tion to neglect many neceffary objects of academic study, to which he was not by nature much inclined; and apply himself wholly to books of history and poetry, by which he could, without intellectual labour, fill his mind with pleafing images, and for a while fufpend the sense of his condition t. The facrifice of the future to the prefent, whether it be a folly or a fault, is feldom unpunished; and Swift foon found himself in the fituation of a man who had burned his bed to warm his hands: For at the end of four years, in the year 1685, he was refufed his degree of Bachelor of Arts for infufficiency, and was at last admitted fpeciali gratia, which is there confidered Why then faid the other, I have fomething for you that was fent to you by Mr Willoughby Swift. Whereupon he drew out of his pocket a large greafy leather bag, and poured him out all the money that it contained on the table. As this fum was greater than ever Swift had been master of at any time before, he pushed over, without reckoning them, a good number of the filver cobs (for it was all in that fpecie) to the honest failor, and defired he would accept of them for his trouble. But the failor would not touch a farthing. No, no, master, faid he, I'fe take nothing for my trouble; I would do more than that comes to for Mr Willoughby Swift. Whereupon Mr Swift gathered up the money as fast as he could, and thrust it into his pocket; for, by the Lord Harry, faid he when relating this story, I was afraid, if the money had lain much longer upon the table, he might have repented his generofity, and taken a good part of it. But from that time forward, he declared that he became a better economift, and never was without fome little money in his pocket. D. S. p. 54. 55. † He held logic and metaphyfics in the utmost contempt; and he fcarce confidered mathematics and natural philofophy, unless to turn them into ridicule. Orrery, let. I. confidered as the highest degree of reproach and difhonour. It is (fays Lord Orrery) a kind of difhonourable degree; and the record of it, notwithstanding Dr Swift's prefent established character throughout the learned world, must for ever remain against him in the academical register at Dublin *. [Sketch, § 22.] But upon Swift this punishment was not ineffectual. He dreaded the repetition of fuch a difgrace as the laft evil that could befal him, and therefore immediately fet about to prevent it as the principal bufinefs of his life. During feven years from that time, he ftudied eight hours aday, [J. R. p. 50.]; and by fuch an effort of fuch a mind fo long continued, great knowledge muft neceffarily have been acquired. He commenced thefe ftudies at the univerfity in Dublin, where he continued them three years, till 1688; and during this time he also drew the first sketch of his Tale of a Tub †. * Ambition could fcarce have met with a feverer blow. Hercules found himself fet afide for want of ftrength, or, if admitted among the wrestlers, admitted only by favour and indulgence; yet ftil he must be confcious that he was Hercules. Difappointments, the earlier they happen in life, the deeper impreffion they make upon the heart. Swift was full of indignation at the treatment which he had received in Ireland, and therefore refolved to purfue his ftudies at Oxford. Orrery, let. I. + Waffendon Warren, Efq; a gentleman of fortune near Bel-faft, in the north of Ireland, who was chamber-fellow with Dr Swift, declared, that he then faw a copy of the Tale of a Tub in Swift's own hand-writing. D. S. p. 31. In 1688, when he was about twenty-one, and had been seven years at the college, his uncle Godwin was feized with a lethargy, and foon after totally deprived both of his fpeech and his memory. As by this accident Swift was left without fupport, he took a journey to Leicester, that he might confult with his mother what course of life to pursue. At this time Sir William Temple was in high reputation, and honoured with the confidence and familiarity of K. William. [D. S. P. 33. 34] His father, Sir John Temple, had been Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and contracted an intimate friendship with Godwin Swift, which continued till his death; and Sir William, who inherited his title and estate, had married a lady to whom Mrs Swift was related. She therefore advised her fon to communicate his fituation to Sir William, and folicit 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 [in 1690] with great kindness, and Swift's firft vifit continued two years. Sir 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 afterwards, when King, frequently visited him at Sheen, and took his advice in affairs of the utmoft importance. [Sketch, § 23.] Sir William being then lame with the gout, Swift used to attend his Majesty in in his walks about the garden; who admitted him to fuch familiarity, that he shewed him how to cut asparagus after the Dutch manner, and once offered to make him a captain of horse. [D. S. p. 108.] Swift appears to have fixed his mind very early upon an ecclefiaftical life; and it is therefore probable, that, upon declining this offer, he obtained a promise of preferment in the church; for in a letter to his uncle William Swift, dated in 1692, he says, "I am not to take "orders till the King gives me a prebend.” Sir William becoming ftill more infirm, and wishing to retire farther from London, bought an eftate at Farnham in Surrey, called Moorpark, whither he was accompanied by Swift *. [Sketch, § 23.] About this time a bill was brought into the House for triennial parliaments; against which the King, who was a stranger to the English conftitution, was very averfe, by the advice of fome weak people, who perfuaded the Earl of Port land, * There is fome difficulty in reconciling the first and last paragraphs of fect 23. in the Dean's sketch of his own life, where Moorpark is mentioned. In the first it is said, that Swift, after having been fome months with his mother at Leicester, was received by Sir William, who was "now retired to Moorpark :" And in the laft, that Sir William, tired of being near London, bought an estate near Farnham in Surrey, "where Mr Swift accompanied him." The fenfe of the laft, which feems to imply that Swift lived with Sir 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 continued his vi fits after the removal to Moorpark. Hawkef. land, that Charles I. loft his crown and life by confenting to fuch a bill. [Sketch, § 23. 24.] Upon this occafion the Earl was by the King difpatched to Moorpark, for Sir William's advice; who faid much to fhew him the mistake, but without effect; and therefore he foon afterwards dispatched 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 last rejected *; and thus ended Mr Swift's first embaffy to court, so much to his diffatisfaction, that he then declared it was the firft incident that helped to cure him of vanity. [Sketch, § 24.] Soon after this tranfaction, he was feized with the return of a disorder, which he had contracted in Ireland by eating a great quantity of fruit; and upon *The confequence of this wrong ftep, (fays Dr Swift, in this Sketch, § 24.) was very unhappy; for it put King William under a neceffity of introducing those people called. Whigs, into power and employments, in order to pacify them. For altho' it be held a part of the King's prerogative to refufe paffing a bill, yet the learned in the law think otherwife, from that expreffion ufed at the coronation, wherein the prince obligeth himself to confent to all laws, " quas vulgus elegerit." It must have been after, though it is first related in the sketch; for it is faid, fect. 23. that he went to Ireland after he had been two years at Moorpark; and in fect. 24. that his expedition to court was foon after the removal from Sheen. Hawkef. |
