a better
before I was called into the best, _and not die here in a rage, like a
poisoned rat in a hole_."

We have spoken about the men, and Swift's behaviour to them; and now it
behoves us not to forget that there are certain other persons in the
creation who had rather intimate relations with the great Dean. Two
women whom he loved and injured are known by every reader of books so
familiarly that if we had seen them, or if they had been relatives of our
own, we scarcely could have known them better. Who hasn't in his mind an
image of Stella? Who does not love her? Fair and tender creature: pure
and affectionate heart! Boots it to you, now that you have been at rest
for a hundred and twenty years, not divided in death from the cold heart
which caused yours, whilst it beat, such faithful pangs of love and
grief--boots it to you now, that the whole world loves and deplores you?
Scarce any man, I believe, ever thought of that grave; that did not cast
a flower of pity on it, and write over it a sweet epitaph. Gentle lady,
so lovely, so loving, so unhappy! you have had countless champions;
millions of manly hearts mourning for you. From generation to generation
we take up the fond tradition of your beauty; we watch and follow your
tragedy, your bright morning love and purity, your constancy, your grief,
your sweet martyrdom. We know your legend by heart. You are one of the
saints of English story.

And if Stella's love and innocence are charming to contemplate, I will
say that in spite of ill-usage, in spite of drawbacks, in spite of
mysterious separation and union, of hope delayed and sickened heart--in
the teeth of Vanessa, and that little episodical aberration which plunged
Swift into such woful pitfalls and quagmires of amorous perplexity--in
spite of the verdicts of most women, I believe, who, as far as my
experience and conversation go, generally take Vanessa's part in the
controversy--in spite of the tears which Swift caused Stella to shed, and
the rocks and barriers which fate and temper interposed, and which
prevented the pure course of that true love from running smoothly--the
brightest part of Swift's story, the pure star in that dark and
tempestuous life of Swift's, is his love for Hester Johnson. It has been
my business, professionally of course, to go through a deal of
sentimental reading in my time, and to acquaint myself with love-making,
as it has been described in various languages, and at vario