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at mine own houfe, we neither of us are able to deliver our conceptions in a manner intelligible to the other.

IF the cenfure of the Yahoos could any way affect me, I fhould have great reafon to complain, that fome of them are fo 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 the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos have no more existence than the inhabitants of Utopia.

INDEED I must confefs, that as to the people of Lilliput, Brobdingrag (for fo the word should have been spelt, and not erroneously Brobdingnag) and Laputa, I have never yet heard of any Yahoo fo prefumptuous as to difpute their being, or the facts I have related concerning them; because the truth immediately ftrikes every reader with conviction. And is there lefs probability in my account of the Houyhnhnms or Yahoos, when it is manifeft as to the latter, there are fo many thousands, even in this city, who only differ from their brother brutes in Houyhnhnm-land, because they ufe a fort 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 confequence to me than the neighing of those two degenerate Houyhnhnms I keep in my stable; because from thefe, degenerate as they are, I ftill improve in fome virtues without any mixture of vice.

Do thefe miferable animals prefume to think, that I am fo degenerated as to defend my veracity? Yahoo as I am, it is well known thro' all Houyhnhnm-land, that, by the inftructions and example of my illuftrious master, I was able in the compass of two years (altho' I confefs with the utmost difficulty) to remove that infernal habit of lying, fhuffling, deceiving, and equivocating, fo deeply rooted in the very fouls of all my fpecies; efpecially the Europeans.

I have other complaints to make upon this vexatious occafion; but I forbear troubling myfelf or you any further. I must freely confefs, that fince my laft return fome corruptions of my Yahoo nature have revived in me by converfing with a few of your fpecies, and particularly thofe of mine own family, by an unavoidable neceffity;

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else I should never have attempted fo abfurd a project as that of reforming the Yahoo race in this kingdom: but I have now done with all fuch vifionary fchemes for ever.

April 2. 1727.

That the original copy of these travels was altered by the perfon thro' whofe hands it was conveyed to the prefs, is a fact; but the paffages of which Mr. Gulliver complains in this letter are to be found only in the first editions; for the Dean having restored the text wherever it had been altered, fent the copy to the late Mr. Motte by the hands of Mr. Charles Ford. This copy has been exactly followed in every fubfequent edition, except that printed in Ireland by George Falkener: the editor of which, fuppofing the Dean to be ferious when he mentioned the corruptions of dates, and yet finding them unaltered, thought fit to alter them himself; there is however fearce one of thefe alterations in which he has not committed a blunder: tho' while he was thus bufy in defacing the parts that were perfect, he suffered the accidental blemishes of others to remain. Hawkef.-See the preface to this edition.

A

VOYAGE

то

LILLIPUT.

CHA P. I.

The author gives fome account of himself and family; his firft inducements to travel. He is hipwrecked, and faims for his life; gets fafe on shore in the country of Lilliput; is made a prifoner, and carried up the country.

M

Y father had a fmall eftate in Nottinghamshire; I was the third of five fons. He fent me to Emanuel college in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I refided three years, and applied myself close to my ftudies; but the charge of maintaining

Thefe voyages are intended as a moral political romance, in which Swift feems to have exerted the strongest efforts of a fine irregular genius. But while his imagination and his wit delight, the venomous ftrokes of his fatire, altho' in fome places juft, are carried into so universal a severity, that not only all hunian actions, but human nature itself, is placed in the worst light.Perfection in every attribute is not indeed allotted to particular men; but, among the whole fpecies, we difcover fuch an affemblage of all the great and amiable virtues, as may convince us, that the original order of nature contains in it the greatest beauty. It is directed in a right line, but it deviates into curves and irregular motions, by various alterations and disturbing causes. Different qualifications fhine out in different men. BACON and NEWTON (not to mention BOYLE) fhew the divine extent of the human mind: of which power Swift could not be infenfible; but his difappointments rendered him fplenetic, and angry with the whole world. Education, ha

bit, and conftitution, give a furprising variety of characters; and

while

taining me, altho' I had a very scanty allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr James Bates, an eminent furgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and my father now and then fending me fmall fums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend to travel, as I always believed it would be fome time or other my fortune to do. When I left Mr Bates, I went down to my father; where, by the affiftance of him and my uncle John, and fome

other

while they produce fome particular qualities, are apt to check others. Fortitude of mind feldom attends a fedentary life: nor is the man whofe ambitious views are croffed, fcarce ever afterwards endued with benevolence of heart. The fame mind that is capable of exerting the greateft virtue, by fome defect in the firft fteps of education often degenerates into the greatest vice. These effects take their fource from caufes almoft mechanical. The foul, in our prefent fituation, is blended and inclosed with corporeal fubftance, and the matter of which our body is compofed, produces ftrange impulfes upon the mind.- To correct vice, by fhewing her deformity, in oppofition to the beauty of virtue, and to amend the falfe fyftems of philofophy, by pointing out the errors, and applying falutary means to avoid them, is a noble defign, and was, I would fain flatter myself, the general intent of this hieroglyphic writer.---Gulliver's travels are chiefly to be looked upon as an irregular effay of Swift's peculiar wit and humour. The inhabitants of Lilliput are reprefented, as if reflected from a concave mirror, by which every object is reduced to a defpicable minuteness, The inhabitants of Brobdingnag, by a contrary mirror, are enlarged to a fhocking deformity. In Lilliput we behold a fet of puny infects, or animalcules in human shape, ridiculously engaged in affairs of importance. In Brobdingnag the monfters of enor mous fize are employed in trifles.--In the two first parts there are many ridiculous adventures, even fuch as must have excited mirth from Heraclitus. Where indelicacies do not entervene, the narrative is very entertaining and humorous. In fome parts, Gulliver feems to have had particular incidents, if not particular perfons in his view. His obfervations on education are useful and fo are his improvements on the institutions of Lycurgus. Orrery.

other relations, I got forty pounds, and a promife of thirty pounds a-year to maintain me at Leyden: there I ftudied phyfic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.

SOON after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good mafter Mr Bates to be furgeon to the Swallow, captain Abraham Pannel commander; with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into the Levant, and fome other parts. When I came back, I refolved to fettle in London; to which Mr Bates, my mafter, encouraged me, and by him I was recommended to feveral patients. I took part of a small houfe in the Old-Jury; and being advifed to alter my condition, I married Mrs Mary Burton, fecond daughter to Mr Edmund Burton hofier in Newgate-ftreet, with whom I received four hundred pounds for a portion.

my

BUT, my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends, my business began to fail; for confcience would not fuffer me to imitate the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having therefore confulted with my wife, and fome of my acquaintance, 1 determined to go again to fea. I was furgeon fucceffively in two fhips, and made feveral voyages for fix years to the Eaft and West Indies, by which I got fome addition to my fortune. My hours of leisure I fpent in reading the beft authors, antient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was afhore, in obferving the manners and difpofitions of the people, as well as learning their language, wherein I had a great facility by the ftrength of my memory. THE laft of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the fea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old-Jury to Fetter-lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get bufinefs among the failors; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Cap. William Prichard, mafter of the Antelope, who mas making a voyage to the South-fea. We fet fail from Bristol, May 4. 1699: and our voyage at first was very profperous.

Ir would not be proper, for fome reafons, to trouble the reader with the particulars of our adventures in those

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