CAST OF THE INTERIOR OF SWIFT'S SKULL.

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in its great length in the antero-posterior diameter, its low anterior development, prominent frontal sinuses, comparative lowness at the vertex, projecting nasal bones, and large posterior projection, it resembles, in a most extraordinary manner, those skulls of the so-called Celtic aborigines of North-Western Europe, of which we have elsewhere given a description, and which are found in the early tumuli of this people throughout Ireland (a). The curved horizontal line marks the section formed in making the first post mortem examination.

The annexed illustration is taken from a cast of the interior of the cranium, and is one of exceeding interest, inasmuch as it accurately represents the appearances described by Messrs. Houston and Hamilton, particularly the enormous development

of the vessels within the cranium. It resembles the cast of a recent brain much more than that of the interior of a skull, and shows the very small anterior lobes, the great size of the glandulæ Pacchione; and the exceedingly small cerebellum,—not the result either of compression or degeneration during life, nor

pounds in order to qualify him for a surgeon," and "five pounds to be laid out in buying such physical and chirurgical books as Dr. Grattan and Mr. Nichols shall think fit for him." He was elected surgeon of Steevens' Hospital in 1762, and died in 1797. He was a very skilful operator, and generally employed the flap operation in amputation.

(a) See a Lecture on the Ethnology of the ancient Irish: 1844. See also the Irish crania in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.

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THE CAST IN TRINITY COLLEGE.

produced by disease, but as a natural formation, as may be seen by the very low position of the tentorium. It likewise exhibits the immense size of the posterior and middle lobes, particularly the former. We do not find any appearance of disease in the anterior lobes, either on their superior or their orbital surfaces, as far, at least, as this cast of the interior of the skull is capable of demonstrating.

Before proceeding further in this inquiry, or making any observations on the detail of symptoms, and the post mortem appearances enumerated, there is one more circumstance connected with the last illness and the death of this illustrious man which should be brought to light, particularly as it has escaped the notice of most of his biographers. After the Dean's death, and subsequently to the post mortem examination, a plaster mask was taken from his face, and from this a bust was made, which is now in the Museum of the University, and which, notwithstanding its possessing much of the cadaverous appearance, is, we are strongly inclined to believe, the best likeness of Swift—during, at least, the last few years of his life—now in existence. The engraving at page 62 most accurately and faithfully represents a profile view of the right side of this bust, the history of which it is here necessary to relate. This old bust, which has remained in the Museum of Trinity College from a period beyond the memory of living man, has been generally believed to be the bust of Swift; but as there was no positive proof of its being so, it has been passed over by all his biographers, except Scott and Monck Mason, the former of whom thus describes it: "In the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a dark plaster bust, or cast, of Dean Swift. It is an impression taken from the mask applied to the face after death. The expression of countenance is most unequivocally maniacal, and one side of the mouth (the left) horribly contorted downwards, as if convulsed by pain;" and he further adds: “it is engraved for Mr. Barrett's essay." If it was, it never appeared, and has never before been published either with or without

Barrett's essay. In Nicholl's edition of Sheridan's Life and Writings of Swift, we find a full-face portrait of the Dean, said to have been taken the night after his death. It was this, perhaps, led Sir Walter into the error we have alluded to. Mr. Monck Mason supposed, but without adducing any evidence to support his assertion, that the engraving in Sheridan's Life of Swift was taken from this bust. We are inclined to believe Mr. Nicholl's statement that the engraving was made from a picture taken after death.

Sir Walter Scott has greatly exaggerated the amount of contortion which the face of the plaster cast in Trinity College exhibits; on the contrary, the expression is remarkably placid, but there is an evident drag in the left side of the mouth, exhibiting a paralysis of the facial muscles of the right side, which we have reason to believe existed for some years previous to his death, for we find the same appearance, together with a greater fulness or plumpness of the right cheek, though much glossed over by the artist, shown in a very admirable marble bust of Swift (probably the last ever taken) in the possession of Mr. Watkins, the picture-dealer, of this city. Here, then, we have another and a very important and well-marked feature in this most interesting case, brought to light above a hundred years after the Dean's death.

But before we proceed with the evidence adduced by the plaster bust, it becomes necessary to prove its identity, which, until now, could not be done satisfactorily. Upon the back of this cast, and running nearly from ear to ear, we find two lines of writing, greatly defaced, and parts of the upper and middle lines completely obliterated(a). This much, however, can still be read:

(a) We are indebted to Mr. Ball, the able director of the museum of the University, for permission to publish this drawing, which was made by Mr. G. Du Noyer, and cut by Mr. Hanlon. The latter gentleman likewise engraved the skulls of Swift and Stella, which were drawn on wood by our distinguished anatomical draughtsman, Mr. Connolly.

62

SWIFT AFTER DEATH.

"Dean Swift, taken off his **** the night of his burial, and the f*** one side larger than the other in nature. The mould is in pieces" (a).

Opened before.

***

Still this proof was inconclusive; but a deep indention, running nearly parallel with the brow, shows us where the cal

varium had been sawn all round, and the pericranium drawn over it subsequently; and this indentation accurately corresponds with the division of the skull found in Swift's coffin in 1835, thus proving incontestibly the identity of both: they also correspond in the breadth, height, and general outline and measurements of the forehead, allowing about three-sixteenths of an inch for the thickness of the integuments. Posteriorly, however, the bust and skull do not correspond: nevertheless, this

(a) The original mask remained in the Museum, T. C. D., till within a few years ago, when it was accidentally destroyed.

SWIFT'S LYING IN STATE.

63

fact does not in any way militate against our argument, but rather tends to strengthen it, for, upon a careful examination of the bust, it is at once manifest that all the posterior part is fictitious, it was evidently finished out, and modelled in clay, and afterwards the plaster rasped down according to the eye of the artist, as may be seen in the annexed engraving. The cast was made in two parts, and the difference in surface between the rough hinder part, and the smooth, polished, anterior portion, at once stamps the former as fictitious. There is no ear upon the left side, and that upon the right was evidently made from a mould taken off the body separately, and afterwards fitted into the bust. To be convinced that it was a cast from the ear of Swift the reader has only to look at the portrait in Lord Orrery's work, or at any of the busts of the Dean, for Swift's ear was of a very peculiar formation.

This bust, like the skull, is quite edentulous; the nose slightly turned to the left side, and the left eye much less full and prominent than the right in fact it is comparatively sunken and collapsed within the orbit. It is well known that Swift had remarkable large, full, and prominent blue eyes.

:

We may, perhaps, account for the hinder portion of the bust being constructed in the manner we have described, by the fact of the Dean having had at the time of his disease a quantity of long, white hair on the back of his head, which his attendants would not permit to be either removed or injured by taking the mould. In confirmation of this supposition we quote the following passage from Mr. Monck Mason's Annals of St. Patrick's Cathedral, a work, by the way, which contains a clearer and better view of Swift's character than any other we have read. "A person who resides in my family," says Mr. Mason, "is one of the few persons, perhaps the only one now living, who witnessed this melancholy spectacle,”—alluding to his lying in state. "She remembers him as well as if it was but yesterday: he was laid out in his own hall, and great crowds went to see him. His coffin was open; he had on his head neither cap nor wig; there