Immediately after Swift's death the head was opened, and much water was found in the brain. Subsequently to the post mortem examination, a plaster mask was taken from his face; and from this a bust was made, which is now in the Museum of Dublin University. This bust is engraved for Mr. Wilde's book. He thinks it the best likeness of Swift during the last years of his life.

In 1835, some repairs of St. Patrick's Cathedral rendered it necessary to expose several coffins, and amongst others, those of Swift and Stella. The identity of Swift's skull was established beyond all doubt, and an examination of it with the bust in the College Musem, proved the bust to be that of Swift, of which some doubt had been entertained. The skull exhibited where the saw had passed after death; and in the bust, "a deep indention, running nearly parallel with the brow, shows where the calvarium had been sawn, and the pericranium drawn over it subsequently, and this indentation accurately corresponds with the division of the skull found in Swift's coffin in 1835, proving incontestably the identity of both." The phrenologists and pathologists had the opportunity of discussing the subject, each in his own way. There was so much appearance of diseased action during life in the membranes of the frontal region of the brain, as almost to prove the existence of insanity, which yet some of Swift's biographers would affirm to have never, in any proper sense of the word, existed; and such change of the original structure of the outer parts of the skull as to prevent any fair inference being drawn for or against the craniologists, though the organ of wit was found deficient, and amativeness, to their discomfiture, was in excess. The value of this investigation, we think, is confined to its decisive effect in authenticating the bust, which is now for the first time engraved. Scott mentions this bust, and says-but that is a mistake-that it was engraved for Dr. Barrett's Essay on Swift's Early Life.

Of Stella, Mr. Wilde has given us a portrait, engraved from one preserved in the house, which, in Swift's time, had belonged to the Fords-his and Stella's fast friendsand which portrait, there seems distinct evidence, has been ever since regarded as that of Stella."The hair," says Mr. Wilde, "is jet black, the eyes dark to match, the forehead high and expansive, the nose rather

It is

and well-marked. She is attired in a plain white dress, with a blue scarf, and around her bust a blue ribbon, to which a locket appears to be attached, and she wears a white and red rose." Mr. Wilde is a believer in the marriage of Swift and Stella. said by Swift's biographers, that Stella, in making her will, left her property to a public charity, instead of giving it to Swift, and that this was the dictate of impatient feeling, at finding year pass after year without his acknowledging their marriage. Mr. Wilde quotes a letter of Swift's written two years before Stella's death, which shows that this disposition of Stella's property was by Swift's wish; and in Stella's will, as well as his own, is a clause altering the disposition of the property in the event of Church of England Episcopacy ceasing to be the established religion of the kingdom. Stella's will is in her own name-Esther Johnson; we believe she had no other. Her property was given to found a chaplaincy in Steven's Hospital; and contains a provision that the chaplain shall be unmarried, and vacate on marriage. This, Mr. Mason thinks inconsistent with her having at the time any feeling of such a grievous injury, as Swift's conduct would have been inflicting on her, if the romance which has almost passed ineffaceably into the lives of Swift had any foundation in truth. Mr. Wilde gives us the inscription over Stella's last resting-place in the Cathedral. By her will, she had directed that a decent monument of plain, white marble might be fixed in the wall, not exceeding the value of twenty pounds. He tells us, following some former critic, that the praise is not "from the pen of any skillful eulogist;" perhaps not; but Scott thought it must have been written by the Dean himself. After her name is given, she is said to have been "better known by the name of Stella, under which she is celebrated in the writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of this Cathedral." "This," said Sir Walter, when reading it in the Cathedral, "the Dean might say; any one else would have said more. "The precise date of the erection has not been ascertained," says Mr. Wilde, "but it does not appear to have been during the Dean's lifetime." In a volume of travels through Ireland, published in 1778, the author mentions the inscriptional tablet to Stella " lately erected." Indeed, we think Scott was scarcely right in thinking the Dean would

*Lockhart's Life of Scott.

as

that he regarded the college itself with kindliness. He wished, indeed, that the new professorships of royal foundation should be open to others than the Fellows of Dublin College, and, especially considering the restrictions which then prevented the fellows from marrying, we have little doubt that he was right. In writing to Lord Carteret, he says, that the rule that he wishes adopted is that followed in Oxford and Cambridgethat which the college wished, was one "that only tended"-such is Swift's argument" to mend fellowships and spoil professorships." He, however, expresses a wish, that " any person whose education has been in this university should be preferred before another of equal deservings.'

66

At no time after the break-up of the Bolingbroke and Oxford ministry had Swift any voice in questions of Church patronage. Still there are proofs of his doing all he could to promote the interests of the best men in the Irish Church, as, for instance, Berkley and Stopford. His appointments in his Cathedral are mentioned with high praise; and he appears to have resisted all solicitation which would interfere with the proper exercise of his duties in this respect. Lady Carteret, the wife of the Lord Lieutenant, on one occasion sought the appointment as Vicar-Coral for some person in whom she felt an interest. His reply was an honest one, though marked with his own caustic humor. Upon my conscience, Madam, if you applied to me for a Deanery or a Bishopric, and it were in my power to give it, you should have it in an instant; because these are preferments where merit is no way concerned, But in this, Madam, my conscience and my credit interpose; for this man's merit is to be brought to the test every day; and how must I appear, either to my own conscience or to the eye of the world, if I prefer undeserving persons to such stations! I know nothing of music, Madam. I would not give a farthing for all the music in the universe. For my own part, I would rather say my prayers without it; but, as long as it is thought by the skillful to contribute to the dignity of the public worship, by the blessing of God, it shall never be disgraced by me, nor I hope by any of my successors, as long as this poor oppressed Church of Ireland lasts, which I think (as things go) cannot be long."

Swift's economical habits were of use both to the Deanery and to his successors. Better habits of business were introduced; and the funds of the cathedral were both increas

ed, by Swift's exacting larger rents, and were distributed in strict accordance with their original destination. The evidence before us satisfies us, that in the application of these funds, which had been before lavishly wasted, or diverted from their proper objects, Swift did good, which has lasted even to our own days. On the subject of his dealings with tenants, we are far from sure that he deserves the praises given him. In all these cases of rents paid to great corporations, the persons acting for a public body think, that in the management of landed property, all that they have to do is to extort the largest amount of money, whether by rent or by fine, from the farmer. The truth is, that there duties connected with property of the kind which bodies of the kind are unable to perform, and accordingly, with scarcely an exception, the tenants on such lands are in a most miserable condition, and the lands themselves almost everywhere neglected.

There is no very good edition of Swift. Scott's is no doubt the best, but it is carelessly printed; and the precise dates of the first publication, and many of the political tracts, are in many instances not given, and we are sorry to be obliged to add, are in many instances incorrectly given. The original edition of Gulliver's Travels differed materially in many passages from those that followed in rapid succession. No one has carefully collated them, or, at all events, no one has published the result of such a collation; and the readers of Walpole and Lord Hervey will be able to judge how very probable it is, that such parts of the work as were intended to give a satirical description of the court of George the Second, are likely to be rendered more intelligible by examining the changes which Swift made in the successive editions. Of Gulliver's Travels, the best edition is Dr. Taylor's ;* and his notes are of great value in explaining much that would otherwise be obscure. Still, without a collation of the earlier editions with the present, any edition must be imperfect.

Stories resting absolutely on no authority whatever, and Swift's hatred of all affectation, have given to him something of the character of irreverence and buffoonery in his ministrations as a clergyman. Nothing could be in more entire contrast with all his habits than the slightest irreverence. It was not alone a regard for the decencies of his position, but a sincere feeling of piety that would

*London: Hayward and Moore.

have repressed the slightest tendency to lev-, ity on such occasions. We dwell on this, because this feature of Swift's mind has been misunderstood by good men. For instance, in Wilberforce's " Diary," we find the following entry: Looked into Swift's letters -what a thoroughly irreligious mind-no trace of Sunday to be found in his journals or his letters to his most intimate friends." That there is some ground for Wilberforce's surprise at a correspondence extending over so many years, making so few allusions to the Sunday, is natural enough-indeed we scarcely remember it, except mentioned as his dinner day with Harley; but had Wilberforce remembered Hawkesworth's account of Swift in this particular, he probably would not have spoken with such severity.

"An abhorrence of hypocrisy was a striking particular of Swift's character; but it is difficult to determine whether it was more a virtue than a vice, for it brought upon him the charge of irreligion, and encouraged others to be irreligious.

and at the sacrament, yet he appeared to neglect both, as he was at home when others were at church; and when he went to prayers in his family, the servants assembled at the appointed from a bell, or any other call except the striking hour, as it were by stealth, without any notice of the clock; so that Dr. Delany was for six months in his family before he suspected him of this unfashionable practice."

When it is remembered, that through Swift's whole course a mysterious disease interrupted all the enjoyments and all the business of life, and more or less affected his mental health-when it is remembered that the good which he did rests on no doubtful or erring testimony, but even yet exists in the benevolent institutions which he founded-when it is remembered that the capricious cruelty imputed to him in domestic life, so far from being proved, is really irreconcilable with all the known facts of the case we think our readers will concur with us in the feeling long ago expressed by Pope:

incomparable man, will accompany him through life, and pursue his memory were I to live an hundred lives, as many of his works will live, which are absolutely original, unequalled, unexampled. His humanity, his charity, his condescension, his candor, are equal to his wit-all require as good and true a taste to be equally valued."

SPEAK Softly to the fatherless!
And check the harsh reply

That sends the crimson to the cheek,
The tear-drop to the eye.
They have the weight of loneliness
In this rude world to bear;
Then gently raise the fallen bud,
The drooping floweret spare.

Speak kindly to the fatherless!
The lowliest of their band
God keepeth, as the waters,
In the hollow of his hand.

"Tis sad to see life's evening sun

Go down in sorrow's shroud, But sadder still when morning's dawn Is darkened by the cloud.

Look mildly on the fatherless!

Ye may have power to wile Their hearts from sadden'd memory By the magic of a smile. Deal gently with these little ones, Be pitiful, and He

The friend and father of us all

Shall gently deal with thee!