, pray _Tom_, before you speak
of the Distresses that menace _I----d_, let me hear what Grounds you
have to say, She was, in a tolerable improving way, and on the mending
hand (as you call'd it) when you died. I have heard indeed, from the
Ghosts of some half-starved Silk-Weavers, and some Manufacturers of
_Irish_ Woollen Goods, that died of Hunger and Poverty, that _I----d_
was vastly improv'd, as to Elegance of Taste, in her Gentry, as to
eating and drinking: That they understood Musick, infinitely better
than their Ancestors; that they drest vastly more agreeably than their
stupid Grandmothers, and shew'd more good Sense in the nice choice of
their Suits, and the Fancy and richness of their Cloaths, as well as
the modest way of imitating naked _Eve_, in wearing them, than the last
Age did. I was assured also, that they danced inconceivably finer than
ever; that their Races, and their Subscriptions for them, quite surpast
all Imagination; and that they gam'd deeper, and lost their Guineas
with more ease and politeness, even to Strangers and Sharpers, than
their Fathers did their Shillings to one another. As to any other
Improvements, and particularly as to Learning, Virtue, or Piety, (which
probably were over-look'd in the Account) they poor famish'd Devils,
cou'd tell me nothing of them.

PRIOR. You are very merry _Dean_ with the madness of our Countrymen,
but I fear by and by, I shall hear another Story, and be as melancholy
with their Miseries. However, as you desire it, I shall give you a fair
Account what these Improvements were, which made me think our poor
Country was in a tolerable Way. And in the first Place, I shall mention
our numerous and extended Turnpikes, which have been carried on with
incredible Application and surprizing Expence in all Parts, and I had
almost said, brought to every Town, of the least Name, or Consequence
in the Kingdom. Of what infinite Advantage this must prove to the Ease
and Convenience of all Travellers, to the facilitating and promoting
our inland Commerce, and the general Service of Trade, I need not tell
you.

SWIFT. Ah, _Tom_, I know very well, if _I----d_ had almost as many high
Ways in it as the Ocean, what Advantages it would produce to us. This
was one of the great Arts of the ancient _Romans_, who had prodigious
Roads running thro' every Province, in a strait Line to the Capital of
the Empire. But Alas! We copy them in our boasted Causeways, as we do
in our Standing Ar