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Swift was far more of a churchman than a politician, and the Whig attitude toward his favorite scheme for the remission of the Irish first-fruits, ultimately led to his transferring his allegiance to the Tory party, whose cause he pleaded in the Examiner, and in a series of powerful pamphlets. For this he was preferred to the deanery of St. Patrick's. In 1724 he wrote a series of anonymous pamphlets entitled Drapier's Letters, protesting furiously against what all Ireland considered the scandalous terms on which a patent was granted to an English merchant named Wood, to institute a copper coinage in Ireland. This made him the idol of his countrymen. Gulliver's Travels was published in

Jonathan Swift.

1726. The illness of his well-loved Stella recalled him to Ireland, and after her death (1728) he never left that country. His Modest Proposal, in which he sardonically proposed to alleviate the misery of the Irish people by utilizing their children as food, appeared in 1729. In 1736, while writing his Legion Club, his mind first showed symptoms of giving way. The last five years of his life were years of almost unrelieved misery. He was buried in the Cathedral of St. Patrick. Swift was a master of the art of satire. The grave irony with which, in professing to plead his opponents' cause, he pours ridicule upon it, is as unmatched as the simplicity and the lack of ornament of the medium through which it is expressed. In virtue of so wide-reaching and philosophical a creation as the tale of Gulliver's Travels, we may class him as the greatest satirist of modern times. Three women figure in the unhappy story of

Swift's life. In early years he had a passing courtship with a Miss Waring (Varina"). The real affection of his life was for Esther Johnson-the 'Stella' of his verse-whom he first met at Sir William Temple's. For her he wrote the Journal to Stella, descriptive of his life in London, but never intended for publication; and there is a strong probability that he was latterly privately married to her. A third woman, Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa'), loved Swift, and received from him in return an ardent friendship easily mistaken for love. But when jealously moved her to ask for an explanation of his relations with Stella, Swift was so enraged that he abruptly broke with her. Vanessa was so overcome that she died shortly after (1723). By her will she left directions for the publishing of Swift's metrical version of their romance, which appeared as Cadenus and Vanessa in 1726. Sir W. Scott's edition of 1814 is still the completest of Swift's Works; reissued by G. Saintsbury (1891). Selections have been edited by Traill (1884-5), Lewin (1886), H. Morley (1889-90), and Craik (1892). See Lives by Craik (1882), Sir Leslie Stephen (1882), Moriarty (1893), and Churton Collins (1893).

Swift, JOSEPH GARDNER (17831865), American soldier, born on Nantucket Island. He was the first graduate of West Point (1802), and was assigned to the engineer corps of the army. He rose rapidly in rank and on the outbreak of war with England Iwas made chief engineer of the army with the rank of colonel. He

had active service under Wilkinson in the latter's abortive Northern campaign of 1813, and afterwards took part in fortifying New York. He resigned in 1818 and devoted himself to civil engineering, among other things building the New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain Railroad in 1830-31.

Swift, LEWIS (1820), American astronomer, born in Clarkson, N. Y., and educated in the Clarkson Academy. In 1862 he discovered an important comet, and demonstrated its influence on star showers which were witnessed at the time of its appearance. In 1882 the citizens of Rochester, N. Y., and H. H. Warner, built and equipped a large observatory for Dr. Swift, in which he discovered more than 1,000 new nebulæ and many comets. Failing sight compelled him to discontinue his observations, and he disposed of all his astronomical instruments to the trustees of the Lowe Observatory in California.

Swift, LINDSAY (1856), Ameri

can librarian and author, born in Boston. He graduated at Harvard in 1877, and soon after joined the staff of the Boston Public Library, for which he compiled and edited many important bibliographical works. He contributed to many journals and edited several historical works. His Brook Farm in the 'National Studies in American Letters Series' (1900), is probably the most satisfactory account yet given of that famous community, and its connection with the "Transcendental' movement.

Swilly, LOUGH, Ireland, a fine inlet between Donegal and Londonderry. Length, about 30 m. It is well adapted for a harbor of refuge, and fortifications have been erected. The largest battleships can anchor in Buncrana Bay.

Swimming. The power of swimming, or sustaining and propelling the body in water, is a natural faculty with quadrupeds, but has to be acquired by man. It is practised by all races of the globe, but brought to the greatest perfection by those in tropical climates; thus the pearl divers of the Persian Gulf, Ceylon, and the Eastern Archipelago, the 'diving boys' of Aden and kindred seaports, the islanders of the Pacific, and the seafaring and fishing population of tropical seaboards, appear to be almost amphibious. The specific gravity of the human body is slightly less than that of water, and provided the whole body is immersed and the chest inflated, a person will not sink. Every portion of the body obtruded above the water adds to the weight of the submerged part, and soon reverses the narrow margin of buoyancy. The arms and head are the portions which the struggling nonswimmer instinctly elevates, with the result that the trunk and legs, encumbered with the additional weight, drag him down.

The best way to learn swimming is under an instructor, who, with the aid of a line, one end of which is attached to a pole or is carried over a trolley wheel, while the other is attached to a band round the learner's chest, keeps his pupil in the proper position, regulates to a nicety the exact amount of support requisite, and teaches the proper method of making the strokes. Such artificial aids as cork belts or bladders should never be used for learning; for although they prevent the body from sinking, they also prevent it from being properly submerged.

There are several methods or styles of swimming, the four commonest being the breast stroke, the side stroke, the overhand stroke, and swimming on the

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Swimming

back. The beginner need learn only the breast stroke, which is the natural one, and after he has mastered that he can teach himself the others. The action in the breast stroke is very similar to that of a frog swimming. The body is horizontal, the chest breasts the water, the chin is just clear of its surface, the arms are submerged about three, and the legs about eight, inches. The latter are the principal propelling power, and their action is circular and sideways to the body, achieved by drawing the heels up,

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to the starting-point is made. The movement of arms and legs should be slow, deliberate, and in unison. In the side stroke the swimmer progresses on his side, and, the resistance to the water being less, is able to attain a greater speed. In the overhand stroke one arm is carried over the head and out of the water in reaching for the fresh stroke, and this method is adopted by racing swimmers. Swimming on the back is the reverse of the breast stroke, except that the arms are moved like oars in rowing.

Swimming

long-distance swimmer of recent years. He has made five attempts to swim the English Channel, and has had several imitators, including Madam Isacescü, who swam nearly 20 miles in 10 hours. In fresh water Miss Agnes Beckwith, in 1878, swam with the tide in the Thames 20 miles in 6 hours 25 min. The world's record for 100 yards is 58 secs., made by R. Cavill in Australia and by De Halmay in Hungary. The fastest swimmer of modern times was the youth B. B. Kieran of Australia, who died in 1905. In his brief

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1. Breast stroke, seen from above. 2. Treading water. 3. The plunge. 4. The high dive. 5. Life-saving--a good hold.

with the knees moving outwards, then kicking out wide to either side, and slowly completing a circle until the original starting posture is gained, with the legs extended and the heels together. The arms should be bent and flexed in starting, the elbows within six inches of the sides, and the hands, thumbs together and palms downward, under the chin. The stroke consists in shooting out the hands to the limit of the arms, and then, with a steady pull, sweeping the arms round until they are on a line with the shoulders, when recovery

6. Overhand side-stroke.

Swimming Records.-The most celebrated feat accomplished was that of Captain Matthew Webb, who, in August, 1875, swam from Dover to Calais in 21 hours 45 minutes, covering an estimated distance of 46 miles. An even

greater exhibition of endurance, notwithstanding that it lacked the éclat of success, was that of Mr. Montague Holbein, when, in August, 1902, he swam from Cape Grisnez to within three-quarters of a mile of Dover Parade in 22 hours 21 minutes, traversing a distance stated to be 53 miles. Holbein has been the most noted

career he made nearly a score of distinctive world's records, the distances being from 200 yards to 1 mile. His time for 1 mile was 23 min. 16 secs. Other remarkable feats are J. Finney's swim of 113 yards 1 foot under water, and Miss Wallenda's remaining submerged for 4 min. 45 sec. at London in 1898. See A Bibliographical List of Works on Swimming, by Ralph Thomas (1868); The Swimming Instructor, by W. Wilson (1883); Swimming and Life-saving, by W. D. Andrews (1889); The Swimming Handbook, by A. Sinclair (1890); Swimming,

by Martin Cobbett (1890); Swimming, by C. W. Alcock (1894); How to Swim, by Dalton Davis (1899); Swimming (Badminton Library), by A. Sinclair and W. Henry (1900).

Swinburne, ALGERNON CHARLES (1837-1909), English poet, born in London. He was not in his teens before he began to compose lyrics and ballads. These were largely suggested or influenced by the scen

these, but above all to Rossetti, his debt would be difficult to appraise correctly. After Oxford he went to East Dene, near Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, the influence of which is as directly traceable in his earlier poetry, as is that of his Northumbrian home. By this time he had written (though not then published) his first poetic drama, Chastelard, which, for all its crudity in certain respects, is unmistakably the

Algernon Charles Swinburne. (Photo by Elliott & Fry.)

ery, traditions, and legendary romance of Northumberland and the Border lands. A little later he was strongly influenced by his mother, who had lived much in Florence and elsewhere in Italy. It is difficult not to find some association of this enthusiasm and influence in Songs before Sunrise and Songs of Two Nations. At Oxford he won the friendship of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones. To each of

work of genius. In 1865 he went to Italy, and visited Walter Savage Landor at Fiesole; to him he dedicated his first masterpiece, Atalanta in Calydon (1865). From this period Mr. Swinburne's home has been London, though it was not till after the publication of Bothwell (1874), Erechtheus (1876), and the second series of Poems and Ballads (1878) that he left inner for outer London, and took up residence on Putney Hill, where (with his intimate

friend Theodore Watts-Dunton) he passed the rest of his life.

Mr. Swinburne published his first book, comprising the two dramas The Queen Mother and Rosamund, in 1860. The first of the two is almost a prelude to the great dramatic cycle of Mary Stuart, to which Mr. Swinburne gave the best years of his early and middle manhood. In 1865 he became one of the foremost poets of his time, by the publication of that superb fyrical drama in the Greek mould, Atalanta in Calydon. Chastelard, which also belongs to this year, should be considered as the first section of a trilogy on Mary of Scotland, its companion dramas being Bothwell (1874) and Mary Stuart (1881). But in 1866 Poems and Ballads not only created an intense interest, but aroused much vehement opprobrium. They were published in New York under the title Laus Veneris. Apart from their great and enduring beauty, they read now as the work of a young and unbalanced mind aflame by the delight of life and the magic of beauty, and intoxicated by the joy of revoltby the sheer pleasure of throwing off all restraint. Songs before Sunrise (1871) and Erechtheus (1876) convinced even the most unsympathetic judges that Swinburne was the greatest master of metrical music since Shelley. With the exception of Tristram of Lyonesse (1882), it is doubtful whether his later works can be held to have the same poetic value as the earlier, as they certainly have not a like poetic influence. In Swinburne we have a poetic dramatist of great power and beauty, and a rhapsodist of emotional life of unequalled enthusiasm and intensity. He was supremely the laureate of the sea. Of his work in prose the matter is generally admirable and always interesting, but in manner it is very often efflorescent and redundant. His other bocks include Songs of Two Nations (1875); Songs of the Springtides (1880); Studies in Song (1880); A Century of Roundels (1882); A Midsummer Holiday (1884); Marino Faliero (1885); Locrine (1887); Poems and Ballads (3d series, 1889); The Sisters (1892); Astrophel (1894); The Tale of Balen (1896); Rosamund, Queen of the Lombards (1899); A Channel Passage, and Other Poems (1904); Love's Cross Currents; a Year's Letters (1905); a critical Essay, with Prefatory Note (1906); Atalanta in Calydon, and Selected Lyrical Poems, in the Tauchnitz edition, edited, with biography, by William Sharp (1903). A collected edition of his works was published in 1904-5. See Stedman's Victorian Poets (rev. ed.,

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Swindling

1887), and Woodberry's Swinburne (1905).

Swindling is cheating or defrauding by artifice for obtaining money, which may or may not be punishable as a crime, but which in most cases amounts to legal fraud, and would avoid a contract obtained by its means. To render must swindling punishable it come under either the head of larceny by a trick, or the obtaining of money or credit by false pretences-i.e. by a false representation as to an existing fact. "This is not a technical legal term in all jurisdictions. See FRAUD; LARCENY.

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Swindon, munic. bor. and ry. junction, Wiltshire, England, 77 m. w. of London, and on Wilts and Berks canal. Public buildings include town hall, market, Railway exchange, and Mechanics' Institution. Limestone is quarried. Here are locomotive and carriage works of the Great Western Railway, ploying 12,000 persons. Pop. (1911) 50,771.

Swine. See PIG.

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Swine Fever. See PIG-Dis

eases.

Swinemünde, tn.,Prussia, prov., Pomerania, on isl. of Usedom. 35 m. by rail N.N.W. of Stettin; is strongly fortified, and is a watering - place. Pop. (1900) 10,251.

Swing, DAVID (1830-94), American clergyman, was born in Cincinnati, O., was brought up on a farm, and graduated (1852) at Miami University. He was appointed professor of languages at his alma mater in 1853, and filled the position for twelve years. In 1866 he was called to the pastorate of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, and gained reputation as a forcible yet spiritual preacher. He was charged with heresy by Dr. Francis L. Patton (1874), and, though acquitted by the Chicago Presbytery, he finally resigned his pastorate, holding exercises in theatre until the Central Music Hall was built by some of the wealthy members among his adherents, in 1878, and here he preached until his death, to large congregations. He published: Sermons (1874 sq.), Truths for To-Day (2 vols. 1874-6), Motives of Life (1879), and Club Essays (1881). See Life and Sermons: A Memorial Volume (1894).

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Swinton, tn., W. Riding, Yorkshire, 10 m. N.E. of Sheffield; has railway works, and manufactories of bottles, glass, pottery. and iron goods. Pop. (1911) 13,658.

Swinton, suburban tnship., Lancashire, England, 5 m. N.W. of Manchester. Pop.(1911) 30,759.

Swinton, WILLIAM (1833-92), American journalist and author,

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His born at Salton, Scotland. parents removed to Canada, when he was ten years of age. He studied at Knox College, Toronto, and at Amherst College. In 1853 he preached for a short time, but in the same year he became professor of languages at Edgeworth Seminary, Greensborough, N. C. Subsequently he taught in the Mount Washington College Institute, New York, and in 1858 joined the staff of the New York Times. He was war correspondent for that newspaper, and his frank criticism of military movements brought upon him the displeasure of Gen. Burnside, and, afterwards, of Gen. Grant. After the close of the war he travelled in the South, studying conditions there, and in 1867 returned to the New York Times, as literary critic. From 1869 to 1874 he was professor of belles-lettres at the He University of California. wrote text-books of history, geography, and language, which were standard for many years. Among his other writings were: Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (1866); Twelve Decisive Battles of the War (1867); Condensed History of the United States (1870); Outlines of the World's History (1875).

He edited Masterpieces of English Literature (1880) and A Treasury of Tales (1885).

Swiss Guards, bodies of mercenaries who have formed the papal bodyguard for nearly two hundred years, and who served in the French army from 1616 as 'Les Gardes du Roi.' The latter distinguished themselves by their devotion to Louis XVI. at the time of the French revolution (1792).

Switch. (1.) A movable tapering piece or tongue of rail by which a train is directed from one track to another. See RAILWAYS.

(2.) An instrument for opening or closing an electric circuit. See ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

Switchback, a zigzag system of railway progression used for crossing mountains in place of a tunnel. This method was employed in the Rocky Mts., but is expensive to maintain and is usually supplanted by a tunnel. The name is also given to a railway in which the momentum secured by running swiftly down a declivity enables the cars to mount a steep ascent, sometimes, however, with the assistance of a stationary engine and cable rope. Other forms adopt the spiral system of ascent, where the principle of compensation ascents and descents enables the cars to overcome very steep gradients. The switchback system is applied to a popular method of amusement, in which cars are made to descend steep inclines, and the momentum thus acquired enables them to ascend to a point equal in

Switzerland

height to the original startingpoint.

Swithin, SAINT (d. 862), bishop of Winchester, was in high favor with Egbert, king of the West Saxons, whose son Ethelwulf made him bishop in 852. He became one of the chief counsellors of Ethelwulf. He was active as the builder of bridges and churches. His day is July 15, and an old English superstition declares that it will rain or be fair for the next forty days, according as St. Swithin's day is rainy or clear.

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Switzerland (Lat. Helvetia) has no natural frontiers, but is the creation of history. One canton (Schaffhausen) lies N. of the Rhine, though Constance and Mühlhausen were ultimately lost to the confederation; another canton (Ticino) lies wholly s. of the Alps, though the similarly situated districts of Chiaand the Valtellina longer form part of the Swiss confederation; while Geneva and Porrentruy on the w. are naturally French, though politically Swiss; and, on the other hand, the Engadine (or upper Inn valley), on the E. is wholly Swiss, though at least the Lower Engadine is historically part of the county of Tyrol. From a physical point of view Switzerland forms part of the 'highlands' of Europe, for it includes part of the W. Alps, and practically the whole of the Central Alps. The highest point wholly in Swiss territory is the summit of Monte Rosa (15,217 ft.), for Mount Blanc is non-Swiss. But apart from Mount Blanc and its immediate neighbors, all the loftiest summits of the Alps are Swiss. The lowest point (646 ft.) in Switzerland is on the Lago Maggiore. Three of the greatest European rivers-the Rhône, flowing to the Mediterranean; the Rhine, flowing to the North Sea; and the Inn, which joins the Danube, and so drains into the Black Sea-rise in the Swiss glaciers. With the exception of the Thur (which flows to the Rhine below Schaffhausen), the Aar, also an affluent of the Rhine, is the single really important Swiss river of which the entire course is within Swiss borders. In fact, putting aside the Rhine canton (the Grisons), the Aar basin includes the whole of Switzerland N. of the Alps. The total area of Switzerland is 15,990 sq. m. Of this, 11,461 sq. m. (71.7 per cent.) was classed as productive, 3,250 sq. m. being occupied by forests, and 127 Of the sq. m. by vineyards. unproductive 4,529 sq. m. (28.3 per cent.), 710 sq. m. are covered by glaciers, and 518 sq. m. by lakes. The three largest cantons -Grisons (2,773 sq. m.), Bern or

Berne (2,657 sq. m.), and Valais (2,025 sq. m.) occupy nearly half the territory of the confederation. The three smallest are Schaffhausen (113 sq. m.), Geneva (107 sq. m.), and Zug (92 sq. m.). Of the lakes, the largest which is wholly Swiss is that of Neuchâtel (92 sq. m.), for Geneva (223 sq. m.) and Constance (208 sq. m.), as also Lago Maggiore (83 sq. m.), belong in part to other countries. Next come Lucerne (44 sq. m.), Zürich (34 sq. m.), Lugano (19 sq. m., of which 12 are Italian), Thun (18 sq. m.), Bienne (16 sq. m.), Zug (15 sq. m.), Brienz (11 sq. m.), and Morat (10 sq. m.). The population in 1900 was 3,315,443, the three most

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gau (1803), Ticino (1803), Vaud (1803), Valais (1815), Neuchâtel (1815), Geneva (1815). Unterwalden, Basel, and Appenzell are each divided into two half cantons. Each of these cantons has its own legislature, executive, and judiciary. The federal legislature is composed of two houses-one, the Council of States, has 44 members, two for each canton, great or small; the other, the National Council, has 167 members, elected for three years in the proportion of one to each 20,000 or fraction of over 10,000 inhabitants. The houses, sitting together, elect (for three years) the 7 members of the federal executive (Federal Council),

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populous cantons being Bern (590,914), Zürich (431,637), and Vaud (284,673); while the three. least populous were Unterwalden (28,287), Zug (25,206), and Uri (19,732). In 1900 the three most populous towns were Zürich (150,703), Basel or Bâle (109,161), and Geneva (104,796). Bern, the Swiss capital, had 64,227. regards language, the figures for 1900 were: German-speaking, 2,319,105; French-speaking, 733,220; Italian-speaking, 222,247, and Romansch-speaking, 38,677. The religious statistics for 1900 were: Protestants, 1,916,157; Roman Catholics, 1,379,664; and Jews, 12,264. Education is very well organized, primary education being in the hands of the cantonal authorities. The

(1352), Zug (1352), Fribourg (1481), Soleure (1481), Basel (1501), Schaffhausen (1501), Appenzell (1513), St. Gall (1803), Grisons (1803), Aargau (1803), Thur

including the president and vicepresident. German, French, or Italian may be used in the federal legislature. Certain bills must (obligatory referendum), and others may (facultative referendum), if required by eight cantons or 30,000 citizens, be submitted to a popular vote. Proportional representation has been adopted in the cantons of Ticino, Neuchâtel, Geneva, Zug, Soleure, Fribourg, and Schwyz, and in the town of Bern. By the laws of the confederation no standing army may be maintained. Military training is, however, compulsory on every citizen; and there are several forts and other military works along the frontiers. Children commence their military training at eight years

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