is faid to have been the fame. The boy was faid to like his father: he therefore must be fair too, as the boy was so to an uncommon degree. Yet Efther's, or, as fhe was ufually called in the family, Mifs Hetty's eyes and hair were of a most beautiful black; and all the rest of her features bore so strong a resemblance to those of Sir William T——, that no one could be at a loss to determine what relation fhe had to that gentleman. And could the ftriking likeness have been overlooked, Sir William's uncommon regard for her, and his attention to her education, must have convinced every unprejudiced perfon, that Mifs Hetty Johnfon was the daughter of one who moved in a higher sphere than a Dutch_trader.--The refpect that Sir William affected to fhew the child, induced his family to copy his example; and the neighbouring families behaving in the fame manner, fhe early loft all that fervility that must have tinged her manners and behaviour, had she been brought up in dependence, and without any knowledge of her real condition. When or where Sir William thought proper to acquaint her with the hiftory of her birth, we profefs not to know; but that he did inform her of the fecret, we have reafon to presume from the following circumstances. As foon as the was woman enough to be intrufted with her own conduct, fhe left her mother and Moore Park, and went to Ireland to refide, by the order of Sir William, who was yet alive. She was conducted thither by Swift. But of this I am not fo pofitive, as I am, that her mother parted with her as one who was never to fee her again.

Here let me leave the daughter, and return to Mrs Johnson, her mother; who continued to live at Moore Park till the death of Sir William Temple. Soon after which the refided with Lady Gifford *, fister

to

Miss Temple, Sir William's favourite fifter, was a lady of uncommon merit and goodness. She was addreffed by Sir William Gifford; who dying during the courtship, he begged the young lady to bear his name; and to enable him to leave her his eftate, as a proof of his affection, he was married to him on his deathbed, by which means she became intitled to the enjoyment of his large eftate.

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to Sir William Temple, and his great favourite, as her woman, or houfe-keeper, or perhaps in both capaci ties. Upon Lady Gifford's death, the retired to Farn ham, and boarded with one Filby, a brother of her daughter's husband; and fome time after intermarried with Mr Ralph Mose, a person who had for a long feries of years been intrufted, as fteward, with the affairs of the family, and had fucceffively ferved Sir William Temple, Lady Gifford, and Mr Temple. He was a widower, and his first wife had been cook to Sir William Temple. Upon the death of Mr Mofe, fhe went to board with Mrs Mayne of Farnham, a gentlewo man who had a particular esteem for her; and at length retired to Mr Filby's again, and there died, not long after the year 1743. Ifaw her myself in the autumn of 1742: and although far advanced in years, she still preferved the remains of a very fine face.

The reader may wonder, as numbers have done be fore, that a woman of her refined fentiments and exquifite taste, should marry fuch a man as Mose. Many have been the conjectures upon the occafion. Perhaps her eldest daughter's diftrefs might make her defirous of relieving her with the fpoils of the old stew ard; or Mofe might be privy to certain fecrets that fhe was unwilling to have divulged; and therefore she might not dare to reject his proposals, for fear of draw. ing his refentment upon her. It was certainly a match of policy, and the most refined fenfibility was in her facrificed to one who had not the leaft idea of delicacy. The lady to whom I am obliged for many of thefe anecdotes, affured me, that she had heard Mrs Mofe, in her freer hours, declare, that she was obliged, by indispen fable neceflity, to marry the man whose fervile manners her foul despised; but that religion taught her to fulfil every duty that could poffibly be expected from the most affectionate of wives. She had frequently rejected his offers, but was compelled at length to acquiefce.

And that he might not fhew herself unworthy of his esteem, the made a vow, (though in her tender youth), never to marry any o. ther man, but to live his widow; and this the faithfully performed.

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Were I to attempt to describe her at full length, I might be thought guilty of the highest adulation, fo extraordinary was the woman that was deftined to please Sir William Temple. Pomfret, in his little poem called The choice, is faid to have given an exact defcription of Moor Park; to have delineated Sir William in the account of his own fancy and taste; and to have taken his picture of the female friend and companion from Mrs Johnson; to that piece therefore do I recommend my reader.

While the mother thus fpent her hours under the most painful restraint at Farnham, the daughter made furprising advances towards perfection under the tuition of Dr Swift. In her poem, dated Nov. 30. 1721, intitled, Stella to Dr Swift on his birth-day, we fee, that fhe attributes all that was excellent in her to his inftructions. It is not surprising that her affection towards the Dean fhould be fo great, when we recollect, that it commenced from her earliest age, at a time when the thought that affection entirely innocent; that it was increased by Sir William's often recommending her tender innocence to the protection of Swift, as fhe had no declared male relation that could be her defender. It was from Sir William's own leffons that The received the first rules for her future conduct, which were afterwards continued by the Dean. And that the world may know what was the refult of the joint labours of these two exalted geniuses, I fhall relate a little anecdote for which I have undoubted authority.

When Stella, or Mifs Johnson, refided at Dublin, her noble air, her genteel appearance, and the visits of many perfons of diftinction, foon gave rife to a report, that he had a large fortune, and that he kept in her lodgings cafh, jewels, and furniture, to a very great value. Such a report in Ireland could not fail of attracting the notice of indigent villany. Stella had no male fervant in the house, and no refiftance could be expected from a few timorous women. On the night deftined to deprive the world of one of its most diftinguished ornaments, (for robbery and murder are terms fynonymous there), Stella had difmiffed her woman for the night; and not finding an inclination for fleep, VOL. VIII.

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fhe took a book, and read for some time, being all undreffed, with only a wrapping gown over her. When fhe had read a while, the removed the candle to its place for the night, as the always kept a light burning; and kneeling by her bedside, she was more than once difturbed by a noife at her window. She performed her devotions, however, with great calmness and atten. tion; a duty that she never omitted; and then arising, and advancing towards the place from whence the found proceeded, she saw, through the fash, a man who feemed to stand upon a ladder, and to be waiting for her putting out the candle, to begin his enterprise. The fex in general, upon fuch an occafion, would have fainted, screamed out, or attempted to have run out of the chamber. Not fo the daughter of Sir William Temple. She knew the cruel temper of the vulgar Irish, and took not the least apparent notice of the thief; but feeming to look for fomething, fhe went directly to her clofet; from whence the returned immediately; and throwing up the fash with her left hand, and drawing out a pistol from under her loofe wrapping gown with her right, fhe fired at the villain; who immediately dropped from the ladder. She then called up the family; and the watch coming foon after at the noife of the pistol, his confederates were obliged to fly, and never afterwards attempted to disturb her. In this cafe Providence feems to have affifted her in an extraordinary manner for had she gone to bed at her usual time, or had the not employed an hour or two in reading, the cenforious world would never have had it in their power to attribute her death to the pride of Dean Swift.

Lord Orrery thinks this accomplished lady fell a facrifice to the peculiarity of her fate. I cannot oppose this opinion of his Lordship: a perfon of her delicate fenfibility might be greatly affected by her frequent reflections on her disagreeable fituation. But was it in Swift's power to prevent it?

When Stella went to Ireland, a marriage between her and the Dean could not be foreseen; but when she thought proper to communicate to her friends the Dean's propofal, and her approbation of it, it was then become abfolutely neceffary for that perfon, who alone

knew

knew the fecret hiftory of the parties concerned, to re veal what otherwise might have been buried in oblivion. But was the Dean to blame, because he was ignorant of his natural relation to Stella? or can he be juftly cenfured, because it was not made known before the day of marriage?-He admired her; he loved her; he pitied her; and when fate had placed the everlasting barrier between them, their affection became a true Platonic love, if not something yet more exalted. I do not deny, but that he might lament the particular oddness of her fate; nor do I deny, but that Swift's natural temper might acquire an additional feverity and mcroseness from hence, and that he might vent his paffion, and revenge himfelf on the reft of mankind. But his affection for Stella became truly fraternal; and whenever the lamented her unhappy fituation, the friend, the tutor, the hufband, all in one, mingled his fympathetic tears with hers, and foothed the fharpness of her anxiety and forrow. -But he despised her family. Was Swift's reputed father then fo noble? and to whom did the Dean declare the fecret of his foul?,

We are sometimes told, that upon the Hanoverian family's fucceeding to the throne of Great Britain, Swift renounced all hopes of farther preferment; and that his temper became more morofe and more intolerable every year. I acknowledge the fact in part; but it was not the lofs of his hopes that foured Swift alone. This was the unlucky epocha of that difcovery, that convinced the Dean, that the only woman in the world who could make him happy as a wife, was the only woman in the world who could not be that wife. Could fo turbulent a temper be eafy under fuch a mortification? Let thofe judge, who have been fo happy as to have feen this Stella, this Hetty Johnson; and let those who have not, judge from the following defcription.Her fhape was perfectly eafy and elegant; here complexion exquifitely fine; her features were regular, with the addition of that nameless fomething, that fo often exceeds the most exact beauty, and which never fails to add to it when they meet together. Her teeth were beyond comparison; her eyebrows and hair, of the most gloffy black; and her

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eyes