‘GOOD DISCOURSE AMONG THE OLD MEN – OF ISLANDS NOW AND T H E N R I S I N G A N D FA L L I N G A G A I N I N T H E S E A’ : SAMUEL PEPYS AND FANTASTICAL ISLES The College is fortunate to own Volume II of the influential first edition of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, which was printed in two volumes for Benjamin Motte in 1726. The narrative recounts Lemuel Gulliver’s fateful voyage as a sea captain: he is abandoned on a mysterious island by his treacherous crew, who conspire to follow a new career as pirates1. He finds himself in the land of the Houyhnhnms – a race of civilised and cultured horses. Our delightful edition offers a map purporting to show the island, marked ‘Discovered AD 1711’ (Fig 1). Over time, Gulliver learns about, and comes to respect, his hosts and their society: ‘I had not been a Year in this Country, before I contracted such a Love and Veneration for the Inhabitants, that I entered on a firm resolution never to return to human Kind, but to pass the rest of my Life among these admirable Houyhnhnms in the Contemplation and practice of every Virtue.’ The more he learns of the gentle equines, the more Gulliver grows aware of the failings of his native Britain. The volume quickly turns to satire. Lawyers, doctors and politicians are especially derided in comparison with the noble horses of the island.
Figure 1 1
Magdalene Old Library C.5.12 – there is no evidence that the College ever owned volume I.
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