A Tale of a Tub: And The History of Martin - Softcover

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745), was born in Dublin after his father´s death. He was son of Jonathan Swift by Abigail of Leicester, and grandson of Thomas Swift, the royalist vicar of Goodrich, descended from a Yorkshire family. Jonathan was educated at Kilkenny Grammar School and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was censured for offences against discipline, obtaining his degree only by “special grace”. He was admitted in 1689 to the household of Sir W. Temple, and there acted as secretary. He was sent by Temple to William III to convince him of the necessity of triennial Parliaments, but his mission was not successful. Indignant at Temple´s delay in getting him preferment, he returned to Ireland, where was ordained in 1694, and received the prebend of Kilroot. He returned to Temple at Moor Park in 1696, where he edited Temple´s correspondence, and in 1697 wrote “The Battle of the Books” which was published in 1704 together with “A Tale of a Tub”, a satire on corruptions in religion and learning. On the death of Temple in 1699, Swift went again to Ireland, where he was given a prebend in St Patrick´s, Dublin, and the living of Laracor. “A Tale of a Tub” (1704), is a satire in prose written about 1696. The author explains in a preface that it is the practice of seamen when they meet a whale to throw out an empty tub to divert him from attacking the ship. Hence the title of the satire, which is intended to divert Hobbes´s “Leviathan” and the wits of the age from picking holes in the weak sides of religion and government. The satire is directed with especial vigour against the Roman Church, his bulls and dispensations, and the doctrine of transubstantiation.