, it proves nothing here. The other points to
be noticed are as follows.

1710, September 28, November 30, March 7; 1711, April 3, July 18, October
14 and 25, Swift visited or dined with Mrs. Barton at her _lodgings_. He
was also at this time on good terms with Halifax, and dined with him
November 28, 1710, and with Mrs. Barton on November 30. According to the
idiom of the day, _lodgings_ was a name for every kind of residence, and
even for the apartments of a guest in the house of his host. For anything
to the contrary in the mere word, the lodgings might have been in the house
of Lord Halifax, or of Newton himself. But, on the other hand, the future
Dean, much as he writes to Stella of every kind of small talk, never
mentions Halifax and Mrs. Barton together, never makes the slightest
allusion to either in connexion with the other, though in one and the same
letter he minutes his having dined with Halifax on the 28th, and with Mrs.
Barton on the 30th. There must have been intentional suppression in this.
All the world knew that there was some _liaison_ between the two; yet when
Swift (1711, Nov. 20) records his having been "teased with whiggish
discourse" by Mrs. Barton, he does not even drop a sarcasm about her
politics having been learnt from Halifax. This is the more remarkable as
the two seem to have been almost the only persons who are mentioned as
talking whiggery to him. To this list, however, may be added Lady Betty
Germain, well known to the readers of Swift's poetry, who joined Mrs.
Barton in inflicting the vexation, and at whose house the conversation took
place. It thus appears that Mrs. Barton was received in a manner which
shows that she was regarded as a respectable woman. The suppression on the
part of Swift may indicate respect for his two friends (that he highly
respected Mrs. Barton appears clear), and observance of a convention
established in their circle. But perhaps it is rather to be attributed to
his own position with respect to Stella, which was certainly peculiar,
though no one can say what their understanding was at the date of the
journal. This journal came again into Swift's hands before it was
published; so that we can only treat it as containing what he finally chose
to preserve. Allusions may have been struck out.

There is another point which our modern manners will not allow to be very
closely handled in print, but on which I am disposed to lay some stress. On
September 28, 1710, and