415 I prepared and laid by, against I had my next crop of corn, when I proposed to myself to grind, or rather pound, my corn into meal to make my bread. My next difficulty was to make a sieve, or search to dress my meal, and to part it from the bran and the husk, without which I did not see it possible I could have any 420 bread. This was a most difficult a most difficult thing, so much as but to think on; for to be sure I had nothing like the necessary thing to make it, I mean fine thin canvas, or stuff, to 425 search the meal through. And here I was at a full stop for many months; nor did I really know what to do; linnen I had none left, but what was mere rags; I had goat's hair, 430 but neither knew I how to weave it, or spin it; and had I known how, here was no tools to work it with; all the remedy that I found for this, was, that at last I did remember Í 435 had among the seamen's clothes, which were saved out of the ship, some neck-cloths of calico, or muslin; and with some pieces of these, I made three small sieves, but proper 440 enough for the work; and thus I made shift for some years; how I did afterwards, I shall show in its place. The baking part was the next thing to be considered, and how I 445 should make bread when I came to have corn; for first I had no yeast; as to that part, as there was no supplying the want, so I did not concern myself much about it; but 450 for an oven, I was indeed in great pain; at length I found out an experiment for that also, which was this: I made some earthen vessels very broad, but not deep, that is to 455 say, about two foot diameter, and not above nine inches deep; these I burnt in the fire, as I had done the other, and laid them by; and when I wanted to bake, I made a great fire upon my hearth, which I had 460 paved with some square tiles of my own making and burning also; but I should not call them square. When the fire-wood was burnt pretty much into embers, or live coals, I drew 465 them forward upon this hearth, so as to cover it all over, and there I let them lie, till the hearth was very hot; then sweeping away all the embers, I set down my loaf, or loaves, and 470 whelming down the earthen pot upon them, drew the embers all round the outside of the pot to keep in, and add to the heat; and thus, as well as in the best oven in the world, I 475 baked my barley loaves, and became in little time a mere pastry-cook into the bargain; for I made myself several cakes of the rice and puddings; indeed I made no pies, neither had I 480 anything to put into them, supposing I had, except the flesh either of fowls or goats. It need not be wondered at, if all these things took me up most part 485 of the third year of my abode here; for it is to be observed that, in the intervals of these things, I had my new harvest and husbandry to manage; for I reaped my corn in its season, 490 and carried it home as well as Ì could, and laid it up in the ear, in my large baskets, till I had time to rub it out; for I had no floor to thrash it on, or instrument to thrash it with. 495 And now indeed my stock of corn increasing, I really wanted to build my barns bigger. I wanted a place to lay it up in; for the increase of the corn now yielded me so much, 500 that I had of the barley about twenty bushels, and of the rice as much, or more; insomuch that now I resolved to begin to use it freely; for my bread had been quite gone a great while; 505 also I resolved to see what quantity would be sufficient for me a whole year, and to sow but once a year. Upon the whole, I found that the 510 forty bushels of barley and rice was much more than I could consume in a year; so I resolved to sow just JON the same quantity every year, that I sowed the last, in hopes that such quantity would fully provide me 515 with bread, etc. JONATHAN SWIFT. ONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745) was the posthumous child of a lawyer; though he was born at Dublin, both his parents were of English blood. His uncle paid for his education and sent him to Kilkenny School and Trinity College, Dublin. When 21 years old, he became private secretary to the distinguished statesman and scholar Sir William Temple, in whose house at Moor Park, near Farnham (Surrey), he stayed for nearly eleven years. Besides helping Sir William with his papers, he there wrote two of the three books on which his fame as an author nowadays chiefly rests, viz. the brilliant prose satires of The Tale of a Tub (1696) and The Battle of the Books (1697), which were published together anonymously in 1704. The latter is an admirable travesty of the idle controversy concerning the relative merits of the ancients and the moderns, in which Swift, like his patron, sided with the ancients. The Tale of a Tub is a vigorous assault, full of grim irony, upon pedantry in theological systems, under the guise of a tale about the three brothers Peter (Church of Rome), Martin (Anglicanism), and Jack (Calvinism) and their new coats, inherited from their father. Soon after Temple's death (1699), Swift obtained the living of Laracor, a small village near Trim (Meath), but passed most of his time in Dublin, or in London. There he took an active part in the politics of the day and wrote a number of political tracts which combined Whig principles with the church policy of the Tories. This explains why the Whig leaders were not overeager to fulfill their promises of preferment to him, and why the new Tory ministry, coming into power in 1710, easily succeeded in winning him over to their side. During the years 1710-1713, which he passed entirely in London, he was at the height of his political influence, being the intimate friend of Ministers of State (Harley and Bolingbroke) and supporting their policy by vigorous pamphlets and successful journalistic work for the Tory paper, The Examiner. For his great political services he was rewarded with the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, which he obtained in 1713. When, on the death of Queen Anne (1714), the Whigs came into office again, Swift saw all hopes of further preferment defeated, and sullenly withdrew to his deanery. He now took up Irish politics and won great popularity in Ireland by denouncing the introduction of Wood's new copper coinage in his famous pamphlets, signed by 'M. B., Drapier' and therefore called The Drapier's Letters (1724). The gloom of his latter days deepened after the death of two young women whom, in spite of his selfish, misanthropic, and imperious character, he had inspired with a passionate love: Hester Vanhomrigh († 1723), the 'Vanessa' of his poems, and Esther Johnson († 1728), to whose lifelong devotion he has left a lasting monument in his inimitable letters to her, known as the Journal to Stella (publ. 1766–1768). About 1740 a brain-disease set in, from which he was released by a quiet death in 1745. Swift's greatest prose work, the Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Lemuel Gulliver, was written when he was over 50 years old. It was begun ab. 1720, and published anonymously in 1726. To young minds Gulliver's Travels is only a wonderful story-book, giving an entertaining narrative of fictitious travels to the pygmies of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, the flying island of Laputa, and the nation of wise horses, the Houyhnhnms. But the book was really meant as a satire against the political parties of England (Part I-II), the men of science (III), and human nature itself (IV); and, indeed, the savage misanthropy of the last part, especially in the description of the beastlike race of the Yahoos, almost passes the limits of satire, and descends to an offensive and rather morbid cynicism. Yet, the daring fancy and wonderful plausibility of the narrative will never fail to keep up the European fame of a book which, despite some borrowings from Rabelais, Cyrano de Bergerac, and others, has justly been called 'one of the most original works of fiction and one of the most witty of satires.' A MEDITATION UPON A BROOMSTICK. ACCORDING TO THE STYLE AND MANNER OF THE HON. ROBERT BOYLE'S MEDITATIONS. This single stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected corner, I once knew in a flourishing state in a forest. It was full of sap, full of leaves, and full 5 of boughs; but now in vain does the busy art of man pretend to vie with nature, by tying that withered bundle of twigs to its sapless trunk; it is now at best but the reverse of what 10 it was, a tree turned upside-down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air; it is now handled by every dirty wench, condemned to do her drudgery, and, by a capricious 15 kind of fate, destined to make other things clean, and be nasty itself; at length, worn to the stumps in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out of doors or condemned 20 to the last use of kindling a fire. When I beheld this I sighed, and said within myself, 'Surely mortal man is a broomstick!' Nature sent him into the world strong and lusty, 25 in a thriving condition, wearing his own hair on his head, the proper branches of this reasoning vegetable, till the axe of intemperance has lopped off his green boughs, and left 30 him a withered trunk; he then flies to art, and puts on a periwig, valuing himself upon an unnatural bundle [1704] 35 of hairs, all covered with powder, that never grew on his head; but now should this our broomstick pretend to enter the scene, proud of those birchen spoils it never bore, and all covered with dust, through the sweepings of the finest lady's chamber, we should be apt to ridi- 40 cule and despise its vanity. Partial judges that we are of our own excellencies, and other men's defaults! But a broomstick, perhaps you will say, is an emblem of a tree stand- 45 ing on its head; and pray what is a man but a topsy-turvy creature, his animal faculties perpetually mounted on his rational, his head where his heels should be, grovelling on the 50 earth? And yet, with all his faults, he sets up to be a universal reformer and corrector of abuses, a remover of grievances, bringing hidden corruptions to the light, and raises a 55 mighty dust where there was none before, sharing deeply all the while in the very same pollutions he pretends to sweep away. His last days are spent in slavery to women, and 60 generally the least deserving; till, worn to the stumps, like his brother besom, he is either kicked out of doors, or made use of to kindle flames for others to warm themselves by. From GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Part I. A Voyage to Lilliput. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the 5 Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South-Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage at first was very prosperous. 65 It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with 10 the particulars of our adventures in those seas: let it suffice to inform him that, in our passage from thence to the East-Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the north-west 15 of Van Diemen's Land. By an ob 40 servation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were 20 dead by immoderate labour and ill food, the rest were in a very weak condition. On the fifth of November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being 25 very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it and immediately split. Six of the 30 crew, of whom I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation, about three leagues, till we 35 were able to work no longer, being already spent with labour while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I 45 cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often let my legs drop, and could 50 feel no bottom: but when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated. The declivity was 55 so small, that I walked near a mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight o'clock❘ in the evening. I then advanced forward near half a mile, but could 60 not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat of the 65 weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remember 70 to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for as I happened to lie on 75 my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground, and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several 80 slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I could only look upwards, the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a con- 85 fused noise about me, but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently forward 90 over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and 95 arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, 100 and roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright; and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from from my sides upon the ground. 105 However, they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a 110 shrill, but distinct voice, Hekinah degul; the others repeated the same words several times, but then I knew not what they meant. I lay all this 115 while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness: at length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm 120 to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a 125 little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could 130 seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and after it ceased, I heard one of them cry aloud Tolgo phonac; when in an instant I felt above an hundred 135 arrows discharged on my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I 140 suppose, fell on my body (though I felt them not) and some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a-groaning 145 with grief and pain, and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but, 150 by good luck, I had on a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand 155 being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest armies they could bring against me, 160 if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet, they Herrig-Forster, British Authors. discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their 165 numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when turning my head that way, as 170 well as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected, about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three 175 ladders to mount it; from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have men- 180 tioned that, before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul san; (these words and the former were afterwards repeated and explained to me). 185 Whereupon immediately about fifty of the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of 190 observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three who attended him, whereof one was a 195 page that held up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted every part of an 200 orator, and I could observe many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness. I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up 205 my left hand and both my eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness; and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a morsel for some hours before I left the ship, 210 I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not 11 |