FROM the 2nd of September, 1710, to the 6th of June, 1713, Swift recorded for Esther Johnson, from day to day, his thoughts and doings during what was the period of his greatest activity and influence in English politics. The events of the time were of much importance: but the details of the party struggle are now of comparatively little interest, and it would be absurd to expect that one who reads Swift in order to appreciate his literary genius should linger long over the Tracts which Swift contributed on behalf of one side in the political dispute. The chief of his contributions in this way are, The Public Spirit of the Whigs, and The Conduct of the Allies, each designed to show that the right lay with the Tory Ministers, and those who supported them in their efforts to bring about the Peace of Utrecht. But the space which these Tracts would occupy in a collection like the present is out of proportion to their interest; and it has been thought better to represent Swift's part in the political struggle of the last years of Queen Anne's reign, by specimens which are at once shorter and more general in their bearing. These appear to be fitly introduced by some extracts from this Journal, which not only give a vivid picture of his daily life, his hopes and forebodings, his friendships and his enmities, his public aims and his personal ambitions, but which at the same time are unique as illustrations of the more playful and tender side of his character. The limits and conditions of that closest friendship with her of whom he spoke, and whom the world has remembered, as Stella, must remain a mystery to us. But in these pages we are at least permitted to see how tender in feeling, how unreserved in confidence, how full of that easy familiarity which is the most perfect quality in correspondence, Swift could be with her who continued to be the companion most dear to him until death broke their bond. Unique as these journalistic letters are, they serve, like the other specimens of Swift's work, to show how perfect was his command over the instrument of written language, and how he could make his pen convey with unerring nicety, and at the same time with consummate ease, precisely that shade of feeling which he desired to express. They are none the less interesting because they lay bare to us foibles, pettinesses, and weaknesses, which were hidden from the world at large under the seemingly impenetrable armour of pride and sarcasm.