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A Voyage to Lilliput
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A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT
BY JONATHAN SWIFT
CHAPTER I
THE AUTHOR GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF AND FAMILY.—HIS FIRST INDUCEMENTS TO
TRAVEL.—HE IS SHIPWRECKED, AND SWIMS FOR HIS LIFE.—GETS SAFE ON SHORE
IN THE COUNTRY OF LILLIPUT.—IS MADE A PRISONER, AND CARRIED UP THE COUNTRY.
[362] MY father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five sons.
He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge, at fourteen years old, where I
resided three years, and applied myself close 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
London, with whom I continued four years; my father now and then sending me
small sums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of
the 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
maintain me at Leyden; there I studied physic two years and seven months,
knowing it would be useful in long voyages. Soon after my return from Leyden, I
was recommended by my good master, Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow,
Captain Abraham Pannell, commander; with whom I continued 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 part 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 I received four hundred pounds for a portion.
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my
business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate the
bad 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 succesively 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, ancient and modern, being
always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing
the manners 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 stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to
Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the
sailors, but it would 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 4, 1699, and
our voyage at first was very prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to
[363] 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 northwest of Van Diemen's Land. By an
observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of thirty degrees, two minutes
south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labor and ill food; the rest
were in a very weak condition. On the 5th 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 immediately 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 labor 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 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 I
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 o'clock in the evening.
I then advanced forward near half a mile, but
could not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants;
at least I was in so weak a condition that
[364] I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and the heat of
the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank as I 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
daylight. I attempted to rise, but was not able 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: igatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my
thighs. I 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 moving
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, I perceived it to
be a human creature not six inches high, with 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 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 then I knew not what they
meant.
I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness; at length,
struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out
the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground, for, by lifting it up to my
face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time
with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I 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 off a second time, before I could seize them; whereupon there
was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and after it had ceased I heard one
of them cry aloud, Tolgo phonae; 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 flight 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 groaning 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 me 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 I could
bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But
fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I 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 turning 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 ladders to mount it: from whence one them, who
seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood
not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that before
the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times, Langro dehul
san (these words and the former were afterwards repeated
[365] and explained to me). Whereupon, immediately about fifty of the inhabitants came
and cut the string
that fastened the left side of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning 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 one on each side to
support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could observe many periods
of threatenings, 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, not having 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 showing my
impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger
frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The hurgo (for so they
call a great lord, as I afterwards learned) understood 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 meat, which had been provided and
sent thither by the king's orders, upon the first intelligence he received of
me. I observed 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 three loaves at a time about the bigness
of musket-bullets. They supplied me as fast as they could, showing 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 first, Hekinah degul. They made
me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the
people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, Borach mevolah; and when
they saw the vessels in the air there was a universal shout of Hekinah degul. I
confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards and forwards on
my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in my reach and dash
them against the ground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, which probably
might not be the worst they could do, and the promise of honor I made to
them—for so I interpreted my submissive behavior—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 expense and
magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently wonder at the
intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture to mount and walk
upon my body while one of my hands was at liberty, without trembling at the very
sight of so prodigious 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 credentials 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 determined resolution; often pointing
forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards the capital city,
[366] about half a mile distant, whither it was agreed by his majesty in council that
I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but to no purpose, and made a sign
with my hand that was loose, putting it to the other (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 that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by way of
disapprobation, and held his hands in a posture to show 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 treatment. 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 many of the
darts still sticking in them, 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 hurgo and his train withdrew, with much
civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after I heard a general shout, with
frequent repetitions of the words, Peplom selam; 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
refreshment I had received by 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 an 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 to me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital city. This
resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, 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, supposing these
people had endeavored 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 have so far aroused 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 arrived to a great
perfection in mechanics by the countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who
is a renowned patron of learning. This prince has several machines fixed on
wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weights. 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 arrival of this engine, which,
it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought parallel to me,
as I lay. 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 bigness of packthread, 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 employed 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
[367] 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 a while, 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, unperceived, and it was three
weeks before I knew the cause of my awaking so suddenly. We made a long march
the remaining part of the day, and rested at night with five hundred guards on
each
[368] side of me, half with torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me
if I should offer to stir. The next morning, at sunrise, we continued our march,
and arrived 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 endanger 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 kingdom, which, having been polluted some years
before by an unnatural 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,
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 fourscore 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 an hundred thousand inhabitants 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, upon pain of
death. When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut
all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as, melancholy a
disposition as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of the
people, at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that
held my left leg were about two
yards long, and gave me not only liberty of walking 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 NOBILITY, COMES TO SEE THE
AUTHOR IN HIS CONFINEMENT.—THE EMPEROR'S PERSON AND HABITS
DESCRIBED.—LEARNED MEN APPOINTED TO TEACH THE AUTHOR THEIR
LANGUAGE.—HE GAINS FAVOR 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 intermingled with
woods of half a stang,
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. . . .
The emperor was already descending 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 up on 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 surveyed me
round with great admiration; but kept beyond the 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 upon wheels, till I 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 breath 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 limbs well proportioned,
all his motions graceful, and his deportment majestic. 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
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 the
European; but he had on his head a light helmet of gold, adorned with jewels,
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. His 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 magnificently 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
[369] 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. But 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 accordingly 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 man squalled
terribly, and the colonel and his officers were in much pain, especially when
they saw me take out my penknife; 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 prepared 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 double; 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.
As the news of my arrival spread through the kingdom, it brought prodigious
numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me; so that the villages were
almost emptied; and great neglect
[370] of tillage and household affairs must have ensued, if his imperial majesty had
not provided by several proclamations and 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 license
from the court; whereby the secretaries 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
determined to starve me, or at least to shoot me in the face and hands with
poisoned arrows, which would soon dispatch me; but again they considered that
the stench of so large a carcass might produce a plague in the metropolis and
probably spread through the whole kingdom. In the midst of these consultations,
several officers of the army went to the door of the great council-chamber, and
two of them being admitted, gave an account of my behavior to the six criminals
above mentioned; which made so favorable an impression in the breast of his
majesty and the whole board, in my behalf, that an imperial commission was
issued out, obliging all the villages 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
treasury—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 expense. An establishment was also made of
six hundred persons to be my domestics, who had board-wages allowed for their
maintenance, and tents built for them very conveniently 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 nobility 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 I made great progress in
learning their language: during which time the emperor frequently honored 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 learned, were
to express my desire "that he would be pleased 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 without the advice of his
council, and that first I must lumos kelmin pesso 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 acquire by my patience and discreet behavior
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
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
this could not be done without my consent and assistance; and he had so good an
opinion of my generosity and justice as to trust their persons in my hands; that
whatever they took from me should be returned when I left the country, or paid
for at the rate which I would 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 another secret pocket, which I had no mind
should be searched, wherein
[371] I had some little necessaries that were of no consequence 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 everything they saw; and when they had done, desired I would
set them down, that they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I
afterwards 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 quinhus flestrin), after the strictest search, we found only
one great piece of coarse cloth, large enough to be a foot-cloth for your
majesty's chief room of state. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest,
with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, 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 palisadoes 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 (so I translate ranfu-lo, by which they meant my breeches), 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 show us, because we apprehended
they might be dangerous engines. He took them out of their cases, and told us,
that in his own country his practice was to shave his beard 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 large 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 the end of that 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 stopped 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 opinion, because he assured us
(if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very imperfectly) that he
seldom did anything without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it
pointed out the time for every action of his life. From the left fob he took out
a net almost large enough for a fisherman, 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 immense value.
"Having thus, in obedience to your majesty's
[372] 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 bails, of a most
ponderous metal, about the bigness of our heads, and required a strong hand to
lift them: the other cell contained 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.
"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:—
When the inventory was read over to the emperor, he directed me, although in
very gentle terms, to deliver up the several particulars. He first called for my
scimitar, 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 then desired me
to draw my scimitar, which, although it had got 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 surprise; for the sun shone clear, and the reflection
dazzled their eyes as I waved the scimitar to and fro in my hand. His majesty,
who is a most magnanimous prince, was less daunted than I could expect: he
ordered 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 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 prudent
mariners take special care to provide), I first cautioned 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 scimitar. 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 scimitar, 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 noise it made, and the motion of the
minute-hand, which he could easily discern; for their sight is much more acute
than ours: he asked the opinion of his learned men about it, which were various
and remote, as the reader may well imagine without my repeating; 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 handkerchief and journal-book.
My scimitar, pistols, and pouch, were conveyed in carriages to his majesty's
stores; but the rest of my goods were returned me.
I had, as I before observed, one private pocket, which escaped their search,
wherein there was a pair of spectacles (which I sometimes use for the weakness
of mine eyes), a pocket perspective, and some other little conveniences; which,
being of no consequence to the emperor, I did not think myself bound in honor to
discover, and I apprehended they might be lost or spoiled if I ventured them out
of my possession.
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.
[373] MY gentleness and good behavior 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 liberty in a short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate
this favorable disposition. The natives came by degrees 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 language. The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with
several of the country shows, wherein they exceeded 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 two
feet, and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty, with
the reader's patience, to enlarge a little.
This diversion is only practiced by those persons who are candidates for great
employments and high favor at court. They are trained in this art from their
youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education. When a great
office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens), five or six
of these candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court
with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest without falling,
succeeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded
to show their skill, and to convince the emperor that they have not lost their
faculty. Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope,
at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him
do the summerset several times together upon
a trencher fixed on a rope which is no thicker than a common packthread in
England. My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is in my
opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of the
great officers are much upon a par.
These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great numbers
are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a limb. But the
danger is much greater when the ministers themselves are commanded to show their
dexterity! for, by contending to excel themselves and their fellows, they
strain so far that there is hardly one of them who has not received a fall, and
some of them two or three. I was assured that, a year or two before my arrival,
Flimnap would infallibly have broke his neck, if one of the king's cushions,
that accidentally lay on the ground, had not weakened the force of his fall.
There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the emperor and
empress, and the first minister, upon particular occasions. The emperor lays on
the table three fine 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 favor. The
ceremony is performed in his majesty's great chamber of state, where the
candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity, very different from the former,
and 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, sometimes 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 the first minister the other; sometimes the minister has
it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his part with the most agility, and
holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue-colored
silk; the red is given to the next, and the
[374] 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 riders 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 sticks of two feet high, and the thickness of an ordinary cane, to be
brought me; whereupon his majesty commanded the master of his woods to give
directions accordingly; 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 quadrangular 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 tight as the top of
a drum; and the four parallel sticks, rising about five inches 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 the 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 into order, they divided into two
parties, performed mock skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their
swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired, and, in short, discovered the
best military discipline I ever beheld. The parallel sticks secured them and
their horses from falling over the stage; and the emperor was so much delighted,
that he ordered this entertainment 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 a to let me hold her in her close
chair within two yards of the stage, when she was able to take a full view of
the whole performance. It was my good fortune, that no ill accident happened in
these entertainments; only once a fiery horse, that belonged to one of the
captains, pawing 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 covering the hole with one hand, I set down the troop with the other,
in the same manner as 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: however, 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 arrived an express to inform his majesty
that some of his subjects, 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 bed-chamber, 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 them 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 that
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
[375] some accident, which I had 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 wagoners arrived with it, but not in a very good condition; they
had bored two 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 English 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 that part of his army
which quarters in and about his metropolis, to be in readiness, took a fancy of
diverting himself in a singular manner. He desired that 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 in a breast, and the horse by sixteen, with drums beating, colors
flying, and pikes advanced. This body consisted of three thousand foot, and a
thousand horse.
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty that his majesty at
length mentioned the matter, first in the cabinet, and then in a full council;
where it was opposed 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 emperor. 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 my own
country, and afterward 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 my 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 liberty, I have made a translation of the whole instrument, word
for word, as near as I was able, which I here offer to the public.
GOLBASTO MOMAREM EVLAME GURDILO SHEFIN MULLY ULLY 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:—
I. The Man-mountain shall not depart from our dominions, without our license
under our great seal.
II. 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.
III. 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.
IV. As he walks the said roads, he shall take the utmost care not to trample
upon the bodies of any of our loving subjects, their horses or carriages,
[376] nor take any of our subjects into his hands without their own consent.
V. 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 (if so required) safe to
our imperial presence.
VI. 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.
VII. That the same Man-mountain shall, at his time of leisure, be aiding and
assisting to our workmen, in helping to raise certain great stones, towards
covering the wall of the principal park, and other royal buildings.
VIII. That the said Man-mountain shall in two moons' 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 the above articles, the said
Man-mountain shall have a daily allowance 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.
I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and content,
although some of them were not so honorable as I could have wished; which
proceeded wholly from the malice of Skyresh Bolgolam, the high-admiral;
whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked, and I was at full liberty. The
emperor himself, in person, did me the honor to be by at the whole ceremony. I
made my acknowledgments by prostrating myself at his majesty's feet; but he
commanded 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
sufficient 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 finding it to exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one.
they concluded from the similarity of 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 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 empire.—the author offers to serve the emperor
in his wars.
THE first request I made after I had obtained my liberty was, that I might have
license to see Mildendo, the metropolis; which the emperor easily granted me,
but with a special charge to do no hurt either to the inhabitants or their
houses. The people had notice, by proclamation, of my design to visit the town.
The wall, which compassed 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 flanked with strong towers at ten feet distance. I stepped over the great
western gate, and passed very gently and sidling 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 on the streets; although
the orders were very strict, that all the people should keep in their houses at
their own peril.
[377] 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 quarters, are five feet wide.
The lanes and alleys, which I could not enter, but viewed them as I passed, are
from twelve to eighteen inches. The town is capable of holding five hundred
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 I 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, which I spent in
cutting down with my knife some of the largest trees in the royal park, about a
hundred yards distance 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 second 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 feet wide. I then stepped over the building very
conveniently from one stool to the other, and drew up the first after me with a
hooked stick. By this contrivance I got into the inmost 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.
But I shall not anticipate the reader with further descriptions of this kind,
because I reserve them for a greater work, which is now almost ready for the
press; containing a general description of this empire, from its first erection,
through a long series of princes; with a particular account of their wars and
politics, laws, learning and religion; their plants and animals; their peculiar
manners and customs, with other matters very curious and useful; my chief design
at present being only to relate such events and transactions as happened to the
public or to myself during a residence of about nine months in that empire.
One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my liberty, Reldresal,
principal secretary (as they style him) for private affairs, came to my house
attended only by one servant. He ordered his coach to wait at a distance, and
desired I would give him an hour's audience; which I readily consented 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;
said "he might pretend to some merit in it;" but however added, "that if it
had not been for the present situation of things at court, perhaps I might not
have obtained it so soon. For," said he, "as flourishing a condition as we may
appear to be in to foreigners, we labor under two mighty evils; a violent
faction at home, and
[378] the danger of an invasion, by a most potent enemy, from abroad. As to the first,
you are to understand, that for above seventy moons past there have been two
struggling parties in this empire, under the names of Tramecksan, and
Slamecksan, from the high and low heels of their shoes, by which they
distinguish themselves. It is alleged, indeed, that the high-heels are most
agreeable to our ancient constitution; but, however this be, his majesty has
determined to make use only of low heels in the administration of the
government, and all offices in the gift of the crown, as you cannot but
observe: and particularly that his majesty's imperial heels are lower at least by a
drurr than any of his court (drurr is a
measure about the fourteenth part of an
inch). The animosities between these two parties run so high, that they will
neither eat nor drink nor talk with each other. We compute the Tramecksan, or
high heels, to exceed us in number; but the power is wholly on our side. We
apprehend his imperial highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency
towards the high heels; at least, we can plainly discover that one of his heels
is higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait. Now, in the
midst of these intestine disquiets, we are threatened with an invasion from the
island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, almost as
large and powerful as this of his majesty. For as to what we have heard you
affirm, that there are other kingdoms and states in the world inhabited by human
creatures as large as yourself, our philosophers are in much doubt, and would
rather conjecture that you dropped from the moon, or one of the stars; because
it is certain that a hundred mortals of your bulk would in a short time destroy
all the fruits and cattle of his majesty's dominions: besides, our histories of
six thousand moons make no mention of any other regions than the two great
empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty powers have, as I was going
to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate war for six-and-thirty moons
past. It began upon the following occasion: it is allowed on all hands, that
the primitive way of breaking eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his
present majesty's grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and
breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his
fingers , whereupon the emperor, his father, published an edict, commanding all
his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller ends of their eggs. The
people so highly resented this law, that our histories tell us there have been
six rebellions raised on that account; wherein one emperor lost his life, and
another his crown. These civil commotions were constantly fomented by the
monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the exiles always fled for
refuge to that empire. It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at
several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the
smaller end. Many hundred large volumes have been published upon this
controversy; but the books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, and the
whole party rendered incapable by law of holding employments. During the course
of these troubles, the emperors of Blefuscu did frequently expostulate by their
ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion by offending against a
fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter
of the Blundecral, which is their Alcoran. This, however, is thought to be a
mere strain upon the text; for the words are these: that all true believers
break their eggs at the convenient end; and which is the convenient end seems,
in my humble opinion, to be left to every man's conscience, or at least in the
power of the chief magistrate to determine.
"Now, the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in the emperor of
Blefuscu's court, and so much private assistance and encouragement from their
party here at home, that a bloody war has been carried on between the two
empires for six-and-thirty moons, with various success; during which time we
have lost forty capital ships, and a much greater number of smaller vessels,
together with thirty thousand of our best, seamen and soldiers; and the damage
received by the
[379] enemy is reckoned to be somewhat greater than ours. However, they have now
equipped a numerous fleet, and are just preparing to make a descent upon us; and
his imperial majesty, placing great confidence in your valor and strength, has
commanded me to lay this account of his affairs before you."
I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the emperor; and to let him
know "that I thought it would not become me, who was a foreigner, to interfere
with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard of my life, to defend his person
and state against all invaders."
CHAPTER V
THE AUTHOR, BY AN EXTRAORDINARY STRATAGEM, PREVENTS AN INVASION.—A HIGH
TITLE OF HONOR 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 northeast 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
empires having been strictly forbidden during the war, upon pain of death, and
an embargo laid by our emperor upon all vessels whatsoever. I communicated to
his majesty a project I had formed of seizing the enemy's whole fleet; which, as
our scouts assured us, lay at anchor in the harbor, ready to sail with the first
fair wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth of the
channel, which they had often plumbed; who told me, that in the middle, at high
water, it was seventy glumgluffs deep, which is about six feet of European
measure; and the rest of it fifty glumgluffs at most. I walked towards the
northeast 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 warrant) 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 twisted three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into
a hook. Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables, I went back to the
northeast coast, and putting off my coat, shoes, and stockings, walked into the
sea in my leathern jerkin, 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 were so
frighted when they saw me, that they leaped out of their ships, and swam to
shore, where there 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 arrows, many of which stuck in my hands and face; and, besides
the excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in my work. My greatest
apprehension was for mine eyes, which I should 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 I could
upon my nose, and thus armed, went on boldly with my work, in spite of the
enemy's arrows, many of which struck against the glasses of my spectacles, but
without any other effect, farther 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 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 anchors, receiving about two hundred arrows in my face and hands;
then I took up the
[380] 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 grief and despair as it is almost impossible to describe or conceive.
When I had got out of danger, I stopped a while 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, expecting the issue of this
great adventure. They saw the ships move forward in a large half-moon, but
could not discern me, who was up to
my breast in water. When I advanced to the
middle of the channel, they were yet more in pain,
because I was under water to my neck. The emperor concluded me to be drowned, and that the
enemy's fleet was approaching 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 nardac upon the
spot, which is the
highest title of honor among them.
His majesty desired I would take
some other opportunity of bringing
all the rest of his
enemy's ships into
his ports. And so
unmeasurable is the
ambition of princes,
that he seemed to think of nothing less than
reducing the whole empire of Blefuscu into a,
province, and governing it by a viceroy; of destroying
the Big-endian exiles, and compelling that people
to break the smaller end of their eggs, by which he
[381] would remain the sole monarch of the whole world. But I endeavored 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;" and when the matter was debated in
council, the wisest part of the ministry were of my opinion.
This open, bold declaration of mine was so opposite to the schemes and politics
of his imperial majesty, that he could never forgive me. He mentioned it in a
very artful manner at 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 expressions which by 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 ended in my utter destruction. Of so little weight are the
greatest services to princes, when put into the balance with a refusal to
gratify their passions.
About three weeks after this exploit there arrived a solemn embassy from
Blefuscu, with humble offers of a peace; which was soon concluded, upon
conditions very advantageous to our emperor, wherewith I shall not trouble the
reader. There were six ambassadors with a train of about five hundred persons;
and their entry was very magnificent, suitable 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
valor and generosity, invited me to that kingdom in the emperor their master's
name, and desired me to show them some proof of my prodigious strength, 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 infinite
satisfaction and surprise, I desired they would do me the honor to present my
most humble respects to the emperor 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 license to wait
on the Blefuseudian 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 had a
whisper from a certain person, "that Flimnap and Bolgolam had represented my
intercourse with those ambassadors as a mark of disaffection;" from which I am
sure my heart was wholly free. And this was the first time I began to conceive
some imperfect idea of courts and ministers.
It is to be observed, that these ambassadors spoke to me by an interpreter, the
languages of both empires differing as much from each other as any two in
Europe, and each nation priding itself upon the antiquity, beauty, and energy of
their own tongues, with an avowed contempt for that of their neighbor: yet our
emperor, standing upon the advantage he had got by the seizure of their fleet,
obliged them to deliver their credentials, and make their speech, in the
Lilliputian tongue. And it must be confessed, that from the great intercourse of
trade and commerce between both realms, from the continual reception of exiles
which is mutual among them, and from the custom, in each empire, to send their
young nobility and richer gentry to the other, in order to polish themselves by
seeing the world, and understanding men and manners; there are few persons of
distinction, or merchants, or seamen, who dwell in the maritime parts, but what
can hold conversation in both tongues; as I found some weeks after, when I went
to pay my respects to the emperor of Blefuscu, which, in the midst of great
misfortunes, through the malice of my enemies, proved a very happy adventure to
me, as I shall relate in its proper place.
CHAPTER VI
OF THE INHABITANTS OF LILLIPUT; THEIR LEARNING,
LAWS, AND CUSTOMS; THE MANNER OF EDUCATING
THEIR CHILDREN.—THE AUTHOR'S WAY OF LIVING
IN THAT COUNTRY.
[382] ALTHOUGH I intend to leave the description of this empire to a particular
treatise, yet, in the mean time, I am content to gratify the curious reader with
some general ideas. As the common size of the natives is somewhat under six
inches high, so there is an exact proportion in all other animals, as well as
plants and trees: for 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 downwards,
till you come to the smallest, which to my sight were almost invisible; but
nature has adapted the eyes of the Lilliputians 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 much pleased
with observing a cook pulling a lark, which was not so large as a common fly;
and a young girl threading an invisible 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 clinched.
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
flourished 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 downward, 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 ready 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 customs in this empire very peculiar; 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
executed. The first I shall mention, relates to informers. All crimes against
the state are punished here with the utmost severity; but if the person accused
makes his innocence plainly to appear upon his trial, the accuser is immediately
put to an ignominious death; and out of his goods or lands the innocent person
is quadruply recompensed for the loss of his time, for the danger he underwent
for the hardship of his imprisonment, and for all the charges he has been at of
making his defense; or, if that fund be deficient, it is largely supplied by the
crown. The emperor also confers 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 connived at. or has no law to punish it, the honest
dealer is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage. I remember, 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 defense the
greatest aggravation of the crime; and truly I had little to say in return,
further than the common answer,
[383] that different nations had different customs; for, I confess I was heartily
ashamed.
Although we usually call reward and punishment the two hinges upon which all government
turns, yet I could never observe this maxim to be
put in practice by any nation, except that of
Lilliput. Whoever can there bring sufficient proof
that he has strictly observed the laws of his country for seventy-three moons, has a claim to certain
privileges, according to his quality and condition
of life, with a proportionable sum of money out of
a fund appropriated for that use: he likewise
acquires the title of snilpall, or legal, which is added
to his name, but does not descend to his posterity.
And these people thought it a prodigious defect of
policy among us, when I told them that our laws
were enforced only by penalties, without any mention of reward. It is upon this account that the
image of Justice, in their courts of judicature, is
formed with six eyes, two before, as many behind,
and on each side one, to signify circumspection; with a bag of gold open in
her right hand, and a sword sheathed in her left, to show she is more disposed
to reward than to punish.
In choosing persons for all employments, they have more regard to good morals
than to great abilities; for, since government is necessary to mankind, they
believe that the common size of human understanding is fitted to some station or
other; and that Providence never intended to make the management of public
affairs a mystery to be comprehended only by a few persons of sublime genius, of
which there seldom are three born in an age: but they suppose truth, justice,
temperance, and the like, to be in every man's power; the practice of which
virtues, assisted by experience and a good intention, would qualify any man for
the service of his country, except where a course of study is required. But they
thought the want of moral virtues was so far from being supplied by superior
endowments of the mind, that employments could never be put into such dangerous
hands as those of persons so qualified; and at least, that the mistakes
committed by ignorance, in a virtuous disposition, would never be of such fatal
consequence to the public weal as the practice of a man whose inclinations led
him to be corrupt, and who had great abilities to manage, to multiply, and
defend his corruptions.
In like manner, the disbelief of a Divine Providence renders a man incapable of
holding any public station; for since kings avow themselves to be the deputies
of Providence, the Lilliputians think nothing can be more absurd than for a
prince to employ such men as disown the authority under which he acts.
In relating these and the following laws, I would only be understood to mean the
original institutions, and not the most scandalous corruptions into which these
people are fallen by the degenerate nature of man. For, as to that infamous
practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the ropes, or badges of
favor and distinction by leaping over sticks and creeping under them, the reader
is to observe that they were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor
now reigning, and grew to the present height by the gradual increase of party
and faction.
Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in some
other countries; for they reason thus: that whoever makes ill returns to his
benefactor must needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he has
received no obligation, and therefore such a man is not fit to live.
Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ extremely
from ours. For since the conjunction of male and female is founded upon the
great law of nature, in order to propagate and continue the species, the
Lilliputians will needs have it, that men and women are joined together like
other animals, by the motives of natural instincts; and that their tenderness
towards their young proceeds from the like natural principle: for which reason,
they will never allow that a child is under any obligation to his father for
begetting him, or to his mother for bringing him into the world: which,
considering the miseries of human life, was neither a benefit in itself nor
intended so by his parents, whose thoughts,
[384] in their love encounters, were otherwise employed. Upon these, and the like
reasonings, their opinion is, that parents are the last of all others to be
trusted with the education of their own children; and therefore they have in
every town public nurseries, where all parents, except cottagers and laborers,
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 to 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 inclinations. I shall first say
something of the male nurseries, and then of the female.
The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth are provided with grave and
learned professors and their several deputies. The clothes and food of the
children are plain and simple. They are bred up in the principles of honor,
justice, courage, modesty, clemency, religion, and love of their country; they
are always employed in some business, except in the times of eating and
sleeping, which are very short, and two hours for diversions, consisting of
bodily exercises. They are dressed by men till four years of age, and then are
obliged to dress themselves, although their quality be ever so great; and the
women attendants, who are aged proportionably to ours at fifty, perform only the
most menial offices. They are never suffered to converse with servants, but go
together, in smaller or greater numbers, to take their diversions, and always in
the presence of a professor or one of his deputies; whereby they avoid those
early bad impressions of folly and vice to which our children are subject. Their
parents are suffered to see them only twice a year; the visit is to last but an
hour; they are allowed to kiss the child at meeting and parting; but a
professor, who always stands by on those occasions, will not suffer them to
whisper, or use any fondling expressions, or bring any presents of toys,
sweetmeats, and the like.
The pension from each family for the education and entertainment of a child,
upon failure of due payment, is levied by the emperor's officers.
The nurseries for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, traders, and
handicrafts are managed proportionably after the same manner; only those
designed for trades are put out apprentices at eleven years old: whereas those
of persons of quality continue in their exercises till fifteen, which answers to
twenty-one with us; but the confinement is gradually lessened for the last three
years.
In the female nurseries, the young girls of quality are educated much like the
males, only they are dressed by orderly servants of their own sex; but always in
the presence of a professor or deputy, till they come to dress themselves, which
is at five years old. And if it be found that these nurses ever presume to
entertain the girls with frightful or foolish stories, or the common follies
practiced by chambermaids among us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the
city, imprisoned for a year, and banished for a life to the most desolate part
of the country. Thus the young ladies there are as much ashamed of being cowards
and fools as the men, and despise all personal ornaments, beyond decency and
cleanliness: neither did I perceive any difference in their education made by
their difference of sex, only that the exercises of the females were not
altogether so robust; and that some rules were given them relating to domestic
life, and a smaller compass of learning was enjoined them: for their maxim is,
that among people of quality a wife should be always a reasonable and agreeable
companion, because she cannot always be young. When the girls are twelve years
old, which among them is the marriageable age, their parents or guardians take
them home, with great expressions of gratitude to the professors, and seldom
without the tears of the young lady and her companions.
In the nurseries of the females of the meaner sort, the children are instructed
in all kinds of work proper for their sex, and their several degrees; those
intended for apprentices are
dis- [385] missed at seven years old, the rest are kept till eleven.
The meaner families who have children at these nurseries are obliged, beside
their annual pension, which is as low as possible, to return to the steward of
the nursery a small monthly share of their gettings, to be a portion for the
child; and therefore all parents are limited in their expenses by the law. For
the Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust than for people, in
subservience to their own appetites, to bring children into the world and leave
the burden of supporting them on the public. As to persons of quality, they give
security to appropriate a certain sum for each child, suitable to their
condition: and these funds are always managed with good husbandry and the most
exact justice.
The cottagers and laborers keep their children at home, their business being
only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their edtication is of
little consequence to the public: but the old and diseased among them are
supported by hospitals; for begging is a trade unknown in this empire.
And here 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 likewise
forced by necessity, I had made for myself a table and chair convenient enough,
out of the largest trees in the royal park. Two hundred seamstresses were
employed to make me shirts and linen for my bed and table, all of the strongest
and coarsest 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
seamstresses took my measure as I lay on the ground, one standing at my neck,
and another at my midleg, with a strong cord extended, that each held by the
end, while a third measured the length of the cord with a rule an inch long.
Then they measured my right thumb, and desired no more; for by a mathematical
computation, that twice round the thumb is once round the wrist, and so on to
the neck and the 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 neck; upon this ladder one of them mounted, and let
fall a plumb-line from my collar to the floor, which just answered the length of
my coat; but my waist and arms I measured myself. When my clothes were finished,
which was done in my house (for the largest of theirs would not have been able
to hold them), they looked like the patchwork made by the ladies in England,
only that mine were all of a color.
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
apiece. 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 manner by certain cords,
as we draw a 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 sirloin 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 ate at a mouthful, and I confess they
far exceed 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
[386] 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 likewise, with his white staff; and I observed he often looked on
me with a sour countenance, which I would not seem to regard, but ate more than
usual, in honor 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 opportunity of doing me 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 emperor
"the low condition of his treasury; that he was forced to take up money at a
great discount; that 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 greatest gold coin, about the bigness of a spangle); and, 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 BLEFUSCU.—HIS RECEPTION THERE.
BEFORE I proceed to give an account of my leaving this kingdom it may be proper
to inform the reader of a private intrigue which had been for two months forming
against me. I had been hitherto, all my life, a stranger to courts, for which I
was unqualified by the meanness of my condition. I had indeed heard and read
enough of the dispositions of great princes and ministers, but never expected to
have found such terrible effects of them in so remote a country, governed, as I
thought, by very different maxims from those in Europe.
When I was just preparing to pay my attendance on the Emperor of Blefuscu, a
considerable person at court (to whom I had been very serviceable, at a time
when he lay under the highest displeasure of his imperial majesty) came to my
house very privately at night, in a close chair, and, without sending his name,
desired admittance. 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 inquiring into the reason, he desired "I would hear him with
patience, in a matter that highly concerned my honor and life." His speech was
to the following effect, for I took notes of it as soon as he left me:—
"You are to know," said he, "that several committees of council have been
lately 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 Bolgolarn (galbet, or high-admiral) has been
your mortal enemy, almost ever since 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
Flimnap, the high-treasurer, whose enmity against you is notorious on account of
his lady, Li in the general, Lalcon the chamberlain, and Balmuff the grand
justiciary, have prepared articles of impeachment against you, for treason and
other capital crimes."
This preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my own merits and
innocence, that I was going to interrupt him; when he entreated me to be silent,
and thus proceeded:—
"Out of gratitude for the favors you have done me, I procured information of the
whole proceedings, and a copy of the articles; wherein I venture my head for
your service."
[The articles recited various grounds of suspicion, especially Quinbus
Flestrin's humanity toward Blefuscu after he had brought the imperial fleet
[387] into port, and his friendly intercourse with the ambassadors from Blefuscu.]
"In the several debates upon this impeachment, it must be confessed that his
majesty gave many marks of his great lenity; often urging the services you had
done him, and endeavoring to extenuate your crimes. The treasurer and admiral
insisted that you should be put to the most
painful and ignominious death, by setting fire to your house at night; and the
general was to attend with
twenty thousand men, armed with poisoned arrows, to shoot you on the face and hands. Some
of your servants were to have private orders to strew a poisonous juice on your
shirts and sheets, which would soon make you tear your own flesh, and die in the
utmost torture. The general came into the same opinion, so that for a long time
there was a majority against you; but his majesty, resolving, if possible, to
spare your life, at last brought off the chamberlain.
"Upon this incident, Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, who
always approved himself your true friend, was commanded by the emperor to
deliver his opinion, which he accordingly did, and therein justified the good
thoughts you have of him. He allowed your crimes to be great, but that still
there was room for mercy, the most commendable virtue in a prince, and for which
his majesty was so justly celebrated. He said the friendship between you and him
was so well known to the world that perhaps the most honorable board might think
him partial; however, in obedience to the command he had received, he would
freely offer his sentiments. That if his majesty, in consideration of your
services, and pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would please to spare
your life, and only give orders to put out both your eyes, he humbly conceived
that, by this expedient, justice might in some measure be satisfied, and all the
world would applaud the lenity of the emperor, as well as the fair and generous
proceedings of those who have the honor to be his counselors. That the loss of
your eyes would be no impediment to your bodily strength,
by which you might still be useful to his majesty; that blindness is an addition
to courage, by concealing dangers from us; that the fear you had for your eyes
was the greatest difficulty in bringing over the enemy's fleet; and it would be
sufficient for you to see by the eyes of the ministers, since the greatest
princes do no more.
"This proposal was received with the utmost disapprobation by the whole board.
Bolgolam, the admiral, could not preserve his temper; but, rising up in a fury,
said he wondered how the secretary durst presume to give his opinion for
preserving the life of a traitor: that the services you had performed were, by
all true reasons of state, the great aggravation of your crimes; that the same
strength which enabled you to bring over the enemy's fleet might serve, upon the
first discontent, to carry it back: that he had good reasons to think you were
a Big-endian in your heart; and, as treason begins in the heart before it
appears in overt acts, so he accused you as a traitor on that account, and
therefore insisted you should be put to death.
"The treasurer was of the same opinion: he showed to what straits his majesty's
revenue was reduced by the charge of maintaining you, which would soon grow
insupportable: that the secretary's expedient of putting out your eyes was so
far from being a remedy against this evil, that it would probably increase it,
as is manifest from the common practice of blinding some kind of fowls, after
which they fed the faster and grew fat sooner; that his sacred majesty and the
council, who are your judges, were, in their own consciences, fully convinced of
your guilt, which was a sufficient argument to condemn you to death, without the
formal proofs required by the strict letter of the law.
"But his imperial majesty, fully determined against capital punishment, was
graciously pleased to say that since the council thought the loss of your eyes
too easy a censure, some other may be inflicted hereafter. And your friend the
secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, in answer to what the treasurer
had objected,
con- [388] cerning the great charge his majesty was at in maintaining you, said that his
excellency, who had the sole disposal of the emperor's revenue, might easily
provide against that evil by gradually lessening your establishment; by which,
for want of sufficient food, you will grow weak and faint, and lose your
appetite, and consume in a few months; neither would the stench of your carcass
be then so dangerous, when it should become more than half diminished; and
immediately upon your death five or six thousand of his majesty's subjects
might, in two or three days, cut your flesh from your bones, take it away by
cart-loads, and bury it in distant parts, to prevent infection, leaving the
skeleton as a monument of admiration to posterity.
"Thus by the great friendship of the secretary the whole affair was compromised.
It was strictly enjoined that the project of starving you by degrees should be
kept a secret; but the sentence of putting out your eyes was entered on the
books; none dissenting except Bolgolam, the admiral.
"In three days your friend the secretary will be directed to come to your house
and read before 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 the balls of your eyes, as you lie on the ground.
"I leave to your prudence what measures you will take; and to avoid suspicion I
must immediately return in as private a manner as I came."
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 execution, either to gratify the monarch's resentment, or the
malice of a favorite, the emperor always made a speech to his whole council,
expressing his great lenity and tenderness as qualities known and confessed by
all the world. This speech was immediately published throughout the kingdom; nor
did anything terrify the people so much as those encomiums on his majesty's
mercy; because it was observed that the more these praises were enlarged and
insisted on, the more inhuman was the punishment, and the sufferer more
innocent. Yet as to myself, 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 favor of this sentence, but conceived it
(perhaps erroneously) rather to be rigorous than gentle. I sometimes thought of
standing my trial; for, although I could not deny the facts alleged in the
several articles, yet I hoped they would admit of some extenuation. But having
in my life perused many state trials, which I ever observed to terminate as the
judges thought fit to direct, I durst not rely on so dangerous a decision, in so
critical a juncture, and against such powerful enemies. Once I was strongly bent
upon resistance; for, while I had liberty, the whole strength of that empire
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 favors I received from him, and the high title of
nardac he conferred upon me. Neither had I so soon learned the gratitude of
courtiers to persuade myself that his majesty's present severities acquitted me
of all past obligations.
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 the preserving of my eyes, and
consequently my liberty, to my own great rashness and want of experience;
because, if I had then known the nature of princes and ministers, which I have
since observed in many other courts, and their methods 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 license to pay my attendance upon the
[389] emperor of Blefuscu, I took this opportunity, before the three days were
elapsed, to send a letter to my friend, the secretary, signifying my resolution
of setting out that morning for Blefuscu, pursuant to the leave I had got; and,
without waiting for an answer, I went to that side of the island where our fleet
lay. I seized a large man-of-war, tied a cable to the prow, and lifting up the
anchors, I stripped myself, put my clothes (together with my coverlet which I
carried 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 capital 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 let him know I there waited his majesty's command." I had an answer in about
an hour, "that his 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 license 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 disgrace, 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 of my reception at this court, which was suitable to the generosity
of so great a prince; nor of the difficulties I was in for 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 BLEFUSCU; AND, AFTER SOME
DIFFICULTIES, RETURNS SAFE TO HIS NATIVE COUNTY.
THREE days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the northeast coast of
the island, I observed, about half a league off in the sea, somewhat that looked
like a boat overturned. I pulled off my shoes and stockings, and wading two or
three hundred yards, I found the object to approach nearer by 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 towards
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. I found
the tide had driven it still nearer. The seamen were all provided with cordage,
which I had beforehand twisted to a sufficient strength. When the ships came up,
I stripped myself, and waded till I came within a hundred yards of the boat,
after which I was forced to swim till I got up to it. The seamen threw me the
end of the cord, which I fastened to a hole in the forepart of the boat, and the
other end to a man-of-war; but I found all my labor to little purpose; for,
being out of my depth, I was not able to work. In this necessity I was forced to
swim behind, and push the boat forward as often as I could with one of my hands;
and the tide favoring 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 armpits; and now
the most laborious 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 favorable, the seamen towed,
and I shoved, until we arrived within forty yards of the shore, and waiting till
the tide was out, I got dry
[390] to the boat, and by the assistance of two thousand men with ropes and engines, I
made a shift 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 getting
materials to fit it up; together with his license to depart;" which, after some
kind expostulations, he was pleased to grant.
I did very much wonder, in 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 I had
the least notice of his designs, believed I was only gone to Blefuscu in
performance of my promise, according to the license 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 of quality was dispatched
with the copy of the articles against me. This envoy had instructions to
represent to the monarch of Blefuscu "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 if I did not return in two hours I should be deprived of my
title of nardac, and declared a traitor." The envoy further added, "that in
order to maintain 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 Blefuscu, having taken three days to consult, returned an answer
consisting of many civilities and excuses. He said, "that as for sending me
bound, his brother knew it was impossible; that although 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 and direction;
and he hoped, in a few weeks, both empires would be freed from so insupportable
an incumbrance."
With this answer the envoy returned to Lilliput, and the monarch of Blefuscu
related to me all that had passed; offering me at the same time (but under the
strictest confidence) his gracious protection if I would continue in his
service; wherein although I believed him sincere, yet I resolved never more to
put any confidence in princes or ministers, where I could possibly avoid it; and
therefore, with all due acknowledgments for favorable intentions, I humbly
begged to be excused. I told him, that "since fortune, whether good or evil,
had thrown a vessel in my way, I was resolved to venture myself on the ocean,
rather than be an occasion of difference between two such mighty monarchs."
Neither did I find the emperor at all displeased; and I discovered, by a certain
accident, that he was very glad of my resolution, and so were most of his
ministers.
These considerations moved me to hasten 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, or thirty of the thickest and strongest of theirs. A great stone that I
happened to find, after a long search, by the seashore, served me for an anchor.
I had the tallow of three hundred cows, for greasing my boat, and other uses. I
was at incredible pains in cutting down some of the largest timber
[391] trees for oars and masts, wherein I was, however, much assisted by his majesty's
ship-carpenters, who helped me in smoothing them, after I had done the rough
work.
In about a month, when all was prepared, I sent 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 hundred sprugs apiece, together with his picture at
full length, which I put immediately 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 boat with the carcasses of a hundred oxen and three hundred sheep,
with bread and drink proportionable, 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 them on board I had a good bundle of bay, and a bag of
corn. I 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 subjects,
although with their own consent and desire."
Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, I set sail, on the
twenty-fourth day of September, 1701, at six in the morning; and when I had gone
about four leagues to the northward, the wind being at southeast, at six in the
evening, I descried a small island about half a league to the northwest. 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 conjecture, at least six hours, for I found the day broke in two hours
after I awaked. It was a clear night. I ate my breakfast before the sun was up;
and heaving anchor, the wind being favorable, I steered the same course that I
had done 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 northeast of Van Diemen's Land. I discovered nothing all that
day; but upon the next, about three in the afternoon, when I had, by my
computation, made twenty-four leagues from Blefuscu, I descried a sail steering
to the southeast; 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 I
could, and in half an hour she spied me, then hung out her ancient, and
discharged a gun. It is not easy to express the joy I was in, 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 twenty-sixth; but my heart leaped within me to
see her English colors. 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 I 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 whither 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 given me by the emperor of Blefuscu,
together with his majesty's picture at full length, and some other rarities of
that country. I gave him two purses of two hundred sprugs each, and promised
when we arrived in England, to make him a present of a cow, and a sheep big with
young.
[392] 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, picked clean from the flesh. The rest
of my cattle I got safe ashore, and set them a-grazing on 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 powder, and mingled with water, was their constant food. The
short time I continued in England I made a considerable profit by showing my
cattle to many persons of quality and others; and before I began my second
voyage 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 advantage of the woolen manufacture, by the fineness of the fleeces.
I stayed 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
remaining stock I carried with me, part in money and part in goods, in hopes to
improve my fortunes. My eldest uncle John had left me an estate in land near
Epping of about thirty pounds a year, and I had a long lease of the Black Bull
in Fetter Lane, which yielded me as much more; so that I was not in any danger
of leaving my family upon the 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 needlework. 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.
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