down. Only thrice does he mention the "eldest daughter": once on her
birthday; once on the occasion of a trick played him, when he received a
message that she was suddenly very ill ("I rattled off the daughter"); and
once to state that she was come of age, and was going to Ireland to look after
her fortune. There is evidence that "Miss Essy," or Vanessa, to give her the
name by which she will always be known, was in correspondence with Swift in
July 1710--while he was still in Ireland--and in the spring of 1711;[5] and
early in 1711 Stella seems to have expressed surprise at Swift's intimacy with
the family, for in February he replied, "You say they are of no consequence;
why, they keep as good female company as I do male; I see all the drabs of
quality at this end of the town with them." In the autumn Swift seems to have
thought that Vanessa was keeping company with a certain Hatton, but Mrs. Long-
-possibly meaning to give him a warning hint--remarked that if this were so
"she is not the girl I took her for; but to me she seems melancholy."

In 1712 occasional letters took the place of the daily journal to "MD," but
there is no change in the affectionate style in which Swift wrote. In the
spring he had a long illness, which affected him, indeed, throughout the year.
Other reasons which he gives for the falling off in his correspondence are his
numerous business engagements, and the hope of being able to send some good
news of an appointment for himself. There is only one letter to Stella
between July 19 and September 15, and Dr. Birkbeck Hill argues that the poem
"Cadenus and Vanessa" was composed at that time.[6] If this be so, it must
have been altered next year, because it was not until 1713 that Swift was made
a Dean. Writing on April 19, 1726, Swift said that the poem "was written at
Windsor near fourteen years ago, and dated: it was a task performed on a
frolic among some ladies, and she it was addressed to died some time ago in
Dublin, and on her death the copy shewn by her executor." Several copies were
in circulation, and he was indifferent what was done with it; it was "only a
cavalier business," and if those who would not give allowances were malicious,