her fon to communicate his fituation to fir William, and follicit his direction what to do; this advice, which perhaps only confirmed a refolution that Swift had fecretly taken before he left Ireland, he immediately refolved to pursue.

Sir William received him with great kind1690. nefs, and Swift's firft vifit continued two years; fir William had been ambaffador and mediator of a general peace at Nimeguen before the revolution; in this character he became known to the prince of Orange, who frequently vifited him at Sheen, after his arrival in England, and took his advice in affairs of the utmost importance. Sir William being then lame with the gout, Swift used to attend his majefty in his walks about the garden, who admitted him to fuch familiarity that he fhewed him how to cut afparagus after the Dutch manner, and once offered to make him a captain of horse. Swift appears to have fixed his

D. S. 108. mind very early upon an ecclefiaftical life, and it is therefore probable that upon declining this offer he obtained a promife of preferment in the church, for in a letter to his uncle William, dated

D. S. 56.

1692, he fays, 'I am not to take orders till 'the king gives me a prebend.'

Sir William becoming ftill more infirm, and wifhing to retire farther from London, bought an eftate at Farnham in Surry, called Moorpark, whither he was accompanied by Swift.

a There is fome difficulty in reconciling the first and laft' paragraphs of fect. xxiii, in the Dean's sketch of his own life where Moorpark is mentioned; in the firft it is faid that Swift after having been fome months with his mother at Leicester, was received by fir William who was nowy retired to Moorpark, and in the last that fir William, tired

About this time a bill was

brought

of being near London, bought an eftate near Farnham in Surry, where Mr. Swift accompanied him. The fenfe of the laft which feems to imply that Swift lived with fir William at Sheen before he went to Moorpark, is adopted upon the credit of Mr. Deane Swift, who fays that Swift was there familiar with king William, and the king does not appear to have

con

Sketch, fect.xxiii.

end, and

xxiv. beginning..

brought into the house for triennial parliaments, against which the king who was a stranger to our conftitution was very averse by the advice of fome weak people who perfuaded the earl of Portland, that Charles the First loft his crown and life by confenting to fuch a bill. Upon this occafion the earl was difpatched to Moorpark by the king for fir William's advice, who faid much to fhew him the mistake but without effect, and therefore he foon afterwards difpatched Swift to Kenfington, with the whole account in writing to convince the king and the earl how ill they were informed. Swift though he was then very young, was yet well acquainted with the English hiftory, and gave the king a compendious account of the matter which he amplified to the earl, but the measure was at laft rejected, and thus ended Swift's firft embaffy to court, fo much to his diffatisfaction, that he then declared it was the first incident that helped to cure him of vanity. Soon after this tranfaction he fect. xxiv. was feized with the return of a diforder which he had contracted in Ireland by eating a great quantity of fruit; and upon this occafion returned thither by the advice of his phyficians, who hoped that his native air would contribute to the recovery of his health, but from this journey he received no benefit, and therefore in a fhort time returned to fir William being ever afterwards fub- fect. xxiii. ject to that giddinefs, which gradually increased, though with irregular intermiffions, till it terminated in total debility of body and mind.

Sketch,

Sketch,

But he was ftill indefatigable in his ftudies, and to prevent the lofs of health in the acquifition of know

continued his vifits after the removal to Moorpark. [D. S. 108.] a It must have been after, though it is first related in the fketch, for it is faid fect, xxiii.

that he went to Ireland after he had been two years at Moorpark, and in fect. xxiv. that his expedition to court was foon after the removal from Sheen.

ledge

ledge by the want of bodily exercise, it was his conftant practice to run up an hill that was near the house and back again every two hours; the distance backwards and forwards was about half a mile, and he used to run it in about fix minutes. By

D. S. 272.

what books his ftudies were principally directed cannot certainly be known, but feveral copious extracts from Cyprian, Irenæus, Sleidan's Commentaries, and Padre Paolo's hiftory of the council of Trent, were found among his papers which appear by

D. S. 276.

memorandums in his own hand writing to have been made while he lived with fir William Temple.

About a year after his return from Ireland, he thought it expedient to take his degree of mafter of arts at Oxford.

With this view he appears to have written to his uncle William Swift, to procure and fend him the teftimonium of his bachelor's degree.

With this teftimonium which is dated the 3d of May 1692, he went to Oxford, where having received many civilities, he was admitted ad eundem on the 14th of June, and took his master's degree on the 5th of July following.

D. S. p.

It has been faid that the civilities which he received at Oxford proceeded from a mifunderstanding of the phrafe fpeciali gratia, which was there fuppofed to be a compliment paid to

30, 44

Orray,

p. 8.

uncommon merit.

But thefe words are not inferted in that copy of the teftimonium which is entered in the congregation book at Oxford; and not to have inferted them there, when they were thought a compliment, would have been an affront; it is therefore probable that by the influence of Swift's uncle they were omitted in the copy which he procured and fent, especially as fome fuch favour feems to be intimated in Swift's letter to him,

after

Orrery, P. 11. D. S.

p. 56.

after he had received it: I am still, fays he, to thank you for your CARE in my teftimonium, and IT WAS TO VERY GOOD PURPOSE, for I was never more fatisfied than in the behaviour of the university. The civilities which he received at Oxford, might indeed proceed from his known connexion with fir William Temple, but he might reasonably impute them also to the fuppreffion of a reproach against which there was good reafon to fear this connection would not have fupported him: nor is it ftrange that Swift, after his reputation was established, should, while he was sporting with this incident in the gayety of his heart, pretend a mistake which never happened, or that what he meant as a jeft upon the univerfity fhould be seriously remembered as an event of his life.

Orrery,

p. 8, 9.

It has also been faid that upon his disgrace at Dublin, he refolved to pursue his studies at Oxford, where he almost constantly refided during three years, and was avowedly supported by fir William Temple. But the contrary is incontestably true, for there are not quite two months between the date of his teftimonium, and his taking his master's degree. Besides in the letter to his uncle juft mentioned, he fays, I am afhamed to be more obliged in a few weeks to STRANGERS, than in seven years to Dublin college.

: From Oxford he returned again to Moore Park, where he affifted fir William Temple to revife his works, corrected and improved his Tale of a Tub, and added the digreffions. From the converfation of fir William, who was minutely acquainted with all the intricacies of party and the fecrets of ftate, during the reigns of king Charles and king James the Second, Swift greatly increafed his political knowledge. But having long fufpected fir William of neglecting to provide for him, merely that he might keep him in his family, he at length refented it fo warmly, that in the year 1694, a quarrel enfued and they parted.

It is probable that swift did not leave fir William for fuch a reafon without fevere expoftulation, not only because Swift was no refpecter of perfons, but because it appears that fir William, though D. S. 52. he was extremely angry, admitted his claim to fome provision by offering to make him his deputy as master of the Rolls in Ireland. This offer however Swift did not accept, but replied that fince he had now an opportunity of living without being driven into the church for fupport, a fcruple which had hitherto kept him out of it, he was determined to go into Ireland and take orders.

Sketch, fect. xxv. and note.

D. S. 99. Orrery,

22.

Swift during his refidence with fir William had never failed to vifit his mother at Leicester once a year, and his manner of travelling was very extraordinary; he always went on foot except the weather was very bad, and then he would fometimes take shelter in a waggon; he chofe to dine at obfcure alehoufes among pedlers and hoftlers, and to lie where he faw written over the door lodgings for a penny; but he used to bribe the maid with a tefter for a fingle bed and clean fheets.

In this manner he went down to his mother upon his leaving fir William, and from Leicester he wrote a letter dated June 1694, to his coufin Deane Swift,

then