was
dismissed with the livings of Laracor and Rathbeggin in the diocese of
Meath, which together did not equal half the value of the deanery. At
Laracor he increased the parochial duty by reading prayers on Wednesdays
and Fridays, and performed all the offices of his profession with great
decency and exactness.

Soon after his settlement at Laracor, he invited to Ireland the
unfortunate Stella, a young woman whose name was Johnson, the daughter
of the steward of Sir William Temple, who, in consideration of her
father's virtues, left her a thousand pounds. With her came Mrs.
Dingley, whose whole fortune was twenty-seven pounds a year for her
life. With these ladies he passed his hours of relaxation, and to them
he opened his bosom; but they never resided in the same house, nor did
he see either without a witness. They lived at the Parsonage when Swift
was away, and, when he returned, removed to a lodging, or to the house
of a neighbouring clergyman.

Swift was not one of those minds which amaze the world with early
pregnancy: his first work, except his few poetical Essays, was the
"Dissensions in Athens and Rome," published (1701) in his thirty-fourth
year. After its appearance, paying a visit to some bishop, he heard
mention made of the new pamphlet that Burnet had written, replete with
political knowledge. When he seemed to doubt Burnet's right to the
work, he was told by the bishop that he was "a young man," and still
persisting to doubt, that he was "a very positive young man."

Three years afterwards (1704) was published "The Tale of a Tub;" of this
book charity may be persuaded to think that it might be written by a man
of a peculiar character without ill intention; but it is certainly of
dangerous example. That Swift was its author, though it be universally
believed, was never owned by himself, nor very well proved by any
evidence; but no other claimant can be produced, and he did not deny it
when Archbishop Sharp and the Duchess of Somerset, by showing it to the
queen, debarred him from a bishopric. When this wild work first raised
the attention of the public, Sacheverell, meeting Smalridge, tried to
flatter him by seeming to think him the author, but Smalridge answered
with indignation, "Not all that you and I have in the world, nor all
that ever we shall have, should hire me to write the 'Tale of a Tub.'"

The digression relating to Wotton and Bentley must be confessed to
discover want of knowledge or want