ession that Swift made
acquaintance with the leaders of the wits at Button's. Ambrose
Philips refers to him as the strange clergyman whom the frequenters
of the Coffee-house had observed for some days. He knew no one, no
one knew him. He would lay his hat down on a table, and walk up and
down at a brisk pace for half an hour without speaking to any one,
or seeming to pay attention to anything that was going forward.
Then he would snatch up his hat, pay his money at the bar, and walk
off, without having opened his lips. The frequenters of the room
had christened him "the mad parson." One evening, as Mr. Addison
and the rest were observing him, they saw him cast his eyes several
times upon a gentleman in boots, who seemed to be just come out of
the country. At last, Swift advanced towards this bucolic
gentleman, as if intending to address him. They were all eager to
hear what the dumb parson had to say, and immediately quitted their
seats to get near him. Swift went up to the country gentleman, and
in a very abrupt manner, without any previous salute, asked him,
"Pray, Sir, do you know any good weather in the world?" After
staring a little at the singularity of Swift's manner and the
oddity of the question, the gentleman answered, "Yes, Sir, I thank
God I remember a great deal of good weather in my time."--"That is
more," replied Swift, "than I can say; I never remember any weather
that was not too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry; but, however
God Almighty contrives it, at the end of the year 'tis all very
well."

* * * * *

Sir Walter Scott gives, upon the authority of Dr. Wall, of
Worcester, who had it from Dr. Arbuthnot himself, the following
anecdote--less coarse than the version generally told. Swift was
seated by the fire at Button's; there was sand on the floor of the
coffee-room, and Arbuthnot, with a design to play upon this
original figure, offered him a letter, which he had been just
addressing, saying at the same time, "There--sand that"--"I have
got no sand," answered Swift, "but I can help you to a little
_gravel_." This he said so significantly, that Arbuthnot hastily
snatched back his letter, to save it from the fate of the capital
of Lilliput.

* * * * *