Satire

The History of John Bull

by John Arbuthnot

John Arbuthnot, physician to Queen Anne and one of Swift’s dearest friends in the Scriblerus Club, wrote these pamphlets in 1712 to argue that England should make peace with France. England is John Bull, an honest, hot-tempered clothier ruined by a long lawsuit against Lewis Baboon, with his attorney Humphry Hocus taking the fees. The name stuck, and John Bull stood for England in cartoons for two centuries afterwards.

The librarian

Read it in the Library After Dark Or read it as plain text

Reading time

About 2 hr 30 min

Where to find it

Lilliput

Edition

Project Gutenberg, eBook #2643. In the public domain in the United States.