is an excellent horfeman, kept his feat till his attendants ran in and held his bridle, while his majefty had time to difmount. When he alighted, he furveyed me round with great admiration; but kept beyond the length of my chain. He ordered his cooks and butlers, who were already prepared, to give me victuals and drink, which they pufhed forward in a fort of vehicles upon wheels, till I could reach them. I took these vehicles, and foon emptied them all; twenty of them were filled with meat, and ten with liquor; each of the former afforded me two or three good mouthfuls; and I emptied the liquor of ten veffels, which was contained in earthen vials, into one vehicle, drinking it off at a draught: and fo I did the reft. The emprefs, and young princes of the blood of both fexes, attended by many ladies, fat at fome diftance in their chairs; but upon the accident that happened to the emperor's horfe, they alighted, and came near his perfon, which I am now going to defcribe. He is taller, by almoft the breadth of my nail, than any of his court, which alone is enough to frike an awe into the beholders. His features are strong and mafculine, with an Auftrian lip and arched nofe, his complex. ion olive, his countenance erect, his body and limbs well proportioned, all his motions graceful, and his deportment majeftic. He was then paft his prime, being twentyeight years and three quarters old, of which he had reigned about feven in great felicity, and generally victorious. For the better convenience of beholding him, I lay on my fide, fo that my face was parallel to his, and he flood but three yards off: however, I have had him fince many times in my hand, and therefore cannot be deceived in the defcription. His drefs was very plain and fimple, and the fashion of it between the Afiatic and the European: but he had on his head a light helmet of gold adorned with jewels, and a plume on the creft. He held his fword drawn in his hand to defend himself, if I fhould happen to break loofe; it was almost three inches long; the hilt and scabbard were gold en

The mafculine ftrength of features, which Gulliver could not fee till he laid his face upon the ground, and the awful fuperiority of ftature in a being whom he held in his hand; the helmet, the plume, and the fword, are a fine reproof of human pride, the objects of which are trifling distinctions, whether of perfon or rank; the ridiculous parade and oftentation of a pigmy; which derive not only their origin but their ute from the folly, weakness, and imperfection of ourselves and others.

riched with diamonds. His voice was thrill, but very clear and articulate, and I could diflinctly hear it, when I ftood up. The ladies and courtiers were all molt magnificently clad, fo that the spot they flood upon feemed to refemble a petticoat fpread on the ground embroidered with figures of gold and filver. His imperial majelly spoke often to me, and I returned anfwers; but neither of us could understand a fyllable. There were feveral of his priests and lawyers prefent (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to addr.fs themfelves to me, and I spoke to them in as many languages as I had the leaft fmattering of, which were high and low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose. Atter about two hours the court retired, and I was left with a ftrong guard to prevent the impertinence, and probably the malice, of the rabble, who were very impatient to crowd about me as near as they durft, and fome of them had the impudence to shoot their arrows at me, as I fat on the ground by the door of my houfe, whereof one very narrowly miffed my left eye. But the colonel ordered fix of the ringleaders to be feized, and thought no punishment fo proper as to deliver them bound into my hands; which fome of his foldiers accordingly did, pushing them forwards with the but-ends of their pikes into my reach: I took them all in my right hand, put five of them into my coat pocket, and as to the fixth, I made a countenance as if I would eat him alive. The poor man fqualled terribly, and the colonel and his officers were in much pain, efpecially when they faw me take out my penknife: but I foon put them out of fear; for, locking mildly, and immediately cutting the ftrings he was bound with, I fet him gently on the ground, and away he ran. I treated the reft in the fame manner, taking them one by one out of my pocket; and I obferved both the foldiers and people were highly delighted at this mark of my clemency, which was reprefented very much to my advantage at court.

Towards night I got with fome difficulty into my houfe, where I lay on the ground, and continued to do fo about a fortnight; during which time the emperor gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds + of the common measure were

brought in carriages, and worked up in my houfe; an hundred and fifty of their beds, jewn together, made up the breadth and length; and these were four doubled, which however kept me but in differently from the hardness of the floor, that was of imooth ftore. By the fame computation they provided me with theets, blankets, and coverlids, tolerable enough for one who had been to long iured to hardships.

Asthenews of my arrival spread through the king om, it brought pro ligious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to fee me; fo that the villages were almoft emptied; and great neglect of tillage and houfehold affairs must have en ued, if his imperial majesty had not provided, by feveral proclamations and orders of state, againft this inconveniency. He directed, that thofe who had already beheld me fhould return home, and not prefume to come within fifty yards of my house without licence from court; whereby the fecretaries of state got confiderable fees.

In the mean time the emperor held frequent councils, to debate what courfe should be taken with me; and I was afterwards affured by a particular friend, a perfon of great quality, who was as much in the fecret as any, that the court was under many difficulties concerning me. They apprehended my breaking loofe; that my diet would be very expentive, and might caufe a famine. Sometimes they determined to tarve me, or at leaft to shoot me in the face and hands with poisoned arrows, which would foon difpatch me; but again they confidered, that the ftench of fo large a carcafe might produce a plague in the metropolis, and probably fpread through the whole kingdom. In the midst of thefe confultations, feveral officers of the army went to the door of the great councilchamber, and two of them being admitted, gave an account of my behaviour to the fix criminals above-mentioned, which made fo favourable an impreflion in the breaft of his majefty, and the whole board, in my behalf, that an imperial commiffion was iffued out, obliging all the villages nine hundred yards round the city to deliver in every morning fix beeves, forty fheep, and other victuals, for my fuftenance; together with a proportionable quantity of bread, and wine, aud other liquors; for the due payment of which his majefty gave affignments upon his treafury. For this prince lives chiefly upon his own demefnes, feldom, except upon great occafions, railing

any fubfidies upon his fubjects, who are bound to attend him in his wars at their own expence. An e. ablishment was alfo made of fix hundred perfons to be my dometics, who had board wages allowed for their maintenance, and tents buil: for them very conveniently on each fide of my door. It was likewife ordered, that three hundred taylors fhould make me a fuit of cloaths after the fashion of the country: that fix of his majefty's greateft fcholars should be employed to inftruct me in their language: and laftly, that the emperor's horfes, and thofe of the nobility, and troops of guard, fhould be frequently exercifed in my fight, to accuftom themielves to me. All thefe orders were duly put in execution, and in about three weeks I made great progrefs in learning their language; during which time the emperor frequently honoured me with his vifits, and was pleafed to aflift my mafters in teaching me. We began already to converfe together in fome fort; and the first words I learnt were to express my defire, that he would pleafe to give me my liberty, which I every day repeated on my knees. His anfwer, as I could apprehend it, was, that this mud be a work of time, not to be thought on without the advice of his council, and that first I must lumos kelmin pesso desmar lon emposs; that is, fwear a peace with him and his kingdom. However, that I should be used with all kindness; and he advised me to acquire, by my patience and difcreet behaviour, the good opinion of himlelf and his fubjects He defired I would not take it ill, if he gave orders to certain proper cfficers to fearch me; for probably I might carry about me feveral weapons, which muit needs be dangerous things, if they anfwered the bulk of fo prodigious a perfon. I faid, his majefty fhould be fatisfied; for I was ready to ftrip myfelf, and turn up my pockets before him. This I delivered part in words, and part in figns. He replied, that by the laws of the kingdom I must be fearched by two of his officers; that he knew this could not be done without my confent and affiftance; that he had fo good an opinion of my generofity and juftice, as to truft their perfons in my hands: that whatever they took from me, fhould be returned when I left the country, or paid for at the rate which I would fet upon them. I took up the two officers in my hands, put them firft into my coatpockets, and then into every other pocket about me, except my two fobs, and another 3Q3

fecret

fecret pocket, which I had no mind fhould be fearched, wherein I had tome little necellaries, that were of no confequence to any but myself. In one of my fobs there was a filver watch, and in the other a final quantity of gold in a purfe. Thefe gentlemen, having pen, ink, and paper about them, made an exact inventory of every thing they faw; and, when they had done, defired I would fet them down, that they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I afterwards tranflated into Englith, and is word for word as follows:

were two black pillars irregularly thaped; we could not without difficulty reach the top of them, as we ftood at the bottom of his pocket. One of them was covered, and feemed all of a-piece; but at the upper end of the other there appeared a white found fubflance, about twice the bignes of our heads. Within each of thefe was inclofed a proligious plate of steel; which, by our orders, we obliged him to fhew us, becaufe we apprehended they might be dangerous engines. He took them out of their cafes, and told us, that in his own country his practice was to have his beard with one of the fe, and to cut his meat with the other. There were two pockets, which we could not enter: thefe he called his fobs: they were two large flits cut into the top of his middle cover, but squeezed close by the preffure of his belly. Out of the right fob hung a great filver chain with a wonderful engine at the bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that chain; which appeared to be a globe, half filver, and half of fome tranfparent metal; for on the transparent fide we faw certain ftrange figures circalarly drawn, and thought we could tooch them, till we found our fingers fopped by that lucid fubitance. He put this engine to our cars, which made an inceffant noe like that of a water-mill: and we conjecture it is either fome unknown animal, or the god that he worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, becaufe he affured us (if we understood him right, for he expreffed himfelf very imperfectly) that he feldom did any thing without confulting it. He called it his oracle, and faid it pointed out the time for every action of h's life. From the left fob he took out a ret almoft large enough for a fisherman, bat contrived to open and fhut like a pure, and ferved him for the fame ufe: we four d therein feveral maffy pieces of yellow me tal, which, if they be real gold, mutt be of immenfe value.

Imprimis, In the right coat pocket of the great Man-mountain (for fo Linterpret the words Quinbus Fletrin) after the ftricteft fearch we found only one great piece of coarfe cloth, large enough to be a footcloth for your majefty's chief room of ftate. In the left pocket we faw a huge filver cheft, with a cover of the fame metal, which we the fearchers were not able to lift. We defired it fhould be opened, and one of us ftepping into it, found himself up to the mid-leg in a fort of duft, fome part whereof flying up to our faces, fet us both a fneezing for feveral times together. In his right waistcoat-pocket we found a prodigious bundle of white thin fubftances, folded one over another, about the bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures; which we humbly conceive to be writings, every letter almoft half as large as the palm of our hands. In the left there was a fort of engine, from the back of which were extended twenty long poles, refembling the pallifadoes before you majefty's court; wherewith we conjecture the Manmountain combs his head; for we did not always trouble him with questions, becaufe we found it a great difficulty to make him underfland us. In the large pocket on the right fide of his middle cover (io I tranflate the word ranfulo, by which they meant my breeches) we faw a hollow pilJar of iron, about the length of a man, fastened to a firong piece of timber, larger than the pillar; and upon one fide of the pillar were huge pieces of iron flicking out, cut into flrange figures, which we know not what to make of. In the left pocket another engine of the fame kind. In the fmaller pocket on the right fide were feveral round flat pieces of white and red metal of different bulk; fome of the white, which feemed to be filver, were fo large and heavy, that my comrade and I could hardly lift them. In the left pocket

Having thus, in obedience to your ma jefty's commands, diligently fearched his pockets, we obferved a girdle about h wait, ma le of the hide of fome prodigious animal, from which on the left fide hung a fword of the length of five men; and o the right a bag or pouch divided into two

* Perhaps the author intended to expofe the probable fallacy of opinions derived from the re lations of travellers, by fhewing how little tra need to be misunderstood to make falichoed e cious.