A Tale of a Tub and the Battle of the Books.—­Swift’s greatest satire, the greatest prose satire in English, is known as A Tale of a Tub.  The purpose of the work is to uphold the Episcopalians and satirize opposing religious denominations.  For those not interested in theological arguments, there is much entertaining philosophy, as the following quotation will show:—­

“If we take an examination of what is generally understood by happiness, as it has respect either to the understanding or the senses, we shall find all its properties and adjuncts will herd under this short definition,—­that it is a perpetual possession of being well deceived.  And first, with relation to the mind or understanding it is manifest what mighty advantages fiction has over truth; and the reason is just at our elbow, because imagination can build nobler scenes and produce more wonderful revolutions than fortune or nature will be at expense to furnish.”

Swift’s satiric definition of happiness as the art “of being well deceived” is a characteristic instance of a combination of his humor and pessimistic philosophy.

In the same volume with A Tale of a Tub, there was published a prose satire in almost epic form, An Account of a Battle between the Ancient and Modern Books in St. James Library (1704).  Although this satire apparently aims to demonstrate the superior merits of the great classical writers, it is mainly an attack on pretentions to knowledge.  Our greatest surprise in this satire comes not only from discovering the expression, “sweetness and light,” made famous by Matthew Arnold in the Victorian age, but also from finding that a satirist like Swift assigned such high rank to these qualities.  He says that the “Ancients” thus expressed an essential difference between themselves and the “Moderns":—­

  “The difference is that, instead of dirt and poison, we have rather
  chosen to fill our lives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind
  with the two noblest of things, which are Sweetness and Light.”

Gulliver’s Travels.—­The world is always ready to listen to any one who has a good story to tell.  Neither children nor philosophers have yet wearied of reading the adventures of Captain Lemuel Gulliver in Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Gulliver’s Travels is Swift’s most famous work.

Gulliver makes four remarkable voyages to strange countries.  He first visits Lilliput, which is inhabited by a race of men about six inches high.  Everything is on a corresponding scale.  Gulliver eats a whole herd of cattle for breakfast and drinks several hogsheads of liquor.  He captures an entire fleet of warships.  A rival race of pygmies endeavors to secure his services so as to obtain the balance of power.  The quarrels between these little people seem ridiculous, and so petty as to be almost beneath contempt.