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PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.
CHAPTER I.
A great storm described; the long boat sent to fetch water; the author goes with it to
discover the country.
He is left on shore, is seized by one of the natives, and carried to a farmer's
house. His reception, with several accidents that
happened there.
A description of the inhabitants.
Having been condemned, by nature and fortune, to active and restless life, in
two months after my return, I again left my native country, and took shipping in the
Downs, on the 20th day of June, 1702, in
the Adventure, Captain John Nicholas, a Cornish man, commander, bound for Surat.
We had a very prosperous gale, till we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where we
landed for fresh water; but discovering a leak, we unshipped our goods and wintered
there; for the captain falling sick of an
ague, we could not leave the Cape till the end of March.
We then set sail, and had a good voyage till we passed the Straits of Madagascar;
but having got northward of that island, and to about five degrees south latitude,
the winds, which in those seas are observed
to blow a constant equal gale between the north and west, from the beginning of
December to the beginning of May, on the 19th of April began to blow with much
greater violence, and more westerly than
usual, continuing so for twenty days together: during which time, we were driven
a little to the east of the Molucca Islands, and about three degrees northward
of the line, as our captain found by an
observation he took the 2nd of May, at which time the wind ceased, and it was a
perfect calm, whereat I was not a little rejoiced.
But he, being a man well experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid us all
prepare against a storm, which accordingly happened the day following: for the
southern wind, called the southern monsoon, began to set in.
Finding it was likely to overblow, we took in our sprit-sail, and stood by to hand the
fore-sail; but making foul weather, we looked the guns were all fast, and handed
the mizen.
The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it better spooning before the sea, than
trying or hulling.
We reefed the fore-sail and set him, and hauled aft the fore-sheet; the helm was
hard a-weather. The ship wore bravely.
We belayed the fore down-haul; but the sail was split, and we hauled down the yard, and
got the sail into the ship, and unbound all the things clear of it.
It was a very fierce storm; the sea broke strange and dangerous.
We hauled off upon the laniard of the whip- staff, and helped the man at the helm.
We would not get down our topmast, but let all stand, because she scudded before the
sea very well, and we knew that the top- mast being aloft, the ship was the
wholesomer, and made better way through the sea, seeing we had sea-room.
When the storm was over, we set fore-sail and main-sail, and brought the ship to.
Then we set the mizen, main-top-sail, and the fore-top-sail.
Our course was east-north-east, the wind was at south-west.
We got the starboard tacks aboard, we cast off our weather-braces and lifts; we set in
the lee-braces, and hauled forward by the weather-bowlings, and hauled them tight,
and belayed them, and hauled over the mizen
tack to windward, and kept her full and by as near as she would lie.
During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind west-south-west, we were
carried, by my computation, about five hundred leagues to the east, so that the
oldest sailor on board could not tell in what part of the world we were.
Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch, and our crew all in good health;
but we lay in the utmost distress for water.
We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than turn more northerly,
which might have brought us to the north- west part of Great Tartary, and into the
Frozen Sea.
On the 16th day of June, 1703, a boy on the top-mast discovered land.
On the 17th, we came in full view of a great island, or continent (for we knew not
whether;) on the south side whereof was a small neck of land jutting out into the
sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of above one hundred tons.
We cast anchor within a league of this creek, and our captain sent a dozen of his
men well armed in the long-boat, with vessels for water, if any could be found.
I desired his leave to go with them, that I might see the country, and make what
discoveries I could. When we came to land we saw no river or
spring, nor any sign of inhabitants.
Our men therefore wandered on the shore to find out some fresh water near the sea, and
I walked alone about a mile on the other side, where I observed the country all
barren and rocky.
I now began to be weary, and seeing nothing to entertain my curiosity, I returned
gently down towards the creek; and the sea being full in my view, I saw our men
already got into the boat, and rowing for life to the ship.
I was going to holla after them, although it had been to little purpose, when I
observed a huge creature walking after them in the sea, as fast as he could: he waded
not much deeper than his knees, and took
prodigious strides: but our men had the start of him half a league, and, the sea
thereabouts being full of sharp-pointed rocks, the monster was not able to overtake
the boat.
This I was afterwards told, for I durst not stay to see the issue of the adventure; but
ran as fast as I could the way I first went, and then climbed up a steep hill,
which gave me some prospect of the country.
I found it fully cultivated; but that which first surprised me was the length of the
grass, which, in those grounds that seemed to be kept for hay, was about twenty feet
I fell into a high road, for so I took it to be, though it served to the inhabitants
only as a foot-path through a field of barley.
Here I walked on for some time, but could see little on either side, it being now
near harvest, and the corn rising at least forty feet.
I was an hour walking to the end of this field, which was fenced in with a hedge of
at least one hundred and twenty feet high, and the trees so lofty that I could make no
computation of their altitude.
There was a stile to pass from this field into the next.
It had four steps, and a stone to cross over when you came to the uppermost.
It was impossible for me to climb this stile, because every step was six-feet
high, and the upper stone about twenty.
I was endeavouring to find some gap in the hedge, when I discovered one of the
inhabitants in the next field, advancing towards the stile, of the same size with
him whom I saw in the sea pursuing our boat.
He appeared as tall as an ordinary spire steeple, and took about ten yards at every
stride, as near as I could guess.
I was struck with the utmost fear and astonishment, and ran to hide myself in the
corn, whence I saw him at the top of the stile looking back into the next field on
the right hand, and heard him call in a
voice many degrees louder than a speaking- trumpet: but the noise was so high in the
air, that at first I certainly thought it was thunder.
Whereupon seven monsters, like himself, came towards him with reaping-hooks in
their hands, each hook about the largeness of six scythes.
These people were not so well clad as the first, whose servants or labourers they
seemed to be; for, upon some words he spoke, they went to reap the corn in the
field where I lay.
I kept from them at as great a distance as I could, but was forced to move with
extreme difficulty, for the stalks of the corn were sometimes not above a foot
distant, so that I could hardly squeeze my body betwixt them.
However, I made a shift to go forward, till I came to a part of the field where the
corn had been laid by the rain and wind.
Here it was impossible for me to advance a step; for the stalks were so interwoven,
that I could not creep through, and the beards of the fallen ears so strong and
pointed, that they pierced through my clothes into my flesh.
At the same time I heard the reapers not a hundred yards behind me.
Being quite dispirited with toil, and wholly overcome by grief and dispair, I lay
down between two ridges, and heartily wished I might there end my days.
I bemoaned my desolate widow and fatherless children.
I lamented my own folly and wilfulness, in attempting a second voyage, against the
advice of all my friends and relations.
In this terrible agitation of mind, I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose
inhabitants looked upon me as the greatest prodigy that ever appeared in the world;
where I was able to draw an imperial fleet
in my hand, and perform those other actions, which will be recorded for ever in
the chronicles of that empire, while posterity shall hardly believe them,
although attested by millions.
I reflected what a mortification it must prove to me, to appear as inconsiderable in
this nation, as one single Lilliputian would be among us.
But this I conceived was to be the least of my misfortunes; for, as human creatures are
observed to be more savage and cruel in proportion to their bulk, what could I
expect but to be a morsel in the mouth of
the first among these enormous barbarians that should happen to seize me?
Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right, when they tell us that nothing is great or
little otherwise than by comparison.
It might have pleased fortune, to have let the Lilliputians find some nation, where
the people were as diminutive with respect to them, as they were to me.
And who knows but that even this prodigious race of mortals might be equally
overmatched in some distant part of the world, whereof we have yet no discovery.
Scared and confounded as I was, I could not forbear going on with these reflections,
when one of the reapers, approaching within ten yards of the ridge where I lay, made me
apprehend that with the next step I should
be squashed to death under his foot, or cut in two with his reaping-hook.
And therefore, when he was again about to move, I screamed as loud as fear could make
me: whereupon the huge creature trod short, and, looking round about under him for some
time, at last espied me as I lay on the ground.
He considered awhile, with the caution of one who endeavours to lay hold on a small
dangerous animal in such a manner that it shall not be able either to scratch or bite
him, as I myself have sometimes done with a weasel in England.
At length he ventured to take me behind, by the middle, between his fore-finger and
thumb, and brought me within three yards of his eyes, that he might behold my shape
more perfectly.
I guessed his meaning, and my good fortune gave me so much presence of mind, that I
resolved not to struggle in the least as he held me in the air above sixty feet from
the ground, although he grievously pinched
my sides, for fear I should slip through his fingers.
All I ventured was to raise mine eyes towards the sun, and place my hands
together in a supplicating posture, and to speak some words in a humble melancholy
tone, suitable to the condition I then was
in: for I apprehended every moment that he would dash me against the ground, as we
usually do any little hateful animal, which we have a mind to destroy.
But my good star would have it, that he appeared pleased with my voice and
gestures, and began to look upon me as a curiosity, much wondering to hear me
pronounce articulate words, although he could not understand them.
In the mean time I was not able to forbear groaning and shedding tears, and turning my
head towards my sides; letting him know, as well as I could, how cruelly I was hurt by
the pressure of his thumb and finger.
He seemed to apprehend my meaning; for, lifting up the lappet of his coat, he put
me gently into it, and immediately ran along with me to his master, who was a
substantial farmer, and the same person I had first seen in the field.
The farmer having (as I suppose by their talk) received such an account of me as his
servant could give him, took a piece of a small straw, about the size of a walking-
staff, and therewith lifted up the lappets
of my coat; which it seems he thought to be some kind of covering that nature had given
me. He blew my hairs aside to take a better
view of my face.
He called his hinds about him, and asked them, as I afterwards learned, whether they
had ever seen in the fields any little creature that resembled me.
He then placed me softly on the ground upon all fours, but I got immediately up, and
walked slowly backward and forward, to let those people see I had no intent to run
away.
They all sat down in a circle about me, the better to observe my motions.
I pulled off my hat, and made a low bow towards the farmer.
I fell on my knees, and lifted up my hands and eyes, and spoke several words as loud
as I could: I took a purse of gold out of my pocket, and humbly presented it to him.
He received it on the palm of his hand, then applied it close to his eye to see
what it was, and afterwards turned it several times with the point of a pin
(which he took out of his sleeve,) but could make nothing of it.
Whereupon I made a sign that he should place his hand on the ground.
I then took the purse, and, opening it, poured all the gold into his palm.
There were six Spanish pieces of four pistoles each, beside twenty or thirty
smaller coins.
I saw him wet the tip of his little finger upon his tongue, and take up one of my
largest pieces, and then another; but he seemed to be wholly ignorant what they
were.
He made me a sign to put them again into my purse, and the purse again into my pocket,
which, after offering it to him several times, I thought it best to do.
The farmer, by this time, was convinced I must be a rational creature.
He spoke often to me; but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like that of a water-
mill, yet his words were articulate enough.
I answered as loud as I could in several languages, and he often laid his ear within
two yards of me: but all in vain, for we were wholly unintelligible to each other.
He then sent his servants to their work, and taking his handkerchief out of his
pocket, he doubled and spread it on his left hand, which he placed flat on the
ground with the palm upward, making me a
sign to step into it, as I could easily do, for it was not above a foot in thickness.
I thought it my part to obey, and, for fear of falling, laid myself at full length upon
the handkerchief, with the remainder of which he lapped me up to the head for
further security, and in this manner carried me home to his house.
There he called his wife, and showed me to her; but she screamed and ran back, as
women in England do at the sight of a toad or a spider.
However, when she had a while seen my behaviour, and how well I observed the
signs her husband made, she was soon reconciled, and by degrees grew extremely
tender of me.
It was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in dinner.
It was only one substantial dish of meat (fit for the plain condition of a
husbandman,) in a dish of about four-and- twenty feet diameter.
The company were, the farmer and his wife, three children, and an old grandmother.
When they were sat down, the farmer placed me at some distance from him on the table,
which was thirty feet high from the floor.
I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I could from the edge, for fear of
The wife minced a bit of meat, then crumbled some bread on a trencher, and
placed it before me.
I made her a low bow, took out my knife and fork, and fell to eat, which gave them
exceeding delight.
The mistress sent her maid for a small dram cup, which held about two gallons, and
filled it with drink; I took up the vessel with much difficulty in both hands, and in
a most respectful manner drank to her
ladyship's health, expressing the words as loud as I could in English, which made the
company laugh so heartily, that I was almost deafened with the noise.
This liquor tasted like a small cider, and was not unpleasant.
Then the master made me a sign to come to his trencher side; but as I walked on the
table, being in great surprise all the time, as the indulgent reader will easily
conceive and excuse, I happened to stumble
against a crust, and fell flat on my face, but received no hurt.
I got up immediately, and observing the good people to be in much concern, I took
my hat (which I held under my arm out of good manners,) and waving it over my head,
made three huzzas, to show I had got no mischief by my fall.
But advancing forward towards my master (as I shall henceforth call him,) his youngest
son, who sat next to him, an arch boy of about ten years old, took me up by the
legs, and held me so high in the air, that
I trembled every limb: but his father snatched me from him, and at the same time
gave him such a box on the left ear, as would have felled an European troop of
horse to the earth, ordering him to be taken from the table.
But being afraid the boy might owe me a spite, and well remembering how mischievous
all children among us naturally are to sparrows, rabbits, young kittens, and puppy
dogs, I fell on my knees, and pointing to
the boy, made my master to understand, as well as I could, that I desired his son
might be pardoned.
The father complied, and the lad took his seat again, whereupon I went to him, and
kissed his hand, which my master took, and made him stroke me gently with it.
In the midst of dinner, my mistress's favourite cat leaped into her lap.
I heard a noise behind me like that of a dozen stocking-weavers at work; and turning
my head, I found it proceeded from the purring of that animal, who seemed to be
three times larger than an ox, as I
computed by the view of her head, and one of her paws, while her mistress was feeding
and stroking her.
The fierceness of this creature's countenance altogether discomposed me;
though I stood at the farther end of the table, above fifty feet off; and although
my mistress held her fast, for fear she
might give a spring, and seize me in her talons.
But it happened there was no danger, for the cat took not the least notice of me
when my master placed me within three yards of her.
And as I have been always told, and found true by experience in my travels, that
flying or discovering fear before a fierce animal, is a certain way to make it pursue
or attack you, so I resolved, in this
dangerous juncture, to show no manner of concern.
I walked with intrepidity five or six times before the very head of the cat, and came
within half a yard of her; whereupon she drew herself back, as if she were more
afraid of me: I had less apprehension
concerning the dogs, whereof three or four came into the room, as it is usual in
farmers' houses; one of which was a mastiff, equal in bulk to four elephants,
and another a greyhound, somewhat taller than the mastiff, but not so large.
When dinner was almost done, the nurse came in with a child of a year old in her arms,
who immediately spied me, and began a squall that you might have heard from
London-Bridge to Chelsea, after the usual
oratory of infants, to get me for a plaything.
The mother, out of pure indulgence, took me up, and put me towards the child, who
presently seized me by the middle, and got my head into his mouth, where I roared so
loud that the urchin was frighted, and let
me drop, and I should infallibly have broke my neck, if the mother had not held her
apron under me.
The nurse, to quiet her babe, made use of a rattle which was a kind of hollow vessel
filled with great stones, and fastened by a cable to the child's waist: but all in
vain; so that she was forced to apply the last remedy by giving it suck.
I must confess no object ever disgusted me so much as the sight of her monstrous
breast, which I cannot tell what to compare with, so as to give the curious reader an
idea of its bulk, shape, and colour.
It stood prominent six feet, and could not be less than sixteen in circumference.
The *** was about half the bigness of my head, and the hue both of that and the dug,
so varied with spots, pimples, and freckles, that nothing could appear more
nauseous: for I had a near sight of her,
she sitting down, the more conveniently to give suck, and I standing on the table.
This made me reflect upon the fair skins of our English ladies, who appear so beautiful
to us, only because they are of our own size, and their defects not to be seen but
through a magnifying glass; where we find
by experiment that the smoothest and whitest skins look rough, and coarse, and
ill-coloured.
I remember when I was at Lilliput, the complexion of those diminutive people
appeared to me the fairest in the world; and talking upon this subject with a person
of learning there, who was an intimate
friend of mine, he said that my face appeared much fairer and smoother when he
looked on me from the ground, than it did upon a nearer view, when I took him up in
my hand, and brought him close, which he
confessed was at first a very shocking sight.
He said, "he could discover great holes in my skin; that the stumps of my beard were
ten times stronger than the bristles of a boar, and my complexion made up of several
colours altogether disagreeable:" although
I must beg leave to say for myself, that I am as fair as most of my sex and country,
and very little sunburnt by all my travels.
On the other side, discoursing of the ladies in that emperor's court, he used to
tell me, "one had freckles; another too wide a mouth; a third too large a nose;"
nothing of which I was able to distinguish.
I confess this reflection was obvious enough; which, however, I could not
forbear, lest the reader might think those vast creatures were actually deformed: for
I must do them the justice to say, they are
a comely race of people, and particularly the features of my master's countenance,
although he was but a farmer, when I beheld him from the height of sixty feet, appeared
very well proportioned.
When dinner was done, my master went out to his labourers, and, as I could discover by
his voice and gesture, gave his wife strict charge to take care of me.
I was very much tired, and disposed to sleep, which my mistress perceiving, she
put me on her own bed, and covered me with a clean white handkerchief, but larger and
coarser than the mainsail of a man-of-war.
I slept about two hours, and dreamt I was at home with my wife and children, which
aggravated my sorrows when I awaked, and found myself alone in a vast room, between
two and three hundred feet wide, and above
two hundred high, lying in a bed twenty yards wide.
My mistress was gone about her household affairs, and had locked me in.
The bed was eight yards from the floor.
Some natural necessities required me to get down; I durst not presume to call; and if I
had, it would have been in vain, with such a voice as mine, at so great a distance
from the room where I lay to the kitchen where the family kept.
While I was under these circumstances, two rats crept up the curtains, and ran
smelling backwards and forwards on the bed.
One of them came up almost to my face, whereupon I rose in a fright, and drew out
my hanger to defend myself.
These horrible animals had the boldness to attack me on both sides, and one of them
held his fore-feet at my collar; but I had the good fortune to rip up his belly before
he could do me any mischief.
He fell down at my feet; and the other, seeing the fate of his comrade, made his
escape, but not without one good wound on the back, which I gave him as he fled, and
made the blood run trickling from him.
After this exploit, I walked gently to and fro on the bed, to recover my breath and
loss of spirits.
These creatures were of the size of a large mastiff, but infinitely more nimble and
fierce; so that if I had taken off my belt before I went to sleep, I must have
infallibly been torn to pieces and devoured.
I measured the tail of the dead rat, and found it to be two yards long, wanting an
inch; but it went against my stomach to drag the carcass off the bed, where it lay
still bleeding; I observed it had yet some
life, but with a strong slash across the neck, I thoroughly despatched it.
Soon after my mistress came into the room, who seeing me all bloody, ran and took me
up in her hand.
I pointed to the dead rat, smiling, and making other signs to show I was not hurt;
whereat she was extremely rejoiced, calling the maid to take up the dead rat with a
pair of tongs, and throw it out of the window.
Then she set me on a table, where I showed her my hanger all bloody, and wiping it on
the lappet of my coat, returned it to the scabbard.
I was pressed to do more than one thing which another could not do for me, and
therefore endeavoured to make my mistress understand, that I desired to be set down
on the floor; which after she had done, my
bashfulness would not suffer me to express myself farther, than by pointing to the
door, and bowing several times.
The good woman, with much difficulty, at last perceived what I would be at, and
taking me up again in her hand, walked into the garden, where she set me down.
I went on one side about two hundred yards, and beckoning to her not to look or to
follow me, I hid myself between two leaves of sorrel, and there discharged the
necessities of nature.
I hope the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these and the like particulars,
which, however insignificant they may appear to groveling vulgar minds, yet will
certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his
thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of public as well as private
life, which was my sole design in presenting this and other accounts of my
travels to the world; wherein I have been
chiefly studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning or of
style.
But the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so
deeply fixed in my memory, that, in committing it to paper I did not omit one
material circumstance: however, upon a
strict review, I blotted out several passages.
Of less moment which were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and
trifling, whereof travellers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused.
PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.
CHAPTER II.
A description of the farmer's daughter. The author carried to a market-town, and
then to the metropolis. The particulars of his journey.
My mistress had a daughter of nine years old, a child of towardly parts for her age,
very dexterous at her needle, and skilful in dressing her baby.
Her mother and she contrived to fit up the baby's cradle for me against night: the
cradle was put into a small drawer of a cabinet, and the drawer placed upon a
hanging shelf for fear of the rats.
This was my bed all the time I staid with those people, though made more convenient
by degrees, as I began to learn their language and make my wants known.
This young girl was so handy, that after I had once or twice pulled off my clothes
before her, she was able to dress and undress me, though I never gave her that
trouble when she would let me do either myself.
She made me seven shirts, and some other linen, of as fine cloth as could be got,
which indeed was coarser than sackcloth; and these she constantly washed for me with
her own hands.
She was likewise my school-mistress, to teach me the language: when I pointed to
any thing, she told me the name of it in her own tongue, so that in a few days I was
able to call for whatever I had a mind to.
She was very good-natured, and not above forty feet high, being little for her age.
She gave me the name of Grildrig, which the family took up, and afterwards the whole
The word imports what the Latins call nanunculus, the Italians homunceletino, and
the English mannikin.
To her I chiefly owe my preservation in that country: we never parted while I was
there; I called her my Glumdalclitch, or little nurse; and should be guilty of great
ingratitude, if I omitted this honourable
mention of her care and affection towards me, which I heartily wish it lay in my
power to requite as she deserves, instead of being the innocent, but unhappy
instrument of her disgrace, as I have too much reason to fear.
It now began to be known and talked of in the neighbourhood, that my master had found
a strange animal in the field, about the bigness of a splacnuck, but exactly shaped
in every part like a human creature; which
it likewise imitated in all its actions; seemed to speak in a little language of its
own, had already learned several words of theirs, went erect upon two legs, was tame
and gentle, would come when it was called,
do whatever it was bid, had the finest limbs in the world, and a complexion fairer
than a nobleman's daughter of three years old.
Another farmer, who lived hard by, and was a particular friend of my master, came on a
visit on purpose to inquire into the truth of this story.
I was immediately produced, and placed upon a table, where I walked as I was commanded,
drew my hanger, put it up again, made my reverence to my master's guest, asked him
in his own language how he did, and told
him he was welcome, just as my little nurse had instructed me.
This man, who was old and dim-sighted, put on his spectacles to behold me better; at
which I could not forbear laughing very heartily, for his eyes appeared like the
full moon shining into a chamber at two windows.
Our people, who discovered the cause of my mirth, bore me company in laughing, at
which the old fellow was fool enough to be angry and out of countenance.
He had the character of a great miser; and, to my misfortune, he well deserved it, by
the cursed advice he gave my master, to show me as a sight upon a market-day in the
next town, which was half an hour's riding, about two-and-twenty miles from our house.
I guessed there was some mischief when I observed my master and his friend
whispering together, sometimes pointing at me; and my fears made me fancy that I
overheard and understood some of their words.
But the next morning Glumdalclitch, my little nurse, told me the whole matter,
which she had cunningly picked out from her mother.
The poor girl laid me on her ***, and fell a weeping with shame and grief.
She apprehended some mischief would happen to me from rude vulgar folks, who might
squeeze me to death, or break one of my limbs by taking me in their hands.
She had also observed how modest I was in my nature, how nicely I regarded my honour,
and what an indignity I should conceive it, to be exposed for money as a public
spectacle, to the meanest of the people.
She said, her papa and mamma had promised that Grildrig should be hers; but now she
found they meant to serve her as they did last year, when they pretended to give her
a lamb, and yet, as soon as it was fat, sold it to a butcher.
For my own part, I may truly affirm, that I was less concerned than my nurse.
I had a strong hope, which never left me, that I should one day recover my liberty:
and as to the ignominy of being carried about for a monster, I considered myself to
be a perfect stranger in the country, and
that such a misfortune could never be charged upon me as a reproach, if ever I
should return to England, since the king of Great Britain himself, in my condition,
must have undergone the same distress.
My master, pursuant to the advice of his friend, carried me in a box the next
market-day to the neighbouring town, and took along with him his little daughter, my
nurse, upon a pillion behind him.
The box was close on every side, with a little door for me to go in and out, and a
few gimlet holes to let in air.
The girl had been so careful as to put the quilt of her baby's bed into it, for me to
lie down on.
However, I was terribly shaken and discomposed in this journey, though it was
but of half an hour: for the horse went about forty feet at every step and trotted
so high, that the agitation was equal to
the rising and falling of a ship in a great storm, but much more frequent.
Our journey was somewhat farther than from London to St.
Alban's.
My master alighted at an inn which he used to frequent; and after consulting awhile
with the inn-keeper, and making some necessary preparations, he hired the
grultrud, or crier, to give notice through
the town of a strange creature to be seen at the sign of the Green Eagle, not so big
as a splacnuck (an animal in that country very finely shaped, about six feet long,)
and in every part of the body resembling a
human creature, could speak several words, and perform a hundred diverting tricks.
I was placed upon a table in the largest room of the inn, which might be near three
hundred feet square.
My little nurse stood on a low stool close to the table, to take care of me, and
direct what I should do. My master, to avoid a crowd, would suffer
only thirty people at a time to see me.
I walked about on the table as the girl commanded; she asked me questions, as far
as she knew my understanding of the language reached, and I answered them as
loud as I could.
I turned about several times to the company, paid my humble respects, said they
were welcome, and used some other speeches I had been taught.
I took up a thimble filled with liquor, which Glumdalclitch had given me for a cup,
and drank their health, I drew out my hanger, and flourished with it after the
manner of fencers in England.
My nurse gave me a part of a straw, which I exercised as a pike, having learnt the art
in my youth.
I was that day shown to twelve sets of company, and as often forced to act over
again the same fopperies, till I was half dead with weariness and vexation; for those
who had seen me made such wonderful
reports, that the people were ready to break down the doors to come in.
My master, for his own interest, would not suffer any one to touch me except my nurse;
and to prevent danger, benches were set round the table at such a distance as to
put me out of every body's reach.
However, an unlucky school-boy aimed a hazel nut directly at my head, which very
narrowly missed me; otherwise it came with so much violence, that it would have
infallibly knocked out my brains, for it
was almost as large as a small pumpkin, but I had the satisfaction to see the young
rogue well beaten, and turned out of the room.
My master gave public notice that he would show me again the next market-day; and in
the meantime he prepared a convenient vehicle for me, which he had reason enough
to do; for I was so tired with my first
journey, and with entertaining company for eight hours together, that I could hardly
stand upon my legs, or speak a word.
It was at least three days before I recovered my strength; and that I might
have no rest at home, all the neighbouring gentlemen from a hundred miles round,
hearing of my fame, came to see me at my master's own house.
There could not be fewer than thirty persons with their wives and children (for
the country is very populous;) and my master demanded the rate of a full room
whenever he showed me at home, although it
were only to a single family; so that for some time I had but little ease every day
of the week (except Wednesday, which is their Sabbath,) although I were not carried
to the town.
My master, finding how profitable I was likely to be, resolved to carry me to the
most considerable cities of the kingdom.
Having therefore provided himself with all things necessary for a long journey, and
settled his affairs at home, he took leave of his wife, and upon the 17th of August,
1703, about two months after my arrival, we
set out for the metropolis, situate near the middle of that empire, and about three
thousand miles distance from our house. My master made his daughter Glumdalclitch
ride behind him.
She carried me on her lap, in a box tied about her waist.
The girl had lined it on all sides with the softest cloth she could get, well quilted
underneath, furnished it with her baby's bed, provided me with linen and other
necessaries, and made everything as convenient as she could.
We had no other company but a boy of the house, who rode after us with the luggage.
My master's design was to show me in all the towns by the way, and to step out of
the road for fifty or a hundred miles, to any village, or person of quality's house,
where he might expect custom.
We made easy journeys, of not above seven or eight score miles a-day; for
Glumdalclitch, on purpose to spare me, complained she was tired with the trotting
of the horse.
She often took me out of my box, at my own desire, to give me air, and show me the
country, but always held me fast by a leading-string.
We passed over five or six rivers, many degrees broader and deeper than the Nile or
the Ganges: and there was hardly a rivulet so small as the Thames at London-bridge.
We were ten weeks in our journey, and I was shown in eighteen large towns, besides many
villages, and private families.
On the 26th day of October we arrived at the metropolis, called in their language
Lorbrulgrud, or Pride of the Universe.
My master took a lodging in the principal street of the city, not far from the royal
palace, and put out bills in the usual form, containing an exact description of my
person and parts.
He hired a large room between three and four hundred feet wide.
He provided a table sixty feet in diameter, upon which I was to act my part, and
pallisadoed it round three feet from the edge, and as many high, to prevent my
falling over.
I was shown ten times a-day, to the wonder and satisfaction of all people.
I could now speak the language tolerably well, and perfectly understood every word,
that was spoken to me.
Besides, I had learnt their alphabet, and could make a shift to explain a sentence
here and there; for Glumdalclitch had been my instructor while we were at home, and at
leisure hours during our journey.
She carried a little book in her pocket, not much larger than a Sanson's Atlas; it
was a common treatise for the use of young girls, giving a short account of their
religion: out of this she taught me my letters, and interpreted the words.
PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.
CHAPTER III.
The author sent for to court. The queen buys him of his master the
farmer, and presents him to the king. He disputes with his majesty's great
scholars.
An apartment at court provided for the author.
He is in high favour with the queen. He stands up for the honour of his own
His quarrels with the queen's dwarf. The frequent labours I underwent every day,
made, in a few weeks, a very considerable change in my health: the more my master got
by me, the more insatiable he grew.
I had quite lost my stomach, and was almost reduced to a skeleton.
The farmer observed it, and concluding I must soon die, resolved to make as good a
hand of me as he could.
While he was thus reasoning and resolving with himself, a sardral, or gentleman-
usher, came from court, commanding my master to carry me immediately thither for
the diversion of the queen and her ladies.
Some of the latter had already been to see me, and reported strange things of my
beauty, behaviour, and good sense.
Her majesty, and those who attended her, were beyond measure delighted with my
demeanour.
I fell on my knees, and begged the honour of kissing her imperial foot; but this
gracious princess held out her little finger towards me, after I was set on the
table, which I embraced in both my arms,
and put the tip of it with the utmost respect to my lip.
She made me some general questions about my country and my travels, which I answered as
distinctly, and in as few words as I could.
She asked, "whether I could be content to live at court?" I bowed down to the board
of the table, and humbly answered "that I was my master's slave: but, if I were at my
own disposal, I should be proud to devote
my life to her majesty's service." She then asked my master, "whether he was
willing to sell me at a good price?" He, who apprehended I could not live a month,
was ready enough to part with me, and
demanded a thousand pieces of gold, which were ordered him on the spot, each piece
being about the bigness of eight hundred moidores; but allowing for the proportion
of all things between that country and
Europe, and the high price of gold among them, was hardly so great a sum as a
thousand guineas would be in England.
I then said to the queen, "since I was now her majesty's most humble creature and
vassal, I must beg the favour, that Glumdalclitch, who had always tended me
with so much care and kindness, and
understood to do it so well, might be admitted into her service, and continue to
be my nurse and instructor." Her majesty agreed to my petition, and easily got the
farmer's consent, who was glad enough to
have his daughter preferred at court, and the poor girl herself was not able to hide
her joy.
My late master withdrew, bidding me farewell, and saying he had left me in a
good service; to which I replied not a word, only making him a slight bow.
The queen observed my coldness; and, when the farmer was gone out of the apartment,
asked me the reason.
I made bold to tell her majesty, "that I owed no other obligation to my late master,
than his not dashing out the brains of a poor harmless creature, found by chance in
his fields: which obligation was amply
recompensed, by the gain he had made in showing me through half the kingdom, and
the price he had now sold me for.
That the life I had since led was laborious enough to kill an animal of ten times my
strength.
That my health was much impaired, by the continual drudgery of entertaining the
rabble every hour of the day; and that, if my master had not thought my life in
danger, her majesty would not have got so cheap a bargain.
But as I was out of all fear of being ill- treated under the protection of so great
and good an empress, the ornament of nature, the darling of the world, the
delight of her subjects, the phoenix of the
creation, so I hoped my late master's apprehensions would appear to be
groundless; for I already found my spirits revive, by the influence of her most august
presence." This was the sum of my speech,
delivered with great improprieties and hesitation.
The latter part was altogether framed in the style peculiar to that people, whereof
I learned some phrases from Glumdalclitch, while she was carrying me to court.
The queen, giving great allowance for my defectiveness in speaking, was, however,
surprised at so much wit and good sense in so diminutive an animal.
She took me in her own hand, and carried me to the king, who was then retired to his
cabinet.
His majesty, a prince of much gravity and austere countenance, not well observing my
shape at first view, asked the queen after a cold manner "how long it was since she
grew fond of a splacnuck?" for such it
seems he took me to be, as I lay upon my breast in her majesty's right hand.
But this princess, who has an infinite deal of wit and humour, set me gently on my feet
upon the scrutoire, and commanded me to give his majesty an account of myself,
which I did in a very few words: and
Glumdalclitch who attended at the cabinet door, and could not endure I should be out
of her sight, being admitted, confirmed all that had passed from my arrival at her
father's house.
The king, although he be as learned a person as any in his dominions, had been
educated in the study of philosophy, and particularly mathematics; yet when he
observed my shape exactly, and saw me walk
erect, before I began to speak, conceived I might be a piece of clock-work (which is in
that country arrived to a very great perfection) contrived by some ingenious
artist.
But when he heard my voice, and found what I delivered to be regular and rational, he
could not conceal his astonishment.
He was by no means satisfied with the relation I gave him of the manner I came
into his kingdom, but thought it a story concerted between Glumdalclitch and her
father, who had taught me a set of words to make me sell at a better price.
Upon this imagination, he put several other questions to me, and still received
rational answers: no otherwise defective than by a foreign accent, and an imperfect
knowledge in the language, with some rustic
phrases which I had learned at the farmer's house, and did not suit the polite style of
a court.
His majesty sent for three great scholars, who were then in their weekly waiting,
according to the custom in that country.
These gentlemen, after they had a while examined my shape with much nicety, were of
different opinions concerning me.
They all agreed that I could not be produced according to the regular laws of
nature, because I was not framed with a capacity of preserving my life, either by
swiftness, or climbing of trees, or digging holes in the earth.
They observed by my teeth, which they viewed with great exactness, that I was a
carnivorous animal; yet most quadrupeds being an overmatch for me, and field mice,
with some others, too nimble, they could
not imagine how I should be able to support myself, unless I fed upon snails and other
insects, which they offered, by many learned arguments, to evince that I could
not possibly do.
One of these virtuosi seemed to think that I might be an embryo, or abortive birth.
But this opinion was rejected by the other two, who observed my limbs to be perfect
and finished; and that I had lived several years, as it was manifest from my beard,
the stumps whereof they plainly discovered through a magnifying glass.
They would not allow me to be a dwarf, because my littleness was beyond all
degrees of comparison; for the queen's favourite dwarf, the smallest ever known in
that kingdom, was near thirty feet high.
After much debate, they concluded unanimously, that I was only relplum
scalcath, which is interpreted literally lusus naturae; a determination exactly
agreeable to the modern philosophy of
Europe, whose professors, disdaining the old evasion of occult causes, whereby the
followers of Aristotle endeavoured in vain to disguise their ignorance, have invented
this wonderful solution of all
difficulties, to the unspeakable advancement of human knowledge.
After this decisive conclusion, I entreated to be heard a word or two.
I applied myself to the king, and assured his majesty, "that I came from a country
which abounded with several millions of both sexes, and of my own stature; where
the animals, trees, and houses, were all in
proportion, and where, by consequence, I might be as able to defend myself, and to
find sustenance, as any of his majesty's subjects could do here; which I took for a
full answer to those gentlemen's
arguments." To this they only replied with a smile of contempt, saying, "that the
farmer had instructed me very well in my lesson." The king, who had a much better
understanding, dismissing his learned men,
sent for the farmer, who by good fortune was not yet gone out of town.
Having therefore first examined him privately, and then confronted him with me
and the young girl, his majesty began to think that what we told him might possibly
be true.
He desired the queen to order that a particular care should be taken of me; and
was of opinion that Glumdalclitch should still continue in her office of tending me,
because he observed we had a great affection for each other.
A convenient apartment was provided for her at court: she had a sort of governess
appointed to take care of her education, a maid to dress her, and two other servants
for menial offices; but the care of me was wholly appropriated to herself.
The queen commanded her own cabinet-maker to contrive a box, that might serve me for
a bedchamber, after the model that Glumdalclitch and I should agree upon.
This man was a most ingenious artist, and according to my direction, in three weeks
finished for me a wooden chamber of sixteen feet square, and twelve high, with sash-
windows, a door, and two closets, like a London bed-chamber.
The board, that made the ceiling, was to be lifted up and down by two hinges, to put in
a bed ready furnished by her majesty's upholsterer, which Glumdalclitch took out
every day to air, made it with her own
hands, and letting it down at night, locked up the roof over me.
A nice workman, who was famous for little curiosities, undertook to make me two
chairs, with backs and frames, of a substance not unlike ivory, and two tables,
with a cabinet to put my things in.
The room was quilted on all sides, as well as the floor and the ceiling, to prevent
any accident from the carelessness of those who carried me, and to break the force of a
jolt, when I went in a coach.
I desired a lock for my door, to prevent rats and mice from coming in.
The smith, after several attempts, made the smallest that ever was seen among them, for
I have known a larger at the gate of a gentleman's house in England.
I made a shift to keep the key in a pocket of my own, fearing Glumdalclitch might lose
it.
The queen likewise ordered the thinnest silks that could be gotten, to make me
clothes, not much thicker than an English blanket, very cumbersome till I was
accustomed to them.
They were after the fashion of the kingdom, partly resembling the Persian, and partly
the Chinese, and are a very grave and decent habit.
The queen became so fond of my company, that she could not dine without me.
I had a table placed upon the same at which her majesty ate, just at her left elbow,
and a chair to sit on.
Glumdalclitch stood on a stool on the floor near my table, to assist and take care of
I had an entire set of silver dishes and plates, and other necessaries, which, in
proportion to those of the queen, were not much bigger than what I have seen in a
London toy-shop for the furniture of a
baby-house: these my little nurse kept in her pocket in a silver box, and gave me at
meals as I wanted them, always cleaning them herself.
No person dined with the queen but the two princesses royal, the eldest sixteen years
old, and the younger at that time thirteen and a month.
Her majesty used to put a bit of meat upon one of my dishes, out of which I carved for
myself, and her diversion was to see me eat in miniature: for the queen (who had indeed
but a weak stomach) took up, at one
mouthful, as much as a dozen English farmers could eat at a meal, which to me
was for some time a very nauseous sight.
She would craunch the wing of a lark, bones and all, between her teeth, although it
were nine times as large as that of a full- grown turkey; and put a bit of bread into
her mouth as big as two twelve-penny loaves.
She drank out of a golden cup, above a hogshead at a draught.
Her knives were twice as long as a scythe, set straight upon the handle.
The spoons, forks, and other instruments, were all in the same proportion.
I remember when Glumdalclitch carried me, out of curiosity, to see some of the tables
at court, where ten or a dozen of those enormous knives and forks were lifted up
together, I thought I had never till then beheld so terrible a sight.
It is the custom, that every Wednesday (which, as I have observed, is their
Sabbath) the king and queen, with the royal issue of both sexes, dine together in the
apartment of his majesty, to whom I was now
become a great favourite; and at these times, my little chair and table were
placed at his left hand, before one of the salt-cellars.
This prince took a pleasure in conversing with me, inquiring into the manners,
religion, laws, government, and learning of Europe; wherein I gave him the best account
I was able.
His apprehension was so clear, and his judgment so exact, that he made very wise
reflections and observations upon all I said.
But I confess, that, after I had been a little too copious in talking of my own
beloved country, of our trade and wars by sea and land, of our schisms in religion,
and parties in the state; the prejudices of
his education prevailed so far, that he could not forbear taking me up in his right
hand, and stroking me gently with the other, after a hearty fit of laughing,
asked me, "whether I was a whig or tory?"
Then turning to his first minister, who waited behind him with a white staff, near
as tall as the mainmast of the Royal Sovereign, he observed "how contemptible a
thing was human grandeur, which could be
mimicked by such diminutive insects as I: and yet," says he, "I dare engage these
creatures have their titles and distinctions of honour; they contrive
little nests and burrows, that they call
houses and cities; they make a figure in dress and equipage; they love, they fight,
they dispute, they cheat, they betray!" And thus he continued on, while my colour
came and went several times, with
indignation, to hear our noble country, the mistress of arts and arms, the scourge of
France, the arbitress of Europe, the seat of virtue, piety, honour, and truth, the
pride and envy of the world, so contemptuously treated.
But as I was not in a condition to resent injuries, so upon mature thoughts I began
to doubt whether I was injured or no.
For, after having been accustomed several months to the sight and converse of this
people, and observed every object upon which I cast mine eyes to be of
proportionable magnitude, the horror I had
at first conceived from their bulk and aspect was so far worn off, that if I had
then beheld a company of English lords and ladies in their finery and birth-day
clothes, acting their several parts in the
most courtly manner of strutting, and bowing, and prating, to say the truth, I
should have been strongly tempted to laugh as much at them as the king and his
grandees did at me.
Neither, indeed, could I forbear smiling at myself, when the queen used to place me
upon her hand towards a looking-glass, by which both our persons appeared before me
in full view together; and there could be
nothing more ridiculous than the comparison; so that I really began to
imagine myself dwindled many degrees below my usual size.
Nothing angered and mortified me so much as the queen's dwarf; who being of the lowest
stature that was ever in that country (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet
high), became so insolent at seeing a
creature so much beneath him, that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he
passed by me in the queen's antechamber, while I was standing on some table talking
with the lords or ladies of the court, and
he seldom failed of a smart word or two upon my littleness; against which I could
only revenge myself by calling him brother, challenging him to wrestle, and such
repartees as are usually in the mouths of court pages.
One day, at dinner, this malicious little cub was so nettled with something I had
said to him, that, raising himself upon the frame of her majesty's chair, he took me up
by the middle, as I was sitting down, not
thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large silver bowl of cream, and then ran
away as fast as he could.
I fell over head and ears, and, if I had not been a good swimmer, it might have gone
very hard with me; for Glumdalclitch in that instant happened to be at the other
end of the room, and the queen was in such
a fright, that she wanted presence of mind to assist me.
But my little nurse ran to my relief, and took me out, after I had swallowed above a
quart of cream.
I was put to bed: however, I received no other damage than the loss of a suit of
clothes, which was utterly spoiled.
The dwarf was soundly whipt, and as a farther punishment, forced to drink up the
bowl of cream into which he had thrown me: neither was he ever restored to favour; for
soon after the queen bestowed him on a lady
of high quality, so that I saw him no more, to my very great satisfaction; for I could
not tell to what extremities such a malicious urchin might have carried his
resentment.
He had before served me a scurvy trick, which set the queen a-laughing, although at
the same time she was heartily vexed, and would have immediately cashiered him, if I
had not been so generous as to intercede.
Her majesty had taken a marrow-bone upon her plate, and, after knocking out the
marrow, placed the bone again in the dish erect, as it stood before; the dwarf,
watching his opportunity, while
Glumdalclitch was gone to the side-board, mounted the stool that she stood on to take
care of me at meals, took me up in both hands, and squeezing my legs together,
wedged them into the marrow bone above my
waist, where I stuck for some time, and made a very ridiculous figure.
I believe it was near a minute before any one knew what was become of me; for I
thought it below me to cry out.
But, as princes seldom get their meat hot, my legs were not scalded, only my stockings
and breeches in a sad condition. The dwarf, at my entreaty, had no other
punishment than a sound whipping.
I was frequently rallied by the queen upon account of my fearfulness; and she used to
ask me whether the people of my country were as great cowards as myself?
The occasion was this: the kingdom is much pestered with flies in summer; and these
odious insects, each of them as big as a Dunstable lark, hardly gave me any rest
while I sat at dinner, with their continual humming and buzzing about mine ears.
They would sometimes alight upon my victuals, and leave their loathsome
excrement, or spawn behind, which to me was very visible, though not to the natives of
that country, whose large optics were not
so acute as mine, in viewing smaller objects.
Sometimes they would fix upon my nose, or forehead, where they stung me to the quick,
smelling very offensively; and I could easily trace that viscous matter, which,
our naturalists tell us, enables those
creatures to walk with their feet upwards upon a ceiling.
I had much ado to defend myself against these detestable animals, and could not
forbear starting when they came on my face.
It was the common practice of the dwarf, to catch a number of these insects in his
hand, as schoolboys do among us, and let them out suddenly under my nose, on purpose
to frighten me, and divert the queen.
My remedy was to cut them in pieces with my knife, as they flew in the air, wherein my
dexterity was much admired.
I remember, one morning, when Glumdalclitch had set me in a box upon a window, as she
usually did in fair days to give me air (for I durst not venture to let the box be
hung on a nail out of the window, as we do
with cages in England), after I had lifted up one of my sashes, and sat down at my
table to eat a piece of sweet cake for my breakfast, above twenty wasps, allured by
the smell, came flying into the room,
humming louder than the drones of as many bagpipes.
Some of them seized my cake, and carried it piecemeal away; others flew about my head
and face, confounding me with the noise, and putting me in the utmost terror of
their stings.
However, I had the courage to rise and draw my hanger, and attack them in the air.
I dispatched four of them, but the rest got away, and I presently shut my window.
These insects were as large as partridges: I took out their stings, found them an inch
and a half long, and as sharp as needles.
I carefully preserved them all; and having since shown them, with some other
curiosities, in several parts of Europe, upon my return to England I gave three of
them to Gresham College, and kept the fourth for myself.
PART II. A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG.
CHAPTER IV.
The country described. A proposal for correcting modern maps.
The king's palace; and some account of the metropolis.
The author's way of travelling.
The chief temple described.
I now intend to give the reader a short description of this country, as far as I
travelled in it, which was not above two thousand miles round Lorbrulgrud, the
metropolis.
For the queen, whom I always attended, never went farther when she accompanied the
king in his progresses, and there staid till his majesty returned from viewing his
frontiers.
The whole extent of this prince's dominions reaches about six thousand miles in length,
and from three to five in breadth: whence I cannot but conclude, that our geographers
of Europe are in a great error, by
supposing nothing but sea between Japan and California; for it was ever my opinion,
that there must be a balance of earth to counterpoise the great continent of
Tartary; and therefore they ought to
correct their maps and charts, by joining this vast tract of land to the north-west
parts of America, wherein I shall be ready to lend them my assistance.
The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the north-east by a ridge of mountains
thirty miles high, which are altogether impassable, by reason of the volcanoes upon
the tops: neither do the most learned know
what sort of mortals inhabit beyond those mountains, or whether they be inhabited at
all. On the three other sides, it is bounded by
the ocean.
There is not one seaport in the whole kingdom: and those parts of the coasts into
which the rivers issue, are so full of pointed rocks, and the sea generally so
rough, that there is no venturing with the
smallest of their boats; so that these people are wholly excluded from any
commerce with the rest of the world.
But the large rivers are full of vessels, and abound with excellent fish; for they
seldom get any from the sea, because the sea fish are of the same size with those in
Europe, and consequently not worth
catching; whereby it is manifest, that nature, in the production of plants and
animals of so extraordinary a bulk, is wholly confined to this continent, of which
I leave the reasons to be determined by philosophers.
However, now and then they take a whale that happens to be dashed against the
rocks, which the common people feed on heartily.
These whales I have known so large, that a man could hardly carry one upon his
shoulders; and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in hampers to Lorbrulgrud;
I saw one of them in a dish at the king's
table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was fond of it; for I think,
indeed, the bigness disgusted him, although I have seen one somewhat larger in
Greenland.
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred
walled towns, and a great number of villages.
To satisfy my curious reader, it may be sufficient to describe Lorbrulgrud.
This city stands upon almost two equal parts, on each side the river that passes
It contains above eighty thousand houses, and about six hundred thousand inhabitants.
It is in length three glomglungs (which make about fifty-four English miles,) and
two and a half in breadth; as I measured it myself in the royal map made by the king's
order, which was laid on the ground on
purpose for me, and extended a hundred feet: I paced the diameter and
circumference several times barefoot, and, computing by the scale, measured it pretty
exactly.
The king's palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of buildings, about seven miles
round: the chief rooms are generally two hundred and forty feet high, and broad and
long in proportion.
A coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me, wherein her governess frequently took
her out to see the town, or go among the shops; and I was always of the party,
carried in my box; although the girl, at my
own desire, would often take me out, and hold me in her hand, that I might more
conveniently view the houses and the people, as we passed along the streets.
I reckoned our coach to be about a square of Westminster-hall, but not altogether so
high: however, I cannot be very exact.
One day the governess ordered our coachman to stop at several shops, where the
beggars, watching their opportunity, crowded to the sides of the coach, and gave
me the most horrible spectacle that ever a European eye beheld.
There was a woman with a cancer in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full
of holes, in two or three of which I could have easily crept, and covered my whole
body.
There was a fellow with a wen in his neck, larger than five wool-packs; and another,
with a couple of wooden legs, each about twenty feet high.
But the most hateful sight of all, was the lice crawling on their clothes.
I could see distinctly the limbs of these vermin with my naked eye, much better than
those of a European louse through a microscope, and their snouts with which
they rooted like swine.
They were the first I had ever beheld, and I should have been curious enough to
dissect one of them, if I had had proper instruments, which I unluckily left behind
me in the ship, although, indeed, the sight
was so nauseous, that it perfectly turned my stomach.
Besides the large box in which I was usually carried, the queen ordered a
smaller one to be made for me, of about twelve feet square, and ten high, for the
convenience of travelling; because the
other was somewhat too large for Glumdalclitch's lap, and cumbersome in the
coach; it was made by the same artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivance.
This travelling-closet was an exact square, with a window in the middle of three of the
squares, and each window was latticed with iron wire on the outside, to prevent
accidents in long journeys.
On the fourth side, which had no window, two strong staples were fixed, through
which the person that carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put a
leathern belt, and buckled it about his waist.
This was always the office of some grave trusty servant, in whom I could confide,
whether I attended the king and queen in their progresses, or were disposed to see
the gardens, or pay a visit to some great
lady or minister of state in the court, when Glumdalclitch happened to be out of
order; for I soon began to be known and esteemed among the greatest officers, I
suppose more upon account of their
majesties' favour, than any merit of my own.
In journeys, when I was weary of the coach, a servant on horseback would buckle on my
box, and place it upon a cushion before him; and there I had a full prospect of the
country on three sides, from my three windows.
I had, in this closet, a field-bed and a hammock, hung from the ceiling, two chairs
and a table, neatly screwed to the floor, to prevent being tossed about by the
agitation of the horse or the coach.
And having been long used to sea-voyages, those motions, although sometimes very
violent, did not much discompose me.
Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in my travelling-closet; which
Glumdalclitch held in her lap in a kind of open sedan, after the fashion of the
country, borne by four men, and attended by two others in the queen's livery.
The people, who had often heard of me, were very curious to crowd about the sedan, and
the girl was complaisant enough to make the bearers stop, and to take me in her hand,
that I might be more conveniently seen.
I was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particularly the tower
belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest in the kingdom.
Accordingly one day my nurse carried me thither, but I may truly say I came back
disappointed; for the height is not above three thousand feet, reckoning from the
ground to the highest pinnacle top; which,
allowing for the difference between the size of those people and us in Europe, is
no great matter for admiration, nor at all equal in proportion (if I rightly remember)
to Salisbury steeple.
But, not to detract from a nation, to which, during my life, I shall acknowledge
myself extremely obliged, it must be allowed, that whatever this famous tower
wants in height, is amply made up in beauty
and strength: for the walls are near a hundred feet thick, built of hewn stone,
whereof each is about forty feet square, and adorned on all sides with statues of
gods and emperors, cut in marble, larger
than the life, placed in their several niches.
I measured a little finger which had fallen down from one of these statues, and lay
unperceived among some rubbish, and found it exactly four feet and an inch in length.
Glumdalclitch wrapped it up in her handkerchief, and carried it home in her
pocket, to keep among other trinkets, of which the girl was very fond, as children
at her age usually are.
The king's kitchen is indeed a noble building, vaulted at top, and about six
hundred feet high. The great oven is not so wide, by ten
paces, as the cupola at St.
Paul's: for I measured the latter on purpose, after my return.
But if I should describe the kitchen grate, the prodigious pots and kettles, the joints
of meat turning on the spits, with many other particulars, perhaps I should be
hardly believed; at least a severe critic
would be apt to think I enlarged a little, as travellers are often suspected to do.
To avoid which censure I fear I have run too much into the other extreme; and that
if this treatise should happen to be translated into the language of Brobdingnag
(which is the general name of that
kingdom,) and transmitted thither, the king and his people would have reason to
complain that I had done them an injury, by a false and diminutive representation.
His majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in his stables: they are generally
from fifty-four to sixty feet high.
But, when he goes abroad on solemn days, he is attended, for state, by a military guard
of five hundred horse, which, indeed, I thought was the most splendid sight that
could be ever beheld, till I saw part of
his army in battalia, whereof I shall find another occasion to speak.