"Let a shoe-boy clean your own boots first, then let him clean your
master's. Keep him on purpose for that use, and pay him with
scraps. When you are sent on an errand, be sure to edge in some
business of your own, either to see your sweetheart, or drink a pot
of ale with some brother servants, which is so much time clear
gained. Take off the largest dishes and set them on with one hand,
to show the ladies your strength and vigour, but always do it
between two ladies that if the dish happens to slip, the soup or
sauce may fall on their clothes, and not daub the floor."
We think that he might have written "directions" for the masters of his
day, as by incidental allusions he makes, we find they were not
unaccustomed to beat their servants.
Sarcasm was Swift's foible. But we must remember that the age in which
he lived was that of Satire. Humour then took that form as in the latter
days of Rome. Critical acumen had attained a considerable height, but
the state of affairs was not sufficiently settled and tranquil to foster
mutual forbearance and amity. Swift, it must be granted, was not so
personal as most of his contemporaries, seeking in his wit rather to
amuse his friends than to wound his rivals. But his scoffing spirit made
him enemies--some of whom taking advantage of certain expressions on
church matters in "The Tale of a Tub" prejudiced Queen Anne, and placed
an insuperable obstacle in the way of his ambition.
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