Gulliver´s Travel

Donde se cuenta (en inglés) los años de formación del protagonista, Gulliver, y sus comienzos en la navegación como médico en varios barcos. Del original inglés “Gulliver´s Travel”, de Jonathan Swift.

En vocabulario buscamos hosier, y para saber: sobre Leyden, y the Levant.

Más abajo ponemos una ilustración de 1.856 y una foto de Leyden con casas del siglo 17.

 

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and… 

 

Gulliver discutiendo con houyhnhnms

Generalidades

Gulliver's Travels es una novela en la que se satiriza la naturaleza humana y las historias de viajeros. En sus viajes Gulliver descubre personas diminutas, seres gigantescos, una isla flotante, y caballos que hablan.

Se puede ver como una sátira contra los gobiernos europeos, una tesis sobre la corrupción o el reinstalar la controversia entre lo viejo y lo nuevo.

Paragraphs

My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five sons.  He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very insufficient allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years.  My father now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, my fortune to do.  When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my father: where, by the assistance of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studied physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and some other parts.  When I came back I resolved to settle in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several patients.  I took part of a small house in the Old Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom I received four hundred pounds for a portion.

But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren.  Having therefore consulted with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea.  I was surgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune.  My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew tired of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family.  I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account.  After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea.  We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage was at first very prosperous…

Fábrica de medias, 1886

Vocabulario

Hosier: persona que vende medias.

Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as hose.

Casas del siglo 17, Leyden

Para saber

Leyden (Leiden): es una ciudad universitaria al sur de Holanda, con una población de 120.000 habitantes. Está situada en el río Old Rhine, a 20 kilómetros de El Hague y a 40 de Ámsterdam. Uno de los más famosos pintores, Rembrandt, nació y se educó en Leiden.

The Levant: Levante: área en el este del Mediterráneo ocupada por Siria, Israel y Líbano.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the term levante was used for Italian maritime commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt, that is, the lands east of Venice.

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