Jonathan Swift was a humanitarian who secretly helped hundreds of people through acts of charity like interest-free loans, despite being best known as a great writer. Analysis of Swift's thousands of letters show him assisting people in need, advocating for the common person. While a skilled political enemy if crossed, Swift was truly devoted to serving others and worthy of recognition for his philanthropic work fighting for freedom.

1. A few thoughts about the life and times of Jonathan Swift
1667 to 1745 ~ Original Freedom Fighter
By Martin CJ Mongiello
Overview: Jonathan Swift is a less well-known hero due to his avocation of hundreds of people
who needed help in the Kings’ court or financially. Many know of his great written works, like
Gulliver’s Travels or A Modest Proposal – but few know of the lifetime of assistance and his
interest free loans. While devoting his life to masterful tomes he secretly devoted himself to real
life help - for the common person. Within his time on earth, he did not need to know you or
even be your friend to gain his care. It is well documented that he would pick up his pen to pick
up your cause. Moreover, his pen could shake the earth.
Proofs shown forward in 1902 by John Churton Collins provide us with a new and eye-opening
view of the real Jonathan Swift. In his way of secrecy and hidden veils, he has fooled many for
decades on end – once again!
“In the first place, nothing is more certain than that Swift's life, from the time he appears on the
stage of history to the time he ceased to be a responsible being, was a long course of active
benevolence. While still a struggling priest, more than one-tenth of what he expended he
expended in charity. As his fortune increased, his generosity increased with it. As soon as his
political services gave him influence, his first thought was for his friends. “When I had credit for
some years at Court,” he writes to Lady Betty Germaine, “ provided for above fifty people in
both kingdoms, of which not one was a relative.” To his recommendation Congreve, Gay, Howe,
Friend, Ambrose Philips, and Steele owed remunerative offices. “You never come to us,” said
Bolingbroke on one occasion, half angrily, “without bringing some Whig in your sleeve.” He
obtained for King, who had libeled and insulted him, a post that relieved that facetious writer
from the pressure of want. His kindness to young Harrison and poor Diaper would alone suffice
to prove the goodness of his heart. He made the fortune of Barber. He went out of his way to
serve Paruell and Berkeley. It was through his influence that Trapp became Bolingbroke's
chaplain. How greatly Pope profited from his zealous friendship Pope has himself
acknowledged. He was never known to turn a deaf ear to {sorrow or poverty; nay, it is notorious
that he denied 'himself the common comforts of life that he might relieve the necessities of the
paupers of Dublin. His /correspondence teems with proofs of his kindness and charity. At one
time we find him pleading for an old soldier, at another time, when almost too ill to hold the pen,
for a poor parson; now again for an unfortunate youth who had been treated harshly by his
parents; here he is soliciting subscriptions for a volume of poems, there he is stating the case of a
persecuted patriot. “He loved merit,” says Delany“,wherever he found it.” His large-hearted
philanthropy extended itself in all directions. He was the first who drew attention to the
inadequacy of religious instruction in London, and suggested the remedy. He organized a club
for the relief of distressed men of loiters, and, visiting them personally in their cocklofts and
cellars, dispensed with his own hand the money, which his generous importunity had wrung from
opulent friends. With the first five hundred pounds (which he had been able to put by), he
established a fund which, advancing money without interest, saved many humble families from
distress and ruin. He founded a charity school for boys, and at a time when he could ill afford it -
he built, at his own expense, a house for aged women. Of that noble hospital which owes its
existence to his munificent philanthropy we need scarcely speak. However, had he been in
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2. private life all that his enemies would represent him, his public services to Ireland would alone
suffice to make him the peer of Burke and Howard (Collins 11-13).
An analysis of one source: Collins, J. C. Jonathan Swift: A Biographical and Critical Study.
Adamant Media Corporation, 1970. Analyzing Mr. Collins book about Jonathan Swift is the
opportunity to analyze the thousands and thousands of letters that he wrote to friends – as well as
the responses. All too often - the analysis of Swift is through his written works and comments
on it - only. Very rarely has anyone ever taken time to publish and discuss all of the
correspondence engaged in by Mr. Swift. Very rarely has anyone been made aware of the fact
that there are thousands of letters to be discovered. Inside these letters, and across almost 300
pages displaying them, is the real person talking, laughing, and commenting with his private
friends and colleagues. The reader will find his secret letters to be worth time! This book
contains passages first written in 1893 and was published in 1902 – thus making it well over 100
years old. It is the perfect addendum to any study of The Real Jonathan Swift.
An analysis of another source: The Works of Jonathan Swift: Tracts, historical and political,
during the reign of Queen Anne (continued). The history of John Bull, Volume 6 of The Works
of Jonathan Swift: Containing Additional Letters, Tracts, and Poems Not Hitherto Published;
with Notes and a Life of the Author, Jonathan Swift by Sir Walter Scott. This book delves
deeper into the persona of the true man and how angry he could become if you crossed him,
wrongly. Furthermore, making no attempt to admit your guilt could result in the power of the
pen to excruciate you or smash your position and standing in court. It is an excellent tome
printed in 1814 and offers further, abnormally accurate insights into the hidden man. One
passage in particular leaves a distinct mark on the reader:
“As a political enemy he was a man to be dreaded. On this side, he stopped at nothing. His
Character of Wharton is a sufficient example of the lengths he could go to blast an opponent, or
satisfy an animosity born of a public grievance. His treatment of Steele proves how effectively
he could erase the ink-stains of a meddler in state affairs. " The Importance of the Guardian
Considered" may be taken as the personal side of a quarrel which obtained its impersonal view in
" The Public Spirit of the Whigs "— a piece of argument and scornful invective which remains a
masterpiece to-day, and which stood then, in the midst of a crisis that produced almost a
literature in itself, the strangest and strongest expression of political attack and defense.”
In summation: Swift can now be known as much more than a great writer. He was a true
humanitarian worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize and an important freedom fighter.
References:
Collins, J. C. Jonathan Swift: A Biographical and Critical Study. Adamant Media Corporation,
1970. Print.
Lecky, W. E. H., et al. The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift: The Drapier's Letters. G. Bell, 1903.
Print.
Swift, J., and W. A. Eddy. Satires and Personal Writings. Oxford university press, 1932. Print.
Swift, J., et al. The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift. G. Bell and sons, 1900. Print.
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3. Swift, J., C. J. Rawson, and I. Higgins. Gulliver's Travels. Oxford University Press, USA, 2005.
Print.
Swift, J. Gulliver's Travels into several Remote Nations of the World. Jones & company, 1827.
Print.
---. A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works. Dover Publications, 1996. Print.
---. A Tale of a Tub. Echo Library, 2007. Print.
---. The Works of Jonathan Swift, Containing Additional Letters, Tracts, and Poems, with Notes,
and a Lif. Bibliolife, 2009. Print.
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