Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels
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| Temple, Lady Dorothy | (1627-94/5); nee Osborne; wife of Sir William Temple; she and Temple met and fell in love in 1648 but because their families opposed the marriage they were not wed until 1654; Osborne's Letters to Sir William Temple, written during the long courtship, were later published. |
| Temple, Sir William | (1628-99); Swift's master and (possible) mentor, off and on between 1689-99; Temple was an English diplomat who, having arranged the Triple Alliance (1688), retired from public service to his estate Moor Park to tend his gardens and write his memoirs; Swift entered Temple's service as his secretary in 1689 and assisted Temple with preparation of his essays, letters, memoirs for publication; also in the household was: Lady Dorothy Temple, Temple's wife (until her death in 1694/5); Lady Martha Giffard, Temple's widowed sister; Rebecca Dingley, a distant cousin; and Esther Johnson, daughter of a servant (and probably Temple's natural child); the Temples' daughter, Diana, died of smallpox in 1679 and their only son committed suicide in 1689;
Swift left Temple's service twice, in 1690 to return to Ireland for his health and from 1694-6 to take orders as a priest and a position in the Church of Ireland after he became discouraged about Temple finding him a better position; returning the second time, Swift remained until Temple's death in 1699; Swift became Temple's literary executor with responsibility for completing publication of the remaining papers; this duty placed Swift in conflict with Temple's family, who wished to supress some of the material; on Temple's death, Swift went to solicit a position from King William, believing that Temple had secured such a promise from the king, but he was refused; among Temple's publications during this period was Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning (1690) a defense of Classical writing holding up the Epistles of Phalaris as an example; William Wotton responded to Temple with Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning (1694) showing that the Epistles were a later forgery; the response by the supporters of the Ancients was made by Charles Boyle (later the 4th Earl of Orrery and father of Swift's first biographer); a further retort on the Modern side came from Richard Bentley, one of the pre-eminent scholars of the day, in his essay Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris (1699); however, the final words on the topic belong to Swift's Battle of the Books and Tale of a Tub written during this time but not published until 1704. there is some controversy about Swift's relationship to Temple, what position he held in the household, and how much he gained from Temple's example; the traditional view is that Swift greatly admired Temple and that his views and writing style were formed at Moor Park; however, in Swift at Moor Park A. C. Elias argues that Swift was the better educated and more intellectually capable of the two, that he was under appreciated and under employed, and that Swift's various early expressions of admiration for Temple and emulation of his writings were nothing more than self-preservation and perhaps parody and satire. see also Brittanica |
| Tenariff | Tenerife Island; one of the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa; in Part IV, Gulliver as captain of the Adventure encounters a ship commanded by "Captain Pocock of Bristol at Tenariff" (IV:1;1)
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| Test Acts | English laws (1673) meant to exclude Catholics from different areas of activity by requiring an oath of allegience to the Church of England. Swift was an active proponent of the continuance of such laws and references are found in the Travels
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| threads | "three fine silken Threads of six Inches long. One is Blue, the other Red, and the third Green" (I:3;4); see prizes.
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| Tolgo Phonac | Lill. not defined: in context, appears to be an order to attack or fire arrows; "Let go! Vomit!" or "Let go vomit!" [Clark]
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| topicks | maxims or principles
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| Tories Tory Party |
English political party which formed around support for Charles II and the ascension of James II, but eventually supported the Glorious Revolution. The Tories were briefly in control of the government under Oxford at the end of the reign of Anne. During this period they engineered the Treaty of Utrecht, ending the War of the Spanish Succession. It was at this time that Swift was recruited to lend his support to the Tory cause. The Whig opposition came to power with George I and prosecuted the Tory leadership for treason and other crimes. This struggle is featured prominently in Gulliver's voyage to Lilliput with the Tories represented by the Tramecksan party.
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| Traldragdubb | Laputa; capital of Luggnagg; also called "Trildrogdrib"; translates as "Dublin" "London" or a combination of both names [Clark]
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| Tramecksan | Lilliput: one of two parties which, with the Slamecksans, vie for political power within Lilliput. Tramecksans correspond to England's Tories, Swift's party, then out of power. The Tory party was aligned with the High Church: thus Tramecksans were distinguished by their high heels; "closet-man" or "claim-it man" [Clark].
for above seventy Moons past there have been two struggling Parties in this Empire, under the Names of Tramecksan and Slamecksan (I:4)
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| treatise | see "greater work"
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| Tribnia | anagram for Britain;
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| Trildrogdrib | see Traldragdubb
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| two Foot and a half Square | In the third chapter of Part I, Gulliver describes making an arena for mock cavalry skirmishes he constructs from his handkerchief (I:3;5). If I have done my arithmetic right, Swift did not. He gives the dimensions of the quadrangle as "two Foot and a half Square" which translates into 360 sq. inches (2.5 x 144 sq. inches). Thus, a possible size for Gulliver's handkerchief is 18" x 20". Given the rough scale of 1 English inch = 1 Lilliputian foot, the skimishing arena would have been equivalent to 18' x 20', an area little larger than my livingroom. Into this space Gulliver placed twenty four horses and riders and had them stage mock battles. There is no big "ah ha!" about this. Swift obviously did not worry overmuch about such details and the main point of the passage was to add a touch of playfulness.
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