The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-10-08
SOME NEW BOOKS.
A New biography or syvin.

A New biography or Swim.
Tho critical and biographical estimate Of
jonathan S,rif. by LESLIE STEPHEN which forms
the new volume in Harper's reprint Of the series
entitled English Men Of Letters" Ia In one
respect q disappointing book. The account
OF Swifts early years and political career Is SUI
ficiently candid and cxh ,ustive. and the analy-
eis OF the intellectual and moral qualities
which make him an original and unique figure
In English literature Is marked by the skill
and insight which have characterized the
writer's previous essays In criticism. But we
cannot say that any effort Ia made to solve the
riddle Of swlns life. to explain his extra
ordinary treatment Of three attractive women.
TO each Of whom he sustained relations OF close
intimacy and affection. yet neither OF whom he
married. although, In more than one instance.
u was his plain duty 10 redress. so far as
might be done by wedlock, the injury in
nlcted on woman's reputation Had Swift's
rotations to yarina. to Stella and vanessa
been simply those Of clerical Don Juan.
there would have been no mystery about them.
however harshly they might deserve to be stig
matised; but the inexpicable feature about
those affairs Of the heart is that while they arc
wholly free from the faint Of illicit indul-
Gence. yet they never lead to matrimony. 1t
cannot be said that the affection was. on either
side. OF the Platonic kind for tho ladies'. upon
their part. were willing and even anxious to
marry. while the Dean In his letters shows
himself an ardent lover. But no matter how
strongly his inoinations might prompt him. or
how undenisble might be the claims Of justice
and OF honor. Swift always recoiled at the last
moment from the connubial tie, as II it involved
acme fatal calamity or some shocking revela-
tion. We could understand this strange hor-
ror Of the marriage state II we could suppose
that Swift was conscious In carly and
middle life Of the cerebral malady which
In the end disabled him. and shrunk
from transmitting the sad Inheritance
to children. But there Is no evidence
that Swift. during the period Of his tender rela-
lions with the ladies named, foresaw the dis
order which subsequently obscured his facul-
ties; and we are therefore compelled to pro-
nounce swiit's behavior toward women awholly
tnsoluble enigma. or to account for 1t by pure
conjecture. A theory was once started which
would explain the mystery OF the Deans con-
duct but. as 1t Is wholly unsupported by proofs.
Mr.. Stephen has undoubtedly done wise and
kindly thing In declining to make 1t known to
those who are not already conversant with the
hypothesis. He has confined himself to setting
down the facts regarding his subjects intimacy
With varina Stella. and vanessa. and he leaves
the reader TO puzzle over them. and draw very
unsatisfactory conclusions In the absence OF
such information ~ the Dean is believed never
70 have impaired to human being.
Jonathan Swift was born in 1867 at Hoey's
Court Dublin. his father. who was OF an old
Yorkshire family. having come over from Eng
land . few years before. His mother. having
nothing to depend upon but meagre annuity
of twenty pounds q year. soon returned to
Leicester. her native place. 80 that her son.
whose education was provided for by an uncle.
grew up virtually an orphan. At the age OF
ak he was sent to Kilkenny School. called the
Eton OF Ireland. whore he remained until 1882.
when he was entered at Trinity College. Dub
lin. In spite OF all these circumstances. which
20 intimately connect him with Ireland, and
although in the "Drapier's Letters" he ear
,nestly espoused the cause of the country In
which he had been born. educated. and ad-
vanced to high ecclesiastical preferment. yet
there was nothing he resented with so much
Indignation as the appellation OF Irishman.
Il happened" he wrote. by perfect acct
dent. 10 be born here. and thus / am
. league. or an Irishman. or what peo-
pie please" Elsewhere he claims Eng
land - properly his own country. although
happened to be dropped here. and was year
old before left 1t tIrelandD. and. to my sorrow
did not die before came back to it," Swift ex-
,hibited toward most OF his relations the same
bitter aversion which he evinced toward his
native country. His uncle Goodwin. as we have
seen, had sent him to the best places Of educa-
ton In Ireland. and II. in the end the supplies
OF spending money became scanty. 1t was be-
cause the elder Swift had lost almost the whole
OF his fortune. and had very large family TO
provide for. Swift did not consider these facts
classification for the privations to which he
was subjected at college, Was it not your
uncle Goodwin" he was once asked. who edu-
Gated your" Yes" said Swift after pause.
ha ma ha al NJ n Than -
answered the inquirer with bluntness and
felicity OF retort for which Swift was himself
conspicuous. you should have the gratitude
OF dog"
At the end OF 1858 Swift Joined the stream OF
Protestant fugitives who poured into England
when the news Of the landing OF william OF
Orange was followed by a gonoral uprising Of
Irish Catholics on behalf OF James. In this
crisis refuge was offered to him in the house,
hold Of Sir William Temple who had known
the more prosperous members OF the Swift
family In other days. and whose wife was in
some remote way related to Swift's mother
Swift was hired. 1t seems. by Sir William to read
to him. and to be his amanuensis. at the rate
OF twenty pounds year and. his board. and 1t
n alleged that Sir William never favored him
with his conversation or allowed him to sit
down at table with him. 1t is probable enough
that the raw Irish student was awkward and
disagreeable In his manners. and Mr.. Stephen
points out that forty years after. Swifts views
- to the distribution OF functions between
knives and forks were lamentably unsettled 1t
IL not. OF course. easy to exaggerate the dis
lance at which a lad Of obscure birth and &C.
customed to the most straitened mode OF life
would look up to the distinguished dipomatist
OF sixty. who had been intimate with the last
two Kings. and was the confidential adviser of
the reigning sovereign. and who had been an
actor In the greatest scenes Of European his
tory. Swift expressed his own appreciation Of
the difference between his patron and him
self In point OF social importance in one OF his
0rst poems:
Shall believe q spirit 40 divine
Was cast in the same mould with minel
The fact is. as Mr.. Stephen does not fail to
remark. a good deal OF sympathy has been
wasted upon this period OF Swift's life, and the
supposed grinding effect OF his dependent posi-
ton has been taxed with engendering the sour
and brutal oualities which there ia renson n