12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

PROPOSITION: Was Swift married to Stella?

BRIEF PROPER

I. The documentary evidence bears strongly against the marriage.

A. It provides us with a definite idea of Swift's relations with

Stella.

1. Swift dedicated verses to Stella on her birthday.

2. The prayers which Swift offered when Stella was in her death bed are still in existence.

3. Swift has left an entire account of his history in connection with Stella.

B. The documents bearing on Swift's relations with Stella are of unusual value, for

1. They are very voluminous, for we have

a. The poems he sent to her.

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b. The Journal addressed to her.

c. Allusions to her in his personal memoranda.

d. Letters written to friends.

e. A history of their acquaintance.

C. In all these writings there is no statement that can be construed to indicate that a marriage existed between them, but

1. The negative contend that this evidence is worthless because

a. It comes directly from Swift.

b. Therefore it is prejudiced.

2. But this contention is untrue because,

a. A man of Swift's character would not stoop to underhand trickery.

F. During Stella's fatal illness Swift wrote to Dr. Stopford. In the letter was this statement: I Believe me, violent friendship is much more lasting and engaging than violent love." If Swift was married and made this statement he would be a hypocrite, yet,

1. He is not a hypocrite, because

a. All his writings show a distinct abhorrence of hypocrisy.

G. Stella, on her deathbed, drew up her will and signed it with her maiden name. That she would preface her will with a lie is improbable because

1. She was at the point of death.

2. Swift tells us that she detested deceit and falsehood.

17.

18.

G. Esther Johnson, a woman of undeniable piety, could never have signed her will with her maiden name if a marriage had taken place.

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G. Stella described herself upon her deathbed as an unmarried woman," and

H. Her will was signed with her maiden name, and this testimony bears great weight, for,

a. Stella was a woman of distinguished piety, and

b. Her detestation of falsehood was unusually great.

19. II. The external evidence does not point toward a marriage, for, A. The testimony against a marriage is conclusive, for,

1. The witnesses are reliable, and,

2. They are well qualified to judge, for,

a. Mrs. Dingley was Stella's inseparable companion, friend, and confidante, from the time that Swift's intimate friendship with Stella commenced till her death in 1728.

b. Dr. Corbet and Mr. Rochford were both intimate friends of Stella and her executors.

20. II. The external evidence is strongly against the marriage. A. Mrs. Dingley, the housekeeper, and a woman of excellent reputation, is competent to present evidence on the subject, for

21.

22.

1. She was convinced that no marriage existed, because
a. For twenty-nine years she was Stella's inseparable
companion.

b. It was understood that Swift and Stella were to have
no secrets from her.

A. Mrs. Dingley was convinced that no marriage had taken place, for

1. She was Stella's inseparable friend and companion for twenty-nine years.

2. It was understood that Swift and Stella were to have

no secrets apart from her.

3. Whenever they met, they met in her presence.

4. What they wrote passed through her hands.

B. Dr. Lyon, who attended Swift during his last illness, characterizes the rumor of marriage as popular gossip unsupported by a particle of evidence, for

1. During Swift's decline he, Lyon, had charge of all Swift's correspondence and noted nothing pertaining to the marriage.

2. After making a sound and thorough investigation of the rumor, he could find nothing to support it.

23. III. The external evidence for the marriage is weak.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

A. The writer Orrery states that he believes that Swift and
Stella were married but,

1. His evidence is valueless, for

a. He gives no proof.

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Stella was

A. Orrery, the first writer who mentions it, says,
the concealed but undoubted wife of Dr. Swift, and if
my informations are right, she was married to him in
the year 1716 by Dr. Ash, then Bishop of Clogher."
1. He offers no proof whatever, though he must have
known that his story was contrary to current tradi-
tion.

a. Nine years previous he had maintained the opposite

opinion.

B. Delany also writes in favor of the marriage but offers us no

proof.

C. Next comes Deane Swift saying that he is persuaded that
the marriage took place about 1716, but he admits
1. That there is no evidence of marriage.

2. He gives no explanation of his persuasion.

D. Sheridan states that his father, Dr. Sheridan, was present at the interview when Swift implored Stella to have the marriage announced, yet

1. Mrs. Whiteway, quoted by Deane Swift as an authority
for the interview, states that Dr. Sheridan was not
there.

E. The reason Sheridan gives for the fact that Stella left her
property to charity was that she had been enraged at
Swift's refusal to acknowledge their marriage, but
1. Reference to Swift's correspondence will show that this
disposal of the property was according to his wishes.
F. Monck-Berkeley's testimony is full of improbabilities, for
1. He uses the authority of a Mrs. Hearne to prove that
the Dean had made Stella his wife, and

a. Nothing is known of her history, and
b. Her testimony is based merely on tradition.

G. The widow of Bishop Berkeley gives as argument the fact
that the Bishop of Clogher told her husband of the
marriage, yet

1. It can be proved that Berkeley was in Italy from 1715, a year before the marriage took place, until 1721, and that the Bishop of Clogher was in Ireland from 1716 until 1717, when he died, therefore rendering communication impossible.

30.

31.

H. Scott's story concerning the fact that Mrs. Whiteway heard Swift mutter to Stella "if she wished it owned" and Stella's answering sigh “it was too late" is of no importance whatsoever, since

1. It was communicated seventy years after the words were spoken by the grandson of Mrs. Whiteway, Theophilus Swift, who was the laughingstock of all who knew him.

2. As those words were the only ones heard, the parties concerned might have been talking about something foreign to the marriage.

H. This was communicated about seventy years after the supposed words had been spoken, not by the son of Mrs. Whiteway, but by Theophilus Swift, who was the laughingstock of all who knew him.

1. If it had been spoken, it would have been put in the "Memoirs of Swift," by the son of Mrs. Whiteway.

2. A trial brief. Put into good brief form all the argumentative material of evidential value in Webster's "Defence of the Kennistons," Roosevelt's "Recognition of Panama," or any other material for briefing provided in the Appendix.

3. Criticism of briefing. Let the students criticize and correct one another's trial briefs, pointing out with care the violations of brief rules that they note.

4. In the same fashion students may, to advantage, criticize the first briefs drawn from original material. In this case organization of material and evidential support should also be considered.

PRESENTATION

CHAPTER X

PERSUASION

SECTION 1. THE SOURCES OF PERSUASION

The relation of presentation to investigation. In studying analysis and evidence we learn how to investigate a question thoroughly, but in studying brief-drawing we pass from mere investigation of a question to an obvious preliminary to presentation of it for some group of readers or some audience. But when a good brief has been constructed, we clothe it in language, and that language may, of course, either help or hinder the effect of the case successfully mapped out in the brief. Therefore, in presentation, whatever rhetoric has taught as to clear, forcible, and attractive writing will be invaluable. Yet a case has been planned and put into language for some desired end, in order to produce some desired action, and consequently it must be presented with a knowledge of the principles of persuasion, that is, the principles of adaptation of the thought, the feeling, and the expression of thought and feeling to the requirements of those on whom the effect is to be produced. Indeed, the rhetoric of argument, no matter how well understood (and it is too often neglected) cannot offset ignorance of the principles which govern the relations of an individual to his readers or his audience. Presentation may, then, be best studied under Persuasion and the Rhetoric of Argument.