*  The  probable  doubt  and  puzzle-
ment ot' tin-  parrot-seller  may  hereafter
pair  off  with  the  effect  of  Swif
mous  question  when  he  met  a  country-
man carrying  a  hare,  ami  struck  him
dumb  with  inability  to  reply  by  a-k-
iu^  hin),  •"  I<  that  your  own  hare  or
a  wig  ?"


t  Mrs.  Walls's  maiden    n   i
man.
rom     the    original    p<
Inn.  22d   of  January,  IT'

For  tl:     i;  ■   i    Mr.  W  ill-    at  his

in  i  avail   Street,  1 1  i
land."


212


THE  LIFE  OF  JONATHAN  SWIFT.
[Book  IV.
Journal
written
for  her.
170G-1708.  him,  and  his  grave  employments  left  him  leisure.     The

Z l  authority  will  he  his  own.      It  will  he  that  wonderful

Journal  already  often  quoted,  that  unrivaled  picture  of
the  time,  in  which  he  set  down  day  by  day  the  incidents
of  three  momentous  years ;  which  received  every  hope,
fear,  or  fancy  in  its  undress  as  it  rose  to  him ;  which  was
written  for  one  person's  private  pleasure,  and  has  had  in-
destructihle  attractiveness  for  every  one  since ;  which  has
no  parallel  in  literature  for  the  historic  importance  of  the
men  and  the  events  that  move  along  its  pages,  or  the  home-
ly vividness  of  the  language  that  describes  them ;  and  of
which  the  loves  and  hates,  the  joys  and  griefs,  the  expec-
tations and  disappointments,  the  great  and  little  in  clusest
neighborhood,  the  alternating  tenderness  and  bitterness,
and,  above  all,  the  sense  and  nonsense  in  marvelous  mixt-
ure and  profusion,  remain  a  perfect  microcosm  of  human
life.  Charles  Fox  had  a  theory  that  Swift  must  have
been  a  good-natured  man,  for  an  ill-natured  one  never


ure  cheerful.
30th  June,
1711.
