Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/224

 the grand jury, who threw out the bill against the printer. Another grand jury presented Wood's halfpence as a nuisance. Swift became the idol of the people. Ballads were sung in his honour and clubs in honour of the ‘Drapier’ formed in every tavern. The patent had to be surrendered, and the victory was complete. Swift wrote a final letter as ‘Drapier’ on 24 Dec. addressed to Lord Molesworth, ironically apologising for errors caused by his simplicity as a tradesman. A seventh letter, addressed to parliament, going over the list of Irish grievances, did not appear, if written, at this time, but was added to the edition of 1735.

Swift's triumph as ‘Drapier’ suggested the possibility of his again taking part in politics. He had kept up an intermittent correspondence with the old ‘Scriblerus’ set, and with Bolingbroke, who was in 1725 permitted to return to England and settled at Dawley. Swift had been frequently invited to visit his friends, and now resolved to come, bringing literary and political projects. He left Dublin for London in March 1725–6, and, after a visit to Gay at Whitehall, spent most of his time with Pope at Twickenham. Hugh Boulter [q. v.] had now been appointed to the Irish primacy, and was virtually the representative of Walpole in place of the lord lieutenant. He advised that a watch should be kept upon Swift (, Letters, i. 62). Walpole invited Swift to dinner (to Lady Betty Germaine, 8 Jan. 1732–3), and Swift afterwards obtained an interview. He wrote an account of it next day to Peterborough, with a request that it should be shown to Walpole (to Peterborough, 28 April 1726). Swift, according to this remarkable document, complained that the Englishmen whose ancestors had conquered Ireland were treated as Irishmen; that their manufactures were restrained; all preferments given to others; the gentry forced to rack their tenants; and the nation controlled by laws to which they did not consent. Walpole, he says, took an entirely different view; Swift ‘absolutely broke with him’—never saw him again, and for the time refused even to see the lord lieutenant (to Stopford, 20 July 1726). Meanwhile he was on friendly terms with Pulteney, who was now forming an alliance with Bolingbroke against Walpole. He was paying some court to the princess, soon to become Queen Caroline, to whom he was at once presented by Arbuthnot, and to Mrs. Howard, afterwards Lady Suffolk, the princess's friend and the prince's mistress. He made a present of Irish silks to them, and had a promise, never fulfilled, of a present of medals from the princess.

Meanwhile Swift, with Pope and Arbuthnot, was collecting fragments of the old Scriblerus scheme, which were put together in the volumes of ‘Miscellanies,’ of which the first two were published by Pope in 1727. He had also brought with him the finished manuscript of ‘Gulliver's Travels.’ The book had been begun about 1720, a date suggested by a passage at the conclusion. An allusion to the incident is made by Vanessa about that time, and Bolingbroke speaks of the ‘Travels’ on 1 June 1721–2. It is frequently discussed by Pope's friends as the time of publication approached, and on 8 Nov. 1726 Arbuthnot prophesies that it will have as great a run as Bunyan. Swift chose, however, to keep up for a time an affectation of secrecy, and the publication was managed by Pope. It appeared at the end of October 1726 (2nd ed. May 1727; cf. Gent. Mag. 1855, ii. 34). Through Pope's management Swift obtained 200l. for the copyright, and this, he says, was the only occasion on which he ever made a farthing by his writings (to Pulteney, 12 May 1735). Pope apparently got Erasmus Lewis [q. v.] to transact the business (see, Pope, p. 239). The work made an instantaneous success. Lady Bolingbroke remarks in February 1726–1727 that it has been already translated into French, and soon afterwards that two plays have been founded upon it. The first translation was by the Abbé des Fontaines, who explained in his preface that he had suppressed much, to avoid shocking the good taste of Frenchmen. He sent a copy to Swift, who did not appreciate the improvement (Des Fontaines to Swift, 4 July 1727, and reply). Critics, he said, had declared that ‘Gulliver’ would last as long as the language, because it described the vices of man in all countries. It had, at any rate, an extraordinary combination of qualities which made it at once a favourite book of children and a summary of bitter scorn for mankind. Swift reports to Pope (17 Nov. 1726) an excellent testimony to one quality—an Irish bishop had said that it was full of improbable lies, and that he hardly believed a word of it.

Swift had been tormented during his stay in England by grave reports of Stella's state of health. He shows the profoundest feeling in writing to his friends in Dublin, and at the same time expresses his anxiety that her death may not occur in the deanery, for fear of scandal, and laments the close friendship which has caused such cruel suffering (to Worrall, 15 July, and Stopford,