GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
by JONATHAN SWIFT
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
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| Nardac | Lilliput; highest title of honor; "mal gat" (ie. ill begot) [Clark]; Gulliver is made a Nardac after capturing the Blefuscudian fleet (I:5;3), a possible reference to the titles given to Harley (Earl of Oxford) and St. John (Viscount Bolingbroke) for engineering the Treaty of Utrecht ending the war with France.
Later when Gulliver faces the jealous hatred of Flimnap, the Treasurer, he notes that a Nardac is higher than a Glumglum, Flimnap's title(I:5;22). Likewise, Earl (Oxford) and Viscount (Bolingbroke) are higher titles than Knight (Walpole, who is represented by Flimnap). After escaping to Blefuscu, the emperor threatens to recall his title: "I had fled from Justice, and if I did not return in two Hours, I should be deprived of my Title of Nardac, and declared a Traitor." (I:8:3) |
| natives | Contrast Gulliver's wish in Book I -- "I would gladly have taken a dozen of the Natives, but this was a Thing the Emperor would by no means permit;" (I:8:8) -- with the treatment he endures in Book II, where he is taken as property and put on display for the amusement of the population and the enrichment of his owners. His statement could also be seen as a reference to the common practice where many explorers returned to Europe with "specimens" of indigenous people and put them on display. |
| Nicholas, John | "John Nicholas of Liverpool Commander" of "the Adventure, a Merchant-Ship of three hundred tons, bound for Surat" (I:8;11); the crew of the Adventure abandons Gulliver on Brobdingnag. |
| Nnuhnoh | Houy; "a certain beautiful Animal about the same size" as a rabbit (IV:10;1); Gulliver uses their skins to replace his clothing and stockings; |
| Nottingham, Earl of | First Lord of the Admiralty 1680-4; a Tory who opposed the Tory leadership and opposed Swift becoming a bishop; possible model for Skyresh Bolgolam, the Lilliputian admiral who was Gulliver's enemy. |
| Nottinghamshire | English midland county, about 100 miles NW of London; Gulliver's home county.
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