DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS
The story of Jonathan Swift and of the two women who gave their livesfor love of him is familiar to every student of English literature.Swift himself, both in letters and in politics, stands out a conspicuousfigure in the reigns of King William III and Queen Anne. By writingGulliver's Travels he made himself immortal. The external facts of hissingular relations with two charming women are sufficiently well known;but a definite explanation of these facts has never yet been given.Swift held his tongue with a repellent taciturnity. No one ever daredto question him. Whether the true solution belongs to the sphere ofpsychology or of physiology is a question that remains unanswered.
But, as the case is one of the most puzzling in the annals of love, itmay be well to set forth the circumstances very briefly, to weigh thetheories that have already been advanced, and to suggest another.
Jonathan Swift was of Yorkshire stock, though he happened to be born inDublin, and thus is often spoken of as "the great Irish satirist," or"the Irish dean." It was, in truth, his fate to spend much of his lifein Ireland, and to die there, near the cathedral where his remains nowrest; but in truth he hated Ireland and everything connected with it,just as he hated Scotland and everything that was Scottish. He was anEnglishman to the core.
High-stomached, proud, obstinate, and over-mastering, independence was