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 averfe 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 dispatched 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 first 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 Sketch, 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 fubject to that giddinefs, which gradually increased, though with irregular intermiffions, till it terminated in total debility of body and mind. fect. xxiv. Sketch, fect. xxiii. But he was still indifatigable in his studies, and to prevent the loss of health in the acquifition of know continued his visits after the removal to Moorpark. [D. S. 108.] It must have been after, though it is firft related in the Sketch, for it is faid fect. xxiii, I 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 exercife, it was his conftant practice to run up an hill that was near the houfe 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, Ireneus, Sleidan's Commentaries, and Padre Paolo's hiftory of the council of Trent, were found among his papers which appear by memorandums in his own hand writing to D.S. 276. 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 admited 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 ༣༠, 44. Orvery, 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 Orrers, P. 11. D. S. P. 56. after he had received it: I am ftill, 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 alfo to the fuppreffion of a reproach against which there was good reason to fear this connection would not have fupported him : nor is it ftrange that Swift, after his reputation was eftablished, fhould, while he was fporting 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 feriously 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 ftudies at Oxford, where he almost conftantly 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 mafter's degree. Befides in the letter to his uncle juft mentioned, he says, I am ashamed to be more obliged in a few weeks to STRANGERS, than in feven years to Dublin college *. * He went to college at the age of fourteen, in 1681; con tinued there feven years, as appears by his letter; fo that he dd not leave Ireland till 1688; he was fome months with his mother before he went to fir William, and two years with him before he went to Ireland for his health, which must therefore be in 1691; he returned from Ireland, and continued fome time longer with fir William before he went to Oxford, which must therefore be 1692; and in that very year he took his degree. The fact therefore which, lord Orrery fays, was immediately conftrued to favour an opinion that Swift was fir William's natural fon appears never to have happened. See Swift's fetch of his own life. From From Oxford he returned again to Moore Park, where he aflifted fir William Temple to revise 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, mercly 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 mafter 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. 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 fhelter 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 ufed 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 Leicefter he wrote a letter dated June 1694, to his coufin Deane Swift, then then at Lisbon; in which he relates his quarrel with fir William, and declares his purpose to take D. S. 51. orders in the September following, wishing he could procure for him the chaplainship of the factory. Sketch, fect. xxv. What was the effect of this letter is not known, but Swift foon after obtained a recommendation to lord Capel, then lord deputy of Ireland, who gave him the prebend of Kilroot, in the diocefs of Conner, a northern diftrict, worth about one hundred pounds per annum. But fir William, who had been used to the conversation of Swift, foon found that he could not be content to live without him, he therefore urged him to refign his prebend in favour of a friend, and promised to obtain preferment for him in England if he would return *. Swift confented, and fir William was fo much pleased with this act of kindness, that during the remainder of his life, which was about four years, his behaviour was fuch as produced the utmost harmony between them; Swift as a teftimony of his friendship and esteem wrote the battle of the books, of which fir William is the hero; and fir William when he died left him a pecuniary legacy, and his pofthumous works. D. S. 66. What other favours he received from fir William cannot certainly be known; Swift acknowledged none but his ineffectual recommendation to king William, and he is known to have received frequent remittances from his uncle William, and his coufin Willoughby Swift; fo that fir William does not seem to have treated him with a liberality for which it is difficult to ac count. Upon the death of fir William Temple, Swift ap This appears by a letter from Swift's fifter, then in Ireland, to her coufin Deane in Portugal: fir William Temple, fays fhe, was fo fond of him, that he made him give up his living in this country, and promised to get him one in England. D. 8.66. |