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Notes His uncle Godwin Swift (1628-1695) a benefactor, he took primary responsibility for the young
Jonathan, sending him with one of his cousins to Kilkenny College (also attended by the philosopher
George Berkeley). In 1682 he attended Dublin University (Trinity College, Dublin), financed by
Godwin’s son, Willoughby, from where he received his B.A. in 1686, and developed his friendship
with William Congreve. Swift was studying for his Master’s degree when political troubles in
Ireland surrounding the Glorious Revolution forced him to leave for England in 1688, where his
mother helped him get a position as secretary and personal assistant of Sir William Temple at
Moor Park, Farnham. Temple was an English diplomat who, having arranged the Triple Alliance
of 1668, retired from public service to his country estate to tend his gardens and write his memoirs.
Gaining the confidence of his employer, Swift “was often trusted with matters of great importance.”
Within three years of their acquaintance, Temple had introduced his secretary to William III, and
sent him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial Parliaments.
When Swift took up his residence at Moor Park, he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, the
fatherless daughter of one of the household servants. Swift acted as her tutor and mentor, giving
her the nickname “Stella”, and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest
of Esther’s life.
Swift left Temple in 1690 for Ireland because of his health, but returned to Moor Park the following
year. The illness, fits of vertigo or giddiness—now known to be Ménière’s disease—would continue
to plague Swift throughout his life. During this second stay with Temple, Swift received his M.A.
from Hart Hall, Oxford in 1692. Then, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through
Temple’s patronage, Swift left Moor Park to become an ordained priest in the Established Church
of Ireland and in 1694 he was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor, with
his parish located at Kilroot, near Carrickfergus in County Antrim.
Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote
community far from the centres of power and influence. While at Kilroot, however, Swift may well
have become romantically involved with Jane Waring. A letter from him survives, offering to
remain if she would marry him and promising to leave and never return to Ireland if she refused.
She presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temple’s service
at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temple’s death. There he was employed in
helping to prepare Temple’s memoirs and correspondence for publication. During this time Swift
wrote The Battle of the Books, a satire responding to critics of Temple’s Essay upon Ancient and
Modern Learning (1690). Battle was however not published until 1704.
On 27 January 1699 Temple died. Swift stayed on briefly in England to complete the editing of
Temple’s memoirs, and perhaps in the hope that recognition of his work might earn him a suitable
position in England. However, Swift’s work made enemies of some of Temple’s family and friends
who objected to indiscretions included in the memoirs. His next move was to approach King
William directly, based on his imagined connection through Temple and a belief that he had been
promised a position. This failed so miserably that he accepted the lesser post of secretary and
chaplain to the Earl of Berkeley, one of the Lords Justices of Ireland. However, when he reached
Ireland he found that the secretaryship had already been given to another. But he soon obtained
the living of Laracor, Agher, and Rathbeggan, and the prebend of Dunlavin in St. Patrick’s Cathedral,
Dublin.
At Laracor, a mile or two from Trim, County Meath, and twenty miles (32 km) from Dublin, Swift
ministered to a congregation of about fifteen people, and had abundant leisure for cultivating his
garden, making a canal (after the Dutch fashion of Moor Park), planting willows, and rebuilding
the vicarage. As chaplain to Lord Berkeley, he spent much of his time in Dublin and traveled to
London frequently over the next ten years. In 1701, Swift published, anonymously, a political
pamphlet, A Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome.

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