literary history question

[acroyear]

Did the phrase "modest proposal" (meaning, of course, a totally over the top sarcastic suggestion) come from the 1729 book, or did it exist before?

Comments

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Modest, as an adjective, was in general use, non sarcastically at that time. The precise term, as satire was indeed invented by Swift, AFAIR