46 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



accidents and broken shins I lay all night on 

 board, and came back this morning at 8. Am 

 now in my chamber, where I must stay and get 

 a fresh stock of patience." 



So ends this curious diary. This is the last 

 time that Swift is known to have visited England, 

 and it has always been assumed, from the lack of 

 evidence of his again touching these shores, that 

 he never did return. But he was mentally active 

 until 1736, and it was not until 174^5 that he died, 



in madness and old 



"^ktve ou^ Ihree. age. Meanwhile, 



P , , , there still exists in- 



r^. ^ , disputable evidence 



^^y^WJj^ of his travelling 



^ Y^\ ec^^^vy^ 7c.wv along the Holyhead 



?W^(? Road in 1730; for 



'/3/^ an old diamond- 



EPIGRAM SCRATCHED WITH A DIAMONL- shapcd paUC Of O'hlSS, 

 RING ON A WINDOW-PANK BY DEAN , O ' 



SWIFT. tor m e r 1 y in a 



window of the 

 "Pour Crosses" Inn at Willoughby, and deeply 

 tinged with a greenish hue, as much old glass 

 commonly is, may be found in private possession 

 at Rugby, inscribed by him with a diamond ring. 

 The handwriting compares exactly Avith that of 

 his diary and other manuscripts still extant, and 

 the ferocity of the humour in the lines is charac- 

 teristic of him. Other windows, at Chester and 

 elsewhere, are known to have been insci'il3ed l^y 

 him with epigrams and satirical verses, but they 

 do not appear to have survived. The occasion of 



