poffeffion; and when Lord Orrery tells that he was pelted by the populace, he is to be understood of the time when, after the Queen's death, he became a fettled refident.

The Archbishop of Dublin gave him at first some difturbance in the exercife of his jurifdiction; but it was foon discovered, that between prudence and integrity he was feldom in the wrong; and that, when he was right, his fpirit did not eafily yield to oppofition.

tumults of a party,

Having fo lately quitted the and the intrigues of a court, they ftill kept his thoughts in agitation, as the fea fluctuates a while when the ftorm has ceased. He therefore filled his hours with fome hiftorical attempts, relating to the

6.6

Change of the Minifters," and "the Conduct of "the Miniftry." He likewife is faid to have written a "History of the Four laft Years of Queen Anne," which he began in her life-time, and afterwards laboured with great attention, but never published. It was after his death in the hands of Lord Orrery and Dr. King. A book under that title was published, · with Swift's name, by Dr. Lucas; of which I can only fay, that it feemed by no means to correfpond with the notions that I had formed of it, from a converfation which I once heard between the Earl of Orrery and old Mr. Lewis.

Swift now, much against his will, commenced Irishman for life, and was to contrive how he might be beft accommodated in a country where he confidered himself as in a ftate of exile. It feerns that his first recourse was to piety. The thoughts of death rushed upon him, at this time, with fuch inceffant importu

mity, that they took poffeffion of his mind, when he firft waked, for many years together..

He opened his house by a publick table two days a week, and found his entertainments gradually frequented by more and more vifitants of learning among the men, and of elegance among the women. Mrs. Johnson had left the country, and lived in lodgings not far from the deanery. On his publick days fhe regulated the table, but appeared at it as a mere gueft, like other ladies.

On other days he often dined, at a ftated price, with Mr. Worral, a clergyman of his cathedral, whofe house was recommended by the peculiar neatnefs and pleasantry of his wife. To this frugal mode of living, he was firft difpofed by care to pay fome debts which he had contracted, and he continued it for the pleasure of accumulating money. His avarice, however, was not fuffered to obftruct the claims of his dignity; he was ferved in plate, and used to fay that he was the pooreft gentleman in Ireland that ate upon plate, and the richeft that lived without a coach.

How he spent the reft of his time, and how he employed his hours of ftudy, has been enquired with hopeless curiofity. For who can give an account of another's ftudies? Swift was not likely to admit any to his privacies, or to impart a minute account of his bufinefs or his leifure.

Soon after (1716), in his forty-ninth year, he was privately married to Mrs. Johnfon, by Dr. Afhe, bishop of Clogher, as Dr. Madden told me, in the garden. The marriage made no change in their mode of life; they lived in different houses, as beC 3

fore;

fore; nor did she ever lodge in the deanery but when Swift was feized with a fit of giddinefs. "It would "be difficult," fays Lord Orrery, "to prove that "they were ever afterwards together without a third "perfon."

The Dean of St. Patrick's lived in a private manner, known and regarded only by his friends; till, about the year 1720, he, by a pamphlet, recommended to the Irifh the ufe, and confequently the improvement, of their manufacture. For a man to ufe the productions of his own labour is furely a natural right, and to like beft what he makes himself is a natural paffion. But to excite this paffion, and enforce this right, appeared fo criminal to those who had an intereft in the English trade, that the printer was imprisoned; and, as Hawkefworth juftly obferves, the attention of the publick being by this outrageous refentment turned upon the propofal, the author was by confequence made popular.

In 1723 died Mrs. Van Homrigh, a woman made unhappy by her admiration of wit, and ignominiously diftinguished by the name of Vaneffa, whofe conduct has been already fufficiently difcuffed, and whofe hiftory is too well known to be minutely repeated. She was a young woman fond of literature, whom Decanus, the Dean, called Cadenus by transposition of the letters, took pleasure in directing and infìructing; till, from being proud of his praife, fhe grow fond of his perfon. Swift was then about fortyfeven, t an age when vanity is ftrongly excited by the amorous attention of a young woman. If it be faid that Swift thould have checked a paffion which Le never meant to gratify, recourfe must be had to

that

that extenuation which he fo much defpifed, " men "are but men :" perhaps, however, he did not at firft know his own mind, and, as he reprefents himfelf, was undetermined. For his admiffion of her courtship, and his indulgence of her hopes after his marriage to Stella, no other honeft plea can be found than that he delayed a difagreeable difcovery from time to time, dreading the immediate burfts of diftrefs, and watching for a favourable moment. She thought herself neglected, and died of disappointment; having ordered by her will the poem to be published, in which Cadenus had proclaimed her excellence, and confeffed his love. The effect of the publication upon the Dean and Stella is thus related by Delany:

"I have good reason to believe that they both "were greatly fhocked and diftreffed (though it may be differently) upon this occafion. The Dean "made a tour to the South of Ireland, for about two "months, at this time, to diffipate his thoughts, "and give place to obloquy, And Stella retired (upon the carneft invitation of the owner) to the "house of a cheerful, generous, good-natured friend ." of the Dean's, whom he always much loved and "honoured. There my informer often faw her; and, "I have reason to believe, ufed his utmoft endeavours "to relieve, fupport, and amufe her, in this fad "fituation.

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"One little incident he told me of on that occafion "I think I fhall never forget. As her friend was an hofpitable, open-hearted man, well-beloved, and largely acquainted, it happened one day that some "gentlemen dropt in to dinner, who were ftrangers

"to Stella's fituation; and as the poem of Cadenus and Vanella was then the general topick of con"verfation, one of them faid, Surely that Vaneffa "must be an extraordinary woman, that could in"fpire the Dean to write fo finely upon her.' Mrs, "Johnfon fmiled, and anfwered, that fhe thought "that point not quite fo clear; for it was well "known the Dean could write finely upon a broom"ftick."

The great acquifition of efteem and influence was made by the "Drapier's Letters" in 1724. One Wood, of Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, a man enterprising and rapacious, had, as is faid, by a prefent to the Duchefs of Munfter, obtained a patent, empowering him to coin one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of halfpence and farthings for the kingdom of Ireland, in which there was a very inconvenient and embarraffing fcarcity of copper coin; fo that it was poffible to run in debt upon the credit of a piece of money; for the cook or keeper of an alehouse could not refuse to supply a man that had filver in his hand, and the buyer would not leave his money without change.

The project was therefore plaufible. The scarcity, which was already great, Wood took care to make greater, by agents who gathered up the old halfpence; and was about to turn his brafs into gold, by pouring the treasures of his new mint upon Ireland; when Swift, finding that the metal was debased to an enormous degree, wrote Letters, under the name of M. B. Drapier, to fhew the folly of receiving, and the mifchief that must enfue by giving,

gold