Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World E-Book

Jonathan Swift

• Herausgeber: Youcanprint
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Jonathan Swift - Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gullivers Travels (1726, amended 1735), is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers tales" literary subgenre. It is Swifts best known full-length work.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.

PART I.  A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

PART II.  A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

PART III.  A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

PART IV.  A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XII.

Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World

Jonathan Swift

First digital edition 2017 by Anna Ruggieri

A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.

Written in the Year1727.

I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed onme to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.” But I do not remember I gave you power to consent that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted; therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her majesty Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination, so was it not decent to praise any animal ofour composition before my masterHouyhnhnm: And besides, the fact was altogether false; for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty’s reign, she did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and the second the lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing that was not. Likewise in the account of the academy of projectors, and several passages of my discourse to my masterHouyhnhnm, you have either omitted some material circumstances, or minced or changed them in such a manner, that I do hardly know my own work. When I formerly hinted to you something of this in a letter, you were pleased to answer that you were afraid of giving offence; that people in power werevery watchful over the press, and apt not only to interpret, but to punish every thing which looked like aninnuendo(as I think you call it). But, pray how could that which I spoke so many years ago, and at about five thousand leagues distance, in another reign, be applied to any of theYahoos, who now are said to govern the herd; especially at a time when I little thought, or feared, the unhappiness of living under them? Have not I the most reason to complain, when I see these veryYahooscarried byHouyhnhnmsin a vehicle, as if they were brutes, and those the rational creatures? And indeed to avoid so monstrous and detestable a sight was one principal motive of my retirement hither.

Thus much I thought proper to tell you in relation to yourself, andto the trust I reposed in you.

I do, in the next place, complain of my own great want of judgment, in being prevailed upon by the entreaties and false reasoning of you and some others, very much against my own opinion, to suffer my travels to be published. Pray bring to your mind how often I desired you to consider, when you insisted on the motive of public good, that theYahooswere a species of animals utterly incapable of amendment by precept or example: and so it has proved; for, instead of seeing a full stop put to all abuses and corruptions, at least in thislittle island, as I had reason to expect; behold, after above six months warning, I cannot learn that my book has produced one single effect according to my intentions. I desired you would let meknow, by a letter, when party and faction were extinguished; judges learned and upright; pleaders honest and modest, with some tincture of common sense, and Smithfield blazing with pyramids of law books; the young nobility’s education entirely changed; the physicians banished; the femaleYahoosabounding in virtue, honour, truth, and good sense; courts and levees of great ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning rewarded; all disgracers of the press in prose and verse condemned to eat nothing but their own cotton, and quench their thirst with their own ink. These, and a thousand other reformations, I firmly counted upon by your encouragement; as indeed they were plainly deducible from the precepts delivered in my book. And it must be owned, that seven months were a sufficient time to correct every vice and folly to whichYahoosare subject, if their natures had been capable of the least disposition to virtue or wisdom. Yet, so far have you been from answering my expectation in any of your letters; that on the contrary you are loading our carrier every week with libels, and keys, and reflections, and memoirs, and second parts; wherein I see myself accused of reflecting upon great state folk; of degrading human nature (for so they havestill the confidence to style it), and of abusing the female sex. I find likewise that the writers of those bundles are not agreed among themselves; for some of them will not allow me to be the author of my own travels; and others make me author of booksto which I am wholly a stranger.

I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month: and I hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert, if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot stand to them; but shallleave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as they please.

I hear some of our seaYahoosfind fault with my sea-language, as not proper in many parts, nor now in use. I cannot help it. In my first voyages, while I was young, I wasinstructed by the oldest mariners, and learned to speak as they did. But I have since found that the seaYahoosare apt, like the land ones, to become new-fangled in their words, which the latter change every year; insomuch, as I remember upon each return to my own country their old dialect was so altered, that I could hardly understand the new. And I observe, when anyYahoocomes from London out of curiosity to visit me at my house, we neither of us are able to deliver our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.

If the censure of theYahooscould any way affect me, I should have great reason to complain, that some of them are so bold as to think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain, and have gone so far as to drop hints, that theHouyhnhnmsandYahooshave no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.

Indeed I must confess, that as to the people ofLilliput,Brobdingrag(for so the word should have been spelt, and not erroneouslyBrobdingnag), andLaputa, I have never yetheard of anyYahooso presumptuous as to dispute their being, or the facts I have related concerningthem; because the truth immediately strikes every reader with conviction. And is there less probability in my account of theHouyhnhnmsorYahoos, when it is manifest as to the latter, there are so many thousands even in this country, who only differ from their brother brutes inHouyhnhnmland, because they use a sort of jabber, and do not go naked? I wrote for their amendment, and not their approbation. The united praise of the whole race would be of less consequence to me, than the neighing of those two degenerateHouyhnhnmsI keep in my stable; because from these, degenerate as they are, I still improve in some virtues without any mixture of vice.

Do these miserable animals presume to think, that I am so degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahooas I am, it is well known through allHouyhnhnmland, that, by the instructions and example of my illustrious master, I was able in the compass of two years (although I confess with the utmost difficulty) to remove that infernal habit of lying, shuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, so deeply rooted in the very souls of all my species; especially the Europeans.

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occasion; but I forbear troubling myself or you any further. I must freely confess, that since my last return, some corruptions of myYahoonature have revived in me by conversing with a few of your species, and particularly those of my own family,by an unavoidable necessity; else I should never have attempted so absurd a project as that of reforming theYahoorace in this kingdom: But I have now done with all such visionary schemes for ever.

April2, 1727

PART I.  A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.

CHAPTER I.

The author gives some account of himself and family. Hisfirst inducements to travel. He is shipwrecked, and swims forhis life. Gets safe on shore in the country of Lilliput; ismade a prisoner, and carried up the country.

My father had a small estatein Nottinghamshire: I was the thirdof five sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge atfourteen years old, where I resided three years, and applied myselfclose to my studies; but the charge of maintaining me, although Ihad a very scanty allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune,I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon inLondon, with whom I continued four years. My father now andthen sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learningnavigation, and otherparts of the mathematics, useful to those whointend to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time orother, my fortune to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went downto my father: where, by the assistance of him and my uncle John,and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promise ofthirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studiedphysic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful inlong voyages.

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my goodmaster,Mr. Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow, Captain AbrahamPannel, 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 toseveral patients. I took part of a small house in the OldJewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. MaryBurton, second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, inNewgate-street,with whom I received four hundred pounds for aportion.

But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I havingfew friends, my business began to fail; for my conscience would notsuffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among mybrethren. Having therefore consulted with my wife, and someof my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea. I wassurgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, forsix years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got someaddition to my fortune. My hours of leisure I spent inreading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always providedwith a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observingthe manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learningtheir language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength ofmy memory.

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grewweary of the sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife andfamily. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and fromthence toWapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but itwould not turn toaccount. After three years expectation thatthings would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from CaptainWilliam Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyageto the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, andour voyage was at first very prosperous.

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the readerwith the particulars of our adventures in those seas; let itsuffice to inform him, that in our passage from thence to the EastIndies, we were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of VanDiemen’s Land. By an observation, we found ourselves inthe latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of ourcrew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the rest were ina very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was thebeginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy,the seamen spied a rock within half a cable’s length of theship; but the wind was so strong, that we were driven directly uponit, and immediately split. Six of the crew, of whom I wasone, having let down the boat into the sea, made a shift to getclear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation,about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, beingalready spent with labour while we were in the ship. Wetherefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in abouthalf an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from thenorth. What became of my companions in the boat, as well asof those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, Icannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my ownpart, I swam as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by windand 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 foundmyself within my depth; and by this time the storm was muchabated. The declivity was so small, that I walked near a milebefore I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eighto’clock in the evening. I then advanced forward nearhalf a mile, but could not discover any sign of houses orinhabitants; at least I was in so weak a condition, that I did notobserve them. I was extremely tired, and with that, and theheat ofthe weather, and about half a pint of brandy that I drank asI left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I laydown on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I sleptsounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as Ireckoned, about nine hours; for when I awaked, it was justday-light. 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 werestrongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, whichwas long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewisefelt several slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits tomy thighs. I could only look upwards; the sun began to growhot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused noiseabout me;but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except thesky. In a little time I felt something alive moving on myleft leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, camealmost up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as Icould, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high,with a bow and arrow in his hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty more of the same kind (as Iconjectured) following the first. I was in the utmostastonishment, androared so loud, that they all ran back in afright; and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt withthe falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so faras to get a fullsight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes byway of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice,Hekinahdegul: the othersrepeated the same words several times, but then Iknew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the readermay believe, in great uneasiness. At length, struggling toget loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench outthe pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground; for, by liftingit up to my face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bindme,and at the same time with a violent pull, which gave meexcessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down myhair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my headabout two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time,before I could seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in avery shrill accent, and after it ceased I heard one of them cryaloudTolgo phonac; when in an instant I felt above a hundred arrowsdischarged on my left hand, which, pricked me like so manyneedles;and besides, they shot another flight into the air, as wedo bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body,(though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediatelycovered with my left hand. When this shower of arrows wasover, I fell a groaning with grief and pain; and then strivingagain to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than thefirst, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in thesides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin, which they couldnot pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to liestill, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my lefthand being already loose, I could easily free myself: and as forthe inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for thegreatest army they could bring against me, if they were all of thesame size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwiseof me. When the people observed I was quiet, they dischargedno more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their numbersincreased; 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 stringswould permit me, I saw a stage erected about a foot and a halffromthe ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two orthree ladders to mount it: from whence one of them, who seemed tobe a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understoodnot one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that beforethe principal person began his oration, he cried out threetimes,Langro dehul san(these words and the former were afterwardsrepeated and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fiftyof the inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the leftside of my head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to theright, and of observing the person and gesture of him that was tospeak. He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than anyof the other three who attended him, whereof one was a page thatheld up his train, and seemed to be somewhat longer than my middlefinger; the other two stood one on each side to support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could observe many periodsof 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 callinghim for a witness; and being almost famished with hunger, havingnot eaten a morsel for some hours before I left the ship, I foundthe demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not forbearshowing my impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency)by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to signify that Iwanted food. Thehurgo(for so theycall a great lord, as Iafterwards learnt) understood me very well. He descended fromthe stage, and commanded that several ladders should be applied tomy sides, on which above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted andwalked towards my mouth, laden withbaskets full of meat, which hadbeen provided and sent thither by the king’s orders, uponthefirst intelligence he received of me. I observed there wasthe flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them by thetaste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped likethose of mutton, and very well dressed, but smaller than the wingsof a lark. I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and tookthree loaves at a time, about the bigness of musket bullets. They supplied me as fast as they could,showing a thousand marks ofwonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then madeanother sign, that I wanted drink. They found by my eatingthat a small quantity would not suffice me; and being a mostingenious people, they slung up, with greatdexterity, one of theirlargest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out thetop; I drank it off at a draught, which I might well do, for it didnot hold half a pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy, butmuch more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, whichI drank in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they hadnone to give me. When I had performed these wonders, theyshouted for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating several timesas they did at first,Hekinah degul. They made me a sign thatI should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the peoplebelow to stand out of the way, crying aloud,Borach mevolah; andwhen they saw the vessels in the air, there was a universal shoutofHekinah degul. I confess I was often tempted, while theywere passing backwards and forwards on my body, to seize forty orfifty of the first that came in my reach, and dash them against theground. But the remembrance of what I had felt, whichprobably might not be the worst they could do, and the promise ofhonour I made them—for so I interpreted my submissivebehaviour—soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, Inow considered myself as bound by the laws of hospitality, to apeople who had treated me with so much expense andmagnificence. However, in my thoughts I could notsufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals,who durst venture to mount and walk upon my body, while one of myhands was at liberty, without trembling at the very sight ofsoprodigious a creature as I must appear to them. After sometime, when they observed that I made no more demands for meat,there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperialmajesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of myright leg, advanced forwards up to my face, with about a dozen ofhis retinue; and producing his credentials under the signet royal,which he applied close to my eyes, spoke about ten minutes withoutany signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate resolution,oftenpointing forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards thecapital city, about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed byhis majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered infew words, but to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that wasloose, putting it to the other (but over his excellency’shead for fear of hurting him or his train) and then to my own headand body, to signify that I desired my liberty. It appearedthat he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by way ofdisapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I mustbe carried as a prisoner. However, he made other signs to letme understand that I should have meat and drink enough, and verygood treatment. Whereupon I once more thought of attemptingto break my bonds; but again, when I felt the smart of their arrowsupon my face and hands, which were all in blisters, and many of thedarts still sticking in them, and observing likewise that thenumber of my enemies increased, I gave tokens tolet them know thatthey might do with me what they pleased. Upon this,thehurgoand his train withdrew, with much civility and cheerfulcountenances. Soon after I heard a general shout, withfrequent repetitions of the wordsPeplom selan; and I felt greatnumbers ofpeople on my left side relaxing the cords to such adegree, that I was able to turn upon my right, and to ease myselfwith making water; which I very plentifully did, to the greatastonishment of the people; who, conjecturing by my motion what Iwas going to do, immediately opened to the right and left on thatside, to avoid the torrent, which fell with such noise and violencefrom me. But before this, they had daubed my face and both myhands 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 bytheir victuals and drink, which were very nourishing, disposed meto sleep. I slept about eight hours, as I wasafterwardsassured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by theemperor’s order, had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheadsof wine.

It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleepingon the ground, after my landing, the emperor had early notice of itby an express; and determined in council, that I should be tied inthe manner I have related, (which was done in the night while Islept;) that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to me, and amachine prepared to carry me to the capital city.

Thisresolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and Iam confident would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on thelike occasion. However, in my opinion, it was extremelyprudent, as well as generous: for, supposing these people hadendeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while I wasasleep, I should certainly have awaked with the first sense ofsmart, which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as tohave enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied; afterwhich,as they were not able to make resistance, so they couldexpect no mercy.

These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to agreat perfection in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragementof the emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning. Thisprince has several machines fixed on wheels, for the carriage oftrees and other great weights. He often builds his largestmen of war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where thetimber grows, and has them carried on these enginesthree or fourhundred yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters andengineers were immediately set at work to prepare the greatestengine they had. It was a frame of wood raised three inchesfrom the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide, moving upontwenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival ofthis engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after mylanding. It was brought parallel to me, as I lay. Butthe principal difficulty was to raise and place me in thisvehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, were erectedfor this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness ofpackthread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which theworkmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and mylegs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to drawup these cords, by many pulleys fastened on the poles; and thus, inless than three hours, I was raised and slung into the engine, andthere tied fast. All this I was told; for, while theoperation was performing, I lay ina profound sleep, by the force ofthat soporiferous medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteenhundred of the emperor’s largest horses, each about fourinches and a half high, were employed to draw me towards themetropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant.

About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a veryridiculous accident; for the carriage being stopped a while, toadjust something that was out of order, two or three of the youngnatives had the curiosity to see how I looked whenI was asleep;they climbed up into the engine, and advancing very softly to myface, one of them, an officer in the guards, put the sharp end ofhis half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, which tickled mynose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon theystole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew thecause of my waking so suddenly. We made a long march theremaining part of the day, and, rested at night with five hundredguards on each side of me, half with torches, and half with bowsand arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer to stir. Thenext morning at sun-rise we continued our march, and arrived withintwo hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor,and all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officerswould by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person bymounting on my body.

At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancienttemple, 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, andtherefore had been applied to common use, and all the ornaments andfurniture carried away. In this edifice it was determined Ishould lodge. The great gate fronting to the north was aboutfour feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I couldeasily 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, likethose that hang to a lady’s watch in Europe, and almost aslarge, which were locked to my left leg with six-and-thirtypadlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side of thegreat highway, at twenty feet distance,there was a turret at leastfive feet high. Here the emperor ascended, with manyprincipal lords of his court, to have an opportunity of viewing me,as I was told, for I could not see them. It was reckoned thatabove a hundred thousand inhabitants cameout of the town upon thesame errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there could notbe fewer than ten thousand at several times, who mounted my body bythe help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued, toforbid it upon pain of death. Whenthe workmen found it wasimpossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings thatbound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a disposition asever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of thepeople, at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, andgave me not only the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in asemicircle, but, being fixed within four inches of the gate,allowed me to creep in, and lie at myfull length in the temple.

CHAPTER II.

The emperor of Lilliput, attended by several of the nobility,comes to see the author in his confinement. Theemperor’s person and habit described. Learned menappointed to teach the author their language. He gainsfavourby his mild disposition. His pockets are searched, and hissword and pistols taken from him.