JONATHAN SWIFT

1667-1745
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onathan Swift was such a thoroughgoing satirist that his definition of the genre was itself
satirical. "Satire," he wrote, "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." He was not wrong: his own brilliant, often
bitter satirical writings were immensely popular in his own time, and have remained so for
centuries, despite the fact that he pokes fun at all of us in some way or other, mocking political
ambitions, religious convictions, scientific knowledge, war, power, lust, van-ity, and greed. His
derisive wit in fact takes in so much of the world that readers have had trouble figuring out
whether he held any affirmative beliefs or values at all. But for Swift, that may not have been the
point. What he said he most wanted was to "ver" his readers with an uncomfortable awareness of
the follies of the world.
LIFE
Early in the seventeenth century, the English monarchy had seized great parcels of Irish land and
sold them to loyal English families. These wealthy and powerful families were Protestants, and
they struggled to prevent the Catholic majority from gaining power in Ireland: they officially
barred Catholics from holding public office, joining the mili-tary, and teaching children.
Jonathan Swift belonged to this small Protestant minority, born to English parents in 1667 in
Dublin. His lawyer father died before be was born, and his mother moved to England when he
was a small
child. He was raised by a cold and unsympathetic uncle in Ireland, who had him educated at
Trinity College in Dublin. A rebellious student, Swift was punished more than once for failing to
attend religious services and carousing in the city. During a Catholic uprising in 1688, he left for
England, and went to work for a powerful aristocrat and
statesman named William Temple. There
he made contact with influential writers and politicians, and he tutored a young girl named
Esther Johnson, whom he nicknamed "Stella." He began as her teacher and mentor, but became

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 1

 her friend, and remained on close terms with her for the rest of his life.
In 1694, after earning his M.A. at Oxford, Swift was ordained a priest in the Protestant Church of
England and was offered a position in Northern Ire-land. Dissatisfied, he moved back and forth
between England and Ireland, staying at the Temple household on and off for years. It was in this
period that he began to develop a reputation as a witty writer, producing a comic picture of
literary disputes called The Battle of the Books (1704) and in the same year, a clever satire of
religious controversy called. The Tale of a Tub.
"What a genius I had when I composed that book!" he said later in life. He befriended Alexander
Pope and other noted writers of the day, who together formed a club of satirists called the
Scriblerians.
Swift hoped for church advancement in England, but in 1713 he was named dean of St. Patrick's
Cathedral in Dublin and remained there for the rest of his life. "I reckon no man is thoroughly
miserable unless he be condemned to live in Ireland," he wrote. And yet, he
283 1 JONATHAN SWIFT
was to become an Irish national hero.
For the rest of his life, he wrote passionately against the British governments treatment of
Ireland, including his essay on economic policy called Irish Manufacture, later banned by the
British government. "By the Laws of God, of Nature, of Nations, and of your Country," he urged
Irish readers, you are, and ought to be, as free a people as your brethren in England." Swift's
personal life in this period was both mysterious and complicated.
"Stella" moved to Ireland, and spent a great deal of time with him. People have occasionally
speculated that they were secretly married, but there is no evidence for this. Meanwhile, Swift
made the acquaintance of one Esther Van-homrigh, who fell passionately in love with him and
moved to Ireland to pursue him, jealously demanding to know more about his relationship with
Stella.
She died shortly after Swift rejected her, some said of a broken heart.
In 1726, Swift published Gulliver's Travels anonymously. It sold out imme-diately. A friend in
London wrote to tell him that the book was the conversation of the whole town. From the highest
to the lowest it is universally read, from the Cabinet-council to the nursery. The next year Stella
died, plunging him into misery. His last great work, the hercely satirical Modest Proposal,
appeared in 1729. In a touching and witty poem about his own demise called "The Death of
Doctor Swift," Swift predicted madness and senility for his final years. Sadly, he guessed well,
As he declined, guardians were appointed to take care of his finances and keep him from injuring
himself. He died at the age of seventy-eight and was buried not far from Stella,
Times

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 2

 Swift was a great coffee drinker, and this small fact points to a turning point in the history of
English literature. In the late seventeenth century, English literary life began to shift away from
its old status as a courtly culture, centered on the monarchy and its great palaces, to a more
diffuse and democratic urban culture that revolved around coffee. houses. These establishments
were not only places to eat and drink: one could see scientific experiments there, debate politics,
attend lectures on religion, and gossip and share information. Alto. gether, there may have been
as many as three thousand coffeehouses in Lon don alone. Books and pamphlets were sold there,
and as the reading public grew, so too did the printed matter available for reading.
"Runners"
ap-
peared frequently to announce the latest news, making coffechouses great places to catch up on
what was current.
In fact, they became the engine of an increasingly powerful new political force-public opinion.
Thus coffee. houses helped to move the weight of political authority from the old aristoc. racy
into the hands of the urban middl class. Most coffeehouses charged a penny for those who
wanted to enter, but beyond the entrance fee, there were few barriers. They therefore gathered a
wide range of men (women were not expected to patronize them), including journalists, artisans,
merchants, aspiring writers, and powerful politi-cians. Only the very poorest could not pass
through the doors. And coffeehouses became the sites for new insti-tutions. A coffeehouse in
London called Jonathan's was a meeting ground for stockbrokers, which eventually became the
London Stock Exchange; while Lloyd's coffeehouse was to become the most important British
insurance com-pany. Button's was the coffeehouse for the "Wits" during Swift's time, a hub
where young writers struggled to make the right contacts and begin thei careers.
As journalists, businesspeople, arti sans, and aristocrats gathered in coffee: houses, they argued
over the political
affairs of their time. Governing England were two main political parties, the Whigs and the
Tories. In 1688, the British Isles had deposed James 11, a Catholic king, and put a new pair of
Protestant rulers, William and Mary, in his place. The Whigs worried about monarchical tyranny
and the return of the Catholic Church, and they favored a constitutional monarchy. The Tories
believed in the divine right of kings, and feared the growing power of Parliament and the people.
The two parties shared power until 1714, when the Protestant Queen Anne died. Her most
immediate heir was a foreigner he came from the German land of Hanover and spoke no English.
The Tories saw him as a break with the proper line of Eng lish kings who had been deposed in
1688, and many showed support for bringing back a Catholic king, the direct heir of James Il,
then in exile. The new King George suppressed this pro-Cath-olic uprising and expressed

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 3

 gratitude to his supporters by installing the Whigs in positions of power, Thus began a long
period of Whig rule. Swift and his friend Alexander Pope, who were Tories, found that many of
their supporters fled England or were imprisoned, and that they were on the losing side.
In this political context, satirical writing flourished. On the one hand in an atmosphere of fierce
political debate, persuasive writers were in great demand: Swift and Pope found they had great
support from powerful politicians who wanted the best writers on their side. On the other hand, it
could be dangerous to launch direct political challenges. After 1714, Tory writers often resorted
to indirections such as innuendos and masks to avoid prosecu-tion. And so satire seemed a
perfect solution: veiled enough never to seem outright oppositional, it could still be pointed
enough to hit political targets, including the king.

WORK
Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Pro-
posal are two of the most famous satires in the English language. Gulliver is in part a parody of
travel books, such as
those oL: William Dampier (1651-
1715), who published hugely popular descriptions of his three circumnavigations of the globe.
Like Dampier, Gulliver seems intent on giving us precise facts: he offers exact dates and
statistics and describes in copious detail the strange customs, flora, and fauna of the far lung
islands he happens to encounter. But the places where Gulliver alights carry uncanny echoes of
his native England, in Lilliput, for exam-ple, he finds a people sir inches tall whose pettiness and
grandiose ambi. tions offer a recognizable commentary
on political debates raging in England
at the time. Opportunities for satire also emerge when Gulliver is asked to explain the customs of
his own land to the inhabitants of the islands he visits.
The covetousness, belligerence, and factionalism he describes at home in Britain horrify his
audiences.
Gulliver typically fails to notice the ironies he generates. Swift deliberately opts for a naive
narrator, allowing us to identify with him at times but also to distance ourselves from him to
draw out the larger implications of his stories for ourselves. (Not all of Swift's readers got the
point of this; one bishop reported
"that the book was full of improbable lies, and for his part, he hardly believed a word of it.") One
advantage of the gullible perspective is that it allows Swift to make his readers see themselves
from an outsider's perspective: the writer thus makes ordinary life seem strange and prompts us
to question what we might otherwise take for granted. More descriptive than contemplative, the

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 4

 language of the text is quite plain, and in fact Gulliver's Travels has long been read by children as
well as adults.

Gulliver makes three voyages before we reach the fourth and final book, included here. After his
first journey to Lilliput, he goes to a land of giants, Brobdingnag, whose benevolent king. after
hearing Gulliver's patriotic account of England, comments, "I cannot but conclude the bulk of
your natives, to be the most pernicious race of odious little vermin that nature ever suffered to
crawl upon the surface of the earth." In the third book, Gulliver aims at some intellectual tar-gets:
philosophers so deep in abstract thought they have to be attended by (flappers"- servants who
flap them
into an awareness of their immediate surroundings-and ghosts from the past who stress the lies of
historians.
The most terrifying group he meets are the Struldbrugs, who live forever but grow old and infirm
like humans, surviving decrepit and senile into eternity.
On his fourth voyage, Gulliver finds himself on an island inhabited by Houyhnhams-horses-and
Yahoos,
who are uncomfortably similar to human beings. But Swift turns the conventional distinction
between humans and animals upside-down. On this island. the horses are the rational, clean, and
articulate ones, and they keep the island under peaceful control, while the humans are greedy,
filthy, violent, and irrational. As the Houyhnhoms Fask Gulliver questions about his home-land;
they are shocked by the depravity of the Yahoos of England. Gulliver offers a bitter indictment of
British colonialism in this section and also comes to see his fellow Yahoos-including his own
wife and children-with disgust.
Despite Gulliver's revulsion against
British Yahoos, readers have long wondered whether the Houyhnhnms really are a model society,
or whether there is something chilling in their cool, entirely rational resistance to close ties of
affection and loyalty. In seventeenth-

century England, Protestant philoso phers had begun to put forward the notion that human
beings, rather than being corrupt and fallen, were inher. ently rational and virtuous. This notion
of a benevolent human nature gathered strength over the course of the eigh teenth century, Swift,
however, seems determined to keep alive the older belief in a naturally conceited, vain, greedy,
lustful human nature. This sometimes made him seem misanthropic to his con. temporanes: But
understanding human beings as imperfect allowed him to make fun of all utopian projects and to
cast his satirical eye on schemes for social
e
improvement.

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 5

 One such satire takes shape bril liantly in A Modest Proposal: Imitating the voice of rational
social planners, who for the first time were depending on statistics and economic laws, Swift
takes an extreme position and follows it to its logical conclusion. If the point of social reform is
to produce solutions to social problems, maximizing profits along the way, then why not sell the
infants of the poor as food for the rich?
Surely this is a rational solution for the wealthy Protestant minority in En-gland, since they want
to cut down on the number of Catholics in any case Charges of cannibalism, so often used
against non-European peoples, take on figurative force as Swift suggests that the English are in
many ways feeding off Irish flesh.
In much of his work, Swift takes a particularly satirical look at the production of knowledge;
while Gulliver's Travels satirizes travel narratives, with their detailed descriptions of exotic
cultures, and mocks historians, clerg men, and philosophers along the way;
A Modest Proposal explicitly relies on demographic facts and scientific ratio nality_to come to
its outrageous con clusions. These, satires therefore ask as to reflect on the relationship
between what we know and how we choose to act. Do facts and reason help us to make good
decisions in the world? And it not, where should we turn instead? Swift leaves it up to us to
develop solutions. For him, it is enough to make us confront the unsettling questions.

From Gulliver's Travels'

Part IV
A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhums?
CHAPTER 1
The Author sets out as Captain of a ship. His men conspire against him, confine him a long time
to his cabin, set him on shore in an unknown land. He travels up into the country. The Yahoos, a
strange sort of animal, described. The Author meets two Houyhnhmms:
I continued at home with my wife and children about five months in a very happy condition, if I
could have learned the lesson of knowing when I was well.
I left my poor wife big with child, and accepted an advantageous offer made me to be Captain of
the Adventure, a stout merchantman of 350 tons; for I understood navigation well, and being
grown weary of a surgeon's employment at sea, which however I could exercise upon occasion, I
took a skillful young man of that calling, one Robert Purefoy, into my ship. We set sail from
Portsmouth upon the 7th day of September, 1710; on the 14th we met with Captain Pocock of
Bristol, at Tenariff, who was going to the Bay of Campeachy' to cut log-wood. On the loth he
was parted from us by a storm; I heard since my return that his ship foundered and none escaped,
but one cabin bay. He was an honest man and a good sailor, but a little too positive in his own
opinions, which was the cause of his destruction, as it hath been of several others. For if he had

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 6

 followed my advice, he might at this time have been safe at home with his family as well as
myself.
I had several men died in my ship of calentures, so that I was forced to get recruits out of
Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, where I touched by the direction of the merchants who
employed me; which I had soon too much cause to repent, for I found afterwards that most of
them had been buccaneers.
I had fifty hands on board; and my orders were that I should trade with the Indians in the South
Sea, and make what discoveries I could. These rogues whom I had picked up debauched my
other men, and they all formed a conspiracy to

seize the ship and secure me; which they did one miming, rushing into my cabin. and binding me
hand and foot, threatening to throw me overboard, iny
Cabred to str frod them. was their prisoner, and wound ubne •This they
idea to steat to do, and then unbound me. only Fastening one of my legs winds chernear my bed,
and placed a sentry at my door with his piece charged,
Who was commanded to shoot te Jead i1 l attempted my libery They sent me
dotin victual and trink, and icok the povernment of the shin to themselves
their disin was to fur pirates and plunder the Spaniards, which they could
hot de, tl they got more men. But first they resalved to sell the goods in the
ship, and then go to Madagascar for recruits, several among them having died since my
confinement. They suiled many weeks, and traded with the Indians; bitT new not what course
they took, being kept close prisoner in my cabin, and expecting nothing less than to be murdered,
as they often threatened me.
Upon the 9th dáy of May, 1711, one James Welch came down to my cabin, and said he had
orders from the Captain to set me ashore. I expostulated with him, but in vain; neither would he
so much as tell me who their new Captain was. They forced me into the longboat, letting me put
on my best suit of clothes, which were as good as new, and a small bundle of linen, but no arms
except my hanger* and they were so civil as not to search my pockets, into which I conveyed
what money I had, with some other little necessaries: They rowed about a league. and then set
me down on a strand. I desired them to tel me what country it was, they all swore, they knew no
more than myself, but said that the Captain (as they called him) was resolved, after they had sold
the lading, to get rid of me in the first place where they discovered land, They pushed off
immediately, advising me to make haste, for fear of being overtaken by the tide, and bade me
farewell.*
In this desolate condition Ladvanced forward, and soon got upon firm ground, where I sat down
on a bank to rest myself, and consider what I had best to do. When I was a little refreshed, I went

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 7

 up into the country, resolving to deliver myself to the first savages I should meet, and purchase
my life from them by some bracelets, glass rings, and other toys, which sailors usually provide
themselves with in those voyages, and whereof l had some about me. The land was divided by
long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but naturally growing; there was great plenty of grass,
and several fields of oats. I walked very circumspectly for fear of being surprised, or suddenly
shot with an arrow from behind, or on either side. I fell into a beaten road, where I saw many
tracks of human feet, and some of cows, but most of horses. At last 1 beheld several animals in a
field, and one or two of the same kind sitting in trees. Their shape was very singular, and
deformed, which a little discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them
better. Some of them coming forward near the place where I lay, gave me an opportunity of
distinctly marking their form. Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some
frizzled and others lank; they had beards-like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs,
and the fore parts of their legs and feet; but the rest of their bodies were bare, so that I might see
their skins, which were of a brown buff color. They had no tails, nor any hair at all on their
buttocks, except about the anus; which.
I presume Nature had placed there to defend them as they sat on the ground;

for this posture they used, as well as lying down, and often stood on their hind feet. They
climbed high trees, as nimbly as a squirrel, for they had strong extended claws before and
behind, terminating in sharp points. and hooked They would often spring, and bound, and leap
with prodigious agility. The females were not so large as the males; they had long lank hair on
their heads, and only a sort of down on the rest of their bodies, except about the anus, and
pudenda. Their dugs hung between their forefeet, and often reached almost to the ground as they
walked. The hair of both sexes was of several colors, brown, red, black, and yellow. Upon the
whole, I never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable an animal; or one against which I
naturally conceived so strong an antipathy. So that thinking I had seen enough, full of contempt
and aversion.
I got up and pursued the beaten road, hoping it might direct me to the cabin of some Indian: 1
had not gone far when I met one of these creatures full in my way, and coming up directly to me.
The ugly monster, when he saw me, distorted several ways every feature of his visage, and stared
as at an object he had never seen before: then approaching nearer, lifted up his forepaw, whether
out of curiosity or mischief, I could not tell: but I drew my hanger, and gave him a good blow
with the flat side of it; for I durst not strike him with the edge, fearing the inhabitants might be
provoked against me. if they should come to know that I had killed or mained any of their cattle.
When the beast felt the smart. he drew back, and roared so loud, that a herd of at least forty came
figcking about me from the next field, howling and making odious faces; but I ran to the body of

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 8

 a tree and leaning my back against it, kept them off, by waving my hanger. Several of this cursed
brood getting hold of the branches behind. leaped up into the tree, from whence they began to
discharge their exere-ments on my head; however, I escaped pretty well, by sticking close to the
stem of the tree, but was almost stifled with the filth, which fell about me on every side.
In the midst of this distress. I observed them all to run away on a sudden as fast as they could, at
which I ventured to leave the tree, and pursue the road wondering what it was that could put
them into this fright. But looking on my left hand, I saw a horse walking softly in the field;
which my persecutors having sooner discovered, was the cause of their flight. The horse started a
little when he came near me. but soon recovering himself, looked full in my face with manifest
tokens of wonder; he viewed my hands and feet, walking round me several times. I would have
pursued my journey, but he placed himself directly in the way, yet looking with a very mild
aspect, never offering the least violence.
We stood gazing at each other for some time; at last I took the boldness, to reach my hand
towards his neck, with a design to stroke it; using the common style and whistle of jockies when
they are going to handle a strange horse. But. this animal seeming to receive my civilities with
disdain, shook his head, and bent his brows, softly raising up his left forefoot to remove my
hand. Then he neighed three or four times, but in sa different a cadence, that L-almost began to
think he was speaking to himself in some language of his own.
While he and Iwere thus employed, another horse came up; who applying himself to the first in a
very formal manner, they gently struck each other's right hoof before. neighing several times by
turns, and varying the sound,
which seemed to be almost articulate. They went some paces off, us if it were ta confer together,
walking side by side, backward and forward, like persons deliberating upon some affair of
weight; but often turning their eyes towards me, as it were to watch that i might not escape. I was
amazed to see such actions and behavior in brute beasts; and concluded with myself that if the
inhabitants of this country were endued with a proportionable degree of rea. son, they must needs
be the wisest people upon earth. This thought gave me so much comfort, that I resolved to go
forward until I could discover some house or village, or meet with any of the natives, leaving the
two horses to discourse together as they pleased. But the first, who was a dapple grey, observing
me to sical off, neighed after me in so expressive a tone that I fancied myself to understand what
he meant; whereupon I turned back, and came near him, to expect his farther commands; but
concealing my fear as much as I could; for I began to be in some pain, how this adventure might
terminate; and the reader will easily believe I did not much like my present situation.
The two horses came up close to me, looking with great earnestness upon my face and hands.
The grey steed rubbed my hat all round with his right fore hoof, and discomposed it so much that

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 9

 I was forced to adjust it better, by taking it off, and settling it again; whereat both he and his
companion (who was a brown bay) appeared to be much surprised; the latter felt the lapper of
my coat, and finding it to hang loose about me, they both looked with new signs of wonder. He
stroked my right hand, seeming to admire the softness, and color; but he squeezed it so hard
between his hoof and his pastern," that I was forced to roar, after which they both touched me
with all possible tender. ness. They were under great perplexity about my shoes and stockings,
which they felt very often, neighing to each other, and using various gestures, not unlike those of
a philosopher, when he would attempt to solve some new and difficult phenomenon.
Upon the whole, the behavior of these animals was so orderly and rational; so acute and
judicious, that Jat last concluded, they must needs be magicians, who had thus metamorphosed
themselves upon some design; and seeingà stranger in the way, were resolved to divert
themselves with him; or perhaps were really amazed at the sight of a man so very different in
habit, feature, and complexion from those who might probably live in so remote a climate. Upon
the strength of this rcasoning. I ventured to address them in the following manner: "Gentlemen,
if you be conjurers, as I have good cause to believe, you can understand any language; therefore
I make bold to let your worships know that I am a poor distressed Englishman, driven by his
misfortunes upon your coast; and lichtreat one of you, to let me ride upon his back, as if he were
a real horse, to some house or village, where I can be relieved. In return of which favor, l will
make you a present of this knife and bracelet" (taking them out of my pocket) The two creatures
stood silent while I spoke, seeming to listen with great attention; and when had ended, they
neighed frequently towards each other, as if they were engaged in serious conversation. I plainly
observed, that their language expressed the passions very well, and the words might with little
pains be resolved into an alphabet more easily than the Chinese.
I could frequently distinguish the word Yahoo, which was repeated by each of them several
times: and although it was impossible for me to conjecture what it meant, yet while the two
horses were busy in conversation, I endeavored to practice this word upon my tongue; and as
soon as they were silent, I boldly pronounced "Yahoo
"in a loud voice, imitating, at the same time, as near as
I could, the neighing of a horse; at which they were both visibly surprised, and the grey repeated
the same word twice, as if he meant to teach me the right accent, wherein I spoke after him as
well as I could, and found myself perceiv-ably to improve every time, although very far from any
degree of perfection:
Then the bay tried me with a second word, much harder to be pronounced; but reducing it to the
English orthography, may be spelt thus, Houyhnhum. I did not succeed in this so well as the
former, but after two or three farther trials, I had better fortune; and they both appeared amazed

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 10

 at my capacity.
After some farther discourse, which I then conjectured might relate to me. the two friends took
their leaves, with the same compliment of striking each other's hoof, and the grey made me signs
(hat I should walk before him; wherein I thought it prudent to comply, till I could find a better
director. When I offered to slacken my pace, he would cry. "Hhuun, Hhuun"; I guessed his
meaning, and gave him to understand, as well as I could that I was weary, and not able to walk
faster; upon which, he would stand a while to let me rest.
CHAPTER 11
The Author conducted by a Houghnhm to his house. The house described. The Author's
reception. The food of the Houyhnhums. The Author in distress for want of meat is at last
relieved. His manner of feeding in that country.
Having traveled about three miles, we came to a long kind of building, made of timber, stuck in
the ground, and wattled across; the roof was low, and covered with straw. I now began to be a
little comforted, and took out some toys, which travelers usually carry for presents to the savage
Indians of America and other parts, in hopes the people of the house would be thereby
encouraged to receive me kindly. The horse made me a sign to go in first; it was a large room
with a smooth clay floor, and a rack and manger extending the whole length on one side. There
were three nags, and two mares, not eating, but some of them sitting down upon their hams,
which I very much wondered at, but wondered more to see the rest employed in domestic
business: the last seemed but ordinary cattle; however this confirmed my first opinion, that a
people who could so far civilize brute animals must needs excel in wisdom all the nations of the
world. The grey came in just after, and thereby prevented any ill treatment, which the others
might have given me. He neighed to them several times in a style of authority, and received
answers.
Beyond this room there were three others, reaching the length of the house, to which you passed
through three doors, opposite to each other, in the manner of a vista; we went through the second
room towards the third; here the grey walked in first, beckoning me to attend; I waited in the
second room, and got ready my presents, for the master and mistress of the house; they were two
knives, three bracelets of false pearl, a small looking-glass and a bead necklace.
the ho voce But f heard no other returns than in the same dialect, only one o hu a hive shriller
than his. I began to think that this house sust belong lo some person of great note among them,
because there appeared so much cere momy befoo I could gain admitance. But, that a man of
quality should be sened hafy horses, was beyond my comprehension. I Feared my brain was
disunded by my sufferings and misfortunes I roused myself, he d looked about
re in the room where / rae left alone: this was furnished as the frat only ale

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 11

 a more elegant manner. I rubbed my eyes often, but the same objccis still ocurred. I pinched my
arms and sides, to awake myself, hoping I might be in a dream. I then absolutely concluded that
all these appearances could be noth. ing else but necromancy and magic. But I had no time to
pursue these reflec tions; for the grey horse came to the door, and made me a sign to follow him
into the third room; where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt and Foal, sitting on
their haunches, upon mats of straw, not unartfully made, and perfectly neat and clean.
The mare soon after my entrance, rose from her mat, and coming up close, after having nicely
observed my hands and face, gave me a most contemptuous look; then turning to the horse, I
heard the word Yahoo often repeated betwi them; the meaning of which word I could not then
comprehend, although it were the first I had learned to pronounce, but I was soon better
informed, to my everlasting mortification for the horse beckoning to me with his head, and
repeating the word, "Huun, Hhuun," as he did upon the road, which I under. stood was to attend
him, led me out into a kind of court, where was another building at some distance from the
house. Here we entered, and I saw three of those detestable creatures, which I first met after my
landing, feeding upon roots, and the flesh of some animals, which lafterwards found to be that of
asses and dogs, and now and then a cow dead by accident or disease, They were all tied by the
neck with strong withes, fastened to a beam; they held their food between the claws of their
forefect, and tore it with their teeth.
The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants, to untie the larg est of these animals,
and take him into a yard. The beast and I were brought close together: and our countenances
diligently compared, both by master and servant; who thereupon repeated several times the word
"Yahoo." My horror and astonishment are not to be described, when Lobserved, in this
abominable animal, a perfect human figure, the face of it indeed was flat and broad, the nose
depressed, the lips large, and the mouth wide; but these differences are common to all savage
nations, where the lineaments of the countenance are distorted by the natives suffering their
infants to lie groveling on the earth. or by carrying them on their backs, nuzzling with their face
against the mother's shoulders. The forefeet of the Yahoo differed from my hands in nothing else
but the length of the nails, the coarseness and brownness of the palms, and the hairiness on the
backs. There was the same resemblance between our feet, with the same differences, which I
knew very well; although the horses did not, as to hairiness and color, which I have already
described.
because of my shoes and stockings, the same in every part of our bodies, except
The great difficulty that seemed to stick with the two horses, was to see the rest of my body so
very different from that of a Yahoo, for which I was obliged to my clothes, whereof they had no
conception; the sorrel nag offered me a root, which he held (after their manner, as we shall

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 12

 describe in its proper place) between his hoof and pastern; I took it in my hand, and having
smelled it, returned it to him again as civilly as I could. He brought out of the Yahoo's kennel a
piece of ass's flesh, but it smelled so offensively that I turned from it with loathing; he then threw
it to the Yahoo, by whom it was greedily devoured He afterwards showed me a wisp of hay, and
a fetlock' full of oats; but I shook my head, to signify that neither of these were food for me. And
indeed, I now apprehended that I must absolutely starve, if I did not get to some of my own
species: for as to those filthy Yahoos, although there were few greater lovers of mankind, at that
time, than myself, yet I confess I never saw any sensitive being so detestable on all accounts; and
the more I came near them, the more hateful they grew, while I stayed in that country. This the
master horse observed by my behavior, and therefore sent the Yahoo back to his kennel. He then
put his forehoof to his mouth, at which I was much surprised, although he did it with ease, and
with a motion that appeared perfectly natural; and made other signs to know what I would eat,
but I could not return him such an answer as he was able to apprehend; and if he had understood
me, I did not see how it was possible to contrive any way for finding myself nourishment. While
we were thus engaged, Lobserved a cow passing by; whereupon I pointed to her. and expressed a
desire to let me go and milk her. This had its effect; for he led me back into the house, and
ordered a mare servant to open a room, where a good store of milk lay in earthen and wooden
vessels, after a very orderly and cleanly manner. She gave me a large bowl full, of which I drank
very heartily. and found myself well refreshed.
About noon I saw coming towards the house a kind of vehicle, drawn like a sledge by four
Yahoos. There was in it an old steed, who seemed to be of quality; he alighted with his hind feet
forward, having by accident got a hurt in his left forefoot. He came to dine with our horse, who
received him with great civility.
They dined in the best room, and had oats boiled in milk for the second course, which the old
horse eat warm, but the rest cold. Their mangers were placed circular in the middle of the room,
and divided into several partitions, round which they sat on their haunches upon bosses of straw.
In the middle was a large rack with angles answering to every partition of the manger. So that
each horse and mare eat their own hay, and their own mash of oats and milk, with much decency
and regularity. The behavior of the young colt and foal appeared very modest; and that of the
master and mistress extremely cheerful and complaisant to their guest. The grey ordered me to
stand by him; and much dis course passed between him and his friend concerning me, as I found
by the stranger's often looking on me, and the frequent repetition of the word Yahoo.
I happened to wear my gloves; which the master grey observing, seemed per-plexed; discovering
signs of wonder what I had done to my forefeet, he put his hoof three or four times to them, as if
he would signify, that I should reduce

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 13

 them to their former shape, which I presently did, pulling off both my gloves ahe pung them ino
my pocket. This occasioned farther talk and I saw the
Company as pleased with my behavior, whereof I soon found the good effeet
was ordered to speak the few words I understood; and while they were at din. net, the master
taught me the names for oats, milk, fire, water, and some ou ns which I could readily pronounce
after him, having from my youth a grea facility in learning languages.
When dinner was done, the master horse took me aside, and by signs and words made me
understand the concern he was in that I had nothing to eat.
Oars in their tongue are called hlunh. This word I pronounced two or three
Daes: for although 1 had refused them at first. yet upon second thought
I considered that I could contrive to make a kind of bread, which might be suf ficient with milk
to keep me alive, till I could make my escape to some other country, and to creatures of my own
species. The horse immediately ordered a white mare servant of his family to bring me a good
quantity of oats in a sort of wooden tray. These | heated before the fire as well as I could, and
rubbed them Till the husks came off, which I made a shift to winnow from the grain: I ground
and beat them between two stones, then took water, and made them into a paste or cake, which I
toasted at the fire, and eat warm with milk. It was at first a very insipid diet, although common
enough in many parts of Europe, but it a rote pet her he en den redused a hard are it ev lin
I cannot but observe that I never had one hour's sickness, while I staid in this island, It's true, I
sometimes made a shift to catch a rabbit, or bird, by springes made of Yahoos' hairs; and l often
gathered wholesome herbs, which I boiled or ate as salads with my bread; and now and then, for
a rarity, L made a litte butter, and drank the whey 1 was at first at a great loss for salt; but custom
soon reconciled the want of it; and I am confident that the frequent use of salt among us is an
effect of luxury, and was first introduced only as a provocative to drink; except where it is
necessary for preserving of flesh in long vovages, or in places remote from great markets. For we
observe no animal to be fond ofit but man, and as to myself, when I left this country, it was a
great while before I could endure the taste of it in anything that I eat.
This is enough to say upon the subject of my diet, wherewith other travelers fill their books, as if
the readers were personally concerned whether we fare well or ill. However, it was necessary to
mention this matter, lest the world a country, and among such inhabitants:
should think it impossible that I could find sustenance for three years in such When it grew
towards evening, the master horse ordered a place for me to lodge in, it was but six yards from
the house, and separated from the stable of the Yahoos. Here I got some straw, and covering
myself with my own clothes: slept very sound. But I was in a short time better accommodated, of
living.

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 14

 as the reader
shall know hercafter, when I come to treat more particularly about my way

CHAPTER 111

The Author studious to learn the language, the Hounhmm his master assists in teaching him. The
language described. Several Houghnhms of quality come out of curiosity to see the Author. He
gives his master a short account of his voyage.
My principal endeavor was to learn the language, which my master (for so I shall henceforth call
him) and his children, and every servant of his house were desirous to teach me. For they looked
upon it as a prodigy, that a brute animal should discover such marks of a rational creature. I
pointed to every-thing, and enquired the name of it, which I wrote down in my journal book
when I was alone, and corrected my bad accent, by desiring those of the family
to pronounce iC otien In this employment, a sorrel nag, one of the under
servants, was very ready to assist me.
In speaking, they pronounce through the nose and throat, and their language approaches nearest
to the High Dutch or German. of any L know in Europe: but is much more graceful and
significant. The Emperor Charles V made almost the same observation, when he said, that if he
were to speak to his horse, it should be in High Dutch:
The curiosity and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent many hours of his leisure
to instruct me. He was convinced (as he afterwards told me) that 1 must be a Yahoo, but my
teachableness, civility, and cleanliness astonished him; which were qualities altogether so
opposite to those animals.
He was most perplexed about my clothes. reasoning sometimes with himself whether they were a
part of my body; for I never pulled them off till the family were asleep, and got them on before
they waked in the morning. My master was eager to learn from whence I came, how I acquired
those appearances of reason, which I discovered in all my actions; and to know my story from
my own mouth, which he hoped he should soon do by the great proficiency I made in learning
and pronouncing their words and sentences. To help my memory.
I formed all 1 learned into the English alphabet, and writ the words down with the translations.
This last, after some time, I ventured to do in my master's presence. It cost me much trouble to
explain to him what I was doing; for the inhabitants have not the least idea of books or literature
In about ten weeks time I was able to understand most of his questions; and in three months
could give him some tolerable answers. He was extremely curious to know from what part of the
country I came. and how i was taught to imitate a rational creature; because the Yahoos (whom
he saw I exactly resembled in my head, hands, and face, that were only visible) with some

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 15

 appearance of cunning, and the strongest disposition to mischief, were observed to be the most
unteachable of all brutes. Tanswered that I came over the sea, from a far place, with many others
of my own kind, in a great hollow vessel made of the bodies of trees; that my companions forced
me to land on this coast, and then left me to shift for myself. It was with some difficulty, and by
the help of many signs, that I brought him to understand me. He replied that I must needs be
mistaken, or that I said the thing which was not. (For they have no words in
language to express lying or falsehood.) He trel was possible that
alive could make such a vessel, or would trust Yahoos to manage it. where ved be i cer the
pleased upon water des tas sure itouyhnhin
the word mote such men their tongue, signifies a Horsar a lose its clymol ohe Ped High ohmir
Told my master that I was aho loss for expres.
Son, the Poliop rove as fist as I could; and hoped ins thor time I should be able tell in wonders;
he was pleased to direct his lies oare, his col, he ale tand hese wond of the family to take all
oppoenine pal instructing med fod, ved he for or three hours, he was at the seme pains himself.
sere and eses and mares of quality in the neighborhood come often to our house pose e repor
spread of a wonderful Yahoo, thet on so speak like a Houyhhom, and seemed in his words and
actions to discover some glimmer
Thes of rason, These delighted la connerse with me th all which a questions
ind rected uck answer ns | was able to rturn: By all wal. h udvantages
I made so great a progress, that in five months from my arrival, I understood whatever was
spoke, and could express myself tolerably well.
The Houyjshos who caine to visi my master, out of a design of seeing and
talking with me, could hardly believe me to be a right Yahoo, because my body had a different
covering from others of my kind They were astonished to
obsene me withou the usual hair or skin, except on my head, face, and hands,
but I discovered that secret to my master, upon an accident, which happened about a fortnight
before.
Thave already told the reader, that every night when the family were gone to bed, it was my
custom to strip and cover myself with my clothes; it happened one morning carly, that my master
sent for me, by the sorrel nag, who was his valet; when he came, I was fast asleep, my clothes
fallen off on one side, and my shirt above my waist. I awaked at the noise he made, and observed
him to deliver his message in some disorder, after which he went to my master, and in a great
fright gave him a very confused account of what he had seen; this I presently discovered, for
going as soon as I was dressed, to pay my attendance upon his honor, he asked me the meaning
of what his servant had reported: that I was not the same thing when I slept as I appeared to be at

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 16

 other times;
so white, and some brown. c
that his valet assured him, some part of me was white, some yellow, at least not Thad hitherto
concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguish myself as much as possible, from that
cursed race of Yahoos, but now I found it in rain to do so any longer: Besides, I considered that
my clothes and shoes would soon wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and
must be supplied by some contrivance from the hides of Yahoos, or other brutes; whereby the
whole secret would be known. I therefore told my master, that in the country from whence I
came, those of my kind always covered their bodies with the hairs of certain animals prepared by
art, as well for decency as to avoid inclemencies of air oth hot and cold, of which, as to my own
person I would give him immediate conviction, if he pleased to command me, only desiring this
excuse. if I did not expose those parts that nature taught us to conceal. He said, my discourse was
all very strange, but especially the last part; for he could not understand why Nature should teach
us to conceal what Nature had given. That neither himself nor family were ashamed of any parts
of their bodies: but however
1 might do as I pleased. Whereupon, I first unbuttoned my coat, and pulled it off. I did the same
with my waistcoat; I drew off my shoes, stockings, and breeches. I let my shirt down to my
waist, and drew up the bottom, fastening it like a girdle about my middle to hide my nakedness.
My master observed the whole performance with great signs of curiosity and admiration. He
took up all my clothes in his pastern, one piece after another, and examined them diligently; he
then stroked my body very gently, and looked round me several times; after which he said, it was
plain I must be a perfect Yahoo: but that I differed very much from the rest of my species, in the
whiteness and smoothness of my skin, my want of hair in several parts of my body, the shape and
shortness of my claws behind and before, and my affectation of walking continually on my two
hinder feet. He desired to see no more; and gave me leave to put on my clothes again, for I was
shuddering with cold I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the appellation of
Yahoo, an odious animal, for which I had so utter an hatred and contempt. I begged he would
forbear applying that word to me, and take the same order in his family, and among his friends
whom he suffered to see me. I requested likewise, that the secret of my having a false covering to
my body might be known to none but himself, at least as long as my present clothing should last;
for as to what the sorrel nag his valet had observed, his honor might command him to conceal it.
All this my master very graciously consented to; and thus the secret was kept till my clothes
began to wear out, which I was forced to supply by several con-trivances, that shall hereafter be
mentioned. In the meantime, he desired I would go on with my utmost diligence to learn their
language, because he was more astonished at my capacity for speech and reason, than at the

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 17

 figure of my body, whether it were covered or no; adding that he waited with some impatience to
hear the wonders which I promised to tell him.
From thenceforward he doubled the pains he had been at to instruct me; he brought me into all
company, and made them treat me with civility, because, as he told them privately, this would put
me into good humor, and make me more diverting
Every day when I waited on him, beside the trouble he was at in teaching, he would ask me
several questions concerning myself, which I answered as well as I could; and by those means he
had already received some general ideas, although very imperfect. It would be tedious to relate
the several steps, by which l advanced to a more regular conversation, but the first account I gave
of myself in any order and length was to this purpose:
That, I came from a very far country, as I already had attempted to tell him, with about fifty more
of my own species, that we traveled upon the seas, in a great hollow vessel made of wood, and
larger than his honor's house: I described the ship to him in the best terms I could; and explained
by the help of my handkerchief displayed, how it was driven forward by the wind. That, upon a
quarrel among us. I was set on shore on this coast, where I walked forward without knowing
whither, till he delivered me from the persecution of those execrable Yahoos. He asked me who
made the ship. and how it was possible that the Houyhnhms of my country would leave it to the
management of brutes? My answer was that I durst proceed no farther in my relation, unless he
would give me his word and honor that he would not be offended, and then
I would tell him the wonders had so often promised. He amed who tem on by assuring him. that
the ship was made by coratures like moself. who in an the countries I had traveled, as welf as in
my own, were the onstooyerhine rational animals and that upon my arrival hither, was as mich
isconished a sce the Houynhms act like rational beings, as he or his friends could be in finding
some marks of reason rati creature he was pleased to call a Yahoo, 1a which I owned my
resemblance in every part, but could not account for ther degenerate and brutal nature. I said
farther, that if good fortune ever restored me to my native country, to relate my travels hither, as I
resolved to do, every. body would beleceunry saidhe thing which was not; that lin vented the
story out of my own head: and with all possible respect to himself, his family, and friends, and
under his promise of not being oliended, our coundimen would hardly think it probable, that a
Hoyhnhnm should be the presiding creature
of a nation, and a Yahoo the brute.
CHAPTER IV
The Houyhnhums notion of truth and falsehood. The authors discourse disapproved by his
master. The author gives a more particular account of himself, and the accidents of his voyages.
My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in his counte nance; because doubting

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 18

 or not believing are so little known in this country, that the inhabitants cannot tell how to behave
themselves under such cireum. stances. And I remember in frequent discourses with my master
concerning the nature of manhood, in other parts of the world, having occasion to talk of bying
and false representation, it was with much difficulty that he comprehended what I meant,
although he had otherwise a most acute judgment. For he argued thus: that the use of speech was
to make us understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now if anyone said the
thing which was not, these ends were defeated; because I cannot properly be said to understand
hint; and l am so far from receiving information, that he leaves me worse than in ignorance; for I
am led to believe a thing black when it is white, and short when it is long.
And these were all the notions he had concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly well
understood, and so universally practiced among human creatures.
To return from this digression, when I asserted that the Yahoos were the
only governing animals in my country, which my master said was altagether
past his conception, he desired to know whether we had Hlouyhnhnms anong
us, and what was their employment; I told him we had great numbers; that in summer they
grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept in houses, with hay and oats, where Yahoo servants
were employed to rub their slins smooth, comb their manes, pick their feet, serve them with food,
and make their beds. "I understand you well," said my master, "it is now very plain from all you
have spoken, that whatever share of reason the Yahoos pretend to, the Houybnhnms are your
masters; I heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable I begued his honor would please to
excuse me from proceeding any farther, because I was very certain that the account he expected
from me would be highly dis pleasing. But he insisted in commanding me to let him know the
best and the worst, I told him he should be obeyed. Towned that the Houyhnhns among

JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 19