Jonathan Swift, Irish Political Writings after 1725: A Modest Proposal and Other Works by Jonathan Swift (review)

Trying to understand Swift’s famous satires such as Gulliver’s Travels (1726), scholars tend to study the Dean’s letters and, of course, his political writings but these, too, frequently offer numerous passages of a rather enigmatic nature because they reveal a plethora of innuendoes to the minutiae of Anglo-Irish history. The prestigious Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift, whose editorial and advisory boards consist of such eminent scholars as Claude Rawson, Andrew Carpenter, Philip Harth, and Pat Rogers, to name but a few, raises high expectations: The editors promise to present all of Swift’s works in the light of new historical, biographical, and textual knowledge and to give insight into the complex political and cultural history of England and Ireland. There is no doubt that in their edition of Swift’s Irish Political Writings after 1725 Hayton and Rounce have been successful in meeting these high standards.

The volume offers everything a modern critical edition should have: it starts with a precise synopsis of Swift’s life and the history of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In their impressive introduction Hayton and Rounce then inform the reader about Swift’s changing role in Anglo-Irish politics after the publication of the Drapier’s Letters (1724–1725) before the individual political tracts are presented with concise introductions and detailed commentaries. The primary material is complemented by an “Appendix” including pamphlets and political works, “which generated responses” by Swift. The ensuing textual account of the individual works, preceded by a highly informative general “Textual Introduction,” meticulously registers the accidentals and substantives produced by editorial collation together with the necessary emendations. In the final “Bibliography,” Swift scholars may find valuable recommendations for “further reading.” Due to its useful “List of Abbreviations” and the invaluable “Index” the edition remains highly informative and reader-friendly.

The centerpiece of this brilliant edition definitely is “The Introduction,” an outstanding work of general erudition, socio-historical expertise, and impressive Swift scholarship. Hayton and Rounce draw a detailed and colorful picture of life in Ireland, especially of Dublin, after 1725. The metropolis is portrayed as the pulsating center of Ireland, the seat of government, and a place of finance, trade, and entertainment, with a flourishing culture of theaters, weekly magazines, and popular coffeehouses. On the other hand, Dublin, due to terrific harvest failures in Ireland and the general weakness of the economic structure, is revealed as a chaotic place invaded by innumerable beggars and strollers: turmoils and riots were a daily occurrence. Furthermore, Ireland at this time was a country stricken with anxieties. The Irish feared exploitation by English governance, inundation by Catholic priests and infestation with Popery, and, finally, insurgencies of either Jacobite or Presbyterian origin.

Hayton and Rounce describe the radical paradigm shift which characterized the political climate in Ireland during this period. 1725 was a year in which Swift with the publication of the Drapier’s Letters had reached the climax of his career as a political figure and commentator. He had finally gained the status of a national icon. Revered as the embodiment of Irish patriotism and as a hero who had protected Ireland from “Wood’s Half-penny,” Swift became so popular that—when returning to Dublin after his stay in London in 1726—he was greeted by shouts of “Long live the Drapier,” by bonfires, illuminations and ringing church-bells. Some Dubliners even planned to erect a public statue in honor of “The Drapier.”

But then, gradually, the mood changed. England and Ireland were not the same places any more. Hayton and Rounce circumstantiate Swift’s growing isolation. More and more, Swift saw Anglo-Irish politics through a “Dublin lens”; not traveling anymore, he became dependent on second-hand information as far as political issues were concerned. Being detached from the Lord Lieutenant and other political figures in Dublin, Swift...