as a true courtier, and managed to keep fairly with both
parties. He had much wit and readiness, and parried the attacks of Swift
with such dexterity that on one occasion, the latter exclaimed, "What, in
God's name! do you do here? Get back to your own country, and send us our
boobies again." When we recollect that in London Swift enjoyed the
society of the first literary characters of the day, we need not wonder
that he looked on a residence in Ireland as a sort of banishment, and yet
he did not fail to use every opportunity of doing good in private and in
public. He gave half his annual income to decayed families, and kept five
hundred pounds in hand for the sole service of the industrious poor, which
he lent out in five pounds at a time, and took payment back by
installments of two shillings--of course without interest. He was thus the
means of helping them to help themselves, a species of charity which was
not then so well understood as it is now in process of becoming. His
indignation at the oppressive conduct of the English government in
destroying Irish trade and manufactures vented itself in many ways. "Do
not the corruptions and villainies of men eat your flesh and exhaust your
spirits?" said he to his friend Dr. Delany; and in another burst of the
same _saeva indignatio_ he exclaimed, on hearing some one spoken of as a
"fine old gentleman," "What! have you yet to learn that there is no such
thing as a fine old gentleman? If the man you speak of had either a mind
or a body worth a farthing, they would have worn him out long ago."

An incidental notice of the state of Irish trade at that date is afforded
in a letter of Mrs. Delany's to a friend in England: "They make mighty
good gloves here, but I shall not be able to send you any: _they are
prohibited_." Mrs. Delany was herself much interested for the people, and
brought Irish poplins into fashion at the viceregal court. She lost no
opportunity of expressing her liking for the tone of Irish society. When
herself residing in England she writes to her sister, Ann Granville,
afterward Mrs. Dewes, expressing a wish that they could both be
conveniently transported to Ireland for one year, that no place would suit
her sister's taste so well, and that "the good-humor and conversableness
of the people would please her extremely." This lady's descriptions of
life in the country parts of Ireland are perhaps more interesting than
even her experiences in the capital. At one