Introduction
At eleven, William Cobbett’s (1763-1835) ambition was to be a gardener at Kew. It would be a step up from clipping hedges and weeding flower beds for the Bishop of Winchester back home in Farnham, but it meant walking all the way to Richmond, a distance of nearly thirty miles as the crow flies, and with threepence all his wealth.
THE next morning, without saying a word to any one, off I set with no clothes, except those upon my back, and with thirteen halfpence* in my pocket. I found that I must go to Richmond, and I accordingly went on, from place to place inquiring my way thither.
A long day (it was in June) brought me to Richmond in the afternoon. Two-penny worth of bread and cheese and a penny worth of small beer,* which I had on the road, and one halfpenny that I had lost somehow or other, left three-pence in my pocket; with this for my whole fortune, I was trudging through Richmond, in my blue smock frock* and my red garters tied under my knees, when staring about me, my eyes fell upon a little book in a bookseller’s window, on the outside of which was written, ‘A Tale of a Tub; price three-pence.’* The title was so odd, that my curiosity was excited. I had the three-pence, but then I could have no supper.
Weak beer, typically less than 1% ABV. It was preferable to water from a street-pump in an age with inadequate sanitation and the ever-present risk of cholera, and could be served cheaply to servants, children and labourers with little danger of intoxication. See also The Iron Horse and the Iron Cow.
See a photo on Wikimeda Commons of Thomas Pitkin of Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire, taken in 1894, showing his beautifully ‘smocked’ (embroidered) dark smock-frock. Cobbett is painting a picture of a country bumpkin in amusingly old-fashioned dress stepping through what was arguably Europe’s most sophisticated capital at the time.
Cobbett’s little volume was ‘A Tale of a Tub’ (1704) by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), author of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. The ‘tub’ in question is a preacher’s pulpit, and the whole work is a searing and topsy-turvy allegorical satire on Western Christianity, its noisily competing denominations, and the rival claims made by both traditionalists and progressives.
Précis
When he was just eleven, William Cobbett decided to leave his hometown, where he was already working as a gardener, and find work at Kew Gardens some thirty miles distant. He walked all the way and arrived with just threepence to his name, which he spent on a copy of ‘A Tale of a Tub’ simply the title intrigued him. (60 / 60 words)
When he was just eleven, William Cobbett decided to leave his hometown, where he was already working as a gardener, and find work at Kew Gardens some thirty miles distant. He walked all the way and arrived with just threepence to his name, which he spent on a copy of ‘A Tale of a Tub’ simply the title intrigued him.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, if, may, otherwise, ought, since, unless, whereas.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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