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GULLIvert's TRAvHLs
iſ NTO SEVERAL,
*REMOTE NATIONS OF THE WORLD.
BY JON AT HAN swi FT, D. D.
Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin.
*WFTH
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
iſottiyott;
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED
By R. BROWN, 26, ST. John-STREET, cLenkenweil.
.1829.
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SKETCH OF THE LIFE
. OF .
DR. JonATHAN swift,
Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin.
*C*-
This very ingenious and extraordinary man was born on the 30th of
November 1667, in Hoey's-court, Dublin. He was descended from an
ancient family in Yorkshire. His father (the son of the Rev. Thomas
Swift, whose fortune was lost in the civil wars by his adherence to
Charles I.) went to Ireland in pursuit of employment, where he died
about two years after his marriage to a Leicestershire lady, and seven
months before the birth of his only son, who became the celebrated Dean
of St. Patrick's.
When young Swift was but a year old, he was carried away by his
nurse, without the knowledge of his mother, to Whitehaven, where the
woman kept him nearly three years, tending him with great affection,
and teaching him to read. On his being recovered, and brought back
to Ireland, he was sent to the school of Kilkenny, and in his fourteenth
year to Trinity College, Dublin. Here his course of study was so de-
sultory and irregular, that on apphication for his first degree, he was set
aside for insufficiency, and at last was permitted to take it speciali gra-
tia, a kind of disgraceful indulgence, which he immediately resolved to
efface, by a severe and regular application for nearly seven years to the
requisite sciences. During this time, it is allowed that he made a profi-
ciency answerable to his future fame.
In 1688, he went to England to see his mother, who was now settled
at Leicester, and was introduced to Sir William Temple, who behaved
to him with great kindness, and afforded him opportunities of frequently
seeing King William, whose notions being entirely military, he offered
to make Swift a captain of horse. Our author, however, preferring the
church, was admitted to his master's degree at Oxford, in 1692, and
took orders. His hopes of promotion, from the interest of Sir William
Temple, not being soon gratified, as he thought he had reason to expect,
a quarrel took place about the year 1694, and they parted probably with
mutual dissatisfaction. There was, however, enough of respect or friend-
ship left to promote a reconciliation, which took place soon after, and in
the mean time Swift obtained the prebend of . Kilroot, in the diocese of
Connor, worth about £100 a year, and on Sir William Temple's death
in 1700, be received a legacy from him, and the copy-right of his post-
humous works, which he published with a short life. r
Soon after the loss of Sir William, he went as secretary and chaplain
to Lord Berkeley, one of the lords justices of Ireland. From this new
ii. THE LIFE OF SW EFT.
patron, he was induced to hope for the Deanery of Derry, but it was
given to another, and Swift was obliged to be content with the livings
of Laracor and Rathbeggin. At Laracor he fixed his residence, and
this place became remarkable for his acquaintanee with Miss Johnson,
the daughter of the steward of Sir William Temple, but afterwards bet.
'ter known by the name of Stella. She and her friend, Mrs. Dingley,
lived here in the closest intimacy with Swift, but guardedly, and with.
out reproach: in his absence, they resided at the parsonage-house, and
on his return, they went to other lodgings. The affection which sub-
sisted between Swift and Steka appears to have been warm and sincere,
and on the part of the lady, at least, irrevocable. Why it did not ter.
minate in marriage, is a question which none of his biographers have
been able to solve, in a satisfactory manner.
In 1701, having ‘taken'his doctor's degree, he began to pay frequent
visits to England, and associated with political characters in hopes of
rising by their interest, and repaying their favours by the strength of
his judgment and the vigour of his ºpen. He became accordingly ac-
quainted with Harley and other eminent public men, and eertainly was
trusted and consulted by them in such a manner, and with so little re.
serve, as to show they had the highest opinion of his talents. But, not.
withstanding this, he received no preferment until the year 1713, when
he was made Dean of St. Patrick's; and after the death of Queen Ahne,
“his conexion with the English ministers in a great measure ceased.
However disappointed in his English connexions, an unexpected in.
-cident afforded him the means of rising to an uncommon degree of popu-
Harity in Ireland. One Wood had obtained a patent to coin eopper.
money for the use of that country, a measure which Dean Swift consi-
dered as ruinous to the working people, and represented the thischiefs
likely to arise from it, in a series of letters, signed the Drapier. In ean-
sequence of this, the scheme failed, the dean was hailed as the saviour
of his country, and beeame such a favourite oracle, that mothing goºd
be undertaken in Ireland without consulting him.
Amidst all this popularity, however, he was fast becoming an objest
rather of sympathy than envy. In:1736, he lost his memory, and this
was accompanied with an irascibility of temper, soured by frequent dis-
appointments, and exasperated by disease, and he gradually sunk into a
state which rendered conversation and seciety no longer possible. In
-this deplorable state, with few intervals of sanity, he lingered till the
year 1745, when he was happily released in the month of Octºber, and
in his seventy-eighth year.
. Among his many productions, none has been received with so much
avidity as that now before the reader. It was first published in 1727;
“a production,’ says Dr. Johnson, “so new and strange, that it filled the
reader with a mingled emotion of merriment and amazement. It was
, received with such avidity, that the price of the first edition was raised
before the second could be made: it was read by the high and the low,
the learned and illiterate. Criticism was for a while lost in wonder ; no
rules of judgment were applied to a book written in open deflauee ºf
: truth and regularity.’
A
WPQYAGº WNQ) Thil Jºſh'ſ PU}{f'e
PART I.
('HAPTER I.
The Author gives some Account of himself and Family---His
/irst Inducements to Trave/---Ile is shipwrecked, and swims
for his Life: gets safe on Shore, in the Country of Liſt-
put ; is made a Prisoner, and carried up the Country.
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the
third of five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cam-
bridge, at fourteen years old, where I resided three years.
and applied myself closely to my studies; but the charge of
maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance,
being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice
to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon in #. with
whom I continued four years; and my father now and then
sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning
navigation, and other parts of tho mathematics, useful to
those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be,
some time or other, my fortune to do. When I left Mr.
Bates, I went down to my father; where, by the assistance
of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got
forty pounds, and a promise of thirty pounds a year to main-
tain me at Leyden; there I studied physic two years ant!
seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.
Soon after my return from Leyden, 1 was recommended
by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow,
Captain Abraham Pannell, commander: with whom I con-
tinued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into
the Levant and some other parts. When I came back, I
resolved to settle in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master,
encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to several
patients. I took J. of a small house in the Old Jewry;
and being advised to alter my condition, I married Miss
Mary Burton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton,
hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom l received four hun-
dred pounds for a portion. x
No. 1. lº
2 gulliver's TRAvels:
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and
I having few friends, my business began to fail; for my con-
science would not suffer me to imitate the had practice of
too many among my brethren. Having therefore consulted
with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined
to go again to sea. I was surgeon successively in two ships,
and made several voyages, for six years, to the East and
West Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune.
My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, un-
cient and modern, heing always provided with a good num-
ber of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the man-
ners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their
language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of
my memory. .. .* * -
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate. I
grew weary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with
my family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter-lane,
and froun thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among
the sailors, but it ºil not turn to account. After three
years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an
advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master
of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South
Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4th, 1699, and our
voyage at first was very prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the
reader with the particulars of our adventures in those seas;
let it suffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence
to the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the
north-west of Van Dieman's Land. By an observation, we
found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south.
Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and
ill food; the rest were in a very weak condition. On the
6th of November, which was the beginning of summer in
those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied
a rock within half a cable's length of the ship; but the wind
was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and im-
Imediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I was one, having
let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to get clear of
the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation,
about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer,
being already spent with labour while we were in the ship.
We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves,
and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden
flurry from the north. What became of my companions in

A VOYAGE TO I, II, LIPUT. 3.
the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or
were left in the vessel, I cannot tell; but conclude they were
all lost. For my own part, I swam as fortune directed me,
and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often let my
legs drop, and could feel no bottom; but when l was almost
gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within
my depth; and by this time the storm was much abated.
The declivity was so small, that I walked near a mile before
I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight
.oclock in the evening. I then advanced forward nearly half
a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses or inhabi-
tants; at least I was in so weak a condition, that I did not
observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and
the heat of the weather, and º: half a pint of brandy
that I drank as 1 left the ship, I found myself much inclined
to sleep. I lay down on the grass, which was very short
and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to
have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine hours;
for when I awaked it was just day-light. I attempted to
rise, but was unable to stir; for as I happened to lie on my
back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on
each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and
thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several
slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my
thighs. , 1 could only look upwards, the sun began to grow
hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused
noise about me; but in the posture I lay could see nothing
except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive mov-
ing on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over
my breast, came almost up to my chin; when, bending my
eyes downward as much as I could, 1 perceived it to be a
human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow
in his hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I
felt at least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured)
following the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and
roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright; and some
of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt by the falls they
got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However,
they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far
as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes
by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct vºice,
Hekinah degul: the others repeated the same words several
times, but I then knew not what they meant. I lay all this
while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness; at
A 2
4. GULLIVER's TRAVELS.
length, struggling to get loose, I had the good fortune, to
break the strings, and wrench the pegs that fastened my left
arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I dis-
covered the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the
same time with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain,
[ a little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the
left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two
inches. But the creatures ran of a second time, before I
could seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a
very shrill accent, and after it ceased, I heard one of then
cry aloud, To/go phonao, when in an instant I felt above
a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which pricked
me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another
tlight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many,
I suppose, fell on my body, (though I felt them not) and
some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left
hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groan-
ing with grief and pain, and then striving again to get loose,
they discharged another volley larger than the first, and
some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides;
but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they could
not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still,
and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left
hand being already loose, I could easily free myself: and as
for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a
match for the greatest army they could bring against me, if
they were all of the same size with them that I saw. But
forturo disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed
! was quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the
noise I heard, I knew their numbers, increased; and about
four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a
knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work;
when itarning my head that way, as well as the pegs and
strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot
and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the
inhabitants, with two or three i. mounted to it; from
whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality,
made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one sylla-
ble. But I should have mentioned, that before the principal
person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro de-
Ae/sqn. (these words and the former were afterwards repeated
and explained to me.) Whereupon, immediately about
fifty of the inhabitants came, and cut the strings that fastened
the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turn-
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 5
ing it to the right, and of observing the person and gesture
of him that was to speak. He appeared to be of middle age,
and taller than any of the other three who attended him,
whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed
to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other
two stood on each side to support him. He acted every part
of an orator, and I could observe many periods of threaten-
ings, and others of promises. pity and kindness. I answered
in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting
up my left hand and both my eyes to the sun, as calling him
for a witness; and being almost famished with hunger, hav-
ing not eaten a morsel for some hours before I left the ship,
I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I
could not forbear shewing my impatience, (perhaps against
the strict rules of decency,) by putting my finger frequently
to my mouth, to signify that 1 wanted food. The hurgo,
(for so they call a great lord, as I afterwards learnt) under-
stood me very well. He descended from the stage, and
commanded that several ladders should be applied to my
sides, on which above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted,
and walked towards my mouth, laden with baskets full of
aleat, which had been provided and sent thither by the king's
orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I ob-
served there was the flesh of several animals, but could not
distinguish them by the taste. There were shoulders, legs
and loins, shaped like those of mutton, and very well dressed,
but smaller than the wings of a lark. I ate them by two or
three at a mouthful, and took two or three loaves at a time,
about the size of musket bullets. They supplied me as fast
as they could, shewing a thousand marks of wonder and
astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another
sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my eating that
a small quantity would not suffice me: and being a most
ingenious people, they slung up, with great dexterity, one of
their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and
beat out the top; I drank it off at a draught, which I might
well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small
wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious. They brought
me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner,
and made signs for more ; but they had none to give me.
When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy,
and danced upon my breast, repeating several times, as they
did at firs #. degul. They made me a sign that k
should throw down; the two hogs
eads, * first warning the
H 3.


6 GULLIVRR's TRAVELs :
people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, Borack
mevodah; and when they saw the vessels in the air, there
was an universal shout of Hekinah degul. I confess I was
often tempted, while they were passing backwards and for-
wards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that
came in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But
the º of what I had felt, which probably might
not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honour
I made them, for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour,
soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now considered
myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to a people who
had treated me with so much expence and magnificence.
However, in my thoughts, I could not sufficiently wonder at
the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst ventura
to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands
was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight of so pro-
digious a creature as I must appear to them. After some
time, when they observed that I made no more demands for
meat, there appeared, before me a person of high rank from
his imperial majesty. His excellency having mounted on
the small of my right leg, advanced forwards up to my face,
with about a dozen of his retinue; and producing his creden-
tials under the signet royal, which he applied close to my
eyes, spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger,
but with a kind of determinate resolution; often pointing
forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards the
capital city, about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed
by his majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I am-
swered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign
with my hand that was loose, putting it to the othor, (but
over his excellency's head, for fear of hurting him or his train),
and then to my own head and body, to signify that I desired
my liberty. It appeared he understood me well enough, for
lie shook his head by way of disapprobation, and held his
hand in a postureto shew that I must be carried as a prisoner,
However, he made other signs to let me understand, that I
should have meat and drink enough, and very good-treat-
ment. Whereupon I once more thought of attempting to break
my bonds; but again, when I felt the smart of their arrows
upon my face and hands, which were all in blisters, and ma-
ny of the darts still sticking in thein, and observing likewise
that the number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens
to let them know that they might do with me what they
Pleased. Upon this, the kurgo and his train withdrew, with


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 7
much civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after l heard
a general shout, with frequent repetition of the words, Pep-
(om salem; and I felt great numbers of people on my left side
relaxing the cords to such a degree, that I was able to turn
upon my right. But before this, they had daubed my face
and both my hands, with a sort of ointment very pleasant to
the smell, which, in a few minutes, removed all the smart of
their arrows. These circumstances, added to the refresh-
ment I received from their victuals and drink, which were
very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight
hours, as I was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder,
for the physicians, by the emperor's order, had mingled a
sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine. -
It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered
sleeping on the ground, after my landing, the emperor had
early notice of it by express; and determined in council, that
I should be tied in the manner I have related, (which was
done in the night while I slept); that plenty of meat and
drink should be sent me, and a machine prepared to carry
me to the capital city, 3.
This resolution perhaps may appear very hold and danger-
ous, and I am confident would not be imitated by any prince
in Europe on the like occasion. However, in my opinion,
it was extremely prudent, as well as generous: for, suppos-
ing these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears
and arrows, while I was asleep, I should certainly have
awaked with the first sense of smart, which might so far
roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me to
break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they
were not able to make resistance, so they could expect no
mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and ar.
rive to a great perfection in mechanics by the countenance
and encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned pit-
tron of learning 'This prince has several machines fixed on
wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weignts. He
often builds his largest men of war, whereof some are nine
feet long, in the woods where the timber grows, and has
them carried on these engines three or four hundred yards
to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were
immediately set at work to prepare the greatest engine they
had. It was a frame of wood, raised three inches from the
ground, about seven feet long, and four wide, moving upon
twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the
8 GUI.Llv ER’s TRAVEL3:
arrival of this engine, which, it seems, set out four hours af.
ter my landing. It was brought parallel to me, as } hy:--
But the principal difficulty was to raise and place me in this
vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, were erected
for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the size of Paek-
thread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which
the workmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body
and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were em-
ployed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys fastened on
the poles, and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and
slung into the engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told;
for while the operation was performing, I lay in a profound
sleep, by the force of that soporiferous medicine infused into
my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest horses,
each about four inches and a half high, were employed to
draw me towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half
a mile distant.
About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by
a very ridiculous accident; for the carriage being stopped
awhile, to adjust something that was out of order, two or
three of the young natives had the curiosity to see how I
looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine,
and advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an officer
in the guards, put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way
up into my left nostril, which tickled my nose like a straw,
and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they stole off un-
perceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of
my waking so suddenly. We made a long march the re-
maining part of the day, and rested at night with five hundred
guards on each side of me, half with torches, and half with
bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I offered to stir. The
next morning at sum-rise, we continued our march, and ar-
rived within two hundred yards of the city-gates about noon.
The emperor, and all his court, came out to meet us, but his
great officers would by no means suffer his majesty to en-
danger his person, by mounting on my body.
At the place where the carriage stopped, there stood an
ancient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the whole king-
dom; which, having been polluted some years before by an
unuutural murder, was, according to the zeal of those people,
looked upon as profane, and therefore had been applied to
common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried
away. In this edifice, it was determined I should lodge.
The great gate fronting to the north was about four feet high,
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 9
and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily
creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not
above six inches from the ground; into that on the left side,
the king's smith conveyed four score and eleven chains, like
those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and almost as
large, which were locked to my left leg with six and thirty
padlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side of the
great highway, at twenty feet distance, there was a turret at
least five feet high. Here the emperor ascended, with many
principal lords of his court, to have an opportunity of viewing
me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It was
reckoned that above a hundred thousand inhabitatits came
out of the town upon the same errand ; and in spite of my
guards, I believe there could not be fewer than ten thousand
at several times, who mounted my body by the help of
ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it
on pain of death. When the workmen found it was impos-
sible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that
bound me; whereupon I rose up with as melancholy a dis-
position as ever I had in my life. But the noise and asto-
nishment of the people, at seeing me rise and walk, are not
to be expressed. The chains that held my leg were about
two yards long, and gave me not only the liberty of **
backwards and forwards in a semicircle; but being 'fixed
within four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in
and lie at my full length in the temple. &
CHAPTER II.
The Emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the No.
bility, comes to see the Author in his Coryinement.---The
Emperor's Person and Habit described.---Learned Men
appointed to teach the Author their Language.--- He gains
Favour by his mild Disposition.--- His Pockets are searched,
and his Sword and Pistols taken from him.
When I found myself on my feet, I looked about me, and
must confess I never beheld a more entertaining prospect.
The country around appeared like a continued garden, and
the inclosed fields, which were generally forty feet square,
resembled so many beds of flowers. These fields were in-
termingled with woods of half a pole, and the tallest trees
as I could judge, appeared to be seven feet high. I viewed
the town on my left hand, which looked like the painted
scene of a city in a theatre. &
10 GULLIVER's TRAVEI.S :
The emperor was already descended from the tower, and
advancing on horseback towards me, which had like to have
cost him dear; for the beast, though very well trained, yet
wholly unused to such a sight, which appeared as if a
mountain moved before him, reared upon his hinder feet:
but that prince, who is an excellent horseman, kept his
seat till his attendants ran in, and held the bridle while his
majesty had time to dismount. When he alighted, he swr-
veyed me round with great admiration; but kept beyond tha
length of my chain. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who
were already prepared, to give me victuals and drink, which
they pushed forward in a sort of vehicles on wheels, till H
could reach them. I took these vehicles, and soon emptied
them all; twenty of them were filled with meat, and ten
with liquor; each of the former afforded me two or three
good mouthfuls; and I emptied the liquor of ten vessels,
which was contained in earthen vials, into one vehicle,
drinking it off at a draught; and so I did with the rest.
The empress and young princes of the blood of both sexes,
attended by many ladies, sat at some distance in their chairs,
but upon the accident that happened to the emperor's horse
they alighted, and came near his person, which I am now'
going to describe. He is taller, by almost the breadth of
my, nail, than any of his court; which alone is enough to
strike an awe into the beholders. His features are strong
and masculine, with an Austrian lip and arched nose, his
complexion olive, his countenance erect, his body and his
limbs well proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his de-
portment majostic. He was then past his prime, being
twenty-eight years and three quarters old, of which he had
reigned about seven in great felicity, and generally victorious.
For the better convenience of beholding him, I lay on my
side, so that my face was parallel to his, and he stood but
three yards off; however, I have had him since many times
many times in my hand, and therefore cannot be deceived
in the description. His dress was very plain and simple,
and the fashion of it between the Asiatic and European, ; but
he had on his head a light helmet of gold, adorned with
Jowels, and a plume on the crest. He held his sword drawn
in his hand to defend himself, if I should happen to break
loose: it was almost three inches long; the hilt and scabbard
were gold enriched with diamonds. Ilis voice was shrill,
but very clear and articulate; and I could distinctly hear it
when I stood up. The ladies and courtiers were all most

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 11
tnagnificently clad; so that the spot they stood upon seemed
to resemble a petticoat spread on the ground, embroidered
with figures of gold and silver. His imperial majesty spoke
often to me, and I returned answers; but neither of us could
understand a syllable. There were several of his priests and
lawyers present (as I conjectured by their habits), who were
commanded to address themselves to me; and I spoke to
them in as many languages as I had the least smattering of,
which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish,
Italian, and Lingua Franca, but all to no purpose. After
about two hours, the court retired, and I was left with a
strong guard, to prevent the impertinence, and probably the
malice of the rabble; who were very impatient to crowd
about me as near as they durst; and some of them had the
impudence to shoot their arrows at me, as I sat on the ground
by the door of my house, whereof one very narrowly missed
my left eye. The colonel ordered six of the ringleaders to
be seized, and thought no punishment so proper as to deliver
them bound into my hands; which some of his soldiers ac-
cordingly did, pushing them forwards with the butt-ends of
their pikes into my reach. I took them all in my right hand,
put five of them into my coat-pocket, and as to the sixth, I
made a countenance as if I would eat him alive. The poor
nian bawled terribly, and the colonel and his officers were
in much pain, especially when they saw me take out my pen-
knive: but I soon put them out of fear; for, looking mildly,
and immediately cutting the strings he was bound with, I
set him gently on the ground, and away he ran. I treated
the rest in the same manner, taking them one by one out of
my pocket; and I observed both the soldiers and people were
highly delighted at this mark of my clemency, which was
represented very much to my advantage at court. -
Towards night I got with some difficulty into my house,
where I lay on the ground, and continued to do so about a
fortnight; during which time the emperor gave orders to have
a bed pepared for me. Six hundred beds of the common.
measure were brought in carriages, and worked up in my
house; a hundred and fifty of their beds, sewn together,
made up the breadth and length; and these were four dou-
ble; which, however, kept me but very indifferently from
the hardness of the floor, that was of smooth stone. By the
same computation, they provided me with sheets, blankets,
and coverlets, tolerable enough for one who had been so long
inured to hardships. . s

12 . GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it
brought prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people
to sco me; so that the villages were almost emptied; and
great neglect of tillage and household aftairs must have en-
sued, if his imperial majesty had not provided, by several pro-
clamations . orders of state, against this inconveniency.
He directed, that those who had already beheld me should
return home, and not presume to come within fifty yards of
my house, without licence from the court; whereby the se-
cretaries of state got considerable fees. : -
In the mean time, the emperor held frequent councils, to
debate, what course should be taken with me; and I was
afterwards assured, by a particular friend, a person of great
quality, who was as much in the secret as any, that the
court was under many difficulties concerning me. They
apprehended my breaking loose; that my diet would be very
expensive, and might cause a famine. Sometimes they de-
termined to starve me, or at least to shoot me in rhe face and
hands with poisoned arrows, which would soon dispatch me;
but again they considered, that the stench of so large a car-
ease might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably
spread through the whole kingdom. In the midst of thesa
consultations, several officers of the army went to the door
of the great council-chamber, and two of them being ad-
mitted, gave an account of my behaviour to the six criminals
above-mentioned; which made so favourable an impression
in the breast of his majesty, and the whole board, in my be-
half, that an imperial commission was issued out, obliging all
the villagers, nine hundred yards round the city, to deliver in
every morning six beeves, forty sheep, and other victuals for
my sustenance; together with a proportionable quantity of
bread and wine, and other liquors: for the due payment of
which, his majesty gave assignments upon his treaspry; for this
prince lives chiefly upon his own demesnes; seldom, except
upon great occasions, raising any subsidies upon his subjects,
who are bound to attend him in his wars at their own ex-
pence. An establishment was also made of six hundred per-
sons to be my domestics, who had board wages allowed for
their maintenance, and tents built for them very conveni-
ently on each side of my door. It was likewise ordered, that
three hundred tailors should make me a suit of clothes, after
the fashion of the country: that six of his majesty's greatest
scholars should be employed to instruct me in their language:
and lastly, that the emperor's horses, and those of the nobi-

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 13
lity and troops of guards, should be frequently exercised in
my sight, to accustom themselves to me. All these orders
were duly put in execution; and in about three weeks l made
a great progress in learning their language; during which
time, the emperor frequently honoured me with his visits,
and was pleased to assist my masters in teaching me. We
began already to converse together in some sort; and the first
words I learnt, were to express my desire,' that he would
please to give me my liberty;' which I every day repeated
on my knees. His answer as I could apprehend it, was,
that this must be a work of time, not to be thought on with-
out the advice of his council, and that first I must lumos kel-
min pessc desmar lon emposo;' that is, swear a peace with
him and his kingdom; however, that I should be used with
all kindness. And he advised me to “acquiro by my pati-
ence and discreet behaviour, the good opinion of himself and
his subjects.” He desired ‘I would not take it ill, if he gave
orders to certain proper officers to search me; for probably I
I might carry about me several weapons which must needs be
dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious
a person,' I said, ‘ his majesty should be satisfied; for I was
ready to strip myself, and turn up my pockets before him."---
This I delivered part in words, and part in signs. He replied,
‘that by the laws of the kingdom, I must be searched by two
of his officers; that he knew that this could not be done with-
out my consent and assistance; and he had so good an opi-
nion of my generosity and justice, as to trust their persons
in my hands : and whatever they took from me, should he
returned when I left the country, or paid for at the rate
which I should set upon them.’ I took up the two officers in
my hands, put them first into my coat pockets, and then into
every other pocket about me, except my two fobs, and ano-
ther secret pocket, which I had no mind should be searched,
wherein I had some little necessaries that were of no conse-
quence to any but myself. In one of my fobs, there was a
silver watch, and in the other, a small quantity of gold in a
purse. These gentlemen having pen, ink, and paper, about
them, made an exact inventory of every thing they saw; and
when they had done, desired I would set them down, that
they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I after-
wards translated into English, and is word for word as follows:
* Imprimis:--In the right coat pocket of the great man-
mountain (for so I interpret the words quiubus flestrin), after
tºº. search, we found bmly one great peice of coarse
O. 24. C
14 GULLIven's TRAvels:
*
cloth, large enough to be a foot cloth for your majesty's
chief room of stato. In the left pocket, we saw a huge silver
chest, with a cover of the same metal, which we the search-
ers, were not able to lift. We desired it should be opened,
and one of us stepping into it found himself up to the mid leg
in a sort of dust, some part whereof flying up to our faces, set
us both a sneezing for several times together. In his right
waistcoat pocket, we found a prodigious bundle of white thin
substances, folded one over another, about the bigness of
three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black
figures; which we humbly conceive to be writings, every
letter almost half as large as the palm of our hands. In the
left, there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were
extended twenty long poles, resembling the pallisadoes before
your majesty's court, wherewith we conjecture the man-
mountain combs his head; for we did not always trouble
him with questions, because we found it a great difficulty to
make him understand us. In the large pocket, on the right
side of his middle cover, we saw a hollow pillar of iron, about
the length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of timber
larger than the pillar; and upon one side of the pillar, were
huge pieces of iron sticking out, cut into strange figures,
which we know not what to make of. In the left pocket,
another engine of the same kind. In the smaller pocket on
the right side were several round flat pieces of white and red
metal, of different bulk; some of the white which seemed to
be silver, were so large and heavy, that my comrade and I
could hardly lift them. In the left pocket, were two black
pillars irregularly shaped: we could not, without difficulty,
reach the top of them, as we stood at the bottom of his pocket.
One of them was covered, and seemed all of a piece; but at
the upper end of the other, there appeared a white round
substance, about twice the bigness of our heads. Within
each of these was inclosed a prodigious plate of steel; which
by our orders, we obliged him to shew us, because we appre-
hended they might be dangerous engines. He took them out
of their cases, and told us, that in his own country his prac-
tice was to shave his heard with one of these, and cut his
meat with the other. There were two pockets which we
could not enter; these he called his fobs; they were two
lurge slits cut into the top of his middle cover, but squeezed
close by the pressure of his belly. Out of the right fob hung
a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the
bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at tho

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 15
end of the chain; which appeared to be a globe, half silver,
and half of some transparent metal; for on the transparent
side, we saw certain strange figures circularly drawn, and
thought we could touch them, till we found our fingers stop-
ped by that lucid substance. He put this engine to our ears,
which made an incessant noise, like that of a water-mill : and
we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god
that he worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opi-
nion, because he assured us that he seldom did any thing
without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said, it
Fº out the time for every action of his life. From the
eft fob he took out a net almost large enough for a fisher- *
man, but contrived to open and shut like a purse, and served
him for the same use: we found therein several massy pieces
of yellow metal, which, if they be real gold, must be of im-
mense value. . w
“Having thus, in obedience to your majesty's commands,
diligently searched all his pockets, we observed a girdle about
his waist, made of the hide of some prodigious animal, from
which, on the left side, hung a sword of the length of five
men; and, on the right, a bag or pouch divided into two
cells, each cell capable of holding three of your majesty's
subjects. In one of these cells were several globes, or balls,
of a most ponderous metal, about the bigness of our heads,
and required a strong hand to lift them : the other cell con-
tained a heap of certain black grains, but of no great bulk or
weight, for we could hold above fifty of them in the palms
of our hands. . 3.
‘This is an exact inventory of what we found about the
body of the man-mountain, who used us with great civility,
and due respect to your majesty's commission. Signed and
sealed on the fourth day of the eighty-ninth moon of your
majesty's auspicious reign.

* Clefrin Freelock, Marsi Freelock.’
When this inventory was read over to the emperor, he di-
rected me, although in very gentle terms, to deliver up the
several particulars. He first called for my cimeter, which I
took out, scabbard and all. In the mean time, he ordered
three thousand of his choicest troops (who then attended
him) to surround me at a distance, with their bows and
arrows just ready to discharge; but I did not observe it, for
mine eyes were wholly fixed upon his majesty. He thea
desired me to draw my cimeter, which, although it had got
* c 2
I6 s GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
some rust by the sea-water, was, in most parts, exceeding
bright. I did so, and immediately all the troops gave a shout
between terror and surprize; for the sun shone clear, and
the reflection dazzled their eyes, as I waved the cimeter to
and fro in my hand. His majesty, who is a most magnani-
mous prince, was less daunted than I could expect: he or-
dered me to return it into the scabbard, and cast it on the
ground as gently as I could, about six feet from the end of
my chain. The next thing he demanded was one of the
hollow iron pillars; by which he meant my pocket pistols.
I drew it out, and at his desire, as well as I could, expressed
a to him the use of it; and charging it only with powder,
which, by the closeness of my pouch, happened to escape
wetting in the sea (an inconvenience against which all pru-
dent mariners take especial care to provide), I first cautiqned
the emperor not to be afraid, and then I let it off in the air.
The astonishment here was much greater than at the sight
of the cimeter. Hundreds fell down as if they had been
struck dead; and even the emperor, although he stood his
ground, could not recover himself for some time. I delivered
up both my pistols in the same manner as I had done my
cºmeter, and then my pouch of powder and bullets; begging
him that the former might be kept from fire, for it would
kindle with the smallest spark, and blow up his imperial
palace into the air. I likewise delivered up my watch, which
the emperor was very curious to see, and commanded two of
his tallest yeomen of the guards to bear it on a pole upon
their shoulders, as draymen in England do a barrel of ale.
He was amazed at the continual moise it made, and the mo-
tion of the minute-hand, which he could easily discern; for
their sight is much more acute than ours; he asked the opi-
nions of his learned men about it, which were various and
remote, as the reader may well imagine without my repeat-
ing; although indeed I could not very perfectly understand
them. I then gave up my silver and copper money, my purse
with nine large pieces of gold, and some smaller ones; my
knife and razor, my comb and silver snuff-box, my handker-
chief and journal-book. My cimeter pistols, and pouch,
were conveyed in carriages to his majesty's stores; but the
rest of my goods were returned me.
1 had, as I.before observed, one private pocket, which es-
caped their search, wherein there was a pair of spectacles,
(which I sometimes use for the weakness of my eyes), a
pocket perspective, and some other little conveniences; which

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. * 17
being of no consequence to the emperor, I did not think my-
self bound in honour to discover, and I apprehended they
might be lost or spoiled, if I ventured them out of my pos-
SCSS1C)Il, --
CHAPTER III.
The Author diverts the Emperor, and his Nobility of both
sexes, in a very uncommon manner.---The Diversions of the
Court of Lilliput described.---The Author has his Liberty
granted him upon certain conditions. +.

My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the
emperor and his court, and indeed upon the army and people
in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my li-
berty in a short time. I took all possible methods to culti-
vate this favorable disposition. The natives became by de-
grees to be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I
would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance
on my hand; and at last the boys and girls would venture
to come and play at hide and seek in my hair. I had now
made a good progress in understanding and speaking the lan-
guage. The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me
with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed all
nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence.
I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers,
performed upon a slender white thread, extended about three
feet from the ground.
There is likewise another diversion, which is only shewn
before the emperor and empress, and first minister, upon par-
ticular occasions. The emperor lays on the table three line
silken threads of six inches long; one is blue, the other red,
and the third green. These threads are proposed as prizes
for those persons whom the emperor has a mind to distinguish
by a peculiar mark of his favour. The ceremony is per-
formed in his majesty's great chamber of state, where the
candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity, such as I have
not observed the least resemblance of in any other country
of the new or old world. The emperor holds a stick in his
hands, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates
advancing, one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, some-
times creep under it, backward and forward, several times,
according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes
the emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister
the other; sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself.
c 3
18 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out
the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the
blue-coloured silk; the red is given to the next, and the green
to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the
middle; and you see few great persons about this court who
are not adorned with one of these girdles.
The horses of the army, and those of the royal stables,
having been daily led before me, were no longer shy, but
would come up to my very feet without starting. The rid-
ers would leap them over my hand, as I held it on the ground;
and one of the emperor's huntsmen, upon a large courser,
took my foot, shoe, and all; which was indeed a prodigious
leap. I had the good fortune to divert the emperor one day
after a very extraordinary manner. I desired he would order
several sicks of two feet high, and the thickness of an ordi-
nary cane, to be brought me; whereupon his majesty com-
manded the master of his woods to give directions according-
ly; and the next morning six woodmen arrived with as many
carriages, drawn by eight horses to each. I took nine of
these sticks, and fixing them firmly in the ground in a qua-
drangular figure, two feet and a half square; I took four other
sticks, and tied them parallel at each corner, about two feet
from the ground; then I fastened my handkerchief to the
nine sticks that stood erect, and extended it on all sides till
it was as tight as the top of a drum; and the four parallel
sticks, rising about five inclies higher than the handkerchief,
served as ledges on each side. When I had finished my
work, I desired the emperor to let a troop of his best horse,
twenty-four in number, come and exercise upon this plain.
His majesty approved of the proposal, and I took them up,
one by one, in my hands, ready mounted and armed, with
the proper officers to exercise them. As soon as they got in-
to order, they divided into two parties, performed mock skir-
mishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and
pursued, attacked and retired, and in short displayed the best
military discipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks se-
cured them and their horses from falling over the stage; and
the emperor was so much delighted, that he ordered this en-
tertainment to be repeated several days, and once was pleased
to be lifted up and give the word of command; and with great
difficulty persuaded even the empress herself to let me hold
her in her close chair within two yards of the stage, when
she was enabled to take a full view of the whole performance.
It was my good fortune, that no ill accident happened in these
A VOYAGE TO LILL, IPUT, * 19
entertainments, only once, a fiery horse, that belonged to one
of the captains, pawed with his hoof, struck a hole in my
handkerchief, and his foot slipping, he overthrew his rider
and himself; but I immediately relieved them both, and co-
vering the hole with one hand, I set down the troop with the
other, in the same manner that I took them up. The horse
that fell was strained in the left shoulder, but the rider got
no hurt; and I repaired my handkerchief as well as I could ;
lowever, I would not trust to the strength of it any more in
such dangerous enterprises.
About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I
was entertaining the court with this kind of feats, there ar-
rived an express to inform his majesty, that some of his sub-
jects, riding near the place where I was first taken up, had
seen a great black substance lying on the ground, very oddly
shaped, extending its edges round as wide as his majesty's
bedchamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man;
that it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended,
for it lay on the grass without motion; and some of then
had walked round it several times; that, by mounting upon
each other's shoulders, they had got to the top, which was flat
and even, and stamping upon it, they found it was hollow
within; that they humbly conceived it might be something
belonging to the man-mountain ; and if his majesty pleased,
they would undertake to bring it with only five horses. I
presently knew what they meant, and was glad at heart to
receive this intelligence. It seems, upon my first reaching
the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such confusion, that
before I came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat,
which I had fastened with a string to my head, while I was
rowing, and had stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell
off after I came to land; the string, as I conjecture, breaking
by some accident, which I never observed, but thought my
hat had been lost at sea. . I entreated his imperial majesty
to give orders it might be brought to me as soon as possible,
describing to him the use and the nature of it: and the next
day the waggoners arrived with it, but not in a very good
condition; they bored two great holes in the brim, within an
inch and a half of the edge, and fastened two hooks in the
holes. These hooks were tied by a long cord to the harness,
and thus my hat was dragged along for above half an Eng-
lish mile; but, the ground in that country being extremely
smooth and level, it received less damage than I expected.
Two days after this adventure, the emperor having ordered
20 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
that part of his army which quarters in and about his metro-
polis, to be in readiness, took a fancy of diverting himself in
a very singular manuner. He desired I would stand like a
Colossus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could.
He then commanded his general (who was an old experienced
leader, and a great patron of mine) to draw up the troops in
close order, and march them under me; the foot by twenty-
four a-breast, and the horse by sixteen, with drums beating,
colours flying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted of
three thousand foot, and a thousand horse. His majesty gave
orders, upon pain of death, that every soldier in his march
should observe the strictest decency in regard to my person;
which, however, could not prevent some of the younger
officers from turning up their eyes, as they passed under me;
and to confess the É. my breeches were at that time in so
ill a condition, that they afforded some opportunities for
laughter and admiration.
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty,
that his majesty at last mentioned the matter, first in the
cabinet, and them in a full council, where it was |. by
none, except Skyresh Bolgolam,who was pleased, without any
provocation, to be my mortal enemy. But it was carried
against him by the whole board, and confirmed by the em-
peror. That minister was galbet, or admiral of the realm,
very much in his master's confidence, and a person well versed
in affairs, but of a morose and sour complexion. However,
he was at length persuaded to comply ; but prevailed that
the articles and conditions upon which I should be set free,
and to which I must swear, should be drawn up by himself.
These articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in
person, attended by two under-secretaries, and several persons
of distinction. After they were read, I was demanded to
swear to the performance of them; first in the manner of
ºmy own country, afterwards in the method prescribed by their
laws; which was to hold my right foot in my left hand, and
to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of
iny head, and my thumb on the tip of my right ear. But
because the reader may be curious to have some idea of the
style and manner of expression peculiar to that people, as
well as, to know the articles, upon which I recovered my li-
berty, I have made a translation of the whole instrument,
word for word, as near as I was able, which I here offer to
the ë. *
“Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully
#ºz …*&a. --a <wº - - zeº gº. - :- ** *º- º * * *.*.*- :… 2 - - ************
#: tº ºr sarº zºº; - **** **śº l,” .*.******* *******, º, … º. º. º. … …, x. **s. " *******
º
º
/~/…/, //waz /~/.






A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 2]
">
Gue, most mighty emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of
the universe, whose dominions extend five thousand blustrugs,
(about twelve miles in circumference) to the extremities of
the globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of
men; whose feet press down to the centre, and whose head
strikes against the sun; at whose nod the princes of the
earth shake their knees; pleasant as the spring, comfortable
as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter. His
most sublime majesty proposes to the man mountain, lately
arrived at our celestial dominions, the following articles,
which, by a solemn oath, he shall be obliged to perform:
* 1st, The man-mountain shall not depart from our domi-
nions, without our licence under our great seal.
* 2nd, He shall not presume to come into our metropolis,
without our express order; at which time, the inhabitants
shall have two hours warning to keep within doors.
* 3d, The said man-mountain shall confine his walks to
our principal high roads, and not offer to walk, or lie down,
in a meadow or field of corn. . -
* 4th, As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost
care not to trumple upon the bodies of any of our loving sub-
jects, their houses or carriages, nor take any of our subjects
into his hands without their own consent.
* 5th, If an express requires extraordinary dispatch, the
man-mountain shall be obliged to carry in his pocket the
messenger and horse a six days journey, once in every moon,
and return the said messenger back § so required) safe to
our imperial presence.
‘ 6th, He shall be our ally against our enemies in the
island of Blefuscu, and do his utmost to destroy their fleet,
which is now preparing to invade us. . .
‘7th, That the said man-mountain shall, at his time of
leisure, be aiding and assisting our workmen, in helping to
raise certain great stones towards covering the wall of the
principal park, and other our royal buildings.
* 8th, That the said man-mountain shall, in two moon's
time, deliver in an exact survey of the circumference of our
dominions, by a computation of his own paces round the
coast. -
“Lastly, That, upon his solemn oath to observe all the
above articles, the said man-mountain shall have a daily al-
lowance of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 1724
of our subjects, with free access to our royal person, and other
marks of our favor. Given at our palace at Belfaborac, the
twelfth day of the ninety-first moon of our reign.’
22 Gulliver's TRAvels:
I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerful-
mess and content, although some of them were not so honor-
able as I could have wished; which proceeded wholly from
the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the high admiral: where-
upon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was at full
liberty. The emperor himself, in person, did me the honour
to be by at the whole ceremony. I made my acknowledg-
ments by prostrating myself at his majesty's feet; but he
Jºãº me to rise; and after many gracious expressions,
which, to avoid the censure of vanity, I shall not repeat, he
added, ‘that he hoped I should prove a useful servant, and
well deserve all the favors he had already conferred upon me
or might do for the future.’ . . -
'The reader may please to observe, that, in the last article
of the recovery of my liberty, the emperor stipulates to allow
me a quantity of meat and drink .. for the support of
1724 Lilliputians. Some time after, asking a friend at court
how they came to fix on that determined number, he told me,
that his majesty's mathematicians, having taken the height
of my body by the help of a quadrant, and findingit to ex-
ceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one, they concluded
from the º their bodies, that mine must contain at
least 1724 of theirs, and consequently would require as much
food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians.
By which the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity
of that people, as well as the prudent and exact economy of
of so great a prince. -
CHAPTER IV.
Mildendo, the Metropolis of Lilliput, described, together with
the Emperor's Palace---A Conversation between the Author
and a principal Secretary, concerning the Affairs of that
#º-u. Author offers to serve the Emperor in his
W’ (IPS.
THE first request I made, after I had obtained my liberty,
was, that I might have licence to see Mildendo, the metro-
polis; which the emperor easily granted me, but with a spe-
cial charge to do no hurt cither to the inhabitants or their
houses. The people had notice, by proclamation, of my
design to visit ſº town. The wall which encompassed it is
two feet and a half high, and at least eleven inches broad, so
that a coach and horses may be driven very safely round it;
and it is flanked with strong towers at ten feet distance. I
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 23
stept over the great western gate, and passed very gently and
sideling through the two principal streets only in my short
waistcoat, for fear of damaging the roofs and eaves of the
houses with the skirts of my coat. I walked with the utmost
circumspection to avoid treading on any stragglers who might
remain in the streets; although the orders were very strict,
that all people should keep in their houses, at their own peril.
The garret windows and tops of houses were so crowded
with spectators, that I thought in all my travels I had not
seen a more populous place. The city is an exact square,
each side of the wall being five hundred feet long. The two
great streets, which run across and divide it into four quar-
ters, are five feet wide. The lanes and alleys, which I could
not enter, but only viewed them as I passed, are from twelve
to eighteen inches. The town is capable of holding five hun-
dred thousand souls: the houses are from three to five stories:
the shops and markets well provided.
The emperor's palace is in the centre of the city where the
two great streets meet. It is inclosed by a wall of two feet
high, and twenty feet distance from the buildings. I had his
majesty's permission to step over this wall; and the space
being so wide between that and the palace, I could easily
view it on every side. The outward court is a square of forty
feet, and includes two other courts; in the inmost are the
royal apartments, which l was very desirous to see, but found
it extremely difficult; for the great gates, from one square
into another, were but eighteen inches high, and seven inches
wide. Now the buildings of the outer court were at least .
five feet high, and it was impossible for me to stride over
them without infinite damage to the pile, though the walls
were strongly built of hewn stone, and four inches thick.---
At the same time the emperor had a great desire that I should
see the magnificence of his palace; but this I was not able
to do till three days after, wº 1 spent in cutting down with
my knife some of the largest trees in the royal park, about a
hundred yards distant from the city. Of these trees I made
two stools, each about three feet high, and strong enough to
bear my weight. The people having received notice a se-
cond time, I went again through the city to the palace with
my two stools in my hands. When I came to the side of the
outer court, I stood upon one stool, and took the other in my
hand; this I lifted over the roof, and gently set it down on
the space between the first and second court, which was eight
foet wide. I then stept over the building very conveniently
º
24 GULLIVER's TRAVELs.
from one stool to the other, and drew up the first after mo
with a hooked stick. By this contrivance, I got into the in-
most court; and lying down upon my side, I applied my face
to the windows of the middle stories, which were left open
on purpose, and discovered the most splendid apartments that
can be imagined. There I saw the empress and the young
princes, in their several lodgings, with their chief attendants
about them. Her imperial majesty was pleased to smile very
graciously upon me, and gave me out of the window her hand
to kiss. -
One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my
liberty, Reldresel, principal secretary (as they style him) for
private affairs, came to my house attended only by one ser-
want. He ordered his coach to wait at a distance, and desired
I would give him an hour's audience: which I readily con-
sented to, on account of his quality, and personal merits, as
well as of the many good offices he had done me during my
solicitations at court. I offered to lie down, that he might
the more conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to
let me hold him in my hand during our conversation. He
began with compliments on my liberty; and said, “he might
ſº to some merit in it;' but however added, “that if it
had not been for the present situation of things at court, per-
haps I might not have obtained it so soon.’
1 desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the
secretary; and let him know that I was ready, at the ha-
zard of my life, to defend his person and state against all
invaders, : -
CHAPTER v.
The Author, by an extraordinary stratagem, prevents an In-
vasion.---A high title of honour is conferred upon him.---
Ambassadors arrive from the Emperor of Blefuscu, and sue
for Peace. - - §
The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the north-east
of Lilliput, from which it is parted only by a channel of
eight hundred yards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon
this notice of an intended invasion, I avoided appearing on
that side of the coast, for fear of being discovered by some of
the enemy's ships, who had received no intelligence of me,
all intercourse between the two cmpires having been strictly
forbidden during the war, upon pain of death, and an em-
bargo laid by our emperor upon all vessels whatsoever, I

A voyage to Lilliput. 25
communicated to his Majesty a project I had formed, of seiz-
ing the enemy's whole fleet; which, as our scouts assurred us,
lay at anchor in the harbour, ready to sail with the first fair
wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen on the depth
of the channel, which they had often plumbed; who told me,
that in the middle at high water it was seventy glum gluffs
deep, which is about six feet of European measure; and
the rest of it fifty glum gluffs at most, 1 walked towards the
north-east coast, over against Blefuscu; where lying down
behind a hillock, I took out my small perspective glass, and
viewed the enemy's fleet at anchor, consisting of about fifty
men of war, and a great number of transports. I then came
back to my house, and gave orders (for which I had a war-
rant) for a great quantity of the strongest cable and bars of
iron. The cable was about as thick as packthread, and the
bars of the length and size of a knitting needle. I trebled
the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twist-
ed three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities in-
to a hook. Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables,
I went back to the north-east coast, and pulling off my coat,
shoes, and stockings, walked into the sea, in my leathern jer-
kin, about half an hour before high water. I waded with what
haste I could, and swam in the middle about thirty yards, till
I felt ground. I arrived at the fleet in less than half an hour.
The enemy was so frighted when they saw me, that they
leaped out of their ships, and swam to shore, where thcro
could not be fewer than thirty thousand souls; I then took
my tackling, and fastening a hook to the hole at the prow of
each, I tied all the cords together at the end. While I was
thus employed, the enemy discharged several thousand ar-
rows, many of which stuck in my hands and face ; and, be-
side the excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in my
work. I my greatest apprehension was for mine eyes, which
Ishould have infallibly lost, if I had not suddenly thought of
an expedient. I kept among other little necessaries, a pair
of spectacles in a private pocket, which, as I observed before,
had escaped the emperor's searchers. These I took out, and
fastened as strongly as 1 could upon my nose, and thus arm-
ed, went on boldly with my work, in spite of the enemy's
arrows; many of which struck against theglasses of my spec-
tacles, but without any other effect, further than a little to
discompose them. I had now fastened all the hooks, and,
taking the knot in my hand began to pull; but not a ship
No. 3. D …t

26 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
would stir, for they were all too fast held by their anchors, so
that the boldest part of my enterprise remained. I therefore
let go the cord, and leaving the hooks fixed to the ships, I
resolutely cut with my knife the cables that fastened the an-
chors, receiving about two hundred shots in my face and
hands; then l took up the knotted end of the cables, to
which my hooks were tied, and with great ease drew fifty of
the enemy's largest men of war after me. - *
The Blefuscudians, who had not the least imagination of
what I intended, were at first confounded with astonishment.
They had seen me cut the cables, and thought my design was
only to let the ships run adrift, or fall foul on each other; but
when they perceived the whole fleet moving in order, and
saw me pulling at the end, they set up such a scream of de-
spair, as it is almost impossible to describe or conceive. When
I had got out of danger, I stopped awhile to pick out the
arrows that stuck in my hands and face; and rubbed on some
of the same ointment that was given me at my first arrival, as
I have formerly mentioned. I then took off my spectacles,
and waiting about an hour, till the tide was a little fallen, I
waded through the middle with my cargo, and arrived safe at
the royal port of Lilliput.
The emperor and his whole court stood on the shore, ex-
pecting the issue of this great adventure. They saw the ships
move forward in a large half-moon, but could not discern
rne, who was up to my breast in water. When I advanced
to the middle of the channel, they were yet more in pain, be-
eause I was under water to my neck. The emperor con-
cluded me to be drowned, and that the enemy's fleet was ap-
proaching in a hostile manner; but he was soon eased of his
fears; for the channel growing shallower every step I made,
I came in a short time within hearing, and holding up the
end of the cable, by which the fleet was fastened, I cried in
a loud voice, “Long live the most puissant king of Lilliput."
This great prince received me at my landing with all possible
encomiums, and created me a nurdace upon the spot, which
is the highest honor among them.
His majesty desired that I would take some other oppor-
tunity of bringing all the rest of the enemy's ships into his.
ports. But I endeavoured to divert him from this design, by
many arguments drawn from the topics of policy as well as
justice; and I plainly protested ‘that I would never be an
instrument of bringing a free and brave people into slavery.'
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 27
And, when the matter was debated in council, the wisest
part of the ministry was dif my opinion. -
This bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the
schemes and politics of his imperial majesty, that he could
nver forgive me. He mentioned it in a very artful manner in
council, where I was told that some of the wisest appeared
at least, by their silence, to be of my opinion ; but others,
who were my secret enemies, could not forbear some expres-
sions which i. a side-wind reflected on me. And from this
time began an intrigue between his majesty, and a junto of
‘ministers, maliciously bent against me, which broke out in
less than two months, and had like to have ouded in tuy
utter destruction. -
About three weeks after this exploit, there arrived a so-
lemn embassy from Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace;
which was soon concluded, upon conditions very advanta-
geous to our emperor, wherewith Ishall not trouble the reader.
There were six ambassadors, with a train of about five
hundred persons: and their entry was very magnificent, suit-
able to the grandeur of their master, and the importance of
their business. When their treaty was finished, wherein I
did them several good offices, by the credit I now had, or at
least appeared to have, at court, their excellencies, who were
privately told how much I had been their friend, made me a
visit in form. They began with many compliments upon my
valour and generosity, invited me to that kingdom in the em-
peror their master's namo, and desired me to shew some proofs
of my prodigious srrength, of which they had heard so many
wonders : wherein I readily obliged them, but shall not
trouble the reader with the particulars.
When I had for some time entertained their excellencies;
to their infinito satisfaction, and surprise. I desired they
would do me the honor to present my most humble respects
to the enperor their master, the renown of whose virtues had
so justly filled the whole world with admiration, and whose
royal person I resolved to attend, before I returned to my own
country. Accordingly, the next time I had the honor to see
our emperor, I desired his general licence to wait on the
Blefuscudian monarch, which he was pleased to grant me,
as I could perceive, in a very cold manner; but could not
guess the reason, till I heard from a certain person, “that
Flimmap and Bolgolam had represented my intercourse with
those ambussadors, as a mark of dissatisfaction;' from which
I am sure my heart was wholly free. D 2




28 GULLIVER's TRAVELs :
CHAPTER VI.
Qſ the Inhabitants of Lilliput; their Learning, Laws, and
Customs : the Manner of educating their Children.---The
Author's way of Living in that Country.
As the common size of the natives is somewhat under six
inches high, so there is an éxact proportion in all other ani-
mals, as well as plants and trees; }. instance, the tallest
horses and oxen are between four and five inches in height,
the sheep an inch and a half, more or less ; their geese about
the bigness of a sparrow, and so the several gradations down-
wards, till you come to the smallest, which, to my sight, were
almost invisible; but nature has adapted the eyes of the Lil-
liputians to all objects proper for their view : they see with
great exactness, but at no great distance. And to show the
sharpness of their sight towards objects that are near, I have
been pleased with observing a cook pulling a lark,which was not
so large as a common fly; and a young girl threading an invi-
sible needle with invisible silk, Their tallest trees are about
seven feet high : I mean some of those in the great royal park,
the tops whereof I could but just reach with my fist clench-
ed. The other vegetables are in the same proportion : but
this I leave to the reader's imagination. -
I shall say but little at present of their learning, which,
for many ages, has º in all its branches among
them; but their manner of writing is very peculiar, being
neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans, nor
from the right to the left, like the Arabians; nor from up to
down, like the Chinese; but aslant, from one corner of the
paper to the other, like ladies in England. ' -
They bury their dead with their heads directly down-
ward, because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thousand
moons they are all to rise again ; in which period the earth
(which they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and
by this means they shall, at their resurrection, be found rea-
dy standing on their feet. The learned among them confess
the absurdity of this doctrine; but the practice still continues,
in compliance to the vulgar, *
There are some laws and cnstoms in this empire very pe.
culiar; and if they were not so directly contrary to those of
my own dear country, I should be tempted to say a little in
their justification. It is only to be wished they were as well
*
a voy Age To LILLIPUT. 2
9
&
executed. The first I shall mention, relates to informers.---
All crimes against the state are punished here with the ut-
most severity; but, if the person accused makes his inno-
cence plainly to appear upon his trial, the accuser is imme-
diately put to an ignomonious death ; and out of his goods
or lands the innocent person is quadruply recompensed for
the loss of his time, |. the danger he underwent, for the
hardship of his imprisonment, and for all the charges he has
been at in making his defence. Or, if that fund be deficient,
it is largely supplied by the crown. The emperor also con-
fers on him some public mark of his favor, and proclamation
is made of his innocence through the whole city.
They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and
therefore seldom fail to punish it with death ; for they allege

that care and vigilance, with a very common understanding, .
may preserve a man's goods from thieves, but honesty has no
fence against superior cunning; and since it is necessary that
there should be a perpetual intercourse of buying and selling,
and dealing upon credit; where fraud is permitted and con-
mived at, or has no law to punish it, the honest dealer is
always undone, and the knave gets the advantage. I remem-
ber when I was once interceding with the king for a criminal
who had wronged his master of a great sum of money, which
he had received by order, and ran away with; and happening
to tell his majesty, by way of extenuation, that it was only
a breach of trust, the emperor thought it monstrous in me to
offer as a defence. the greatest aggravation of the crime; and
truly I had little to say in return, farther than the common
answer, that different nations had different customs, for, I
confess 1 was heartily ashamed.
Although we usually call reward and punishment the two
hinges upon which all government turns, yot I could never
observe this maxim to be put in practice by any nation, ex-
cept that of Lilliput. Whoever there can bring sufficient
proof that he has strictly observed the laws of his country
for seventy-three moons, he has a claim to certain privileges,
asoording to his quality or condition of life, with a propor-
tionable sum of money out of a fund/appropriated for that
use : he likewise requires the title of Shilpall, or legal, which
is added to his name, but does not dºscend to his posterity.
Their notions relating to the it. of parents and chil-
dren, differ extremely from ours. Their opinion is, that
parents are the last of all others/to be truste .# the edu-
// <- D
* A
#


30 GULLIVER's TRAVELs :
cation of their own children ; and therefore they have in
every town public nurseries, where all parents, except cotta-
gers and labourers, are obliged to send their infants of both
sexes to be reared and educated, when they come to the age
of twenty moons, at which time they are supposed to have
some rudiments of docility. These schools are of several
kinds, suited to different qualities, and both sexes. They
have certain professors well skilled in preparing children for
such a condition of life as befits the rank of their parents, and
their own capacities as well as inclination. sº
The cottagers and labourers keep their children at home,
their business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and
therefore their education is of little consequence to the pub-
lic: but the old and diseased among them are supported by
hospitals; for begging is a trade unknown in this empire.
It may, perhaps, divert the curious reader, to give some
account of my domestics, and my manner of living in this
country, during a residence of nine months and thirteen
days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being like-
wise forced by necessity, I made myself a table and chair
convenient enough, out of the largest trees in the royal park.
Two hundred sempstresses were employed to make me shirts,
and linen for my bed and table, all of the strongest and coars-
est kind they could get ; which, however, they were forced
to quilt together in several folds, for the thickest was some
degrees finer than lawn. Their linen is usually three inches
wide, and three feet make a piece. The sempstresses took
my measure as I lay on the ground, one standing at my neck,
and another at my mid-leg, with a strong cord extended, that
each held by the end, while a third measured the length of
the cord with a rule of an inch long. Then they measured
my right thunib, and desired no more ; for by a mathemati-
, cal computation that twice round the thumb is once round
the wrist, and so on to the neck and waist, and by the help of
my old shirt, which I displayed on the ground before them
for a pattern, they fitted me exactly. Three hundred tailors
were employed in the same manner to make me clothes; but
they had another contrivance for taking my measure. I
kneeled down, and they raised a ladder from the ground to
my meek; upon this ladder one of them mounted, and let
fall a plumb-line from my collar to the floor, which just an-
swered the length of my coat: but my waist and arms I mea-
ºw : i., § 8,
yself * When #º were finished, which was

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. ' 31.
done in my house (for the largest of theirs would not have
been able to hold them), they looked like the patch-work
made by the ladies in England, only that mine were all of
a colour.
I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals, in little
convenient huts built about my house, where they and their
families lived, and prepared me two dishes a-piece. I took up
twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table :
a hundred more attended below on the ground, some with,
dishes of meat, and some with barrels of wine and other
liquors slung on their shoulders; all which the waiters above
drew up, as I wanted, in a very ingenious mannner by cer-
tain cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. A
dish of their meat was a good mouthful, and a barrel of their
liquor a reasonable draught. Their mutton yields to ours,
but their beef is excellent. I have had a surloin so large,
that I have been forced to make three bites of it; but this is
rare. My servants were astonished to see me eat it, bones
and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark. Their
geese and turkeys I usually eat up at a mouthful, and I con-
fess they far exceeded ours. Of their smaller fowl I could
take up twenty or thirty at the end of my knife.
One day his imperial majesty, being informed of my way
of living, desired ‘that himself and his royal consort, with
the young princes of the blood of both sexes, might have the
happiness,' as he was pleased to call it, ‘of dining with me.’
They came accordingly, and I placed them in chairs of state,
upon my table, just over against me, with their guards about
them. Flimnap, the lord high treasurer, attended there like-
wise with his white staff; and I observed he often looked on
me with a sour countenance, which I would not seem to re-
gard, but eat more than usual, in honour to my dear country,
as well as to fill the court with admiration. I have some
private reasons to believe, that this visit from his majesty
gave Flimnap an opporrunity of doing Ine ill offices to his
master. That minister had always been my secret enemy,
though he outwardly caressed me more than was usual to
the moroseness of his nature. He represented to the empe-
ror ‘the low condition of his treasury; that he was forced
take up money at a great discount; that the exchequer bills
would not circulate under nine per cent. below par; that I
had cost his majesty above a million and a half of sprugs
(their largest gold coin, about the size of a spangle); and,
32 Gulliver's TRAvels: * *
rain
upon the whole, that it would be advisable in the emperor to
take the first fair occasion of dismissing me. . . .
. -
* . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER VII.
The Author, being informed of a design to accuse him of
High Treason, makes his escape to Bleſuscu. His re-
ception there. * . . . . . . . . . . . .
BEFohr, I proceed to give an account of my leaving this
kingdom, it may be proper to inform the reader of a private
iutrigue, which had been for two months forming aguinst
II, 6. gº - *
When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on the
emperor Blefuscu, a considerable person at court. (to whom
I had been very serviceable, at a time when he lay under the
displeasure of his imperial majesty) came to my house very
privately at night, in a close chair, and without sending his
name, desired admittauce. The chairmen were dismissed :
I put the chair, with his lordship in it, into my coat pocket;
and giving orders to a trusty servant, to say I was indisposed
and gone to sleep, I fastened the door of my house, placed
the chair on the table, according to my usual custom, and
sat down by it. After the common salutations were over,
observing his lordship's countenance full of concern, and in-
quiring into the reason, he desired ‘I would hear him with
patience, in a matter that highly concerned my honour and
my life.’ His speech was to the following effect, for I took
notes of it as soon as he left me. s w
‘You are to know,” said he, “that several committees of
council have been called, in the most private manner, on your
account ; and it is but two days since his majesty came to a
full resolution. .
'You are very sensible that Skyresh Bologlam (gallet or
high admiral) has been your mortal enemy, almost ever siuce
your arrival. His original reasons I know not, but his
hatred is increased since your great success against Blefuscu,
by which his glory as admiral is much obscured. This lord,
in conjunction with Filmuap, the high treasurer, whose
enmity against you is notorious. Limtoc the general, Lal-'
•on the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand justiciary, have
* Prepared articles of impeachment against you for treason and
This preface made me to impatient, being conscious of my


A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 38.
own morits and innocence, that I was going to interrupt him;
when he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded : . ."
“Out of gratitude for the favours you have done me, l pro-
cured information of the whole proceedings, and a copy of
the articles; wherein I venture my head for your service.
“ In three days your friend tho secretary, will be directod.
to come to your house, and read beforo you the articles of
impeachment; and then to signify the great lenity and favor.
of his majesty and council, whereby you are only condemned.
to the loss of your eyes, which his majesty does not question,
you will gratefully and humbly submit to; and twenty of his
majesty's surgeons will attend, in order to see the operation:
well performed, by discharging very sharp-pointed arrows intº
to the balls of your eyes, as you lie on the ground. º'
* I leave to yout prudence what measures you will taker;
and to avoid suspicion, I must immediately roturn, in as priº
vate a manner as I came.’ . . . . - :14:
His lordship did so; and I remained alone, under many
doubts and perplexities of mind. It was a custom introduced-
by this prince and his ministry (very different, as I have been
assured, from the practice of former times.) that after the
court had decreed any cruel excution, either to gratify the
monarch's resentment, or the malice of a favourite, the end-
peror always made a speech to his whole council, express-
ing his great lenity and tenderness, as qualities known and
confessed by all the world. This speech was immediately
published throughout the kingdom; nor did any thing terrify
the people so much, as those encomiums on his majesty's
mercy ; because it was observed, that the more these praises
were insisted on, the more inhuman was the punishment, and
the sufferer more innocent. Yet, as to º I must confess,”
having never been designed for a courtier, either by my
birth or education, I was so ill a judge of things; that I could
not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence, but con-
ceived it (perhaps erroneously) rather to be rigorous than
gentle. Once, I was strongly bent upon resistance; for,
while I had liberty, the whole strength of that empiro could
hardly subdue me, and I might easily with stones pelt the
metropolis to pieces; but I soon rejected that project with
horror, by remembering the oath I had made to the emperor,
the favours I received from him, and the high title of nardac
he conferred upon me. Neither had I so soon learned the 4
ingratitude of courtiers, to persuade myself that his majesty's
present severities acquitted me of all past obligations.
.


34 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
#
At last, I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I
may incur some censure, and not unjustly ; for I confess I
owe tho preserving of mine eyes, und consequently my
liberty, to my own great rashness and want of experience ;
because if I had then known the nature of princes and minis-
tors, which I have since observed in many other courts, and
their method of treating criminals less obnoxious than myself,
I should, with great alacrity and readiness, have submitted to
so easy a punishment. But hurried on by the precipitancy of
youth, and having his imperial majesty's licence to pay my
attendance upon the emperor of Blefuscu, I took this oppor-
tunity, before the three days were elapsed, to send a letter to
my friend the secretary, signifying my intention of setting
out that morning for Blefuscu, pu.suant to the leave I had
got; and, without waiting for an answer, I went to that side .
of the island where our fieet lay. I seized a large man of
war, tied a cable to the prow, and lifting up the anchors, I
stripped inyself, put my clothes (together with my coverlet,
which I carriod under my arm) into the vessel, and drawing it
after me, between wading and swimming, arrived at the royal
port of Blefuscu, where the people had long expected me:
they lent me two guides to direct me to the principal city,
which is of the same name. I held them in my hands till I
came within two hundred yards of the gate, and desired them.
to “signify my arrival to one of the secretaries, and to let
him know, I there waited his majesty's command.’ I had an
answer in about an hour, “that #. majesty, attended by the
royal family and great officers of the court, was coming out
to receive me.' I advanced a hundred yards. The emperor
and his train alighted from their horses, the empress and ladies
from their coaches, and I did not perceive they were in any
fright or concern. I lay on the ground to kiss his majesty's
and the empress's hands. I told his majesty that I was come
according to my promise, and with the licence of the emperor
my master, to have the honor of seeing so mighty a monarch,
and to offer him any service in my power, consistent with my
duty to my own prince; not mentioning a word of my dis-
grace, because I had hitherto no regular information of it, and
might suppose myself wholly ignorant of any such design :
neither could I reasonably conceive that the emperor would
discover the secret, while I was out of his power; wherein,
* however, it soon appeared I was deceived. : . . ;
I shall not trouble the reader with the particular account




A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 35
of my reception at this court, which was suitable to the gene-
rosity of so great a prince; nor of the difficulties I was in
for the want of a house and bed, being forced to lie on the
ground, wrapped up in my coverlet. §,
CHAPTER VIII. #
The Author, by a lucky Accident, finds means to leave Ble.
fuscu; and, after some diffculties, returns safe to his Na-
tive Country. .
Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the
north-east coast of the island, I observed, about half a leagne
off in the sea, somewhat that looked like a boat overturned.
I pulled of my shoes and stockings, and, wading two or three
hundred yards, I found the object to approach still nearer by
the force of the tide; and then plainly saw it to be a real
boat, which I supposed might by some tempest have been
driven from a ship; whereupon I returned immediately to-
wards the city, and desired his imperial majesty to lend me
twenty of the tallest vessels he had left, after the loss of his
fleet, and three thousand seamen, under the command of his
vice-admiral. This fleet sailed round, while I went back the
shortest way to the coast where I first discovered the boat.
1 found the tide had driven it still nearer. The seamen were
All provided with cordage, which I had before-hand twisted
to a sufficient strength. When the ships came up, 1 stripped
myself, and waded till I came within a hundred yards of the
boat, after which I was forced to swim till 1 got up to it.---
The seaman threw me the end of the cord, which I fastened
to a hole in the fore-part of the boat, and the other end to a
man of war; but I found all my labour to no purpose ; for,
being out of my depth, I was not able to work. In this ne-
cessity I was forced to swim behind, and push the boat for-
ward, as often as I could, with one of my hands; and the tide
favouring me, I advanced so far that I could just hold up my
chin and feel the ground. I rested two or three minutes, and
then gave the boat another shove, and so on, till the sea was
no higher than my arm-pits; and now the most labourious
part being over, I took out my other cables, which were

stowed in one of the ships, and fastened them first to the boat, , ,
and then to nine of the vessels which attended me; the wind
being favourable, the seamen towed, and I shoved until wear-
rived within forty yards of the shore; and waiting till the tide
36 GULLIVER's TRAVELs. .*
was out, 1 got dry to the boat, and by the assistance of two
thousand men, with ropes and engines, I contrived to turn it
on its bottom, and found it was but little damaged.
I shall not trouble the reader with the difficulties I was
under, by the help of certain paddles, which cost me ten days
making, to get my boat to the royal port of Blefuscu, where
a mighty concourse of people appeared upon my arrival, full
of wonder at the sight of so prodigious a vessel. I told the
emperor ‘that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my
way, to carry me to some place whence I might return into
my native country; and begged his majesty's orders for get-
ting materials to fit it up, together with his licence to depart;
which, after some kind expostulation, he was pleased to grant.
I wondered all this time, not to have heard of any express
relating to me from our emperor to the court of Blefuscu ---
But I was afterwards given privately to understand, that his
imperial majesty, never imagining that I had the least notice
of his designs, believed 1 was only gone to Blofusou in per-
formance of my promise, according to the licence he had given
... me, which was well known at our court, and would return
in a few days, when the ceremony was ended. But he was
... at last in pain at my long absence; and after consulting with
the treasurer, and the rest of that cabal, a person or quality
was dispatched with the copy of the articles against me. This
envoy had instructions to represent to the monarch of Ble-
fuscu, “the great lenity of his master, who was content to
punish me no further than with the loss of mine eyes: that I
had fled from justice; and that if I did not return in two
hours, 1 should be deprived of my title of nordac, and declared
a traitor.’ The envoy further added, “that in order to main-
tain the peace and amity between both empires, his master
expected that his brother of Blefuscu would give orders to
have me sent back to Lilliput, bound hand and foot, to be
punished as a traitor.' . . -
The emperor of Belfuscu, having taken three days to con-
sult, returned, an answer consisting of many civilities and
excuses. He said. “that, as for sending me bound, his brother
knew it was impossible; that althongh I had deprived him of
his fleet, yet he owed great obligations to me for many good
offices I had done him in making the peace. That, however,
both their majesties would soon be made easy; for I had found
a prodigious vessel on the shore, able to carry me on the sea,
which he had given orders to fit up, with my own assistance
ſº

* * **. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 37
* -
and directions; and he hoped in a few weeks both empires
would he freed from so insupportable an incumbrance.’
I hastened my departure somewhat sooner than I intended;
to which the court, impatient to have me gone, very readily
contributed. Five hundred workmen were employed to
make two sails to my boat, according to my directions, by
quilting thirteen folds of their strongest linen together, I was
at the pains of making ropes and cables, by twisting ten,
twenty, Ör thirty, of the thickest and strongest of theirs. A
great stone that I happened to find, after a long search,
by the sea-shore, served me for an anchor. I had the tallow
of three hundred cows, for greasing my boat, and other uses.
1 was at incredible pains in cutting down some of the largest
timber-trees for oars and masts, wherein I was, however,
much assisted by his majesty's ship-carpenters, who helped
me in smoothing them, for 1 had done the rough work.
In about a month, when all was prepared, I went to receive
his majesty's commands, and to take my leave. The emperor
and royal family came out of the palace; I lay down on my
face to kiss his hand, which he very graciously gave me; so did
the empress and young princes of the blood. His majesty
presented me with fifty purses of two hundredsprugs a-piece,
together with his picture at full length, which I immediately
put into one of my gloves, to keep it from being hurt. The
ceremonies at my departure were too many to trouble the
reader with at this time. ,
I stored the boats with the carcases of a hundred oxen,
and three hundred sheep, with bread and drink proportion-
able, and as much meat ready-dressed as four hundred cooks
could provide. I took with me six cows and two bulls alive,
with as many ewes and rams, intending to carry them into my
own country and propagate the breed. And to feed thern
on board, I had a good bundle of hay and a bag of corn 1
would gladly have taken a dozen of the natives, but this was
a thing the emperor would by no means permit; and, besides
a diligent search into my pockets, his majesty engaged my
honor ‘not to carry away any of his subjocts, although with
their own consent and desire.' -
Having thus prepared all things, as well as I was able, I
set sail on the 24th day of September, 1701, at six in the
morning; and when I had gone about four leagues to the

northward, the wind being at the south-east, at six in the
evening I descried a small island, about half a league to the
No. 4. E.
38 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
north-west. I advanced forward, and cast anchor on the
lee-side of the island, which seemed to be uninhabited. I
then took some refreshment, and went to my rest. I slept
well, and as I conjectured, at least six hours, for I found the
day break two hours after I awoke. It was a clear night.---
I ate my breakfast before the sun was up: and heaving anchor,
the wind being favourable, I steered the same course that I
did the day before, wherein I was directed by my pocket-
compass. "My intention was to reach, if possible, one of
those islands which I had reason to believe lay to the north-
west of Van Diemen's Land. I discovered nothing all that
day; but upon the next, about three in the afternoon, when
I had by computation made twenty-four leagues from Ble-
fuscu, I descried a sail steering to the south-east; my course
was due-east. I hailed her, but could get no answer; yet I
found I gained upon her, for the wind slackened. I made all
the sail 1 could, and in half an hour she espied me, then hung
out her ancient, and discharged a gun. It is not easy to
express the joy -1 felt, upon the unexpected hope of once
more seeing my beloved country, and the dear pledges I left
in it. The ship slackened her sails, and I came up with her
between five and six in the evening, September 26; but my
heart leaped within me to see her English colours. I put my
cows and sheep into my coat-pockets, and got on board with
all my little cargo of provisions. The vessel was an English
merchantman, returning from Japan by the North and South
Seas; the captain, Mr. John Biddel, of Deptford, a very
civil man, and an excellent sailor. We were now in the
latitude of 30 degrees south; there were about fifty men in
the ship; and here 1 met an old comrade of mine, one Peter
Williams, who gave me a good character to the captain.---
This gentleman treated me with kindness, and desired I
would let him know what place I came from last, and whi-
ther I was bound; which I did in a few words, but he
thought I was raving, and that the dangers I had undergone
had disturbed my head; whereupon I took my black cattle
and sheep out of my pocket, which, after great astonishment,
clearly convinced him of my veracity. I then showed him
the gold coin given me by the emperor of Blefascu, together
with his majesty's picture at full length, and some other
rarities of that country. I gave him two purses of two hun-
dred sprugs each, and promised, when we arrived in England,
to make him a present of a cow and a sheep big with young.

A voy AGE to LILLIPUT. 39
I shall not trouble the reader with a particular account of
this voyage, which was very prosperous for the most part.---
We arrived in the Downs on the 13th of April, 1702. I had
only one misfortune, that the rats on board carried away one
of my sheep; I found her bones in a hole, Fº clean from
the flesh. The rest of my cattle I got safe ashore, and set
them a-grazing in a bowling-green at Greenwich, where the
fineness of the grass made them feed very heartily, though
I had always feared the contrary: neither could I possibly
have preserved them in so long a voyage, if the captain had
not allowed me some of his best biscuit, which, rubbed to
owder, and mingled with water, was their constant food.---
The short time I continued in England, I made a consider.
able profit by showing my cattle; and before I began my
jº, I sold them for six hundred pounds. Since
my last return, I find the breed is considerably increased,
especially the sheep, which I hope will prove much to the
º of the woollen manufacture, by the fineness of the
€6C33. ---.
I staid but two months with my wife and family, for my
insatiable desire of seeing foreign countries would suffer me to
continue no longer. I left fifteen hundred pounds with my
wife, and fixed her in a good house at Redriff. My remain-
ing stock I carried with me, part in money and part in goods,
in hopes to improve my fortune. My §. uncle John had
left me an estate in land, near Epping, of about thirty ponnds
a-year, and I had a long lease of the Black Bull in Fetter
Lane, which yield me as much more; so that I was not in any
danger of leaving my family upon my parish. My son
Johnny, named so after his uncle, was at the grammar-
school, and a towardly child. My daughter Betty (who is
now well married, and has children) was then at her needle-
work. I took leave of my wife, and boy and girl, with tears
on both sides, and went on board the Adventure, a merchant-
ship, of three hundred tons, bound for Surat, Captain John
Nicholas, of Liverpool, commander. But my account of this
voyage must be referred to the second part of my travels.




**
E 2
A voyage To BhoppingNAG.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
A great Storm described; the Long Boat sent to fetch Water;
the Author goes with it to discover the Country. He is left
on Shore, is seized by one of the Natives, and carried to a
Farmer's House. His reception, with several Accidents
that happened there. A description of the Inhabitants.
HAVING been condemned, by nature and fortune, to active
and restless life, in two months after my return, I again left
my native country, and took shipping in the Downs on the
20th day of June, 1702, in the Adventure, Captain John
Nicholas, a Cornish man, commander, bound for Surat. We
had a very prosperous gale, till we arrived at the Cape of
Good Hope, where we landed for fresh water; but discovered
a leak, we unshipped our goods, and wintered there; for the
captain falling sick of an ague, we could not leave the Cape
till the end of March. We then set sail, and had a good .
voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar; but having
#. northward of that island, and to about five degrees south
atitude, the winds, which in those seas are observed to blow
a constant equal gale between the north and west, from the
beginning of May, on the 19th of April began to blow with
much greater violence, and more westerly than usual, conti-
nuing so for twenty days together; during which time we
were driven a little to the east of the Molucca Islands, and
about three degrees northward of the line, as our captain
found by an observation he took on the 2d of May, at which
time the wind ceased, and it was a perfect calm, whereat I
was not a little rejoiced. But he, being a man well expe-
rienced in the navigation of those seas, bid -us all prepare
against a storm, which accordingly happened thesay follow-
ing; for the southern wind, called the southern monsoon,
began to set in. w . N. . .
Finding it was likely to overblow, we took in our sprit-
sail, and stood by to hand the fore-sail; but making foul
weather, we saw the guns were all fast, and handed the


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG, 41
mizen. The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it better
spooning before the sea, than trying or hulling. We reefed
i. fore-sail and set him, and hauled aft the foresheet; the
helm was hard a-weather. The ship wore bravely. We
belayed the fore down-haul; but the sail was split, and we
hauled down the yard, and got the sail into the ship, and
unbound all the things clear of it. It was a fierce storm; the
sea broke strange and dangerous. We hauled off upon the
laniard of the whip-staff, and helped the man at the helm.---
We would not get down the top-mast, but let all stand, be-
cause she scudded before the sea very well, and we knew
that the top-mast being aloft, the ship was the more whole-
some, and made better way through the sea, seeing we had
sea-room. When the storm was over, we set fore-sail and
main-sail, and brought the ship to. Then we set the mizen,
main-top-sail, and the fore-top-sail. Our courso was east-
north-east, the wind was at south-west. We got the starboard
tacks aboard, we cast off our weather-braces and lifts; we
set-in the lee-braces, and hauled forward by the weather-
bowlings, and hauled them tight, and belayed them, and
hauled over the mizen tack to windward, and kept her full
and by as near as she would lie.
During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind
west-south-west, we were carried by my computation, about
five hundred leagues to the east, so that the oldest sailor on
board could not tell in what part of the world we were. Our
provisions held out well, our ship was staunch, and our crew
all in good health: but we lay in the utmost distress for
water. We thought it best to hold on the same course,
rather than turn more northerly, which might have brought
us to the north-west part of Great Tartary, and into the
Frozen Sea.
On the 16th of June, 1703. a boy on the top-mast disco-
vered land. On the 17th, we came in full vicw of a great
island or continent, (for we knew not whether); on the south
side whereof was a small neck of land jutting out into the
sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship above bne-huil-
dred tons. We cast anchor within a league of this creek,
and our captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the
long-boat, with vessels for water, if any could be found. I
desired his leave to go with them, that l might see the
country, and make what discoveries I could. When we
came to land, we saw no river nor spring, nor * sign of
E -
42. GULLIVER's TRA v EUs:
inhabitants. Our men therefore wandered on the shore to
find out some fresh water near the sea, and I walked alone
about a mile on the other side, where 1 observed the country
all barren and rocky. I now began to be weary, and seeing
nothing to entertain my curiosity, I returned gently down
towards the creek; and the sun being full in my view, I saw
our men already got into the boat, and rowing for life to the
ship. I was going to holla after them, although it had been
to little purpose, when I observed a huge creature walking
after them in the sea, as fast as he could: he waded not
much deeper than his knees, and took prodigious strides; but
our men had the start of him half a league, and the sea,
thereabouts being full of sharp-pointed rocks, the monster was
not able to overtake the boat. This I was afterwards told,
for I durst not stay to see the issue of the adventure; but ran
as fast as I could the way I first went, and then climbed up
a steep hill, which gave me some prospect of the country.---
I found it fully cultivated; but that which first surprised me
was the length of the grass, which, in those grounds that
seemed to be kept for hay, was about twenty feet high.
I fell into a high road, for so I took it to be, though it
served to the inhabitants only as a foot-path through a field.
of barley. Here I walked on for some time, but could see
little on either side, it being now near harvest, and the corn
rising at least forty feet. I was an hour walking to the end
ef the field, which was fenced in with a hedge of at least one
hundred and twenty feet high, and, the trees so lofty that I
could make no computation of their'altitude. There was a
stile to pass from this field into the next. It had four steps,
and a stone to cross over when you came to the uppermost.---
It was impossible for me to climb this stile, because every
step was six feet high, and the upper stone about twenty. I
was endeavouring to find some gap in the hedge, when I dis-
covered one of the inhabitants in the next field, advancing
towards the stile, of the same size of him who I saw in the
sea pursuing our boat. He appeared as tall as anordinary spire
steeple, and took about ten yards at every stride, as near as
I could guess. I was struck with the utmost fear and asto-
mishment, and ran to hide myself in the corn, whence 1 saw
him on the top of the stile looking back into the next field
on the right hand, and heard him call in very many degrees
louder than a speaking-trumpet; but the noise was so high in
the air, that at first I certainly thought it was thunder.---



#
LVI
*
wºx
%.
. /º * 'w











A VOYAGE TO BROBDIN GN AG, 43
Whereupon seven monsters, like himself, came towards him
with reaping hooks in their hands, each hook about the size
of six scythes. These people were not so well clad as the
first, whose servants or labourers they seemed to be ; for,
upon some words he spoke, they went to reap the corn in the
field where I lay. I kept from them at as great a distance as
I could, but was forced to move with extreme difficulty, for
the stalks of the corn were sometimes not above a foot dis-
tant, so that I could hardly squeeze my body between them.
However, I contrived to go forward, till I came to a part of
the field where the corn had been laid by the rain and wind.
Here it was impossible for me to ‘advance a step; for the
stalks were so ieterwoven, that I could not creep through,
and the beards of the fallen ears so strong and pointed, that
they pierced through my clothes into my flesh. At the same
time I heard the reapers not above a hundred yards behind
me. Being quite dispirited with toil, and wholly overcome
by grief and despair, I lay down between two ridges, and
heartily wished I might there end my days. I bemoaned my
desolare widow and fatherless children. I lamented my own
folly and wilfulness, in attempting a second voyage against
the advice of all my friends and relations. In this terrible
agitation of mind, I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput,
whose inhabitants looked upon me as the greatest prodigy
that ever appeared in the world ; where I was able to draw
an imperial fleet in my hand, and perform those other actions,
r tº in the chronicles of that
which will be recorded for ...: ' 'º'; . . . "
empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them, although
attested by millions. 1 reflected what a mortification it must
prove to me, to appear as inconsiderable in this nation, as
one single Lilliputian would be among us. But this 1 con-
ceived was to be one of the least of my misfortunes; for,
as human creatures are observed to be more savage and cruel
in proportion to their bulk, what could I expect but to be a
morsel in the mouth of the first among these enermous barba-
rians that should happen to seize me? Undoubtedly philo-
sophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is
great or little otherwise than by comparison. It might have
pleased fortune to let the Lilliputians find some nation,
where the people was as diminutive with respect to them, as
they were to me. And who knows but that even this prodi-
gious race of mortals might be equally overmatched in some
distant part of the world, whereof we have yet no discovery.





44 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear going
on with these reflections, when one of the reapers, approach-
ing within ten yards of the ridge where I lay, made me
apprehend that with the next step I should be trod to death
under his feet, or cut in two with his reaping hook. And
therefore, when he was again about to move, I hallooed as
loud as fear could make me: whereupon the huge creature
strode short, and, looking round about under him for some
time, at last espied me as I lay on the ground. He con-
sidered a while, with the caution of one who endeavours to
lay hold on a small dangerous animal in such a manner that
it shall not be able to scratch or bite him, as I myself have
sometimes done with a weasel in Fanglnd. At length he
ventured to take me behind, by the middle, between his fore-
finger and thumb, and brought me within three yards of his
eyes, that he might behold my shape more perfectly. I
guessed his meaning, and my good fortune gave me so much
presence of mind, that I resolved not to struggle in the least
as he held me in the air above sixty feet from the ground,
although he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should
slip through his fingers. All I ventured was to raise mine
eyes towards the sun, and place my hands together in a sup-
plicating posture, and to speak some words in an humble and
melancholy tone, suitable to the situation I was then in : for
I apprehended every moment that he would dash me against
the ground, as we usually do any little hateful animal, which
we have a mind to destroy. But my good star would have it,
that he appeared pleased with my voice and gestures, and
began to look upon me as a curiosity, much wondering to
hear me pronounce articulate words, although he could not
understand them. In the mean time I was not able to for-
bear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my head
towards my sides; letting him know, as well as I could, how
cruelly I was hurt by the pressure of his thumb and finger.---
He seemed to apprehend my meaning; for lifting up the
lapet of his coat, he put me gently into it, and immediately
ran along with me to his master, who was a substantial far-
mer, and the same pe son I had fils seen in the field.
The farmer having (as I suppose by their talk) received
such an account of me as his servant could give him, took a
piece of small straw, about the size of a walking-staff, and
therewith lifted up the lapets of my coat; which it seems he
thought to be some kind of covering that nature had given me.
*
A voy AGE To BROBDINGNAG. 45
He blew my beard aside to take a better view of my face.---
He called his hinds about him, and asked them, as I after-
wards learned, “whether they had ever seen in the fields any
little creature that resembled me?' He then placed me softly
on the ground upon all fours, but I got immediately up, and
walked slowly backward and forward, to let those people see
I had no talent to run away. They all sat down in a circle
about me, the better to observe my motions. I pulled off my
hat, and made a low bow to the farmer. I fell on my knees,
and lifted up my hands, and spoke several words as loud as I
could : I took a purse of gold out of my pocket, and humbly
presented it to him. He received it on the palm of his hand,
then applied it close to his eyes to see what it was, and
afterwards turned it several times with the point of a pin
(which he took out of his sleeve), but could make nothing of
it. Whereupon I made a sign that he should place his hand
on the ground. I then took the purse, and, opening it, poured
all the gold into his hand. There were six Spanish pieces of
four pistoles each, beside twenty or thirty smaller coins. I
saw him wet the tip of his little finger upon his tongue, and
take up one of my largest pieces, and then another; but he
seemed to be whelly ignorant what they were. He made me .
a sign to put them again into my purse, and the purse agáin
into my pocket, which, after offering it to him several times,
I thought it best to do.
The farmer, by this time, was convinced that I must be a
rational creature. He spoke often to me; but the sound of
his voiee pierced my ears like that of a water-mill, yet his
words were articulate enough. I answered as loud as I could
in several languages, and he often laid his ear within two
yards of me: but all in vain, for we were wholly unintelli-
gible to each other. He then sent his servants to their work,
and taking his handkerchief out of his pocket, he doubled and
spread it on his left hand, which he placed flat on the
ground with the palm upward, making me a sign to stop into
it, which I could easily do, for it was not above a foot in
thickness. I thought it my part to obey, and for fear of fall.
ing, laid myself at full length upon the handkerchief, with
the remainder of which he lapped me up to the head for
further security, and in this manner carried me home to his
house. There he called his wife, and shewed me to her; but
she screamed and ran back, as women in England do at the
sight of a toad or spider. However, when she had awhile.
46 * GULLIver's TRAvels:
seen my behaviour, and how well I observed the signs her
husband made, she was soon reconciled, and by degrees grew
extremely tender of me. - -
It was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in din-
mer. It was only one substantial dish of meat (fit for the
plain condition of a husbandman), in a dish of about four-
and-twenty feet diameter. The company were the farmer
and his wife, three children, and an old grandmother. When
they were sat down, the farmer placed me at some distance
from him on the table, which was thirty feet high from the
floor. I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I could
from the edge, for fear of falling. The wife minced a bit of
meat, then crumbled some bread on a trencher and placed it
before me. I made her a low bow, took out my kinfe and
fork, and began eating, which gave them exceeding delight.
The mistress sent her maid for a small dram cup, which held
about two gallons, and filled it with drink; I took up the
vessel with much difficulty in both hands, and in a most re-
[... manner drank to her ladyship's health, expressing
e words as loud as I could in English, which made the
company laugh so heartily, that Iwas almost deafened with
the noise. The liquor tasted like small cider, and was not
unpleasant. Then the master made me a sign to come to
his trencher side; but as I walked on the table, being in
great surprise all the time (as the indulgent reader will easily
conceive and excuse) I happened to stumble against a crus,
and fell flat on my face, but received no hurt, I got up im-
mediately, and observing the good people to be in much con-
cern, I took my hat (which I held under my arm, out of good
manners), and waving it over my head, made three huzzas,
to show I had got no mischief by my fall. But advancing
forward towards my master (as I shall henceforth call him),
his youngest son, who sat next to him, an arch boy of about
ten years old, took me up by the legs, and held me up so high
in the air, that I trembled every limb : but his father snatched
me from him, and at the same time gave him such a box on
the left ear, as would have folled an European troop of horse
to the earth, ordering him to be taken from the table. But be-
ing afraid the boy might owe me a spite, and well remember-
ing how mischievous all children among us naturally are to
sparrows, rabbits, young kittens, and puppy dogs, I fell on
my knees, and pointing to the boy, made my master to un-
derstand as well as I could, that I desired, that his son might
A voyage to BRobbingNAG. 47
be pardoned, The father complied, and the lad took his seat
again, whereupon I went to him, and kissed his hand, which
my master took, and made him stroke me gently with it.
In the midst of dinner, my mistress's favourite cat leaped
into her lap. I heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen
stocking weavers at work; and turning my head I found it
proceeded from the purring of that animal, who seemed to be
three times larger than an ox, as I computed by the view of
her head, and one of her paws, while her mistress was feedin
her. The fierceness of this creature's countenance altogether
discomposed me; though I stood at the further end of the
table, above fifty feet off; and although her mistress held
her fast, for fear she might give a spring, and seize me in her
talons. But it happened there was no danger; for the cat
took not the least notice of me, when my master placed me
within three yards of her. And as I have always been told,
and found true by experience in my travels, that flying, or
discovering fear before a fierce animal, is a certain way to
make it pursue or attack you, so I resolved in this dangerous
juncture, to show no manner of concern. I walked with
intrepidity five or six times before the very head of the cat,
and came within half a yard of her; whereupon she drew
herself back, as if she was more afraid of me: I had less ap-
prehension concerning the dogs, whereof three or four came
into the room as it is usual in farmer's houses; one of which
was a mastiff, equal in bulk to four elephants, and a grey-
hound somewhat taller than the mastiff, but not so large.
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a
child of a year old in her arms, who immediately espied me,
and began a squall that you might have heard from London
bridge to Chelsea, after the usual oratory of infants, to get me
for a play-thing. The mother, out of pure indulgence, took
me up, and put me towards the child, who presently seized
me by the middle, and got my head into his mouth, whereI
roared so loud that the urchin was frightened, and let me
drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mo-
ther had not held her apron under me. The nurse to quiet
her babe, made use of a rattle, which was a kind of hollow
vessel filled with great stones, and fastened by a cable to the
child's waist; but all in vain; so that she was forced to apply
the last remedy by giving it suck.
I remember, when I was at Lilliput, the complexions of
those diminutive people appeared to me the fairest in the
48 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
world; and talking on this subject with a person of learning
there, who was an intimate friend of mine, he said, that my
face appeared much fairer and smoother when he looked on
me from the ground, than it did upon a nearer view, when I
took him up in my hand, and brought him close, which he
confessed was at first very shocking sight. He said, he could
discover great holes in my skin; that the stumps of my beard
were ten times stronger than the bristles of a boar, and my
complexion made up of several colours altogether disagree-
able;' although I must beg leave to say for myself, that I am
as fair as most of my sex and country, and very little sun-
burnt by all my travels. On the other side, discoursing of
the ladies in the emperor's court, he used to tell me, ‘one
had freckles, another too wide a mouth, a third too large a
nose;’ nothing of which I was able to distinguish. I confess,
this reflection was obvious enough; which, however, I could
not forbear, lest the reader might think those vast creatures
were actually deformed; for I must do them the justice to
say, they are a comely race of people; and particularly the
features of my master's conntenance, although he was but a
farmer, when beheld him from the height of sixty feet, ap-
peared very well proportioned. -
When dinner was done, my master went out to his la-
bourers, and as I could discover by his voice and gesture, gave
his wife a strict charge to take care of me. I was very much
tired, and disposed to sleep, which my mistress perceiving,
she put me on her own bed, and covered me with a clean
white handkerchief, but larger and coarser than the main sail
of a man of war. &
I slept about two hours, and T dreamt I was at home with
my wife and children, which aggravated my sorrows when I
awoke, and found myself alone in a vast room, between two
and three hundred feet wide, and above two hundred high,
lying in a bed twenty yards wide. My mistress was gone
about her household affairs, and had locked me in. The bod
was eight yards from the floor. Some natural necessities re-
quired me to get down : ... durst not presume to call; and if I
had, it would have been in vain, with such a voice as mine, at
so great a distance from the room where I lay to the kitchen
where the family resided. While I was thus circumstanced,
two rats ran up the curtains, and ran smelling backwards and
forwards on the bed. One of them came up almost to my
face, whereupon l rose in a fright, and drew out my hanger

A voy. AGE To BRob D1NGNAG. 49
to defend myself. These horrible animals had the boldness
to attack me on both sides, and one of them held his fore-
feet at my collar, but I had the good fortune to rip up his
belly, before he could do me any mischief, Ho fell down at
my feet; and the other, seeing the fate of his comrade, made
his escape, but not without one good wound on the back,
which I gave him as he fled, and made the blood run trick-
ling from him. After this exploit, I walked gently to and
fro on the bed, to recover my breath and loss of spirits.---
These creatures were the size of a large mastiff, but infinitely
more nimble and fierce; so that if I had taken off my belt
before I went to sleep, I must have infallibly been torn to
pieces and devoured. I measured the tail of the dead rat,
and found it to be two yards long, wanting an inch ; but it
went against my stomach to drag the carcase off the bed,
where it lay still bleeding; I observed it had yet some life,
but with a strong slash across the neck, I thoroughly dis-
patched it.
Soon after my mistress came into the room, who seeing nie
all bloody, ran and took me up in her hand. I pointed to
the dead rat, smiling, and making other signs to show I was
not hurt; whereat, she was extremely rejoiced, calling the
maid to take up the dead rat with a pair of tongs, and throw
it out of the window. Then she set me on the table, where
I showed her my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on the
lappet of my coat, returned it to the scabbard.
CHAPTER II,
A description of the Farmer's Daughter.---The Author car-
ried to a Market-town, and then to the Metropolis.---The
particulars of his Journey.
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of to-
wardly parts for her age, very dexterous at her needle, and
skilful in dressing her baby. IIer mother and she contrived
to fit up the baby's cradle for me against night: the cradle
was put into a small drawer of a cabinet, and the drawer
upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats. This was my bed
all the time I staid with those people, though made more
convenient by degrees, as I began to learn their language,
and make my wants known. This young girl was so handy
that after I had once or twice pulled off my clothes before
her, she was able to dress and undress me, though I never
No. 5,
50 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
gave her that trouble when she would let me do either my-
self, She made me even shirts, and some other linen, of as
fine cloth as could be got, which indeed was coarser than
sackcloth; and these she constantly washed for me with her
own hands. She was likewise my schoolmistress, to teach
me the language: when I pointed to any thing, she told me
the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few days I
was able to call for what I wanted. She was very good na-
tured, and not above forty feet high, being little for her age.
She gave me the name of Grildrig, which the family took up,
and afterwards the whole kingdom. The word imports
what the Latins call manunculus, the ltalians homunceletion,
nd the English mannikin. To her I chiefly owe my pre-
*ervation in that country: we never parted while I was
there; I called her my Giumdalclitch, or little nurse; and
should be guilty of great ingratitude, if I ommitted this ho-
norable mention of her care and affection towards me, which
I heartily wish it lay in my power to requite as she deserves,
instead of being the innocent, but unhappy instrument of
her disgrace, as I have too much reason to fear. w
It now began to be known and talked of in the neighbour-
hood, that my master had found a strange animal in the
field, about the size of a splacnuck, but exactly shaped in
every part like a human creature; which it likewise imitated
in all its actions; seemed to speak in a little language of its
own, had already learned several words of theirs, went erect
upon two legs, was tame and gentle, would come when it was
called, do whatever it was bid, had the finest limbs in the
world, and a complexion fairer than an nobleman's daughter
of three years old. Another farmer, who lived hard by, and
was a particular friend of my master, came on a visit on pur-
pose to inquire into the truth of this story. I was imme-
diately produced, and placed upon a table, where I walked
as I was commanded, drew my hanger, put it up again, made
my reverence to my master's guest, asked him in his own
language how he did, and told him he was welcome, just as
my little nurse had instructed me. This man, who was old
and dim-sighted, put on his spectacles to behold me better, at
which I could not forbear laughing very heartily, for his eyes
appeared like the full moon shining into a chamber at two
windows. Our people, who discovered the cause of my
mirth, bore me company in laughing, at which the old fellow
was fool enough to be angry and out of countenance. He
A VOYAGE TO BROBI) INGN AG. 51
had the character of a great miser; and, to my misfortune,
he well deserved it, by the cursed advice he gave my master,
to show me as a sight upon a market day in the next town,
which was a half an hour's riding, about two-and-twenty
miles from our house. I guessed there was some mischief
contriving, when I observed my master and his friend whis-
pering long together, sometimes pointing at ne; and my fears
made me fancy that I overheard and understood some of the
words. But the next morning Glumdalclitch, my little
nurse, told mo the whole matter, which she had cunningly
picked-out from her mother. The poor girl laid me on her
bosom, and fell a weeping with shame and grief. She ap-
prehended some mischief would happen to me from the rude
vulgar folks, who might squeeze me to death, or break one of
my limbs by taking me in their hands. She also observed
how modest I was in my nature, how nicely I regarded my
honor, and what an indignity I should conceive it, to be ex-
posed for money as a public spectacle, to the meanest of the
people. She said, her papa and mamma had promised that
Grildrig should be hers; but now she found that they meant
to serve her as they did last year, when they pretended to
give her a lamb, and yet, as soon as it was fat, sold it to a
butcher. For my own part, I may truly affirm, that I was
less concerned than my nurse. I had a strong hope, which
never left me, that I should one day recover my liberty; and
as to the ignominy of being carried about for a monster, I
considered myself to be a perfect stranger in the country, and
that such a misfortune could never be charged upon me as a
reproach, if ever I should return to England; since the king
of Great Britain himself, in my condition, must have under-
gone the same distress.
My master, pursuant to the advice of his friend, carried
me in a box the next market day to the neighbouring town,
and took along with him his little daughter, my nurse, upon
a .." beside him. The box was elose on every side, with
a little door for me to go in and out, and a few gimlet-holes
to let in air. The girl had been so careful as to put the
quilt of her baby's bed into it, for me to lie down on. How-
ever, I was very terribly shaken and discomposed in the
journey, though it was but for half an hour; for the horse
went about forty feet at every step, and trotted so high, that
the agitation was equal to the rising and falling of a ship in
a great storm, but much more frequent. Our journey was
F 2
52. GULLIVER's TRAVEL8:
somewhat further than from London to St. Alban's. My
master alighted at an inn which he used to frequent; and
after consulting awhile with the innkeeper, and making some
necessary preparations, he hired the grultrud, or crier, to
give notice through the town of a strange creaturo to be seen
at the sign of the Green Eagle, not so big as a splacnuck (an
animal in that country very finely shaped, about six feet
long), and in every part of the body resembling a human
creature, could speak several words, and perform a hundred
diverting tricks. - -
I was placed on a table in the largest room of the inn,
which might be near three hundred feet square. My little
nurse stood on a low stool close to the table to take care of
me. I walked abont on the table as the girl commanded:
she asked me questions, so far as she knew my understand-
ing of the language reached, and I answered them as loud as
I could. 1 turned about soveral times to the company, paid
. humble respects, said they were welcome, and used some
other speeches I had been taught. I took up a thimble filled
wtih liquor, which Glumdalclitch had given me for a eup,
and drank their health. I drew out my dagger, and flou-
rished with it after the manner of the fencers in England.---
My nurse gave me part of a straw, which I exercised as a
pike, having learned the art in my youth. 1 was that day
shewn to twelve sets of company, and as often forced to act
over again the same foppories, till I was half dead with
weariness and vexation; for those who had seen me made
such wonderful reports, that the people were ready to break
down the doors to come in. My master, for his own inter-
est, would not suffer any one to touch me, except my nurse,
and to prevent danger, benches were set round the table, at
such a distance as to put me out of every body's reach. How-
ever an unlucky school-boy aimed a hazel nut directly at
my head, which very narrowly missed me; otherwise it
came with so much violence, that it would have infallibly
knocked out my brains, for it was most as large as a small
pumpkin; but I had the satisfaction to see the young rogue
well beaten, and turned out of the room.
My master gave public notice that he would show me
again the next market-day; and in the mean time he pre-
pared a more convenient vehicle for me, which he had rea-
son enough to do; for I was so tired with my first journey,
and with entertaining company for eight hours together,

& ºzºº.º. º. ---- *...*&, ..., sº
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG. 53
that I could hardly stand upon my legs, or speak a word.---
It was at least three days before I recovered my strength; and
that I might have no rest at home, all the neighbouring gen-
tlemen from a hundred miles round, hearing of my fame,
eame to see me at my master's house. There could not be
less than thirty persons with their wives and children (for the
country is very populous); and my master demanded the rate
of a full room whenever he showed me at home, although it
were only to a single family; so that for some time I had but
little ease every day of the week) except Wednesday, which
is their sabbath), although I was not carried to the town.
My master finding how profitabte I was likely to be, re-
solved to carry me to the most considerable cities of the king-
dom. Having therefore provided himself with all things
necessary for a long journey, and settled his affairs at home,
he took leave of his wife, and upon the 17th of August, 1703,
about two months after my arrival, we set out for the metro-
polis, situate near the middle of that empire, and about three
thousand miles distant from our house. My master made his
daughter Glumdalclitch ride behind him. She carried me on
her lap, in a box tied about her waist. The girl had lined
it on all sides with the softest cloth she could get, well quilted
underneath, furnished it with her baby's bed, provided me
with linen and other necessaries, and made every thing as
convenient as she could. We had no other company but a
boy of the house, who rode after us with the luggage. -:
My master's design was to show me in all the towns by
the way, and to step out of the road, for fifty or a hundred
miles, to any village or person of quality's house, whore he
might expect custom. We made easy journies of not above
seven or eight score miles a day; for Glumdalclitch, on pur-
pose to spare me, complained she was tired with the trotting
of the horse. She often took me out of my box, at my own
desire, to give me air, and show me the country, but always :
held me fast by a leading string. We passed over five or six
rivers, many degrees broader and deeper than the Nile or the
Ganges: and there was hardly a rivulet so small as the
Thames at London-bridge. We were ten weeks in our jour-
ney, and I was shown in eighteen large towns, besides many
villages and private families. * . . . . . . . . . .
On the 26th day of October, we arrived at the metropolis,
called in their language Lorbru/grud, or Pride of the Uni-
verse. My master took a lodging in the principal street of
- F 3 *


§4. ... GULLIVER's TRAVELS : .
the city, not far from the royal palace, and put out bills in
the usual form, containing an exact description of my person
and parts. He hired a large room between three and four
hundred feet wide. He provided a table sixty feet in dia-
meter, upon which I was to act my part, and pallisadoed it
round three feet from the edge, and as many high, to prevent
me from falling over. I was shown ten times a day, to the
wonder and satisfaction of all people, l could now speak
the language tolerably well, and perfectly understood every
word that was spoken. Besides, F. learned their alpha-
bet, and was frequently able to explain a sentence here and,
there; for Glumdalclitch had been my instructor, while we
were at home, and at leasure hours during our journey,•--
She carried a little book in her pocket, not much larger
than a Samson's Atlas: it was a common treatise for the use
of young girls, giving a short account of their religion; out
of this she taught me my letters, and interpreted the words.
CHAPTER III.
The Author sent for to Court.---The Queen buys him of his
Master the Farmer, and presents him to the King.... He
disputes with his Majesty's great Scholars.---An apart-
ment at Court provided for the Author.---He is in high
favour with the Queen.---He stands up for the honor of
his own Country.--- His quarrels with the Queen's Dwarf.
THE frequent labours I underwent every day, made, in a
few weeks a very considerable change in my health: the
more my master got by me, the more insatiable he grew.---
I had quite lost my stomach, and was almost reduced to a
skeleton. The farmer observed it, and concluding I must
soon die, resolved to make as good a hand of me as he could.
While he was thus reasoning and resolving with himself, a
sardral, or gentleman-usher, came from court, commanding
my master to carry me immediately thither for the diversion
of the queen and her ladies. Some of the latter had already
been to see me, and reported strange things of my beauty,
behaviour, and good sense. Her majesty, and those who
attended her, were beyond measure delighted with my be-
haviour. I fell on my knees, and begged the honor of kissing
her imperial foot; but this gracious princes held our her
little finger towards me, after I was set on the table, which 1,
embraced in both my arms, and put the tip of it with the





A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG. 55.
utmost respect to my lips. She asked me some general ques-
tions about my country and my travels, which I answered as
distinctly, and in as few words as I could. She asked,
‘whether I would be content to live at court?' I bowed
down to the board of the table, and humbly answered, “that
I was my master's slave: but if I were at my own disposal,
I should be proud to devote my life to her majesty's service.”
She then asked my master “whether he was willing to sell
me at a good price?" He, who apprehended I could not live
a month, was ready enough to part with me, and demanded
a thousand pieces of gold, which were ordered him on the
spot, each piece being about the size of eight hundred moi-
dores; but allowing for the proportion of all things between
that country and Europe, and the high price of gold among
them, was hardly so great a sum as a thousand guineas
would be in England. I then said to the queen, “since I
was now her majesty's most humble creature and vassal, I
mast beg the favour, that Glumdalclitch, who had always
attended me with so much care and kindness, and understood
to do it so well, might be admitted into her service, and con-
tinue to be my nurse and instructor.” -
Her majesty agreed to my petition, and easily obtained
the farmer's consent, who was glad enough to have his
daughter preferred at court, and the poor girl herself was not.
able to suppress her joy. My late master withdrew, bidding
me farewell, and saying he had left mo in a good service; to
which I replied not a word, only making him a slight bow.
The queen observed my coldness; and, when the farmer
was gone out of the apartment, asked me the reason. I made
bold to tell her majesty, “that lowed no other obligation to
my late master, than his not dashing out the brains of a poor
harmless creature, found by chance in his fields; which obli-
gation was amply recompensed, by the gain he had made in
showing me through half the kingdom, and the price he had
now sold me for. That the life I had since lead, was labo-
rious enough to kill an animal of ten times my strength.---
That my health was much impaired, by the continual drud-
gery of entertaining the rabble every hour of the day; and,
that if my master had not thought my life in danger, her
majesty would not have got so cheap a bargain. But as I
was out of all fear of being ill treated, under the protection
of so great and good an empress, the ornament of nature, the
darling of the world, the delight of her subjects, the phoenix
…
56 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
of the creation; so I hoped my late master's apprehensions
would appear to be groundless; for I already found my
spirits revive, by the influence of her most august presence.’
This was the sum of my speech, delivered with great im-
proprieties and hesitation. The latter part was altogether
framed in the style peculiar to that people, whereof I learned
some phrases from Glumdalclitch, while she was carrying me
to court. . * . &
The queen, giving great allowance for my defectiveness in
speaking, was, however, surprised at so much wit and good
sense, in so diminutive an animal. She took me in her own
hand, and carried me to the king, who had then retired to
his cabinet. His majesty, a prince of much gravity and aus-
tere countenance, not well observing my shape at first view,
asked the queen after a cold manner, ‘how long it was since
she grew fond of a splacnuck A" for such it seems he took me
to be, as I lay upon my breast in her majesty's right hand.---
But this princess, who has an infinite deal of wit and humour,
set me gently on my feet upon the scrutoire, and commanded
me to give his majesty an account of myself, which I did in
a very few words: and Glumdalclitch, who attended at the
eabinet door, and who could not endure I should be out of
her sight, being admitted, confirmed all that had passed from
my arrival at her father's house. .
The king, althongh he was as learned a person as any in .
his dominions, had been educated in the study of philosophy,
and particnlarly mathematics; yet when he observed my .
shape exactly, and saw me walk erect, before I began to
speak, conceived I might be a piece of clock-work (which is
in that country arrived to a very great perfection) contrived
by some ingenious artist. But when he heard my voice,
and found what I delivered to be regular and rational, he
could not conceal his astonishment. He was by no means
satisfied with the relation I gave him of the manner I came
into his kingdom, but thought it a story concerted betwoen
Glumdalclitch and her father, who had taught me a set of
words to make me sell at a better price. Upon this imagina-
tion, he put several other questions to me, and still received
rational answers; no otherwise defective, than by a foreigh
accent, and an imperfect knowledge of the language, with
some rustic phrases which I had learned at the farmer's
house, and did not suit the polite style of a court. :
: His majesty sent for three great scholars, who were then

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG. 57
in the weekly waiting, according to the custom in that coun-
try. These gentlemen, after they had awhile examined my
shape with much nicety, were of different opinions concern-
ing me. They all agreed, that I could not be produced
according to the regular laws of nature, because I was not
framed with a capacity of preserving my life, either by
swiftness, or climbing of trees, or digging holes in the earth.
They observed by my teeth, which they viewed with great
exactness, that I was a carnivorous unimal; yet most qua-
drupeds being an ovćrmatch for me, and field-mice, with
some others, too nimble, they could not imagine how I
should be able to support myself, unless I fed upon snails
and other insects, which they offered, by many learned ar-
guments, to evince that I could not possibly do. One of
these virtuosi seemed to think that I might he an embryo, or
abortive birth. But this opinion was rejected by the other
two, who observed my limbs to be porfect and finished; and
that I lived several years, as it was manifest from my beard,
the stumps whereof they plainly discovered through a mag-
nifying-glass. They would not allow me to be a dwarf,
because my littleness was beyond all degrees of comparison;
for tho queen's favourite dwarf, the smallest ever known in
that kingdom, was near thirty feet high. After much debate,
they concluded unanimously, that I was only replum scat-
cath, which is interpreted literally fusus naturae, a determi-
nation exactly agreeable to the modern philosophy of Eu-
rope, whose professors, disdaining the old evasion of occult
causes, whereby the followers of Aristotle endeavoured in
vain to disguise their ignorance, having invented this wonder-
ful solution of all difficulties, to the unspeakable advance-
ment of human knowledge. .
After this decisive conclusion, I entreated to be heard a
word or two. I applied myself to the king, and assured his
majesty, “that I came from a country which abounded with
several millions of both sexes, and of my own naturo; where
the animals, trees, and houses, were all in proportion, and
where, by consequence, I might be as able to defend myself,
and to find sustenance, as any of his majesty's subjects
could do here; which I took for a full answer to those gen-
tlemen's arguments.’ To this they º only with a smile
of contempt, saying, ‘that the farmer had instructed me very
well in my lesson.' The king, who had a much better un-
derstanding, dismissing his learned men, sent for the farmer,
58 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
who by good fortune was not yet gone out of town, Having
therefore first examined him privately, and then confronted
him with me and the young girl, his majesty began to think
that what we had told him might possibly be true. He de-
sired the queen to order that particular care should be taken
of me; and was of opinion that Glumdalclitch should still
continue in her office of attending me, because he observed
we had a great affection for each other. A convenient
apartment was provided for her at court: she had a sort of
govorness appointed to take care of her education, a maid to
dress her, and two other servants for menial offices; but the
care of me was wholly appropriated to herself. The queen
commanded her own cabinet-maker to contrrve a box, that
might serve me for a bed-chamber, after the model that
Glumdalclitch and I should agree upon. This man was a
most ingenious artist, and according to my directions, in
three weeks finished for me a wooden chamber of sixteen
feet square, and twelve high, with sash-windows, a door, and
two closets, like a London bed-chamber. The board that
made the ceiling, was to be lifted up and down by two
hinges to put in a bed ready-furnished by her majesty's up-
holsterer, which Glumdalclitch took out overy day to air,
made it with her own hands, and ketting it down at night,
locked up the roof over me. A workman, who was famous
for little curiosities undertook to make two chairs, with backs
and frames, of a substance not unlike ivory, and two tables,
with a cabinet to put my things in. The room was quilted
on all sides, as well as the floor and ceiling, to prevent any
accident from the carelessness of those who carried me, and
to break the force of a jolt, when I went in a coach. I de-
sired a lock for my door, to prevent rats and mice from com-
ing in. 'The Smith, after several attempts made the smallest
that ever was made among them, for I have known larger at
the gate of a gentleman's house in England. I kept the
key in a pocket of my own, fearing Glumdalelitch might
lose it. The queen likewise ordered the finest silks that
could be obtained to make me clothes, not much thicker
than an English blanket, very cumbersome till I was accus-
tomed to them. They were after the fashion of the king-
dom, partly resembling the Persian, and partly the Chinese,
and are a very grave and decent habit. -
The queen became so fond of my company, that she could
not dine without me, I had a table placed upon the same at
A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT. 59
which her majesty ate, just at her elbow, and a chair to sit
on. Glumdalclitch stood on a stool on the floor near my
table to assist and take care of me. I had an entire set of
silver dishes and plates, and other necessaries, which, in pro-
portion to those of the queen, were not much larger than
what I have seen in a London toy-shop, for the furniture of
a baby-house: these my little nurse kept in her pocket in a
silver box, and gave me at meals as I wanted them, always
cleaning them herself. No person dined with the queen but
the two princesses royal, the elder sixteen years old, and the
younger at that time thirteen and a month. Her majesty
used to put a bit of meat on one of my dishes, out of which
I carved for myself, and her diversion was to see me eat in
miniature; for the queen (who had indeed but a weak
stomach) took up, at one mouthful, as much as a dozen
English farmers could eat at a meal, which to me was for
some time a very nauseous sight. She would craunch the
wing of a lark, bones and all, between her teeth, although it
were nine times as large as a full grown turkey; and put a
piece of bread in her mouth, as large as two twelve-penny
loaves. She drank out of a golden cup, above a hogshead
at a draught. Her knives were twice as long as a scythe,
set straight upon the handle. The spoons, forks, and other
instruments, were all in the same proportion. I remember
when Glumdalclitch carried me, out of curiosity, to see some
of the tables at court, where ten or a dozen of those enor-
mous knives and forks were lifted up together, I thought
had never till then beheld so terrible a sight. -
It is the custom, that every Wednesday (which, as I have
observed, is their sabbath) the king and queen, with the
royal issue of both sexes, dine together in the apartment of
his majesty, to whom I was now become a great favourite ;
and at these times my little chair and table were placed at
his left hand, before one of the salt-cellars. This prince
took a pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into the
manners, religion, laws, government and learning of Europe;
wherein I gave him the best account I was able. His appre-
hension was so olear, and his judgment so exact, that he
made very wise reflections and observations upon all I said.
But I confess, that after I had been a little too copious in
talking of my own beloved country, trade and wars, by sea
and land, of our schisms in religion, and parties in the state;
the prejudices of his education prevailed so far, that he
60 GULLIVER's TRAVELs :
observed, “how contemptable a thing was human grandeur,
which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as me:
and yet,” says he, “I dare engage, these creatures have their
titles and distinctions of honor.
Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen's
dwarf; who being of the lowest stature that was ever in the
country, (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high,)
became so insolent at seeing a creature so beneath him, that
he would always affect to swagger and look big as he passcd
by me in the queen's ante-chamber, while I was standing on
some table talking with the lords and ladies of the court, and
so seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my ſittlemsss :
against which I could only revenge myself by calling him
brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such repartees as
are usually in the mouths of court pages. One day at dinner,
this malicious little cub was so nettled with something I had
said to him, that, raising himself upon the frame of her ma-
jesty's chair, he took me up by the middle, as I was sitting
down, not thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large
bowl of cream, and then ran away as fast as he could. I
fell over head and ears, and if I had not been a good swim-
mer, it might have gone very hard with me ; for Glumdal-
clitch in that instant happened to be at the other end of the
room, and the queen was in such a fright, that she wanted
presence of mind to assist me. But my little nurse ran to
my relief, and took me out, after I had swallowed above a
quart of cream. I was put to bed; however, I received no
other damage than the loss of a suit of clothoa, which was
utterly spoiled. -
The dwarf was soundly whipped, and as a farther punish-
ment, forced to drink up the bowl of cream into which he had
thrown me; neither was he over restored to favour; for soon
after the queen bestowed him on a lady of high quality, so
that I saw him no more, to my very great satisfaction; for I
could not tell to what extremity such a malicious urchin
might have carried his resentment. -
He had before served me a scurvy trick, which set the
queen a laughing, although at the same time she was heartily
vexed, and would have immediately cashiered him, if I had
not been so generous as to intercede. Her majesty had taken
a marrow-bone upon her plate, and, after knocking out the
marrow, placed #. bone again in the dish erect, as it stood
before; the dwarf, watching his opportunity while Glumdal-
clitch was gone to the sideboard, mounted the stool that she
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 6]
stood on to take care of me at meals, took me up iu both
hands, and squeezing my legs together, wedged them intº
the marrow-bone above my waist, where I stuck for some
time, and made a very ridiculous figure. I believe it was
near a minute before any one knew what was become of me, Q
for I thought it below me to cry out. But, as princes seldom
get their meat hot, my legs were not scalded, only my stock.
ings and breeches were in a sad condition. The dwarf at
my entreaty, had no other punishment than a sound whip-
Ping.
I was frequently rallied by the queen upon the account of
my fearfulness; and she used to ask me whether the people
of my country were as great cowards as myself? The occa-
sion was this: the kingdom is much pestered with flies in
summér, and these odious insects, each of them as big as a
Dunstable lark, hardly gave mo any rest while I sat at dim-
ner, with their continual humming and buzzing about my ears.
They would sometimes alight upon my victuals, and leave
their loathsome execrement or spawn behind, which to me
was very visible, though not to the natives of that country,
whose large optics were not so acute as mine, in viewing
smaller objects. Sometimes they would fix upon my nose or
forehead, where they stung me to the quick, smelling very
offensively; and I could easily trace that vicious matter,
which, our naturalists tells us, enables those creatures to
walk with their feet upwards upon a ceiling. I had much
to do to defend myself against these detestable animals, and
could not forbear starting when they came on my face. It
was the common practice of the dwarf, to catch a number of
these insects in his hand, as schoolboys do among us, and let
them out suddenly under my nose, on purpose to frighten me,
and divert the queen. My remedy was to cut them in pieces
with my knife, as they flew in the air, wherein my dexterity
was much admired.
I remember, one morning, when Glumdalclitch had set me
in a box upon a window, as she usually did in fair days to
give me air (for I durst not let the box be hung on a nail out
of the window, as we do with cages in England), after I had
lifted up one of the sashes, and sat down at my table to eat a
iece of sweet cake for my breakfast, above twenty wasps,
allured by the smell, came flying into the room humming
louder than the drones of as many bagpipes, Some of them
seized my cake, and carried it piece-meal away; others flew
No. 6. G -
62 GULLiver's TRAvets:
about my head and face, confounding me with the noise, and
putting me in the utmost terror of their stings. However, I
}. the courage to rise and draw my hanger, and attack
them in the air. I dispatched four of them, but the rest got
away, and I presently shut my window. These insects
were as . as partridges: I took out their stings, found
them an inch and a half long, and as sharp as needles. I
carefully preserved them all; and having since shown them
with some other curiosities, in several parts of Europe, upon
my return to England, I gave three of them to Gresham Col-
lege, and kept the fourth for myself.
CHAPTER IV.
The Country described.---A Proposal for correcting Modern
Maps.----The King's Palace, and some account of the
Metropolis.---The Author's way of travelling.---The Chief
'emple described. - -
"I Now intend to give the reader a short description of this
country, as far as I travelled in it, which was not above two
thousand miles round Lorbrulgrud, the metropolis. For the
queen, whom I always attended, never went further when
she accompanied the king in his progress, and there staid till
his majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The whole
extent of this º dominions reaches about six thousand
miles in length, and from three to five in breadth: from
whence I cannot but conclude that our geographers of Eu-
rope are in great error, by supposing nothing but sea between
Japan and California; for it was ever my opinion, that
there must be a balance of earth to counterpoise the great
continent of Tartary; and therefore they ought to correct .
their maps and charts, by joining this vast tract of land to
the north-west parts of America, wherein I shall be ready to
lend them my assistance. -
The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the north-east
by a ridge of mountains thirty miles high, which are altoge-
ther impassible, by reason of the volcanoes upon the tops :
neither do the most learned know what sort of mortals .
bit beyond those mountains, or whether they be inhabited at
all. On the three other sides, it is bounded by the ocean.---
There is not one sea-port in the whole kingdom; and those
parts of the coast into which the rivers issue, are so full of
pointed rock and the sea generally so rough, that there is

A voyage to BRobijing NAG. 63
no venturing in the smallest of their boats; so that these
people are excluded from any commerce with the rest of the
world. But the large rivers are full of vessels, and abound
with excellent fish; for they seldom get any from the sea,
because the sea-fish are of the same size of those of Europe,
and consequently not worth catching; whereby it is mani-
fest, that nature, in the production of plunts and animals of
so extraordinary a buik, is wholly confined to this continent,
of which I leave the reasons to be determined by philoso-
phers. However, now and then they take a whale that hap-
pens to be dashed against the rocks, which the common
people feed on heartily. These whales I have known so
large that a man could hardly carry one upon his shoulders;
and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in hampers
to I orbrułgrud: I saw one of them in a dish at the king's
table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was
fond of it; for I think indeed the size disgusted him, although
I have seen one somewhat larger in Greenland.
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one
cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number ot
villages. To satisfy my curious reader, it may be sufficient
to describe Lorbrulgrud. The city stands upon almost two
equal parts, on each side the river that passes through. It
contains about eighty thousand houses, and about six hun-
dred thousand inhabitants. It is in length three glomglungs
(which make about fifty-four English miles), and two and a
half in breadth; as I measured it myself in the royal map
made by the king's order, which was laid on the ground on
purpose for me, and extended a hundred feet; I paced the
diameter and circumference several times bare-foot, and com-
puting the scale, measured it pretty exactly, > -- ~~ -->
The king's palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of build-
ing, about seven-miles round; the chief rooms are generally
two hundred and fifty feet high, and broad and long in pro-
portion. A coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me,
wherein her governess frequently took her out to see the
town, or go among the shops; and I was always of the party,
carried in my box; although the girl, at my own desire,
would often take me out, and hold me in her hand, that I
might more conveniently view the houses and the people, as
we passed along the street. I reckoned our coach to he about
the size of the square of Westminster-hall, but not altogether
so high; however, I cannot be very exact. One day our go-
-. G 2

64 GULLIver's TRAvels.
verness ordered our coachman to stop at several shops, where
the beggars, watching their opportunity, crowded to the sides
of the coach, and gave me the most horrible spectacle that
ever a European eye beheld. There was a woman with a
cancer in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full of holes,
in two or three of which I might easily have crept, and
covered my whole body. There was a fellow with a wen in
his neck, larger than five woolpacks; and, another, with a
couple of wooden legs, each about twenty feet high; but the
most disgusting sight of all, was the vermin crawling on their
clothes.
Beside the large box in which I was usually carried, the
queen ordered a smaller one to be made for me, of about
twelve feet square, and ten high, for the convenience of tra-
velling; because the other was somewhat too large for Glum-
dalclitch's lap, and cumbersome in the coach; it was made
by the same artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivance.
This travelling closet was an exact square, with a window in
the middle of three of the squares, and each window was
latticed with iron wire on the outside, to prevent accidents
in long journies. On the fourth side, which had no window,
two strong staples were fixed, through which the person that
carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put a
leathern belt, and bucklcd it about his waist. This was
always the office of some grave trusty servant, in whom I
could confide, whether I attended the king or queen in their
progress, or were disposed to see the gardens, or pay a visit
to some great lady or minister of state in the court, when
Glumdalelitch happened to be indisposed; for I soon began
to be known and esteemed among the greatest officers, I sup-
ose more upon account of their majestics' favour, than any
merit of my own. . In journies, when I was weary of the
coach, a servant on horseback would buckle on my box, and
place it on a cushion before him; and there I had a full pros-
ect of the country on three sides, from my three windows.---
I had, in this closet, a field-bed and a hammock hung from
the ceiling, two chairs and a table, neatly screwed to the
floor, to prevent being tossed about by the agitation of the
horse or the coach. And having been long used to sea voy-
ages, those motions, although sometimes very violent, did not
much discompose me.
Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in



my travelling closet; which Glumdalelitch held in her lap, in
A voy AGE To BROBDINGNAG. 65
a kind of open sedan, after the fashion of the country, borne
by four men, and attended by two others in the queen's
livery. The people, who had often heard of me, were very
curious to erowd about the sedan, and the girl was complai-
sant enough to make the bearers stop, and to take me in her
hand that I might he more conveniently seen. . . -
1 was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particu-
larly the tower belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest
in the kingdom. Accordingly one day my nurse carried me
thither, but I may truly say I came back disappointed, for the
height is not above three thousand feet, reckoning from the
ground to the highest pinnacle top, which, allowing for the
difference between the size of those people and us in Europe,
is no great matter for admiration, nor at all equal in propor-
tion (if I rightly remember) to Salisbury steeple. But not to
detract from a nation, to which, during my life, I shall
acknowledge myself extremely obliged, it must be allowed,
that whatever this famous tower wants in height, is amply
made up in beauty and strength; for the walls are near a
humdred feet thick, built of hewn stone, whereof each is
about forty feet square, and adorned on all sides with statues
of gods and emporors, cut in marble, larger than life, placed
in their several niches. I measured a little finger wilich had
fallen down from one of those statues, and lay unperceived
aulong some rubbish, and found it exactly four feet and an
inch in length. Glumdalelitch wrapped up in her handker-
chief, and carried it home in her pocket, to keep among other
trinkets, of which the girl was very fond, as children at hºr
age usually are. . . .
The king's kitchen is, indeed, a noble building, vaulted at
top, and about six hundred feet high. The great oven is not
so wide, by ten paces, as the cupola at St. Paul's; for I
measured the latter on purpose after my return. But iſ
should describe the kitchen grate, the prodigious pots and
kettles, the joints of meat turning on the spits, with many
other particulars, perhaps I should hardly be believed; it
least a severe critic would think I had enlarged a little, as
travellers are often suspected to do. . To avoid which ceil-
sure, I fear I have run too much into the other extreme, a.ſ.l
that if this treatise should happen to be translated into iſe
language of Brobdingnag (which is the general minié of tº
kingdom), and transmitted thither, ..i. and gºº.
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3.


66 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
would have reason to complain that I had done them an
injury, by a false and diminutive representation.
His majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in his
stables: they are generally from fifty-four to sixty feet high.
But, when he goes abroad on solemn days, he is attended,
for state, by a militia guard of five hundred horse, which,
indeed, I thought was the most splendid sight I ever beheld,
till I saw part of his army in battalia, whereof I shall find
another occasion to speak. *
CHAPTER v.
Several Adventures that happened to the Author.---The Ea-
ecution of a Criminal.---The Author shews his Skill in
Navigation.
I should have lived happy enough in that country, if my
littleness had not exposed me to several ridiculous and trou-
blesome accidents, some of which I shall venture to relate.---
Glumdalclitch often carried me into the gardens of the court
in my smaller box, and would sometimes take me out of it,
and hold me in her hand, or set me down to walk. I remem-
ber, before the dwarf left the queen, he followed us one day
into the gardens, and my nurse haying set me down, he and
I being close together, near some dwarf apple trees, I must
needs shew my wit, by a silly allusion between him and the
trees, which happens to hold in their language as it does in
ours. Whereupon, the malicious rogue, watching his oppor-
tunity, when I was walking under one of them, shook it
directly over my head, by which a dozen of apples, each of
them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about
my ears; one of them hit me on the back, as I chanced to
stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face; and the dwarf
was pardoned at my desire, because I had given the provoca-
tion. - -- -
Another day, Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grassplot
to divert myself, while she walked at some distance with her
governess. In the mean time there suddenly fell such a
shower of hail, that I was immediately, by the force of it,
struck to the ground: and when I was down the hail-stones
gave me such cruel bangs all over my body, as if I had been
pelted with tennis balls; however, I made a shift to creep on
all fours, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face on the
lee-side of a border of lemon-thyme, but so bruised from head

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A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGN AG. 67
-
to foot, that I could pot go abroad in ten days. Neither is
this at all to be wondered at, because nature, in that country,
observing the same proportion through all her operations, a
hail-stone is near eighteen hundred times as large as one in
Europe, which l can assert upon experience, having been so
curious to weigh and measure them.
But a more dangerous accident happened to me in the
same garden, when my little nurse, believing she had put me
in a secure place (which I often entreated her to do, that I
might enjoy my own thoughts), and having left my box at
home, to avoid the trouble of carrying it, went to another
part of the garden with her governess and some ladies of her
acquaintance. While she was absent, and out of hearing, a
small white spaniel that belonged to one of the chief garden-
ers, having got by accident into the garden, happened to
range near the place where I lay; the dog, following the
scent, came directly up, and taking me in his mouth, ran
straight to his master, wagging his tail, and set me gently on
the ground. By good fortune, he had been so well taught,
that I was carried between his teeth without the least hurt,
or even tearing my clothes. But the poor gardener, who
knew me well, and had a great kindness for me, was in a
terrible fright: he gently took me up in both his hands, and
asked me how he did: but I was so completely out of breath
that I could not speak a word. In a few minutes I came to
myself, and he carried me safe to my little nurse, who, by
this time, had returned to the place where she left me, and
was in cruel agonies when I did not appear, nor answer when
she called. She severely reprimanded the gardener on ac-
count of his dog; but the thing was hushed up, and never
known at court, for the girl was afraid of the queen's anger,

and truly, as to myself, I thought it would not be for my re-
putation, that such a story should go about.
This accident absolutely determined Glumdalclitch never
to trust me abroad for the future out of her sight. I had
been long afraid of this resolution, and therefore concealed
from her some little unlucky adventures, that happened in
those times when I was left by myself. Once a kite, hover-
ing over the garden, made a stoop at me, and if I had not
resolutely drawn my hanger, and run under a thick espalier,
he would have certainly carried me away in his talons.---
Another time, walking to the top of a fresh molehill, I fell
on my neck in the hole, through which that animal had cast
68 º, Gulliver's TRAvels:
up the earth, and coined some story, not worth remembering,
to excuse myself for spoiling my clothes. I likewise broke
my shin again the shell of a snail, which I happened to
stumble over as I was walking alone and thinking on poor
England. -
1 cannot tell whether 1 was more pleased or mortified to
observe, in those solitary walks, that the smaller birds did
not appear to be afraid of me, but would hop about within a
yard's distance, looking for worms and other food, with as
much security and indifference and security as if no creature
at all were near them. I remember a thrush had the confi-
dence to snatch out of my hard, with his bill, a piece of cake
which Glumdalclitch had given me for my breakfast. When
1 attempted to catch any of these birds, they would boldly
turn against me, endeavouring to peck my fingers, which I
durst not venture within their reach; and then they would
hop back unconcerned, to hunt for worms or snails, as they
did before. But one day, I took a thick cudgel, and threw
it with all my strength so luckily at a linnet, that I knocked
him down, and seizing him by the neck with both hands, ran
with him in triumph to my nurse,. However, the bird, which
had only been stunned, recovering himself, gave me so many
boxes with his wings, on both sides of my head and body,
though I held him at arms length, and was out of the reach
of his claws, that I was twenty times thinking to let him go.
But I was soon relieved by one of our servants, who wrung off
the bird's neck, and I had him next day for dinner, by the
queen's command. This linnet, as near as I can remember,
seemed to be somewhat larger than an English swan.
One day, a young gentleman, who was nephew to my
nurse's governess, came and pressed them both to see an
execution. It was of a man who had murdered one of that
gentleman's intimate acquaintance. Glumdalclitch was pre-
vailed on to be of the company, very much against her
inclination, for she was naturally tender hearted; and as for
myself, although I abhorred such kind of spectacles, yet
my curiosity tempted me to see something that l thought
must be extraordinary. The malefactor was placed on a
chair, upon a scaffold erected for the purpose, and his head
was cut off with one blow, with a sword of about forty feet
long. The veins and arteries spouted up such a prodigious
quantity of blood, and so high in the air, that the great jet
d'eau at Versailles was not equal to it for the time it lasted;


A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 69.
and the head, when it fell on the scaffold floor, gave such a
bounce as made me start, although I was at least half an
English mile distant,
The queen, who often used to hear me talk of my sea-
voyages, and took all occasions to divert me when I was
melancholy, asked me whether I understood how to han-
dle a seal or oar, and whether a little exercise of rowing
might not be convenient for my health P I answered that
I understood both very well ; for although . eIIl-
ployment had been to be a surgeon or doctor to the ship, yet
often, upon a pinch, I was forced to work like a common
mariner. But I could not sec how this could be done in
their country, where the smallest wherry was equal to a
first-rate man of war among us; and such a boat as I could
manage would never live in any of their rivers. Her ma-
jesty said, “if I would contrive a boat, her own Joiner would
make it, and she would provide a place for me to sail in.'---
The fellow was an ingenious workman, and by my instruc-
tions, in ten days, finished a pleasure boat, with all its
tackling, able conveniently to id: eight Europeans. When
it was finished, the queen was so delighted, that she ran with
it in her lap to the king, who ordered it to be put in a cistern
full of water, with me in it, by way of trial, where I could
not manage my two skulls, or little oars, for the want of
room. But the queen had before contrived another project:
She ordered the joiner to make a wooden trough of three
hundred feet long, fifty broad, and eight deep, which, being
well pitched, to prevent loaking, was placed on the floor,
along the wall, in an outer room of the palace. It had a
cock near the bottom to let out the water, when it began to
grow stale; and two servants could easily fill iu half an hour.
‘Here I often used to row for my own diversion, as well as
the queen's, and her ladies, who thought themselves well
entertained with my skill and agility. Sometimes I would
put up my sail, and then my business was only to steer,
while the ladies gave me a gale with their fans; and, when
they were weary, some of their pages would blow my sail
forward with their breath, while I showed my art by steer-
ing starboard or larboard as I pleased. When I had done,
Glumdalclitch always carried back my boat into her closet,
and hung it on a nail to dry. . w
In this exercise I once met an accident, which had like to
have cost me my life; for, one of the pages having put my

*** * * *-*.*.*.*.*.*śāsº...sºss...…sºsº.º.º.º.º.º., ºssº, ºr º, ºº, ºr -
70. GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
boat into the trough, the governess who attended Glumdal-
clitch very officiously, lifted me up to place me in the boat,
but I happened to slip through her fingers, and should infal-
libly have fallen down forty feet, upon the floor, if, by the
luckiest chance in the world, I had not been stopped by a
Gorking pin that stuck in the good gentlewoman's stomacher;
the head of the pin passed between my shirt and the waist-
band of my breeches, and I was thus held by the middle in
the air, till Glumdalclitch ran to my relief. -
Another time, one of the servants, whose office it was to
fill my trough every third day with fresh water, was so care-
less as to let a huge frog (not perceiving it) slip out of his
º The frog lay concealed till I was put into my boat,
out then, seeing a resting place, climbed up, and made it
lean so much to one side, that I was forced to balance it with
all my weight on the other, to prevent overturning. When
the frog was got in, it hopped at once half the length of the
boat, and then over my head, backward and forward, daub-
ing my face and clothes with its odious slime. The largeness
of its features made it appear the most deformed animal that
can be conceived. However, I desired Glumdalclitch to let
me deal with it alone. I banged it a good while with one of
my sculls, and at last forced it to leap-out of the boat.
But the greatest danger I ever i. in that kingdom
was from a monkey, who belonged to one of the clerks of
the kitchen. Glumdalclitch had locked me up in her closet,
while she went somewhere upon business, or a visit. The
weather being very warm, the closet window was left open,
as well as the windows and door of my largest box, in which
I usually lived, because of its size and conveniency. As I sat
quietly meditating at my table, I heard something bounce in
at the closet window, and skip about from one side to the
other; whereat, although I was much alarmed, yet I ventured
to look out, but not stirring from my seat; and then I saw
this frolicksome animal frisking and leaping up and down, till
at last he came to my box, which he seemed to view with
great pleasure and curiosity, peeping in at the door and every
window. I retreated to the farther corner of my room, or
box; but the monkey looking in at every side, put me in
such a fright, that I wanted presence of mind to conceal my-
self under the bed, as I might eaily have done. After some
time spent in peeping, grinning, and chattering, he at last es-
pied me; and, reaching of his paws in at the door, as a cat
; - - ---.
A VOYAGE TO BROBIOIN GN AG. 71
does when she plays with a mouse, although I often shifted
place to avoid him; he at length seized the lappet of my coat
(which being made of that country silk, was very thick and
strong), and dragged me out. He took me up in his right
fore-foot, and held me as a nurse does a child she is going to
suckle, just as as I have seen the same sort of creature do
with a kitten in Europe; and when I offered to struggle ho
squeezed me so hard, that I thought it more prudent to submit.
I have good reason to believe he took me }. a young one of
his own species, by his often stroking my face very gently
with his other paw. In these diversions he was interrupted
by a noise at the closet door, as if somebody were opening it:
whereupon he suddenly leaped up to the window, at which
he had come in, and thence upon the leads and gutters, walk-
ing upon three legs, and holding me in the fourth, till he clam-
hered up to a roof that was next to ours. I heard Glumdal-
clitch give a shriek at the moment he was carrying me out.
The poor girl was almost distracted: that quarter of the pa-
lace was all in an uproar; the servants ran for ladders; the
monkey was seen by hundreds in the court, sitting upon the ,
ridge of a building, holding me like a baby in one of his fore-
paws, and feeding me with the other, by cramming into my
mouth some victuals he had squeezed out of the bag on one
side of his chaps, and patting me when I would not eat; at
which many of the rabble could not forbear laughing, neither
do I think they justly ought to be blamed, for withont ques-
tion, the sight was ridiculous enough to every body but my-
self. Some of the people threw up stones, hoping to drive the
monkey down; but this was strictly forbidden, or elso very
probably, my brains had been dashed out. The ladders were
now applied and mounted by several men; which the monkey
observing, and finding himself almost encompassed, not being
able to make speed enough with his three legs, let me drop
on a ridgs tile, and made his escape. Here 1 sat for some time,
five hundred yards from the ground, expecting every moment
to be blown down by the wind, or to fall by my own giddi-
ºness, and come tumbling over and over from the ridge to the
eaves: but an honest lad, one of my nurse's footmen, climbed
up, and putting me into his breeches pocket, brought me down
safe. - . . . . . . .
I was almost choaked with the filthy stuff the monkey
had crammed down my throat; but my dear little, nnrse
picked it out of my throat with a small needle, and then I fell
72 GULt.IVER's TRAVELS:
a-vomiting, which gave me great relief. Yet I was so weak
and brnised in the sides with the squeezes given me by this
odious animal, that I was forced to keep my bed a fortnight.
The king, queen, and all the court, sent every day to inquire
after my health; and her majesty made me several visits
during my sickness. The monkey was killed, and an order
made, that no such animal should be kept about the pa-
lace,
CHAPTER VI.
Several contrivances of the Author, to please the King and
Queen.---He shews his skill in Music.---The King en-
quires into the state of England, which the Author relates
to him.---The King's observations thereon.
I Used to attend the King's levee once or twice a-week, and
had often seen him under the barber's hands, which, indeed,
was at first very terrible to behold, for the razor was almost
twice as long as an ordinary scythe. His majesty, accord-
ing to the custom of the country, was only shaved twice
a-week. I once prevailed upon the barber to give me some
of the suds or lather, out of which I picked forty or fifty of
the strongest stumps of hair. ... I then took a piece of fine
wood, and cut it like the back of a comb, making several
in it at equal distances, with as small a needle as I could get
from Glumdalclitch. . I fixed in the stumps so artificially,
scraping and sloping them with my knife toward the points,
that I made a very tolerable comb, which was a seasonable
supply, my own being so much broken in the teeth, that it
was almost useless, neither did I know any artist in that
** nice and exact, as would undertake to make ano-
ther. - -
And this puts me in mind of an amusement, wherein l
spent many of my leisure hours. I desired the queen's wo-
man to save for me the combings of her majesty's hair,
whereof in time I got a great quantity; and consulting with
my friend the cabinet-maker, who had received general orders
to do little jobs for me, I directed him to make two chair-
frames, no larger than those l had in my box, a...d to bore
little holes with a fine awl, round those parts where I designed
the backs and peats; through these holes I wove the strongest
hairs º: out, just after the manner of cane chairs in
England. When they were finished, I made a present of
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. , 73°
them to her majesty; who kept them in her cabinet, and
used to shew them for curiosities, as indeed they were the
wonder of every one that beheld them. The queen would
have me to sit upon one of those chairs, but I absolutely re-
fused to obey her, protesting I would rather die a thousand
deaths than place a dishonorable part of my body on those
precious hairs, that once adorned her majesty's head. Of
these hairs (as I had always a mechanical genius) I likewise
made a neat little }. about five feet long, with her ma-
jesty's name deciphered in gold letters, which I gave to
Glumdalclitch by the queen's consent. To say the truth, it
was more for show than use, being not of strength to bear
the weight of the larger coins, and therefore she kept nothing
in it but some little toys that girls are fond of.
The king, who delighted in music, had frequent concerts
at court, to which I was sometimes carried, and set in my
box on a table to hear them; but the noise was so great
I could hardly distinguish the tunes. I am gonfident that all
the drums and trumpets of a royal army, beating and sound-
ing together just at your ears, could not equal it. My
practice was to have my box removed from the place where
the performers sat, as far as I could, then to shut the doors
and windows of it, and draw the window curtains, after
which I found their music not disagreeable. -
I had learned in my youth to play a little upon the spinet.
Glumdalclitch kept one in her chamber, and a master
attended twice a-week to teach her: I called it a spinet,
because it somewhat resembled that instrument, and was
played in the same manner. A fancy came into my head,
that I would entertain the king and queen with an English
tune upon this instrument. But this appeared extremely
difficult; for the spinet was near sixty feet long, each key
being almost a foot wide, so that with my arms extended I
could not reach above five keys, and to press them down re-
quired a good smart stroke with my fist, which would be too
great a labour, and to no purpose. The method I used was
this: I prepared two round sticks, about the size of common
tudgels; i. were thicker at one end than the other, and I.
covered the thicker ends with pieces of a mouse skin, that by
rapping on them l might neither damage the tops of the keys,
nor interrupt the sound. Before the spinet a bench was
placed, about four feet below the keys, and they put me upon
the º I ran sidelong upon it, backwards and forwards :
No. 7. H

74. GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
as fast as I could, banging the proper keys with my two
sticks, by which means I was enabled to play a jig, to the
great satisfaction of both their majesties; but it was the
most violent exercise I ever underwent, and yet could not
strike above sixteen keys, nor consequently play the bass
and treble together, as others do, which was a great disad-
vantage to my performance.
The king, who, as I before observed, was a prince of excel-
lent understanding, would frequently order that I should
be brought in my box, and set upon a table in his closet: he
would then command me to bring one of my chairs out of
the box, and sit down within three yards distance upon the
top of the cabinet, which brought me almost to a level with
his face. In this manner I had several conversations with
him. I one day took the freedom to tell his majesty, “that
the contempt he discovered towards Europe, and the rest
of the world, did not seem answerable to those excellent
qualities of mind that he was master of: that reason did
not extend itself with the bulk of the body; on the contrary,
we observed in our country, that the tallest persons were
usually the least provided with it: that among other animals,
bees and ants had the reputation of more industry, art, and
sagacity, than many of the larger kinds; and that, as
inconsiderable as he took me to be, I hoped I might live
to do his majesty some signal service.’ The king heard me
with attention, and began to conceive a much bettor opinion
of me than he had ever before. He desired ‘I would give
him as exact an account of the government of England as
I possibly could; because as fond as princes commonly are of
their own customs (for so he conjestured of other monarchs
by my former discourses), he should be glad to hear of any
thing that might deserve attention.
I began my discourse by informing his majesty, that our
dominions consisted of two islands, which composed three
mighty kingdoms, under one sovereign, beside our plan-
tations in America. I dwelt long upon the fertility of the
soil, and the temperature of our climate, and the form of our
government.
His majesty, in an audience, was at the pains to recapitu-
late the sum of all I had spoken ; compared the questions he
asked, with the answers I had given; then taking me into
his hands, delivered himself in these words: “My little
friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable panegyric

A VOYAGE TO BROBDING N.A.G. 75

upon your country; you have clearly proved that ignorance,
idleness, and vice, are the proper ingredients for qualifying a
legislator; that laws are best explained, interpreted, and
applied, by those whose interest and abilities lie in per-
verting, confounding and eluding them. I observo among
you some lines of an institution, which in its original might
have been tolerable, but these half erased, and the rest
wholly blurred and blotted by corruptions. It doos not
appear, from all you have said; how any one perfection is
required, towards the procurement of any one station among
you; much less, that men are ennobled on account of their
virtue; that priests are advanced for their picty or learning;
soldiers, for their conduct or valour; judges, for their inte-
grity; senators for the love of their country; or counsellors
for their wisdom. As for yourself, (continued the king,)
who have spent the greatest part of your life in travelling,
I am well disposed to hope you may hitherto have escaped
many vices of your country; and cannot but conclude the
bulk of your natives to be, the most pernicious race of little
odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the
surface of the earth.' . - .--
# • *. - . V
, restº " " … .º . II. 3-

The Author's love of his Country.---IIe makes a Proposal of
much, Adeantage to the King, which is rejected.----The
King's great Ignorance of Politics.---The Learning of
that Country very imperſect and confined.---The Laws, and
Military Affairs.
Nothing but an extreme love of truth could have hindered
me from concealing this part of my story. It was in vain to
discover my resentments, which were always turned into
ridicule; and I was forced to rest with patience, while my
noble and beloved country was so injuriously treated. I am
as heartily sorry as any of my readers can possibly be, that
such an occasion was given; but this prince happened to be
so curious and inquisitive upon every particlar, †. it could
not consist either with gratitude or good manners, to refuse
giving him what satisfaction I was able. Yet thus much I
may be allowed tosay in my own vindication, that I artfully
eluded many of his questions, and gave to every point a more
favorable turn, by many degrees, than the strictness of truth
would allow; for I have always borne that laudable partia-
- H 2
76 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
lity to my own country, which Dionysius Halicarmassensis,
with so much justice recommends to a historian: I wonld hide
the frailties and deformities of my political mother, and
place her beautics in the most advantageous light. This was
my sincere endeavour in those many discourses I had with
that monarch, although it uniformly failed of success.
But great allowances should be given to a king, who lives
wholly secluded from the rest of the world, and must there-
fore be altogether unacquainted with the manners and cus-
toms that most prevail in other nations; the want of which
knowledge will ever produce many prejudices, and a certain
narrowness of thinking, from which we, and the politer
countries of Europe, are wholly exempted. And it would be
hard indeed, if so remote a prince's notions of virtue and vice
were to be offered as a standard for all mankind.
To confirm what I have now said, and further to shew the
miserable effects of a confined education, I will here insert a
passage which will hardly obtain belief. In hopes to ingra-
tiate myself further into his majesty's favour, I told him of
“an invention, discovered between three and four hundred
years ago, to make a certain powder, into a heap of which,
the smallest spark of fire falling, would kindle the whole in
a moment, although it were as large as a mountain, and
make it all fly up in the air together, with a noise and agita-
tion greater than thunder. That a proper quantity of pow-
der rammed into a hollow tube of brass or iron, according to
its size, would drive a ball of iron or lead, with such violence
and speed, as nothing was able to sustain its force. That the
largest balls thus discharged, would not only destroy whole
ranks of an army at once, but batter the strongest walls to
the ground; sink down ships with a thousand men in each,
to the bottom of the sea; and when linked together by a
chain, would cut through masts and rigging, divide hundreds
of bodies in the middle, and lay all waste before them.---
That we often put this powder into large hollow balls of
iron, and discharged them by an engine into some city we
were besieging, which would rip up the pavements, tear the
houses to pieces, burst and throw splinters on every side,
dashing out the brains of all who came near. That I knew
the ingredients very well, which were cheap and common; I
understood the manner of compounding them, and could direct
his workmen how to make those tubes, of a size proportion-
able to all other things in his majesty's kingdom, and the
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 77
largest need not be above a hundred feet long; twenty or
thirty of these tubes, charged with the proper quantity of
powder and balls, would batter down the walls of the
strongest town in his dominions, in a few hours, or destroy
the whole metropolis, if ever it should pretend to dispute his
absolute commands. This I humbly offered to his nuajesty,
as a small tribute of acknowledgment, in return for so
many marks that I had received, of his royal favour and
protection.’ -
The king was struck with horror at the description I had
given of those terrible engines, and the proposal I had made.
IIe was amazed, how so impotent and growling an insect as
l, (these were his expressions) could entertain such inhuman
ideas, and in so familiar a manner, as to appear wholly
unmov, d at all the scenes of blood and dosolation which I
had painted, as the common effects of those destructive ma-
chinos, whereof, (he said) some evil genius enemy to man-
kind must have been the contriver. As for himself, he pro-
tested, that although few things delighted him so much
as new discoveries in art or in nature, yet he would rather
lose half his kingdom, than be privy to such a secret; which
he commanded me, as I valued my life, never to mention any
more.’
The learning of this people is very defective: consisting
only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein
they must be allowed to excel. . . . .
No law in that country must oxceed in words the number
of lotters in their alphabet, which consists only of two-and-
twenty. But indeed few of them extend even to that length.
They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms,
wherein those people are not mercurial enough to discover
above one interpretation, and to write a comment upon any
law, is a capital crime. .
They have had the art of printing, as well as the Chinese,
time out of mind; but their libraries are not very large; for
that of the king, which is reckoned the largest, does not
amount to above a thousand volumes, placed in a gallery of
twelve hundred feet long, whence I had liberty to borrow
what books I pleased. The queen's Joiner had coutrived in
one of Glumdalclitch's rooms, a kind of wooden machine five
and twenty feet high, formed like a standing ladder; the
steps were each fifty feet long; it was indeed a moveable
pair of stairs, the lowest end placed at ten feet * from
H --

78 GULLIVER's TRAVELs :
the wall of the chamber. The book I had a mind to reao
was put up leaning against the wall: I first mounted to the
upper step of the ladder, and turning my face towards the
book, began at the top of the page, and so walking to the
right and left about eight or ten paces, according to the
length of the lines, till I had gotten a little below the level of
my eyes, and then descending gradually till I came to the
bottom: after which I mounted again, and began the other
!". in the same manner, and so turned over the leaf, which
could easily do with both my hands, for it was as stiff and
thick as pasteboard, and in the largest folios not above 18 or
20 feet long. -,
I was much diverted with a little old treatise, which always
lay in Glumdalclitch's bed-chamber, and belonged to her
governess, a grave º gentlewomau, who dealt in writ-
ings of morality and devotion. The book treats of the
weakness of hnman-kind, and is in little esteem except
among women and the vulgar. However, I was curious to
see what an author of that country could say upon such a
subject. This writer went through all the topics of European
moralists, showing, ‘how diminutive, contemptible, and
helpless an animal was man in his own nature; how unable
to defend himself from the inclemency of the air, or fury of
wild beasts: how much he was excelled by one creature in
strength, by another in speed, by a third in foresight, by a
fourth in industry.' He added, ‘that nature was degene-
rated in these latter declining ages of the world, and could
now produce only small abortive births, in comparison to
those in ancient times' He said, “it was very reasonable to
think, not only that the species of men were originally much
larger, but also that there must have been giants in former
ages; which, as it is asserted by history and tradition, so it
has been confirmed by huge bones and skulls, casually dug
up in several parts of the kingdom, far exceeding the com-
mon dwindled race of men in our days.’ He argued, ‘that
the very laws of nature absolutely required we should have
been made, in the beginning, of a size more large and
robust; not so liable to destruction from every little accident,
of a tile falling from a house, or stone cast from the hand of
a boy, or their being drowned in a little breok.
As to their military affairs, they boast that the king's army
consists of a hundred and seventy-six thousand foot, and
thirty-two thousand horse: if that may be called an army,

A VOYAGE TO BROBT) ING NAG, 79
which is made up of tradesmen in the several cities, and
farmers in the country. whose commanders are only the no-
bility and gentry, without pay or reward. They are indeed,
perfect enough in their exercises, and under very good disci-
pline, wherein I saw no great merit; for how should it be
otherwise, where every farmer is under the command of his
own landlord; and every citizen under that of the principal
men of his own city, chosen after the manner of Venice, hy
ballot ?
I have often seen the militia of Lorbrulgrud, drawn out to
exercise in a great field, near the city, of twenty miles square.
They were in all not above twenty-five thousand foot, and
six thousand horse; but it was impossible for me to compute
their number, considering the space of ground they took up.
A cavalier mounted on a large steed, might be about ninety
feet high. I have seen this whole body of horse, upon a word
of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish them
in the air. Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so sur-
prising, and so astonishing! it looked as if ten thousand
flashes of lightning were darting at the same time from every
quarter of the sky.
CHAPTER VIII.
The King and Queen make a progress to the Frontiers.---The
Authors attends them.---The manner in which he leaves the
Country very particularly related.---He returns to England.
I HAD always a strong impulse, that I should some time re-
cover my liberty, though it was impossible to conjecture by
what means, or to form any project with the least hope of
succeeding. The ship in which I sailed was the first ever
known to be driven within sight of that ooast, and the king
had given strict orders, “that if at any time another appeared,
it should be taken ashore, and with all its crew and passen-
gers brought in a tumbril to Lorbrulgrud.’ I was indeed
troated with much kindness: I was the favorite of a great
king and queen, and the delight of the whole court; but it
was upon such a foot as ill became the dignity of humankind.
I could never forget those domestic pledges I had left behind
me. I wanted to be among people, with whom I could con-
verse upon even terms, and walk about the streets and fields
without being afraid of being trod to death, like a frog or a
young puppy. But my deliverance came sooner than 1 ex-
80 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
pected, and in a manner not very common: the whole story
and circumstances of which I shall faithfully relate.
I had now been two years in this country; and about the
beginning of the third, Glumdalclitch and I attended the king
and queen, in a progress to the south coast of the kingdom.
1 was carried, as usual, in by travelling-box, which, as I have
already described, was a very convenient closet, of twelve
feet wide. And I had ordered a hammock to be fixed, with
silken ropes, from the four corners at the top, to break the
jolts, when a servant carried me before him on horseback, as
I sometimes desired; and would often sleep in my hammock.
I ordered the joiner to cut out a hole of a foot square, to give
me air in hot weather, as I slept; which hole I shut at plea-
sure with a board that drew backward and forward through a
groove. j
When we oame to our journey's end, the king thought pro-
per to pass a few days at a palace he has near Flanſlasnic, a
city within eighteen English miles of the sea side. Glumdal-
clitch and I was much fatigued: I had gotten a slight cold,
but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined to her chamber.
I longed to see the ocean, which must be the only scene of
my escape, if ever it should happen. I pretended to be worse
than I really was, and desired leave to take the fresh air of
the sea, with a page I was very fond of, and who had some-
times been trusted with me. I shall never forget with what
unwillingness Glumdalclitch consented, nor the strict charge
she gave the page to be careful of me, bursting at the same
time into a flood of tears, as if she had some foreboding of
what was to happen. The boy took me out in my box, about
half an hour's walk from the palace, towards the rocks on the
sea shore. I ordered him to set me down, and lifting up one
of my sashes, cast many a wistful melancholy look towards
the sea. I found myself not very well, I told the page that I
had a mind to take a nap in my hammock, which I hoped
would do me good. I got in, and the boy shut the window
close down, to keep out the cold. I soon feel asleep, and
all I conjecture is, while I slept, thinking no danger could
happen, went among the rocks to look for bird's eggs, hav-
ing before observed him from my window searching about,
and picking up one or two in the clefts. Be that as it will,
I was suddenly awoke with a violent pull upon the ring,
which was fastened at the top of my box for the convenience
of &arriage. I felt my box raised very high in the air, and

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG. 81
then borne forward with prodigious speed. The first jolt
had like to have shaken me out of my hammock, but after-
wards the motion was easy enough. I called out several
times, as loud as I could raise my voice, but all to no pur-
pose. I looked towards my windows, and could see nothing
but the clouds and sky. I heard a noise just over my head,
like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive the
woeful condition I was in; that some eagle had got the ring
of my box in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock,
like a tortoise in a shell, and then pick out my body, and
devour it: for the sagacity and smell of this bird, enables
him to discover his prey at a great distance, though better
concealed than 1 could be within a two-inch board.
In a little time, I observed the noise and flutter of wings
to increase very fast, and my hox was tossed up and down
like a sign in a windy day. I heard several bangs or buffets,
as I thought, given to the eagle (for such I am certain it
must have been that held the ring of my box in his beak),
and then, all on a sudden, felt myself falling perpendicularly
down. for above a minute, but with such incredible swiftness,
that I almost lost my breath. My fall was stopped by a
terrible squash, that sounded louder to my ears than the
cataract of Niagara; after which, I was quite in the dark for
another minute, and then my box began to rise so high, that
I could see light from the tops of my windows. I now per-
ceived I had fallen into the sea. My box, by the weight of
my body, the goods that were in, and the broad plates of
iron fixed for strength at the four corners of the top and
bottom, floated about five feet deep in water. I did then,
and do now suppose, that the eagle who flew away with my
box was pursued by two or three others, and forced to let me
drop, while he defended himself against the rest, who hoped
to share in the prey. The plates of iron fastened to the
bottom of the box preserved the balance while it fell, and
hindered it from being broken on the surface of the water,---
Every joint of it was well groved, and the door did not move
on hinges, but up and down like a sash, which kept my
closet so tight that very little water came in. A breach in
one single pane of glass would have been immediate death:
nor could any thing have preserved the windows, but the
strong lattice wires placed on the outside, against accidents in
travelling. I saw the water ooze in at several crannies,
although the leaks were not considerable, and I endeavoured

82 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
to stop them as well as I could. I was not able to lift up the
roof of my closet, which I otherwise certainly would have
done, and sat on the top of it, where I might at least preserve
my life a few hours longer, than by being shut up (as I may
call it) in the hold. Or if I escaped these dangers for a day
or two, what could I expect but a miserable death of cold
and hunger? How often did I then wish myself with my
dear Glumdalclitch, from whom one single hour had so
far divided me! And lamenting, in the midst of my misfor-
tunes, the grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure
of the queen, and the ruin of her fortune. 2.
At length, being in this disconsolate state for nearly four
hours, expecting every moment to be my last, I heard, or at
least thought I heard, some kind of grating noise on that
side of my box where the staples were fixed; and soon after
began to fancy that the box was pulled or towed along the
sea; for 1 now and then felt a sort of tugging, which made
the waves rise near the tops of my windows, leaving me
almost in the dark. This gave ºne some faint hopes of relief,
although not able to imagine how it could be brought about.
I ventured to unscrew one of my chairs, which were always
fastened to the floor: and having with great difficulty con-
trived to screw it down again, directly under the slipping
board, which I opened, mounted on the chair, and putting
my mouth as near as I could to the holo, called for help in a
loud voice, and in all the languages I understood. I then
fastened my handkerchief to a stick I usually carried, and
thrusting it up the hole, waved it several times in the air,
that if any boat or ship was near, the seamen might conjec-
ture some unhappy mortal to be shut up in the box.
I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly per-
ceived my closet to be moving along, and in the space of an
hour, or better, that side of the box where the staples were,
and had no windows, struck against something that was
hard. I apprehended it to be a rock, and found myself
tossed more than ever. I plainly heard a noise upon the
cover of my closet like that of a cable, and the grating of it
as it passed through the ring. I then found myself hoisted
up, by degrees, at least three feet higher than I was before;
whereupon I again thurst up my stick and handkerchief,
calling for help till I was almost hoarse. ln return to which
J heard a great shout repeated three times, giving me such
transports of joy, as are not to be conceived but by those who



A VOYAGE TO BROBT) ING N.A.G. 83
feel them. I now heard a trampling over my head, and
somebody calling through the hole with a loud voice in the
English tongue, “If there be any body below let him speake'
I answered, ‘I was an Englishman, drawn by ill fortune into
the greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and
begged by all that was moving, to be delivered out of the
dungeon I was in.' The voice replied, ‘I was safe, for m
box was fastened to their ship; and the carpenter should
immediately come and saw a hole in the cover, large enough
to pull me out. I answered, ‘ that was needless, and would
take up too much time; for there was no more to be done,
but to let one of the crew put his finger into the ring, and
take the box out of the sea into the ship, and so into the
captain's cabin. Some of them, upon hearing me talk so
wildly, thought 1 was mad; others laughed; for indeed it
never came into my head, that I was got among a people of
my own stature and strength. The carpenter came, and in a
few minutes sawed a passage about four feet square, then
let down a small ladder, upon which I mounted, and thence
was taken into the ship in a very weak condition.
The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me many
questions, which I had no inclination to answer. I was
equakly confounded at the sight of so many pigmies, for such
I took them to be after having so long accustomed my eyes to
the monstrous objects I had left. But the captain, Mr. Tho-
mas Wilcocks, an honest worthy Shorpshire man, observing I
was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a cordial
to comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, ad-
vising me to take a little rest, of which I had great need.---
Before I went to sleep, I gave him to understand that I had
some valuable furniture in my box, too good to be lost: a fine
hammock, a handsome field-bed, two chairs, a table, and a
cabinet. That my closet was hung on all sides, or rather
quilted, with silk and cotton : that if he would let one of the
crew bring my closet into his cabin, I would open it there
before him, and show him my goods. The captain hearing
me utter these absurdities, concluded me to be raving; how-
ever, (I suppose to paeify me) he promised to give orders as l
desired, and going upon deck sent some of his men into my
closet, whence (as I afterwards found) they drew up all my
goods, and stripped off the quilting; but the chairs, cabinet,
and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much da-
maged by the ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by
84 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
force. Then they knocked off some of the boards for the
use of the ship, and when they had taken what they had a
mind for, let the hull drop into the sea.
I slept some hours, but perpetually disturbed with dreams
of the place I had left, and the dangers I had escaped. How-
ever, mpon waking 1 found myself much recovered. It was
about eight o'clock at night, and the captain ordered supper
immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long. }.
entertained me with great kindness, observing me not to look
wildly, or talk inconsistently; and when we were left alone,
desired me to give him a relation of my travels, and by what
accident I came to be set adrift, in that monstrous wooden
chest. He said “that about twelve o'clock at noon, as he
was looking through his glass, he spied it at a distance, and
thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being
not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit,
which began to fall short. That upon coming nearer, and
finding his error, he sent out his long boat to discover what it
was; that his men came back in a fright, swearing they had
seen a swimming-house; that he laughed at their folly, and
went himself in the boat, ordering his men to take a strong
cable along with them ; that the weather being calm he
rowed round me several times, observing my windows and
wire lattices that defended them ; that he discovered two
staples upon one side, which was all of boards, without any
passage for light. He then commanded his men to row up to
that side, and fastening a cable to one of the staples, ordered
them to tow my chest, as they called it, toward the ship.---
When it was there, he gave directions to fasten another cable
to the cover, and to raise up my chest by pullies, which all
the sailors were not able to do above two or three feet. He
said, they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the
hole, and concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up
in the cavity.’ I asked “whether he or the crew had seen
any prodigious birds in the air, abour the time he first disco-
vered me’ To which he answered, ‘that discoursing this
matter with the sailors while I was asleep, one of them said,
he had observed three eagles flying towards the north, but
remarked nothing of their being larger than the usual size.'---
Which I suppose must be imputed to the great height they
were at; I then asked the captain “how far he reckoned
we might be from land?' He said, ‘by the best computation
he could make, we were at least a hundred leagues.’ I as-
A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.. 85
sured him, ‘ that he must he mistaken by almost half, for I
had not left the country whence I came above two hours
before I dropped into the sea.’ Whereupon he began again
to think that my brain was disturbed, of which he gave me a
hint, and advised me to go to bed in a cabin he had pro-
vided. I assured him, ‘I was well refreshed with his good
entertainment and company, and as much in my senses as
ever I was in Iny life.' He then grew serious, and dosired
to ask me freely, “whether I was not troubled in my mind
by the consciousness of some enormous crime, for which 1
was punished by the command of some prince, by exposing
me in that chest, as great criminals in other countries have
been forced to sea in a leaky vessel, without provisions: for
although he should be sorry for have taken so bad a man
into his ship, yet he would engage his word to set me safe
ashore, in º first port where he arrived.' Ho added, ‘that
his suspicions were much increased by some very absurd
speeches he had heard me deliver, at first to his sailors, and
afterwards to himself, in relation to my closet or chest, as
well as my odd looks and behaviour at suppor.’
I begged his patieuce to hear me tell my story, which I
faithfully did, from the last time I left England to the mo-
ment he first discovered me. And further to confirm all I had
said, entreated him to give orders that my cabinet should be
brought. I opened it in his presence, and shewed him the
small collection of raritics I made in the country from which
I had been so strangely delivered. There was a comb I had
contrived out of the stumps of the king's beard, and another
of the same materials, but fixed into a pairing of her majes-
ty's thumb-nail, which served for the back. There was a
collection of needles and pins, from a foot to half a yard
long; four wasp-stings, like joiners' tacks; some combings of
the queen's hair; a gold ring, which one day she made moa
resent of, in a most obliging manner, taking it from her
ittle finger, and throwing it over my head like a collar. I
desired the captain would please to accept this ring in return
for his civilities, which he absolutely refused. 1 shewcd him
a corn that l had cut off, with my own hand, from a maid
of honor's toe; it was about the size of a Kentish pippin, and
grown so hard, that on my return England, I got it hollowed
into a cup, and set in silver. And lastly, desired him to
look at the breeches I had then on, which were made of a
mouse skin. #:
No. 8. I



86 GULLIVER's TRAvels:
I could force nothing on him but a footman's tooth, which
be seemed very much to admire. An unskilful surgeon drew
it in a mistake from one of Glumdalclitch's men, who was
afflicted with the tooth-ache, but it was as sound as any in
his head. I got it cleaned and put into my cabinet. It was
about a foot long, and four inches in diameter. x-
The captain was very well satisfied with this plain rela-
tion I had given him, and said, “he wondered at one thing
very much, which was to hear me speak so loud,' asking me
‘whether the king and queen of that country were thick of
hearing?' I told him, ‘it was what I had been used to for
some years past, and that I admired as much the voices of
him and his men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and
yet I could hear them well enough; but when 1 spoke in
that country, it was like a man talking in the streets to ano-
ther looking out from the top of a steeple, unless when
placed on a table; and also told him, ‘I had observed ano-
ther thing on entering the ship: when the sailors stood all
about me, I thought they were the most contemptible little
creatures I had ever beheld.' For indeed, whilo in that
prince's country, I could never endure to look in a glass,
after mine eyes had been accustomed to such prodigious ob.
jects, because the comparison gave me so despicable a con-
ceit of myself. The captain said, ‘that while we were at
supper, he observed me to look at every thing with a sort of
wonder, and that I often seemed hardly able to contain my
laughter, which he knew not well how to take, but imputed
it to some disorder in my brain', I answered, “it was very
true; and wondered how I could forbear, when I saw his
dishes of the size of a silver three-pence, a leg of pork hardly
a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nut-shell;' and so I went
on, describing the rest of his household stuff and provisions,
after the same manner. The captain understood my railery
very well, and merrily replied with the old English proverb,
‘ that he doubted my eyes were bigger than my belly, for he
did not observe my stomach so good, though I had fasted all
\day;’ and continuing in his mirth, protested “he would have
gladly given a hundred pounds, to have seen my chest in the
eagle's bill, and aftewards in its fall from so great a height
into the sea, which would certainly have been a most asto-
nishing object, worthy to have the description of it trans-
mitted to future ages. -
The captain having been at Tonquin, was on his return ot


A VOYAGE TO BROR DINGN AG. 87
England, driven north-eastward to tho latitude of 44 degrees,
and longitude of 143; but meeting a tradewind two days aſ-
ter I came on board her, we sailed southward a long time,
and coasting New Holland, kept our course west-south-west.
till we doubled the Cape of Good Hope. Our voyage was
very prosperous, but I shall not trouble the reader with a
journal of it. The captain called in at one or two ports, and
sent in his long-boat for provisions and fresh wator; but I
never went out of the ship till we came into the Downs,
which was on the 3d of June, 1706, about nine months after
his escape. I offered to leave my goods in socurity for the
payment of my freight, but the captain protested he woitid
not roceive a farthing. Wo took a kind leave of each other,
and I made hin, promise he would come to see me at my
house in Redriff. I hired a horse and guide for 5s, which I
borrowed from the captain.
As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the
houses, the trees, the cattle, and the people, I began to think
myself in Lilliput. I was afraid of trampling on every tra-
veller I met, and often called aloud to have them stand out
of the way, so that I had like to have got my head broken for
1116. 2. 3.
When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to
enquire, one of the servants opening the door, I bent down to
go in, (like a goose under a gate) for fear of striking my head.
My wife ran out to embrace me, but I stooped lower than her
knees, thinking she could otherwise never be able to reach my.
mouth. My daughter kneeled down to ask my blessing, but
could not see her till she arose, having been so long used to
stand with my head and eyes erect to above sixty feet; and
then went to take her up with one hand by the waist. 1
looked down upon the servants, and one or two friends that
were in the house as pigmies and I giant. I told my wife
‘she had starved herself and her daughter to nothing; in short,
! behaved myself so unaccountably, that they were all of the
captain's opinion when he first saw me, and concluded I had
lost my wits. . - - .
In a little time, l and my family and friends came to a
right understanding, but my wife protestod “I should neverg
to sea any more ;' though my evil destiny so ordreed i.
had not power to hinder me. In the mean time, l here con-
clude the second part of my unfortunate voyages. . . .


12
A voyage
To LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBB.
DUBDRIB, AND JAPAN. s
PART m. -
-wºrs
chapter i.
The Author sets out on his Third P.oyage.--Is taken by Pi-
rates.---The Mačice of a Dutchman.--- His arrival in an
Island.---He is received into Laputa. -
f HAD not been at homo above ten days, when Captain Wil-
liam Robinson, a Cornish man, commander of the Hopewell,
a stout ship of three hundred tons, came to my house. I
had formerly been surgeon of another ship, where he was
master, and a fourth part owner, in a voyage to the Levant.
He had always treated me more like a brother, than an
inferior officer; and hearing of my arrival, made me a visit,
as I apprehended, only out of friendship, for nothing passed
more than what is usual after long absences. But repeating
his visits often, expressing his joy to find me in good health,
asking, “whether I was now settled for life,’ adding, ‘that
he intended a voyage to the East Indies in two months,’ at
last he plainly invited me, though with some apologies, to be
surgeon of the ship: “that l should have another surgeon
under me, beside our two mates; that my salary should he
double the usual pay, and that having experienced my know.
ledge in sea-affairs, to be at least equal to his, he would en-
ter into any engagement to follow my advice, as much as if I
had shared .."; command.’ - -
He said so many obliging things, and I knew him to be so
honest a man, that I could not reject ...” The only
difficulty that remained was to persuade my wife, whose
consent, however, I at last obtained, by the prospect of ad-



vantage she proposed to her cbildren. . -
We set out on the 5th of August, 1706, and arrived at the
Fort St. George the 14th of April, 1707. , We staid there
three weeks to refresh our crew, many of whom were sick.---
A VOYAGE TO LA PUTA, &c. 89
From thence we went to Tonquin, where the captain re-
solved to co. Linue some time, because much of the goods he
intended to buy, nor could he expect to be dispatched for
several months. Therefore, in hopes to defray some of the
º: he must be at, he bought a sloop, i. with seve-
ral sorts of goods, whorewith the Tonquinese usually trade to
the neighbouring islands, and putting fourteen men on board,
whereof three were of the country, he appointed me mastor
of the sloop, and gave me power to traffic, while he trans-
acted his affairs at Tonquin. ! * . . . ;
We had not sailed above three days, when a great storm
arising, we were driven five days to the north-north-east, and
then to the east, after which we had fair weather, but still
with a pretty strong gale from the west. Upon the tenth
day we were chased by some |...". who soon overtook us,
for my sloop was so deep laden, that she sailed very skew,
neither were we in a condition to defend ourselves.
We were boarded about the same time by both the pirates,
who entered furiously at the head of their men, but finding
us all prostrate on our faces (for so I gave orders,) they pi-
nioned us with strong ropes, and setting a guard upon us,
wout to search the sloop. - . . . . .
I observed among them a Dutchman, who seemed to be of
some authority, though he was not commander of either ship.
He knew us by our countenance to be Englishmen, and intº
bering to us in his own language, swore we should be tied
back to back, and thrown into the sea. I spoke Butch tole-
rably well, and told him who we were, und begged him, in
consideration of our being Christians and Protestants, of
neighbouring countries in strict alliance, that he would move
the captain to take some pity on us. This inflamed his rage;
he repeated his threatenings, and turning to his companions,
spoke with great vehemence in the Japanese language, as I
suppose, often using the word Christianos.
The largest of the two pirate ships was commanded by a
Japanese captain, who º a little Dutch very imperfectly.
He came up to me, and after soveral questions, which I an-
swered in great humility, he said, ‘we should not die.' I
made the captain a very low bow, and then turning to the
Dutchman, ‘I was sorry to find more mercy in heathen than
in a brother christian; , but had soon reasonſ to repent those
foolish words, for that malicious reprobate, having often au-





deavoured in vain to persuade both the captains tº throw nº
* - I -
*
90 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
into the sea (which they would not yield to, after the pro-
mise made me that l should not die), however, prevailed so
far, as to have a punishment inflicted on me, worse, in all hu-
man appearance, than death itself. My men were sent by
an equal division into both the pirate ships, and my sloop new
manned. As to myself, it was determined that I should be
sent adrift in a small canoe, with paddles and a sail, and four
days provisions, which at last the Japanese captain was so
kind to double out of his own stores, and would permit no
man to search me. I got down into the canoe, while the
Dutchman, standing upon the deck, loaded me with all the
curses and injurious terms his language could afford.
About an hour before we saw the pirates, I had taken an
observation, and found we were in the latitude of 46 N. and
longitude of 183. When I was at some distance from the
pirates, I discovered by a pocket-glass, several islands to the
south-east. I set up my sail, the wind being fair, with a de-
sign to reach the nearest of those islands, which I accom-
plished in about three hours. It was all rocky; however, I
found many birds' eggs; and striking fire, I kindled some
heath and dry seed-weed, by which I roasted my eggs. I ate
no other supper, being resolved to spare my provisions as much
as I could. I passed the night under the shelter of a rock,
strewing some heath under me, and slept pretty well.
The next day I sailed to another island, and thence to a
third and fourth, sometimes using my sail, and sometimes my
paddles. On the fifth day I arrived at the last island in my
sight, which lay south-south-east to the former.
This island was at a greater distance than I expected, and
I did not reach it in less than five hours, I encompassed it
almost round, before I could find a convenient place to land
in ; which was a small creek, about three times the width of
my canoe. I found the island to be all rocky, only a little
intermingled with tufts of grass, and sweet-smelling herbs.
I took out my provisions, and after having refreshed myself,
secured the remainder in a cave, whereof there were great
numbers. I hay all night in the eave where I had lodged my
Provisions, and slept very little, for the disquiets of my mind
prevailed over my weariness, and kept me awake. I consi-
dered how impossible it was to preserve my life in so desolate
a place, and how miserable my end must be; yet found my-
self so listless and desponding, that I had not the heart to riso:
and before I could get spirits enough to creep out of my cave,
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 9|
the day was far advanced. I walked awhile among the
rocks; the sky was perfectly clear, and the sun so hot, that
I was forced to turn my face from it: when all on a sudden,
it became obscure, as I thought, in a manner very different
from what happens by the interposition of a cloud. I turned
back, and was surprised to see a vast opaque body between
me and the sun moving forwards toward the island: it seemed
to be about two miles high, and hid the stin six or seven mi.
nutes; but I did not observe the air to be much colder, or the
sky more darkened, than if I had stood under the shade of a
mountain. As it approached nearer over the place where I
was, it appeared to be a firm substance, the bottom flat,
smooth, and shining very hright, from the reflection of the sea
below. I stood upon a height about two hundred yards from
the shore, and saw this vast body descending almost to a pa-
rallel with me, at less than an English mile distance. I took
out my pocket perspective, and could º discover numbers
of lº. moving up and down the sides of it, which appeared
to be sloping; but what those people were doing, I was not
able to distinguish. -
The island soon advanced nearer, and could see the sides
of it encompassed with several gradations of galleries, and
stairs, at certain intervals, to descend from "one to the other.
In the lowest gallery, there were some people fishing with long
angling-rods, and others looking on. I waved my cap (for my
hat was long since worn out) and my handkerchief toward
the island: and upon its nearer approach, called and shouted
with the utmost strength of my voice; and then looking cir-
cumspectly, beheld a crowd gather to that side which was
most in my view. I found by their pointing toward me and
to each other, that they plainly discovered me, although they
made no return to my º: but I could see four or five
men running in great haste up the stairs, to the top of the is-
land, who then disappeared. I happened rightly to conjec-
ture, that these were sent for orders, to some person in autho-
rity upon this occasion. - . . . . ;
The number of people increased, and in less than half an
hour, the island was moved and raisºq such a manner, that
the lowest gallery appeared in a pefaſſel less than a hundred
yards' distance from the height where I stood. 1 then put
myself in the most supplicating postures, and spoke in the
most humble accent, but received no answer. Those who
stood nearest over-against me, seemed to be persons gf dts-


92 GULLIVER's TRAVELS :
tinction, as I supposed by their habit. They conferred ear-
nestly with each other, looking often upon mer. At length
one of them called out in a clear, polite, smooth dialect, not
unlike in sound to the Italian; and therefore I returned an
answer in that language, hoping at least that the cadence
might be more agreeable to his ears. Although neither of us
understood each other, yet my meaning was easily known, for
the people saw the distress l was in. -
They made signs for me to come from the rock, and go to-
wards the shore, which I accordingly did; and tho flying
island being raised to a convenient height, the verge directly
over me, a chain was let down from the lowest gallery, with
a seat fastened to the bottom, to which l fixed myself, and
was drawn up by pulleys.

CHAPTER II.
The humours and dispositions of the Laputians described.---
An account of their Learning.---Of the King and his Court.
The Author's reception there.---The Inhabitants subject to
jear and disquietudes. -
At my alighting, I was surrounded with a crowd of people,
but those who stood nearest, seemed be of higher quality.---
They beheld me with all the marks and circumstances of
wonder, neither indeed was I much in their debt; having
never till then seen a race of mortals so singular in their
shapes, habits, and countenances. Their heads were all re-
clined, either to the right, or to the left; one of their eyes
turned inward, and the other directly up to the zenith. Their
outward garments were adorned with the figures of suns,
moons, and stars; interwoven with those of fiddles, flutes,
harps, trumpets, guitars, harpsichords, and many other in-
struments of music, unknown to us in Europe. I observed,
here and there, many in the habits of servants, with a blown
bladder, fastened like a flail to the end of a stick, which they
carried in their hands. Each bladder contained a small quan-
tity of dried peas, or little pebbles, as I was afterwards in-
formed. With these bladders, they now and then flapped
the mouths and ears ºose who stood near them, of which
practice I could not then conceive the meaning. The minds
of these people, it seems, are so taken up with intense specu-
lations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the dis-
courses of others, without being roused by some external tac-


A VOYAGE TO LA PUTA, &c. 93
\
tion upon the organs of speech or hearing; for which reason
those persons who are able to afford it, always heep a flap-
per (the original is climenole) in their family, as one of their
domestics; nor ever walk abroad, or make visits without him.
And the business of this officer is, when two, three, or moto
persons are in company, gently to strike with his bladder the
mouth of him who is to speak, and the right ear of him or
them to whom the speaker addresses himself. This ſhapper
is likewise employed diligently to attend his mastor in his
walks, and upon occasion to give him a soft flap on his eyes;
because he is always so . up in cogitation, that he is
in thanifest danger of falling down every precipice, and bounc-
ing his head against every post; and in the streets, of justling
others, or being justled himself into tho kennel.
They conducted me up stairs to the top of the island, and
from thence to the royal palace. While we were ascendhng,
they forgot several times what they were about, and left nie
to myself, till their memories were again roused by their flap-
pers: for they appeared altogether unmoved by the sight of
my foreign countenance, and by the shouts of the vulgar,
whose thoughts and minds were more disengaged.
At last we entered the palace, and E. into the
chamber of presence, where I saw the king seated on his
throne, attended on each side by persons of the first rank.--
Before the throne was a large table filled with globes and
Fpheres and mathematical instruments of all kinds. His
majesty took not the least notice of us, although our entrance
was not withuot sufficient noise, by tho concourse of all per-
sons belonging to the court. But ho was then deep in a pro-
blem; and we attended at least an hour before ho could solve
it. There stood by him on each side, a young page, with
flaps in their hands, and when they saw he was at leismre,
one of them gently struck his mouth, and the other his right
ear: at which he startled like one awoke of a sudden, aud
looking towards me and my companions, recollected the
occasion of our coming, whereof he had been informed before.
He spoke some words, whereupon a young man with a fla
came up to my side, and ºr. me gently on the right ear;
but I made signs that I had no occasion for such an instru-
ment, which, as I afterwards found, gave his majesty and the
whole court, a very mean opinion of my understanding. The
king, as far as I could conjecture, asked me several questions,
and I addressed myself to him in all the languages I knew.---


94 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
When it was found I could neither understand, or be under-
stood, 1 was conducted by his order to an apartment in his
palace, where two servants were appointed to attend me.---
My dinner was brought, and four persons of quality, whom I
remember to have seen near the king's person, did me the
honor to dine with me. We had two courses of three dishes
each. At the first course, there was a shoulder of mutton,
cut into an equilateral triangle, a piece of beef into a firom-
boides, and a pudding into a cycloid. The second course
was two ducks trussed up in the form of fiddles; saussages
and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys, and a breast of
veul in the shape of a heart. Tho servants cut our bread into
cones, cylinders, parallelograms, and several other mathema-
tical figures.
After dinner my company withdrew, and a person was
sent to me by the king's order, attended by a flapper. He
brought with him pen, ink, and paper, and three or four
books, giving me to understand by signs, that he was sent to
instruct me in the language. We sat together four hours, in
which time I wrote down a great number of words in co-
lumns, with the translations over against them. My tutor
would order some of my servants to fetch something, to turn
about, to make a bow, to sit or stand, or walk, and the like.
Then I took down the sentence in writing. He shewed me
also one of his books, the figures of the sun, moon, and stars,
the zodiac, the tropics, and polar circles, together with the
denominations of many planes and solids. He gave me the
names and descriptions º! all the musical instruments, and the
general terms of art in playing on each of them. After he
had left me, I placed all my words, with their interpretations,
in alphabetical order. And thus, in a few days, by the help
of a very faithful memory, I got some insight into their lan-
The word which I interpret the flying or floating island, is
in the original Laputº, whereof I could never learn the true
etymology. Lap in the old obseleto language signifies high;
and untah, a governor; from which they say, by corruption,
was derived Lapuſa from Lapuntah. But I do not approve of
this derivation, which seems to be a little strained. I ven-
tured to offer to the learned among them a conjecture of my
own, that Laputa was quasi lap outed; lap, signifying pro-
perly, the dancing of the sun-beams, in the sea, and outed, a
wing, which, however, I shall not obtrude, but submit to the
judicious reader. -

A voVAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 95
Those to whom the king had entrusted me, observing how
ill I was clad, ordered a tailor to come next morning, and take
my measure for a suit of clothes. This operator did his office
after a different manner from those of his trade in Europer---
He first took my altitude by a quadrant, and then, with rule
and compasses, described the dimensions and outlines of my
whole body, all which he entered upon paper: and in six
days brought my clothes very ill made, and quite out of
shape, by happening to mistake a figure in the calculation.---
But my misfortune was, that I observed such accidents very
frequent, and little regarded.
His majesty had given orders, that the island should move
north-east and by east, to the vertical point over Lagado, the
metropolis of the whole kingdom below, upon the firm earth.
It was about ninety leagues distant, and our voyage lasted
four days and a half. I was not in the least sensible of the
progressive motion made in the air by the island. On the
second morning, about eleven o'clock, the king himself in per-
son, attended by his nobility, courtiers, and officers, having
prepared all their musical instruments, played on them for
three hours without intermission, so that I was quite stunned
wrth the noise; neither could I possibly guess the meaning
till the tutor informed me. He said, ‘that the people of the
island had their ears adapted to hear the music of the spheres,
which always played at certain periods, and the court was
now prepared to hear their part in whatever instrument they
most excelled.
In our journey towards Lagado, the capital city, his ma-
jesty ordered that the island should stop over certain towns
and villages, from whence he might receive the petitions of
his subjects. And to this purpose, several packthreads were
let down, with small weights at the bottom. On these
pack-threads the people strung their petitions, which
mounted up directly, like the scraps of paper fastened by
school-boys at the end of the string that holds their kite.---
Sometimes we received wine and victuals from below, which
were drawn up with pullies.
Those people are under continual disquietudes, never en-
joying a minute's peace of mind; and their disturbances pro-
ceed from causes which very little affect the rest of mortals.
Their apprehensions arise from several changes they dread in
the celestial bodies. For instance, that the earth, by the
continual approaches of the sun towards it, must, in course of

96 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
time, be absorbed, or swallowed up. That the face of the
sun will, by degrees, bo encrusted with its own effluvia, and
give no more light to the world. That the earth very nar-
rowly escaped a brush from the tail of the last comet, which
would infallibly reduce it to ashes; and that the next, which
they have calculated for one-and-thirty years hence, will
probably destroy us. .
They are so perpetually alarmed with the apprehensions of
these, and the like impending dangers, that they can neither
sleep quietly in their beds, nor have any relish for the com-
mon pleasures and amusements of life. When they meet an
acquaintance in the morning, the first question is about the
sun's health, how he looked at his sitting and rising, and what
hopes they have to avoid the stroke of the approaching comet.
This conversation they are apt to run into with the same
temper that boys discover in delighting to hear terrible stories
of spirits and hobgoblins, which they greedily listen to, and
dare not go to bed for fear.
In about a month's time, I had made a tolerable proficiency
in their language, and was able to answer most of the king's
qucstions. & .


CHAPTER III.
A Phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy.
The Laputians' great improvements in the latter.---The
King's method of suppressing insurrections. w
I desired leavo of this prince to see the curiosities of the is-
land, which he was graciously pleased to grant, and ordered
my tutor to attend me. I chiefly wanted to know, to what
cause in art or in nature it owed its several motions, whereof
I will now give a philosophical account to the reader.
. The flying or floating island is exactly circular, its dia-
meter 7837 yards, or about four miles and a half, and conse-
quently contains ten thousand acres. It is three hundred
yards thick. The bottom, or under surface, which appears to
those who view it below, is one even regular plate of ada-
mant, shooting up to the height of about two hundred yards.
Above it lie the several minerals, in their usual order, and
over all is a coat of rich mould, ten or twelve feet deep.
The declivity of the upper surface, from the circumference
to the centre, is the natural cause why all the dews and rains,
which fall upon the island, are conveyed in small rivulets

A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 97
towards the middle, where they are emptied into four large
basins, each of about half a mile in circuit, and two hundred
yards distant from the centre. From these basins the water
is continually exhaled by the sun in the day time, which
effectually prevents their overflowing. Besides, as it is in the
power of the monarch to raise the island above the regions of
the clouds and vapours, he can prevent the falling of dews
and rain whenever he pleases. For the highest clouds can-
not rise above two miles, as naturalists agree, at least they
were never known to do so in that country.
As to the centre of the island there is a chasm about fifty
yards in diameter, whence the astronomers descend into a
large dome, which is therefore called,ſlandona gagnole, or the
astronomers' cave, situated at the depth of a hundred yards
beneath the upper surface of the adamant. In this cave are
twenty lamps continually burning, which, from the reflection
of adamant, cast a strong light into every part. The place is
stored with a great variety of sextants, quadrants, telescopes,
astrolabes, and other astronomical instruments. But the
greatest curiosity, on which the fate of the island depends, is
a loadstone of prodigious size, in shape resembling a weaver's
shuttle. It is in length six yards, and in the thickest part,
at least three yards over. This magnet is sustained by a
very strong axle of adamant passing through the middle,
upon which it plays, and is poised so exactly that the weak-
est hand can turn it. It is hooped round with a hollow
cylinder of adamant, fourfeet deep, as many thick, and twelve
yards in diameter, placed horizontally, and supported by
eight adamantine feet, oach six yards high. In the middle
of the concave side, there is a groove twelve inches deep, in
which the extremities of the axle are lodged, and turned
round as there is occasion.
The stone cannot be moved from its place by any force, be.
cause the hoop and its feet are one continued piece with that
body of adamant which consitutes the bottom of the is-
land.
By means of this loadstone, the island is made to rise and
fall, and move from one place to another. For, with respeet
to that part of the earth over which the monarch presides,
the stone is endued at one of its sides with an attractive
power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the
magnet erect, with its attracting end towards the earth, the
island ascends; but when the repelling extremity points
No. 9. K
98 GULLiver's TRAVELs:
downwards, the island mounts directly upwards. When the
position of the stone is oblique, the motion of the island is so
too: for in this magnet, the forces always act in lines parallel
to its direction. . . . . *. *
But it must be observed, that the island cannot move be-
yond the extent of the dominions below, nor can it rise above
the height of four miles; for which, the astronomers (who
have written large systems concerning the stone) assign the
following reason; that the magnotic virtue does not extend:
beyond four miles, and that the mineral, which acts upon
the stone in the bowels of the earth, and in the sea about
six leagues distant from the shore, is not diffused through
thq whole globe, but terminated with the limits of the king's
dominions: and it was easy from the great advantage of
such a superior situation, for a prince to bring under obe-
dience whatever country lay within the attraction of that
magnet. . . ; : ' & . . . . . . . -
his loadstone is under the care of certain astronomers,
who from time to time, give it such positions as the monarch
directs. They spend the greatest part of their lives in oh-
serving the celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance
of glasses, far excelling ours in goodness. For, although
their largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they mag-
nify more than those of a hundred with us, and shew the
stars with greater clearness. This advantage has enabled
them to extend their discoveries much farther than our astro-
nomers in Europe. They have likewise discovered two
smallcr stars, or sattelites, which revolve about Mars; the
nearest of which is distant from the centre of the primary
planet exactly three of his diameters, and the most distant,
five; the former planet revolves in the space of ten hours,
and the latter in twenty-one and a half, so that the squares
of their periodical times are very near in the same proportion
with the cubes of their distance from the centre of Mars,
which evidently shews them to be governed by the same law
of gravation which influences the other heavenly bodies.---
They have observed ninety-threed ifferent comets, and set-
tled their periods with great exactness. . . . . . . .
If any town should engage in rebellion or mutiny, fall into
violent factions, or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the king
has two methods of reducing them to obedience: the first,
and the mildest course is, by keeping the island hovering
over such a town, and the lands about it, whereby he can de-





A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 99
prive them of the benefit of the sun and the rain, and conse-
quently afflict the inhabitants with dearth and diseasos; and
if the crime deserve it, they are at the same time pelted from
above with great stones, against which they have no defence
but by creeeping into cellars or caves, while the roofs of their
houses are beaten to pieces. But if they still continue obsti-
nate, or offer to raise insurrections, he proceeds to the last re-
medy, by letting the island drop directly on their heads,
which makes an universal destruction both of houses and
men. However, this is an extromity to which the prince is
seldom driven, neither indeed is he willing to put it in excell-
tion; for if the town intended to be destroyed should have
in it any tall rocks, as it generally falls out in the larger
cities, a situation probably chosen at first with a viow to pro-
vent such a catastrophe; or if it abound in high spires, or
pillars of stone, a sudden fall might endanger the bottom or
under surface of the island, which, although it consist as I
have said, of one entiro adamant, two hundred yards thick,
might happen to crack by too great a shock, or burst by ap-
p. too near the fires from the houses below, as the
backs, both of iron and stone, will often do in our chimnies.
Of all this the people are well apprised, and understand how
far to carry their obstinacy, where their liberty or property is
concerned. And the king, when he is highest provoked, and
most determined to press a city to rubbish, orders the island
to descend with great gentleness, out of a pretence of tender-
ness to his people, but, indeed, for fear of breaking the ada-
mantine bottom; in which case, it is the opinion of all their
philosophers, that the loadstone could no longer holdit up, and
the whole mass would fall to the ground.
By a fundamental law of this realm, neither the king, nor
either of his two eldest sons, are permitted to leave this is-
land; nor the queen till she is past child-bearing.




CHAPTER IV.


The Author leaves Laputa, is conveyed to Balnibarbi, arrives
at the Metropolis.--A description of the Metropolis, and
the Country adjoining.---The Author hospitably received by
a great Lord.---His conversation with the Lord.
ALTHough I cannot say that I was ill treated in the island,
yet I must confess that I thought myself too much neglected,
and not without some degree of contempt; for * prince
~~ K
100 GULLIVER's TRAvels:

nor people appeared to be curious in any part of knowledge,
except mathematics and music, wherein I was far their infe-
rior, and on that account very little regarded.
I had obtained by hard study, a good degree of knowledge
in their language: I was weary of being confined to an is.
land, where I received so little eountenance, and resolved to
leave it with the first opportunity.
On the 16th of February, I took leave of his majesty and
the court. The king made me a present to the value of
about two hundred pounds English, and my protector, his
kinsman, as much more, together with a letter of recommen-
dation to a friend of his in Lagado, the metropolis; the island
being then hovering over a mountain within two miles of it,
I was let down from the lowest gallery in the same manner I
had been taken up. - -
The continent, as far as it is subject to the monarch of the
flying island, passes under the name of Balnibarbi; and the
metropolis, as I said bofore, is called Lagado. I felt some
little satisfaction in finding myself on firm ground. I walked
to the city without any concern, being clad like one of the
natives, and sufficiently instructed to converse with them.---
I soon found out the person's house to whom 1 was recom-
mended, presented my letter from his friend the grandee in
the island, and was received with much kindness. This
great lord, whose namo was Munodi, ordered me an apart-
ment in his own house, where I continued during my stay,
and was entertained in a most hospitable manner.
The next morning after my arrival, he took me in his
chariot to see the town, which is about half the size of Lon-
don, but the houses very strangely huilt, and most of them
out of repair. The people in the streets walked fast, looked
wild, their eyes fixed, and were generally in rags. We
passed through one of the town-gates, and went about three
miles into the country, where I saw many labourers working
with several sorts of tools in the ground, but was not able to
conjecture what they were about, neither did l observe any
expectation either of corn or grass, although the soil ap-
peared to be excellent. I could not forbear admiring these
odd appearances both in town and country, and made bold
to desire my conductor, that he would be pleased to explain
to me what could be meant by so many busy heads, hands,
and faces, both in the streets and in the fields, because I did
not discover any good effects they produced; but, on the
*
A voy AGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 101
contrary, I never knew a soil more unhappily cultivated,
houses so ill contrived and so ruinous, or a people whose
countenances and habit expressed such extreme misery and
want.
During our journey, he made me observe several methods
used by farmers in managing their lands; which to me were
wholly unaccountable, for, except in some very few places, I
could not discover one car of corn, or blade of grass. But, in
three hours travelling the scene was wholly altered; we came
into a most beautiful country: farmers' houses, at small dis-
tances neatly built, the fields inclosed, containing vineyards,
corn grounds, and meadows. Neither do I remember to
have seen a moro delightful prospect. His excellency told
me with a sigh, “that there his estate began, and would con-
tinue the same, till we should come to his house. That his
countrymen ridiculed and despised him for managing his at-
fairs no better, and for setting so bad an example to the king-
dom, which, however, was followed by very few, except
such as were old, and wilful, and weak like himself.'
We came at length to the house, which was indeed a noble
structure, built according to the best rules of ancient archi-
tecture. The fountains, gardens, walks, avenues, and
groves, were all disposed with exact judgment and taste.---
I gave due praise to every thing I saw, whereof his excel-
lency took not the least notice till after supper, whon there
being no third companion, he told me, with a very melan-
choly air, “that he doubted he must throw down his houses
in the town and country, to build them after the present
mode; destroy all his plantntions, and cast others into such
a form as modern usage required, and gave the same direction
to all his tenants, unless he would submit to incur the censure
of pride singularity, affectation, ignorance, caprice, and per-
haps increase of his majesty's displeasure.' -
he sum of his discourse was to this effect: ‘That about
forty years ago, certain persons went to Laputa, either upon
business or diversion, and, after five months continuance,
came back with a very little smattering in mathematics, but
full of volatile spirits acquired in that airy regiou. That
these persons upon their return began to dislike the manage.
ment of every thing below, and fell into schemes of putting
all arts, sciences, languages, and mechanics, upon a new foot-
ing. To this end, they procured a royal patent for erecting
an academy of projectors in Lagado, and the * pre-
K


102 GULLIVER's TRAvels:
vailed so strangely among the people, that there is not a
town of any consequence in the kingdom without such an
academy. In these colleges, the professors contrive new
rules and methods of agriculture and building, and new in-
struments and tools for all trades and manufactures, whereby,
as they undertake, one man shall do the work of ten; a pa-
lace may be built in a week, of materials so durable as to
last for ever without repairing. All the fruits of the earth
shall come to maturity at whatever season we think fit to
choose, and increase a hundred told more than they at pre-
sent, with innumerable other happy proposals. The only
inconvenience is, that none of these projects are yet brought
to perfection; and in the mean time, the whole country lies
miserably waste, the houses in ruins, and the people without
food or clothes; by all which, instead of being discouraged,
they are fifty times more violently bent upon prosecuting
their schemes, driven equally on by hope and despair: that
as for himself, not being of an enterprising spirit, he was con-
tent to go on in the old forms, to live in the houses his ances-
tors had built, and act as they did, in every part of life,
without innovation.’ His lordship desired me to observe a
ruined building, upon the side of a mountain about three
miles distant, of which he gave this account: “that he had a
very convenient mill within half a mile of his house, turned
by a current from a very large river, and sufficient for his
own family, as well as a great number of his tenants. That
about seven years ago, a club of those projectors came to
him with proposals to destroy this mill, and build another on
the side ..} the mountain, on the long ridge whereof a long
canal must be cut, for a repository of water, to be conveyed
up by pipes and engines to supply the mill: because the
wind and air upon a height agitated the water, and thereby
made it fitter for the motion, and because the water, descend-
ing down a declivity, would turn the mill with half the cur-
rent of a river, whose course is more upon a level.’
In a few days we came back to the town, and his excel-
lency considering the bad character he had in the academy,
would not go with me himself, but recommended me to a
friend of his, to bear me company thither. .
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 103
CHAPTER W.
The Author permitted to see the great Academy of Lagado.--
The Academy largely described.---The Arts wherein the
Professors employ themselves. -
This academy is not an entire single building, but a contſhua-
tion of several houses on both sides of a street, which growing
waste, was purchased and applied to that use. Every room
has in it one or more projectors; and I believe I could not be
in less than five iſ: IOOIOS,
The first man I saw was of a meagre aspect, with sooty
hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged, and singed
in several places. His clothes, shirt, and skin, were all of
the same colour. He had been eight years upon a project
for extracting sun-beams out of cucumbers, which were to be
put in phials hermotically scaled, and let out to warm the
air in raw and inclement summers. He told me he did not
doubt, that in eight years more he should be able to supply
the governor's gardens with sun-shine at a reasonble rate;
but he complained that his stock was low, and entreated me
‘to give him something as an encouragement to ingenuity,
especially since this had been a very dear season for cu-
cumbers.
I had hitherto seen only one side of the academy, the
other being º to the advancers of speculative kearn-
ing, of whom I shall say something when I have mentioned
ome illustrious person, who is called among them ‘the uni-
versal artist.' . He told us “he had been thirty years employ-
ing his thoughts for the improvement of human life.” #.
had two large rooms full of curiosities, and fifty men at work.
Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by
extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles
percelote; others softening marble for pillows and pin-
cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to
preserve them from foundering. The artist himself was at
that time busy upon two great designs: the first, to sow land
with chaff, wherein he affirmed the true seminal virtue to be
contained, as he demonstrated by several experiments, which
1 was not skilful enough to comprehend. The other was,
by a certain composition of gums, minerals, and vegetables,
outwardly applied, to prevent the growth of wool upon two
young lambs, and he hoped, in a reasonable time, to be
T04 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
able to propagate the breed of naked sheep all over the
kingdom.
We crossed a walk to the other part of the academy,
where, as I have already said, the projectors in speculative
learning resided.
The first professor I saw was in a very large room, with
forty pupils about him. After salutation, he said, “perhaps
I might wonder to see him employed in a project for improv-
ing speculative knowledge by practical and mechanical ope-
rations; but the world would soon be sensible of its jºi.
ness, and he flattered himself that a more noble exalted
thought, never sprang in any other man's head. Every one
knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts
and sciences, whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant
person, at a reasonable charge, and with little bodily labour,
might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, ma-
thematics, and theology, without the least assistance from
genius or study.' He then led me to the frame, about the
sides whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty
feet square, placed in the middle of the room. The superfi-
ces were composed of several bits of wood, about the size of a
die, but some larger than others. They were all linked to-
gether by slender wires; these bits of wood were covered, on
every square, with paper pasted on them, and on these pa-
pers were written all the words of their language, in their
several moods, tenses, and declensions, but without any order.
The professor then desired me ‘to observe, for he was going
to set an engine at work.’ The pupils, at his command,
took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were
forty fixed round the edges of the frame, and giving them a
sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely
changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads to
read the lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and
where they found three or four words together that might
make part of a sentence they dictated to the four remaining
boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or
four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived,
that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of
wood moved upside down. -
Six hours a day the young students were employed in this
labour, and the professor showed me several volumes in large
folio, already collected, of broken sentences, which he in-
tended to piece together, and out of those rich materials, to
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. J05
give the world a complete body of all arts and sciences,
which, however, might be still improved, and much expedited
if the public would raise a fund for making and employing
five hundred such frames in Lagado, and oblige the managers
to contribute in common their several collections.
I made my humblest acknowledgments to this illustrföus
person, for his great communicativeness, and promised, “if
ever I had the good fortune to return to my native country,
that I would do him justice, as the sole inventor of this won.
derful discovery. *
We next went to the school of languages, where three
Professors sat in consultation upon improving that of their
own country.
The first project was, to shorten discourse, by cuttmg
polysyllables into one, and leaving out the verbs and par.
º because, in reality, all things imaginable are but
OUInS.
The other project was a scheme for entirely abolishing all
words whatsoever; and this was urged as a great advantage
in point of health, as well as brevity. For it is plain, that
every word we speak is, in some degree, a diminution of our
lungs by corrosion, and consequently contributes to the
shortening of our lives. An expedient was therefore offered,
‘that since words are only names for things, it would be more
convenient for all men to carry about them such things as
were necessary to express a particular business they are to
discourse on.’ And this invention would certainly have
taken place, to the great ease as well as the health of the
of the subject, if the women, in conjunction with the vulgar
and illiterate, had not threatenod to raise a rebellion, unless
they might be allowed the liberty to speak with their tongues,
after the manner of their forefathers; such constant and
irreconcileable enemies to science are the common people.---
However, many of the most learned and wise adhere to the
new scheme of expressing themselves by things, which has
qfily this inconvenience attending it, that if a man's business
he very great, and of various kinds, he must be obliged in
proportion to carry a greater bundle of things upon his back,
unless he can afford one or two strong servants to attend him.
I have often beheld two of those sages almost sinking under
the weight of their packs, like pedlars among us, who, when
they meet in the street, would lay.down their loads, opon
their sacks, and hold a conversation for an hour; then put up


106 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
their implements, help each other to resume their burdens,
and take their leave. -
But for short conversations a man may carry implements in
his pockets, and under his arms, enough to supply him, and
in his house he cannot be at a loss; therefore, the room in
which company meet who practise this art, is full of all things,
ready at hand requisite to }. matter for this kind of arti-
ficial converse.
I was at the mathematical school, where the master taught
his pupils after a method scarce imaginable to us in Europe.
The proposition and demonstration were fairly written on a
thin !. with ink composed of cephalic tincture. This,
the student was to swallow on a fasting stomach, and for
three days following was allowed to eat nothing but bread
and water.
CHAPTER VI.
A further account of the Academy, ---The Author proposes
some improvements, which are honorably received.
In the school of political projectors, I was but ill entertained;
the professors appearing, in my judgment, wholly out of their
senses, which is a scene that never fails to make me melan-
choly. But, however, I shall so far do justice to this part of
the academy, as to acknowledge that all of them were not so
visionary. There was a most ingenious doctor, who seemed
to be perfectly versed in the whole nature and system of
government. This illustrious person had very usefully em-
ployed his studies, in finding out effectual romedies for all
diseases and corruptions, to which the several kinds of public
administration are subject, by the vices or infirmities of those
who govern, as well as by the licentiousness of those who
are to obey.
... Another professor shewed me a large paper of instructions
for discovering plots and conspiracies against the government.
The whole discourse was written with great acuteness, con-
taining many observations both curious and useful for F.
cians, but as I conceived not altogether complete; this 1 ven-
tured to tell the author, and offered, if he pleased, to supply
him with some additions. - ,
The professor made me great acknowledgments for com-
municating those observations, and promised to make honor.
able mention of me in his treatise. . . . . . .


A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 107
I saw nothing in this country that could invite me to a
longer continuance, and began to thfnk of returning home to
England. *
CHAPTER VII.
The Author leaves Lagado, arrives at Maldonada.---No Ship
ready.---He takes a short Voyage to Glubbdubdrib.---His
reception by the Governor. §
THE continent, of which this kingdom is a part, extends it-
self, as l have reason to believe, eastward, to that unknown
tract of America westward of California, and north of the
Pacific Ocean, which is not above a hundred and fifty miles
from Lagado: where there is a good port, and much com-
merce with the great island of Luggnagg, situated to the
north-west about 29 degrees north latitude, and 140 longi-
tude. This island of Luggnagg stands south-eastward of Ja-
pan, about a hundred leagues distant. There is a strict
alliance between the Japanese emperor and the king of
Luggnagg, which affords frequent opportunities of sailing
from one island to the other. I determined, therefore, to
direct my course this way, in order to my return to Europe.
I hired two mules, with a guide, to show me the way, and
carry my small baggage. I took leave of my noble protector,
who had shewn me so much favour, and made me a generous
present at my departure.
My journoy was without any accident or adveuture worth.
relating. When I arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so
it is called), there was no ship in the harbour, bound for
Luggnagg, nor likely to be for some time. The town is
about as large as Portsmouth. . I soon fell into some ac-
quaintanee, and was very hospitably received, . A gentleman
of distinction said to me, ‘that since the ships bound for
Luggnagg could not be ready in less than a month, it might
be no disagreeable amusement for me to take a trip to the
little island of Glubbdubdrib, about five leagues off to the
south-west. He offered himself and a friend to accompany
me, and that I should be provided with a small bark for the
voyage. - 3 :
Glubbdubdrib, as nearly as I can interpret the word; sig-
nifies the island of sorcerers or magicians. It is about one-
third as large as the Isle of Wight, and extremely fruitful:
it is governed by the head of a certain tribe, who are all ma-
108 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
gicians. This tribe marries only among each other, ahd the
eldest in succession is prince or governor. He has a hoble
palace, and a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded
by a wall of ſº stone, twenty feet high. In this park
there are several small inclosures for cattle, corn, and gar-
dening. w X-
The governor and his family are served and attended by
dámestics of a kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in ne-
cromancy, he has a power of calling whom he pleases from
the dead, and commanding their service for twenty-four hours,
but no longer; nor can he call the same person up again in
less than three months, except upon very extrardionary
occasions.
When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in
the morning, one of the gentlemen who accompanied me,
went to the governor, and desired admittance for a stranger,
who came on purpose to have the honor of attending on his
highness. This was immediately granted, and we all three
entered the gate of the palace between two rows of guards,
armed and dressed in a very antick manner, and something
in their countenances that made my flesh creep with a horror
I cannot express. . We passed through several apartments,
between servants of the same sort, ranked on each side as be-
fore, till we came to the chamber of presence; where after
three profound obeisances, and a few general questions, we
were permitted to sit on three stools, near the lowest step of
his higness's throne. He understood the language of Bălni.
barbi, although it were different from that of the island. He
desired me to give him some account of my travels; and, to
let me see that I should be treated without ceremony, he dis-
missed all his attendants with a turn of his finger, at which,
to my great astonishment, they vanished in an instant, like
viscions in a dream when we awake on a sudden. I could
not recover myself for some time, till the governor assured me
that “I should receive no hurt;' and observing my two com-
panions to be under no concern, who had been often enter-
tained in the same manner, I began to take courage, and re-
lated to his highness a short history of my adventures, yet
not without some hesitation, and frequently looking behind
me to the place where I had seen those domestic spectres.---
T had the . to dino with the governor, where a new set
of ghosts served up the meat, and waited at table. I stayed
till sunsot, but humbly desired his highness to excuse me for

A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, &c. 109
not aceepting his invitation of lodging in the palace. M
.. and J lay at a private . in the 1. id:
ing, which is the capital of this island; and the next morn-
ing we returned to pay our duty to the governor, as he was
pleased to command us.
It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating
what vast numbers of illustrious persons wero called up, to
gratify that insatiable desire I had to see the world in every
period of antiquity placed before me. 1 chiefly fed my eyes
with beholding the destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and
the restorers of liberty to oppressed and injured nations.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Author returns to Maldonada.---Sails to the Kingdom of
Luggnagºg.---The Author confined.---He is sent for to
Court.---The manner of his admittance.---The King's great
denity to his Subjects, *
The day of departure being come, I took leave of his high-
ness, the governor of Glubdubdrib, and returned with my
two companions to Maldonada, whore, after a fortnight's
waiting, a ship was ready to sail to Luggnagg. The two
entlemen, . some others, were so generous and kind as to
urnish me with provisions, and see me on board. I was a
month on this voyage. We had one violent storm, and were
under the necessity of steering westward to get into the
trade-wind, which holds for about sixty leagues. On the
21st of April 1708, we sailed into the river of Clumegnig,
which is a sea-port town, at the south-east point of Luggnagg.
We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made a
signal for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than
half an hour, by whom we were guided between certain
shoals and rocks, which are very dangerous in the passage,
to a large basin, where a fleet may ride in safety within a
cable's length of the town-wall. --- -
Some of our sailors, whether out of treachery or inadver-
tence, had informed the pilots “that I was a stranger, and
a great traveller;' whereof these gave notice to a custom-houso
. by whom I was examined very strictly upon my
landing. I gave him a short account of some particulars,
and made my story as plausible and consistent as I could;
but I thought it necessary to disguise my country, and call
myself a Hollander; because my intentions were for Japan,
No. 10. I.

l 10 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
and I knew the Dutch were the only Europeans permitted
to enter into that kingdom. The officer said, ‘I must be
confined till he could receive orders from court, for which he
would write immediately, and hoped to receive an answer in
a fortnight.' I was carried to a convenient lodging, with a
sentry placed at the door; however, I had the liberty of a
large garden, and was treated with great humanity.
The dispatch came from court about the time we expected.
It contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to
Traldrag dubh, or Trildrogdrib, (for it is pronounced both
ways as near as I can remember,) by a party of ten horse.
All my retinue was a young man for an interpreter, whom I
persuaded into my service, and, at my humble request, we
had each of us a mule to ride on. A messenger was
dispatched half a day's journey before us, to give É. king
notice of my approach; and to desire, ‘that his majesty
would please to appoint a day and hour, when it would be his
gracious pleasure, that I might have the honour to lick the
dust before his footstool.' This is the court style, and I
found to be more than matter of form. For, upon my ad-
mittance two days after my arrival, I was commanded to
crawl upon my belly, and lick the floor as I advanced; but
on account of my being a stranger, care was taken to have
it made so clean, that the dust was not offensive. However,
this was a peculiar grace not allowed to any persons of the
highest rank, when they desire an admittance; nay, some-
times the floor is strewed with dust on purpose, when the
person to be admitted happens to have powerful enemies at
court. When I had crept within four yards of the throne,
I raised myself gently upon my knees, and then striking my
forehead seven times against the ground, I pronounced the
following words, as they had been taught me the night be-
fore: Inckpiling gloff thro56 squut serumm b/hiop mlashna/t
zwin, thodbalkuffnsthiophad gurdlulubh, asht. This is the
compliment, established by the laws of the land, for all por.
sons admitted to the king's presence. It may be rendered
into English thus: ‘May your celestial majesty outlive the
sun, eleven moons and a half!" To this the king returned
some answer, which although I could not understand, yet I
replied as I had been directed; Flute drin yalerick dwuldom
prastrad mūpush, which properly signifies, ‘My tongue is in
the mouth #. and by this expression was meant,
that I desired leave to bring my interpreter; whereupon he


A VOYAGE. To LAPUTA, &c. | | |
was accordingly introduced; by whose intervention I an-
swered as many questions as his majesty could put in above
an hour. ... I spoke in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my inter.
preter delivered my meaning in that of Luggnagg.
... I stayed three months in this country, out of perfect obe.
dience to his majesty, who was highly pleased to favour me,
and made me yery honourable offers; but I thought it more
consistent with prudence and justice to pass the remainder of
my days with my wife and family. -
CHAPTER IX.
The Author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan.--From
thence he returns in a Dutch Ship to Amsterdam, and from
Amsterdam to England.
His majesty often pressed me to accept some employment in
his court, and finding me absolutely determined to return to
iny native country, was pleased to give nue his licence to de-
part; and honoured lue with a letter of recommendation,
under his own hand, to the emperor of Japan. He likewise
presented me with four hundred and forty-four large pieces
of gold (this nation delighting in even numbers,) and a red
diamond, which I sold in ºil. for eleven hundred pounds.
On the 6th of May 1709, I took a solemn leave of his
majesty, and all my friends. This prince was so gracious,
as to order a guard to conduct me to Glanguenstald, which
is a royal port to the south-west part of the island. In six
days I found a vessel ready to carry me to Japan, and spent
fifteen days in the voyage. We landed at a small port-town,
called Xamoschi, situated on the south-east part of Japan;
the town lies on the western point, where there is a narrow
strait leading northward into a long arm of the sea, upon the
north-west part of which, Yedo, the metropolis, stands. At
landing I showed the custom-house officers my letter from
the king of Luggnagg to his imperial majesty. They knew
the seal perfectly well; it was as broad as the }. of my
hand; the impression was, “A king lifting up a lame beggar
from the earth.” The magistrates of the town, hearing of my
letter, received me as a public minister; they provided me
with carriages and servants, and bore my charges to Yedo;
where I vas admitted to an audience, and delivered my let-
ter; which was opened with great ceremony, and explained
to the emperor by an interpreter; who then * notice,
L


l 12 GULLIVER's TRAVELS: .
by his majesty's order, “that I should signify my request,
and whatever it were, it should be granted. I answered as
I had before determined, “that I was a Datch merchant,
shipwrecked in a very remote country, whence I had travelled
by sea and land to Luggnagg, and then took shipping for
Japan; where I knew my countrymen often traded, and with
some of these I hoped to get an opportunity of returning
into Europe; I therefore most humbly intreated his royal
favour, to give order that I should be conducted in safety to
Nangasac.’ To this I added another petition, “that, for the
sake of my patron, the king of Luggnagg, his majesty would
condescend to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed on
my countrymen, of trampling upon the crucifix; because I
had been thrown into this kingdom by my misfortunes, with-
out any intention of trading.’ When this latter petition was
interpreted to the emperor, he seemed a little surprised; and
said, “he believed I was the first of my countrymen, who
ever made any scruple in this point; and that he began to
doubt, whether 1 was a real Hollander, or not; but rather
suspected I must be a Christian. However, for the reasons
I had offered, but chiefly to gratify the king of Luggnagg by
an uncommon mark of his favour, he would comply with the
singularity of my humour; but the affair must be managed
with dexterity, and his officers should be commanded to let
me pass, as it were by forgetfulness. For he assured me,
that if the secret should be discovered by my countrymen,
the Dutch, they would cut my throat in the voyage.' I re-
turned my thanks, by the interpreter, for so unusual a favor;
and some troops being at that time on their march to Nan-
gasac, the commanding officer had orders to convey me safe
thither, with particular instructions about the business of the
crucifix. -
On the 9th of June 1709, I arrived at Nangasac, after a
very long and troublesome journey. I soon fell into the
company of some Dutch sailors, belonging to the Amboyna,
of Amsterdam, a stout ship of 450 tons. I had lived long in
Holland, pursuing my studies at Leyden, and 1 spoke Dutch
well. The seamen soon knew whence I came last: they
were curious to inquire into my voyages, and course of life.
1 made up a story as short and probable as I could, but con-
cealed the greatest part. I knew many persons in Holland;
and was able to invent names for my parents, whom I pre-
tended to be obscure people in the province of Guelderland.

A Voy AGE TO LAPUTA, &c. | 13
I would have given the captain (one Theodorus Vangrult)
what he pleased to esk for my voyage to Holland; but un-
derstanding I was a surgeon, he was contented to take half
the usual rate, on condition that I would serve him in the
way of my calling. Before we took shipping, I was often
asked by some of the crew, “whether I had performed the
ceremony above mentioned P' I evaded the question by ge-
beral answers: ‘that I had satisfied the emperor and court
in all particulars.’ However, a malicious rogue of a skipper
went to an officer, and pointing to me, told him, ‘I had not
yet trampled on the crucifix;' but the other, who had re-
ceived instructions to let me pass, gave the rascal twenty
stokes on the shoulders with a bamboo; after which l was
no more troubled with such questions. - #.
On the 10th of April 1710, we arrived safely at Amster-
dam, having lost only three men by sickness in the voyage,
and a fourth, who fell from the foremast into the sea, not far
from the coast of Guinea. From Amsterdam I soon after
set sail for England, in a small vessel belonging to that city.
On the 16th of April, we put in at the Downs. I landed
next morning, and saw once more my native country, after
an absence of five years and six months completo. I went
straight to Redriff, where I arrived the same day at two in
the afternoon, and found my wife and family in good health.
18
A VOYAGE
- > TO THE s >
countRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMs.
- PART IV.
CHAPTER I.
The Author sets out as Captain % a Ship.---His Men con-
spire against him, and confine him a long time to his Cabin.
Set him on shore in an unknown Land.---He travels up
into the Country.---The Yahoos, a strange sort of Animal,
described.---The Author meets two Houyhn/inms, -
I continued at home with my wife and children about five
months, in a very happy condition, if I could have learned
the lesson of knowing when I was well. I accepted an ad-
vantageous offer made me to be captain of the Adventure, a
stout merchantman of 350 tons; for I understood navigation
well, and being grown weary of a surgeon's employment at
sea, which, however, I could exercise upon occasion, l took
a skilful young man of that calling, one Robert Purefoy,
into my ship. We set sail from Portsmouth the 7th of Sep-
tember 1710.
I had several men died in my i. of calentures, so that I
was forced to get recruits out of Barbadoes and the Leeward
Islands, where I touched, by the direction of the merchants
who employed me; which I had soon too much cause to re-
ent; for I found afterwards, that most of them had been
hº I had fifty hands on board; and my;orders were
to trade with the Indians in the South Sea, and make what
discoveries I could. Those rogues whom I had picked up,
debauched my other men, and they all formed a conspiracy
to seize the ship, and secure me; which they did one morn-
ing, rushing into my cabin, and binding me hand and foot,
threatening to throw me overboard, if I offered to stir. I
told, them, ‘I told them I was their prisoner, and would sub-
mit.' . This they made me swear to do, and then they un-
bound me, only fastening one of my legs with a chain, near
my bed, and placed a sentry at my door with his piece
charged, who was commanded to shoot me dead, if I at-

A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMs. 1 M5
tempted my liberty. They sent me down victuals and drink,
and took the government of the ship to themselves. Their
design was to turn pirates, and plunder the Spaniards, which
they could not do, till they got more men. But first
they resolved to sell the goods in the ship, and then
go to Madagascar for recruits, several among them having
died since my confinement. They sailed many weeks, and
traded with the Indians; but I knew not what course they
took, being kept a close prisoner in my cabin, and expecting
%
nothing less than to be murdered, as they often threatened
me. On the 9th of May 1711, one James Welch came down
to my cabin, and said, “he had orders from the captain to set
me ashore.' I expostulated with him, but in vain: neither
would he so much as tell me, who their new captain was.
They forced me into the long boat, letting me put on my
best suit of clothes, and take a small bundle of linen, but no
arms, except my hanger; and they were so civil as not to
search my pockets, into which I conveyed what money I had,
with some other little necessaries. They rowed about a
league, and then set me down on a strand. I desired then
to tell me what country it was. They all swore ‘they knew
no more than myself;' but said, ‘ that the captain (as they
called him) was resolved, after they had sold the lading, to
get rid of me in the first place where they could discover
land. They pushed off immediately, advising me to make
haste, for fear of being overtaken by the tide, and so bade
me farewell. ºn tº lº
In this desolate condition, I advanced forward, where I sat
down on a bank to rest myself, and consider what I had best
do. When a little refreshed, I went up into the country,
resolving to deliver myself to the first savages I should meet,
and purchase my life from them by some bracelets, glass
rings, and other toys, which sailors usually provide themselves
with in those voyages, and whereof. I had some about me.
The land was divided by long rows of trees, not regularly
planted, but maturally growing; there was great plenty of
grass, and several fields of oats. I walked very circum-
spectly, for fear of being surprised, or suddenly shot with an
arrow from behind, or on either side. I feel into a beaten
road, where there were many tracks of human feet, and some
of cows, but most of horses. At last I beheld several animals
in a field, and one or two of the same kind sitting in trees;
their shape was very singular and deformed, which a little
wºw,












116 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to ob-
serve them better. Some of them coming forward near the
place where I lay, gave me an opportunity of distinctly mark-
ing their form: their heads and breasts were covered with a
thick hair, some frizzled, and others lank; they had beards
like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the
foreparts of their legs and feet; but the rest of their bodies
was bare, so that I might see their skins, which were of a
brown buff colour. They climbed high trees as nimbly as a
squirrel, for they had strong extended claws before and be-
hind, terminating in sharp points, and hooked. They would
often spring, and bound, and leap, with prodigious agility.
The females were not so large as the males; they had long
lank hair on their heads, but none on their faces, nor any
thing more than a sort of down on the rest of their bodies.
The hair of both sexes was of several colours, brown, red,
black, and yellow. Upon the whole, I never beheld, in all
my travels, so disagreeable an animal, or one against which
I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy. I got up, and
pursued the beaten road, hoping it might direct me to the
cabin of some Indian. I had not got far, when I met one of
these creatures full in my way, and coming up directly to
me. The ugly monster, when he saw me, distorted several
ways every feature of his visage, and stared, as at an object
he had never seen before; then approaching nearer, lifted up
his fore-paw, whether out of curiosity or mischief, I could not
tell; but I drew my hanger, and gave him a blow with the
flat side of it, for I durst not strike with the edge, fearing the
inhabitants might be provoked against me, if they should come
to know that I had killed or maimed any of their cattle.---
..When the beast felt the smart, he drew back, and roared so
loud, that a herd, of at least forty, came flocking about me
from the next field, howling and making odious faces; but I
ran to the body of a tree, and leaning my back against it,
kept them off by waiving my hanger. . .
In the midst of my distress, 1 observed them all to run
away on a sudden as fast as they could; at which I ventured
to leave the tree, and pursue the road, wondering what it was
that could put them into this fright. But looking on my left
hand, I saw a horse walking softly in the field; which my
persecutors having sooner discovered, was the cause of their
flight. The horse started a little, when he came near me,
but soon recovering himself, looked full in my face with ma-



*
º
º
º:
º
º
º
sº
%
















A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS. 117
nifest tokens of wonder; he viewed my hands and feet, walk-
ing round me several times. I would have pursued my jour-
ney, but he placed himself directly in the way, yet looking
with very mild aspect, never offering the least violence. . We
stood gazing at each other for some time; at last I took the
boldness to reach my hand towards his neck, with a design
to stroke it, using the common style and whistle of jockeys,
when they are going to handle a strange horse; but this ani-
mal seemed to receive my civilities with disdain, shook his
head, and bent his brows, softly raising up his right fore-foot
to remove my hand; then he neighed three or four times, but
in so different a cadence, that I almost began to think he was
speaking to himself, in some language of his own.
While he and I were thus employed, another horse came
up; who, applying himself first in a very formal manner,
they gently struck each other's right hoof before, neighing
several times by turns, and varying the sound, which seemed
to be almost articulate. They went some paces off, as if
they were to confer together, walking side by side, backward
and forward, like persons deliberating upon some weighty
affair, but often turning their eyes towards me, as it were to
watch that I might not escape. I was amazed to see such
actions and behaviour in brute beasts; and concluded, that
if the inhabitants of this country were endued with a propor-
tionable degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest peo-
ple upon earth. This thought gave me so much comfort,
that I resolved to go forward, until 1 could discover some
house or village, or meet with any of the natives, leaving the
two horses to discourse together as they pleased. But the
first, who was a dapple grey, observing me to steal off, leighed
after me in so expressive a tone, that I fancied myself to un-
derstand what he meant; whereupon 1 turned back, and
came near to him to expect his farther commands; but con-
cealing my fear as much as I could; for I began to be in some
pain how this adventure might terminate.
The two horses came up close to me, looking with great
earnestness upon my face and hands. They grey steed
rubbed my hat all round with his right fore-hoof, and dis-
composed it so much, that I was forced to adjust it better by
taking it off, and settling it again; whereat, both he and his
companion (who was a brown bay) appeared to be much sur-
prised; the latter felt the lappet of my coat, and finding it
to hang loose about me, they both looked with new signs of
. . . f : . i - - -
*. t
118 GULLIVER's TRAVELS: ' ' '.
wonder. He stroked my right hand, seeming to admire the
softness and colour; but he squeezed it so hard botween his
hoof and pastern, that I was forced to cry out; after which
they both touched me with all possible tenderness. They
were under great perplexity about my shoes and stockings,
which they felt very often, neighing to each other, and using
various gestures. Upon the whole, the behaviour of these
animals wore so orderly and rational, so acute and judicious,
that I at last concluded they must be magicians, who had
thus metamorphosed themselves upon some design, and seeing
a stranger in the way, resolved to divert themselves with him;
or, perhaps were really amazed at the sight of a man so very
different in habit, feature, and complexion, from those who
might live in so remote a climate. Upon the strength of this
reasoning, I ventured to address them in the following man-
ner: ‘Gentlemen, if you be conjurors, as I have good cause
to believe, you can understand any language; therefore I
make bold to let your worships know, that I am a poor dis-
tressed Englishman, driven by his misfortunes upon your
coast; and I entreet one of you to let me ride upon his back,
as if he were a real horse, to some house or village where I
can be relieved. In return of which favour, I will make you
a present of this knife and bracelet;' (taking thom out of my
pocket.) The two creatures stood silent while I spoke,
seeming to listen with great attention; and when I had ended,
they neighed frequently towards each other, as if they were
engaged in serious conversation.
1 could frequently distinguish the word Yahoo, which was
repeated by each of them several times; and although it was
impossible for me to conjecture what they meant, yet while
the two horses were busy in conversation, I endeavoured to
practice this word upon my tongue; and as soon as they were
silent, I boldly pronounced Yahoo in a loud voice, imitating
at the same time, as near as I could, the neighing of a horse;
at which they were both visibly surprised; and the grey re-
pcated the same word twice, as if he meant to teach me the
right accent; wherein I spoke after him as well as I could, and
and found myself perceivably to improve every time, though
very far frºm a degree of perfection. Then the bay tried me
with a second word, much harder to be pronounced; but re-
ducing it to the Englith orthography, may be spelt thus,
Houyhnhum. I did not succeed in this so well as the former;
but after two or three farther trials, I had better fortune;
and they both appeared amazed at my capacity.


A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMs. I 19
After some further discourse, which I then conjectured
might relate to me, the two friends took their leaves, with
the same compliment of striking each other's hoof; and the
grey made signs that I should walk before him; wherein I
thought it prudent to comply, till I found a better director.
When I offered to slacken my pace, he would cry hunn
hhunn: I guessed his meaning, and gave him to is:
as well as I could, ‘that I was weary, and not able to walk
faster;' upon which he would stand awhile to let me rest.
CHAPTER II.
The Author conducted by a Houyhnhnm to his House.---The
House described.---The Author's Reception.---The Food of
the Houyhnhnms.---The Author in Distress for want of
Meat.---Is at last relieved.---His manner of living.
HAVING travelled about three miles, we came to a long kind
of building, made of timber stuck in the ground, and wattled
across; the roof was low, and covered with straw. I now
began to be a little comforted; and took out some toys,
which travellers usually carry for presents to the savage In-
dians of America, and other parts, in hopes the people of the
house would be thereby encouraged to receive me kindly.
The horse made me a sign to go in first ; it was a large room
with a smooth clay floor, and a rack and manger, extending
the whole length on one side. There were three nags and
two mares, not eating, but some of them sitting down upon
their hams, which I very much wondered at; but wondered
more to see the rest employed in domestic business; these
seemed but ordinary cattle. The grey came in just after,
and thoreby prevented any ill treatment, which the others
might have given me.
Beyond this room there were three others, reaching the
length of the house, to which you passed through three
doors, opposite to each other; in the manner of a vista; we
went through the second room towards the third. Here the
grey walked in first, beckoning me to attend: 1 waited in
the second room, and got ready my presents for the master
and mistress of the house: they were two knives, three brace-
lets of false pearls, a small looking-glass, and a bead necklace.
The horse neighed three or four times, and I waited to hear
some answers in a human voice, but I heard no other returns
than in the same dialect, only one or two a little shriller than
120 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
his. I began to think, that this house must belong to some
person of great note among them, because there appeared so
much ceremony before I could gain admittance. But, that
a man of quality should be served all by horses, was beyond
my comprehension; I feared my brain was disturbed by my
sufferings and misfortunes: I roused myself, and looked about
me in the room where I was left alone; this was furnished
like the first, only after a more elegant manner. I rubbed my
eyes often, but the same objects still occured; I pinched my
arms and sides to awake myself, hoping I might be in a dream.
I then absolutely concluded, that all these appearances could
be nothing else but necromancy and magic. But I had no
time to pursue these reflections; for the grey horse came to
the door, and made me a sign to follow him into the third
room, where I saw a very comely mare, together with a colt
and foal, sitting on their haunches upon mats of straw not
unartfully made, and perfectly meat and clean. The horse
then led me out into a kind of court, where was another
building, at some distance from the house. Here we entered,
and I saw three of those detestable creatures, which I first
met after my landing, feeding upon roots, and the flesh of
some animals, which I afterwards found to be that of asses
and dogs, and now and then a cow, dead by accident or dis-
ease. They were all tied by the neck with strong withes
fastened to a beam; they held their food between the claws
of their fore-feet, and tore it with their teeth.
The master horse ordered a sorrel nag, one of his servants,
to untie the largest of these animals, and take him into the
yard. The beast and I were brought close together, and by
our countenances, diligently compared both by master and
servant, who thereupon repeated several times the word Yahoo.
My horror and astonishment are not to be described, when I
observed in this abominable animal a perfect human figure.
The face of it indeed was flat and broad, the nose depressed,
the lips large, and the mouth wide. The fore-feet of the
Yahoo differed from my hands in nothing else but the length
of the nails, the coarseness and brownness of the palms, and
the hairiness on the backs. There was the same resemblance
between our feet, with the same differences; which I knew
very well, though the horses did not, because of my shoes and
stockings; the same in every part of our bodies, except as to
hairiness and colour, which I have alrendy described,
The great difficulty that seemed to be with the two horses,

A voy AGE TO THE Houyhnh NMs. 121
was to see the rest of my body so very different from that of
a Yahoo, for which I was obliged to my clothes, whereof they
had no conception. The sorrel nag offered me a root, which
he held between his hoof and pastern. I took it into my hand,
and, having smelt it, returned it to him again as civilly as I.
could. He brought out of the Yahoo's kennel a piece of
ass's flesh, but it smelt so offensive, that I turned from it with
loathing: he then threw it to the Yahoo, by whom it was
greedily devoured. He afterwards showed me a wisp of hay,
and a fetlock full of oats; but I shook my head, to signify
that neither of these were food for me. And indeed I now
apprehended that I must absolutely starve, if I did not get to
some of my own species. The master horse then put his
fore-hoof to his mouth, at which I was much surprised, al-
though he did it with ease, and with a motion that appeared
perfectly natural; and made other signs, to know what I
would eat; but I could not return him such an answer as he
was able to comprehend. While we were thus engaged, I
observed a cow passing hy, whereupon I pointed to her, and
I expressed a desire to go and milk her. This bad its effect;
for he led me back into the house, and ordered a mare-servant
to open a room, where a good store of milk lay in earthen
and wooden vessels, after a very orderly and cleanly manner.
She gave me a large bowlful, of which I drank very heartily,
and found myself well refreshed.
When it grew towards evening, the master horse ordered a
place for me to lodge in ; it was but six yards from the house,
and separated from the stable of tho Yahoos. Here I got
some straw, and covering myself with my own clothes, slept

very soundly. . - -
CHAPTER III. - -
The Author studies to learn the Language.---The Houyhnhnm,
his Master, assists in teaching him.--The Language de-
scribed.--He gives his Master a short Account of his Poyage. w
My principal endeavour was to learn the language, which
my master (for so I shall henceforth call him.) and his chil-
dren, and every servant of his house, were desirous to teach
me; for they looked upon it as a prodigy, that a brute ani-
mai should discover such marks of a rational creature. I
pointed to every thing, and inquired the name of it, which I,
wrote down in my journal-book when I was alone, and cor-
No. 11. M

132 GULLIver's TRAvels:
rected my bad accent, by desiring those of the family to pro-
nounce it often. In this employment, a sorrel nag, one of
the under servants, was vory ready to assist me.
In about ten weeks time I was able to understand most of
his questions; and in three months, could give him some
tolerable answers. My master was extremely curious to
know, from what part of the country I came, and how I was
taught to imitate a rational creature; because the Yahoos
(whom he saw I exactly resembled in my head, hands, and
face, which only were visible), with some appearance of
cunning, and the strongest disposition to mischief, were ob-
served to be the most unteachable of all brutes?' I answered,
‘that I came over the sea from a far place, with many others
of my own kind, in a great hollow vessel made of the bodies
of trees: that my companions forced me to land on this coast,
and then left me.' It was with some difficulty, and by the
help of many signs, that I brought him to understand me.
He replied, “that I must needs be mistaken, or that l said
the thing which was not;’ for they have no word in their
language to express lying or falsehood. “He knew it was
impossible, that there could be a country beyond the sea, or
that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither
they pleased upon water. He was sure no Houyhnham
alive could make such a vessel, nor would trust Yahoos to
manage it.' . . . . . * - - -->
The word Houyhnhnn, in their tongue, signifies a horse,
and, in its etymology, the perſection of nature. I told my
master, “that I was at a loss for expression, but would im:
rove as fast as I could; and hoped, in a short time, I shoul
able to tell him wonders.’ He was pleased to direct his
own mare, his colt and foal, and the servants of the family;
to take all opportunities of instructing me; and every day,
for two or three hours, he was at the same pains himself:
several horses and mares of quality in the neighbourhood,
came often to our house, upon the report spread of ‘a won-
derful Yahoo, that could speak like a Hº and
séemed, in his words and actions, to discover some glimmer-
ings of reason.'. These delighted to converse with me; they
put many questions, and received such answers as I was able




to return. By all these advantages, I made so great a pro-
gress, that in five months after my arrival, I understood ºf: -
over was spoken, and could express myself tolerably well.
I had hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order
A VOYAGE. To THE Hou YHNHNMs. 128
º, myself as much as possible, from that oursed
face of Yahoos; but now I found it in vain to do so any
longer. Besides, I considered that my clothes and shoes
would soon wear out, which already were in a declining con-
{lition, and must be supplied, by some contrivance, from the
hides of Yahoos, or other brutes; whereby the whole socrat
would be known. I therefore told my master, “that in the
country whence I came, those of my kind always covered
their bodies with the hairs of certain animals prepared by
art, as well for decency as to avoid the inclemencies of air,
both hot and cold.’ .
I expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the
appellation of Yahoo, an odious animal, for which I had so
utter a hatred and contempt: I begged he would forbear
applying that word to me, and make the same order in his
family and among his friends whom he suffered to see me.
1 requested likewise, ‘that the secret of my having a falso
oovering to my body, might be known to none but himself,
at least as long as my present clothing should last; for, as to
what the sorrel mag, his valot, had observed, his honour might
command him to conceal it.' . . . x
, All this my master very graciously consented to, and thus
the secret was kept till my clothes began to wear out, which
I was forced to supply by several contrivances. He desired
‘I would go on with my utmost diligence to learn their lan-
guage, because he was more astonished at my capacity fºr
speech and reason, than at the figure of my body, whether it
were covered or not; adding, ‘that he waited with some im-
patience to hear the wonders which I promised to tell him.'
It would be tedious to relate the several steps by which I
advanced to a more regular conversation; but the first ac-
count I gave of myself in any order and length was to this
º: :----That I came from a very far country, as I already
attempted to tell him, with about fifty more of my own
species; that we travelled upon the seas in a great hollow
vessel made of wood, and larger than his honour's house;
I described the ship to him in the best terms I could, and
explained, by the help of my handkerchief displayed, how
it was driven forward by the wind. That upon a quarrel
among us, I was set on shore on this coast, where I walked
on, without knowing whither, till he delivered me from the
persecution of those execrable Yahpos.' He asked me, who
made the ship, and how it was possible that the *
> **- M

124 GULLIvea's TRAvels:
of my country would leave it to the management of brutes?"
My answer was, ‘that 1 durst proceed no further in my rela-
tion, unless he would give me his word and honour that he
would not be offended, and then I would tell him the won-
ders I had so often promised.’ He agreed; and I went on
by assuring him, that the ship was made by creatures like
myself; who, in all the countries I had travelled, as well as
in my own, were the only governing rational animals; and
that, upon my arrival here, I was as much astonished to see
...the Houyhnhnms act like rational beings, as he or his friends
could be, in finding some marks of reason in a ereature he
was pleased to call a Yakoo; to which l owned my resem-
blance in every part, but could not account for their dege-
nerate and brutal nature.' I said farther, ‘that if good fortune
ever restored me to my native country, to relate my travels
hither, as I resolved to do, every body would believe, that
I said the thing that was not, that I invented the story out of
my own head; and, (with all possible respect to himself, his
family, and friends, and under his promise of not being of-
fended) our countrymen would hardly think it probable, that
a Houyhnhnm should be the presiding creature of a nation,
and a Yahoo the brute.' " " .
CHAPTER IV.
The Houyhnknm's notion of Truth and Falsehood. ---The
Author's Discourse disapproved by his Master.-->The Author
gives a more particular Account of himself, and the Accº-
dents of his Voyage, .' * * * : . .
My master heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in
his countenance; because doubting, or not believing, is so
little known in this country, that the inhabitants cannot tell
how to behave themselves under such circumstances. And
having occasion to talk of lying and false representation, it was
although he had otherwise a most acute judgment. For he
argued thus : ‘That the use of speech was to make us under-
stand one another, and to receive information of facts; now,
if any one said the thing which was not, these ends were de-
feated, because I cannot properly be said to understand him;
and I am so far from receiving information, that he leaves me
worse than in ignorance; for I am led to believe a thing black,
when it is, white; and short, when it is long.' And these

A voyage to the houyhnhNMs. 125
were all the notions he had concerning that faculty of lying,
so perfectly well understood, and so universally practised,
among human creatures. -
To return from this digression: When I asserted, that the
Yahoos were the only governing animals in my country, which
my master said was altogether past his conception, he de-
sired to know, “whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and
what was their employment?' I told him, ‘we had great
numbers; that in summer they grazed in the fields; and in
winter were kept in houses with hay and oats, where Yahoo
servants were employed to rub their skins smooth, comb their
manes, pick their feet, serve them with food, and make their
beds.’. ‘I understand you well,' said my master; “it is now
very plain, from all you have spoken, that whatever share of
reason the Yahoos pretend to, the Houyhnknms are your
masters; I heartily wish our Yahoos would be so tractable.’
I begged “his honour would P. to excuse me frem pro-
ceeding any further, because I was very certain that the ac-
count he expected from me, would be highly displeasing.’
But he persisted in commanding me to let him know the best
and the worst. I told him, ‘that the Houyhnhnms among
us, whom we called horses, were the most generous and
comely animal we had; that they excelled in strength and
swiftness; and when they belonged to persons of quality,
were employed in travelling, racing, or drawing chariots; they
were treated with much kindness and care, till they fell into
diseases, or became foundered in the feet; but then they wero
sold, and used to all kinds of drudgery till they died; after
which, their skins were stripped, and sold for what they were
worth, and their bodies left/to be devoured by dogs and birds
of prey. But the common race of horses had not so good
fortune; being kept by farmers and carriers, and other poor
people, who put them to greater labour, and fed them worse.’
i described, as well as I could, our way of riding; the shape
and use of a bridle, a saddle, and a whip; of harness, and
wheels. I added, “that we fastened plates of a certain hard
substance, called iron, at the bottom of their feet, to preserve
their hoofs from being broken by the stony ways, on which
we often travelled.' -
My master was desirous to know my own story, the coun-
try where I was born, and the several actions and events of
my life. I said, “my birth was of honest parents, in an is-
land called England; which was remote from l, 'country,
w * M :


126 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
as many days’ journey as the strongest of his honour's servants
gould travel in the annual course of the sun. That I was
bred a surgéon, whose trade it is to cure wounds and hurts, in
the body, gotten by accident or violence; that my country
was governed by a female, whom we called queen. That I
left it to get riches, whereby I might maintain myself, and
family, when I should return. That in my last voyage, I
was commander of the ship, and had about fifty Yahoos under
me, many of which died at sea, and I was forced to supply
them by others picked out of several nations. That our ship
was twice in danger qf being sunk; the first time by a great
storm; and the second by striking against a rock.' Here my
master interposed, by asking me, ‘how I could persuade
strangers, out of different countries, to venture with me, after
the losses I had sustained, and the hazards I had run ?'... I
said, “they were fellows of desperate fortunes, forced to fly
from the places of their birth on account of their poverty or
their crimes. Some were undone by law-suits; others spent
all they had in drinking and gaming; others fled for treason;
mally for murder, theft, poisoning, robbery, perjury, forgery,
coining false money, for flying from their colours, or desert-
ing to the enemy; and most of them had broken prison;
none of these durst return to their native countries, for fear
of being hanged, or of starving in a gaol; and therefore they
were under the necessity of seeking a livelihood in other places.’
During this discourse, my master was pleased to interrupt
me several times, I had made use of many circumlocutions,
in describing to him the nature of the crimes, for which most
of our crew had been forced to fly their country. This la-
bour took up several days' conversation, before he was able
to comprehend me. He was wholly at a loss to know, what
could be the use or necessity of practising those vices. To
clear up which, l endeavoured to give some ideas of the de-
sire of power and riches; of the terrible effects of intemper-
ance, malice, and envy. All this I was forced to define and
, describe by putting cases, and making suppositions... After
which, like one whose imagination was struck with some-
thing never seen or heard of before, he would lift up his eyes
with amazement and indignation. Power, government, war,
law, punishment, and a thousand other things, had no terms,
wherein that language could express them; which made the
difficulty almost insuperable, to give my master any concep-
tion of what I meant; but being of an excellent understand

A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMs. 197
ing, much improved by contemplation and converse, he at last
arrived at a competent knowledge of what human nature, in
our parts of the world, is capable to perform; and desired I
would give him some particular account of that land which
we call Europe, but especially of my own country; which
I accordingly did in the best manner I could. :-
CHAPTER W.
The Author relates several Particulars of the Yahoos.---The
great Pºrtues of the Ilouyhuhnms, The Education and
Exercises of their Youth.---Their General Assembly.
I HAVE already told the reader how much I was pestered by
the odious Yahoos upon my first arrival; and I afterwards
failed very narrowly three or four times of falling into their
clutches, when I happened to stray at any distance without
my hanger, And I have reason to believe they had some
imagination that I was of their own species, which I ofton
assisted myself, by stripping up my sleeves, and shewing my
naked arms and breasts in their sight, when my protector was
with me. At which times they would º. 8.8 116alf as
they durst, and imitate my actions after the manner of mon-
keys, but ever with great signs of hatred; as a tame jackdaw
with cap and stockings is always persecuted by the wild ones,
when he happens to be got among them. x 2:
They are amazingly nimble from their infancy; however,
I once caught a young male of three years old, and endea-
voured, by all marks of tenderness, to make it quiet; but the
little imp fell a squalling, and scratching, and biting with
such violence, that I was forced to let it go; and it was high
time, for a whole troop of old ones came about us at the
noise, but finding the cub was safe (for away it run) and my
sorrel nag being by, they durst not venture near us.
By what I could discover, the Yahoos appear to be the
most unteachable of all animals; their capacities never reach-
ing higher than to draw or .. burthens. Yet I am of
opinion, this defect arises chiefly from a perverse, restive dis-
position; for they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and
revengeful. They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly
spirit, and by consequence, insolent, abject, and cruel. It is
observed, that the red-haired of both sexes are more mischiev-
ons than the rest, whom yet they much exceed in strength
and activity, # & ** * * * * > . .

128 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
The Houyhnhnms keep the Yahoos for present use in huts
not far from the house; but the rest are sent abroad to cer-
tain fields, where they dig up roots, eat several kinds of herbs,
and search about for carrion, or sometimes catch weasels and
luhimus (a sort of wild rat), which they greedily devour.
Nature has taught them to dig deep holes with their nails on
the side of a rising ground, wherein they lie by themselves;
only the kennels of the females are larger, sufficient to hold
two or three cubs. --- -.
They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to
continue long under water, where they often take fish, which
the females carry home to their young.
Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues
among the Houyhnknms; and these not confined to particular
objects, but universal to the whole race. For a stranger from
the remotest part is equally treated with the nearest neigh-
bour; and wherever he goes looks upon himself as at home.
They preserve decency and civility in the highest degrees,
but are altogetherignorant of ceremony. They have no fond-
ness for their colts or foals, but the care they take in edu-
cating them, proceeds entirely from the dictates of reason.
And I observed my master to show the same affection to his
neighbour's issue, that he had for his own. They will have
it, that nature teaches them to love the whole species, and it
is reason only that makes a distinction of persons, where there
is a superior degree of virtue. &
In educating the youth of both sexes, their method is ad-
mirable, and highly deserves our imitation. These are not
suffered to taste a grain of oats, except upon certain days, till
eighteen years old; nor milk, but very rarely; and in summer
they graze two hours in the morning, and as many in the
evening, which their parents likewise observe; but the ser-
vants are not allowed above half the time, and a great part
of their grass is brought home, which they eat at the most
convenient hours, when they can best be spared from work.
Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness, are the
lesson equally enjoined to the young ones of both sexes: and
my master thought it monstrous in us, to give the females a .
different kind of education from the males, except in some
articles of domestic management; whereby, as he truly ob-
served, one half of our natives were good for nothing but
bringing children into the world: and to trust the care of our
children to such useless animals, he said, was yet a greater
instance of brutality.
A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMs. 129
But the Houyhnknms train up their youth to strength, speed,
and hardiness, by exercising them in running races up an
down steep hills, and over hard stony grounds; and when
they are all in a sweat, they are ordered to leap over head
and ears into a pond or river. Four times a year the youth
of a certain district meet to show their proficiency in running
and leaping, and other feats of strength and agility; where
the victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise. On
this festival, the servants drive a herd of Yahoos into the
field, laden with hay and oats, and milk, for a repast to the
Hotzyhnhnms; after which, these brutes are immediately
driyen back again, for fear of being noisome to the assembly.
Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is a repre-
sentative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain
about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five
or six days. Here they inquire into the state and condition
of the several districts; whether they abound or be deficient
in hay or oats, or cows or Yahoos; and wherever there is any
want, (which is but seldom,) it is immediately supplied by
unanimous consent and contribution. Here likewise the re-
gulation of children is settled; as for instance, if a Houyhn-
hnm has two males, he changes one of them with another
that has two females; and when a child has been lost by any
casuality, where the mother is passed, breeding, it is deter-
mined what family in the district shall breed another to sup-
ply the loss.

CHAPTER VI.
A grand Debate at the General Assembly of the Houghnhnms.
* The Learning of the Houyhnhnms.---Their Buildings.---
º Their manner of Burials. - ... :
ONE of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about
three months before my departure, whither my master went
as the representative of our district.
... The Houyhnhnms have no letters, and consequently their
knowledge is all traditional. They calculate the year by the
revolution of the sun and the moon, but use no subdivisions
in the weeks. They are well enough acquainted with the
motions of those two luminaries, and understand the nature
of eclipses; and this is the utmost progress of their astronomy.
Their buildings, although very rude and simple, are not
inconvenient, but well contrived to defend them from all in-
180 GULLIVER's TRAVELs:
juries of cold and heat. They have a kind of tree, which at
forty years old, loosens at the root, and falls with the first
storm; it grows very straight, and being pointed like stakes
with a sharp stone, (for the Houyhnhnms know not the use
of iron,) they stick them erect in the ground, about ten inches
asunder, and then weave in oat straw, or sometimes wattles
between them. The roof is made after the same manner,
and so are the doors.
The Houyhnknms use the hollow part, between the pastern
and the hoof of their fore-foot as we do our hands, and this
with greater dexterity than I could at first imagine. I have
seen a white mare of our family thread a needle (which I lent
her on purpose), with that joint. They milk their cows, reap
their oats, and do all the work which requires hands, in the
same manner. They have a kind of hard flints, which, by
grinding against other stones, they form into instruments
which serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. With
tools made of these flints, they likewise cut their hay, and
reap their oats, which there grow naturally in several fields;
the Yahoos draw home the sheaves in carriages, and the ser-
vants tread them in certain covered huts to get out the grain,
which is kept in stores They make a rudo kind of carthen
and wooden vessels, and bake the former in the sun.
If they can avoid casualities, they die only of old age, and
are buried in the obscurest places that can be found; their
friends and relations expressing neither joy nor grief at their
departure; nor does the dying person discover the least regret
that he is leaving the world, any more than if he were re-
turning home from a visit to one of his neighbours. I remem-
ber my master having once made an appointment with a friend
and his family to come to his house, upon some affair of im-
portance: on the day fixed, the mistress and her two children
came vory late; she made two excuses, first for her husband,
who, as she said, happened that very morning to linuwnh,
which signifies, “to retire to his first mother.’. Her exeuse for
not coming sooner was, that her husband dying late in the
morning, she was a good while consulting her servants about
a convenient place where his body should be laid; and I ob-
served, she behaved herself at our house as cheerfully as the
rest: she died about three months after.
. They live generally to seventy or seventy-five years,
very seldom to four-seore; some weeks before their
death, they feel a gradual decay; but without pain. During
A voyage to the houyhnh NMs. 131
this time they are much visited by their friends, because they
eannot go abroad with their usual ease and satisfaction. How.
ever, about ten days before their death, which they seldöm
fail in computing, they return their visits that have been made
them by those who are nearest in the neighbourhood, being
carried in a convenient sledge drawn by #. which vehicle
they use, not only on this occasion, but when they grow old,
upon long journies, or when they are lamed by any acdident.
And therefore when the dying Houyhnhnms return those visits,
they take a solemn leave of their friends, as if they were going
to some remote part of the country, where they designed to
pass the rest of their lives.


CHAPTER VII.
The Author's Economy and happy Life among the Houyhn-
ſuims.---His great improvement in Virtue by conversing
unith them.---Their Conversations.---The Author has notice
given him by his Master, that he must depart from the
Country.--- He falls into a Swoon for Grief; but submits.
He contrives and finishes a Canoe by the help of a Fellow-
servant, and puts to sea at a venture.
I HAD settled my little economy to my own heart's content.
My master had ordered a room to be made for me, after this
manner, about six yards from the house: the sides and floors
of which I plastered with clay, and covered with rush mats
of my own contriving; I had beaton hemp, which there grows
wild, and made of it a sort of ticking; this I filled with the
feathers of several birds I had taken with springes made of
Yahoos' hairs, and which were excellent food. I had worked
two chairs with my knife, the sorrel nag helping me in the
grosser and more laborious part. When my clothes were
worn to rags, I made myself others with the skins of rabbits,
and of a certain beautiful animal about the same size, called
amuhnoh, the skin of which is covered with a fine down; of
these I also made very tolerable stockings. I soled my shoes
with wood, which I cut from a tree, and fitted to tho upper-
leather; and when this was worn out, I supplied it with the
skins of Yahoos dried in the sun. I often got honey out of
hollow trees, which I mingled with water, or eat with my
bread. No man could more verify the truth of these two
maxims, that nature is very easily satisfied; and, “that nº-
cessity is the mother of invention.' I enjoyed perfect health

132 GULLIVER's TRAVELS:
of body, and tranquillity of mind; I did not feel the treachery
or inconstancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open
enemy. I had no occasion of bribing, flattering or pimping,
to procure the favour of any great man or of his minion, I
wanted no fence against fraud and oppression: here was nei-
ther physician to destroy my body, nor lawyer to ruin my
fortune; no informer to watch my words and actions, or forge
accusations against me for hire: here were no gibers, censu-
rers, back-biters, pick-pockets, highwaymen, house-breakers,
attormies, bawds, buffoons, gamesters ; no dungeons,
axes, gibbets, whipping-posts or pillories; no cheating shop-
keepers or mechanics; no pride, vanity or affeetation; no
fops, drunkards; no scolding, lewd, expensive wives; no
scoundrels raised from the dust upon the merits of their vices,
or nobility thrown into it on account of their virtues; no lords,
fidlers, judges, or dancing-masters.
I had the favor of being admitted to several Houyhnknms,
who came to visit or dine with my master; where his honour
graciously suffered me to wait in the room, and listen to
their discourse. Both he and his company would often de-
scend to ask me questions, and receive my answers.
I freely confess, that all the little knowledge I have of any
value, was acquired by the lectures I received from my mas-
ter, and from hearing the discourses of him and his friends;
to which I should be prouder to listen, than to dictate to the
greatest and wisest assembly in Europe. I admired the
strength, comeliness, and speed of the fºllº and such
a constellation of virtues, in such amiable persons, produced
in me the highest veneration. At first, indeed, I did not feel
that natural awe, which the Yahoos, and all other animals
bear towards them; but it grew upon me by degres, much
sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a respectful
love and gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish
me from the rest of my species. - -
When l thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen.
or the human race in general, I considered them, as they
really were, Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little
more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech; but
making no other use of reason, than to improve and multiply
those vices, whereof their brethren in this country had only
the share that mature allotted to them. When I happened
to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or foun-
tain, I turned my face in horror and detestation of myself,
and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo, than



A Voy AGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMs. 133
of my own person. By conversing with the Houynhnms, and
looking upon them with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and
gesture, which is now grown into a habit; and my friends
often tell me, in a blunt way, ‘that I trot like a horse;’
which, however, I take for a great compliment: neither shal)
I disown, that in speaking I am apt to fall into the voice and
manner of the Houyhnhnms, and hear myself ridiculed on
that account, without the least mortification.
In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon
myself to be fully settled for |. my master sent for Ine one
morning a little earlier than his usual hour., l observed by
his countenance that he was in some perplexity, and at a loss
how to begin what he had to speak. After a short silence,
he told me, “he did not know how I would take what ho
was going to say: that in the last general assembly, when the
affair of the Yahoo’s was entered upon, the representatives had
taken offence at his keeping a Yahoo (meaning myself) in
his family, more like a Houyhnhnm than a brute animal.
That he was known frequently to converse with me, as if he
could receive some advantage or pleasure in my company:
that such a practice was not agreeable to reason or nature,
or a thing ever heard of before among them. The assembly
did therefore exhort him, either to employ me like the rest of
my species, or command me to swim back to the place
whence I came. That the first of these expedients was ut-
terly rejected by all the Houyhnhams who had ever seen me.
at his house or their own; for they alleged, that because I
had some rudiments of reason, added to the natural pravity
of those animals, it was to be feared 1 might be able to so-
duce them into the woody and mountainous º of the coun-
try, and bring in troops by night to destroy the Ilonyhuhuns’
cattle, as being naturally of the ravenous kind, and averse
from labour.’ - - -
My master added, ‘that he was daily pressed by the Houy-
hahnms of the neighbourhood, to have the assembly's ex-
hortation executed, which he could not put off much longer.
He doubted it would be impossible for me to swim to another
country; and therefore wished I would contrive some sort
of vehicle, resembling those I had described to him, that
might carry me on the sea; in which work I should have the
assistance of his own servants, as well as those of his neigh-
bours.’ He concluded, “that for his own part he could have
been content to keep me in his service as long as I lived; be-
No. 12. N
134 GULLIver’s TRAVELs:
eause he found I had cured myself of some bad habits and
dispositions, by endeavouring, as far as my inferior nature was
capable, to imitate the Houyhnhnnis.'
I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my mas-
ter's discourse; and being unable to support the agonies I was
under, I fell into a swoon at his feet. When I came to my-
self, he told me “that he concluded I had been dead; for
these people are subject to no such imbecilities of nature. I
answered in a faint voice, ‘that death would have been too
great a happiness; that although I could not blame the as:
sembly's ...i. or the urgency of his friends; yet, if
my weak judgment, I thought it might consist with reason
to have been iess rigorous; that I could not swim a league,
and probably the nearest land to theirs might be distant
above a hundred: that many materials, necessary for making
a small vessel to carry me off, were wholly wanting in this
eountry; which however I would attempt, in obedience and
gratitude to his honour, although I concluded the thing to be
impossible, and therefore looked on myself as already devoted
to destruction; that the certain prospect of an unnatural
death, was the least of my evils; for, supposing I should es-
cape with life by some strange adventure, how could I think
with temper of passing my days among Yahoos, and relapsing
into my old corruptions, for want of examples to lead and
keep me within the paths of virtue; that I knew too well
upon what solid reasons all the determinations of the wise
Hotſyānānms were founded, not to be shaken by arguments
of miue, a miserable Yahoo, and therefore, afterpresenting
him my humble thanks for the offer of his servants' assistance
in making a vessel, and desiring a reasonable time for so dif-
ficult a work, f told him I would endeavour to preserve a
wretched being; and if ever I returned to England, was not
without hopes of being useful to my own species, by cele-
brating the praises of the renowned Houyhuhnms, and pro-
posing their virtues to the imitation of mankind. r
My master, in a few words, made me a very gracious reply;
allowed me the space of two months to finish my boat; and
ordered the sorrel nag to follow my instruction; because I
told my master, “that his help would be sufficient, and I
knew he had a tenderness for me.”
In his company, my first business was to go to that part of
the coast where my rebellious crew had ordered me to he set,
on shore. I got upon a height, and looking on every side
A voyage to the Houyhnhnms. 135

into the sea, fancied I saw a small island towards the north.
east: I took out my pocket-glass, and could then clearly dis-
tinguish it about five leagues off, as I computed; but it ap-
º to the sorrel nag to be only a blue cloud: for as he
had no conception of any country beside his own, so he could
not be as expert in distinguishing remote objects at sea, as
we who are so conversant in that element. -- -
. After I had discovered this island, I considered no further;
but resolved it should, if possible, be the first place of my
banishment, leaving the consequence to fortune.
I returned home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we
went into a copse at some distance, where I with m: "...
and he with a sharp flint, fastened very artificially after their
manner to a wooden handle, eut down several oak wattles,
about the thickness of a walking staff, and some larger piece".
In six weeks time, with the help of the sorrel mag, who per-
formed the parts that required most labour, I finished a sort
of Indian canoe, but much larger, covering it with the skins
of Yahoos, well stitched together with hempen-threads of my
own making. My sail was likewise composed of the skins
of the same animal; but I made use of the youngest I could
get; the older being too tough and thick; and 1 likewise pro:
vided myself with four paddles. I laid in a stack of boiled
flesh, of rabbits and fowls; and took with me two vessels,
ong filled with milk and the other with water.
I tried my canoe in a large pond, near my master's house,
and then corrected in it what was amiss: stopping all the
éhinks with Yahoo's tallow, till 1 found it staunch, and able
to bear me and my freight: and when it was as complete as
I could possibly make it, I had it drawn on a carriage very
gently by Yahoos to the sea side, under the conduct of the
sorrel nag and another servant. - - -
When all was ready, and the day came for my departure,
I took leave of my master and lady, and the whole family,
my eyes flowing with tears, and my heart quite sunk with
grief. But this honour, out of curiosity, and perhaps (if I
may speak it without vanity) partly out of kindness, was de-
termined to see me in my canoe; and got several of his neigh-
bouring friends to accompany him. I was forced to wait
above an hour for the tide, .# then observing the wind very
fortunately bearing toward the island to which I intende
to steer my course, I took a second leave of my master; but
as I was going to prostrate myself to kiss his lº did me
N

136 ... GULLIVER's TRAvRLs: . .
the honour to raise it gently to my mouth. I am not igno-
rant how much I have been censured for mentioning this last.
particular. . Detractors are pleased to think it improbable,
that so illustrious a person should descend to give so great a
mark of distinction to a creature so inferior, as 1. Neither
have I forgotten how apt some travellers are to boast of ex-
traordinary favours they have received. But, if these cen-
surers were better acquainted with the noble and courteous
dispºsition of the Houyhnhnms, they would soon change their
opinion. . .
I paid my respects to the rest of the Houyhnhnms in his
Thonour's company; then getting into my canoe, I pushed off
from shore.
CHAPTER VIII. -
The Author's dangerous Voyage.---He arrives at New Hol-
land, hoping to settle there.---Is wounded with an Arrow
by one of the Natives.---Is seized and carried by force into
a Portuguese Ship.---The great civiſities of the Captain.
The Author arrives at England.
1 begAN this desperate voyage on February 15th, 1714-15,
at nine o'clock in the morning. The wind was very favour-
able; however, I made use at first only of paddles; but eon-
sidering I should soon be weary, and that the wind might
chop about, I ventured to set up my little sail; and thus, with
the help of the tide, I went at the rate of a league and a half
an hour, as near as I could guess. My master and his friends
continued on the shore till l was almost out of sight: and I
often heard the sorrel mag (who always loved me) crying out,
‘Hany illa ny ha majah Yahoo:’ ‘Take care of thyself, gen-
tle Yahoo.” . . . . **
My design was, if possible, to discover some small island
uninhabited, yet sufficient by my labour to furnish me with
the necessaries of life, which I would have thought a greater
happiness than to be the first minister in the politest court of
Europe; so horrible was the idea I conceived of returning to
live in the society, and under the government of Yahoos. For
in such a solitude as I desired, I could at least enjoy my own
thoughts, and reflect with delight on the virtues ºthose in-
imitable Hauyhnhnms, without any opportunity of degene-
rating into the vices and corruptions of my own species. . . .
The redder may remember what I related, when my crew
conspired against me, and confined me to my cabin. How I

A voyage To THE Houyhn HNMs. l37
continued there several weeks, without knowing what course
We took; and when I was put ashore in the long boat, how
the sailors told me with oaths, whether true or false, “that
they knew not in what part of the world we were.' How-
eyer, I did then believe us to be about 10 degrees southward
ºf the Cape of Good Hope, or about 45 degrees southern
latitude, as I gathered from some general words I overheard
among them, being, 1 supposed, to the south-east in their in-
tended voyage to Madagascar. And although this were lit-
tle better than conjecture, yet I resolved to steer my course
eastward, hoping to reach the south-west coast of New Hol-
land, and perhaps some such island as I desired, lying west-
ward of it. The wind was full west, and by six in the even-
ing I computed I had gone eastward at least eighteen leagues;
when I spied a very small island about half a league off,
which I soon reached. It was nothing but a rock, with one
Creek naturally arched by the force of tempest. IIere I put
in my canoe, and climbing a part of the rock, I could plainly
discover land to the east, extending from south to north. I
lay all night in my canoe; and repeating my voyage early in
the morning, I arrived in seven hours to the south-east point
of New Holland. -- - - v.
I saw no inhabitants in the place where Ilanded, and being
Anarmed, I was afraid of venturing far into the country. I
found some shell-fish on the shore, and ate them, raw, not
daring to kindle a fire, for fear of being discovered by the na-
tives. I continued three days feeding on oysters and limpets,
to save my own provision; and I fortunately found a brouk
of excellent water, which gave me great relief. . . . .
On the fourth day, venturing out early a little to far, I saw
twenty or thirty natives upon a height not above five hundred
yards from me. They were stark naked, men, women, and
children, round a fire, as I could discover by the smoke. One
of them spied me, and gave notice to the rest; five of them
advanced toward me, leaving the women and children at the
fire.' I made what haste I could to the shore, and, getting
into my canoe, shoved off: the savages, observing me retreat,
ran after me; and before I could get far . into the sea,
discharged an arrow, which .# me deeply on the inside
of my left knee. I apprehended the arrow might be poisoned,
and paddled out of the reach of their darts (being a calm º:
I made a shift to suck the wound, and dressit as well I could.
I was at a loss what to do, for I durst not return to the




138 GULLIVER's TRAVELS: i;
same landing-place, but stood to the north, and was forced to
º: ; for the wind though very gentle, was against me,
lowing north-west. As I was looking for a secure landing:
place, I saw a sail to the north-north-east, which appearing
every minute more visible, I was in some doubt whether I
should wait for them or not; but at last my detestation of
the Yahoo race prevailed; and turning my canoe, I sailed and
paddled towards the south, and got into the same creek
whence I set out in the morning, choosing rather to trust my-
self among these barbarians, than live with European Yahoos,
I drew up my canoe as close as I could to the 3. and hid
myself behind a stone by the little brook, which, as 1 have
already said, was excellent water. -
The ship came within half a league of this creek, and sent
her long-boat with vessels to take in fresh water (for the
place, it seems, was very well known); but I did not observe
it, till the boat was almost on shore; and it was too late to
seek another hiding-place. The seamen at their landing,
observed my canoe, and rummaging it all over, easily con-
jectured that the owner could not be far off. Four of them,
well armed, searched every cranny and lurking-hole, till at
last they found me flat on my face behind the stone. They
gazed awhile in admiration at my strange uncouth dress: my
coat made of skins, my wooden soled shoes, and my furred
stockings; whence, however they eoncluded, I was not a na-
tive of the place, who all go naked. One of the seamen, in
Portuguese, bid me rise, and asked who I was. I understood
that language very well, and getting ". my feet, said, ‘I
was a poor Yahoo banished from the Houyhnhums, and de-
sired they would please to let me depart.” They admired to
bear me answer them in their own tongue, and saw by my
complexion I must be an European; but were at a loss to
know what I meant by Yahoos and Houyhnhums; and at the
same time fell a-laughing at my strange tone in speaking,
which resembled the neighing of a horse. I º all the
while between fear and hatred. I again desired leave to de-
i. and was gently moving to my canoe; but they laid
hold of me, desiring to know ‘what country I was of? whence
I came 'with many other questions. I told them ‘I was born
in England, whence I came about five years ago, and then
their country and ours were at peace. I therefore hoped they
would not treat me as an enemy, since I meant them no harm,
but was a poor Yahoo, seeking some desolate place where to


A voyage to the Houyhnh NMs. I39
pass the remainder of his unfortunate life.' They then spoke
to me with #. humanity, and said, “they were sure the
captain would carry me gratis to Lisbon, whence I might
return to my own country; that two of the seaman would go
back to the ship, inform the captain of what they had seen,
and receive his orders.” In two hours the boat which went
loaden with vessels of water, returned, with the captain's
command to fetch me on board. I fell on my knees to pre-
serve my liberty; but all was in vain; and the men, having
tied me with cords, heaved me into the boat, whence I was
taken into the ship, and thence into the captain's cabin. He
desired to know what I would eat or drink; said, ‘I should
be used as well as himself;' and spoke so many obliging things,
that I woudered to find such civilities from a Yahoo. How-
ever, I remained silent and sullen; I was ready to faint at
the very smell of him and his men. At last I desired something
to eat out of my own canoe; but he ordered me a chicken and
some excellent wine, and then directed that I should be put
to bed in a very clean cabin.
The captain had often entreated me to strip myself of my
savage dress, and offered to lend me the best suit of clothes
he had. This I would not be prevailed on to accept, abhor-
ring to cover myself with anything that had been on the
back of a Yahoo. I only desired he would lend me two clean
shirts, which, having been washed since he wore them, I he-
lieved would not so much defile me. These I changed cwery
second day, and washed them myself. . . . . . . .
We arrived at Lisbon, Nov. 5th, 1715. At our landing, the
captain forced me to cover myself with his cloak, to P.
the rabble from crowding about me. I was conveyed to his
own house; and at my earnest request, he led me up to the
highest room backwards. intreated him “to conceal from
#. what I had told him of the Houyhnknms; because
the least hint of such a story would not only draw numbers
of people to see me, but probably put me in danger of being
imprisoned, or burnt by the inquisition.’ The captain per-
suaded me to accept a suit of clothes newly made. He ac-
coutred me with other necessaries, all new, which I, aired for
twenty-four hours, before I would use them. &
In ten days, the captain, to whom I had given some ac-
count of my domestic affairs, put it upon me, as a matter of
honour and conscience, ‘that I ought to return to my native
country, and live at home with my wife and children. He
I40 $ GULLIVER's TRAvels:
*
told me, ºthere was an English ship in the river just ready to
sail, and he would furnish me with all things necessary.' "
I at last complied, finding 1 could not do better. I left
Lisbon the 24th day of November, in an English merchant-
man. The captain accompanied me to the ship, and lent me
twenty pounds; he took kind leave of me at parting. Dur-
ing this last voyage, I had no commerce with the master nor
any of his men; but, pretending I was sick, kept close in my
cabin. On the 5th of December 1715, we cast anchor in the
Downs, about nine in the morning, and at three in the after-
noon I got safe to my house at Redriff.
My wife and family received me with great surprise and
joy, because they concluded me certainly dead; but I must
freely confess the sight of them filled me only with hatred,
disgust, and contempt; and the more, by º: on the
near alliance I had to them. As soon as I entered the house,
my wife took me in her arms, and kissed me; at which, hav.
ing not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so
many years, I fell into a swoon for almost an hour. At the
time I am writing, it is five years since my last return to Eng-
land: during the first year, l could not endure my wife or
children in my presence; the very smell of them was intole-
rable; much ſº could I suffer them to eat in the same room.
To this hour, they dare not presume to touch my bread, or
drink out of the same cup, neither was I ever able to let one
of them take me by the hand. The first money I laid out
was to buy two young stone-horses, which I keep in a good
stable; and next to them the groom is my greatest favourite;
for I feel my spirits revived by the smell he contracts in the
stable. My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse
with them at least four hours every day. They are stran-

gers to saddle or bridle; they live in great amity with me,
and friendship to each other.
FINIs.
Aº-ºº: -*.
Prizrred ºr R. Brow.w, 26, sr. John-streer, clerkenwarr.
$
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