dent dignity in England, but in this he was disappointed, and the queen's death putting an entire end to his expectations, he went back to Ireland, where he continued many years devoured by spleen, and, in his own eloquent language, "like a poisoned rat in his hole."

He amused himself with writing bis travels of Gulliver, and some other pieces, but did not engage again directly in politicks till the year 1720, when he published "A Proposal for the universal use of Irish Manufactures."

The oc

Finding himself rooted in Ireland, he was now determined to become popular among the inhabitants of that kingdom, and he succeeded. In 1724 the publication of the Drapier's Letters made him the idol of the Irish nation. casion was this:-one Wood projected a coinage of half-pence for that kingdom, and obtained a patent. The money was execrable, and Swift addressed a series of letters to the people, urging them not to take the base coin. His wit and his arguments were irresistible; the whole nation followed the advice of the Drapier, and Wood was obliged to decamp with his patent. The government offered a large reward to discover the author of the letters, but, as he says

Not a Judas could be found,

To sell him for three hundred pound.

The day after the proclamation came out against the Drapier, there was a full levee at the

castle,

castle. The lord lieutenant was going round the circle, when Swift entered the room, with marks of the highest indignation in his countenance, and having pushed through the crowd, he addressed Lord Carteret, the viceroy, in a voice which echoed through the room, inveighing in the bitterest terms against Wood and his patent, and on the fatal consequences which must result from the introduction of base coin. The circle of obeisant courtiers was filled with astonishment, and a dead silence prevailed, which was broken by Lord Carteret, who appropriately addressed the dean in this passage from Virgil:

Res duræ, et regni novit asme talia cogunt
Moliri.

Nothing was talked of for some days but the intrepidity of the dean, and the ingenuity of the Lord Lieutenant.

About the same time, and while the prosecution was going on, the dean waited at the castle, for an audience of Lord Carteret, till his patience was tired out; on which he wrote the following lines on a window, and departed,

My very good lord, 'tis a very hard task,

For a man to wait here who has nothing to ask.

His Lordship, soon afterwards wrote underneath :

My very good dean, there are few who come here,
But have something to ask, or something to fear.

Swift, who had now obtained the pinnacle of popularity, in Ireland, again visited England, in the hopes, no doubt, of attaining the great object of his desires, a settlement here, but his adverse fortune constantly drove him back, discontented, to what he termed, a "wretched kingdom, where he unfortunately happened to be dropped."

In 1726, appeared his Gulliver's Travels, the copy of which he gave to Pope, who sold it for three hundred pounds. Swift was at this time in England, and had two interviews with Sir Robert Walpole. Once he entered the levee room of the minister, but was not known by the company, till Sir Robert came in and addressed him by name. The dean immediately said, "For God's sake, Sir Robert, take me out of that cursed country, and place me somewhere in England."-" Mr. Dean," replied the minister, "I should be glad to oblige you, but I fear that removing you would spoil your wit-look on that tree (pointing at one under the window) I transplanted it from Houghton, to the side of the Thames, but it is good for nothing here. "The company laughed, and the dean turned away without saying another word.

At another time Swift and Sir Robert were standing by a window which looked into a court yard, where there was an old ivy, drooping to the ground; "Sir," said Swift, with an emphatic look, "I am like that ivy, I want support."-Sir Robert answered, "Why then doctor, did you at

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