In the language of much critical biography of Johnathan Swift, uneasy terminology dubs him
a soothsayer of the “unthinkable” and “unspeakable”. Swift was not only a writer, of course,
but also a cleric, famously Dean of St Patrick’s in Dublin. Occasional conflict between his
career as writer and cleric is where one such idea of the unthinkable Swift arises. Swift may
have been a writer, but what Swift didn’t write, or couldn’t have written, is also a key concept
for purposes beyond accurate dating or attribution of writings. Swift’s writing hinges around
certain historical circumstances, and it is useful, when regarding the trajectory of his careers,
to consider how he perhaps couldn’t have written what he did at certain times, if the
surrounding circumstances had been different, or had remained the same.
To begin at beginnings. Swift was born in Ireland, of English parents in 1645, and as so his
fate as such was always ambiguous, to be one of the English of Ireland. His father had moved
from England like many of his countrymen, in 1660, with the Restoration of Charles II and the
opportunities for employment this presented for loyal English gentlemen in Ireland. In his
life and writings, and in the critical heritage bequeathed, Swift relationship with Ireland is
complex and varied. Swift, as Carol Fabricant notes, spent most of his adult life in Ireland.
Swift’s father died soon after his birth, so it fell upon an uncle to provide the young Swift
with an education, and after attending Kilkenny College, he entered Trinity College Dublin in
1682. As in Kilkenny College, the ethos of Trinity was grounded in religion, with most
graduates taking Holy Orders with the Anglican Church of Ireland. Swift did not excel at
what might be considered a conservative course of study, graduating by speciala gratia or
special favour. Swift was occasionally disparaging towards his studies, though some have
traced the composition or rudimentary ideas of later works to his time in Trinity College.
What is most significant, perhaps, about Swift’s formal education, are the circumstances of its
termination. Three years after Swift entered Trinity College, Charles II died, and the accession
of the Roman Catholic James II marked the end any uneasy security which the protestant
Swift might have enjoyed. With the outbreak of civil war in 1688, Trinity College suspended
its session, with many students faring abroad to avoid the unrest in Ireland.
Impelled by such instability, Swift ended up beginning his career in the summer of 1689as
secretary to Sir William Temple, a distinguished retired diplomat and man of letters, on his
estate at Moor Park in Surrey. This timely appointment in England was arranged through an
association between Swift’s family and Temple’s father. Temple is often construed as a
formative influence on Swift, from whom he certainly acquired many of his political and
moral doctrines. Yet Swift’s duties at Moor Park were hardly taxing, more dependent on his
literacy and knowledge of the modern languages of diplomacy than anything else. Mainly
transcribing works by Temple, he was, in McMinn’s words (p10) a literary menial. However,
Swift had begun to dabble in verse, and his earliest writing ventures were in the form of
Pindaric odes, in conscious imitation of Abraham Cowley, a poet much admired by Swift in
his youth. No doubt Swift subscribed to Cowley’s muse “QUOTE”, yet the early odes are
surely somewhat more sombre and affected than Swift’s later verse and more characteristic
writing. They are as Ehrenpreis notes p106?? free of irony. A story, perhaps apocryphal,
worth noting, is that of Dryden, actually a distant cousin of Swift’s, dismissing these early
attempts at verse. “QUOTE”. The first surviving work of Swifts is one of these odes, the 1691
“Ode to the King on his Irish Expedition”. This of course referred to King William of Orange
who had in 1690 defeated James II at the Battle of the Boyne. Yet this had been by no means a
decisive victory, as the Jacobite army had not been defeated untill Aughrim in August 1691.
Odes – to Temple – Athenian Society – first that Swift successfully solicited publication for.
Likely these odes circulated mainly in manuscript, relationship with Temple approached
patronage, already a somewhat anachronistic scheme with the rise of a commercial print
culture.
Swift clearly had ambitions beyond that of secretary to the retired Temple. In 1694 he left
Moor Park and was ordained an Anglican priest in Dublin. His several years absence had to
be explained, though Temple gave satisfactory account of his time at Moor Park. As an
ordained cleric, he now began a sort of second apprenticeship, and his career as a churchman
would remain an important ancillary to his roles as pamphleteer or satirist. Swift, already a
principled conservative, believed in an ideal, almost feudal, fusion of church and state.
However, the established Church was in Ireland a curious entity, with the majority of the
population in the south Roman Catholic, and in the rural north, Presbyterian. After taking
Holy Orders, he was sent to Kilroot, in County Antrim. Here he experienced ministering to
an Anglican congregation in an area where Presbyterianism was pervasive. He had little
toleration for zealous dissent, and spent only a year at Kilroot, before returning to Temples’s
service in Moor Park.
With the death of Temple in 1699, though, Swift’s career as private secretary was to end. No
opportunity for preferment in England had presented itself. Indeed, Swift’s famed audience
with King William, to plead Temples argument on behalf of a bill to extend parliamentary
rights, had been unsuccessful. Differences between two – literary…Swift disagree with that
bill…
So Swift, forced to return to Ireland, maintaining the “pattern of restless migration” which
had marked his career from the start; ill health having forced his first brief return to the land
of his birth after just a year in the service of Temple. After ten years, though, Swift had
reached a position of some responsibility in Temple’s household, overseeing the execution of
his will, and also editing and arranging the publication of Temple’s works; a volume of
miscellanies in 1701, another of correspondence in 1703 and memoirs 1n 1709. (Compare
dedication with intellignecer no9?). He had also made the acquaintance of Esther Johnson,
daughter of Temple’s steward. Swift acted as her tutor, and nicknamed her “Stella”, later
celebrating their deep friendship in the eponymous “birthday poems”. She was also to
become a confidant and correspondent of her onetime instructor, and Swift maintained close
friendship with her all her life.
On returning to Ireland, Swift was appointed as secretary and chaplain to the Earl of
Berkeley, Lord Justice of Ireland. While this employment might suggest resonance with his
role at Moor Park, the trajectory of Swift’s career was taking a tangent towards the centre of
political power. Berkeley was an important figure in the Irish administration, recently arisen
to this status, as opposed to the retired Temple. While serving Berkeley, he was presented to
the vicarage of Laracor, near Dublin, in 1700. Yet Swift was back in Ireland, where his
prospects were somewhat less attractive than in England. London still dominated the cultural
and intellectual landscape, and it is little surprise that it was in London Swift had published
his first truly remarkable work. He had of course been visiting London regulary, either on
business with Berkely, or to arrange the publication of Temple’s writings. The first volume of
Temple’s work to be published were the miscellanies, in 1701, followed by a volume of
correspondence, in 1703.
Ostensibly a satire on false learning and religious dissent, A Tale Of A Tub, appeared
anonymously in 1705. Included in the volume were The Mechanical Operation Of The Spirit,
a “fragment”, and the “Full and true account” of The Battle Of The Books. A Tale Of A Tub,
in its sprawling digressive structure, surely matches the “pattern of restless migration” which
characterised the period in Swift’s life when it could have been composed. It is likely to have
begun in Kilroot, where the local prevalence of religious fervour would no doubt have been
quite an impetus; though some early biography (Deane) considered that it might have dated,
at least in part, from Swift’s college days. In the main, A Tale Of A Tub dates from Swift’s
employment at Moor Park, composed, like his early verse, as a clandestine pursuit outside of
his duties there. Swift obviously always intended it for publication in London, though the
death of Temple may have set back this plan. The satire on religious abuses is laid out by
way of the allegorical tale of corruption, while the attack on unlearned literature is dealt with
in a series of digressions. The categorical divide is not constant, though, and neither of the
Tale’s companion pieces serves to stabilise the scope of the satire. The Mechanical Operation
Of The Spirit, while dealing with religious enthusiasm, still has an ambiguous status in
relation to the Tale. The Battle Of The Books most closely betrays Temple’s influence. It is
likely to have been composed in 1697, while the “Ancients and Moderns” controversy was
raging around Temple’s Essay on Ancient and Modern Learning.
Books – TEMPLE….but – literary radicalism?? Would Temple approve…cf Mary Barber…
NB - censure ….church….ANONYMITY….fifth edition.spring 1710
Swift’s satire at this point….”a parasitic fomr which feeds off the very thing it wishes to
exorcise”.
Swift’s other activity while with Berkely – maybe insert above at corr pub…
Broomstick 1704…THOUGHTS on various subjects… 1708 Bickerstaff…
1707….pleading for first fruits for CoI…
Politics – whigs…steele and addisson…. Steele publishes description of a city morning….in
Tatler, “borrows” Bickerstaff…
1710…summer in Ireland back to England…description of city shower published, wellreceived, praise from addisson and prior, but still no luck on first fruits… tense
politically…dismissal of whig ministers since august…begins journal to stella…
October, TORY landslide victory …(month pub shower), meets harley, godolphins
replacement… first fruits looks promising..also meets st john Ehrenpreis 406-22 courted by
tories…takes over examiner:
Begins his incarnation as TORY PROPAGNADIST…The examiner appears weekly from 1710
– 1711, Swift contributing 33 articles…associates whigs with monied interest…espousing gvt
policy…
Also, getting 1711 miscellanies together…quite apart from tory prop, plans history last four
years of the queen. At this point worth noting trajectory Swift’s career again, he’d got first
furits, but still only vicazr of Laracor. Hoping now for English bishropic. Meets pope,