Chiswick Press Editions
POLITE CONVERSATION
⁂ This Edition is limited to Five Hundred copies, viz.:
50 on Japanese Vellum, numbered 1 to 50.
450 on Handmade paper, numbered 51 to 500.
This is No. 438.
Ionathan Swift S. T. D.
Decanus Ecclesia Cathedralis Sancti Patricy Dublin.
Carolus Jervacius Pictor Reg. Pinxit. Geo. Vertue Londini Sculpsit
POLITE CONVERSATIONIN THREE DIALOGUES BYJONATHAN SWIFT WITH INTRODUCTIONAND NOTESBY GEORGE SAINTSBURY
LONDON PRINTED AND ISSUED BY
CHARLES WHITTINGHAM & CO AT
THE CHISWICK PRESS MDCCCXCII
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Editor’s Introduction | vii |
| Introduction to the Dialogues | 3 |
| Dialogue I. | 53 |
| Dialogue II. | 127 |
| Dialogue III. | 173 |
| Illustrative Notes | 191 |
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION.
In some ways nothing could be a betterintroduction to the “Polite Conversation”than the account of it which Mr.Thackeray has given in his “EnglishHumourists” (though under the head ofSteele, not Swift), as illustrating thesociety of the period. That account isin its way not much less of a classicthan the immortal original itself, andit is purely delightful. But it neitherdeals nor pretends to deal with thewhole of the subject. Indeed, the ideaof Swift’s character which the “Conversation”gives does not square altogetherwell with the view—true, but one-sided—whichit suited Mr. Thackeray totake of Swift.
The “Conversation” appeared very[viii]late in Swift’s life, and he himself derivedno pecuniary benefit from it. He had,with that almost careless generositywhich distinguished him side by side withan odd kind of parsimony, given the