Swift, posing as the pedant Simon Wagstaff, offers a manual of genteel talk and then demonstrates it in three dialogues set in St. James’s Park and over dinner and tea. Lord Sparkish, Lady Answerall, Miss Notable, Tom Neverout and their friends trade proverbs, stale jokes and ready-made repartee without a single original thought.
A merciless and very funny satire on small talk, edited with an introduction by George Saintsbury. Download the free EPUB.