Swift

(swift.) (Zool.) See CYPSELIDE. Swift, JONATHAN, an eminent divine and humoristic author, was B. in Dublin in 1667, and received his education at Trinity Coll., in that city. After graduating there, he filled for some time the position of secretary to Sir William Temple, and taking his M.A. degree at Oxford in 1692, entered holy orders. In 1700 he became rector of Laracor, a living in the co. Meath, Ireland, embarked upon authorship, and, taking up his residence in London, rose high among the literati of his time. S. changed his politics as he changed his wig; and, after having published a pamphlet entitled The Conduct of the Allies (1712), in which he urged the abandonment of the war against France, was rewarded therefor by govt. with the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin. In 1716, after a liaison with Esther Vanhomrigh, the " Vane a" of his pen, he secretly married in 1716 her rival Esther Johnson, whom he has celebrated under the name of " Stella." D. 1745.-S.'s writings deservedly hold a high place in literature. His wit and humor, though somewhat coarse after the manner of his day, po e a pungency of flavor that has been compared with that of dry champagne. His powers of description were only equalled by Defoe among his contemporaries. As a political lampooner, S. was amazingly skilful, and bitingly sarcastic. His masterpiece is usually accounted to be The Tale of a Tub, than which nothing can be fuller of dry, quaint, pointed humor-not even the pages of Rabelais. Among his other notable productions may be cited The Battle of the Books, and that perennial sermon in burlesque, the Travels of Lemuel Gulliver. [s. 871]