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this familiarity, he became infenfibly a kind of precep tor to the young Ladies, particularly the eldeft, who was then about twenty years old, was much addicted to reading, and a great admirer of poetry. In a perfon of this difpofition, it was natural for fuch a character as that of Swift to excite admiration, a paffion which by frequent converfe was foftened into complacency, and complacency was at length improved into love. Love itfelf perhaps was in this cafe complicated with vanity, which would have been highly gratified by an alliance with the first wit of the age; and thus what neither could have effected alone, was done by the joint effort of both, and the ventured to make the Doctor a propo fal of marriage. It is probable, that his connections with Mrs Johnfon at this time were fuch, that he could not with honour accept this propofal, whatever pleasure or advantage it might promife: however, it is certain, he declined it, though without affigning any other engagement as the reafon.

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He appears first to have affected to believe her in jeft, then to have rallied her on fo whimfical a choice, and at laft to have put her off without an abfolute refufal; perhaps, partly, because he was unwilling to give her pain, and partly, because he could not refufe her with a good grace, otherwife than by difcovering fome par ticulars which he was willing to conceal. While he was in this fituation, he wrote the poem called Cadenus and Vanella, vol. 6. p. 10.] the principal view of which feems to have been at once to compliment and to rally her; to apologize for his conduct, and foften a tacit denial, by leaving the event undetermined.

THIS poem appears to have been written about the year 1713, a fhort time before he left Vaneffa and the reft of his friends in England, and returned to the place of

his exile, which he always mentioned with regret.

In the year 1714 Mrs Vanhomrigh died; and, having lived at an expence much greater than her fortune would bear, the left fome debts unpaid.

HER two daughters, whofe fortunes fhe had alfo leffened, the appointed joint executrixes of her will; an office which, however troublesome, the fituation of their affairs obliged them to accept. It appears too, that they

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had contracted fome debts in their own right, which it was not in their power immediately to pay: aud therefore to avoid an arreft, they followed the Dean into Ireland .

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UPON his arrival to take poffeffion of his deanery, and his return after the Queen's death, he was received, according to the account of Lord Orrery [vol. 6. p. 58. note] and Mr Deane Swift, with every poffible mark of contempt and indignation, especially by the populace, who not only reviled and curfed him, but pelted him with ftones and dirt as he paffed along the treets. [D. S. 2. 178. 183.] The author of the Obfervations, on the contrary, affirms, that he was received by all ranks of men, not only with kindnefs, but honour; the Tories being then in full power, as well in Ireland as in Eng land, and Swift's fervice to the church and credit at court being well known. [7. R. p. 847.] This indeed was true when he went to take poffeffion: but when he returned to his deanery, the power of the Tories and the Dean's credit at court were at an end; circumftances which might well cause the rabble at leaft to forget his fervices to the church. It is certain, that great clamour was then raised by the new men against the late miniftry, with whom Swift had been clofely connected they were charged with a défign to bring in the pretender; and the fame defign was confequently imputed

After the death of her husband and fons, with this increase of wealth, and with heads and hearts elated by affluence, and unre ftrained by forefight or difcretion, the widow Vanhomrigh and.ber two daughters quitted the luxurious foil of their nat native country, for the more elegant pleafures of the English court. During their refidence at London, they lived in a course of prodigality that ftretched itself far beyond the limits of their income, and redifced them to great diftrefs; in the midst of which the mother died, and the two daughters haltened in all fecrecy back to Ireland, beginning their journey on a Sunday, to avoid the interruption and importunities of a certain fierce kind of animals called bailys, who are not only fworn foes to wit and gaiety, but whofe tyranny, altho' it could not have reached the deified Vanella, i might have been very fatal to Efther Vanhomrigh. Within two years after their arrival in Ireland, Mary the youngest fifter died, and the fmall remains of the fhipwrecked fortune centered in Vaneffa. Olet.9. See Orrery's account of Vanefla's character, and of Swift's conduct with her, in vol: 6. p. 1o. et feqq. in the notes.

to Swift, whom it was therefore confidered by fome as a qualification for preferment to revile and oppofe : which party the mob took, whose fault it has never been to coincide implicitly with a court, pofterity muft judge for themselves. But it feems probable, that these accounts, however contradictory, may both be true; and that Swift at this time might be the Sacheverel of Ireland, followed by the mob of one faction with execrations, and by the other with shouts of applaufe

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Ir is however agreed, that the Archbishop of Dublin, and fome of his old friends in the chapter, fet themselves against his meafures with all their force, and laboured to difappoint him in the exercife of his power by every art of oppofition and delay. But whatever prejudice they had conceived against him was foon removed by the difinterefted integrity of his conduct, which was fo apparent and ftriking, that they foon regarded him with refpect and veneration, and almoft implicitly acquiefced in whatever he propofed.

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THIS removal from England to Ireland was the great event which determined the colour of his life, bounded his views, and fhewed him at once what he might poffefs, and for what he might hope.

THERE is a time when every man is ftruck with a fenfe of his mortality, and feels the force of a truth to which he has confented merely from custom, without confidering its certainty or importance, This time feldom happens in the chearful fimplicity of infancy, or in the first impatience of youth, when the world is all before us," Bfo po ,, 931 1

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We are now no longer to behold Dr Swift of any importance in England: his hopes there are crushed for ever; his minifterial friends are degraded, banished, or imprifoned. Indecent rage, fanguinary zeal, and ill tempered loyalty, revelled at large throughout the three kingdoms, especially in Ireland, where duels were fought almoft every week, and where the peft was fo univerfal, that the ladies were as violent as the gentlemen. Even children at fchool quarrelled for kings, inftead of fighting for apples.. As Swift was known to have been attached to the Queen's laft miniftry, to have written against the Whigs, and " to have oiled many a fpring which Harley moved," he met with frequent indignities from the populace, and indeed was equally abused by perfons of all ranks and denominations. Such a treatment fouled -his temper, confined his acquaintance, and added bitterness to his ftyle, O. let. 6. See vol. 6, p. 58. in the notes.

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when every object has the force of novelty, and every defire of pleasure receives auxiliar ftrength from curiofity: but after the first heat of the race, when we ftop to recover from our fatigue, we naturally confider the ground before us, and then perceive that at the end of the course are clouds and darkness; that the grave will foon intercept our pursuit of temporal felicity; and that, if we cannot ftretch to the goal that is beyond it, we run in vain, and fpend our ftrength for nought. Great difappointments which change our general plan, and make it necessary to enter the world as it were a fecond time, feldom fail to alarm us with the brevity of life, and reprefs our alacrity, by precluding our hopes.

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THE Dean, whether by the vigour and activity of his imagination, the multitude of his ideas, or the ardour of his purfuits, efcaped the force of this thought, till his retreat to Ireland on the death of the Queen: and then indeed it came upon him with fuch influence, that, after fifteen years, it conftantly recurred when he firft awaked in the morning, and was not difmiffed till he again began to fleep. vol. 4. p. 100.]/94 dni w shows As foon as he was fettled at Dublin, Mrs Johnfón removed from the country to be near him; but they fill lived in feparate houses: his refidence was at the deanery, and hers in lodgings on the other fide of the river Liffy.

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THE Dean kept two public days every week; and though the circle of his vifitors is fard at first to have been fmall, yet it foon increased, and always confifted of the best company. [D. S. p. 91 180.] Those who were more particularly the companions of his choice; were fuch as would have done honour to any character. They were the Grattons, feven brothers, the fons of Dr Gratton, a venerable and hofpitable clergyman, 'who gave them all a liberal education. The eldeft was a Juftice of peace, and lived reputably on his patrimony in the country; another was a phyfician, and another a merchant, both eminent in their profeffions; three o thers were clergymen, who had a competent provifion in the church; and the youngest was fellow of Dublin college, and mafter of the great free fchool at Enniskilling. They were all perfons of great merit, as general

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ly acquainted, and as much beloved as any in the king. dom. The Jackfons, a family of which both men and women were genteel, agreeable, and well bred, fuch companions as no wife man ever wanted, if they could be had; George Rochford, and Peter Ludlow, men of fortune, learning, wit, humour, and virtue; and Mr Matthew Lord, deemed the beft lay scholar of his time': Thefe, with the fellows of the college, Dr Walmefley, Dr Helfham, Dr Delany, Dr Stopford, now Bishop of Cloyne, and Dr Sheridan; Lady Euftace, Mrs Moore, Lady Betty Rochford, and Mrs Ludlow, with Mrs Johnfon, and her friends, were the persons with whom Swift fpent his leifure-hours, from the year 1714 to the year 1720, [7. R. p. 90.]; a period in which it has been injuriously faid, that his choice of companions thewed him of a depraved taffe * There was indeed among his companions one person who could derive no honour from his lineage, a foundling, whom Swift there fore used to call Melchifedek, becaufe Melchifedek is faid to have had meither father nor mother. This gentleman's name was Worral; he was a clergyman, a master of arts, a reader, and a vicar of his cathedral, and mat fter of the fong. He was nearly of the Dean's own ftanding in the college, had good fenfe, and much hut mour. He was married to a woman of great sprightli nefs, good-nature, and generofity; remarkably cleanly and elegant in her perfon, in her house, and at her table. But there is another particular in Mr Worral's character which greatly contributed to his intimacy with the Dean he was a good walker. The Dean used this exercise in an immoderate degree, under the notion of its being abfolutely neceffary, not to health only, but to cleanliness, by keeping the pores of the fkin clear, and throwing off impurities by perfpiration. Mr Worral's fituation in the church naturally engaged his frequent attendance upon the Dean. This attendance commonly ended in a walk; and the walk in their di

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It is matter of aftonishment to find the fame perfon, who had enjoyed the highest and the best converfation, equally delighted with the lowest and the wort and yet it is certain, that from Swift's fettlement in Dublin as Dean of St Patrick's, his choice of companions in general shewed him of a very depraved taste, 0. let. 6.

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