A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works

By Jonathan Swift

The originality, concentrated power and "fierce indignation" of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English language.
Gulliver's Travels is, of course, his world-renowned masterpiece in the genre; however, Swift wrote other, shorter works that also offer excellent evidence of his inspired lampoonery. Perhaps the most famous of these is "A Modest Proposal," in which he straight-facedly suggests that Ireland could solve its hunger problems by using its children for food. Also included in this collection are "The Battle of the Books," "A Meditation upon a Broomstick," "A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit," and "An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in England." This inexpensive edition will certainly be welcomed by teachers and students of English literature, but its appeal extends to any reader who delights in watching a master satirist wield words as weapons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Feb 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486110752

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) nació en una familia humilde de Dublín. A los diecinueve años entró a trabajar como secretario del político inglés William Temple. Se trasladó a Inglaterra y con él permaneció diez años en los que siguió formándose y se ordenó sacerdote. A la muerte de Temple entró al servicio del conde de Berkeley y se hizo cargo de algunas parroquias irlandesas. En 1701, ya doctor en Teología, publicó anónimamente su primer panfleto político. Le seguirían muchos otros textos, sobre todo satíricos, con los que se ganó poderosos enemigos como la propia reina Ana. Criticó ferozmente el interés de la sociedad por lo material, la hipocresía religiosa y, en general, todo lo que consideró los males propios del ser humano. Su obra maestra fue sin duda Los viajes de Gulliver, que tuvo que dar a luz bajo seudónimo en 1726.

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DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

GENERAL EDITOR: STANLEY APPELBAUM

EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: CANDACE WARD

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 1996, is a new selection of five works by Jonathan Swift, reprinted from The Works of Jonathan Swift in two volumes, edited by Thomas Roscoe (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1851). A new introductory Note and explanatory footnotes have been specially prepared for this edition.

Copyright

Copyright © 1996 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745.

A modest proposal and other satirical works / Jonathan Swift.

p. cm.—(Dover thrift editions)

Contents: The battle of the books (1697)—A meditation upon a broomstick (1701)—

A discourse concerning the mechanical operation of the spirit (1704)—An argument

against abolishing Christianity in England (1708)—A modest proposal (1729).

9780486110752

1. Ireland—Politics and government—18th century—Humor. 2. Religious satire,

English. 3. Political satire, English. 1. Title. II. Series

PR3722 1996

828’.509—dc20 95-51096

CIP

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

28759910

www.doverpablications.com

Note

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745) was born in Ireland. His father died before he was born, and he, his sister and mother relied upon the generosity of relatives for their maintenance. Swift was educated at the best schools in Ireland, first Kilkenny School, and later Trinity College in Dublin. Like many of his Anglo-Irish contemporaries, he took refuge in England after the Revolution of 1688.

Around this time Swift joined the household of Sir William Temple, acting in a secretarial capacity. Swift’s association with Temple (whom he defended in The Battle of the Books) continued until Temple’s sudden death in 1699. While employed by Temple, Swift began writing verse. His poetry, however, never achieved the acclaim of his prose. Swift’s earliest satirical work, A Tale of a Tub, composed sometime between 1696 and 1699, was published anonymously in 1704, along with The Battle of the Books and A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. Despite its anonymous publication, these three works were recognized as Swift’s and he soon earned the reputation of a wit and keen political satirist.

In England, Swift’s reputation grew with his political alignment with the Tory government then in power. Though his views were primarily Whiggish, the Tories promised greater support of the Anglican Church in Ireland. Swift had been ordained an Anglican priest in 1795, and though his personal beliefs did not always conform to those of the Tory party, he became their chief political writer. In 1714, the Tory party lost power, and Swift returned to Ireland to assume the deanery of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Swift’s writings of the 1720s and 1730s are characterized by his fervent support of the Irish cause. The most famous of these works is A Modest Proposal, which is still a model of satiric political parody. Swift died in 1745 and was buried in St. Patrick’s. His epitaph, which he composed himself, is a challenge to imitate his efforts to champion liberty.

Editorial footnotes are indicated by Arabic numerals while unnumbered notes are Swift’s.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Bibliographical Note

Copyright Page

Note

A FULL AND TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE FOUGHT LAST FRIDAY BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN BOOKS IN SAINT JAMES’S LIBRARY.

A MEDITATION UPON A BROOMSTICK

A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE MECHANICAL OPERATION OF THE SPIRIT. IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND. A FRAGMENT.

AN ARGUMENT TO PROVE THAT THE ABOLISHING OF CHRISTIANITY IN ENGLAND MAY, AS THINGS NOW STAND, BE ATTENDED WITH SOME INCONVENIENCES, AND PERHAPS NOT PRODUCE THOSE MANY GOOD EFFECTS PROPOSED THEREBY.

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURTHEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC.

DOVER · THRIFT · EDITIONS

A FULL AND TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE FOUGHT LAST FRIDAY BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN BOOKS IN SAINT JAMES’S LIBRARY.¹

THE BOOKSELLER TO THE READER.

THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE, as it is unquestionably of the same author, so it seems to have been written about the same time, with the former;² I mean the year 1697, when the famous dispute was on foot about ancient and modern learning. The controversy took its rise from an essay of sir William Temple’s upon that subject; which was answered by W. Wotton, B. D., with an appendix by Dr. Bentley, endeavouring to destroy the credit of Æsop and Phalaris for authors, whom sir William Temple had, in the essay before mentioned, highly commended. In that appendix the doctor falls hard upon a new edition of Phalaris, put out by the honourable Charles Boyle,³ now earl of Orrery, to which Mr. Boyle replied at large with great learning and wit; and the doctor voluminously rejoined. In this dispute the town highly resented to see a person of sir William Temple’s character and merits roughly used by the two rever- end gentlemen aforesaid, and without any manner of provocation. At length, there appearing no end of the quarrel, our author tells us that the BOOKS in St. James’s Library, looking upon themselves as parties principally concerned, took up the controversy, and came to a decisive battle; but the manuscript, by the injury of fortune or weather, being in several places imperfect, we cannot learn to which side the victory fell.

I must warn the reader to beware of applying to persons what is here meant only of books, in the most literal sense. So, when Virgil is mentioned, we are not to understand the person of a famous poet called by that name; but only certain sheets of paper bound up in leather, containing in print the works of the said poet: and so of the rest.

THE PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.

Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. But, if it should happen otherwise, the danger is not great; and I have learned from long experience never to apprehend mischief from those understandings I have been able to provoke: for anger and fury, though they add strength to the sinews of the body, yet are found to relax those of the mind, and to render all its efforts feeble and impotent.

There is a brain that will endure but one scumming; let the owner gather it with discretion, and manage his little stock with husbandry; but, of all things, let him beware of bringing it under the lash of his betters, because that will make it all bubble up into impertinence, and he will find no new supply. Wit without knowledge being a sort of cream, which gathers in a night to the top, and by a skilful hand may be soon whipped into froth; but once scummed away, what appears underneath will be fit for nothing but to be thrown to the hogs.

A FULL AND TRUE ACCOUNT, ETC.

Whoever examines, with due circumspection, into the annual records of time, will find it remarked that war is the child of pride, and pride the daughter of riches:—the former of which assertions may be soon granted, but one cannot so easily subscribe to the latter; for pride is nearly related to beggary and want, either by father or mother, and sometimes by both: and, to speak naturally, it very seldom happens among men to fall out when all have enough; invasions usually travelling from north to south, that is to say, from poverty to plenty. The most ancient and natural grounds of quarrels are lust and avarice; which, though we may allow to be brethren, or collateral branches