I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children [in Ireland], already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep, black-cattle, or swine, and my reason is that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality, and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, to as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter.
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal: For Preventig the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden o Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public. Contenido en: Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings. Bantam Books, 1962. p.489
