Gulliver's Travels
what does it tell us of the three kings who protested to Gulliver that in their whole reigns they never once preferred any person of merit , unless by mistake?
ch8 part 3
ch8 part 3
We learn that those in charge gained control by very dubious means.....
Perjury, oppression, subornation, fraud, pandarism, and the like infirmities, were among the most excusable arts they had to mention; and for these I gave, as it was reasonable, great allowance. But when some confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to sodomy, or incest; others, to the prostituting of their own wives and daughters; others, to the betraying of their country or their prince; some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of justice, in order to destroy the innocent, I hope I may be pardoned, if these discoveries inclined me a little to abate of that profound veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to persons of high rank, who ought to be treated with the utmost respect due to their sublime dignity, by us their inferiors.
Gulliver's Travels