Gulliver's Travels

215 Pages·2015·2.2 MB·English

by  Jonathan Swift

Table of Contents
From the Pages of Gulliver’s Travels
Title Page
Copyright Page
Jonathan Swift
The World of Jonathan Swift and Gulliver’s Travels
Introduction
Advertisement
A Letter from Capt. Gulliver to His Cousin Sympson
The Publisher to the Reader
Part I - A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Articles of Impeachment against Quinbus Flestrin (the Man-Mountain)
Chapter VIII
Part II - A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Part III - A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB,
AND JAPAN
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Part IV - A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Endnotes
Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels
Comments Questions
For Further Reading
From the Pages of Gulliver’s Travels
I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently forward 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 arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his back. (page
28)
All true believers shall break their eggs at the convenient end: and which is the convenient end,
seems, in my humble opinion, to be left to every man’s conscience, or at least in the power of the
chief magistrate to determine. (pages 56-57)
I resolved never more to put any confidence in princes or ministers, where I could possibly avoid it.
(page 81)
I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin
that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth. (page 137)
A soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill in cold blood as many of his own species; who have never offended
him, as possibly he can.
(page 247)
Some writers, to make their works pass the better upon the public, impose the grossest falsities on the
unwary reader. I have perused several books of travels with great delight in my younger days; but
having since gone over most parts of the globe, and been able to contradict many fabulous accounts
from my own observation, it hath given me a great disgust against this part of reading, and some
indignation to see the credulity of mankind so impudently abused.
(pages 289-290)

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Gulliver’s Travels was first published in 1726. The present text is that of the
corrected Faulkner edition of 1735. Additionally, the long “S” of Swift’s English
has been converted to the modern short “S” throughout.
Published in 2003 by Barnes & Noble Classics with new Introduction,
Notes, Biography, Inspired By, Comments & Questions,
and For Further Reading.
Introduction, Notes, and For Further Reading
Copyright © 2003 by Michael Seidel.
Note on Jonathan Swift, The World of Jonathan Swift and Gulliver’s Travels,
Inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, and Comments & Questions
Copyright © 2003 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.
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Gulliver’s Travels
ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-132-4 ISBN-10: 1-59308-132-4
eISBN : 978-1-411-43228-4
LC Control Number 2004102762
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Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin on November 30, 1667. An English civil servant and attorney,
Jonathan the elder died half a year before his son’s birth, leaving his wife, Abigail, penniless. An
uncle took stewardship of the boy and educated him in Ireland’s finest school, which he detested
because of its corporal punishment and tedious drilling in Latin grammar. In 1682 Jonathan enrolled
in Trinity College, Dublin. Academia did not agree with the fiery, independent young man; his record
was undistinguished, and he barely earned a bachelor’s degree.
Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Swift went to England, where he became a secretary
to the statesman Sir William Temple at Moor Park, Surrey. A better introduction to politics would
have been hard to imagine; the powerful Temple had negotiated the Triple Alliance that brought
together Britain, Sweden, and Holland, and brokered the marriage of William and Mary. At Moor
Park, Swift tutored a servant’s child, Esther “Stella” Johnson, who would become his great love.
Around this time Swift began to show symptoms of Ménière’s disease, which manifested itself in
tinnitus, nausea, and vertigo. Despite poor health, for several years Swift traveled between England
and Ireland; he worked on and off for Temple, was ordained a priest in the Church of Ireland, and
wrote poems and essays.
After Temple’s death in 1699, Swift’s reputation as a church emissary and political satirist grew
with such tracts as A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books. Although several of his works were
published anonymously, the author’s fame spread throughout London, where he formed close
friendships with the likes of the eminent writers Alexander Pope and John Gay. Though he had started
out with Whig sympathies, Swift became a Tory and successfully navigated the considerable political
upheavals in London during this period. In 1714, with the accession of George I and the decline of the
Tories, he returned to Ireland.
Swift had assumed the prominent deanship of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and he now
devoted his literary genius to the cause of Irish patriotism. He also composed, at Alexander Pope’s
urging and over several years, a work that would become his satiric masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels.
When it was published anonymously in 1726, readers clamored for copies, and all of London
speculated on the identity of its author. Swift staved off the effects of his illness for another ten years.
He published many poems and tracts, including the ironic A Modest Proposal, which excoriated the
English economic oppressors of Ireland by proposing that the children of the Irish poor, the only thing
they could freely produce, be eaten as export delicacies by the English and Anglo-Irish landlords.
However, his sharp mind began to deteriorate, and his last years were marred by mental infirmity.
Jonathan Swift died in Dublin on October 19, 1745.
The World of Jonathan Swift and Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift is born in Dublin. His mother, Abigail, recently widowed and poor, allows a
1667
wealthy uncle to oversee Jonathan’s schooling.
Jonathan is sent to Ireland’s top elementary school, Kilkenny; a headstrong young man, he
1673
finds the atmosphere oppressive.
1675 A Satire Against Mankind, by John Wilmot, second earl of Rochester, is published.
At age fifteen, Jonathan enters Trinity College in Dublin. His lack of interest in regimented
1682 academic study leads to an undistinguished record; he narrowly earns his undergraduate
degree in 1686.
1685 The Monmouth Rebellion seeks to overthrow the Stuart king James II, a Roman Catholic.
Swift travels to England following the rise there of anti Catholic sentiment and the Glorious
Revolution of 1688, in which James II is forced off the throne in favor of the Protes tant
William III and his wife, Mary II, who begin to rule in 1689. That year, the statesman Sir
1688- William Temple, a distant relative of Swift’s mother, offers Swift a position as secretary at
1689 Moor Park, in Surrey. Although Swift resents the lowly post, he learns much from Temple,
who had brokered interna tional alliances as well as the marriage of William and Mary. At
Moor Park, Swift meets his future love, Esther (“Stella”) Johnson, daughter of Temple’s
widowed housekeeper.
Swift begins to show symptoms of what is probably Ménière’s disease; his doctors
1690 recommend a trip to Ireland to soothe his severe tinnitus, nausea, and vertigo. He returns to
Surrey the next year. In the early years of this decade he writes odes and other poems.
1692 Swift receives the degree of M.A. at the University of Oxford.
After being ordained as a priest in the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, Swift is appointed
1695
vicar of Kilroot, near Belfast.
Swift returns to Moor Park to resume his duties with Temple. He begins to write A Tale of a
1696
Tub, a satire of “corruptions in religion and learning” and irrationality.
Temple dies, and Swift again returns to Ireland. Over the next ten years, he will travel to
1699
England on several occasions and become known as a writer.
Esther moves to Dublin. The War of the Spanish Succession begins; a complex European
1701 conflict that begins when Charles II, king of Spain and last of the Hapsburgs, dies with- out
an heir, the war will last until 1714.
1702 Trinity awards Swift a doctorate.
A Tale of a Tub and a shorter piece, The Battle of the Books, are published anonymously, to
1704 great popularity. In the latter, Swift argues for the superiority of the culture and literature of
the ancients over those of the moderns. Isaac Newton’s Opticks appears.
The Act of Union with Scotland is passed in 1707. In England, Swift continues to write and
1707-
publish various po litical pamphlets, including some by Isaac Bickerstaff, a pseu donym he
1709
sometimes uses.
The Tory party (generally affiliated with the aristocracy and the Anglican Church) comes to
power. Disenchanted with the Whig party (linked with the landed gentry, merchants, and