# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Vanhomrigh, Esther, or Vanessa

Layout 2
VANHOMRIGH, ESTHER, or VANESSA,
The name given in playfulness to Miss Vanhomrigh, by Dean Swift, and by which, through her connexion with him, she will descend to future times. Esther Vanhomrigh was the daughter of a widow lady in affluent circumstances, in whose house Swift was domesticated when he was in London. Of her personal charms little has been said; Swift has left them unsung, and other authorities have rather depreciated them. When Swift became intimate in the family, she was not twenty years old; lively and graceful, yet with a greater inclination for leading and mental cultivation, than is usually combined with a gay temper. This last attribute had fatal attractions for Swift, who, in intercourse with his female friends, had a marked pleasure in directing their studies, and acting as their literary mentor; a dangerous character for him who assumes it, when genius, docility, and gratitude are combined in a young and interesting pupil. Miss Vanhomrigh, in the meanwhile, sensible of the pleasure which Swift received from her society, and of the advantages of youth and fortune which she possessed, and ignorant of the peculiar circumstances which bound him to another, yielded to the admiration with which he had inspired her, and naturally looked forward to becoming his wife. Swift, however, according to that singular and mysterious line of conduct which he had laid down for himself, had no such intention of rewarding her affection; he affected blindness to her passion, and persisted in placing their intercourse upon the footing of friendship—the regard of pupil and teacher.
The imprudence—to use no stronger term—of continuing such an intercourse behind the specious veil of friendship, was soon exhibited. Miss Vanhomrigh, a woman of strong and impetuous feelings, rent asunder the veil, by intimating to Swift the state of her affections. In his celebrated poem, in which he relates this fact, he has expressed the "shame, disappointment, guilt, surprise," which he experienced at this crisis; but, instead of answering it with a candid avowal of his engagements with Stella—or other impediments, which prevented his accepting her hand and fortune—he answered the confession, at first in raillery, and afterwards by an offer of devoted and everlasting friendship, founded on the basis of virtuous esteem. Vanessa was neither contented nor silenced by the result of her declaration; but, almost to the close of her life, persisted in endeavouring, by entreaties and arguments, to extort a more lively return to her passion. The letters of Vanessa to Swift, after his return to Ireland, are filled with reproaches for his coldness and indifference, combined with the most open and compassionate expressions of attachment; whilst his replies betray evident annoyance, and a settled purpose to repress these unreserved proofs of devotion. It ​is impossible to read these letters without feeling the profoundest pity for the woman who could so far lose sight of all self-respect as to continue such professions of regard to a man whose conduct to her was marked by such cruel and heartless selfishness. Her passion appears to have been so resistless as to have borne before it all sense of humiliation—every feeling of womanly pride.
The circumstances of Vanessa, by a singular coincidence, were not dissimilar to those of Stella. Her parents died, and she became mistress of her own fortune Some of her estates being in Ireland, it became necessary to look after them; and she, induced, no doubt, as much by a desire to be near Swift, as by this object, repaired to Ireland. This step placed Swift in a very unpleasant position; he dreaded having the rivals on the same ground, and was terrified at the vehemence of Vanessa's passion, which she was at no pains to conceal. She took possession of her small property at Cell bridge, and her letters to Swift became more and more embarrassing to him. The jealousy of Stella was now awakened by rumours that had reached her, and her health and spirits rapidly declined. The marriage of Swift and Stella, is still a disputed question; but the most recent researches upon the subject serve to confirm this belief It is asserted, that alarmed at the state of Stella's health, Swift employed his friend, the Bishop of Clogher, to ask, what be dared not himself, the cause of her melancholy. The answer was such as his conscience must have anticipated. Swift, to appease her, consented to go through the form of marriage with her, provided it was kept a secret from the world, and that they should continue to live apart as before; and they were married at the deanery, by the Bishop of Clogher.
Notwithstanding the new obligation which he had imposed upon himself, to act with uprightness to Vanessa, Swift still continued to visit as before; he professed to discourage her attachment, and even advised her to many one of her suitors; but, by hit warm interest in her and her affairs, secretly confirmed her feelings. Vanessa had now become aware of Swift's connection with Stella, whose declining health alone had prevented her asking an explanation of Swift, as to the real state of his position with her. Impatience at length prevailed; and, in an evil hour, she wrote to Stella, requesting to be informed of the true state of the case. Stella, without hesitation, informed her of her marriage with the dean, and enclosing to him Vanessa's letter, she left her own abode in indignation, and retired to the house of a friend. Infuriated against the woman whose rashness had betrayed his treachery, Swift proceeded to the dwelling of Vanessa; he entered her presence, and casting upon her a withering glance of scorn and rage, threw the letter which she had written to Stella upon the table, and, without a word, rushed from the house, mounted his horse, and returned to Dublin.
Vanessa, horror-stricken, saw that her fate was sealed, and she sank under the weight of her despair. This cruel act of her lover, however, at last restored her to reason; she revoked a will made in his favour, and left it in charge to her executors, to publish all the correspondence between her and Swift, which, however, never appeared. Vanessa survived this fatal blow only fourteen months; she died in 1723. On hearing of her death. Swift, it is said, seized with remorse, and overcome with shame and ​self-reproach, withdrew himself from society, and for two months the place of his retreat was unknown. Thus two noble-hearted women, true and disinterested in their affection for him, were sacrificed to his selfish vanity and worldly wisdom.