ABSTRACT
It is hard to believe that Swift’s double vision of his existence in Ireland was unconscious. I suspect that he thought any favourable account would weaken the pressure he tried to exert on English statesmen to help his nation. He certainly avoided giving to correspondents outside Ireland any report that made the country seem other than wretched. His new friend, Dean Brandreth, recently come over from England, sent Swift a happy description of his living, and Swift replied, ‘I desire you will not write such accounts to your friends in England.’ 1
