In this class, we will read several outrageous and hilarious satires that use prose to satirize the conflicts of the British eighteenth century. Jonathan Swift, the greatest satirist in the language, is the author of a handful of these, including *Gulliver's Travels.*  Published in 1726, *Gulliver's Travels* attacks Britain's colonial domination of other places and peoples. We will then move on to Tobias Smollett's satirical novel *Humphrey Clinker,* which attacks "luxury" and thus capitalism. We will conclude with Maria Edgeworth's novella, *Castle Rackrent,* which satirizes the fall of feudalism in Ireland and the arrival of capitalism there.