Genre:

Extract—Extract, Satire; Poetry, Satire

Publications extracted:

New Monthly Magazine [Swift] 1726

Subjects:

Discovery, Commerce, Technology, Mining, Manufactories, Hydropathy, Class, Epidemiology, Gender

    Following an extract from Gulliver's Travels, which describes the schemes of the members of the Academy of Lagado, the satirical poem proceeds to portray various fantastic schemes which the poet suggests have been fostered by the overflow of wealth in Britain. Among these are schemes for mines in South America, of which it is stated: 'Giving them gold that's ready made, / We wisely look to be repaid / By help of Watt and Boulton; / Who from their mines, by patent pumps / Will raise up ore, and lumps, and dumps / Whence sovereigns may be molten!'. Plans to build bridges over and tunnels under the River Thames are satirized, as is a company established to introduce sea-water bathing in London. A new 'company for washing', run by men, is derided as taking away the means 'By which our virtuous poor pursue / The path of honest labour'. (315)