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LIFE OF DEAN SWIFT.

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Life of Dean Swift.

ONATHAN SWIFT, one of the greatest of English writers, was born at Dublin in the year of our Lord 1667. His father died before he was born, and his mother was left in but poor circumstances. His uncle Godwin cared for his education, both in private schools and at the University of Dublin. His course at the University was irregular and disobedient; he was refused the degree of Bachelor of Arts for "dulness and insufficiency," and when he at last gained this honour it was given him by special favour, and not as a matter of course.

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Sir William Temple, one of the greatest statesmen of the age, was related through his wife to Swift's mother; and she advised him, when he left the University to seek the patronage of that gentleman. While at the residence of Sir William Temple, he tried to make up for his idleness at the University by studying regularly eight hours every day, and he went on with this course of study five years. He was here smitten with a severe illness, which brought him to the brink of the grave; and although he got better again after a short period, it continued to afflict him at times during his whole life. William III. used to come at times to see Sir William Temple on affairs of state; and when the statesman was obliged to keep his bed with the gout, the lowly student had to attend the king in his walks in the gardens, and it is stated his Majesty was much amused with Swift's conversation. The king taught him how to cut asparagus in the Dutch fashion, and offered to make him a captain of horse; but not having military tastes, he declined the proposal. Shortly afterwards he left Sir William Temple, and in 1694 was admitted into holy orders. Temple found, however, that the able young man who had quitted him was of more use to him than he had thought, and Swift disliked, for his part, the solitude and dulness of a country curacy. He remained with Sir William till his death, in 1698, and continued on the best of terms' with him all the time. After the death of his patron, Swift tried to obtain some living in the Church from King William; but now the

statesman was dead the king did not care to trouble himself with the fortunes of his dependent. He, however, obtained some livings in Ireland, which together amounted to about £400 a year. It was the practice at that time for a clergyman to hold several livings at once, and if he had not time to perform the duties himself, to engage a curate at a low salary to do them for him.

In 1704, Swift published the "Tale of a Tub," a powerful satire in favour of the Church of England, and against Roman Catholics and Dissenters. It was written, however, in a coarse manner, and so highly offended Queen Anne (who succeeded William III. on the English throne), that she refused on this account to sanction Swift's appointment to a bishopric. At this time he had left his residence in Ireland and lived in London, busied with the politics of the day, writing pamphlets in favour of one party and against another. He was first an advocate of the Whigs, but in 1710 he joined the Tories, and wrote on their behalf several able pamphlets. The leading ministers at that time were Robert Harley Earl of Oxford, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and himself an able scholar and writer. Swift was on terms of the closest friendship with both these statesmen. They could do nothing for him as regards his personal advancement, on account of the refusal of the queen to entrust to high office in the Church the author of such a coarse satire as the "Tale of a Tub." He was, however, appointed to the Deanery of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin in 1713.

In 1714 Queen Anne died, and George I. succeeded to the English throne. He at once restored the Whig party to office, and Swift left London to perform the duties of his deanery. At first he was not popular in Ireland. But as time went on he wrote in defence of the Irish people, then oppressed by the English king and Parliament, the celebrated Drapier letters, so called because Swift, in writing them, did not sign his own name, but the name "M. B. Drapier." The king had given a man named William Wood, of Wolverhampton, the power of issuing copper moneypence, halfpence, and farthings, in Ireland, and the people feared that he would send them coins not in themselves worth the value

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attached to them. In these letters Swift urged the Irish people not to take the money; and the opposition to it was so strong that Wood's patent was withdrawn. Swift was in great personal danger during the issue of these letters, as the Government made many attempts to discover their author, and offered a reward of £300 to anyone who would discover him. Ever afterwards the Irish people regarded him as one of their best friends.

In August, 1726, Swift published his "Gulliver's Travels," which we shall issue in an abridged form for the amusement of the readers of the Young Scholar. It is one of the most amusing books ever written. He was on terms of close friendship during his life with two ladies-the one he called Stella (whom he married late in life), the other Vanessa. In his journal to Stella he notes down his daily life while in London, describing the chief events of those days with great power and terseness. He died on the 19th of October, 1745, having been in a state of madness several years previous. His death was deeply lamented by all classes at Dublin, where he was much beloved. He has left his "Gulliver's Travels" as a legacy to children in all ages; and it is as the author of this book that we have written his life for our young readers.

The Cuckoo,

HE cuckoo is one of the birds that visit England. every year in the spring, and leave it in the autumn. It is found in many parts of the world, as India and Africa, and goes even as far north as Lapland and Kamschatka. It arrives in this country in the month of April, and leaves it again in August and

September. The female cuckoo lays her eggs in the nests of other birds smaller than herself. She generally lays but one egg in a nest, and the birds whose nests she invades are the hedge-sparrow, yellow-hammer, and pied wagtail. The egg of the cuckoo is small for a bird of her size. It is about the size of that of the skylark. When the young cuckoo is hatched, and able to move about in the nest, the first thing he tries to do

is to thrust out his young companions, or any eggs that yet remain unhatched. He is not easy till he has performed this ungrateful act.

Bishop Stanley gives an account of a young cuckoo which was placed in a cage with a thrush. The thrush fed the cuckoo on all occasions, as it was too idle to feed itself. One day a worm was held outside the wires, and the thrush went to it, seized it, and gobbled it up. The cuckoo, however, had thought that the thrush would bring the worm for it to feast upon, and in its rage flew at that bird, and pecked out one of its eyes. The thrush, even after this cruel act, still continued to nurse the cuckoo.

Among the cuckoo tribe in North America, the most interesting is one that is called the cow-cow, or cow-bird. It sometimes, but very rarely, visits this country. Instead of laying its eggs in other birds' nests, it builds and hatches for itself. It does not lay all its eggs at one time, so that several birds of different ages, and eggs not hatched, appear in the nest at the same time.

To the Cuckoo.

BLITHE new-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee, and rejoice.
O cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,

Or but a wandering voice?

While I am lying on the grass,

Thy two-fold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass-
At once far-off and near.

Though babbling only to the vale
Of sunshine and of flowers,

Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the spring!

Even yet thou art to me

No bird, but an invisible thing,

A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listened to; that cry

Which made me look a thousand ways,
In bush, and tree, and sky.

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WIDOW had two daughters: one of them very pretty and thrifty, but the other was ugly and idle. Odd as you may think it, she loved the ugly and idle one much the best, and the other was made to do all the work, and was, in short, quite the drudge of the whole house. Every day she had to sit on a bench by a well on the side of the high-road before the house, and spin so much that her fingers were quite sore, and at length the blood would come. Now it happened that once when her fingers had bled, and the spindle was all bloody, she dipt it into the well, and meant to wash it, but unluckily it fell from her hand and dropt in. Then she ran crying to her mother, and told her what had happened; but she scolded her sharply, and said, “If you have been so silly as to let the spindle fall in, you must get it out again as well as you can." So the poor little girl went back to the well, and knew not how to begin, but in her sorrow threw herself into the water, and sank down to the bottom senseless. In a short time she seemed to wake as from a trance, and came to herself again; and when she opened her eyes and looked around her she saw she was in a beautiful meadow,

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