The third kind of work of this period con sists of his miscellaneous satires, in prose and verse, and on one of these, 'Gulliver's Travels,' his popular fame chiefly rests. The idea may have originated in the days of the Scriblerus Club (see ARBUTHNOT) but took no definite shape till after 1720. The motive of the book is thus expressed in a letter to Pope, 29 Sept. 1725: •I like the scheme of our meeting after distresses and dispersions, but the chief aim I propose to myself in all my labours is, to vex the world rather than divert it, and if I could compass that design, without hurting my person or fortune, I would be the most indefatigable writer you have ever seen, without reading. When you think of the world give it one more lash at my request. I have ever hated all na tions, professions, and communities; and all my love is toward individuals; for instance, I hate the tribe of lawyers, but I love counsellor such a one, and judge such a one; it is so with phy sicians (I will not speak of my own trade), soldiers, English, Scotch, French, and the rest.
But principally I hate and detest that animal called man; although I heartily love John, Thomas, etc.* The famous book appeared in November 1726, in London, whither Swift had gone in the spring of the same year. It was published anonymously and had instant suc cess. It has since held its place as the most comprehensive and truculent satire and one of the most popular children's books in the Eng lish language.
In a letter to Pope, of 12 June 1732, Swift alluded to two pieces of satire which he had in mind and which are the only ones besides 'Gul liver's Travels,) which specifically men tioned. 'A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation,' etc., commonly called 'Polite Conversation,' appeared in 1738; it is a well-sustained satire against cant and affecta tion in talk. The other, 'Directions to Serv ants,' a satire against slovenliness, remained unfinished at his death. They are about the last work that he did. During his visits to Lon don he lodged near Mrs. Vanhomrigh, whose daughter Hester fell in love with Swift. She is the Vanessa of Swift's writings. She fol lowed him to Ireland after her mother's death and resided near him at Celbridge. In 1723 she wrote to Stella but received a stinging re buke from the dean. She died soon after. Her story is, perhaps, even more pathetic than that of the more patient Stella.
Swift's journey to London in 1726 for the sake of seeing his old friends, and one of the following year, on the death of George I, to determine whether the new ruler would aid his work for Ireland, were the only times when Swift left that country after 1714. Thence on he lived in Dublin in growing physical distress, and in 1738-39 his health began to fail seriously. For three years he was tortured with pain, and in 1742 his mind completely gave way, owing to disease which is said to have had nothing to do with his constitutional malady. Up to his death he was almost wholly imbecile.
For a long time a legend was current that Swift was buried in Saint Patrick's in the same coffin with Stella — a legend accepted by the 'Encyclopmdia Britannica> and the 'New Inter national Encyclopedia.) As a matter of fact the grave of Swift in Saint Patrick's, Dublin, is several yards distant from Stella's. In 1835 some alterations in the church disclosed Swift's coffin; a society of phrenologists happened to be in session in the city at that time, and ob tained permission to examine Swift's skull and that found in a neighboring coffin, not Stella's. The lazy sexton, in returning the skulls, saved himself trouble by poking them both into Swift's coffin. A further exhumation in 1882 disclosed them together, whence the legend. For the dis posal of this oft-repeated story consult article by Dr. H. J. Lawlor in the English Historical Review (March 1918).
Swift, in his maturity, is represented in the several extant portraits, of which those by Charles Jervas are the most interesting, as a man of large frame and handsome countenance. Contemporary accounts represent him as a man of much distinction of manner and powerful personality. Intellectually he was unquestion ably among the greatest of his time, and his influence was uncommonly great. From the time of the 'Drapier's Letters' be exercised a remarkable sway over the affections of the Irish, and is said to have been the most popu lar man in Ireland. By his friends he was greatly beloved and the charm which his per sonality has exercised on most of his biogra phers has frequently made them protagonists and led them to minimize some evident defects of his character, as his mercilessness to his op ponents anti his not infrequent coarseness, de fects which he shared with many of the ablest men of his time.
Among all the able writers of the age he is surpassed by none in range and power and by none, except Defoe, in voluminousness. His known writings comprise over 230 separate prose titles, varying in length from the tions on a Broomstick' to 'Gulliver's Travels,' upward of 300 poems and some 500 letters. Within the limits of his style, which may he defined as the simple, intense and unadorned, as opposed to the ornate or the sublime, he is complete master of his medium and his sure ness of touch in the large number of varied subjects that he treated, give him a place among the very greatest of English writers. Neither philosophical intricacy nor emotional appeal in terested him, but as master of simple, racy Eng lish, of irony, humor, burlesque, satire and in vective, he is unsurpassed, as he also in his management of the topics with which he deals. Though he is remembered in literature chiefly for his great satires, nearly all the titles cited in the foregoing columns are models of their kind in writing. See BATTLE OF THE Boons; GULLIVER'S TRAVELS ; TALE OF A TUB.
Bibliography.— The best editions of Swift's complete writings are still those of Sir Walter Scott in 1814 and 1824 (2d ed.) in 19 vols. The most convenient and accurate modern edi tion of.the prose is by Mr. Temple Scott (begun 1898) in 12 vols. of the Bohn Library. Other editions and selections of his prose and verse are too numerous to mention specifically. The principal early biographies are Orrery's marks on the Life and Writings of Swift' (1752), Delany's 'Observations' (1754), Dean Swift's 'Essay upon the Life, Writings, and Character of Dr. Jonathan. Swift' (1755), Hawkesworth's 'Memoir' (1755), Johnson's in the 'Lives of the Poets' (1780), Thomas Sheri dan's 'Life' (1784), Monck-Berkeley's 'En quiry' (1789), John Barrett's 'An Essay on the Earlier Part of the Life of Swift' (1808), Sir Walter Scott's 'Memoirs' (prefixed to the edition of the works), all of which tell much the same story. Scott's is the best. Monck Mason's 'History and Antiquities of Saint Pat rick's Cathedral' (1819), contains much inter esting and valuable matter. The more modern and authoritative lives begin with John For ster's 'The Life of Jonathan Swift, 1667-171P (1875), unfortunately unfinished. The most complete and accurate life is, on the whole, that by Sir Henry Craik (London 1882). Sir Leslie Stephen's in 'The English Men of Let ters' is also good. Other lives are the enthusi astic study by J. Churton Collins (1893), the less interesting 'Dean Swift and His Writings' by G. P. Moriarty (1893) and the introduction to the Bohn Edition by W. E. H. Lecky. Con sult also Smith, S. S., (Dean Swift' (New York 1910) ; 'Correspondence,' edited by E. F. Ball (ib. 1914) and *The Bibliography of the Writings of Jonathan Swift') (in Works,' Vol. XII, New York 190S) ; English Historical Review (March 1918).