Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/587

 SWIFT. 383 Davenant to be sent abroad, and took out h i s pocket-book and wrote down several things, a s memoranda, t o d o for him. He turned t o the fire, and took out his gold watch, and, telling the time o f the day, complained i t was very late. A gentleman said, “he was too fast.’ “How can I help it,” says the doctor, “if the courtiers give me a watch that won't g o right o ' Then h e instructed a young noble man, that the best poet i n England was Mr. Pope ( a Papist), who had begun a translation o f Homer into English verse; for which ‘he must have 'em a l l subscribe;’ for, says he, the author shall not begin t o print till I have a thousand guineas for him. Lord treasurer, after leaving the queen, came through the room beckoning Dr. Swift t o follow him: both went off just before prayers.” Notwithstanding this great influence, h e remained with out preferment till 1713, when h e was appointed Dean o f St. Patrick's, Dublin, which, though i n point o f power and revenue, n o inconsiderable promotion, appeared t o the ambitious mind o f Swift, merely a n honourable and pro fitable banishment. I n this temper h e arrived i n Ireland t o take possession o f his new honours; and his acrimony was not a little increased b y his reception there. The people o f Ireland, regarding him a s a Jacobite, hooted and pelted him a s h e passed along the streets; and the chapter o f St. Patrick's received him with the greatest reluctance, thwarting him i n every particular h e proposed. He was avoided a s a pestilence, opposed a s a n invader, and marked out a s a n enemy t o his country. Such was o n this occasion the reception o f a man whose popularity afterwards rose t o s o commanding a height, that h e may b e said t o have governed the people o f Ireland with abso lute and unlimited power. He now made n o longer a stay i n Ireland than was requisite t o establish himself i n his deanery, and t o pass through the necessary formalities and customs; or, i n his own words— “through all vexations, Patents, instalments, abjurations, First-fruits, and tenths, and chapter-treats, Dues, payments, fees, demands, and—cheats."