t came from a fund for which he was trustee. The mental decay which he
had always feared--"I shall be like that tree," he once said, "I shall
die at the top"--became marked about 1738. Paralysis was followed by
aphasia, and after acute pain, followed by a long period of apathy,
death relieved him in October 1745. He was buried by Stella's side, in
accordance with his wishes. The bulk of his fortune was left to found a
hospital for idiots and lunatics.

There has been much rather fruitless discussion respecting the reason or
reasons why Swift did not marry Stella; for if there was any marriage,
it was nothing more than a form. Some have supposed that Swift resolved
to remain unmarried because the insanity of an uncle and the fits and
giddiness to which he was always subject led him to fear insanity in his
own case. Others, looking rather to physical causes, have dwelt upon his
coldness of temperament and indisposition to love; upon the repugnance
he often showed towards marriage, and the tone of some of the verses
on the subject written in his later years. Others, again, have found a
cause in his parsimonious habits, in his dread of poverty, the effects
of which he had himself felt, and in the smallness of his income, at
least until he was middle-aged.(12) It may well be that one or all of
these things influenced Swift's action. We cannot say more. He himself,
as we have seen, said, as early as 1704, that if his humour and means
had permitted him to think of marriage, his choice would have been
Stella. Perhaps, however, there is not much mystery in the matter. Swift
seems to have been wanting in passion; probably he was satisfied with
the affection which Stella gave him, and did not wish for more. Such an
attachment as his usually results in marriage, but not necessarily.
It is not sufficiently remembered that the affection began in Stella's
childhood. They were "perfect friends" for nearly forty years, and her
advancing years in no way lessened his love, which was independent
of beauty. Whether Stella was satisfied, who shall say? Mrs. Oliphant
thought that few women would be disposed to pity Stella, or think her
life one of blight or injury. Mr. Leslie Stephen says, "She might
and probably did regard his friendship as a full equivalent for the
sacrifice.... Is it better to be the most intimate friend of a man of
genius or the wife of a commonplace Tisdall?" Whatever we may surmise,
there is nothing to prove that she was