in order to say that he would not dine with him if he intended to dine
late. He relates, too, how he warned St. John not to appear cold to him,
for he would not be treated like a school-boy, and if he heard or saw
anything to his disadvantage to let him know in plain words, and not to
put him in pain by the change of his behaviour, for it was what he would
hardly bear from a crowned head. 'If we let these great ministers
pretend too much,' he says, 'there will be no governing them.' And in a
letter to Pope he makes the following confession: 'All my endeavours
from a boy to distinguish myself were only for want of a great title and
fortune that I might be treated like a lord ... whether right or wrong
it is no great matter; and so the reputation of great learning does the
work of a blue ribbon, and of a coach and six horses.'

It would be out of place in this volume to dwell on Swift's feats as a
political writer; for us the most interesting fact connected with the
years 1710-14 is that during that eventful period of Swift's life, in
which he was hobnobbing with Ministers of State and doing them infinite
service by his pen, he was writing at odd moments his inimitable
_Journal to Stella_, and gaining the love which ended so tragically, of
Hester Vanhomrigh. This strange chapter in Swift's life is closely bound
up with his literary history, and must therefore be briefly noticed.

At Moor Park Swift, who was more than twenty years her senior, had seen
Esther Johnson growing up into womanhood. He had been to her as a
master, a position he always liked to assume towards women.[45] When he
settled in Ireland it was arranged that Esther and her companion, Mrs.
Dingley, should also live there. Her preceptor, in his regard for
propriety, appears never to have seen Esther apart from the useful
Dingley, and his letters are apparently addressed to both of them, but
Esther knew, as we know, that all the tenderness and affectionate humour
they contain was meant for her alone. Swift never writes as a lover, but
the kind of love he gave to 'Stella' sufficed to bind her to him for
life. If there were moments when she wished to escape from his power,
the wish was hopeless. Having once submitted to his fascination, she was
held by it to the end. Hester Vanhomrigh, who was about ten years
younger than Stella, felt the same spell, and having a far less
restrained nature than Miss Johnson, gave free expression to the passion
which devoured