686 Devouring Posterity:A Modest Proposal,Empire,and Ireland's "Debt of the Nation" PMLA descends into bathos.The author italicizes saying that the payment schedule in the nar- the hackneyed tropes of liberal Whig politi- rator's scheme would be every 25 March,the cal economy,announcing the text's perfor- end of Ireland's fiscal year:"INFANTs Flesh... mative stance and implying that these terms will be more plentiful in March and a little are freighted with supplemental signification. before and after,"or during accounting's "fore “Beggars”and“thieves,.”given this aporia, and hind Quarter"(12:112).This plenty exists can be taken to stand for not merely the poor because"there are more Children born in Ro- in the streets but also writers of pamphlets man Catholick Countries about Nine Months pursuing patronage and the creditors back- after Lent,than at any other Season"(12:112). ing them.By means of these metaphors for The“prolifick Dyet'”of fish to which he refers the printing industry,the impoverished Irish seems to signify not only the literal consump- mother of the Proposal is transmuted from tion of infants but also the ritual of Lenten a baby machine into Dublin's“Dulness”:the fasting,which thematizes the very kind of endlessly procreative Irish press that spawned restraint in the collection of taxes necessary tract after tract on economic improvement.In to protect Anglo-Irish interests(12:112).A this allegory,her "three,four,or six Children, close reading of this passage's anachronistic all in Rags'”personify texts,given that“rags” spelling of"dyet"under another of its denota- stands for both clothes recycled for papermak- tions,"an allowance or provision of food...a ing and pulp fiction(Prose Works 12:109). constant Table or dyet in the Court"(Diet"), If the offspring of the poor are figures suggests that the word refers to how courtiers for texts,their status as orphans is triply in- in London might be fed the revenues derived scribed,connoting progeny with absent bio- from these babies if the Irish parliament is logical fathers,defenseless future taxpayers, not prudent.Swift was intimating that Ire- and books with no clear author.The device land's Catholic infants could be compared of the invisible,anonymous narrator invents to the Christ child,born at Christmas to be the Anglo-Irish public as godfather of the a sacrifice at Easter in payment of man's debt. infant in all three of its manifestations and, Because the parody is mocking the pathos of by doing so,grants readers the custody of the its target genre,however,any sincere concern infant's body and wealth,as well as authority for those children is dissolved into bathos, over its proper interpretation.The babies'eco- and the genre of the economic pamphlet is nomic personas,however,take primacy as the dismissed as cathartic theater. cannibal calculus reaches its more detailed The Scriblerians preferred this bathetic scheduling.They“will not bear Exportation” mode when critiquing Whig hypocrisy be- to Britain because they stand for the proceeds cause its realist effect countered the sublime of Swift's nationalist scheme for their reten- associated with imperial transcendentalism tion,short-term duties renewable by Parlia- (Gerrard 203).Peri Bathos;or,The Art of Sink- ment every two years(12:117).This approach, ing in Poetry,a jointly written work published by restricting the supply of Ireland's revenues, under the name Martin Scriblerus at nearly the would guarantee that Anglo-Irish creditors, same time as The Dunciad,linked the poetics not the British Crown,would be receiving du- of the moderns to contemporary government ties on a sustainable basis.The"young healthy finance.Its subtitle appropriated the significa- Child...at a Year old"is the figure for this al- tion of the term sinking fund,which referred ternative plan because it represents such incre- to a treasury measure enacted by Walpole.The mental,rather than perpetual,appropriation purpose of the fund was to pay down Britain's of the income of future generations(12:111). national debt by progressively“sinking”the The text pushes the limits of this figuration by amount of its interest and principle with taxes This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri,10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms686 Devouring Posterity: A Modest Proposal, Empire, and Ireland's "Debt of the Nation" PMLA descends into bathos. The author italicizes the hackneyed tropes of liberal Whig politi cal economy, announcing the text's perfor mative stance and implying that these terms are freighted with supplemental signification. "Beggars" and "thieves," given this aporia, can be taken to stand for not merely the poor in the streets but also writers of pamphlets pursuing patronage and the creditors back ing them. By means of these metaphors for the printing industry, the impoverished Irish mother of the Proposal is transmuted from a baby machine into Dublin's "Dulness": the endlessly procreative Irish press that spawned tract after tract on economic improvement. In this allegory, her "three, four, or six Children, all in Rags" personify texts, given that "rags" stands for both clothes recycled for papermak ing and pulp fiction (Prose Works 12: 109). If the offspring of the poor are figures for texts, their status as orphans is triply in scribed, connoting progeny with absent bio logical fathers, defenseless future taxpayers, and books with no clear author. The device of the invisible, anonymous narrator invents the Anglo-Irish public as godfather of the infant in all three of its manifestations and, by doing so, grants readers the custody of the infant's body and wealth, as well as authority over its proper interpretation. The babies' eco nomic personas, however, take primacy as the cannibal calculus reaches its more detailed scheduling. They "will not bear Exportation" to Britain because they stand for the proceeds of Swift's nationalist scheme for their reten tion, short-term duties renewable by Parlia ment every two years (12:117). This approach, by restricting the supply of Ireland's revenues, would guarantee that Anglo-Irish creditors, not the British Crown, would be receiving du ties on a sustainable basis. The "young healthy Child... at a Year old" is the figure for this al ternative plan because it represents such incre mental, rather than perpetual, appropriation of the income of future generations (12: 111). The text pushes the limits of this figuration by saying that the payment schedule in the nar rator's scheme would be every 25 March, the end of Ireland's fiscal year: "infants Flesh... will be more plentiful in March and a little before and after," or during accounting's "fore and hind Quarter" (12:112). This plenty exists because "there are more Children born in Ro man Catholick Countries about Nine Months after Lent, than at any other Season" (12: 112). The "prolifick Dyet" offish to which he refers seems to signify not only the literal consump tion of infants but also the ritual of Lenten fasting, which thematizes the very kind of restraint in the collection of taxes necessary to protect Anglo-Irish interests (12: 112). A close reading of this passage's anachronistic spelling of "dyet" under another of its denota tions, "an allowance or provision of food... a constant Table or dyet in the Court" ("Diet"), suggests that the word refers to how courtiers in London might be fed the revenues derived from these babies if the Irish parliament is not prudent. Swift was intimating that Ire land's Catholic infants could be compared to the Christ child, born at Christmas to be a sacrifice at Easter in payment of man's debt. Because the parody is mocking the pathos of its target genre, however, any sincere concern for those children is dissolved into bathos, and the genre of the economic pamphlet is dismissed as cathartic theater. The Scriblerians preferred this bathetic mode when critiquing Whig hypocrisy be cause its realist effect countered the sublime associated with imperial transcendentalism (Gerrard 203). Peri Bathos; or, The Art of Sink ing in Poetry, a jointly written work published under the name Martin Scriblerus at nearly the same time as The Dunciad, linked the poetics ofthe moderns to contemporary government finance. Its subtitle appropriated the significa tion of the term sinking fund, which referred to a treasury measure enacted by Walpole. The purpose ofthe fund was to pay down Britain's national debt by progressively "sinking" the amount of its interest and principle with taxes This content downloaded from 202.120.14.172 on Fri, 10 Nov 2017 17:56:35 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms