Jonathan Swift, author, satirist and clergyman, was born in Ireland to English parents in 1667. While he spent many of the early years of his education and career between both countries, he was appointed Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in 1714. Swift had hoped for a senior clerical appointment in England, but despite this, displayed an interest in Irish politics during his period as Dean and published several works in support of Ireland’s economy and constitutional standing in the 1720s.
St Patrick’s Cathedral, 1980. Photographer: George McClafferty, National Folklore Collection, UCD
Portrait of Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas, National Portrait Gallery, London. NPG 278
Historical tradition is the term often used to describe the aspects of folklore which attach themselves to significant local, national and international events and personages. As Seán Ó Súilleabháin notes in A Handbook of Irish Folklore:
Echoes of important events in Irish history and information about them supplementary to that found in history-books are to be met with in Irish oral tradition. All such items should be carefully recorded as they often reflect the popular attitude towards the events concerned.
There are significant areas of Irish tradition regarding the Famine and the time of the Penal Laws, for example. A huge body of material has also been recorded about Daniel O’Connell, as well as Oliver Cromwell. At a local level, there may be distinct historical detail that has been very well recorded in oral tradition, such as in the case of local poets, or local happenings, like severe weather, shipwrecks or fires. Amongst the historical figures noted in the archives of the National Folklore Collection is Dean Swift, often referred to simply as ‘The Dean’, or ‘Déan Swift’, as material was recorded about him in English and Irish.
Drawing of a mass rock, Co. Cork. NFCS 310: 321
The majority of material about Dean Swift in Irish folklore is humorous, in which Swift is often portrayed as witty and clever, often concerning a clever back and forth between Swift and his servant, Jack. This, according to Dáithí Ó hÓgain in The Hero in Irish Folk History, may reflect contemporary accounts about Swift and his interactions with his staff. There are stories concerning Swift’s hiring of a servant or coachman, in which Jack’s unexpected cleverness in each story wins him the new employment. In one example, the Dean asks Jack to learn the words: ‘Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us’. Swift then promises to return in a year, and employ him if he can repeat the sentence exactly. When he does return, Jack has changed the sentence: ‘Sheep of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us’. In his explanation for this creative licence, Jack noted that the lamb would have aged in the past year, and being so impressed with his wit, the Dean took him into his employment.
This anecdote, as well as many of the other stories told about Dean Swift, contains motifs found all over the world in folk tradition. Many of the stories recorded about him have been found in jestbooks, and many use story structures already known in oral tradition and applied them to the Dean. One international tale-type known as ‘The King and the Peasant’s Son’, which involves a youth giving clever answers to an authority figure, is told about Dean Swift. In Ireland, versions of this story also exist in which Daniel O’Connell or Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin play the role of the questioner, as well as versions in which the Gárlach Coileánach, a character in Irish oral tradition, is the clever youth. The following is a version of the story from Mallaghmeen, Co. Cavan:
There once lived in Ireland a clergyman called Dean Swift, who was Dean of St Patrick’s, Dublin. This clergyman was supposed to always have a servant noted for his humour and the story is told that his coachman got the opportunity of eating the leg of a cooked goose. When the Dean missed the limb he wanted to know what had happened and he got the reply that the fowl had only one leg. When driving along the road the next day, which was very cold, a flock of geese were all standing on one leg. The coachman drew the master’s attention but the Dean said ‘hush’ and immediately all the geese put down the other leg.
‘Now.’ said the clergyman.
‘Oh yes,’ said the servant, ‘but you didn’t say ‘hush’ to the one that was cooked.’
Déin Swift, NFC 269: 25
Dean Swift and the Ram of Gorey, NFCS 823: 158
The folk image of the Dean often portrays him as sympathetic to the ordinary Irish person. He appears critical of landlords and lawyers, who are often dealt with suspicion in Irish tradition. One particular story recounts the fact that Swift was secretly a Catholic, which would further align him with the Catholic majority. A small number of verses and other exclamations attributed to him are recorded in oral tradition, though Mackie Jarrell, in her article on traditions about Dean Swift, notes that it is unlikely these pieces were actually written by Swift himself. In one account, the Dean was travelling in Gorey, Co. Wexford, when his coach was knocked into the ditch while passing another coach driven by ‘a local landlord nicknamed The Ram of Gorey’. The writer is said to have leapt out of the carriage, saying:
‘I am the great Dean Swift, England’s pride and Ireland’s glory, who was knocked in the ditch, by the Ram of Gorey.’
Dáithí Ó hÓgáin explains Swift’s popularity in the Irish tradition:
He was reliable, a man to fall back on who would speak out for what is right and who could triumph. All of this is basic to the peasant idea of the social leader heroicised. Furthermore, his sparring with Jack symbolises the special proximity to the leader which people often crave. In so far as the hero exists not as a fanciful extension of self but as the other, it is reassuring to find that he is not overdominant. Particularly in the case of political heroes, this motif of how the great can be bested by one like ourselves demonstrates how similar to ourselves, and thus worthy of our support, the great really are. Simultaneously, it relieves our individualism and pride which may be wounded in the process of hero-worship.
Illustration from a 1927 edition of Gulliver’s Travels. 500.3.71
Historical tradition can offer details that have gone unrecorded in written history and also, as Seán Ó Súilleabháin writes, offer a reflection of the popular attitude towards the events concerned. While there has been debate by Swift’s various biographers as to whether Swift was, in fact, an Irish patriot, he was remembered in Irish folk tradition as clever, witty and sympathetic to the ordinary Irish person.
This blog post was written by Ailbe van der Heide, Cúntóir Leabharlainne | Library Assistant, Cnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann | National Folklore Collection.
Further Reading:
Jarrell, M. L. (1964). ‘Jack and the Dane’: Swift Traditions in Ireland. The Journal of American Folklore, 77(304), 99-117.
Ó hÓgáin, D. (1985) The Hero in Irish Folk History. New York: St Martin’s Press, pp. 86-99.
Ó Súilleabháin, S. (1970) A Handbook of Irish Folklore. Detroit: Singing Tree Press.
Wonderful! You brought him to life Ailbe.