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APPENDIX.

ANECDOTES

OF THE

FAMILY OF SWIFT.

A FRAGMENT.

Written by Dr. SWIFT.

The original Manufcript in his own Hand is lodged in the University Library of DUBLIN.

THE

HE family of the Swifts was ancient in Yorkfhire; from them defcended a noted person, who paffed under the name of Cavaliero Swift, a man of wit and humour. He was made an Irish Peer by King James or King Charles the First, with the title of Baron Carlingford, but never was in that kingdom. Many traditional pleasant ftories are related of him, which the family planted in Ireland hath received from their parents. This Lord died without iffue male; and his heiress, whether of the first or fecond defcent, was married to Robert Fielding, Efq; commonly called handfome Fielding; fhe brought him a confiderable eftate in Yorkshire, which he fquandered away, but had no children; the Earl of Eglington married another coheirefs of the fame family, as he hath often told me.

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Another of the fame family was Sir Edward Swift, well known in the times of the great rebellion and ufurpation, but I am ignorant whether he left heirs or

not.

Of the other branch, whereof the greateft part fettled in Ireland, the founder was William Swift, Prebendary of Canterbury, towards the laft years of Queen Elifabeth, and during the reign of King James the First. He was a Divine of fome diftinction: there is a fermon of his extant, and the title is to be seen in the catalogue of the Bodleian Library, but I never could get a copy, and I fuppofe it would now be of little value.

This William married the heiress of Philpot, I fuppofe a Yorkshire Gentleman, by whom he got a very confiderable eftate, which however the kept in her own power; I know not by what artifice. She was a capricious, ill-natured and paffionate woman, of which I have been told feveral inftances. And it hath been a continual tradition in the family, that fhe abfolutely difinherited her only fon Thomas, for no greater crime than that of robbing an orchard when he was a boy. And thus much is certain, that except a church or chapter leafe, which was not renewed, Thomas never enjoyed more than one hundred pounds a year, which was all at Goodrich, in Herefordshire, whereof not above one half is now in the poffeffion of a greatgreat grandfon.

His original picture is now in the hands of Godwin Swift, of Dublin, Efq; his great grandfon, as well as that of his wife's, who feems to have a good deal of the fhrew in her countenance; whofe arms of an heiress are joined with his own; and by the laft he feems to have been a person somewhat fantastick; for in these he gives as his device a dolphin (in those days. called

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called a Swift) twifted about an anchor, with this motto, Feftina Lente.

There is likewife a feal with the fame coat of arms (his not joined with his wife's) which the faid William commonly made use of, and this is also now in the poffeffion of Godwin Swift above mentioned.

His eldest fon Thomas feems to have been a Clergyman before his father's death. He was Vicar of Goodrich, in Herefordshire, within a mile or two of Rofs: he had likewife another church living, with about one hundred pounds a year in land, as I have already mentioned. He built a houfe on his own land in the vil lage of Goodrich; which, by the architecture, denotes the builder to have been fomewhat whimfical and fingular, and very much towards a projector. The house is above a hundred years old, and ftill in good repair, inhabited by a tenant of the female line, but the landlord, a young Gentleman, lives upon his own estate in İreland.

This Thomas was diftinguifhed by his courage, as well as his loyalty to King Charles the First, and the fufferings he underwent for that Prince, more than any perfon of his condition in England. Some hiftorians of thofe times relate feveral particulars of what he acted, and what hardships he underwent for the perfon and caufe of that bleffed martyr'd Prince. He was plundered by the Roundheads fix and thirty times, fome fay above fifty. He engaged his fmall eftate, and gathered all the money he could get, quilted it in his waistcoat, got off to a town held for the King, where being asked by the Governor, who knew him well, what he could do for his Majefty? Mr. Swift faid, he would give the King his coat, and, stripping it off, prefented it to the Governor; who obferving it to be worth little, Mr. Swift said, then take my waistcoat ;

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he bid the Governor weigh it in his hand, who ordering it to be ripped, found it lined with three hundred broad pieces of gold, which as it proved a feafonable relief, must be allowed an extraordinary fupply from a

private Clergyman with ten children, of a small eftate, // fo often plundered, and foon after turned out of his livings in the church.

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At another time being informed that three hundred horse of the rebel party intended in a week to pafs over a certain river, upon an attempt against the Cavaliers, Mr. Swift having a head mechanically turned, he contrived certain pieces of iron with three fpikes, whereof one must always be with the point upwards: he placed them over night in the ford, where he received notice that the rebels would pafs early the next morning, which they accordingly did, and loft two hundred of their -men, who were drowned or trod to death by the falling of their horfes, or torn by the fpikes.

His fons, whereof four were fettled in Ireland (driven thither by their fufferings, and by the death of their father) related many other paffages, which they learned either from their father himself, or from what had been told them by the moft credible perfons of Herefordfhire, and fome neighbouring counties; and which fome of thofe fons often told to their children; many of which are still remembered, but many more forgot.

He was deprived of both his church livings fooner than most other loyal Clergymen, upon account of his fuperior zeal for the King's caufe, and his eftate fequeftered. His preferments, at least that of Goodrich, were given to a fanatical faint, who fcrupled not, however, to conform upon the Reftoration, and lived many years, I think till after the Revolution: I have feen many perfons at Goodrich, who knew and told me his name, which I cannot now remember.

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The Lord Treasurer Oxford told the Dean that he had among his father's (Sir Edward Harley's) papers, feveral letters from Mr. Thomas Swift writ in those times, which he promised to give to the grandson, whose life I am now writing; but never going to his house in Herefordshire while he was Treasurer, and the Queen's death happening in three days after his removal, the Dean went to Ireland, and the Earl being tried for his life, and dying while the Dean was in Ireland, he could never get them.

Mr. Thomas Swift died in the year 1658, and in the 63d year of his age: his body lies under the altar at Goodrich, with a fhort infcription. He died about two years before the return of King Charles the Second, who by the recommendation of fome prelates had promifed, if ever God fhould restore him, that he would promote Mr. Swift in the church, and other ways reward his family, for his extraordinary services and zeal, and perfecutions in the royal caufe; but Mr. Swift's merit died with himself.

He left ten fons and three or four daughters, moft of which lived to be men and women: his eldest fon Godwin Swift, of the Inner-Temple, Efq; (fo ftiled by Guillem the herald; in whose book the family is defcribed at large) was I think called to the bar before the Restoration. He married a relation of the old Marchionefs of Ormond, and upon that account, as well as his father's loyalty, the old Duke of Ormond made him his attorney-general in the palatinate of Tipperary. He had four wives, one of which, to the great offence of his family, was coheirefs to Admiral Deane, who was one of the Regicides. Godwin left feveral children, who have all eftates. He was an illpleader, but perhaps a little too dexterous in the subtle parts of the law,

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