Page 297 - DENG502_PROSE

Unit 27: Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects ...

Writer Notes
In February 1702, Swift received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Trinity College, Dublin. That
spring he traveled to England and returned to Ireland in October, accompanied by Esther Johnson—
now twenty years old—and his friend Rebecca Dingley, another member of William Temple’s
household. There is a great mystery and controversy over Swift’s relationship with Esther Johnson
nicknamed “Stella”. Many hold that they were secretly married in 1716.
During his visits to England in these years Swift published A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the
Books (1704) and began to gain a reputation as a writer. This led to close, lifelong friendships with
Pope, John Gay, and John Arbuthnot, forming the core of the Martinus Scriblerus Club (founded
in 1713).
Swift became increasingly active politically in these years. From 1707 to 1709 and again in 1710,
Swift was in London, unsuccessfully urging upon the Whig administration of Lord Godolphin the
claims of the Irish clergy to the First-Fruits and Twentieths (“Queen Anne’s Bounty”), which
brought in about £2,500 a year, already granted to their brethren in England. He found the
opposition Tory leadership more sympathetic to his cause and Swift was recruited to support their
cause as editor of the Examiner when they came to power in 1710. In 1711, Swift published the
political pamphlet “The Conduct of the Allies,” attacking the Whig government for its inability to
end the prolonged war with France. The incoming Tory government conducted secret (and illegal)
negotiations with France, resulting in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ending the War of the Spanish
Succession.
Swift was part of the inner circle of the Tory government, and often acted as mediator between
Henry St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke) the secretary of state for foreign affairs (1710–15) and
Robert Harley (Earl of Oxford) lord treasurer and prime minister (1711–1714). Swift recorded his
experiences and thoughts during this difficult time in a long series of letters to Esther Johnson,
later collected and published as The Journal to Stella. The animosity between the two Tory leaders
eventually led to the dismissal of Harley in 1714. With the death of Queen Anne and accession of
George I that year, the Whigs returned to power and the Tory leaders were tried for treason for
conducting secret negotiations with France.
Also during these years in London, Swift became acquainted with the Vanhomrigh family and
became involved with one of the daughters, Esther, yet another fatherless young woman and
another ambiguous relationship to confuse Swift’s biographers. Swift furnished Esther with the
nickname “Vanessa” and she features as one of the main characters in his poem Cadenus and
Vanessa. The poem and their correspondence suggests that Esther was infatuated with Swift, and
that he may have reciprocated her affections, only to regret this and then try to break off the
relationship. Esther followed Swift to Ireland in 1714, where there appears to have been a
confrontation, possibly involving Esther Johnson. Esther Vanhomrigh died in 1723 at the age of
35. Another lady with whom he had a close but less intense relationship was Anne Long, a toast
of the Kit-Cat Club.
Maturity

Before the fall of the Tory government, Swift hoped that his services would be rewarded with a
church appointment in England. However, Queen Anne appeared to have taken a dislike to Swift
and thwarted these efforts. The best position his friends could secure for him was the Deanery of
St. Patrick’s, Dublin. With the return of the Whigs, Swift’s best move was to leave England and he
returned to Ireland in disappointment, a virtual exile, to live “like a rat in a hole”.
Once in Ireland, however, Swift began to turn his pamphleteering skills in support of Irish causes,
producing some of his most memorable works: Proposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture
(1720), Drapier’s Letters (1724), and A Modest Proposal (1729), earning him the status of an Irish
patriot. Also during these years, he began writing his masterpiece, Travels into Several Remote

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 291