then pregnant, in a very destitute situation,' as Mrs Swift was unable, without the assistance

The following original documents, procured by the kindness of Mr Hartstonge, establish the time of his appointment and death, and also the destitute circumstances of the poet's mother. As Mr Swift states himself to have been conversant about the King's Inus for six or seven years before the date of his petition, it is probable that he came to Ireland upon the death of his father, 1658.

«To his Grace the Lord Chancellor, the Right Honourable the Judges, and other the Honourable Benchers of the Honourable Society of the King's Inns, Dublin : «The humble Petition of Jonathan Swift;

<< That the stewardship of this Honourable Society is now become void by the death of Thomas Wale, the late steward thereof: That your petitioner, his father, and their whole family, have been always very loyal and faithful to his said Majesty, and his royal father, and have been very great sufferers upon that account: That your petitioner, for these six or seven years last past, hath been much conversant about the said Inns, and is very well acquainted with the duty and employment belonging unto the steward thereof, he having assisted the said ▸ Thomas Wale in entering of the orders of your honours, and in the settling and ordering other things belonging to the said employment.

<< That your petitioner doubts not but if your honours will be pleased to confer the said employment of steward upon your petitioner, that he shall give your honours all satisfaction imaginable therein.

« He therefore humbly prays that your honours will be pleased to confirm the said stewardship upon him.

And he shall

pray."

of the society, even to defray the expense of her husband's funeral.

[Extracted from the Black-book of the King's Inns, in the library, Henrietta Street, Dublin, p. 242.]

I compared the above extracts with Mr Hartstonge, and can certify its correctness with the original.

Presented to a Council held

at the King's Inns,

Dublin, 14th Nov. 1665.

B. T. DURIGG,

Librarian to the Honourable
Society of King's Inns,

Dublin, Dec. 24th, 1810.

« At a Council holden at the King's Inns, Dublin, the 25th day of January, 1665-6,

"

"

[Amongst other matters it was]

« Ordered,

That Jonathan Swift, upon his petition, be admitted .steward of this house.

[Signed]

« Michl. Dublin, Can.

J. Temple, [Master of the Rolls.]

W. Aston, [puisne Justice of the King's Bench.]

Jn. Bysse, [Chief Baron.]

Robt. Kennedy, [Baron of the Exchequer.]

Jerome Alexander, [p. Justice of the Common Pleas.]»
I also compared the above,

B. T. DUHIGG.

The period of the death of the above-mentioned Mr Jonathan Swift is fully ascertained, by the following petition of his widow, Mrs Abigail Swift, to the Honourable Society of King's Inns, presented at a council held the 15th of April, 1667.

N

To his Grace the Lord Chancellor, and the Right Honourable the Judges and Benchers of the Honourable Society of King's Inns:

Dryden William Swift, the brother of the deceased, seems to have been active in behalf

« The humble Petition of Abigail Swift, widow;

Humbly sheweth,

That it having pleased God to take away your petitioner's husband, the late steward of this Honourable Society, unexpectedly, and your petitioner being left a disconsolate widow, hath this affliction added to her, that there is due to her from the several members of this Honourable Society, for Commons and Cost Commons, about six score pounds sterling, which she is noways able to get in without your honours' assistance: That your petitioner hath desired her late husband's brother, William Swift, to help her in getting in her said money, who hath manifested himself very willing to assist her, but hath been denied by several persons, upon pretence that he had no authority to receive the same.

« Now, for as much as your petitioner hath no friend next your honours, but her said brother, to rely upon, and that he, your petitioner's said brother, cannot befriend her without he be authorized by your honours' orders to the purpose,

"

May it therefore please your honours to grant your petitioner an order, wherein the said William Swift may be authorized and appointed to gather in your petitioner's said money.

« And your petitioner shall ever pray.»

[The prayer of which petition was fully granted upon the same day, and her brother-in-law appointed to receive the moneys due.]

[Extracted from the Black-book of the King's Inns, Dublin, page 248.] I also compared the above,

B T. DuniGG.

I have seen another original petition from Mrs Abigail › Swift, presented in council to the Society of King's Inns,

of his sister-in-law, but Godwin who was supposed to be wealthy, was her chief support; and, upon the 30th of November, 1667, being St Andrew's day, she was delivered of the celebrated Jonathan Swift. The place of his birth was a small house, now called No. 7, in Hoey's Court, Dublin, which is still pointed out by the inhabitants of that quarter.' 'His infancy was marked by a chance as singular as that of his father, whose cradle had been plundered of the bedding by Kirle's troopers. The nurse to whom he was committed was a na

in the month of January, less than two months after the birth of her son, which was on the 30th of November, 1667. I am thus irresistibly convinced, and entirely concur in opinion with Mr Duhigg (see his history of the King's Inns, page 248), that the illustrious Jonathan Swift, the Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin, was undoubtedly born in Ireland. This latter petition, here noticed, is in the Black-book of the King's Inns, Dublin, page 276, which states her poverty, and her desire to pay the funeral expenses of her late husband, and praying that the Society pay her the arrears due, etc.

do

MATTHEW Weld Hartstonge. I compared the above with Mr Hartstonge,

B. T. DumIGG.

Entry on the King's Inns Roll.

«On the 26th of January, 1665, Jonathan Swift was admitted into this Society."

[Black-book of the King's Inns, p. 197.]

The antiquity of its appearance seems to vindicate the truth of the tradition. In 1809 it was occupied by Mrs Jackson, a dealer in earthen-ware.

tive of Whitehaven, to which town she was recalled, by the commands of a dying relation, from whom she expected a legacy. She actually stole away her charge, out of mere affection, and carried him to Whitehaven, where he resided three years; for his health was so delicate, that rather than hazard a second voyage, his mother chose to fix his residence for a time with the female who had given such a singular proof of her attachment. The nurse was so careful of the child's education, that when he returned to Dublin he was able to spell, and when five years old he could read any chapter of the Bible.

Swift was now to share the indigence of a mother whom he tenderly loved, and to subsist upon the support afforded by his uncle Godwin. It seems probable, that these irritating and degrading circumstances sunk deep into his haughty temper, even at an early period of life, and that even then commenced that war of his spirit with the world, which only ended when his faculties were utterly subdued by disease. Born a posthumous child, and bred up as an object of charity, he early adopted the custom of observing his birth-day, as a term, not of joy, but of sorrow, and of reading, when it annually recurred, the striking passage of Scripture, in which Job laments and execrates the day upon which it was said in his athfer's house, «that a man-child was born.»