DEAN SWIFT.IRISH WIT AND HUMOR,
ANECDOTE BIOGRAPHY
OF
SWIFT, CURRAN, O'LEARY
AND O'CONNELL.
NEW YORK:
J. A. McGEE, 9 BARCLAY STREET.
1872.
Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1871, byJames McGee in the office of the Librarian of Congress, atWashington.
Stereotyped at the New York Catholic Protectory, West Chester, N. Y.
CONTENTS.
DEAN SWIFT.
HIS BIRTH.
Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, was born a.d. 1667,in Hoey's Court, Dublin, the fourth house, right hand side, as you enterfrom Werburgh-street. The houses in this court still bear evidence ofhaving been erected for the residence of respectable folks. The "Dean'sHouse," as it is usually designated, had marble chimney-pieces, waswainscotted from hall to garret, and had panelled oak doors, one ofwhich is in possession of Doctor Willis, Rathmines—a gentleman whotakes a deep interest in all matters connected with the history of hisnative city.
SINGULAR EVENT.
When Swift was a year old, an event happened to him that seems veryunusual; for his nurse, who was a woman of Whitehaven, being under theabsolute necessity of seeing one of her relations, who was thenextremely sick, and from whom she expected a legacy; and being extremelyfond of the infant, she stole him on shipboard unknown to his mother anduncle, and carried him with her to Whitehaven, where he continued foralmost three years. For, when the matter was discovered, his mother sentorders by all means not to hazard a second voyage till he could bebetter able to bear it. The nurse was so careful of him that before hereturned he had learned to spell; and by the time that he was five yearsold, he could read any chapter in the Bible.
After his return to Ireland he was sent at six years old to the schoolof Kilkenny, from whence at fourteen he was admitted into the DublinUniversity.
A CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE.
Swift, in one of his pedestrian journeys from London towards Chester, isreported to have taken shelter from a summer tempest under a large oakon the road side, at no great distance from Litchfield. Presently, aman, with a pregnant woman, wore driven by the like impulse to availthemselves of the same covert. The Dean, entering into conversation,found the parties were destined for Litchfield to be married. As thesituation of the woman indicated no time should be lost, a propositionwas made on his part to save them the rest of the journey, by performingthe ceremony on the spot. The offer was gladly accepted, and thanksbeing duly returned, the bridal pair, as the sky brightened, was aboutto return: but the bridegroom suddenly recollecting that a certificatewas requisite