by Leo Damrosch
Death of Sir William Temple; Swift goes to Ireland as chaplain to the Earl of Berkeley
1700
Appointed vicar of Laracor, County Meath, and prebendary of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin
1701
Lord Berkeley returns to England; Swift accompanies him, and persuades Stella and Rebecca Dingley to move to Dublin; Contests and Dissensions in Athens and Rome (published 1709), Humble Petition of Frances Harris, Meditation on a Broomstick (published 1710)
1702
Doctor of Divinity degree at Trinity College, Dublin; death of William III; War of the Spanish Succession begins
1703–4
In London seeking remission of the First Fruits in favor of the Church of Ireland
1704
Publication (in a single volume) of A Tale of a Tub, The Battle of the Books, and The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit; battle of Blenheim launches the Duke of Marlborough’s fame; Robert Harley (later Lord Oxford) becomes secretary of state and Henry St. John (later Lord Bolingbroke) secretary at war
1704–7
In Ireland
1707
Union of England and Scotland
1708
Bickerstaff Papers; Sentiments of a Church of England Man; Argument against Abolishing Christianity
1708–13
In England most of the time; friendships with Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and other writers, also with Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa) and Charles Ford
1709
A Description of the Morning; Baucis and Philemon
1710
Death of Abigail Swift; The Virtues of Sid Hamet the Magician’s Rod; fifth edition of Tale of a Tub published, with added “Apology”; A Description of a City Shower; Harley and Bolingbroke persuade Swift to write the Examiner on behalf of their new Tory ministry
1710–11
Writes for the Examiner
1710–13
Writes Journal to Stella
1711
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse; The Conduct of the Allies; Harley becomes Earl of Oxford
1711–12
Addison and Steele’s Spectator
1712
Proposal for Correcting the English Tongue; Some Remarks on the Barrier Treaty; St. John becomes Viscount Bolingbroke
1713
Installed as dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin; Cadenus and Vanessa (published 1726); Scriblerus Club formed with Pope, Gay, Parnell, and Arbuthnot; Pope publishes The Rape of the Lock (enlarged version in 1714)
1714
Returns to England to try to repair a growing breach between Oxford and Bolingbroke; Public Spirit of the Whigs; Oxford dismissed by Queen Anne, who dies in August, succeeded by George I; Swift leaves London, stays with John Geree in the country, and then returns to Dublin; Vanessa follows, settling at nearby Celbridge
1715
Bolingbroke flees to France; Oxford impeached and committed to the Tower of London until 1717
1716
Rumored secret marriage with Stella
1718
Friendships with Thomas Sheridan senior and Patrick Delany
1719
First of the series of birthday poems for Stella; birth of Thomas Sheridan the younger; death of Addison; Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe
1720
A Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture; South Sea Bubble
1721
Gulliver’s Travels begun; Sir Robert Walpole emerges as Whig leader, will retain power for twenty-one years
1722
Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General (published 1764)
1723
Death of Vanessa; Swift makes four-month trip throughout Ireland; trial and exile of Bishop Francis Atterbury
1724
Book 4 of Gulliver’s Travels finished, book 3 begun; Drapier’s Letters; death of Lord Oxford
1725
Long stay with the Sheridans at Quilca, County Cavan, where Gulliver’s Travels is completed; Bolingbroke returns to England from exile
1726
Swift visits England for the first time since 1714, arranges publication of Gulliver’s Travels; Cadenus and Vanessa published without Swift’s approval
1727
Final visit to England; Holyhead Journal; death of George I, succeeded by George II
1728
Death of Stella; The Progress of Poetry; On the Death of Mrs. Johnson (published 1765); collaboration with Sheridan on the Intelligencer; Gay publishes The Beggar’s Opera; Pope publishes first installment of The Dunciad
1729
A Modest Proposal; deaths of Congreve and Steele
1730s
Friendships with Mary Pendarves, Mary Barber, and Laetitia Pilkington
1731
Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift (published 1739); The Day of Judgment (published 1762)
1732
The Lady’s Dressing Room; friendship with Lord Orrery; death of Gay
1733
On Poetry: A Rapsody
1734
A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed; Strephon and Chloe; Cassinus and Peter
1735
Dublin edition of Swift’s Works published by George Faulkner; death of Arbuthnot; Bolingbroke returns to France
1736
A Character of the Legion Club
1737
A Proposal for Giving Badges to Beggars
1738
Polite Conversation (written over many years); death of Thomas Sheridan senior
1742
Swift declared “of unsound mind and memory”; Pope publishes new four-book Dunciad
1744
Death of Pope
1745
October 19, death of Swift, aged seventy-seven; buried near Stella in St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Abbreviations
Account Books
The Account Books of Jonathan Swift, ed. Paul V. Thompson and Dorothy Jay Thompson (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1984).
Boswell, Life of Johnson
James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LLD, 6 vols., ed. G. B. Hill, rev. L. F. Powell (Oxford: Clarendon, 1934, 1950).
Cambridge Works
The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008–): vol. 1, “A Tale of a Tub” and Other Works, ed. Marcus Walsh; vol. 8, English Political Writings, 1711–1714, ed. Bertrand A. Goldgar and Ian Gadd. [These were the only volumes in print at the time this book went to press.]
Corr.
The Correspondence of Jonathan Swift, 4 vols., ed. David Woolley (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1999–2007).
Craik
Henry Craik, The Life of Jonathan Swift, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1894).
Critical Heritage
Swift: The Critical Heritage, ed. Kathleen Williams (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970).
Deane Swift
Deane Swift, An Essay upon the Life, Writings, and Character of Dr. Jonathan Swift (London, 1755).
Delany
Patrick Delany, Observations upon Lord Orrery’s Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift (Dublin, 1754).
Downie
J. A. Downie, Jonathan Swift: Political Writer (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984).
Ehrenpreis
Irvin Ehrenpreis, Swift: The Man, His Works, and the Age, 3 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962–83): vol. 1, Mr. Swift and His Contemporaries; vol. 2, Dr. Swift; vol. 3, Dean Swift.
Elias
A. C. Elias Jr., Swift at Moor Park: Problems in Biography and Criticism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982).
Ferguson
Oliver W. Ferguson, Jonathan Swift and Ireland (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962).
Forster
John Forster, The Life of Jonathan Swift, vol. 1 [no second volume was ever published] (New York: Harper, 1876).
Glendinning
Victoria Glendinning, Jonathan Swift
(London: Hutchinson, 1998).
Gulliver’s Travels
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, vol. 11 of PW.
Johnson, Life of Swift
Samuel Johnson, Life of Swift, in Lives, vol. 3.
Johnston
Denis Johnston, In Search of Swift (Dublin: Hodges Figgis, 1959).
Journal
Swift, Journal to Stella, 2 vols., ed. Harold Williams (Oxford: Blackwell, 1948); reprinted in PW as vols. 15 and 16.
Landa
Louis A. Landa, Swift and the Church of Ireland (Oxford: Clarendon, 1954).
Lives
Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets, 3 vols., ed. G. B. Hill (Oxford: Clarendon, 1905).
Lyon
Dr. John Lyon’s annotated copy of The Life of Jonathan Swift, by John Hawkesworth (1755), in the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, no. 579 in the Forster Collection (MS. 48. D. 39).
Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second (London: Longmans, Green, 1886).
Nokes
David Nokes, Jonathan Swift, a Hypocrite Reversed: A Critical Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985).
Orrery
John Boyle, fifth Earl of Cork and Orrery, Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, ed. João Fróes (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2000).
Pilkington
Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington, 2 vols., ed. A. C. Elias Jr. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997).
Plumb
J. H. Plumb, Sir Robert Walpole, 2 vols. (London: Cresset, 1956–60).
Poems
The Poems of Jonathan Swift, 2nd ed., 3 vols., ed. Harold Williams (Oxford: Clarendon, 1958).
PW
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, 14 vols., ed. Herbert Davis (Oxford: Blackwell, 1939–68).
Reading Swift
Hermann J. Real and Heinz J. Vienken, eds., Proceedings of the [First through Fifth] Münster Symposium on Jonathan Swift (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1985–2008).
Rogers
Swift, The Complete Poems, ed. Pat Rogers (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983).
Scott
Sir Walter Scott, Memoirs of Jonathan Swift, vol. 1 of The Works of Jonathan Swift (London: Bickers and Son, 1883).
Sheridan
Thomas Sheridan, The Life of Jonathan Swift, 2nd ed. (London, 1787).
Tale of a Tub
Swift, A Tale of a Tub, vol. 1 of PW.
Trevelyan
George Macaulay Trevelyan, England under Queen Anne, 3 vols. (London: Longmans, Green, 1930–34).
Notes
PROLOGUE
1. Vanessa to Swift, December 1714; Swift to Vanessa, July 5, 1721; Vanessa to Swift, August 1720, Corr., 2:103, 386, 340. This letter of Swift’s was written in French, perhaps for fear that a snooping servant might see it.
2. Swift to Vanessa, Aug. 4, 1720; Vanessa to Swift, November or December 1720, Corr., 2:340, 352.
3. Swift to Vanessa, Oct. 15, 1720; July 5, 1721; July 13, 1722, Corr., 2:348, 385–86, 425.
4. Deane Swift, 359; Orrery, 176.
5. Scott, 11n, repeating a story told to him by Theophilus Swift, the grandson of the uncle in question.
6. George Orwell, “Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver’s Travels,” in Inside the Whale and Other Essays (London: Penguin, 1962), 138.
7. Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 1; William Butler Yeats, introduction to Words upon the Window-pane (1934), reprinted in Fair Liberty Was All His Cry: A Tercentenary Tribute to Jonathan Swift, ed. A. Norman Jeffares (London: Macmillan, 1967), 196.
8. Boswell, Life of Johnson, 2:100 (Oct. 26, 1769); Deane Swift, 367.
9. Swift to Bolingbroke, Mar. 21, 1730, Corr., 3:295; Journal, 1:72–73 (Oct. 26, 1710).
10. E. D. Hirsch remarked in an obituary notice that little of Ehrenpreis’s ironic wit carried over into his writing (New York Review of Books, Aug. 15, 1985). Ehrenpreis argued his case against literary ambiguity in Literary Meaning and Augustan Values (Char lottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1974) and again in Acts of Implication: Suggestion and Covert Meaning in the Works of Dryden, Swift, Pope, and Austen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980).
11. Ehrenpreis, 1:41; 2:335, 331.
12. Ibid., 1:ix.
13. The Bolingbroke remark is quoted by Sheridan, introduction, unnumbered page.
14. Ashley Marshall, “The State of Swift Studies 2010,” Eighteenth-Century Life 34 (2010): 87.
15. Glendinning, 10. Other recent biographies, each emphasizing a particular aspect of Swift’s life, are J. A. Downie, Jonathan Swift: Political Writer (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984); Joseph McMinn, Jonathan Swift: A Literary Life (London: Macmillan, 1991); and Brean Hammond, Jonathan Swift (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2010).
16. Sheridan, introduction, unnumbered page.
17. Scott, 10.
18. William Godwin, “Of English Style” (1797), in Critical Heritage, 256.
CHAPTER 1. BEGINNINGS
1. Lyon, 11. Swift spelled the name of the church “Warbrow” in a letter to Knightley Chetwode, Dec. 3, 1714, Corr., 2:98.
2. Orrery, 331.
3. Swift to Francis Grant, Mar. 23, 1734, Corr., 3:730. Sheridan (214) reports the expression “dropped in Ireland.”
4. The evidence for Abigail’s origins will be taken up in chapter 2, when we return to some of the puzzles concerning her son’s paternity.
5. The Earl of Essex, quoted by S. J. Connolly, Religion, Law, and Power: The Making of Protestant Ireland, 1660–1760 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992), 14; Patrick Reilly, “The Displaced Person: Swift and Ireland,” Swift Studies 8 (1993): 69; Swift to Pope, June 1737, Corr., 4:445.
6. Ehrenpreis, 1:3, 64.
7. Ibid., 1:30.
8. Quoted by Valerie Fildes, Wet Nursing: A History from Antiquity to the Present (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988), 100. Other details from Fildes, Breasts, Bottles and Babies: A History of Infant Feeding (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1986), 158, 162–63, 173, 213, 245, 352, 364; and Fildes, “The English Wet-Nurse and Her Role in Infant Care, 15381–1800,” Medical History 32 (1988): 142–73.
9. Family of Swift, PW, 5:192.
10. Pilkington, 1:31–32. Ehrenpreis (1:31n) calls this version “a garbled recollection,” but it differs from the version in Swift’s autobiographical sketch only in mentioning the nurse’s husband and in suggesting that it was years before anyone knew where the child was.
11. Downie, 5; Deane Swift, 26.
12. Deane Swift, appendix, p. 42; Gulliver’s Travels, book 4, ch. 5, p. 248.
13. Ehrenpreis, 1:32; Forster (40) conjectures that Abigail badly needed money.
14. Gulliver’s Travels, book 1, ch. 6, p. 60.
15. Journal, 2:658 (Apr. 10, 1711). See Louise Barnett for a valuable chapter (5) on maternity, Jonathan Swift in the Company of Women (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
16. Franz Kafka, Letter to His Father, trans. Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (New York: Schocken, 1966), 295. Jeffrey Meyers draws this comparison in “Swift and Kafka,” Papers on Language and Literature 40 (2004): 334.
17. Amanda Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 2.
18. Family of Swift, 5:187–89.
19. Ibid., 5:189; this piece was probably written between 1727 and 1729 (PW, 5:xxiii). Johnston (272–79) reviews the facts of Thomas Swift’s career, and mentions the caltrop. The younger relative is Deane Swift, appendix, p. 24.
20. Swift to Pope, Apr. 28, 1739, Corr., 4:575.
21. Lines on Swift’s Ancestors, in Minor Poems, vol. 6 in the Twickenham edition of Pope’s Poems, ed. Norman Ault and John Butt (London: Methuen, 1964), 251.
22. William Edward Hartpole Lecky, A History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (London
: Longmans, Green, 1912), 1:166; the figures for population distribution are drawn from Edith Mary Johnston, Ireland in the Eighteenth Century (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1974), 53.
23. Family of Swift, 5:192; Ehrenpreis, 1:35.
24. Details from Connolly, Religion, Law, and Power, 146; and W. G. Neely, Kilkenny: An Urban History, 1391–1843 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1989), 85–119.
25. Ormonde to Sir Robert Southwell, Mar. 20, 1679, quoted by Marilyn Frankus, The Converting Imagination: Linguistic Theory and Swift’s Satiric Prose (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1994), 194.
26. John Browne, “Kilkenny College,” Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society 1, no. 2 (1850): 221–29.
27. Neely, Kilkenny, 108–9.
28. Samuel Pepys, Diary, ed. Robert Latham and William Matthews (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), 3:131 (July 4, 1662).
29. See Frankus, Converting Imagination, 11–18.
30. Swift to Charles Ford, Nov. 12, 1708, Corr., 1:217.
31. Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life, ed. Betty Radice (London: Penguin, 1984), 73; Boswell, Life of Johnson, 2:407 (end of 1775).
32. Swift to Pope, Feb. 13, 1729, Corr., 3:209.
33. Lyon, 12.
34. Swift to Bolingbroke and Pope, Apr. 5, 1729, Corr., 3:230.
35. George Faulkner to the Earl of Chesterfield, in John Nichols, A Supplement to Dr. Swift’s Works (London: Nichols, 1779), 762. Sheridan (402–3) gives a somewhat abridged version of this anecdote, which he probably picked up from Faulkner.
36. Lyon, 12; John Timbs, Lives of Wits and Humorists (London: Bentley, 1862), 1:3.
37. T. C. Barnard, “‘Grand Metropolis’ or ‘The Anus of the World’? The Cultural Life of Eighteenth-Century Dublin,” in Two Capitals: London and Dublin, 1500–1840, ed. Peter Clark and Raymond Gillespie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 203.
38. Sheridan, An Oration, Pronounced before a Numerous Body of the Nobility and Gentry (1757), quoted by Esther K. Sheldon, Thomas Sheridan of Smock-Alley (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), 16.
39. Sheridan, 4.
40. Tale of a Tub, “A Digression in the Modern Kind,” and section 8, pp. 80, 97; Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, ed. Charles Kerby-Miller (New York: Russell and Russell, 1966), 124.
41. Constantia Maxwell, A History of Trinity College, Dublin (Dublin: Dublin University Press, 1946), 74–75. Marsh died in 1701 and the library was founded in that year.
42. A Character of Primate Marsh, PW, 5:211–12.
