A Tale of a Tub

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For the controversy of the Ancients v. Moderns between Temple and Bentley see Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21) online at http://www.bartleby.com/219/1510.html Elias, A. C., Jr. Swift at Moor Park: Problems in Biography and Criticism. Philadelphia: U. Penn. Press, 1982. ISBN 0-8122-7822-4 Even though Swift published the "Tale" as he left Temple's service, it was conceived earlier, and the book is a salvo in one of Temple's battles. Swift's general polemic concerns an argument (the " Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns") that had been over for nearly ten years by the time the book was published. The "Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns" was a French academic debate of the early 1690s, occasioned by Fontenelle arguing that modern scholarship had allowed modern man to surpass the ancients in knowledge. Temple argued against this position in his "On Ancient and Modern Learning" (where he provided the first English formulation of the commonplace that modern critics see more only because they are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants), and Temple's somewhat naive essay prompted a small flurry of responses. Among others, two men who took the side opposing Temple were Richard Bentley (classicist and editor) and William Wotton (critic).

It is supposed to be an intervention in the controversy over the intended meaning of the Tale. However, the author of the 'Apology' does not admit to being Swift, or even the author of the Tale. Swift creates a third person figure that seems to ventriloquise a defence of the work that is part on behalf of an enraged and violated author, and part an outsider coming to his rescue. The apology refers consistently to the author, saying that 'the author cannot conclude this apology without…' or 'the author observes'. But the tale is complicated by the Apology's use of an 'I' in it, a figure that is differentiated from 'the author'. However, further on, he seems to assert the originality of the work, and suggests that there is only one original genius that could have composed a work of such verve and erudition. Taking issue both his critics' charges that he had plagiarised the work, and with the fact that a man called Thomas Swift had recently claimed to have written the Tale, the apology asserts: The Tale was originally published in 1704 by John Nutt. Swift had used Benjamin Tooke previously when publishing for Sir William Temple. He would use Tooke for both the fifth edition of the Tale (1710) and later works. Tooke's successor, Benjamin Motte, published Swift's Gulliver's Travels. This difference in printer is only one of the things that led to debate over authorship of the work. The first, second and third editions of the Tale appeared in 1704; with the fifth edition following in 1710. In "The Apology for the &c.", Swift indicates that he originally gave his publisher a preliminary copy of the work, while he kept a blotted copy at his own hand and lent other copies including one to Thomas Swift, Jonathan's "parson cousin". As a consequence, the first edition appeared with many errors. The second edition was a resetting of the type. The third edition was a reprint of the second, with corrections, and the fourth edition contained corrections of the third. Upon publication the public realised both that there was an allegory in the story of the brothers and that there were particular political references in the Digressions. A number of "Keys" appeared soon thereafter, analogous to contemporary services like CliffsNotes or Spark Notes. "Keys" offered the reader a commentary on the Tale and explanations of its references. Edmund Curll rushed out a Key to the work, and William Wotton offered up an "Answer" to the author of the work. In which passage there are two clauses observable; ‘I have been assured’; and, ‘if I misremember not.’ I desire first to know whether, if that conjecture proves an utter falsehood, those two clauses will be a sufficient excuse for this worthy critic. The matter is a trifle; but, would he venture to pronounce at this rate upon one of greater moment? I know nothing more contemptible in a writer than the character of a plagiary; which he here fixes at a venture; and this not for a passage, but a whole discourse, taken out from another book, only mutatis mutandis. The author is as much in the dark about this as the answerer; and will imitate him by an affirmation at random; that if there be a word of truth in this reflection, he is a paltry, imitating pedant; and the answerer is a person of wit, manners, and truth. He takes his boldness from never having seen any such treatise in his life, nor heard of it before; and he is sure it is impossible for two writers, of different times and countries, to agree in their thoughts after such a manner that two continued discourses shall be the same, only mutatis mutandis. Neither will he insist upon the mistake of the title, but let the answerer and his friend produce any book they please, he defies them to show one single particular, where the judicious reader will affirm he has been obliged for the smallest hint; giving only allowance for the accidental encountering of a single thought, which he knows may sometimes happen; though he has never yet found it in that discourse, nor has heard it objected by anybody else.William Wotton, Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning. [1694; 2nd enlarged ed. 1697; 3d enlarged ed. 1705]. But I forget that I am expatiating on a subject wherein I have no concern, having neither a talent nor an inclination for satire. On the other side, I am so entirely satisfied with the whole present procedure of human things, that I have been for some years preparing materials towards A Panegyric Upon the World; to which I intended to add a second part, entitled, A Modest Defence of the Proceedings of the Rabble in all Ages. Both these I had thoughts to publish, by way of appendix to the following treatise; but finding my common-place book fill much slower than I had reason to expect, I have chosen to defer them to another occasion. Besides, I have been unhappily prevented in that design by a certain domestic misfortune; in the particulars whereof, though it would be very seasonable, and much in the modern way, to inform the gentle reader, and would also be of great assistance towards extending this preface into the size now in vogue, which by rule ought to be large in proportion as the subsequent volume is small; yet I shall now dismiss our impatient reader from any farther attendance at the porch; and having duly prepared his mind by a preliminary discourse, shall gladly introduce him to the sublime mysteries that ensue. A Tale of a Tub, &c. Section I: The Introduction[A physico-mythological dissertation on the different sorts of oratorial machines. Of the bar and the bench. The Author fond of the number Three; promises a panegyric on it. Of pulpits; which are the best. Of ladders; on which the British orators surpass all others. Of the stage itinerant; the seminary of the two former. A physical reason why those machines The Tale was enormously popular, presenting both a satire of religious excess and a parody of contemporary writing in literature, politics, theology, Biblical exegesis, and medicine through its comically excessive front matter and series of digressions throughout. The overarching parody is of enthusiasm, pride, and credulity. At the time it was written, politics and religion were still closely linked in England, and the religious and political aspects of the satire can often hardly be separated. "The work made Swift notorious, and was widely misunderstood, especially by Queen Anne herself who mistook its purpose for profanity." [5] It "effectively disbarred its author from proper preferment" in the Church of England, [5] but is considered one of Swift's best allegories, even by himself. Swift was annoyed by people so eager to possess the newest knowledge that they failed to pose sceptical questions. If he was not a particular fan of the aristocracy, he was a sincere opponent of democracy, which was often viewed then as the sort of " mob rule" that led to the worst abuses of the English Interregnum. Swift's satire was intended to provide a genuine service by painting the portrait of conspiracy minded and injudicious writers. are elevated. Of the curious contrivance of modern theatres. These three machines emblematically represent the various sorts of authors. An apologetical dissertation for the Grub Street Writers, against their revolted rivals of Gresham and Will's. Superficial readers cannot easily find out Wisdom; which is compared to several pretty things. Commentaries promised on several writings of Grub Street authors: as Reynard the Fox, Tom Thumb, Dr Faustus, Whittington and his Cat, the Hind and Panther, Tommy Pots, and the Wise Men of Gotham. The Author's pen and person worn out in serving the State. Multiplicity of titles and dedications.]

For a broad introduction to Swift's life and the role of A Tale of a Tub in it, see Claude Rawson, "Biographical Introduction", The Character of Swift's Satire: A Revised Focus. Ed. Claude Rawson. Newark: University of Delaware Press (1983): 15–17; for a detailed explanation of the possible dates of composition, see Guthkelch and Smith, xliii–xlvii. Ehrenpreis, Irvin. Swift: The Man, his Works, and the Age: Dr Swift. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1967. Names of the more prominent persons mentioned in the text are tagged. Foreign phrases and terms are tagged. Canonical References Created: By Jonathan Swift, between 1692 and 1704 Use of language Language: [EN] Whole text in English. Language: [LA] Many words and phrases in Latin. Language: [FR] Some words and phrases in French. Language: [GR] Some words in Greek. Language: [IT] A word in Italian. Revision HistoryThe first substantially new edition of the work is the fifth edition of 1710. This is largely the text modern editors will use. It was in this edition that the Notes and the "Apology for the &c." ("&c." was Swift's shorthand for Tale of a Tub: Nutt was supposed to expand the abbreviation out to the book's title but did not do so; the mistake was left) were added, which many contemporary readers and authors found a heating up of an already savage satire. [21] Authorship debate [ edit ] When a hyphenated word (hard or soft) crosses a line break, the break is marked after the completion of the hyphenated word. Segmentation p.48• A Voyage into England, by a Person of Quality in Terra Australis Incognita, 23 translated from the Original. Clark, John R. "The Decorum of Madness". Form and Frenzy in Swift's Tale of a Tub. By Clark. New York City:Cornell UP, 1970.

Mark McDayter, 'The haunting of St James's Library: librarians, literature, and The Battle of the Books'. Huntington Library Quarterly, 66:1–2 (2003) 1–26.For a brief survey of the print revolution in the context of British intellectual history, see Roy Porter, "Print culture", The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment, New York: W. W. Norton and Co. (2000) and for a brief survey of the print revolution in the context of British artistic and literary history, see John Brewer "Authors, Publishers and the Making of Literary Culture" and "Readers and the Reading Public" in The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1997). He thinks it no fair proceeding, that any person should offer determinately to fix a name upon the author of this discourse, who has all along concealed himself from most of his nearest friends: yet several have gone a farther step, and pronounced another book 9 to have been the work of the same hand with this; which the author directly affirms to be a thorough mistake, he having yet never so much as read that discourse: a plain instance how little truth there often is in general surmises, or in conjectures drawn from a similitude of style, or way of thinking. Swift, Jonathan. Tale of a Tub, to which is added The battle of the books, and the Mechanical operation of the spirit. By Jonathan Swift. Together with The history of Martin, Wotton's Observations upon the Tale of a tub, Curll's Complete key, &c. A. C. Guthkelch and D. Nichol Smith, editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2nd edition 1958.

Farrell, John. "Swift and the Satiric Absolute." Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to Rousseau. New York: Cornell UP, 2006. ISBN 0-8014-4410-1 For a young Anglican churchman intent on a speedy ascension through the ranks of the church, this was a very damaging charge. Swift's decision to publish the apology in the revised edition of 1710 likely is related to his anxiety about his career at this time, and the Tale's potential to compromise his position. Late 1710, was perhaps the most exciting and promising time in Swift's career; he was being courted by the rising Tory leader Robert Harley to join the Tory cause, and power and importance seemed imminent. Swift was to believe for the rest of his life that his failure to secure the ecclesiastical promotions that he wanted was due to influential (including royal) disapproval of the perceived irreligious tendencies of A Tale of a Tub. The other answer is from a person of a graver character, and is made up of half invective, and half annotation; in the latter of which he has generally succeeded well enough. 14 And the There are certain common privileges of a writer, the benefit whereof, I hope, there will be no reason to doubt; particularly, that where I am not understood, it shall be concluded that something very useful and profound is couched underneath; and again, that whatever word or sentence is printed in a different character, shall be judged to contain something extraordinary either or wit of sublime.

Stanley Lane-Poole (ed.), Selections from the prose writings of Jonathan Swift with a preface and notes. (London 1933). To conclude: with those allowances above required, this book should be read; after which, the author conceives, few things will remain which may not be excused in a young writer. He wrote only to the men of wit and taste, and he thinks he is not mistaken in his accounts, when he says they have been all of his side, enough to give him the vanity of telling his name, wherein the world with, all its wise conjectures, is yet very much in the dark; which circumstance is no disagreeable amusement either to the public or himself. Therefore, since the book seems calculated to live at least as long as our language and our taste admit no great alterations, I am content to convey some Apology along with it.