In or

but their own, that if they could not carry a peace, they must foon be sent to the Tower, even though they should agree. der therefore to facilitate this great event, Swift wrote the conduct of the Allies : a piece, which he confeffes cost him much pains, and which succeeded even beyond his expectations. It was published on the 27th of November 1711; and in two months time above 11,000 were sold off, seven editions having been printed in England, and three in Ireland. The Tory members in both houses, who spoke, drew all their arguments from its and the resolutions, which were printed in the votes, and which would never have passed but for this pamphlet, were little more than quotations from it. From this time to 1713, he exerted himself with unwearied diligence in the service of the ministry; and while he was at Windsor, just at the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht, he drew the first sketch of An History of the four last years of Queen Anne. This he afterwards finished, and came into England to publish, but was diffuaded from it by Lord Bolingbroke, who told him, the whole was so much in the spirit of party writing, that though it might have made a seasonable pamphlet in the time of their administration, it would be a dishonour to just history. Swift seems to have been extremely fond of this work, by declaring, as he slid, that it was the best thing he had

ever written: but since his friend did not approve it, he would cast it into the fire. However, it did not undergo this fate, but was lately published in octavo, to the disappointment of all thuse who expected any thing great from it.

During all this time he received no gratuity or reward, till the year 1713; and then he accepted the deanry of St. Patrick's, Dublin * A bishopric had been some time

. . before intended for him by the Queen; but Archbishop Sharpe having represented him to her Majesty as a man whose Christianity was very questionable, and being supported in this by a certain very great lady, it was given to another. He immediately crollad the channel to take possession of his new dignity, but did not stay in Ireland more than a fortnight, being urged by an hundred letters to haften back, and reconcile the Lords Oxford and Bolingbroke. When he returned, he found their animosity increased ; and, baving predicted their ruin from this very cause, he laboured to bring about a reconciliation, as that upon which the whole interest of their party depended. Having attempt- ,

* This promotion was thought to be a disappointment to him, as he expected a bishopric in England; but the Earl of Oxford did not think it proper to offend the oppofite party, by bringing him into the House of Loris, where he would, no doubt, have made a figure as a speaker.

ed this by various methods in vain, he went to a friend's house in Berkthite, where he continued till the Queen's death; and, while he was at this place, wrote a discourse, called, “ Free thoughts on the present state of affairs," which, however, was not published till fome time after.

Before we attend Swift to Ireland, itis necessary to give a little history of his Vanessa, because his connections with her were made in England.

Among other persons, with whom he was intimately acquainted during the gay part of his lite, was Mrs. Vanhomrigh. She was a lady of good family in Ireland, and became the wife of Mr. Vanhomrigh, first a merchant of Amsterdam, then of Dublin, where he was raised by King William, upon his expedition into Ireland, to very great places. Dying in 1703, he left two sons and two daughters, but the fons soon after dying, his whole fortune, which was considerable, fell to the daughters. In 1709, the widow and the two young ladies came to England, where they were visited by perfons of the first quality, and Swift, lodging near them, used to be much there, coming and going without any ceremony, as if he had been one of the family. During this familiarity, he became insensibly a kind of preceptor to the young ladies, particularly the eldest, who was then about twenty years old, was much addicted to reading, and a

great

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great admirer of poetry. Hence admiring, as was natural, such a character as that of Swift, she foon passed from admiration to love; and urged a little perhaps by vanity, which would have been highly gratified by an alliance with the first wit of the age, the ventured to make the Doctor a proposal of marriage. He affected first to believe her in jest, then to rally her on fo whimsical a choice, and at last to put her off without an absolute refusal; and, while he was in this situation, he wrote the poem, called, “ Cadenus and “ Vanessa.” It was written in 1713, a short

" time before he left Vaneffa, and the rest of his friends in England, and returned to the place of his exile, as he used frequently to call it. . In 1714, Mrs. Vanhomrigh died, and having lived very high, left fome debts, which it not being convenient for her daughters, who had also dubts of their own, to pay at present, to avoid an arreft, they followed the Dean into Ireland.

Upon his arrival to take poffellion of his deanry, he had been received with great kindness and honour ; but now, upon his return after the Queen's death, he experienced every possible mark of contempt and indignation. The tables were turned; the power of the Tories and the Dean's credit were at an end; and as a design to bring in the Pretender had been imputed to the Queen's ministry, so Swift lay now under much odium, as being supposed to have been a wellwisher in that cause. As soon as he was settled at Dublin, Mrs. Johnson removed from the country to be near bin, but they still lived in separate houses ; his residence being at the Deanry, and hers in lodgings, on the other side of the river Liffy. The Dean kept two public days every week, on which the dignity of his station was sustained with the utmost elegance and decorum, under the direction of Mrs. Johnson. As to his employment at home, he feems to have had no heart to apply himself to study of any kind, but to have resigned himself wholly to such amusements, and such company as offered ; that he might not think of his situation, the misfortunes of his friends, and his disappointments. "I was three years,” say he to Gay, “ reconciling myself to the scene and business

to which fortune hath condemned me; “ and ftupidity was what I had recourse to."

The first remarkable event of his life, after his fettlement at the deanery, was his marriage to Mrs. Johnson, after a most intimate friendship of more than sixteen years. This was in the year 1716; and the ceremony was performed by Dr. Ashe, then Bishop of Clogher, to whom the Dean had been a pupil in Trinity-college, Dublin. But whatever. were the motives to this marriage, the Dean and the lady continued to live afterwards, just in the same manner as they

had