Thus, in 1714, Swift returned to Ireland, "to die like a poisoned rat in a hole," as he reported (Hunting 22).

Yet Swift slowly reconciled himself to his life in Ireland and the 1720's proved to be an incredibly creative time for him, including his famous "Gulliver's Travels" in 1726 (Hunting 23). In his seventieth year he wrote that walking though the streets of Dublin, he received "a thousand hats and blessings" (Hunting 24).

Swift was a great Irish patriot and became a popular hero and legend in his own lifetime and achieved all the fame he had so passionately desired when young (Rowse 215). After his death he became a figure of folklore, and all around Ireland, there are spots associated with him such as Laracor, Wood Park Kilroot and Gosford (Rowse 215). In the Deanery at St. Patrick's his skull ornamented the sideboard in the dining-room, a secular...
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