THIS is the first of eight Thursday readings of a shortened version of Swift's immortal' Gulliver's Travels.' The eight readings will complete the whole of this shortened version. Swift's amazing satire has suffered a strange handling. It was written as a fierce and biting satire upon the follies of mankind, and it has, for generations, been given as light reading to children of tender years. The truth is, of course, that in an expurgated version ' Gulliver's Travels' is equally good a story as it is a moral satire ; its pure objectivity guarantees that. This reading by Mr. Watkins, who is already familiar to listeners for his poetry readings, should serve to give us an unusually vivid conception of Swift's work.