Leo Damrosch,
Jonathan Swift: His Life and his World
(Yale University Press, 2013)
What follows
are some rough notes taken directly from Damrosch’s fine biography that help to
put Swift in his Irish context. Your
visit to St. Patrick’s, where Swift preached, would also have helped bring him
to life and some pics of relics and the pulpit in the cathedral follow. In any case, these are key points that
Damrosch makes, sometimes quoted straight from Damrosch, other times partially
paraphrased by me. Refer to page numbers:
* Swift
says he was born in Dublin “by accident”
* As
an infant he was either taken or abducted to Whitehaven in Cumbria where he
formed his only childhood attachment to the wetnurse who taught him to read.
* At
some point he was taken back to Dublin and, having been abandoned by mother and
father, felt only bitterness toward parents from then on.
* 16:
Late in life, Swift told his friend, Alexander Pope, “I am utterly void of what
the world calls natural affection, and with good reason, because they [his
family] are a numerous degenerating from their ancestors, who were of good
esteem for their loyalty and sufferings in the rebellion against King Charles
I.”
* 17:
Born into the Anglican minority in Ireland that later became known as the
Ascendancy, from a political point of view Swift had a relatively auspicious
start. Anglicans made up 10% of the
Irish population BUT they were the only citizens allowed to vite, attend
university, or hold govt office, They
also owned most of the land, which has been confiscated from Catholics.
[paraphr. fr. Damrosch]
* J
was sent to Kilkenny College the best school in Ireland. 18: the actual school
no longer exists. 19: One of S’s friends
at Kilkenny was William Congreve, the famous English Restoration
playwright. 20: The school was torn down
in 1784 but until then visitors were shown a desk on which JS had carved his
name.
* In
1682, when he was 14, JS enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin, which no longer
exists as he knew it though the modern Trinity occupies the same site. The entire city of JS’s youth has mostly
disappeared. Trinity was founded 90 yrs
previously by Queen Eliz as a Protestant seminary. 24: JS was somewhat of a
rebel, paying attention only really to his studies in history and poetry.
* 31-32:
During the crisis the Glorious Revolution and the Battle of the Boyne, Swift set sail for England “with an
undistinguished degree” to stay with his mother in Leicester.
* 50:
Swift stayed under Sir William Temple’s protection at Moor Park where he became
tutor to Hester Johnson, daughter of the housekeeper—an odd situation, tha the
housekeeper’s daughter should have a tutor.
When he met her, she was 9 and he was 22. She was to become the Stella of his poetry,
referring to herself sometimes as Esther.
In a poem for his 54th b’day she called him “my early and my
only guide.”As an adult she became his lifelong companion until her death in
1728 and she is buried alongside him at St Patrick’s cathedral.
* 267:
The Church of Ireland was Swift’s instutional home [despite all the time he
spent in England] and it was in that context that he saw himself as an Irishman
at all. …He clearly liked the title of dean for he referred to himself as it
over 170 times in his poems.
* The
two Dublin cathedrals, Christ’s Church and St Patrick’s, looked much as they do
today. The were reminders of an
ecclesiastical empire that now lay mostly in ruins.
* 268:
Swift’s gift was as an administrator.
* 297:
On his return to Ireland in 1714, Swift brought over from England a horse he
had named Bolingbroke. The name may have
been facetious, implying that if he could never get the man Bolingbroke to
listen to his advice he could at least control the horse.
* 338:
Swift and Vanessa arrived in Dublin in 1714 and at that time he wrote to
Charles Ford: “I hope I shal keep my resolution of never meddling with Irish
politics.” … [Then 342] When he was traveling in Ulster—a relatively prosperous
region—one of this coach horses died in an accident. “My servants were surrounded with fifty or
sixty of the neighbouring cottagers, who brought axes and cleavers and
immediately divided the carcass, every man carrying home his proper dividend
for food to their respective families.” It was in this context that Swift broke
his long silence as a writer, in a 1720 panphlet entitled A Proposal for the
Universal Use of Irish Manufacture ….”
The pamphlet was anonymous. The
title page identifies it as “printed and sold by E. Waters, in Essex Street, at
the corner of of Sycamore Aleey.” Edward
Waters, not one of Dublin’s more distinguished printers, had to know he was
sticking his neck out by taking responsibility for this piece and events would
how how true this was. Swift’s message
was that since England was never going to treat the Irish fairly. Their best
hope of resisting exploitation was to boycott English goods.
Swift in St. Patrick's
Being in St. Patrick's Cathedral (much as it was, as Damrosch points out) on St. Paddy's Day, one can almost feel the presence of Swift and hear him preaching from the pulpit. A piece of shamrock, which was offered to each visitor, was a nice touch. The inscription marking his tomb near that of his beloved Stella tells us, in Latin, that "savage indignation no longer lacerates his heart." That is comforting for the man who stood up for Ireland's downtrodden.
These are the Swift texts that we took with us to Ireland and used as a basis, in the limited time we had, to feel the very deep sympathies that Swift had for the Irish people. At the time Swift composed these, Britain treated Ireland with the same policies and attitude that it did the many other countries it was colonizing.
This is Jack Lynch's edition of "A Modest Proposal":
A Modest Proposal
For Preventing the Children of Poor People
in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their Parents
or Country, and for Making Them
Beneficial to the Publick
By Jonathan Swift
Edited and annotated by Jack Lynch
Swift was Irish, and though he much preferred living in
England, he resented British policies toward the Irish. In a
letter to Pope of 1729, he wrote, "Imagine a nation the
two-thirds of whose revenues are spent out of it, and who are not
permitted to trade with the other third, and where the pride of
the women will not suffer [allow] them to wear their own
manufactures even where they excel what come from abroad: This is
the true state of Ireland in a very few words." His support for
Irish causes has made him a renowned figure in modern Ireland.
The paragraph numbers have been added for this edition.
[1] It is a melancholly Object
to those, who walk through this great Town,
1 or travel in
the Country, when they see the
Streets, the
Roads,
and
Cabbin-Doors, crowded with
Beggars of the female
Sex, followed by three, four, or six Children,
all in Rags,
and importuning every Passenger for an Alms. These
Mothers
instead of being able to work for their honest livelyhood, are
forced to employ all their time in Stroling, to beg Sustenance for
their
helpless Infants, who, as they grow up either turn
Thieves for want of work, or leave their
dear native
Country to fight for the Pretender in Spain,
2 or sell
themselves to the
Barbadoes.
3
[2] I think it is agreed by all
Parties, that this prodigious number of Children, in the Arms, or
on the Backs, or at the
heels of their
Mothers, and
frequently of their Fathers, is
in the present deplorable state
of the Kingdom, a very great additional grievance; and
therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of
making these Children sound and useful Members of the common-wealth
would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his Statue set up
for a preserver of the Nation.
[3] But my Intention is very
far from being confined to provide only for the Children of
professed beggars, it is of a much greater extent, and shall
take in the whole number of Infants at a certain Age, who are born
of Parents in effect as little able to support them, as those who
demand our Charity in the Streets.
[4] As to my own part, having
turned my thoughts for many Years, upon this important Subject, and
maturely weighed the several
Schemes of other Projectors,
4 I have always
found them grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true a
Child,
just dropt from it's Dam,
5 may be
supported by her Milk, for a Solar year with little other
Nourishment, at most not above the Value of two Shillings, which
the Mother may certainly get, or the Value in
Scraps, by her
lawful Occupation of begging, and it is exactly at one year Old
that I propose to provide for them, in such a manner, as, instead
of being a Charge upon their
Parents, or the
Parish,
6 or
wanting 7
Food and Raiment for the rest of their Lives, they shall, on
the Contrary, contribute to the Feeding and partly to the Cloathing
of many Thousands.
[5] There is likewise another
great Advantage in my Scheme, that it will prevent those
voluntary Abortions, and that horrid practice of
Women
murdering their Bastard Children, alas! too frequent among us,
Sacrificing the
poor innocent Babes, I doubt,
8 more to avoid
the Expence, than the Shame, which would move Tears and Pity in the
most Savage and inhuman breast.
[6] The number of Souls in this
Kingdom being usually reckoned one Million and a half, Of these I
calculate there may be about two hundred thousand Couple whose
Wives are breeders, from which number I Substract thirty Thousand
Couples, who are able to maintain their own Children, although I
apprehend
9
there cannot be so many, under
the present distresses of the
Kingdom, but this being granted, there will remain an hundred
and seventy thousand Breeders. I again Subtract fifty Thousand for
those Women who miscarry, or whose Children dye by accident, or
disease within the Year. There only remain an hundred and twenty
thousand Children of poor Parents annually born: The question
therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for,
which, as I have already said, under the present Situation of
Affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods hitherto
proposed, for we can
neither employ them in Handicraft, or
Agriculture; we neither build Houses, (I mean in the
Country) nor cultivate Land:
10 they can
very seldom pick up a Livelyhood
by Stealing until they
arrive at six years Old, except where they are of towardly parts,
11 although,
I confess they learn the Rudiments much earlier; during which time
they can however be properly looked upon only as
Probationers, as I have been informed by a principal
Gentleman in the County of
Cavan, who protested to me, that
he never knew above one or two Instances under the Age of six, even
in a part of the Kingdom
so renowned for the quickest
proficiency in that Art.
[7] I am assured by our
Merchants, that a Boy or Girl, before twelve years Old, is no
saleable Commodity, and even when they come to this Age, they will
not yield above three Pounds, or three Pounds and half a Crown at
most on the Exchange, which cannot turn to Account either to the
Parents or the Kingdom, the Charge of Nutriments and Rags having
been at least four times that Value.
[8] I shall now therefore
humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be lyable to
the least Objection.
[9] I have been assured by a
very knowing
American of my acquaintance in
London,
that a young healthy Child well Nursed is at a year Old, a most
delicious, nourishing, and wholesome Food, whether
Stewed,
Roasted,
Baked, or
Boyled, and I make no doubt
that it will equally serve in a
Fricasie, or
Ragoust.
12
[10] I do therefore humbly
offer it to
publick consideration, that of the hundred and
twenty thousand Children, already computed, twenty thousand may be
reserved for Breed, whereof only one fourth part to be Males, which
is more than we allow to
Sheep,
black Cattle, or
Swine, and my reason is, that these Children are seldom the
Fruits of Marriage,
a Circumstance not much regarded by our
Savages, therefore,
one Male will be sufficient to serve
four Females. That the remaining hundred thousand may at a
year Old be offered in Sale to the
persons of Quality,
13 and
Fortune, through the Kingdom, always advising the Mother to
let them Suck plentifully in the last Month, so as to render them
Plump, and Fat for a good Table. A Child will make two Dishes at an
Entertainment for Friends, and when the Family dines alone, the
fore or hind Quarter will make a reasonable Dish, and seasoned with
a little Pepper or Salt will be very good Boiled on the fourth Day,
especially in
Winter.
[11] I have reckoned upon a
Medium, that a Child just born will weigh 12 pounds, and in a solar
Year if tollerably nursed encreaseth to 28 Pounds.
[12] I grant this food will be
somewhat dear,
14 and
therefore very
proper for Landlords,
15 who, as
they have already devoured most of the Parents, seem to have the
best Title to the Children.
[13] Infant's flesh will be in
Season throughout the Year, but more plentiful in
March, and
a little before and after; for we are told by a grave Author
16 an eminent
French physitian, that
Fish being a prolifick Dyet,
there are more Children born in
Roman Catholick Countries
about nine Months after
Lent, than at any other Season,
therefore reckoning a Year after
Lent, the Markets will be
more glutted than usual, because the Number of
Popish
Infants, is at least three to one in this Kingdom, and
therefore it will have one other Collateral advantage by lessening
the Number of
Papists among us.
[14] I have already computed
the Charge of nursing a Beggars Child (in which list I reckon all
Cottagers,
Labourers, and four fifths of the
Farmers) to be about two Shillings
per Annum, Rags
included; and I believe no Gentleman would repine to give Ten
Shillings for the
Carcass of a good fat Child, which, as I
have said will make four Dishes of excellent Nutritive Meat, when
he hath only some particular friend, or his own Family to Dine with
him. Thus the Squire will learn to be a good Landlord, and grow
popular among his Tenants, the Mother will have Eight Shillings
neat profit, and be fit for Work till she produceth another
Child.
[15] Those who are more thrifty
(
as I must confess the Times require) may flay the Carcass;
the Skin of which, Artificially
17 dressed,
will make admirable
Gloves for Ladies, and
Summer Boots
for fine Gentlemen.
[16] As to our City of
Dublin, Shambles
18 may be
appointed for this purpose, in the most convenient parts of it, and
Butchers we may be assured will not be wanting, although I rather
recommend buying the Children alive, and dressing them hot from the
Knife, as we do
roasting Pigs.
[17] A very worthy Person, a
true Lover of his Country, and whose Virtues I highly
esteem, was lately pleased, in discoursing on this matter, to offer
a refinement upon my Scheme. He said, that many Gentlemen of this
Kingdom, having of late destroyed their Deer, he conceived that the
want of Venison might be well supplyed by the Bodies of young Lads
and Maidens, not exceeding fourteen Years of Age, nor under twelve;
so great a Number of both Sexes in every County being now ready to
Starve, for want of Work and Service: And these to be disposed of
by their Parents if alive, or otherwise by their nearest Relations.
But with due deference to so excellent a friend, and so deserving
a Patriot, I cannot be altogether in his Sentiments, for as to the
Males, my
American acquaintance assured me from frequent
Experience, that their flesh was generally Tough and Lean, like
that of our School-boys, by continual exercise, and their Taste
disagreeable, and to Fatten them would not answer the Charge. Then
as to the Females, it would, I think, with humble Submission,
be
a loss to the Publick, because they soon would become Breeders
themselves: And besides it is not improbable that some scrupulous
People might be apt to Censure such a Practice, (although indeed
very unjustly) as a little bordering upon Cruelty, which, I
confess, hath always been with me the strongest objection against
any Project, how well soever intended.
[18] But in order to justify
my friend, he confessed, that this expedient was put into his head
by the famous
Sallmanaazor,
19 a Native of
the Island
Formosa, who came from thence to
London,
above twenty Years ago, and in Conversation told my friend, that in
his Country when any young Person happened to be put to Death, the
Executioner sold the Carcass to
Persons of Quality, as a
prime Dainty, and that, in his Time, the Body of a plump Girl of
fifteen, who was crucifyed for an attempt to Poison the Emperor,
was sold to his Imperial
Majesty's prime Minister of State,
and other great
Mandarins 20 of the
Court,
in Joints from the Gibbet,
21 at four
hundred Crowns. Neither indeed can I deny, that if the same use
were made of several plump young Girls in this Town, who, without
one single Groat
22 to their
Fortunes, cannot stir abroad without a Chair,
23 and appear
at a
Play-House, and
Assemblies in Foreign fineries,
which they never will Pay for; the Kingdom would not be the
worse.
[19] Some Persons of a
desponding Spirit are in great concern about that vast Number of
poor People, who are aged, diseased, or maimed, and I have been
desired to imploy my thoughts what Course may be taken, to ease the
Nation of so grievous an Incumbrance. But I am not in the least
pain upon that matter, because it is very well known, that they are
every Day
dying, and
rotting, by
cold, and
famine, and
filth, and
vermin, as fast as can
be reasonably expected. And as to the younger Labourers they are
now in almost as hopeful a Condition. They cannot get Work, and
consequently pine away from want of Nourishment, to a degree, that
if at any time they are accidentally hired to common Labour, they
have not strength to perform it, and thus the Country and
themselves are happily delivered from the Evils to come.
[20] I have too long digressed,
and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by
the Proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of
the highest importance.
[21] For first, as I have
already observed, it would greatly lessen
the Number of
Papists, with whom we are Yearly over-run, being the principal
Breeders of the Nation, as well as our most dangerous Enemies, and
who stay at home on purpose with a design
to deliver the Kingdom
to the Pretender, hoping to take their Advantage by the absence
of so many good Protestants,
24 who have
chosen rather to leave their Country, than stay at home, and pay
Tythes against their
Conscience, to an idolatrous
Episcopal Curate.
[22] Secondly, the
poorer Tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by
Law may be made lyable to Distress,
25 and help to
pay their Landlord's Rent, their Corn and Cattle being already
seazed, and
Money a thing unknown.
[23] Thirdly, Whereas
the Maintainance of an hundred thousand Children, from two Years
old, and upwards, cannot be computed at less than Ten Shillings a
piece
per Annum, the Nation's Stock will be thereby
encreased fifty thousand pounds
per Annum, besides the
profit of a new Dish, introduced to the Tables of all
Gentlemen
of Fortune in the Kingdom, who have any refinement in Taste,
and the Money will circulate among our selves, the Goods being
entirely of our own Growth and Manufacture.
[24] Fourthly, The
constant Breeders, besides the gain of Eight Shillings
Sterling
per Annum, by the Sale of their Children, will be rid of the
Charge of maintaining them after the first Year.
[25] Fifthly, this food
would likewise bring great
Custom to Taverns, where the
Vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best
receipts
26
for dressing it to perfection, and consequently have their Houses
frequented by all the
fine Gentlemen, who justly value
themselves upon their knowledge in good Eating, and a skillful
Cook, who understands how to oblige his Guests will contrive to
make it as expensive as they please.
[26] Sixthly, This would
be a great Inducement to Marriage, which all wise Nations have
either encouraged by Rewards, or enforced by Laws and Penalties. It
would encrease the care and tenderness of Mothers towards their
Children, when they were sure of a Settlement for Life, to the poor
Babes, provided in some sort by the Publick to their Annual profit
instead of Expence, we should soon see an honest Emulation among
the married women,
which of them could bring the fattest Child
to the Market, Men would become as fond of their
Wives,
during the Time of their Pregnancy, as they are now of their
Mares in Foal, their
Cows in Calf, or
Sows
when they are ready to Farrow, nor offer to Beat or Kick them (as
is too frequent a practice) for fear of a Miscarriage.
[27] Many other advantages
might be enumerated: For Instance, the addition of some thousand
Carcases in our exportation of Barreled Beef. The Propagation of
Swines Flesh, and Improvement in the Art of making good
Bacon, so much wanted among us by the great destruction of
Pigs, too frequent at our Tables, which are no way
comparable in Taste, or Magnificence to a well grown, fat Yearling
Child, which Roasted whole will make a considerable Figure at a
Lord Mayor's Feast, or any other Publick Entertainment. But
this, and many others I omit being studious of Brevity.
[28] Supposing that one
thousand Families in this City, would be constant Customers for
Infants Flesh, besides others who might have it at
Merry-meetings, particularly at
Weddings and
Christenings, I compute that
Dublin would take off
Annually about twenty thousand Carcases, and the rest of the
Kingdom (where probably they will be Sold somewhat Cheaper) the
remaining eighty thousand.
[29] I can think of no one
Objection, that will possibly be raised against this Proposal,
unless it should be urged, that the Number of People will be
thereby much lessened in the Kingdom. This I freely own,
27 and it was
indeed one Principal design in offering it to the World. I desire
the Reader will observe, that I Calculate my Remedy
for this one
individual Kingdom of IRELAND, and for no other that ever was, is,
or, I think, ever can be upon Earth. Therefore let no man talk
to me of other expedients:
28 Of
taxing our Absentees at five Shillings a pound: 29 Of using
neither Cloaths, nor household Furniture, except what is of our own
Growth and Manufacture: Of utterly rejecting the Materials and
Instruments that promote Foreign Luxury: Of curing the
Expenciveness of Pride, Vanity, Idleness, and Gaming in our Women:
Of introducing a Vein of Parcimony, Prudence and Temperance: Of
learning to Love our Country, wherein we differ even from
LAPLANDERS, and the Inhabitants of TOPINAMBOO: 30 Of quitting
our Animosities, and Factions, nor Act any longer like the Jews,
who were Murdering one another at the very moment their City was
taken: 31 Of
being a little Cautious not to Sell our Country and Consciences for
nothing: Of teaching Landlords to have at least one degree of Mercy
towards their Tenants. Lastly of putting a Spirit of Honesty,
Industry and Skill into our Shop-keepers, who, if a Resolution
could now be taken to Buy only our Native Goods, would immediately
unite to Cheat and Exact 32 upon us in
the Price, the Measure, and the Goodness, nor could ever yet be
brought to make one fair Proposal of just dealing, though often and
earnestly invited to it.
[30] Therefore I repeat, let
no Man talk to me of these and the like Expedients, till he hath at
least a Glimpse of Hope, that there will ever be some hearty and
sincere attempt to put them into Practice.
[31] But as to my self, having
been wearied out for many Years with offering vain, idle, visionary
thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of Success, I
fortunately fell upon this Proposal, which as it is wholly new, so
it hath something Solid and Real, of no Expence and little Trouble,
full in our own Power, and whereby we can incur no Danger in
disobliging England. For this kind of Commodity will not
bear Exportation, the Flesh being of too tender a Consistance, to
admit a long continuance in Salt,
although perhaps I could name
a Country, which would be glad to Eat up our whole Nation without
it. 33
[32] After all I am not so
violently bent upon my own Opinion, as to reject any Offer,
proposed by wise Men, which shall be found equally Innocent, Cheap,
Easy and Effectual. But before something of that kind shall be
advanced in Contradiction to my Scheme, and offering a better, I
desire the Author, or Authors will be pleased maturely to consider
two points.
First, As things now stand, how they will be
able to find Food and Raiment for a hundred thousand useless Mouths
and Backs. And
Secondly, there being a round Million of
Creatures in humane Figure, throughout this Kingdom, whose whole
Subsistence put into a common Stock, would leave them in Debt two
Millions of Pounds
Sterling adding those, who are Beggars by
Profession, to the Bulk of Farmers, Cottagers and Labourers with
their Wives and Children, who are Beggars in Effect; I desire those
Politicians, who dislike my Overture, and may perhaps be so
bold to attempt an Answer, that they will first ask the Parents of
these Mortals, whether they would not at this Day think it a great
Happiness to have been sold for Food at a year Old, in the manner
I prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual Scene of
Misfortunes, as they have since gone through, by the
oppression
of Landlords, the Impossibility of paying Rent without Money or
Trade, the want of common Sustenance, with neither House nor
Cloaths to cover them from Inclemencies of Weather, and the most
inevitable Prospect of intailing the like, or greater Miseries upon
their Breed for ever.
[33] I Profess in the sincerity
of my Heart that I have not the least personal Interest in
endeavouring to promote this necessary Work having no other Motive
than the
publick Good of my Country, by
advancing our
Trade, providing for Infants, relieving the Poor, and giving some
Pleasure to the Rich. I have no Children, by which I can
propose to get a single Penny; the youngest being nine Years old,
and my Wife past Child-bearing.
Notes
1. Dublin.
2. The
Pretender was the descendant of King
James II of the House of Stuart, expelled from Britain in 1689.
James and his descendants were Catholic, so they took refuge in
Catholic countries.
3. Many poor Irish were forced to seek a living in
the New World.
4. Projector, "One who forms schemes or
designs" (Johnson).
5. Dam, "The mother: used of beasts, or
other animals not human," or "A human mother: in contempt or
detestation" (Johnson).
6. Parishes were responsible for the support of
those unable to work.
7. Wanting, "lacking."
8. Doubt, "suspect" or "imagine."
9. Apprehend, "fear."
10. Britain imposed strict regulations on Irish
agriculture.
11. Towardly parts, "ready abilities."
12. Fricasee, "A dish made by cutting
chickens or other small things in pieces, and dressing them with
strong sauce" (Johnson);
ragout, "Meat stewed and highly
seasoned" (Johnson).
13. Quality, "Rank; superiority of birth or
station" (Johnson).
14. Dear, "expensive."
15. British landlords took much of the blame for
Ireland's condition, and generally with good reason.
16. Swift's note: "Rabelais."
17. Artificially, "skillfully."
18. Shambles, "meat markets."
19. George Psalmanazar, an impostor who
claimed to be from Formosa (modern Taiwan). His
Historical
and Geographical Description of Formosa (1704) described
their religious practices: every year 18,000 young boys were
sacrificed to the gods, and the parishioners ate their raw
hearts.
20. Mandarin, "A Chinese nobleman or
magistrate" (Johnson).
21. Gibbet, "A gallows; the post on which
malefactors are hanged, or on which their carcases are exposed"
(Johnson).
22. A
groat is worth four pence;
proverbially, any small amount.
23. Chair, "A vehicle born by men; a sedan"
(Johnson).
24. Dissenters or Nonconformists, whose principles
Swift rejected.
25. Distress, "arrest for debt."
26. Receipts, "[From
recipe.]
Prescription of ingredients for any composition" (Johnson).
27. Own, "admit."
28. These "expedients" are serious proposals,
several of which Swift advocated in his other publications.
29. Five shillings a pound is a twenty-five
percent tax.
30. Topinamboo, a district in Brazil.
31. Titus sacked the Second Temple in Jerusalem in
A.D. 70.
32. Exact, "impose."
33. Swift is making a coy reference to England.
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/modest.html
A
PROPOSAL[1]
FOR
THE
UNIVERSAL USE
OF
IRISH MANUFACTURE,
IN CLOTHES AND FURNITURE OF HOUSES,
ETC. UTTERLY REJECTING AND RENOUNCING EVERY THING WEARABLE THAT COMES FROM
ENGLAND. WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1720.
IT
is the peculiar felicity and prudence of the people in this kingdom, that
whatever commodities or productions lie under the greatest discouragements from
England, those are what they are sure to be most industrious in cultivating and
spreading. Agriculture, which has been the principal care of all wise nations,
and for the encouragement whereof there are so many statute laws in England, we
countenance so well, that the landlords are every where, by penal clauses,
absolutely prohibiting their tenants from ploughing[2]; not satisfied to confine
them within certain limitations, as is the practice of the English: one effect
of which is already seen in the prodigious dearness of corn, and the
importation of it from London, as the cheaper market. And because people are
the riches of a country, and that our neighbours have done, and are doing, all
that in them lies to make our wool a drug to us, and a monopoly to them;
therefore the politick gentlemen of Ireland have depopulated vast tracts of the
best land, for the feeding of sheep.
I
could fill a volume as large as the history of the wise men of Gotham, with a catalogue only of some wonderful laws and customs,
we have observed within thirty years past. It is true indeed, our beneficial
traffick of wool with France, has been our only support for several years,
furnishing us with all the little money we have to pay our rents, and go to
market. But our merchants assure me, this trade has received a great damp by
the present fluctuating condition of the coin in France; that most of their
wine is paid for in species, without carrying thither any commodity from hence.
However,
since we are so universally bent upon enlarging our flocks, it may be worth
inquiring, what we shall do with our wool, in case Barnstable[3] should be overstocked, and our French
commerce should fail?
I
could wish the parliament had thought fit to have suspended their regulation of
church matters, and enlargements of the prerogative, until a more convenient
time, because they did not appear very pressing, at least to the persons
principally concerned; and, instead of these great refinements in politicks and
divinity, had amused themselves and their committees a little with the state of
the nation. For example: what if the house of commons had thought fit to make a
resolution, nemine contradicente, against wearing any cloth or stuff in
their families, which were not of the growth and manufacture of this kingdom?
What if they had extended it so far as utterly to exclude all silks, velvets,
callicoes, and the whole lexicon of female fopperies; and declared, that
whoever acted otherwise should be deemed and reputed an enemy to the nation?
What if they had sent up such a resolution to be agreed to by the house of
lords; and by their own practice and encouragement, spread the execution of it
in their several countries? What if we should agree to make burying in woollen
a fashion, as our neighbours have made it a law? What if the ladies would be
content with Irish stuffs for the furniture of their houses, for gowns and,
petticoats for themselves and their daughters? (Upon the whole, and to crown
all the rest, let a firm Resolution be taken by male and female, never to
appear with one single shred that comes from England; and let all the people
say, amen.
I
hope and believe, nothing could please his majesty
better than to hear that his loyal subjects of both sexes in this kingdom
celebrated his birthday (now approaching) universally clad in their own manufacture[4]. Is there virtue enough left in this
deluded people, to save them from the brink of ruin? If the men's opinions may
be taken, the ladies will look as handsome in stuffs as in brocades; and since
all will be equal, there may be room enough to employ their wit and fancy, in
choosing and matching patterns and colours. I heard the late archbishop of Tuam mention a pleasant observation of some body's; that Ireland
would never be happy, till a law were made for burning every thing that came
from England, except their people and their coals. I must confess, that as to
the former, I should not be sorry if they would stay at home; and for the
latter, I hope, in a little time we shall have no occasion for them.
Non tanti mitra est, non tanti judicis ostrum ——
but
I should rejoice to see a staylace from England be thought scandalous, and
become a topick for censure at visits and teatables.
If
the unthinking shopkeepers in this town, had not been utterly destitute of
common sense, they would have made some proposal to the parliament, with a
petition to the purpose I have mentioned; promising to improve the cloths and
stuffs of the nation into all possible degrees of fineness and colours, and
engaging not to play the knave, according to their custom, by exacting and imposing
upon the nobility and gentry, either as to the prices or the goodness. For I
remember, in London, upon a general mourning, the rascally mercers and
woollendrapers would in four and twenty hours raise their cloths and silks to
above a double price; and if the mourning continued long, then come whining
with petitions to the court, that they were ready to starve, and their fineries
lay upon their hands.
I
could wish our shopkeepers would immediately think on this proposal, addressing
it to all persons of quality and others; but first be sure to get somebody who
can write sense, to put it into form.
I
think it needless to exhort the clergy to follow this good example; because in
a little time, those among them, who are so unfortunate as to have had their
birth and education in this country, will think themselves abundantly happy,
when they can afford Irish crape, and an Athlone hat; and as to the others, I
shall not presume to direct them. I have indeed seen the present archbishop of Dublin[5] clad from head to foot in
our own manufacture; and yet, under the rose be it spoken, his grace deserves
as good a gown as if he had not been born among us.
I
have not courage enough to offer one syllable on this subject to their honours
of the army; neither have I sufficiently considered the great importance of
scarlet and gold lace.
The
fable in Ovid of Arachne and Pallas is to this
purpose. The goddess
had heard of one Arachne, a young virgin very famous for spinning and weaving:
they both met upon a trial of skill; and Pallas finding herself almost
equalled in her own art, stung with rage and envy, knocked her rival down, and
turned her into a spider; enjoining her to spin and weave for ever out of her
own bowels, and in a very narrow compass. I confess, that from a boy I always
pitied poor Arachne, and could never heartily love the goddess, on account of
so cruel and unjust a sentence; which however is fully executed upon us by
England, with farther additions of rigour and severity; for the greatest part
of our bowels and vitals is extracted, without allowing us the liberty of
spinning and weaving them.
The
Scripture tells us that oppression makes a wise man mad; therefore consequently
speaking, the reason why some men are not mad, is because they are not wise:
however it were to be wished, that oppression would in time teach a little
wisdom to fools.
I
was much delighted with a person, who has a great estate in this kingdom, upon
his complaints to me, how grievously poor England suffers by impositions from
Ireland: that we convey our own wool to France, in spite of all the harpies at
the customhouse: that Mr. Shuttleworth, and others on the Cheshire coasts, are
such fools to sell us their bark at a good price for tanning our own hides into
leather, with other enormities of the like weight and kind. To which I will
venture to add more: that the mayoralty of this city is always executed by an
inhabitant, and often by a native, which might as well be done by a deputy with
a moderate salary, whereby poor England loses at least one thousand pounds a
year upon the balance: that the governing of this kingdom costs the lord
lieutenant three thousand six hundred pounds a year; so much net loss to poor
England: that the people of Ireland presume to dig for coals in their own
grounds; and the farmers in the county of Wicklow send their turf to the very
market of Dublin, to the great discouragement of the coal trade of Mostyn and
Whitehaven[6]: that the revenues of the
postoffice here, so righteously belonging to the English treasury, as arising
chiefly from our own commerce with each other, should be remitted to London
clogged with that grievous burden of exchange; and the pensions paid out of the
Irish revenues to English favourites, should lie under the same disadvantage,
to the great loss of the grantees. When a divine is sent over to a bishoprick
here, with the hopes of five and twenty hundred pounds a year; and upon his
arrival he finds, alas! a dreadful discount of ten or twelve per cent: a judge,
or a commissioner of the revenue has the same cause of complaint. Lastly, The
ballad upon Cotter is vehemently suspected to be Irish manufacture; and yet is
allowed to be sung in our open streets, under the very nose of the government.
These
are a few among the many hardships we put upon that poor kingdom of England;
for which, I am confident, every honest man wishes a remedy: and I hear, there
is a project on foot, for transporting our best wheaten straw by sea and land
carriage to Dunstable; and obliging us by a law to take off yearly so many ton
of straw hats, for the use of oar women; which will be a great encouragement to
the manufacture of that industrious town.
I
should be glad to learn among the divines, whether a law to bind men without
their own consent be obligatory in foro conscientiæ; because I find,
Scripture, Sanderson, and Suarez, are wholly silent on the matter. The oracle
of reason, the great law of nature, and general opinion of civilians, where-
ever they treat of limited governments, are indeed decisive enough.
It
is wonderful to observe the bias among our people in favour of things, persons,
and wares, of all kinds, that come from England. The printer tells his hawkers,
that he has got an excellent new song just brought from London. I have somewhat
of a tendency that way myself; and upon hearing a coxcomb from thence
displaying himself with great volubility upon the park, the playhouse, the
opera, the gaming-ordinaries, it was apt to beget in me a kind of veneration
for his parts and accomplishments. It is not many years, since I remember a
person, who by his style and literature seems to have been the corrector of a
hedge-press in some blind alley about Little Britain,
proceed gradually to be an author, at least a translator[7] of a lower rate, although
somewhat of a larger bulk, than any that now flourishes in Grub-street; and upon the strength of
this foundation come over here, erect himself up into an orator and politician,
and lead a kingdom after him. This, I am told, as the very motive that
prevailed on the author[8] of a play called, 'Love in a hollow
Tree,' to do us the honour of a visit; presuming, with very good reason, that
he was a writer of a superiour class. I know another, who for thirty years past
has been the common standard of stupidity in England, where he was never heard
a minute in any assembly, or by any party, with common Christian treatment; yet
upon his arrival here, could put on a face of importance and authority, talk
more than six, without either gracefulness, propriety, or meaning; and at the
same time be admired and followed as the pattern of eloquence and wisdom.
Nothing
has humbled me so much, or shown a greater disposition to a contemptuous
treatment of Ireland, in some chief governors, than that high style of several
speeches from the throne, delivered as usual after the royal assent, in some
periods of the two last reigns. Such exaggerations of the prodigious
condescensions in the prince to pass those good laws, would have but an odd
sound at Westminster: neither do I apprehend how any good law can pass, wherein
the king's interest is not as much concerned as that of the people. I remember,
after a speech on the like occasion delivered by my lord Wharton[9], (I think it was his last)
he desired Mr. Addison
to ask my opinion on it: my answer was, That his excellency had very honestly
forfeited his head, on account of one paragraph; wherein he asserted, by plain
consequence, a dispensing power in the queen. His lordship owned it was true, but swore the words were
put into his mouth by direct orders from court. Whence it is clear, that some
ministers in those times were apt from their high elevation, to look down upon
this kingdom, as if it had been one of their colonies of outcasts in America.
And I observed a little of the same turn of spirit in some great men from whom
I expected better; although to do them justice, it proved no kind of difficulty
to make them correct their idea, whereof the whole nation quickly found the
benefit. —— But that is forgotten. How the style has since run, I am wholly a
stranger; having never seen a speech since the last of the queen.
I
would now expostulate a little with our country landlords; who, by unmeasurable
screwing and racking their tenants all over the kingdom, have already reduced
the miserable people to a worse condition than the peasants in France, or the
vassals in Germany and Poland; so that the whole species of what we call
substantial farmers, will, in a very few years, be utterly at an end. It was
pleasant to observe these gentlemen, labouring with all their might, for
preventing the bishops from letting their revenues at a moderate half value,
(whereby the whole order would, in an age, have been reduced to manifest
beggary) at the very instant when they were every where canting[10] their own land upon short
leases, and sacrificing their oldest tenants for a penny an acre advance. I
know not how it comes to pass (and yet perhaps I know well enough) that slaves
have a natural disposition to be tyrants; and that when my betters give me a
kick, I am apt to revenge it with six upon my footman; although perhaps he may
be an honest and diligent fellow. I have heard great divines affirm, that
nothing is so likely to call down a universal judgment from Heaven upon a
nation, as universal oppression; and whether this be not already verified in
part, their worships the landlords are now at full leisure to consider. Whoever
travels this country, and observes the face of nature, or the faces and habits
and dwellings of the natives, will hardly think himself in a land, where law,
religion, or common humanity is professed.
I
cannot forbear saying one word upon a thing they call a bank, which I hear is
projecting in this town[11]. I never saw the proposals, nor
understand any one particular of their scheme: what I wish for at present, is
only a sufficient provision of hemp, and caps and bells, to distribute[12] according to the several degrees of
honesty and prudence in some persons. I hear only of a monstrous sum already
named; and if others do not soon hear of it too, and hear with a vengeance,
then I am a gentleman of less sagacity, than myself, and a very few beside, take
me to be. And the jest will be still the better, if it be true, as judicious
persons have assured me, that one half is altogether imaginary. The matter will
be likewise much mended, if the merchants continue to carry off our gold, and
our goldsmiths to melt down our heavy silver.
-
· This proposal was
answered, and our author severely censured, in a pamphlet published directly
after it, entitled, "A Defence of English Commodities."
· · It was the practice of Irish farmers to wear
out their ground with ploughing, neither manuring nor letting it lie fallow,
and when their leases were near expired, they ploughed even the meadows, and
made such havock, that the landlords by their zeal to prevent it were betrayed
into this pernicious measure.
· · A sea port in Devonshire, at that time the
principal market in England for Irish wool.
· · Her grace the duchess of Dorset, the lord lieutenant's lady,
is said to have appeared at the Castle in Dublin wholly clad in the manufacture
of Ireland, on his majesty's
birthday, 1753.
· · Mostyn in Flintshire, and Whitehaven in
Cumberland.
· · L. Grimston.
· · Canting their land is letting it to the
highest bidder — cant signifies the same as auction.
· · This project for a bank in Ireland was soon
afterward brought into parliament and rejected.
· It should be — to
'be distributed.'
