The Battle Of The Books: And Other Works, Including 'a Modest Proposal'

"This discourse, as it is unquestionably of the same author, so it seems to have been written about the same time, with 'The Tale of a Tub;' I mean the year 1697, when the famous dispute was on foot about ancient and modern learning. The controversy took its rise from an essay of Sir William Temple's upon that subject. At length, there appearing no end of the quarrel, our author tells us that the books in St. James's Library, looking upon themselves as parties principally concerned, took up the controversy, and came to a decisive battle." So begins Jonathan Swift's satire, The Battle of the Books , which tells of a great battle between the books in the King's Library. The name of his satire came be used in reference the the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.