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Paperbacks: HHHII Directions to Servants By Jonathan Swift hesperus
Independent on Sunday, The, Aug 31, 2003 by James Urquhart
"You need not wipe your knife to cut bread from a table," Swift advises butlers; "in cutting a slice or two it will wipe itself." Replete with such labour-saving ideas, Directions to Servants exhorts domestic staff to "be pert and saucy to all" and gives valuable advice on slacking, skiving, pilfering and making excuses.
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Some of Swift's suggestions are slapstick, such as tucking a plate into one's waistcoat for whipping out as an emergency handkerchief should a sneeze arrive while one is serving dinner. Most propose comically frugal economies, like making up small beer from the dregs of empty bottles. Students may be alarmed at the contemporary feel of some of Swift's tips. Poor servants have so few opportunities to be happy that they ought not to lose any, Swift laments, while instructing footmen to disappear for a pot of beer or three after escorting their ladies to Sunday church. This strikes a chord deeper than the general scurrility of this joyously satirical pamphlet. Always insecure regarding his own preferment and living, Swift felt acutely the obeisance required from those in power. Directions to Servants strikes back at the master-servant dependency with an amusing blend of cynical parody and puerile insolence.
Copyright 2003 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.
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