the queen to order that particular care fhould be taken of me, and was of opinion that Glumdalclitch fhould ftill continue in her office of tending me, because he obferved we had a great affection for each other. A convenient apartment was provided for her at court; fhe had a fort of governess appointed to take care of her education, a maid to drefs her, and two other fervants for menial offices; but the care of me was wholly appropriated to berfelf. The queen commanded her own cabinet maker to contrive a box, that might ferve me for a bed-chamber, after the model that Glumdalclitch and I should agree upon. This man was a moft ingenious artist, and, according to my directions, in three weeks finished for me a wooden chamber of fixteen feet fquare, and twelve high, with fafh-windows, a door, and two clofets, 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 majefty's upCholsterer, 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 curiofities, undertook to make me two chairs, with backs and frames, of a fubftance not unlike ivory, and two tables, with a cabinet to put my things in. The room was quilted on all fides, as well as the floor and the ceil. ing, to prevent any accident from the careleffness of thofe who carried me, and to break the force of a jolt when I went in a coach. I defired a lock for my door, to prevent rats and mice from coming in: the fmith, after feveral attempts, made the fmalleft that ever was feen among them, for I have known a larger at the gate of a gentleman's houfe in England. I made a fhift to keep the key in a pocket of my own, fearing Glumdalclitch might loofe it. The queen likewife ordered the thinnest filks 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 refembling the Perfian, and partly the Chinese, and are a very grave and decent habit. The queen became fo fond of my company, that she could not dine without me. I had a table placed upon the fame at which her majefty eat, juft at her left elbow, and a chair to fit on. Glumdalclitch food on a fool on the floor near my table,

I had an

For

to affift and take care of me. entire fet of filver difhes and plates, and other neceffaries, which, in proportion to thofe of the queen, were not much bigger than what I have feen in a London toyfhop, for the furniture of a baby-houfe: these my little nurse kept in her pocket in a filver box, and gave me at meals as I wanted them, always cleaning them herself. No perfon dined with the queen but the two princeffes royal, the elder fixteen years old, and the younger at that time thirteen and a month. Her majefty ufed to put a bit of meat upon one of my dishes, out of which I carved for myself; and her diverfion was to fee me eat in minature. the queen (who had indeed but a weak ftomach) took up at one mouthful as much as a dozen English farmers could eat at a meal, which to me was for fome time a very naufeous fight. 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 in her mouth, as big as two twelve-penny loaves. She drank out of a golden cup, above a hogfhead at a draught. Her knives were twice as long as a fcythe, fet ftrait upon the handle. The fpoons, forks, and other inftruments, were all in the fame proportion. I remember, when Glumdalclitch carried me out of curiofity to fee fome of the tables at court, where ten or a dozen of thefe enormous knives and forks were lifted up together, I thought I had never till then beheld fo terrible a fight.

It is the custom, that every Wednesday (which, as I have before observed, is their fabbath) the king and queen, and the royal iffue of both fexes, dine together in the apartment of his majefty, to whom I was now become a great favourite; and at thefe times my little chair and table were

*Among other dreadful and difgufting images which custom has rendered familiar, are thofe

which arife from eating animal food: he who has

ever turned with abhorrence from the skeleton of a beaft which has been picked whole by birds or vermin, must confefs that habit only could have enabled him to endure the fight of the mangled bones and flesh of a dead carcafe which every day

cover his table: and he who reflects on the number of lives that have been facrificed to fustain his own, fhould enquire by what the account has been balanced, and whether his life is become proportionably of more value by the exercife of virtue and piety, by the fuperior happiness which he has communicated to reafonable beings, and

by the glory which his intellect has afcribed to God.

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placed at his left hand before one of the falt-cellars. This prince took a pleasure in converfing with me, enquiring into the manners, religion, laws, government, and learning of Europe; wherein I gave him the best account I was able. His apprehenfion was fo clear, and his judgment fo exact that he made very wife reflections and obfervations upon all I faid. But I confefs, that after I had been a little too copious in talking of my own beloved country, of our trade, and wars by fea and land, of our fchifms in religion, and parties in the ftate; the prejudices of his education prevailed fo far, that he could not forbear taking me up in his right hand, and ftroking me gently with the other, after an hearty fit of laughing, asked me, whether I was a whig or tory? Then turning to his first minifter, who waited behind him with a white staff near as tall as the main-maft of the Royal Sovereign, he obferved how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by fuch diminutive infects as I: and yet, fays he, I dare engage, thefe creatures have their titles and diftinctions of honour; they contrive little nefts and burrows, that they call houfes and cities; they make a figure in drefs and equipage; they love, they fight, they difpute, they cheat, they betray. And thus he continued on, while my colour came and went feveral times with indignation to hear our noble country, the mistress of arts and arms, the fcourge of France, the arbitrefs of Europe, the feat of virtue, piety, honour, and truth, the pride and envy of the world, fo contemptuously treated.

But as I was not in a condition to refent injuries, fo upon mature thoughts I began to doubt whether I was injured or no. For, after having been accustomed feveral months to the fight and converfe of this people, and obferved every object upon which I caft mine eyes to be of proportionable magnitude, the horror I had at firft conceived from their bulk and affect was fo 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 feveral parts in the most courtly manner of ftrutting, and bowing, and prating, to say the truth, I should have been ftrongly tempted to laugh as much at them, as the king and his grandeees did at me. Neither indeed could I forbear fmiling at my felf, when the queen ufed to place me upon her hand towards a looking-glafs, by which

both our perfons appeared before me in full view together; and there could be nothing more ridiculous than the comparifon fo that I really began to imagine myfelf dwindled many degrees below my ufual fize.

Nothing angered and mortified me fo much as the queen's dwarf, who being of the loweft ftature that was ever in that country (for I verily think he was not full thirty feet high) became fo infolent at feeing a creature fo much beneath him, that he would always affect to fwagger and look big as he paffed by me in the queen's antichamber, while I was standing on fome ta. ble talking with the lords or ladies of the court, and he feldom failed of a fmart word or too upon my littleness; against which I could only revenge myself by calling him brother, challenging him to wrefile, and fuch repartees as are ufual in the mouths of court pages. One day, at dinner, this malicious little cub was fo nettled with fomething 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 fitting down, not thinking any harm, and let me drop into a large filver 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 inftant happened to be a the other end of the room, and the queen was in fuch a fright, that the wanted prefence of mind to affift 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 lofs of a fuit of clothes, which was utterly spoiled. The dwarf was foundly whipped, and as a farther punishment forced to drink up the bowl of cream into which he had throwa me; neither was he ever reftored to fa vour: for foon after the queen bestowed him on a lady of high quality, so that I faw him no more, to my very great fatiffaction; for I could not tell to what extremity fuch a malicious urchin might have carried his refentment.

He had before ferved me a fcurvy trick, which fet the queen a laughing, although at the fame time fhe was heartily vexed, and would have immediately cafhiered him, if I had not been fo generous as to intercede. Her majefty had taken a marrow-bone upon her plate, and, after knocking out the marrow, placed the bone again

in the difh erect, as it ftood before; the dwarf watching his opportunity, while Glumdalclitch was gone to the fide-board, mounted the ftool that the flood on to take care of me at meals, took me up in both hands, and fqueezing my legs together, wedged them into the marrow-bone, above my waist, where I ftuck for fome 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 feldom get their meat hot, my legs were not fcalded, only my ftockings and breeches in a fad condition. The dwarf, at my intreaty, had no other punishment than a found whipping.

I was frequently rallied by the queen upon account of my fearfulnefs; and the ufed to ask me, whether the people of my country were as great cowards as myfelf? The occafion was this: the kingdom is much peftered with flies in fummer; and thefe odious infects, each of them as big as a Dunftable lark, hardly gave me any reft while I fat at dinner with their continual humming and buzzing about mine ears. They would fometimes alight upon my victuals, and leave their loath fome excrement or fpawn behind, which to me was very visible, though not to the natives of that country, whofe large optics were not fo acute as mine in viewing fmaller objects. Sometimes they would fix upon my nofe or forehead, where they ftung me to the quick, fmelling very offenfively; and I could easily trace that vifcous matter, which, our naturalifts tell us, enables thofe creatures to walk with their feet upwards upon a ceiling. I had much ado to defend myself against thefe deteftable 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 thefe infects in his hand, as fchoolboys do amongst us, and let them out fuddenly under my nofe, 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 fet me in my box upon a window, as she usually did in fair days to give me air (for I durft 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 fathes, and fat down at my table to eat a piece of fweet

cake for my breakfast, above twenty wafps, allured by the fmell, came flying into the room, humming louder than the drones of as many bag-pipes. Some of them feized my cake, and carried it piece-meal away; others flew about my head and face, confounding me with the noife, and putting me in the utmost terror of their ftings. However, I had the courage to rife and draw my hanger, and attack them in the air. I difpatched four of them, but the refl got away, and I prefently fhut my window. Thefe infects were as large as partridges; I took out their ftings, and found them an inch and a half long, and as fharp as needles. I carefully preferved them all, and having fince fhewn them, with fome other curiofities, in several parts of Europe, upon my return to England I gave three of them to Gresham College, and kept the fourth for myself.

CHAP. IV.

The country defcribed. A proposal for correcting modern maps. The king's palace, and fome account of the metropolis. The author's way of travelling. The chief temple defcribed.

I now intend to give the reader a short defcription of this country, as far as I travelled in it, which was not above two thoufand miles round Lorbrulgrud, the metropolis. For the queen, whom I always attended, never went farther, when she accompanied the king in his progreffes, and there ftaid till his majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The whole extent of this prince's dominions reacheth about fix thousand miles in length, and from three to five in breadth. From whence I cannot but conclude that our geographers of Europe are in a great error, by suppofing nothing but fea between Japan and California; for it was ever my opinion, that there must be a balance of earth to counterpoife the great continent of Tartary; and therefore they ought to correct their maps and charts by joining this vaft tract of land to the north-west parts of America, wherein I fhall be ready to lend them my alliftance.

The kingdom is a peninfula, terminated to the north-eat by a ridge of mountains thirty miles high, which are altogether impaffable by reafon of the volcanoes upon their tops: neither do the most learned know what fort of mortals inhabit beyond thofe mountains, or whether they be inha

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bited at all. On the three other fides it is bounded by the ocean. There is not one fea-port in the whole kingdom, and thofe parts of the coafts into which the rivers iffue, are fo full of pointed rocks, and the fea generally fo rough, that there is no venturing with the fmalleft of their boats; fo that thefe people are wholly excluded from any commerce with the reft of the world. But the large rivers are full of veffels, and abound with excellent fith, for they feldom get any from the fea, becaufe the fea-fifh are of the fame fize with thofe in Europe, and confequently not worth catching; whereby it is manifeft, that nature in the production of plants and animals of fo extraordinary a bulk is wholly confined to this continent, of which I leave the reasons to be determined by philofophers. However, now and then they take a whale that happens to be dafhed against the rocks, which the common people feed on heartily. These whales I have known fo large that a man could hardly carry one upon his fhoulders; and fometimes for cu riofity they are brought in hampers to Lorbrulgrud: I faw one of them in a difh at the king's table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not obferve he was fond of it; for I think indeed the bignefs difgutted him, although I have feen one fomewhat larger in Greenland.

The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near an hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages. To fatisfy my curious readers it may be fufficient to defcribe Lorbrulgrud. This city ftands upon almost two equal parts on each fide the river that palles through. It contains above eighty thoufand houses, and above fix hundred thoufand 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 an hundred feet; I paced the diameter and circumference feveral times bare-foot, and computing by the fcale, measured it pretty exactly.

The king's palace is no regular edifice, but an heap of building about feven 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 ice the town, or go among the fhops;

and I was always of the party, carried in my box; although the girl, at my own defire, would often take me out, and hold me in her hand, that I might more conveniently view the houfes and the people, as we paffed along the streets. I reckoned our coach to be about a fquare of Weftminfter-hall, but not altogether fo high: however, I cannot be very exact. One day the governefs ordered our coachman to flop at feveral fhops, where the beggars, watching their opportunity, crowded to the fides of the coach, and gave me the mot horrible fpectacles that ever an European eye beheld. There was a woman with a cancer in her breast, fwelled to a monstrous fize, full of holes, in two or three of which I could have eafily crept, and covered my whole body. There was a fellow with a wen in his neck farger than five woolpacks, and another with a couple of wooden legs, each about twenty feet high. But the most hateful fight of all was the lice crawling on their clothes. I could fee diftinetly the limbs of thefe vermin with my naked eye, much better than those of an European loufe through a microscope, and their fnouts with which they rooted like fwine. They were the first I had ever beheld, and I should have been curious enough to diffect one of them, if I had had proper inftruments (which I unluckily left behind me in the hip) although indeed the fight was fo naufeous, that it perfectly turned my ftomach.

Befide the large box in which I was usaally carried, the queen ordered a fmaller one to be made for me of about twelve feet fquare and ten high, for the convenience of travelling, because the other was fomewhat too large for Glumdalclitch's lap, and cumbersome in the coach; it was made by the fame artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivance. This travellingclofet was an exact fquare, with a window in the middle of three of the fquares, and cach window was latticed with iron wire on the outfide, to prevent accidents in long journies. On the fourth fide, which had no window, two ftrong staples were fixed, through which the perfon that carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put a leathern belt, and buckled it about his waift. This was always the office of fome grave trufty fervant in whom I could confide, whether I attended the king and queen in their progreffes, or were difpofed to fee the gardens, or pay a vifit to fome great lady or minifter of ftate in the court, when Glumdalclitch