poet and diplomatist, with a "lean carcass"; and young Berkeley of Trinity
College, Dublin, "a very ingenious man and great philosopher," whom Swift
determined to favour as much as he could. Mrs. Masham, the Duchess of
Somerset, the Duchess of Shrewsbury, the Duchess of Hamilton, Lady Betty
Germaine, and many other ladies appear with more or less distinctness; besides
a host of people of less note, of whom we often know little but what Swift
tells us.

Swift throws much light, too, on the daily life of his time. The bellman on
his nightly rounds, calling "Paaast twelvvve o'clock"; the dinner at three, or
at the latest, four; the meetings at coffee-houses; the book-sales; the visit
to the London sights--the lions at the Tower, Bedlam, the tombs in Westminster
Abbey, and the puppet-show; the terrible Mohocks, of whom Swift stood in so
much fear; the polite "howdees" sent to friends by footmen; these and more are
all described in the Journal. We read of curious habits and practices of
fashionable ladies; of the snuff used by Mrs. Dingley and others; of the
jokes--"bites," puns, and the like--indulged in by polite persons. When Swift
lodged at Chelsea, he reached London either by boat, or by coach,--which was
sometimes full when he wanted it,--or by walking across the "Five Fields," not
without fear of robbers at night. The going to or from Ireland was a serious
matter; after the long journey by road came the voyage (weather permitting) of
some fifteen hours, with the risk of being seized or pursued by French
privateers; and when Ireland was reached the roads were of the worst. We have
glimpses of fashionable society in Dublin, of the quiet life at Laracor and
Trim, and of the drinking of the waters at Wexford, where visitors had to put
up with primitive arrangements: "Mrs. Dingley never saw such a place in her
life."

Swift's own characteristics come out in the clearest manner in the Journal,
which gives all his hopes and fears during three busy years. He was pleased