WAS SWIFT MARRIED TO STELLA. In treating of the relations of Jonathan Swift to those two women whose names have ever involved the story of his life in the darkest mystery, it seems to have been the rule for biographers to give their opinions, theories or surmises. There has been, I believe, only one exception. In 1824 George Monck Mason published in Dublin his u History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church at St. Patrick's". Over half of this cumber- some folio is devoted to a life of Swift, in which is included a full treatment of this subject. The form of the book is not at all attractive. About nine-tenths of the important matter is contained in the foot-notes, which are often heavy and dull. This book is practically forgotten now. There are at most half a dozen copies of it in this country, and I am told that it is nearly as rare in Great Britain. Besides this book, Mr. Henry Craik has devoted an appendix of his Life of Swift to what professes to be a scientific investigation of that which is, to my mind, the most important question to settle in all the history of Swift's life, the question whether or not be was married to Stella.l If there had been more of this sort of work done, I believe that the prevailing conception of Jonathan Swift's character would be a diflerent one to-day from what it is. It is necessary for us, therefore, to make a scientific study of this subject, and not to theorize about it, even though cer- 1 I might mention, in this connection, a book called "Swift: the Mystery of his Life and Love", by Mr. John Hay (London, 1891). His chapter, "Swift, the Lover", is interesting, but rather superficial and po- pular. The argument is strong at times, but the author introduces some rather startling theories, which he does not give evidence enough to prove. Anglia. N. P. VI. 1 Brought to you by | provisional account Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 8:04 AM 2 ALEXANDER VON W. LESLIE, tainty of solution can never be attained, for the reason that we have hardly any certain data. The correspondence of the parties concerned tells us very little definitely; the works of Swift still less; and the original biographies by Orrery, Delany, Deane Swift, Esq., and Sheridan are insufficient and often incorrect. Their authors are now misinformed, now fabricate, now imagine; and seldom give any authority for the facts they assert. Later biographers have in some cases adopted the erroneous statements of the former ones, and in others given us their own theories of explanation. Sometimes these are weakly supported, and only advanced in order to give the writer a chance to display some beautiful rhetoric and to obtain some striking literary effect. Nearly all the biographies contain a good many traditional stories, apocryphal gossipings, and hearsay evidence, added merely in order to excite the reader's interest. All this renders it hard for an earnest searcher after truth to make any progress. The best that we can do, is to go to the original sources, i. e. the works of Swift and his correspondence; consider that which may be relied upon as authentic in the statements of the original biographies; examine thoroughly the theories advanced by subsequent bio- graphers, weigh all the evidence carefully, and draw our own conclusions. This has been my plan through the following pages, though I may not always follow the order mentioned in recording the results of my work. It must be freely ad- mitted that I have devoted considerable time to preaching my own views, but I hope it will be seen that I have distinguished carefully between matters of fact and matters of opinion, and that I have not asked the reader to accept any opinion of mine unless there is good authority for the statements of fact upon which that opinion is based. True to this principle, and in order that there may be no charge of misrepresentation brought against me, I have, as a rule, preferred direct quota- tions to summaries or references. I have done this even at the expense of making this article somewhat tediously long, as I wish the reader to have directly before him every word upon which I base an inference, and to see whether or not it is the most natural one. The following brief preliminary outline seems to be pretty well agreed upon among the biographers, and much of it finds Brought to you by | provisional account Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 8:04 AM WAS SWIFT MARRIED TO STELLA? 3 authority in the original sources. It may, I think, be given here with advantage. When Jonathan Swift, at the age of twenty-two, first en- tered the household of Sir William Temple, at Moor Park, in 1689, Esther Johnson, the daughter of a member of this retired statesman's househould, was in her eighth year. The young student supervised the child's education, and himself taught her to write a hand which later closely resembled his own. With one brief intermission, Swift remained at Moor Park until 1694, and it is safe to assert that the germs of his life-long at- tachment to his "Stella" were sown during this period.1 From 1694—6, Swift was parson at Kilroot. There he met, fell in love with, proposed to, and was rejected by a Miss Jane War- ing,2 whom he called "Varina". From 1696—9, Swift was again a member of Sir William Temple's family, and "Hessy" Johnson was a blooming lass of fifteen. Swift stayed at Moor Park, and continued his supervision of Bessy's education until the death of Temple in 1699. Shortly after this, he was ap- pointed Secretary to the Earl of Berkeley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and in a few months got the living at Laracor. Just before leaving Dublin, to enter upon his new charge, he re- ceived from Varina a letter offering him, now that his pro- spects had brightened, her hand in marriage. In reply, Swift wrote a formal letter, intimating his willingness to accept, if she would agree to certain conditions. This Miss Jane War- ing did not do.3 In 1701, Swift invited Esther Johnson to come to Ireland. She had lately inherited one thousand pounds from Sir William Temple, and had a little property of her own. Swift argued that she could find better investments for all this in Ireland than in England. She accepted Swift's invitation and came with her companion or chaperon, Mrs. Rebecca Dingley, a woman several years older than Swift. The two women sett- led at Trim, a village two miles from Laracor, where Swift was now pastor. Here they lived till Swift went to England from 1710 —13, Swift visiting them frequently. Then they 1 See foot-note post P. 48. 2 Or Warring. 3 See post P. 39—40. Brought to you by | provisional account Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 8:04 AM 4 ALEXANDER VON W. LESLIE, moved to Dublin, where they continued to live until Mrs. John- son's death in 1727 — 8. They occupied the Deanery, after Swift's appointment as Dean, while he was in England, and moved into adjoining quarters while he was in Dublin. Mrs. Dingley, by Swift's own request, did not, during all these years, relax her position as Stella's formal chaperon. Swift never saw Stella, unless Mrs. Dingley or some one else was present. So strict was he about formalities, that he once wrote a friend,1 that he had never seen Mrs. Johnson in the morn- ing except once or twice while travelling. Yet^ when Swift entertained his guests, Stella assisted him and presided at his table, but only in the character of a guest. Swift seems to have been confessedly Stella's most trusted friend, for when, in the year 1704, a clergyman named Tis- dale desired the hand of Stella, he submitted his proposal to Swift. Swift encouraged Tisdale's suit. Stella rejected it. From 1710—13, we have the Journal to Stella, a regular correspondence, which was never long interrupted during the periods of Swift's absence from her. The letters which Swift wrote were addressed to Stella and to Mrs. Dingley. Swift exacted the promise that they were to be seen by no other eye. Accordingly, we have in them a revelation of the in- most workings of Swift's mind and soul, for he is frequently frank and open in them. He uses in his letters a sort of cipher, which he calls the *little language", which is evidently a continuation of Stella's baby talk. Wlien using this, we find Swift in his most unreserved, natural and charming moods. Mr. Forster has spent much time in trying to interpret just what every D D or P D F R or D E, etc. means, (See For- ster's Life of Swift P. 307—8, 422—3 especially) but I think the charm of it is lost by translating. Suffice it to quote Swift's own remarks about it in one of the letters "Do you know what, when I am writing in our language, I make up my mouth just as if I were speaking it. I caught myself at it just now." 1 Tickell. July 7, 1726. Scott (Vol. XIX. P. 290). "I wonder how you could expect to see her in the morning, which I, her oldest ac- quaintance, have not done these dozen years, except once or twice on a journey." Brought to you by | provisional account Unauthenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 8:04 AM WAS SWIFT MARRIED TO STELLA? 5 From 1700—1713, Swift made occasional visits to England.