The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-19
LIFE or DEAN
 SWIFT FAMOUS
 IRISH SATIRIST
Love Affairs of the Noted Writer Have Attracted
 Wide Attention.

Wide Attention,
 Satire Is a trrriny weapon, n ls the Twin of tAe Court Jester the visest of mon, Of the Middle Ages, who roasted kiurs and held up to riilrule tbe foiblcs of poor Humanity, Today, Sept, ls, commemorative tho death. In 1745, oC ono of the most celebrated of satirists. Dean Swift. the famous Irish satirist of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, C. rcring ns- ure of irony in English Literature, became "Doau' of St, -ltrICl's Ca thedral, Dublin. A dark. troubled lfo -of boiling rage, tuvCctsvo power, fierce pa@stons, splond!d---aiwost unap- proachablc, brain, lash of tongue, at taintng the summitS anu hurled from them incomprph eus'blc actiops--- this Ss Dean Swift. Arolnd his name cir Vlo forevpr two of thc most pathetic .romanccs in literary 31tstory, IIo was 7S yosl.s old when hc Ilod. his splCn- did powers io eclipse, his brain Q wreck.
 Who has not read C3ulliver's Travels. The Nahoo, and tho Giiputiars. and tho BrubdignaRnians Gavc pa.--cd into our language. Amazing as is the glory of its satire. it can he enjoyed by old and young as O masterpiece of purc fiction, It is only one uf the enormous number of his works. Of his Tale of a Tub" published in 17Ol, Swift himself exclaimed, Good GCdl What a genius I had when I wrote that book" His restless, combc tive, peculiar disposition broght him into constant controversy. Tho two sor- rowfuI love affatrs that occupied such n telling place in his life can never be read without sincere emotion. The fututre Titan of Letters was % yu ", of uge when, in 1899, he became sa,- retary to Sir William Temple at Moor Park, near Dublin. Hero 1t was that ho made the acquaintance of the dear girl Esther Johnson, the Stella" of the famous Journal (Journal to Stella, letters written by SwtfD, which, says biographer of Swift, "eNamplo of a giants playfulness written for one persons private pleasure, has had in destructihle attroCttveness for every one since" Stella wus only years old when she met Swift The friend ship between thern ended only with Stel1l's death Swift entered tho arena of contemporary history, and as Eatlrist by his Piudaric Odd5 written vs .hls reriod. There followed the ''l Ittig of the Books" The continued fierce splendor of his output brought him into the lime-Hght in Dublin, in whose society he was the lion and ac- pted satirist He was I<aseutcJ with the prebcndary of Duvc--.n in Gt. Patricks, with a congregation of 15, and obliged Co read prayers only on Wednesday and Friday. He soon began Co grow tired of Ireland, and paid visits to London ITore Pope. Addison and Steele were his friends. stella whom he has immortalized came to London with hcr companion, and settled in Swfft's neiEhborhood ut was now that Swift voerod in his party affiliations and supported the Tories with his powerful pen, and s1nsumu1te examples of irony He was now power in the State. tho friend of the first authors of the day and on a footing of familiarity with great ministers. His battles for Ire land. and against her have passed dnto history. After retiring to Ire land. after his fall from favor in Eng Jan his popularity waned Here thero entered into his life his second ECrious love affair. A young lady O. The name of Esther vauhomrigh tV8uc1saD, of Dublin He had met hei in London at tho height of hls politi cal influence Svift's first thirst wa. for impcriOua domination Vancssf 1od his thirst, while conscious tha Swift did not return her consumin, passion for him; and the Titan O Letters found himself between tw, distressing fircs---the lovely ssStorla' and the flaming Vancssa. Tucu seemed to be some mysterious raasoI why Swift could not consumuate uuarria ge with Stella whom he seem to have loved---if such a nature a. fwfft's could love! Many of Swift biographers have believed tr7t ther was a. secret marriage, but sad SteII. passed as Svift's mistress till the da- of her death. Wearied of his evasion Vanessa wrote a letter to Stella nc Stella sent that letter to Swift. Witt characteristic audiences with a tor rent of wrath, Swift flung himself int VanCSsa's presence with the letter Tt was the young wO~nan's death blow. She died in a few weeks, it ha been thought by her own hand. Late sad Stella faded out of the stormy If of Jonathan Swift. Her wretched lov CTS grief testified to his affection fo her. Over St0lla's last gift to him "Only a lock of hairi" as Swift es, claimed, shaken by a convulsion O cynical emotion. Thackeray ha poured out one of the most terr-bl Indictments in the language: "OnIv
 Womans 8 hairl Only love, Iidcut, purity. innocence, beauty, only in tenderest heart in the world stricke and wounded av7 passed away out c reach of pangs ,' hope deferred, lov insulted and pitiless desertion. Onl that lock of hair ] tt, and nemor, and ren osae, for the guilty. lonci wretch, shudderins over the .-rave , his victim"
 jonathan Swift, Dean of st. I'a
 rick's, WIS inferred in his catnsdr, in Iho same coffin as Stella