Full Description
Taking the form of a handbook of manners, and addressed to each servant individually, Directions to Servants is the ultimate upstairs/downstairs battle. With scathing wit, Swift pits master against servant in an endless struggle for order, frugality and the best bits of the roast. His servants are lazy, profligate, and acquisitive: always on the lookout for a shilling to be made on the sale of leftovers, or a half-bottle of wine to share with the cook. Written in Swift's final years of sanity, Directions to Servants is a last hilarious outpouring of cynicism at a lifetime's accumulation of poor service.
Contents
Foreword by Colm Toibin; Directions to :; All Servants in General; the Butler; the Cook; the Footman; the Coachman; the Groom; the House Steward and Land Steward; the Porter; the Chambermaid; the Waiting-maid; the Housemaid; the Dairymaid; the Children's Maid; the Nurse; the Laundress; the Housekeeper; the Tutoress or Governess; Notes; Note on the text; Biographical note
