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five inches in heighth, the sheep an inch and a half, more or lefs; their geefe about the bignefs of a fparrow, and fo the feveral gradations downwards, till you come to the fmalleft, which to my fight were almost invisible; but nature hath adapted the eyes of the Lilliputians to all objects proper for their view: they fee with great exactnefs, but at no great distance. And, to fhew the fharpness of their fight towards objects that are near, I have been much pleafed with obferving a cook pulling a lark, which was not fo large as a common fly; and a young girl threading an invifible needle with invifible filk. Their talleft trees are about seven feet high: I mean fome of thofe in the great royal park, the tops whereof I could but juft reach with my fift clinched. The other vegetables are in the fame proportion; but this I leave to the reader's imagination.

I fhall fay but little at prefent of their learning, which for many ages hath flourished in all its branches among them but their manner of writing is very peculiar, being neither from the left to the right, like the Europeans; nor from the right to the left, like the Arabians; nor from up to down, like the Chinese; but aflant from one corner of the paper to the other, like ladies in England.

They bury their dead with their heads directly downwards, because they hold an opinion, that in eleven thoufand moons they are all to rife again, in which period the earth (which they conceive to be flat) will turn upfide down, and by this means they shall at their refurrection be found ready ftand. ing on their feet. The learned among them confefs the abfurdity of this doctrine, but the practice ftill continues in compliance to the vulgar.

There are fome laws and cuftoms in this empire very peculiar; and, if they were not fo directly contrary to thofe of my own dear country, I should be tempted to fay a little in their juftification. It is only to be wifhed they were as well executed. The first I fhall mention, relates to informers. All crimes against the ftate are punished here with the utmost feverity; but, if the perfon

accufed maketh his innocence plainly to appear upon his trial, the accufer is immediately put to an ignominious death: and out of his goods or lands the innocent perfon is, quadruply recompenfed for the lofs of his time, for the danger he underwent, for the hardfhips of his imprisonment, and for all the charges he hath been at in making his defence. Or, if that fund be defi cient, it is largely fupplied by the crown. The emperor alfo confers on him fome public mark of his favour, and proclamation is made of his innocence through the whole city.

They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and therefore feldom fail to punish it with death; for they alledge, that care and vigilance, with a very common understanding, may preferve a man's goods from thieves, but honefty has no fence against fuperior cunning; and fince it is neceffary that there fhould be a perpetual intercourfe of buying and felling, and dealing upon credit; where fraud is permitted, and connived at, or hath no law to punish it, the honeft dealer is always undone, and the knave gets the advantage. I remember when I was once interceding with the king for a criminal, who had wronged his mafter of a great fum of money, which he had received by order, and ran away with; and happening to tell his majesty, by way of extenuation, that it was only a breach of truft; the emperor thought it monstrous in me to offer as a defence the greatest aggravation of the crime; and truly I had little to fay in return, farther than the common anfwer, that different nations had different customs; for, I confefs, I was heartily afhamed ⚫.

Although we ufually call reward and punishment the two hinges, upon which all government turns, yet I could never obferve this maxim to be put in practice by any nation, except that of Lilliput. Whoever can there bring fufficient proof, that he hath ftrictly ob. ferved the laws of his country for feventy-three moons, hath a claim to certain privileges, according to his quality

fed, by which fome breaches of trust have been An act of parliament hath been fince pafmade capital, 3 H

and

and condition of life, with a proportionable fum of money out of a fund appropriated for that ufe: he likewise acquires the title of Snilpall, or Legal, which is added to his name, but doth not defcend to his pofterity. And thefe people thought it a prodigious defect of policy among us, when I told them, that our laws were enforced only by penalties, without any mention of reward. It is upon this account that the image of juftice, in their courts of judicature, is formed with fix eyes, two before, as many behind, and on each fide one, to fignify circumfpection; with a bag of gold open in her right hand, and a fword fheathed in her left, to fhew the is more difpofed to reward than punish.

In chufing perfons for all employments they have more regard to good morals than to great abilities; for, fince government is neceffary to mankind, they believe that the common fize of human understandings is fitted to fome ftation or other, and that providence never intended to make the management of public affairs to be a mystery comprehended only by a few perfons of fublime genius, of which there feldom are three born in an age: but they fuppofe truth, juftice, temperance, and the like, to be in every man's power, the practice of which virtues, aflifted by experience and a good intention, would qualify any man for the fervice of his country, except where a courfe of ftudy is required. But they thought the want of moral virtues was fo far from being fupplied by fuperior endowments of the mind, that employments could never be put into fuch dangerous hands as thofe of perfons fo qualified; and at leaft, that the mistakes committed by ignorance in a virtuous difpofition would never be of fuch fatal confequence to the public weal, as the practices of a man whofe inclinations led him to be corrupt, and who had great abilities to manage, to multiply, and defend his corruptions.

In like manner, the disbelief of a divine providence renders a man incapable of holding any public ftation; for, fince kings avowed them felves to be the deputies of providence, the Lil、

liputians think nothing can be more abfurd than for a prince to employ fuch men as difown the authority under which he acteth.

In relating thefe and the following laws, I would only be understood to mean the original inflitutions, and not the moft fcandalous corruptions, into which thefe people are fallen by the degenerate nature of man. For as to that infamous practice of acquiring great employments by dancing on the ropes, or badges of favour and diftinc. tion by leaping over fticks, and creeping under them, the reader is to obferve, that they were first introduced by the grandfather of the emperor now reigning, and grew to the prefent heighth by the gradual encreafe of party and faction.

Ingratitude is among them a capital crime, as we read it to have been in fome other countries; for they reafon thus, that whoever makes ill returns to his benefactor, muft needs be a common enemy to the rest of mankind, from whom he hath received no obligation, and therefore fuch a man is not fit to live.

Their notions relating to the duties of parents and children differ extremely from ours. For, fince the conjunction of male and female is founded upon the great law of nature, in order to propagate and continue the fpecies, the Lilliputians will needs have it, that men and women are joined together like other animals by the motives of concupifcence; and that their tendernefs towards their young proceeds from the like natural principle: for which reafon they will never allow, that a child is under any obligation to his father for begetting him, or to his mother for bringing him into the world, which, confidering the miferies of human life, was neither a benefit in itself, nor intended fo by his parents, whofe thoughts in their love-encounters were otherwife employed. Upon thefe, and the like reafonings, their opinion is, that parents are the laft of all others to be trufted with the education of their own children: and therefore they have in every town public nurferies, where all parents, except cottagers and la

bourers,

bourers, are obliged to fend their infants of both fexes to be reared and educated when they come to the age of twenty moons, at which time they are fuppofed to have fome rudiments of docility. These schools are of feveral kinds, fuited to different qualities, and to both fexes. They have certain profeffors well killed in preparing children for fuch a condition of life as befits the rank of their parents, and their own capacities as well as inclination. I fhall firft fay fomething of the male nurferies, and then of the female,

The nurseries for males of noble or eminent birth are provided with grave and learned profeffors, and their feveTal deputies. The clothes and food of the children are plain and fimple. They are bred up in the principles of honour, juftice, courage, modefty, clemency, religion, and love of their country; they are always employed in fome bufinefs, except in the times of eating and fleeping, which are very short, and two hours for diverfions, confifting of bodily exercises. They are dreffed by men till four years of age, and then are obliged to drefs themfelves, altho' their quality be ever fo great, and the women attendants, who are aged proportionably to ours at fifty, perform only the most menial offices. They are never fuffered to converfe with fervants, but go together in fmaller or greater numbers to take their diverfions, and always in the prefence of a profeffor, or one of his deputies; whereby they avoid those early bad impreffions of fol. ly and vice, to which our children are fubject. Their parents are fuffered to fee them only twice a year; the vifit is to laft but an hour; they are allowed to kifs the child at meeting and parting; but a profeffor, who always ftands by on thofe occafions, will not fuffer them to whisper, or ufe any fondling expreffions, or bring any prefents of toys, fweetmeats, and the like.

The penfion from each family for the education and entertainment of a child, upon failure of due payment, is levied by the emperor's officers,

The nurferies for children of ordinary gentlemen, merchants, traders, and handicrafts, are managed propor

tionably after the fame manner, only thofe defigned for trades are put out apprentices at eleven years old, whereas thofe of perfons of quality continue in their exercifes till fifteen, which anfwers to twenty-one with us; but the confinement is gradually leffened for the laft three years.

In the female nurferies, the young girls of quality are educated much like the males, only they are dreffed by or derly fervants of their own fex; but always in the prefence of a profeffor or deputy, till they come to dress themfelves, which is at five years old. And if it be found, that thefe nurfes ever prefume to entertain the girls with frightful or foolish ftories, or the common follies practifed by chambermaids among us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the city, imprisoned for a year, and banished for life to the most defolate part of the country, Thus the young ladies there are as much ashamed of being cowards and fools as the men, and defpife all perfonal ornaments beyond decency and cleanliness: neither did I perceive any difference in their education, made by their difference of fex, only that the exercifes of the females were not altogether fo robuft; and that fome rules were given them relating to domeftic life, and a smaller compals of learning was enjoined them; for their maxim is, that, among people of quality, a wife fhould be always a reafonable and agreeable companion, becaufe fhe cannot always be young. When the girls are twelve years old, which among them is the marriageable age, their parents or guardians take them home with great expreffions of gratitude to the profeffors, and feldom without tears of the young lady and her companions.

In the nurseries of females of the meaner fort, the children are inftructed in all kinds of works proper for their fex, and their feveral degrees: thofe intended for apprentices are difmiffed at feven years old, the reft are kept to eleven.

The meaner families, who have chil dren at thefe nurferies, are obliged. befides their annual penfion, which is as low as poffible, to return to the ftew3 H 2

ard

ard of the nursery a fmall monthly fhare of their gettings to be a portion for the child; and therefore all parents are limited in their expences by the law. For the Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust, than for people, in fubfervience to their own appetites, to bring children into the world, and leave the burden of fupporting them on the public. As to perfons of quality, they give fecurity to appropriate a certain fum for each child, fuitable to their condition; and thefe funds are always managed with good husbandry, and the moft exact justice.

The cottagers and labourers keep their children at home, their business being only to till and cultivate the earth, and therefore their education is of little confequence to the public: but the old and diseased among them are fupported by wn in this for begging is a trade unknohofpitals: empire.

And here it may perhaps divert the curious reader, to give fome account of my domeftics, and my manner of living in this country, during a refidence of nine months and thirteen days. Having a head mechanically turned, and being likewife forced by neceffity, I had made for myself a table and chair convenient enough out of the largest trees in the royal park. Two hundred fempftreffes were employed to make me fhirts, and linen for my bed and table, all of the strongest and coarseft kind they could get; which however they were forced to quilt together in feveral folds, for the thickeft was fome degrees finer than lawn. Their linen is ufually three inches wide, and three feet make a piece. The fempftreffes took my meafure as I lay on the ground, one ftanding on my neck, and another at my mid-leg, with a strong cord extended, that each held by the end, while a third measured the length of the cord with a rule of an inch long. Then they measured my right thumb, and defired no more; for by a mathematical computation, that twice round the thumb is once round the wrift, and fo on to the neck and the waift, and by the help of my old fhirt, which I difplayed on the ground before them for a pattern, they fitted me exactly. Three

hundred taylors were employed in the fame manner to make me clothes; but they had another contrivance for taking my measure. I kneeled down, and they raised a ladder from the ground to my neck; upon this ladder one of them mounted, and let fall a plum-line from my collar to the floor, which just anfwered the length of my coat; but my waist and arms I measured myself. When my clothes were finished, which was done in my houfe (for the largest of theirs would not have been able to hold them) they looked like the patchwork made by the ladies in England, only that mine were all of a colour.

I had three hundred cooks to dress my victuals in little convenient huts built about my houfe, where they and their families lived, and prepared me two dishes a-piece. I took up twenty waiters in my hand, and placed them on the table; an hundred more attended below on the ground, fome with difhes of meat, and fome with barrels of wine and other liquors, flung on their fhoulders; all which the waiters above drew up, as I wanted, in a very ingenious manner, by certain cords, as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. A dish of their meat was a gocd mouthful, and a barrel of their liquor a reasonable draught. Their mutton yields to ours, but their beef is excellent. I have had a firloin fo large, that I have been forced to make three bits of it; but this is rare. My fervants were astonished to fee me eat it, bones and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark. Their geefe and turkies I ufually eat at a mouthful, and I must confefs they far exceed ours.

Of their smaller fowl I could take up twenty or thirty at the end of my knife.

One day his imperial majesty, being informed of my way of living, defired that himself and his royal confort, with the young princes of the blood of both fexes, might have the happiness (as he was pleafed to call it) of dining with me. They came accordingly, and I placed them in chairs of ftate upon my table, juft over-against me, with their guards about them. Flimnap, the lord high treafurer, attended there likewife with his white staff; and I obferved he

often

often looked on me with a four countenance, which I would not feem to regard, but eat more than usual, in honour to my dear country, as well as to fill the court with admiration. I have fome private reasons to believe, that this vifit from his majefty gave Flimnap an opportunity of doing me ill offices to his mafter. That minifter had always been my fecret enemy, though he outwardly careffed me more than was ufual to the moroseness of his nature. He reprefented to the emperor the low condition of his treafury; that he was forced to take up money at great difcount; that exchequer bills would not circulate under nine per cent. below par; that I had coft his majesty above a million and a half of Sprugs (their greatest gold coin, about the bignefs of a Spangle) and upon the whole, that it would be advifeable in the emperor to take the first fair occafion of difmiffing

me.

I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an excellent lady, who was an innocent fufferer upon my account. The treasurer took a fancy to be jealous of his wife, from the malice of fome evil tongues, who informed him that her grace had taken a violent affection for my perfon; and the courtfcandal ran for fome time, that the once came privately to my lodging. This I folemnly declare to be a molt infamous falfhood, without any grounds, farther than that her grace was pleafed to treat me with all innocent marks of freedom and friendship. I own fhe came often to my houfe, but always publicly, nor ever without three more in the coach, who were ufually her fifter and young daughter, and fome particular acquaintance; but this was common to many other ladies of the court. And I fill appeal to my fervants round, whether they at any time faw a coach at my door, without know. ing what perfons were in it. On thofe occafions, when a fervant had given me notice, my cuftom was to go immediately to the door; and, after paying my refpects, to take up the coach and two horfes very carefully in my hands (for, if there were fix horfes, the poftilion always unharneffed four) and placed

them on a table, where I had fixed moveable rim quite round, of five inches high, to prevent accidents. And I have often had four coaches and horfes at once on my table full of company, while I fat in my chair, leaning my face towards them; and, when I was engaged with one fet, the coachmen would gently drive the others round my table. I have paffled many an afternoon very agreeably in thefe converfations. But I defy the treafurer, or his two informers (I will name them, and let them make their beft of it) Cluftril and Drunlo, to prove that any perfon ever came to me incognito, except the fecretary Reldrefal, who was fent by exprefs command of his imperial majesty, as I have before related. I fhould not have dwelt fo long upon this particular, if it had not been a point wherein the reputation of a great lady is fo nearly concerned, to fay nothing of my own, tho' I then had the honour to be a nadar, which the treasurer himself is not; for all the world knows, that he is only a glumglum, a title inferior by one degree, as that of a marquis is to a duke in England; yet I allow he preceded me in right of his poft. Thefe falfe informations, which I afterwards came to the knowledge of by an accident not proper to mention, made the treasurer fhew his lady for fome time an ill countenance, and me a worfe; and altho' he was at laft undeceived and reconciled to her, yet I lost all credit with him, and found my intereft decline very faft with the emperor himself, who was indeed too much governed by that fa vourite.

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