That the remaining Hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in Sale to the Persons of Quality and Fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the Mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good Table. I do therefore humbly offer it to publick Consideration, that of the Hundred and twenty thousand Children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for Breed, whereof only one Fourth part to be Males which is more than we allow to Sheep, black Cattle, or Swine, and my Reason is, that these Children are seldom the Fruits of Marriage, a Circumstance not much regarded by our Savages, therefore, one Male will be sufficient to serve four Females. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my Acquaintance in London, that a young healthy Child well nurs'd, is, at a Year old, a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome Food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a Fricassée, or a Ragoust. Despite its power as a piece of rhetoric, A Modest Proposal did not lead to any lasting changes for Ireland's rural poor and just over a century later, thousands would perish in the Great Potato Famine.

It was first published anonymously, in 1729, and the detached, serious tone of its narrator emphasises the horror of what Swift is actually recommending: only in its final paragraphs, when the essay turns to the realities of the Irish economic system and the problems caused by absentee landlords, does the author's view become clear. It proposes that the most obvious solution to Ireland's economic crisis is for the Irish to sell their children as food: shockingly, it also suggests various ways in which they can be prepared and served. Jonathan Swift's attack on the British government's inability to solve the problem of poverty in Ireland is one of the literary canon's most famous examples of satire. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassée or a ragout.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift