ought to do, has shewn us the man as he really

was.

Upon this account given by his lordship, is the. following chiefly built. It fhall be our business to take notice of the moft remarkable paffages of the life of Swift; to omit no incidents that can be found concerning him, and as our propos'd bounds will not fuffer us to enlarge, we fhall endeavour to difplay, with as much concifenefs as poffible, thofe particulars which may be moft entertaining to the reader.

He was born in Dublin, November the goth, 1667, and was carried into England foon after his birth, by his nurse, who heing obliged to cross the fea, and having a nurse's fondness for the child at her breaft, convey'd him a fhip-board without the knowledge of his mother or relations, and kept him with her at Whitehaven in Cumberland, during her refidence about three-years in that place. This extraordinary event made his return feem as if he had been tranfplanted to Ireland, rather than that he owed this original exiftence to that foil. But perhaps he tacitly hoped to infpire different nations with a contention for his birth; at least in his angry moods, when he was peevish and provoked at the ingratitude of Ireland, he was frequently heard to fay. I am not of this vile country, I am an

Englishman.' Such an affertion tho' meant figuratively, was often received literally; and the report was ftill farther propagated by Mr. Pope,who in one of his letters has this expreffion. Tho' one, or

two of our friends are gone, fince you faw your <native country, there remain a few.' But doctor Swift, in his.cooler hours, never denied his country: On the contrary he frequently mentioned, and pointed out, the house where he was born.

The other fuggeftion concerning the illegitimacy of his birth, is equally falfe. Sir William Temple was employed as a minister abroad, from the year

3.

1665,

1665, to the year 1670; first at Bruffels, and afterwards at the Hague, as appears by his correfpondence with the earl of Arlington, and other minifters of state. So that Dr. Swift's mother, who never croffed the fea, except from England to Ireland, was out of all poffibility of a perfonal correfpondence with Sir William Temple, till fome years after her fon's birth. Dr. Swift's ancestors were perfons of decent and reputable characters. His grand-father was the Revd. Mr. Thomas Swift, vicar of Goodridge, near Rofs in Herefordshire. He enjoyed a paternal estate in that county, which is ftill in poffeffion of his great-grandfon, Dean Swift, Efq; He died in the year 1658, leaving five fons, Godwin, Thomas, Dryden, Jonathan, and Adam.

Two of them only, Godwin and Jonathan, left fons. Jonathan married Mrs. Abigail Erick of Leicestershire, by whom he had one daughter and a fon. The daughter was born in the first year of Mr. Swift's marriage; but he lived not to fee the birth of his fon, who was born two months after his death, and became afterwards the famous Dean of St. Patrick's.

The greatest part of Mr. Jonathan Swift's income. had depended upon agencies, and other employ ments of that kind; so that most of his fortune perished with him *, and the remainder being the only fupport that his widow could enjoy, the care, tuition, and expence of her two children devolved upon her husband's elder brother, Mr. Godwin Swift, who voluntarily became their guardian, and supplied the lofs which they had sustained in a father.

The faculties of the mind appear and thine forth at different ages in different men. The infancy of Dr. Swift pafs'd on without any marks of diftinction. At

fix years old he was fent to school at Kilkenny, and about, eight years afterwards he was entered a ftudent of Trinity-College in Dublin. He lived there in perfect regularity, and under an entire obedience to the ftatutes; but the morofeness of his

temper rendered him very unacceptable to his companions, fo that he was little regarded, and lefs beloved, nor were the academical exercifés agreeable to his genius. He held logic and metaphyfics in the utmost contempt; and he fcarce confidered mathematics, and natural philofophy, unless to turn them into ridicule. The ftudies which he followed were history and poetry. In these he made a great progrefs, but to all other branches of fcience, he had given fo very little application, that when he appeared as a candidate for the degree of batchelor of arts, he was fet afide on account of infufficiency.

This, fays lord Orrery, is a surprising incident in his life, but it is undoubtedly true; and even at laft he obtained his admiffion Speciali Gratiâ. A phrafe which in that univerfity carries with it the ⚫ utmoft marks of reproach. It is a kind of dis'honourable degree, and the record of it (notwithftanding Swift's prefent established character throughout the learned world) must for ever remain against him in the academical register at Dublin.'

The more early disappointments happen in life, the deeper impreffion they make upon the heart. Swift was full of indignation at the treatment he received in Dublin; and therefore refolved to purfue his ftudies at Oxford. However, that he might be admitted Ad Eundem, he was obliged to carry with him the teftimonium of his degree. The expreffion Speciali Gratiâ is fo peculiar to the univerfity of Dublin, that when Mr. Swift exhibited

his teftimonium at Oxford, the members of the English univerfity concluded, that the words Speciali Gratiâ must fignify a degree conferred in reward of extraordinary diligence and learning. It is natural to imagine that he did not try to undeceive them; he was entered in Hart-Hall, now Hartford-College,. where he refided till he took his degree of master of arts in the year 1691.

Dr. Swift's uncle, on whom he had placed his chief dependance, dying in the Revolution year, he was fupported chiefly by the bounty of Sir William Temple, to whofe lady he was a diftant relation. Acts of generofity feldom meet with their just applaufe. Sir William Temple's friendship was im mediately conftrued to proceed from a consciousness that he was the real father of Mr. Swift, otherwise it was thought impoffible he could be fo uncommonly munificent to a young man, so distantly related to his wife.

I am not quite certain, (fays his noble Biogra pher) that Swift himself did not acquiefce in the calumny; perhaps like Alexander, he thought the ⚫ natural fon of Jupiter would appear greater than the legitimate fon of Philip.'

As foon as Swift quitted the university, he lived with Sir William Temple as his friend, and domestic companion. When he had been about two years in the family of his patron, he contracted a very long, and dangerous illness, by eating an immoderate quantity of fruit. To this furfeit he used to afcribe the giddinefs in his head, which, with intermissions fometimes of a longer, and fometimes of a fhorter continuance, pursued him till it seemed to com→ pleat its conqueft, by rendering him the exact image of one of his own STRULDBRUGGS; a miferable fpectacle, devoid of every appearance of human nature, except the outward form.

E3

After

After Swift had sufficiently recovered to travel, he went into Ireland to try the effects of his native air; and he found fo much benefit by the journey, that pursuant to his own inclinations he foon returned into England, and was again most affectionately received by Sir William Temple, whofe houfe was now at Sheen, where he was often vifited by King William. Here Swift had frequent oppor tunities of converfing with that prince; in fome of which converfations the king offered to make him a captain of horfe: An offer, which in his fplenetic difpofitions, he always feemed forry to have refufed; but at that time he had resolved within his own mind to take orders, and during his whole life his refolutions, like the decrees of fate, were immoveable Thus determined, he again went over to Ireland, and immediately inlifted himself under the banner of the church. He was recommended to lord Capel, then Lord-Deputy, who gave him, the first vacancy, a prebend, of which the income was about a hundred pounds a year.

Swift foon grew weary of a preferment, which to a man of his ambition was far from being fufficiently confiderable. He refigned his prebend in favour of a friend, and being fick of folitude he. returned to Sheen, were he lived domeftically as ufual, till the death of Sir William Temple; who befides a legacy in money, left to him the care and truft of publishing his pofthumous works.

During Swift's refidence with Sir William Temple he became intimately acquainted with a lady, whom he has diftinguished, and often celebrated, under the name of Stella. The real name of this lady was John fon. She was the daughter of Sir William Temple's fteward; and the concealed but undoubted wife of doctor Swift. Sir William Temple bequeathed her in his will 1000l. as an acknowledgment of her father's faithful fervices. In the year 1716 fhe was married to doctor Swift, by doctor Afhe, then biflop of Clogher.

The.