Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/121

 DEAN SWIFT 81 wrote his little poem of " Cadenus and Vanessa." The young lady from this time was called Vanessa ; and her mother dying in 1714, she and her sister followed the dean to Ireland, where he frequently visited them ; and he kept up a literary correspondence with Vanessa until her death, which followed closely on a bitter quarrel with him. In the year 1 720 he began to reassume the character of a political writer. A small pamphlet, in defence of the Irish manufactories, was supposed to be his first essay, in Ireland, in that kind of writing ; and to that pamphlet he owed the turn of the popular tide in his favor. The pamphlet recommended the universal use of the Irish manufactures within the kingdom. Some little pieces of poetry to the same purpose were no less acceptable and engaging ; nor was the dean's at- tachment to the true interest of Ireland any longer doubted. His patriotism was as manifest as his wit ; he was looked upon with pleasure and respect as he passed through the streets, and had attained to so high a degree of popularity as to become the arbitrator in disputes among his neighbors. But the popular affection which the dean had hitherto acquired, may be said not to have been universal until the publication of the Drapier's Letters, in 1 724, which made all ranks and professions universal in his applause. These letters were occasioned by a patent having been obtained by one William Wood, to coin ,180,000 of halfpence for the use of Ireland. The dean, in character of a draper, wrote a series of letters to the people, urging them not to receive this money ; and Wood, though powerfully supported, was compelled to withdraw his patent, and his money was totally suppressed. Never was any name bestowed with more universal approbation than the name of the Drapier was bestowed upon the dean, who had no sooner assumed it than he became the idol of Ireland, even to a de- gree of devotion ; and bumpers were poured forth to the Drapier, as large and as frequent as to the glorious and immortal memory of King William III. Ac- clamations and vows for his prosperity attended him wherever he went, and his portrait was painted in every street in Dublin. The dean was consulted in all points relating to domestic policy in general, and to the trade of Ireland in particular ; but he was more immediately looked on as the legislator of the weavers, who frequently came to him in a body to receive his advice in settling the rates of their manufactures, and the wages of their journeymen. When elections were pending for the city of Dublin, many of the companies refused to declare themselves till they had consulted his senti- ments and inclinations. In 1727 died his beloved Stella, in the forty-fourth year of her age, regretted by the dean with such excess of sorrow as only the keenest sensibility could feel, and the most excellent character excite. After the death of Stella his life be- came very retired, and the austerity of his temper increased ; his public days for receiving company were discontinued, and he even shunned the society of his most intimate friends. We have now conducted the dean through the most interesting circumstances of his life, to the fatal period wherein he was utterly deprived of his reason, a 6