley and Boling broke. He wrote papers in The Examiner (1710); a. Letter to the October Club (1711); The Conduct of the Allies (1712); The Barrier Treaty (1712), and innumerable pasquinades against the whigs, whom he "libelled all round." He had become, as it were, a great and formidable power in the state, yet could extort no higher preferment for himself than the deanery of St. Patrick's. His party was overthrown by the death of queen Anne; and in 1714 Swift " commenced Irishman for life," with strong reluctance and disgust. In time, however, he took interest in Irish affairs, and identified himself with Irish feelings and prejudices. Hatred to Walpole and the English government quick ened his activity; and his resistance to Wood's copper coinage—a scheme for supplying Ireland with copper money by an English patentee—raised him to the highest pinnacle of popular favor. His Drapier Letters (1724) produced quite a ferment in Ireland, and compelled the government to abandon the scheme of the coinage. Two rewards of £300
each had been offered for the unmasking of the Drapier, but not a traitor, as he says, could be found to sell him. The triumphant author made his last visit to England in 1726, and published his Gulliver's Travels, the most universally popular of all his works. He next joined with Pope, Arbuthnot, and Gay in publishing three volumes of Miscella nies, after which he returned to Ireland (Oct., 1727), and never left it again. He was subject to fits of giddiness and deafness, which increased in frequency and intensity as he grew old; he brooded over the anticipated madness which he foreboded would be his future lot; his temper, always irritable and gloomy, became more violent and morose, the effect of cerebral disease, and his memory and other faculties gave way. There was also a deep and secret grief: the fate of two ladies, known as Stella and Vanessa, had been inseparably entwined with his own destiny; both had sacrificed for him all but honor, and had sunk under disappointed hopes and blighted affection. We cannot here trace the painful story, which is still involved in mystery, but for a time the retribution of Swift was terrible. He rallied, however, and wrote some of his best minor pieces after this period. Among these are The Grand Question Debated; On Poetry, a Rhapsody; The Legion Club; on the Death of Dr. Swift; and that extraordinary prose tract, The Modest Proposal, a masterpiece of irony, in which he proposes to relieve the distresses of the poor Irish by converting their children into food for the rich. The last three years of Swift's life were passed in almost total silence in the hands of keepers. He died Oct. 19, 1745.
It would be superfluous to attempt in our brief space to characterize the genius of the immortal dean of St. Patrick's. Shakespeare alone among English authors has received a greater amount of criticism and annotation. From Johnson to Thackeray, the most brilliant critics and biographers have employed themselves in elucidating his strange and sad history, and in estimating his writings. As a consummate master of ridicule and irony, possessing great powers of wit, invention, illustration, and analogy; possessing also the dramatic faculty that enabled him to assume and portray varieties of character; and as writing a pure, perspicuous English style. unsurpassed for strength and simplic ity, Swift must ever be a model in our language and literature. His misanthropy, or degradation of human nature—his Yahoos, Strulbrugs, daring irreverence, and indeli cacy, are of course indefensible. He had a total incapacity, as De Quiucey remarks, for " dealing with the grandetirs of the human spirit, with religion, with poetry, or even with science, when it rose above the mercenary practical." His business was with the world—with the follies, vices, and absurdities of men. And his poetry is the same as his prose; it may come under definition of a good style, "proper words in proper places," applied to ordinary topics, but is wholly wanting in passion, elevated feeling, and imagination. A complete edition of his works, in 19 vols., was published by sir W. Scott (1815). See also Roscoe's edition (1853), and Life (unfinished), by John Forster (1875).