Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 19.djvu/242

230 who himself related the circumstance to bishop Berkeley, by whose relict the story was communicated to me.

What Swift meant by the term urgent necessity, unless it alluded to the birth of children, it would be hard to say; but before I proceed any farther in my inquiry, I shall here insert an anecdote, for the authenticity of which I pretend not to vouch. I shall relate it as I heard it, and shall mention the name of my informer, who was Richard Brennan, the servant in whose arms Swift breathed his last, and who attended him during the six years that immediately preceded his death. My informer, who is still living in Dublin, told me, that when he was at school, there was a boy boarded with the master, who was commonly reported to be the dean's son by Mrs. Johnson. He added, that the boy strongly resembled the dean in his complexion; that he dined constantly at the deanery every Sunday; and that, when other boys were driven out of the deanery yard, he was suffered to remain there and divert himself. This boy survived Mrs. Johnson but a year or two at the most.

All I shall remark on this story is, that it is very consistent with the dates of Mrs. Johnson's marriage and death; the former having taken place in 1716, the latter in 1727-8. The story is, however, related merely as the report of the day, and no stress is meant to be laid upon it.

Swift, by marrying Stella at a time when it is pretty certain he ceased to entertain for her any very impassioned