Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon on a merchant

ship, is shipwrecked on the strange island

of Lilliput where the inhabitants are only

six inches tall. After they overcome their

timidity about the giant in their midst,

Gulliver becomes embroiled in the

islanders petty disputes about such

issues as whether it is better to break an

egg at the big end or the little end, the

rivalry between those who wear high

heels and those who prefer low heels,

and the ridiculous pomposity of their

miniature emperor.

This is not the end of Gulliver s

adventures, for he later finds himself on

Brobdingnag, where the natives are

incredibly tall; the flying island of Laputo,

where they intellectualise from dawn till

dusk; and, finally, the country of the wise "

Houyhnhnms and the vulgar Yahoos. All

human life is satirised here, from

politicians to priests and philosophers to

poets. And yes, the truth is that we re all

Yahoos.

(1667-1745), ed. at Trinity College, Dublin, entered household of Sir W. Temple at Moor Park 1692, and became his secretray, became known to William III., and met E. Johnson (Stella), left T. in 1694 and returned to Ireland, took orders and wrote Tale of a Tub and Battle of Books (published 1704), returned to Sir W. T. 1698, and on his death in 1699 published his works, returned to Ireland and obtained some small preferments, visits London and became one of the circle of Addison, etc., deserts the Whigs and joins the Tories 1710, attacking the former in various papers and pamphlets, Dean of St. 1713, he began his Journal to Stella, Drapier’s Letters appeared 1724, visits England, and joins with Pope and Arbuthnot in Miscellanies 1726, published Gulliver’s Travels 1727.