584 SWIFT. A fortnight after his entrance on the deanery, Swift hastened back to London, where he continued busied in politics, and confederated with the greatest wits of the age till the death of Queen Anne. During this period he was constantly endeavouring to exchange his Irish pro motion, so little was he pleased with his treatment there, for some correspondent dignity in England: but in this he was disappointed; and on the final stop which was put to his expectations by the death of the queen, he returned to his native country, where he continued many years devoured by spleen, or, according to his own expression, “like a poisoned rat in his hole.” During his previous residence at Laracor, he had in vited to Ireland a Miss Johnson, daughter of Sir William Temple's steward, but who is better known by the name of Stella. She was accompanied by an elderly lady; and whatever attachment Swift might then have felt for her, the greatest care was taken to prevent scandal. They never lived in the same house, nor were they ever known to meet, except in the presence of a third person. When in England, in 1709, he was introduced to the family of Mrs. Vanhomrigh, the widow of a merchant of consi derable opulence. Attaching himself much to them, he was soon regarded as one of the family, and during their familiarity, insensibly became a kind of preceptor to the daughters. The eldest, Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, better known by the name of Vanessa, of a character naturally vain and romantic, became attached to the man who was favoured, flattered, feared, and admired by the greatest men in the nation. Smitten at first with the character of Swift, her affections by degrees extended themselves to his person. He had taught her “That virtue, pleased by being shewn, Knows nothing which it dare not own; That common forms were not designed Directors to a noble mind:” and she had heard the lessons with attention, and imbibed the philosophy with eagerness. The maxims suited her exalted mind; but the close connexion between soul and
