Glumdalclitch

Glumdalclitch is the name Gulliver gives his "nurse" in Book II of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. In Book I, Gulliver travels to the land of Lilliput. Leaving there, he travels to the land of Brobdingnag. In Lilliput, Gulliver was a giant, and in Brobdingnag, he is a dwarf, with the proportions reversed.

When he comes ashore, he is captured by a giant farmer, who perceives Gulliver only as a remarkable animal, like a man-shaped mouse. He takes Gulliver home and gives him to his daughter, Glumdalclitch. She is a girl, nine years old, who nevertheless towers over Gulliver. She makes Gulliver her pet, creates a small travel case for him (a bedroom in a box), and is amused to play with him as if he were a doll. Gulliver is very fond of her, though he cannot find any cloth in use by the giants that is soft enough to be anything other than coarse to him. The farmer takes Gulliver about as a freak show, charging observers money for performances. Gulliver grows very proud of the stunts that he performs for Glumdalclitch's amusement.

When the Queen of Brobdingnag takes Gulliver into her court, he has Glumdalclitch brought to court with him. Although the prideful Gulliver thinks of himself as being greatly honored and promoted by moving to court, he never ceases to love and seek the approval of the little girl who first helped him. Indeed, he remembers her fondly even after returning to England.

While Book I is narrowly allegorical, Book II of "Gulliver's Travels" is less specifically a "roman a clef" and more generally a political and philosophical discussion. While Glumdalclitch could represent Swift's memories of the young Stella from his time living with William Temple at Moor Park, Surrey, she does not stand in for any particularly identifiable historical person.

If one does take Glumdalclitch as the young Stella and the entire episode as an encoding of the time at Moor Park, then it is a poignant story indeed. Swift, like Gulliver, delighted in performing for Stella (e.g. his "Meditation Upon a Broomstick", which he wrote for her), was shown about by her "father" (William Temple), found the living too coarse for his sensibilities, left her company for a "promotion" to London and court life, and mourned her absence for the rest of his life.