Polite Conversation

In some ways nothing could be a better introduction to the "Polite Conversation" than the account of it which Mr. Thackeray has given in his "English Humourists" (though under the head of Steele, not Swift), as illustrating the society of the period. That account is in its way not much less of a classic than the immortal original itself, and it is purely delightful. But it neither deals nor pretends to deal with the whole of the subject. Indeed, the idea of Swift's character which the "Conversation" gives does not square altogether well with the view-true, but one-sided-which it suited Mr. Thackeray to take of Swift. The "Conversation" appeared very late in Swift's life, and he himself derived no pecuniary benefit from it.