Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 1.djvu/326

 Dr. Raymond, vicar of that parish. Swift grew so enamoured of this course of life, that he seemed to wish for nothing more than a continuance of it. The charming society and delightful conversation of the amiable and accomplished Stella, had, by long habitude, become essential to his happiness, and made him lose all relish for every other enjoyment of life, when absent from her. All the more vigorous springs of his mind were relaxed and lost their tone; and even the powerful passions of ambition, and desire of wealth, were wholly absorbed in this truly voluptuous state, wherein was constantly mixed

The feast of reason, and the flow of soul.

A state of true epicurean happiness, and a source of pleasures beyond the conception of the sensualist, which, far from cloying, still increase by enjoyment, and which can only be the portion of the more exalted minds, and refined spirits of this world. It is certain that Swift's soul was so entangled by these charms, of a different kind indeed, but not less powerful than those of Circe, that it was with the utmost reluctance he disengaged himself from them, though but for a short time; nor could any thing but a sense of duty, and a desire of serving the church, make him accept of a commission for that purpose, which occasioned his journey to London in September, 1710. In his first letter to Mrs. Johnson, on his arrival at Chester, he says — "I am perfectly resolved to return as soon as I have done my commission, whether it succeeds or not. I never went to England with so little desire in my life." In the January following he says — "Farewell, dearest " loved