Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome. When he returned to Ireland in
September he was accompanied by Stella--to give Esther Johnson the name by
which she is best known--and her friend Mrs. Dingley. Stella's fortune was
about 1500 pounds, and the property Temple had left her was in County Wicklow.
Swift, very much for his "own satisfaction, who had few friends or
acquaintance in Ireland," persuaded Stella--now twenty years old--that living
was cheaper there than in England, and that a better return was obtainable on
money. The ladies took his advice, and made Ireland their home. At first
they felt themselves strangers in Dublin; "the adventure looked so like a
frolic," Swift says, "the censure held for some time as if there were a secret
history in such a removal: which however soon blew off by her excellent
conduct." Swift took every step that was possible to avoid scandal. When he
was away, the ladies occupied his rooms; when he returned, they went into
their own lodgings. When he was absent, they often stopped at the vicarage at
Laracor, but if he were there, they moved to Trim, where they visited the
vicar, Dr. Raymond, or lived in lodgings in the town or neighbourhood. Swift
was never with Stella except in the presence of a third person, and in 1726 he
said that he had not seen her in a morning "these dozen years, except once or
twice in a journey."

During a visit to England in the winter of 1703-4 we find Swift in
correspondence with the Rev. William Tisdall, a Dublin incumbent whom he had
formerly known at Belfast. Tisdall was on friendly terms with Stella and Mrs.
Dingley, and Swift sent messages to them through him. "Pray put them upon
reading," he wrote, "and be always teaching something to Mrs. Johnson, because
she is good at comprehending, remembering and retaining." But the
correspondence soon took a different turn. Tisdall paid his addresses to
Stella, and charged Swift with opposing his suit. Tisdall's letters are
missing, but Swift's reply of April 20, 1704, puts things sufficiently
clearly. "My conjecture is," he says, "that you think I obstructed your