A father leaves his three sons, Peter, Martin and Jack, a coat each and a will forbidding any change to them, and the brothers’ ingenious evasions stand for the histories of the Roman, Anglican and Dissenting churches. Between chapters of the tale, a hack narrator offers digressions on critics, on madness and in praise of digressions themselves.
Swift’s first great satire, published in 1704, dense and dazzling and a forerunner of Gulliver’s Travels. Download the free EPUB.