Editing Jonathan Swift (section)

====Swift, Stella and Vanessa – an alternative view====
British politician [[Michael Foot]] was a great admirer of Swift and wrote about him extensively. In ''Debts of Honour''<ref>[[Michael Foot|Foot, Michael]] (1981) ''Debts of Honour''. Harper & Row, New York, p. 219.</ref> he cites with approbation an explanation propounded by [[Denis Johnston]] of Swift's behaviour towards Stella and Vanessa.

Pointing to contradictions in the received information about Swift's origins and parentage, Johnston postulates that Swift's real father was Sir William Temple's father, [[John Temple (judge)|Sir John Temple]], who was [[Master of the Rolls]] in Dublin at the time. It is widely thought that Stella was Sir William Temple's illegitimate daughter. So, if these speculations are to be credited, Swift was Sir William's brother and Stella's uncle. Marriage or close relations between Swift and Stella would therefore have been [[incestuous]], an unthinkable prospect.

It follows that Swift could not have married Vanessa without Stella appearing to be a cast-off mistress, which appearance he would not contemplate leaving. Johnston's theory is expounded fully in his book ''In Search of Swift''.<ref>[[Denis Johnston|Johnston, Denis]] (1959) ''In Search of Swift'' Hodges Figgis, Dublin</ref> He is also cited in the ''[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/swift-jonathan-a8415 |title=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=21 March 2022 |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321055915/https://www.dib.ie/biography/swift-jonathan-a8415 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the theory is presented without attribution in the ''Concise Cambridge History of English Literature''.<ref>''Concise Cambridge History of English Literature'', 1970, p. 387.</ref>