At  Laracor  he  lived  till  1710,  amusing  himself  with  gardening  and
repairing  his  church  and  parsonage,  and  making  yearly  visits  to  Eng-
land, where  the  brilliancy  of  his  conversation,  his  vigorous  aptitude  for
affairs,  and  his  connection  with  Temple,  rendered  him  acceptable  to  the
leading  Whig  statesmen  who  were  the  ministers  of  the  day.  He  be-
came the  familiar  companion  of  the  most  illustrious  men  of  the  time,
Halifax,  Godolphin,  Somers,  as  well  as  Addison,  equally  famous  in
letters  and  in  politics.  Congreve  he  had  met  when  visiting  Temple  at
Moor  Park,  and  Dryden  was  a  distant  relation  of  Swift's  family.  Swift's
persevering  dislike  to  Dryden,  whom  he  constantly  underrated  in  after
life,  is  said  to  have  originated  in  the  great  poet's  unfavorable  estimate
of  some  of  Swift's  verses  which  were  submitted  to  him,  on  which  occa-
sion he  said,  "  Cousin  Swift,  you  will  never  be  a  poet ! "  His  connection
with  William  III.  and  Temple,  as  well  as  the  predominance  at  that  mo-
ment of  Whig  policy,  naturally  caused  Swift  to  enter  public  life  under
the  Whig  banner ;  but  he  very  soon  gave  proof  that  his  adherence  to
any  party  was  merely  a  matter  of  interest  and  ambition,  and  that  his
sole  motive  was  his  own  personal  aggrandizement,  the  gratification  of
his  malignant  pride,  and  the  delight  of  inflicting  pain  upon  his  oppo-
nents. In  1704  was  published  his  first  important  work,  unquesti6nably
his  production,  though  never  formally  owned  by  him,  the  savage  and
yet  exquisitely  humorous  pasquinade  entitled  The  Tale  of  a  Tub.
