John Toland and Jonathan Swift: comparisons and contrasts

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
from a painting by Charles Jervas (c.1675-1739)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Jonathan Swift, who died on this day in 1745, was a contemporary and compatriot of John Toland with whom he even shared a birthday (30 November) although, Swift was three years older, being born in 1667. Like Toland, his strongly held views earned him a certain reputation for controversy, polemic, satire. Both men ran the gauntlet of political and ecclesiastical authority in their day, for which they both paid a heavy price in terms of how it affected their respective careers and their livelihoods.

Yet, the similarities that one can't help but notice also betray the contrasts that come to the surface as one digs deeper. For, while both men were deeply involved in the politics and public life of the time, it was usually from opposing platforms that they enunciated their views, often having the effect of engulfing them in controversy of one sort or another.

Indeed Swift was among those who spoke against Toland in the outcry that ensued from the publication of his seminal work, Christianity not Mysterious, in 1695. He was also among those who called into question Toland's parentage, describing him as a "priest and the son of a priest" in a 'Letter to a Member of the House of Commons of Ireland etc. written on September 3rd 1697' (cited in John Toland: Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar ... and Heretic by J.N. Duggan)

The price that both men paid included exile although, in opposite directions for, while Toland found himself banished from Ireland, Swift probably felt that he was being banished to the country of his birth, upon finding himself on the wrong side of the fence, politically, in England.

Toland arrived in Dublin sometime prior to the publication of Christianity not Mysterious, after many years studying abroad in Scotland, England, the Netherlands. It is believed that he had hopes of securing a position of some kind in Dublin but, following the furore, it was not even safe for him to remain in Ireland. Thereafter, he spent much of the rest of his life in England (although he was an regular visitor to the Continent), championing and polemicising on behalf of various Whig causes. This, after all, was the political movement of the day to which he had always been closest.

Swift, on the other hand, started out, politically, as a Whig but, eventually crossed over to the Tories. Hence, while Toland largely welcomed the period of Whig supremacy that followed the ascension of Elector George Louis of Hanover to the British throne (as King George I), for Swift, this was the kiss of death in terms of his own political ambitions.

"When he sought a church appointment in England, in reward for his services, the best position his friends could secure for him was that of Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. It seems that Queen Anne had taken a particular dislike to Swift and, made it clear that he would not have received even that position if she could have prevented it. Among other things, she regarded his work, A Tale of a Tub, to be blasphemous. With the return of the Whigs to power in 1715, Swift left England and returned to Ireland, it is said, "in disappointment, a virtual exile [and] to live like a rat in a hole." – see Writing & Literary on the 350th Anniversary of the Birth of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Jonathan Swift, essayist, poet, political pamphleteer and contemporary of John Toland, died on this day in 1745.

The Heretic and the Heiress: John Toland and Sophia, Electress of Hanover

Sophia of the Palatinate, who was Electress of Hanover from 1692 to 1698, was born on this day in 1630. Often described as a woman of letters and patron of the arts, who sponsored both Gottfried Leibniz and John Toland, a claim has also been put forward that she "made interesting philosophical contributions of her own, principally concerning the nature of mind and thought," according to Lloyd Strickland of Manchester Metropolitan University.

She first encountered Toland on his trip to Hanover in 1701, as part of Lord Macclesfield's delegation that delivered a copy of the Act of Settlement (or Act of Succession as it is sometimes referred to) to her. In Hanover, it is said that Toland was particularly well received by the Electress Sophia and it is recounted by J.N. Duggan (author of biographies of both Sophia of Hanover and John Toland) that:

"... it was noted that during the daily walks around the gardens of Herrenhausen, Sophia and the Irishman would distance themselves from the attendant courtiers so that they could talk in private."

The subjects of Toland's relationship with Sophia, Leibniz, the courts of Hanover and of Berlin are matters that we hope to return to, in due course. In the meantime, we are reproducing here, from the website dedicated to Sophia of Hanover, an article that originally appeared in 2010.

John Toland and Sophia of Hanover

The Heretic and the Heiress

What is the connection between a European Princess, a descendant of the Wittelsbach and Stuart dynasties, who would go on to become Heiress Presumptive to the throne of Great Britain by the Act of Settlement of 1701 and, a Donegal heretic widely denounced by political and ecclesiastical authorities of the day? Two new books by Irish author, J.N. Duggan, furnish an answer.

Sophia of Hanover: Winter Princess
by J.N. Duggan

Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714) was daughter of Frederick and Elisabeth of the Palatinate, known as the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia. Irish readers may be interested to know that she was a 20x great grand-daughter of Brian Boru and counted Strongbow and Aoife among her ancestors.

She is best remembered in the English-speaking world as the connection between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover but, in the opinion of her biographer, she deserves to be remembered, in her own right, as a gifted writer and chronicler of her times (1630-1714).

She has left us an enormous legacy of writings in the form of her memoirs, (which she wrote at the age of 50) and, the many letters which she wrote to her family and friends over the course of her long and eventful life. Her writings are remarkable, both for the light that they throw on the politics and personalities of the 17th Century (she was related by blood or marriage to all the great families of Europe) but also, for the insider's view that she gives us of life in the princely courts of Europe.

Because of her privileged position and ringside seat at the cockpit of European politics, she was able to report to Leibniz on 4 November 1688:

The Prince of Orange left last Saturday with 50 vessels. He had no manifesto except a memoir that the English Protestants sent him listing all their grievances against their King and the reasons that made them doubt that the Prince of Wales is the Queen’s child. However, the King of England [James II] has done me the honour of writing to me in his own hand on this subject, where he says that he would have to be the wickedest man on earth to do such a thing, but it seems that those who believe in such an imposture judge him by their own standards. H.M. writes to me also that he had not been able to believe for a long time that his son-in-law and nephew would be willing to invade his country and that was why he had delayed so long in making preparations, but that if the wind remained contrary for another few days he would be in a state to receive him. Therefore we are all impatient to learn how matters went in England. On all the Prince of Orange’s banners there is 'For Religion and Liberty'.

J.N. Duggan is the author of Sophia of Hanover: from Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630-1714, recently published by Peter Owen Publishers of London. The circumstances in which her book on Sophia of Hanover was completed, led directly to her second book, John Toland: Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar ... and Heretic. The author explains that she had never heard of John Toland (1670-1722) until coming across his name while researching for her biography of Sophia:

Searching through other people’s bibliographies, I realised that he was the recognised source of information on the Courts of Hanover and Berlin in the first decade of the Eighteenth Century, and Chambers Biographical Dictionary informed me that he was an Irishman.

In fact, John Toland was born and raised on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co. Donegal, in 1670. He was a prolific writer on important political and religious issues of the day. He was the first person to be called a freethinker (by Bishop Berkeley); a radical republican who challenged the divine right of kings; the first to advocate full citizenship and equal rights for Jewish people in Great Britain and Ireland, among other notable achievements.

John Toland:
Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar
... and Heretic
by J.N. Duggan

Toland left Ireland soon after his first book, Christianity Not Mysterious, was publicly burned in Dublin, having been denounced in both the Irish and English parliaments. He moved to London, where he resided till his death in 1722 but, was also a frequent visitor to the continent. At the behest of some leading Whig lords, he wrote a book (Anglia Libera) in support of Sophia of Hanover's claim to the throne. He was able to present her with a copy, in person, when he travelled with Lord Macclesfield's delegation that delivered the Act of Settlement to her.

That Toland and Sophia would take an instant liking to each other is not surprising, according to the author of these two volumes. It was noted that that during daily walks, Sophia and the Irishman would distance themselves from the attendant courtiers so that they could talk in private. They were both very forward-looking but also very practical people. He loved an audience and she loved to be entertained.
Throughout her life, Sophia kept in touch with the thinking of the foremost philosophers of her day. Gottfried Leibniz was not only librarian to the court of Hanover, he was Sophia’s best friend and confidante. The two of them, together with the Catholic bishop of Neustadt, Christof Rojas de Spinola, attempted to reunite the Catholic and Protestant churches. The attempt ended in failure and acrimony but, in any case, Sophia's enthusiasm for ecumenism was waning as prospects of a Protestant crown loomed on the horizon.

Toland, for his part, was in turn a member of each of the major religious sects – Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian – but, he abandoned them all and was denounced by each as a dangerous heretic. Outside of academic circles, he is barely known in his native Ireland but, where he is remembered, he is celebrated for the important part he played in laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment.

• Sophia of Hanover: from Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630-1714 is published by Peter Owen Publishers (ISBN: 978-0-7206-1342-1)
• John Toland: Ireland's Forgotten Philosopher, Scholar ... and Heretic is published by The Manuscript Publisher (ISBN: 978-1-907522-08-6)

Further information about both of these titles, including how to buy online, is available from the author's website.