''Directions to Servants'' is a satirical and humorous essay by
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...
. Swift is known to have been working on it in 1731, though it was not published until after his death in 1745. The first few chapters are much more developed than the later ones, and it appears that the work was unfinished and uncorrected at Swift's death.
The work is in 16 chapters:
* "Rules that Concern All Servants in General"
* "Directions to the Butler"
* "Directions to the Footman"
* "Directions to the Coachman"
* "Directions to the Groom"
* "Directions to the House Steward and Land Steward"
* "Directions to the Porter"
* "Directions to the Chambermaid"
* "Directions to the Waitingmaid"
* "Directions to the Housemaid"
* "Directions to the Dairymaid"
* "Directions to the Children's Maid"
* "Directions to the Nurse"
* "Directions to the Laundress"
* "Directions to the Housekeeper"
* "Directions to the Tutoress, or Governess"
Critical review
A 2015 review of ''Les Editions de Londres'' suggests that the light-hearted ''Directions to Servants'' is more of an
Horatian
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
than
Juvenalian
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
satire. Swift goes beyond simple parody or satire: by providing the servants with advice that verges on the absurd he deconstructs and amusingly reveals the absurdities of the Eighteenth-century English social system. But Swift is not concerned with the reform of society, and he does not have
Beaumarchais
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, ...
’s pre-revolutionary stress on the injustice of an aristocratic system. Rather, his intent is to mock and denounce the travails of human nature as did
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
over a century earlier.
Although the essay is generally little-known in Britain, in France it is (after ''
Gulliver’s Travels
''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Sw ...
'') one of his most famous works.
References
External links
*
Directions to Servants at Wikisource
Fascimile at Google Books
Essays by Jonathan Swift
Satirical books
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