February 2018.
Gulliver's Travels
(Penguin, 2001)
by Jonathan Swift
edited by Robert Demaria, Jr.
Swift is ridiculing the sort of travel story that he is at the same time imitating.
Page x.
Moreover, the satire targets more than one particular act of reading; it also takes aim at most of the assumptions that make up the mentality of a reader - assumptions about discourse, reason, and human nature.
Page xi.
Gulliver’s Travels is not a novel or a story, primarily, it belongs instead to the more difficult literary genre of the satire. It is a parody of a travel book.
Page xi.
Gulliver’s Travels treats all the standard topics of classical satire. … It makes fun of the vanity of the most common of human wishes: money, power, fame, long life, learning (especially without effort), beauty, and so on. Like most great satires, it cannot be said to urge a particular virtuous course of life on its readers.
Page xii.
The fact that the perspective changes from Part to Part is a salient and delightful feature of the work.
Page xiii.
The enormity of Gulliver tends more often to show the moral smallness, or meanness, rather than the fineness or delicacy of the Lilliputians.
Page xiii.
Perhaps the most overt and continued satirical passage in the whole book occurs after Gulliver has described European culture and European history to the Brobdingnag king. His response puts Gulliver and his brethren (us, that is) into his perspective, as he sums up: ‘I cannot but conclude the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature eve suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.’
Page xiv.
Classical satires could be grand and philosophical, but they also were often aimed at specific contemporary targets. Likewise, Gulliver’s Travels, for all its philosophic scope, is steeped in the politics of its time.
Pages xiv-xv.
He wrote Gulliver’s Travels in Ireland from about 1721 to 1725, and published it in 1726.
Page xv.
As the monarchy shifted, so did the laws affecting the various religious sects whom they ruled.
Page xvi.
When Spanish, Dutch, or Portuguese characters appear in Gulliver’s Travels, their colouring reflects Swift’s partisan view of these countries’ politics and religion.
Page xvii.
The considerable anti-war sentiment in Gulliver’s Travels is traceable not only to Tory rhetoric about the Treaty of Utrecht but also to a traditional view held by great humanists such as Erasmus and Sir Thomas More.
Page xvii.
Nearly every section of Gulliver’s Travels bears the marks of recent British political history, and nearly every section also escapes those politics to rest secure in a world of fiction and fantasy, where readers do not need an editor’s notes to appreciate books.
Page xviii.
Even when there is no verbal parallel, there are many moments where readers must feel the correspondence between Swift and Gulliver tightens, as it does any time Gulliver notices the vanity of human (or Lilliputian) wishes for fame and glory, beauty and long life.
Page xx.
Most of the imaginary places in Gulliver’s Travels are tinged with resemblances to Swift’s home places of London and Dublin. Despite their variety, for example, the names for many of these places exhibit wordplay on the names Dublin and London.
Page xxi.
Like other great humanistic works of art, Gulliver’s Travels is about finding oneself, and trying as we might to escape into its world of fantasy, it is impossible to ignore the satirical reflections of ourselves with which Swift has peopled all his realms.
Page xxi.
For this particular edition, it seemed possible and appropriate to present a text that preserves a sense of what the book looked like to its first readers, while including changes in that test that seem to come from the original manuscript or clearly appear to be authorial corrections.
Page xxviii.
The editor of Gulliver’s Travels runs the additional risk of becoming part of Swift’s grand joke by providing glosses and interpretations of a text that is itself parodic and therefore turns sober interpretation of it into something silly, like ‘metaparody’.
Page xxix.
We set sail from Bristol May 4th, 1600, and our Voyage at first was very prosperous.
Page 22.
When I awaked, it was just Daylight. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: For as I happened to be on my Back, I found my Arms and Legs were strongly fastened on each side to the Ground; and my Hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender Ligatures across my Body, from my Armpits to my Thighs.
Page 23.
At length, struggling to get loose, I had the Fortune the break the Stripes, and wrench out the Pegs that fastened my left Arm to the Ground; for, by lifting up my Face, I discovered the Methods they had taken to bind me.
Page 24.
I felt above an hundred Arrows discharged on my left Hand, which pricked me like so many Needles; and besides they shot another Flight into the Air, as we do Bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my Body (though I felt them not) and some on my Face, which I immediately covered with my left Hand.
Page 24.
As for the Inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a Match for the greatest Armies they could bring against me.
Page 24.
I found the Demands of Nature so strong upon me, that I cold not forebrear showing my Impatience (perhaps against the strict Rules of Decency) by putting my Finger frequently on my Mouth, to signify that I wanted Food.
Page 25.
I confess I was often tempted, while they ere passing backwards and forwards on my Body, to seize Forty or Fifty that came in my reach, and dash them against the Ground.
Page 26.
I felt great Numbers of the People on my Left side relaxing the Cords to such a degree, that I was able to turn upon my Right, and to ease myself with making Water; which I very plentifully did, to the great astonishment of the People, who conjecturing by my Motions what I was going to do, immediately opened on the right and left on that side to avoid the Torrent which fell with such noise and violence from me.
Page 27.
The Physicians, by the Emperor’s Order, had mingled a sleeping Potion in the Hogsheads of Wine.
Page 27.
Two or three of the young Natives had the Curiosity to see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the Engine, and advancing very softly to my Face, one of them, an Officer in the Guards, put the sharp end of his Half-pike a good way up into my left Nostril, which tickled my Nose lie a Straw, and made me sneeze violently: whereupon they stole off unperceived.
Page 28.
When the Workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the Strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up with as melancholy a Disposition as ever I had in my Life. But the noise ad astonishment of the People at seeing me rise and walk are not to be expressed.
Page 29.
Had been for some Hours extremely pressed by the Necessities of Nature, which was no wonder, it being almost two Days since I had last disburthened myself. I was under great Difficulties between Urgency and Shame. The best Expedient I could think on, was to creep into my House, which I accordingly did, and shutting the Gate after me, I went as far as the length of my Chain would suffer, and discharged my Body of that uneasy Load. … the offensive Matter should be carried off in Wheelbarrows, by two Servants appointed for that purpose.
Page 30.
For the better convenience of beholding him, I lay on my side, so that my Face was parallel to his.
Page 31.
I spoke to them in as many Languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose.
Page 32.
It was likewise ordered, that three hundred Tailors should make me a Suit of Clothes after the Fashion of the Country: That six of his Majesty’s greatest Scholars should be employed to instruct me in their Language: And, lastly, that the Emperor’s Horses, and those of the Nobility, and Troops of Guards should be frequently exercised in my sight, to accustom themselves to me.
Pages 33-34.
The Natives came by degrees to be less apprehensive of any Danger from me. I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance on my Hand. And at last the Boys and Girls would venture to come and play at Hid and Seek in my Hair.
Page 38.
He desired I would stand like a Colosus, with my legs as far asunder as I conveniently could. He then commanded his General … to draw up the Troops in close Orders, and march them under me.
Page 42.
I was demanded to swear to the Performance of them; first in the manner of my own country, and afterwards in the method prescribed by their Laws; which was to hold my right Foot in my left Hand, to place the middle Finger of my right Hand on the Crown of my Head, and my Thumb on the Tip of my right Ear.
Page 42.
The City is an exact Square, each side of the Wall being five hundred foot long. The two great Streets which run cross and divide it into four Quarters, are five foot wide. The Lanes and Alleys which I could not enter, but only viewed them as I passed, are from twelve to eighteen Inches. The Town is capable of holding five hundred thousand Souls. The Houses are from three to five Storeys. The Shops and Markets well provided.
Page 45.
Our Histories of six thousand moons make no mention of any other Regions, than the two great Empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty Powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate War for six and thirty Moons past. It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking Eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger End: but his present Majesty’s Grandfather, while he was a Boy, going to eat an Egg, and breaking it according to the ancient Practice, happened to cut one of his Fingers, Whereupon the Emperor his Father published an Edict, commanding all his Subjects, upon great Penalties, to break the smaller End of their Eggs, The People so highly resented this Law, that our Histories tell us there have been six Rebellions raised on that account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and another his Crown. These civil Commotions were constantly fomented by the Monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the Exiles always fled for Refuge to that Empire.
Page 48.
I took them my Tackling, and fastening a Hook to a hole in the Prow of each, I tied all the cords together at the End. While I was thus employed, the Enemy discharged several thousand arrows man if which stuck in my Hands and Face; and besides the excessive smart, gave me much disturbance in my Work. … I had now fastened all the Hooks, and taking the Knot in my Hand, began to pull; but not a Ship would stir, for they were all too fast held by their Anchors, so that the boldest prat of my Enterprise remined. I therefore let go the Cord, and leaving the Hooks fixed to the Ships, I resolutely cut with my Knife the Cables that fastened the Anchors, receiving above two hundred Shots in my Face and Hands; then I took up the knotted End of the Cables to which my Hooks were tied, and with great ease drew fifty of the Enemy’s largest Men of War.
Page 50.
Of so little weight are the greatest Services to Princes, when put into the Balance with a Refusal to gratify their Passions.
Page 52.
The languages of both Empires differing as much from each other as any two in Europe, and each Nation priding itself upon the Antiquity, Beauty, and Energy of their own Tongues, with an avowed Contempt for that of their Neighbour.
Page 53.
The Heat I had contracted by coming very near the Flames, and by my labouring to quench them, made the Wine begin to operate by Urine; which I voided in such a Quantity, and applied so well to the proper Places, that in three Minutes the Fire was wholly extinguished, and the rest of that noble Pile, which had cost so many Ages in erecting, preserved from Destruction.
Page 54.
As the common Size of the Natives is somewhat under six inches high, so there is an exact Proportion in all other Animals, as well as Plants and Trees\: For instance, the tallest Horses and Oxen are between four and five Inches in height, the Sheep an Inch and a half, more or less; their Geese about the bigness of a Sparrow, and so the several Gradations downwards, till you come to the smallest, which, to my sight, were almost invisible; but Nature hath adapted the Eyes of the Lilliputions to all Objects proper for their view. … Their tallest Trees are about seven foot high.
Page 55.
They bury their Dead with their Heads directly downwards, because they hold an Opinion that in eleven thousand Moons they are all to rise again, in which Period the Earth (which they conceive to be flat) will turn upside down, and by this means they shall, at their Resurrection be found ready standing on their Feet.
Pages 56-57
These 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.
Page 57.
They suppose Truth, Justice, Temperance, and the like, to be in every Man’s power; the Practice of which Virtues, assisted by Experience and a good Intention, would qualify any Man for the Service of his Country.
Page 57.
The Lilliputians think nothing can be more unjust, than for People, in subservience to their own Appetites, to bring Children into the World, and leave the Burthen of supporting them to the Public.
Page 60.
His Majesty’s present Severities acquitted me of all past Obligations.
Page 69.
The short time I continued in England, I made a considerable Profit by showing my Cattle to many Persons of Quality, and others.
Page 75.
Having been condemned by Nature and Fortune to an active and restless Life, in ten Months after my Return, I again left my native Country.
Page 79.
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.
Page 86.
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 Foot, and could not be less than sixteen in Circumference. The Nipple was about half the Bigness of my Head, and the Hue both of that and the Dug so verified with Spots, Pimples and Freckles, that nothing could appear more nauseous. For I had a near sight of her, and she sitting down the more conveniently to give Suck, and I standing on the Table.
Page 87.
Glundalclitch, on purpose to spare me, complained she was tired with the trotting of the Horse. She often took me out of m Box at my own Desire, to give me Air, and show me the country, but always held me fast by a Leading-string.
Page 94.
I was shown ten times a Day to the Wonder and Satisfaction of all People.
Page 94.
I was now her Majesty’s most humble Creature and Vassal, I must beg the favour, the Glundalclitch, who had always tended me with so much café 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 hid 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.
Page 96.
One of these Virtuosi seemed to think that I might be an Embryo or abortive Birth.
Page 97.
They would not allow me to be a Dwarf, because my Littleness was beyond all degrees of Comparison; for, the Queen’s favourite f the smallest ever known in that Kingdom, was near thirty Foot high.
Page 98.
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 eat, just at her left Elbow.
Page 99.
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.
Page 99.
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 Foot high) became insolent at seeing a Creature as much beneath him, that he would always affect to swagger and look big as he passed by me in the Queen’s Antechamber.
Page 101.
The whole Extent of this Prince’s Dominions reacheth about six thousand Miles in Length, and from three to five in Breadth. From whence I cannot but conclude that our Geographers of Europe are in great Error, by supposing nothing but Sea between Japan and California.
Page 103.
The Kingdom is a Peninsula, terminated to the Northeast 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.
Page 104.
These People are wholly excluded from any Commerce with the rest of he World.
Page 104.
The most hateful sight of all was the Lice crawling on their Clothes. I could see distinctly the Limbs of these Vermin with me naked Eye, much better than those of the 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 proper instruments (which I unluckily left behind me in the Ship) although indeed the Sight was so nauseous, that it perfectly turned my Stomach.
Page 105.
I soon began to be known and esteemed among the greatest Officers, I suppose more upon Account of their majesty’s Favour than any Merit of my own.
Page 106.
Nature in that Country observing the same Proportion through all her Operations, a Hailstone is near eighteen hundred times as large as one in Europe.
Page 108.
Smaller birds did not appear to be at all afraid of me, but would hop about within a Yard distance, looking for worms, and other Food with as much Indifference and Security as if no Creature at all were near them.
Page 109.
The Maids of Honour often invited 6 to their Apartments, and desired she would bring me along with her, on purpose to have the pleasure of seeing and touching me. They would often strip me naked from top to toe, and lay me at full Length in their Bosoms; wherewith I was much disgusted; because, to say the Truth, a very offensive Smell came from their Skins.
Page 110.
That which gave me most uneasiness among these Maids of Honour, when my Nurse carried me to visit them, was to see them use me without any manner of Ceremony, like a Creature who had no sort of Consequence. For they would strip themselves to the Skin, and put on their Smocks in my Presence, while I was placed on their Toilet directly before their naked Bodies, which, |I am sure, to me was very far from being a tempting Sight, or from giving me any other emotions than those of Horror and Disgust.
Pages 110-111.
Neither did they at all scruple while I was by to discharge what they had drunk, to the quantity of at least two Hogsheads, in a Vessel that held above three Tuns.
Page 111.
Although my proper Employment had been to be Surgeon or Doctor to the Ship, yet upon a pinch, I was forced to work like a common Mariner.
Page 111.
The greatest Danger I ever underwent in that Kingdom, was from a Monkey.
Page 113.
His Majesty according to the Custom of the Country was only shaved twice a Week.
Page 116.
He said, he knew no Reason, why those who entertain Opinions prejudicial to the Public, should be obliged to Change, or should not be obliged to conceal them. And as it was Tranny in any government to require the first, so it was Weakness not to enforce the second.
Page 122.
By what I have gathered from your own Relation, and the Answers I have with much Pains wringed and extorted from you, I cannot but conclude the Bulk of your Natives, to be the most pernicious Race of little odious Vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the Surface of the Earth.
Page 123.
It was in vain to discover my Resentments, which were always turned into Ridicule.
Page 123.
I artfully eluded many of his Questions, and gave to every Point a more favourable turn by many Degrees than the strictness of Truth would allow. … I would hide the Frailties and Deformities of my Political Mother, and place her Virtues and Beauties in the most advantageous Light.
Page 124.
He confined the Knowledge of governing within very narrow Bounds, to common Sense and Reason, to Justice and Lenity, to the speedy Determination of civil and criminal Causes.
Page 126.
The Learning of this People is very defective, consisting only in Morality, History, Poetry and Mathematics, … And as to Ideas, Entities, Abstractions and Transcendentals, I could never drive the least Conception into their Heads.
Page 126.
No Law of that Country must exceed in Words the number of Letters in their Alphabet.
Page 126.
Their Libraries are not very large, for that of the King’s, which is reckoned the biggest, doth not amount to above a thousand Volumes, placed in a Gallery of twelve hundred Foot long.
Page 126.
I was curious to know how this |Prince, to whose Dominions there is no Access from any other Country, came to think of Armies, or to teach his People the Practice of military Discipline. But I was soon informed, both by conversation, and Reading their Histories. For, in the course of many Ages they have been troubled with the same Disease to which the Whole Race of Mankind is subject; the Nobility often contending for Power, the People for Liberty, and the King for absolute Dominion.
Pages 128-129.
The Ship in which I sailed was the first ever known to be driven within Sight of the Coast, and the King had given strict Orders, that if at any time another appeared, it should be taken ashore.
Page 129.
I was indeed treated with much Kindness; I was the Favourite of a great King and Queen, and the Delight of the whole Court, but it was upon such a foot as ill became the Dignity of Human Kind.
Page 129.
I longed to see the Ocean, which must be the only Scene of my Escape, if ever it should happen.
Page 130.
Some Eagle had got the Ring of my Box in his Beak, with an intent to let it fall on a Rock like a Tortoise in a Shell, and then pick out my body, and devour it.
Page 131.
He hoped when we returned to England, I would oblige the World by putting it in Paper, and making it public. My Answer was, that I thought we were already overstocked with Books of Travels: That nothing could now pass which was not extraordinary, wherein I doubted some Authors less consulted Truth than their own Vanity or Interest or the Diversion of ignorant Readers.
Pages 136-137.
When I first got into the Ship, and the Sailors stood all about me, I thought they were the most little contemptible Creatures I had ever beheld.
Page 137.
I winked at my own Littleness as People do at their own Faults.
Page 137.
As I was on the Road, observing the Littleness of the Houses, the Trees, the Cattle and the People, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I was afraid of trampling on every Traveller I met, and often called aloud to have them stand out of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or two broken heads for my Impertinence.
Page 138.
The Thirst I had of seeing the World, notwithstanding my past Misfortunes, continuing as violent as ever. The only Difficulty that remained, was to persuade my Wife, whose consent however I at last obtained by the prospect of Advantage she proposed to her children.
Pages 143-144.
I was sorry to find more Mercy in a Heathen, than in a Brother Christian.
Page 145.
It was determined that I should be set adrift, in a small Canoe, with Paddles and a Sail, and four Days’ Pro visions, which last the Japanese Captain was so kind to double out of his own Stores, and would permit no Man to search me.
Page 145.
The Reader can hardly conceive my Astonishment, to behold an Island in the Air, inhabited by Men, who were able (as it should seem) to raise, or sink, or put it into a Progressive Motion, as they pleased.
Page 146.
They made Signs for me to come down from the Rock, and go towards the Shore, which I accordingly did; and the flying Island being raised to a convenient Height, the Verge directly over me, a Chain was let down from the lowest Gallery, with a Seat fastened to the Bottom, to which I fixed myself, and was drawn up by Pullies.
Page 147.
It seems, the Minds of these People are so taken up with intense Speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the Discourses of others, without being roused by some external Taction upon the Organs of Speech and Hearing; for which reason, those Persons who are able to afford it always keep a Flapper (the Original is Climenole) in their Family, as one of their Domestics.
Page 148.
This Flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his Master in his Walks, and upon occasion to give him a soft Flap on his Eyes, because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest danger of falling down every Precipice.
Pages 148-149.
Immediately a young Man with a Flap came up to my side, and flapped me gently on the Right Ear, but I made Signs, as well as I could, that I had no occasion for such an Instrument; which as I afterwards found gave His Majesty and the whole Court a very mean Opinion of my Understanding.
Page 149.
I was not in the least sensible of the progressive Motion made in the Air by the Island.
Page 151.
Their Houses are very ill built, the Walls Bevil, without one Right Angle in any Apartment, and this defect ariseth from the Contempt they bear to practical Geometry; which they despise as Vulgar and Mechanic.
Page 152.
Although they are dextrous enough upon a Piece of Paper in the management of the Ruel, the Pencil and the Divider, yet in the common Actions and behaviour of Life, I have not seen a more clumsy, awkward, and unhandy People, nor so slow and perplexed in their Conceptions upon all other subjects, except those of Mathematics and Music.
Page 152.
I chiefly admired, and thought altogether unaccountable, was the strong Disposition I observed in them towards News and Politics, perpetually inquiring into Public Affairs, giving their Judgments in matters of State; and passionately disputing every Inch of a Party Opinion.
Page 152.
A very common Infirmity of Human Nature, inkling us to be more curious and conceited in Matters where we have least Concern, and for which we are least adapted either by Study or Nature.
Page 153.
The Caprices of Womankind are not limited by any Climate or Nation, and that they are much more uniform than can be easily imagined.
Page 154.
The Flying or Floating Island is exactly circular, its Diameter 7837 Yards, or about four Miles and an Half, and consequently contains ten Thousand Acres. It is three Hundred Yards thick. The bottom or under Surface, which appears to those who view it from below, is one even regular Plate of Adamant.
Page 155.
By means of this Loadstone, the Island is made to rise and fall, and move form one place to another. For, with respect to that part of the Earth over which the Monarch presides, the Stone is endured at one of its sides with an attractive Power, and at the other with a repulsive. Upon placing the Magnet erect with its attracting End towards the Earth, the Island descends; but when the repelling Extremity points downwards, the Island mounts directly upwards. When the Position of the Stone is oblique, the Motion of the Island is so too. For in the Magnet the Forces always act in Lines parallel to its Direction.
Page 156.
By changing the Situation of the Stone as often as there is occasion, the Island is made to rise and fall by turns in an oblique Direction, and by those alternate Risings and Fallings (the Obliquity being not considerable) is conveyed from onc part of the Dominions to the other.
Page 158.
This Island cannot move beyond the extent of the Dominions below, nor can it rise above the height of four Miles.
Page 158.
The Island is the King’s Demesne.
Page 160.
By a fundamental Law of this Realm, neither the King nor either of is two elder Sons are permitted to leave the Island, nor the Queen till she is past Child-bearing.
Page 162.
I thought myself too much neglected, not without some degree of Contempt. For neither Prince nor People appeared to be curious in any part of Knowledge, except Mathematics and Music, wherein I was far their interior, and upon that account very little regarded.
Page 162.
They were indeed excellent in two Sciences for which \I have great Esteem, and wherein I am not unversed, but at the same time so abstracted and involved in Speculation that I never met with such disagreeable Companions.
Page 162.
I saw nothing in this country that could invite me to a longer Continuance, and began to think of returning home to England.
Page 179.
I was chiefly disgusted with modern History. For having strictly examined all the Persons of greatest Name in the courts of Princes for an hundred Years past, I found how the World had been misled by prostitute Writers, to ascribe the greatest Exploits in War to Cowards, the Wisest Counsel to Fools, Sincerity to Flatterers, Roman Virtue to Betrayers of their Country, Piety to Atheists, Chastity to Sodomites, Truth to Informers. … How low an Opinion I had of human Wisdom and Integrity, when I was truly informed of thee Springs and Motives of great Enterprises and Revolutions in the World, and of the contemptible Accidents to which they owed their Success.
Page 185.
I thought it necessary to disguise my country, and call myself an Hollander, because my Intentions were for Japan, and I knew the Dutch were the only Europeans permitted to enter into that Kingdom.
Page 189.
Sometimes, though very rarely, a Child happened to be born in a Family with a red circular Spot in the Forehead, directly over the left Eyebrow, which was an infallible Mark that it should never die.
Page 191.
In this Island of Luggnagg, the Appetite for living was not so eager, from the continual Example of the Struldbruggs before their Eyes.
Page 195.
The System of Living contrived by me was unreasonable and unjust, because it supposed a Perpetuity of Youth, Health, and Vigour, which no Man could be so foolish to hope.
Page 195.
He gave me a particular Account of the Struldbruggs among them. He said they commonly acted like Mortals, till about thirty Years old, after which by degrees they grew melancholy and dejected.
Page 196.
When they came to four-score Years, which is reckoned the Extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and \infirmities of other old Men, but many more which arose from the dreadful Prospect of never dying. They were not only Oppinionative, Peevish, covetous, Morose, Vain, Talkative, but uncapable of Friendship, and dead to all natural Affection, which never descended below their Grandchildren. Envy and impotent Desires are their prevailing Passions.
Page 196.
Whenever they see a Funeral, they lament and repine that others are gone to an Harbour of Rest, to which they themselves never can hope to arrive. They have no Remembrance of anything but what they learned and observed in their Youth and middle Age.
Page 196.
Because their Memory will not serve to carry them from the beginning of a Sentence to the end; and by this Defect they are deprived of the only Entertainment whereof they might otherwise be capable.
Page 197.
The Language of this Country being always upon the Flux, the Struldbruggs of one Age do not understand those of another, neither are they able after two hundred Years to hold any Conversation … with their Neighbours the Mortals.
Page 197.
They lie under the Disadvantage of living like Foreigners in their own Country.
Page 197.
The usual way of computing how old they are, is by asking them what Kings or great Persons they can remember, and then consulting History, for infallibly the last Prince in their Mind did not begin his Reign after they were four-score Years old.
Pages 197-198.
Besides the usual Deformities in extreme Old Age, they acquired an additional Ghastliness in proportion to their number of Years.
Page 198.
I had lived long in Holland, pursuing my Studies at Leyden, and I spoke Dutch well.
Page 200.
I left my poor Wife big with Child, and accepted an advantageous Offer made me to be Captain of the Adventure, a stout Merchantman of 350 Tons: For I understood Navigation well, and being grown weary of a Surgeon’s Employment at Sea, which however I could exercise upon occasion, |I took a skilful young Man of that Calling, one Robert Purefoy, into my Ship.
Page 205.
These Rogues whom I had picked up debauched my other Men, and they all formed a Conspiracy to seize the Ship and secure me; which they did one Morning, rushing into my Cabin, and binding me Hand and Foot, threatening to throw me overboard.
Page 206.
Looking on my Left hand, I saw a |Horse walking softly in the Field: which my Persecutors having sooner discovered, was the Cause of their Flight. The Horse started a little when he came near me, but soon recovering himself, looked full in my Face with manifest Tokens of Wonder.
Page 208.
He neighed three or four times, but in so different a Cadence, that I almost began to think he was speaking to himself in some Language of his own.
Page 208.
The Behaviour of these Animals was so orderly and rational, so acute and judicious, that I at last concluded, they must needs be Magicians.
Page 209.
The two Creatures stood silent while I spoke, seeming to listen with great Attention; and when I had ended, they neighed frequently towards each other, as if they were engaged in serious Conversation.
Page 210.
The Forefeet of the Yahoo differed from my Hands in nothing else, but the |Length of the Nails, the Coarseness and Brownness of the Palms, and the Hairiness on the Backs.
Page 213.
As to those filthy Yahoos, although there were few greater Lovers of Mankind, at that time, than myself; yet I confess I never saw any sensitive Being so detestable on all accounts; and the more I came near them, the more hateful they grew, while I stayed in that Country.
Page 213.
Their Mangers were placed circular in the middle of the Room, and divided into several Partitions, round which they sat on their Haunches upon Bosses of Straw. In the middle was a large Rack with Angles answering to every Partition of the Manger. So that each Horse and mare eat their own Hay, and their own Mash of Oats and Milk, with much Decency and Regularity.
Page 214.
Having from my Youth a great Facility in learning Languages.
Page 215.
To help my Memory, I formed all I learned into the English Alphabet, and writ the Words down with the Translations. This last, after some time, I ventured to do in my Master’s Presence. |It cost me much Trouble to explain to him what I was doing; for the Inhabitants have not the least Idea of Books or Literature.
Page 217.
He replied, That I must needs be mistaken, or that I said the thing which was not. (For they have no Word in their Language to express Lying or Falsehood.
Page 217.
The word Houyhnhum, in their tongue, signifies a Horse, and in its Etymology, the Perfection of Nature.
Page 217.
I had hitherto concealed the Secret of my Dress, in order to distinguish myself as much as possible, form that cursed Race of Yahoos.
Page 218.
He could not understand why Nature should teach us to conceal what Nature had given.
Page 219.
He was more astonished at my Capacity for Speech and Reason, than in the Figure of my Body.
Page 219.
The Use of Speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive Information of Facts; now if anyone said the Thing which was not, these Ends were defeated; because I cannot properly be said to understand him, and I am so far from receiving Information, that he leaves me worse than in Ignorance, for I am led to believe a Thing Black when it is White, and Short when it is Long.
Page 221.
Their Language doth not abound in Variety of Words, because their Wants and Passions are fewer than among us.
Page 223.
He said, if it were possible there could be any country where Yahoos alone were endued with Reason, they certainly must be the governing Animal, because Reason will in Time always prevail against Brutal Strength. But, considering the Frame of our Bodies, and especially of mine, he though no Creature of equal Bulk was so ill-contrived, for employing that Reason in the common Office of Life.
Page 223.
Power, Government, War, Law, Punishment, and a Thousand other Things had no terms, wherein that Language could express them.
Page 225.
Neither are any Wars so furious and bloody, or of so long continuance, as those occasioned by Difference in Opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent.
Page 226.
A Soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill in cold Blood as many of his own Species, who have never offended him, as possibly he can.
Page 227.
Among the Houyhuhums, the White, the Sorrel, and the Iron-grey, were not so exactly shaped as the Bay, the Dapple-grey, and the Black; not born with equal Talents of the Mind, or a Capacity to improve them; and therefore continued always in the Condition of Servants, without ever aspiring to match out of their own Race, which in that Country would be reckoned monstrous and unnatural.
Page 236.
A weak diseased Body, a meagre Countenance, and sallow Complexion, are the true Marks of Noble Blood; … The Imperfections of his Mind run parallel with those of his Body being a Composition of Spleen, Dulness, Ignorance, Caprice, Sensuality, and pride.
Page 236.
I had not been a Year in this Country, before I contracted such a Love and Veneration for the Inhabitants, that I entered on a firm Resolution never to return to human Kind, but to pass the rest of my Life among these admirable Houyhuhums in the Contemplation and Practice of every Virtue; where I could have no Example or Incitement to vice.
Page 237.
In what I said of my Countrymen, I extenuated their Faults as much as I durst before so strict an Examiner, and upon every Article, gave as favourable a Turn as the Matter would bear.
Page 237.
Our Institutions of Government and Law were plaining owing to our gross Defects in Reason, and by consequence, in Virtue; because Reason alone is sufficient to govern a Rational Creature; which was therefore a Character we had to Pretense to challenge.
Page 238.
The Yahoos were known to hate one another more than they did any different Species of Animals; and the Reason usually assigned, was, the Odiousness of their own Shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in themselves.
Page 239.
There was nothing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their undistinguishing Appetite to dev our everything that came in their way, whether Herbs, Roots, Berries, the corrupted Flesh of Animals, or all mingled together: And it was peculiar in the Temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by Rapine or Stealth at a greater distance, than much better Food provided for them at home.
Page 240.
The Yahoos were the only Animals in the Country subject to any Diseases.
Page 241.
Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos, was their strange Disposition to Nastiness and Dirt, whereas there appears to be a natural Love of Cleanliness in all other Animals.
Page 242.
The Yahoos appear to be the most unteachable of all Animals, their Capacities never reaching higher than to draw or carry Burdens.
Page 244.
For they are cunning, malicious, treacherous and revengeful. They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly Spirit and by consequence, insolent, abject, and cruel.
Page 244.
I could no longer deny, that I was a real Yahoo, in every Limb and Feature, since the Females had a natural propensity to me as one of their own Species.
Page 245.
It was with extreme Difficulty that I could bring my Master to understand the meaning of the Word Opinion, or how a Point could be disputable; because Reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our Knowledge we cannot do either. So that Controversies, Wranglings, Disputes, and Positiveness in false or dubious Propositions are Evils unknown among the Houyhuhum.
Page 246.
Friendship and Benevolence are the two principal Virtues among the Houyhuhums.
Page 246.
They preserve Decency and Civility in the highest Degrees, but are altogether ignorant of Ceremony.
Page 246.
My Master thought it monstrous in us to give the Females a different kind of Education from the Males, except in some Articles of Domestic Management; whereby as he truly observed, one half of our Natives were good for noting but brining Children into the World. And to trust the Care of our Children to such useless Animals, he said was yet a great Instance of Brutality.
Page 247.
Yahoos had not been always in that Country: but, that many Ages ago, two of these Brutes appeared together upon a Mountain, whether produced by the Heat of the Sun upon corrupted Mud and Slime, or from the Ooze and Froth of the Sea, was never known.
Page 249.
It was no Shame to learn Wisdom form Brutes, as Industry is taught by the Ant, and Building by the Swallow.
Page 250.
The Houyhuhums have no Letters, and consequently, their Knowledge is all Traditional. But there happening few Events of any Moment among a People so well united … the Historical Part is easily preserved without burdening their Memories.
Page 251.
They calculate the Year by the Revolution of the Sun and the Moon, but use no Subdivisions into Weeks.
Page 251.
In Poetry they must be allowed to excel all other Mortals; wherein the Justness of their Similes, and the Minuteness, as well as Exactness of their Descriptions, are indeed inimitable. Their Verses about very much in both of those, and usually contain either some exalted Notions of Friendship and Benevolence, or the Praises of those who were Victors in Races, and other bodily Exercises.
Page 251.
The Houyhuhums use the hollow Part between the Pastern and the Hoof of their Forefeet, as we do our Hands, and this with greater Dexterity, than I could at first imagine.
Page 251.
If they can avoid Casualties, they die only of Old Age, and are buried in the obscurest Places that can be found, their Friends and Relations expressing neither Joy nor Grief at their Departure, nor does the dying Person discover the least Regret that he is leaving the World, any more than if he ere upon returning home from a Visit to one of his Neighbours.
Page 252.
The Houyhuhums have no word in their Language to express anything that is Evil, except what they borrow from the Deformities or ill Qualities of the Yahoos.
Page 252.
When my clothes were worn to Rags, I made myself others with the Skins of Rabbits, and of a certain beautiful Animal about the same size, called Nuuhnoh, the Skin of which is covered with a fine Down.
Page 253.
I was infinitely delighted, with the Station of an humble Auditor in such Conversations, where nothing passed but what was useful, expressed in the fewest and most significant Words: Where the greatest Decency was observed, without the least Degree of Ceremony; where no Person spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing his Companions: Where there was no Interruption, Tediousness, Heat, or Difference of Sentiments.
Page 254.
They have a Notion, that when People are met together, a short Silence doth much improve Conversation: This I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of Talk, new Ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the Discourse.
Pages 254-255.
I did not feel that natural Awe which the Yahoos and all other Animals bear towards them, but it grew upon me by Degrees, much sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a respectful Love and Gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my Species.
Page 255.
By conversing with the Houyhuhums, and looking upon them with Delight, I fell to imitate their Gait and Gesture, which is now grown into an Habit, and my Friends often tell me in a blunt way, that I trot like a Horse; which, however, I take for a great Compliment: Nether shall I disown, that in Speaking I am apt to fall into the Voice and manner of the Houyhuhum, and hear myself ridiculed on that account without the least Mortification.
Page 256.
I had cured myself of some bad Habits and Dispositions, by endeavouring, as far as my inferior Nature was capable, to imitate the Houyhuhums.
Page 257.
They have no Conception how a Rational creature can be compelled, but only advised, or exhorted, because no Person can disobey Reason, without giving up his Claim to be a Rational Creature.
Page 257.
Supposing I should escape with \life by some strange Adventure, how could I think with Temper, of passing my Days among yahoos, and relapsing into my old Corruptions, for want of Examples to lead and keep me within the Paths of Virtue.
Page 257.
I had quite forgot the Faculty of Lying, so peculiar to Yahoos in all Countries where they preside, and consequently the Disposition of suspecting Truth in others of their own Species.
Page 263.
Since my, unfortunate Exile from the Houyhuhum country, I had compelled myself to tolerate the Sight of Yahoos, and … yet my Memory and Imagination were perpetually filled with the Virtues and Ideas of those exalted Houyhuhums. And when I began to consider, that by copulating with one of the Yahoo Species I had become a Parent of more, it s truck me with the utmost Shame, Confusion and Horror.
Page 265.
At the Time I am writing it is Five Years since my last Return to England: During the first Year I could not endure my Wife or Children in my Presence, they very Smell of them was intolerable; much less could I suffer them to eat in the same Room. To this hour they dare not presume to touch my Bread, or drink out of the same Cup.
Pages 265-266.
My Horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four Hours every Day.
Page 266.
I rather chose to relate plain Matter of Fact in the simplest Manner and Style; because my principal Design was not to inform, and not to amuse thee.
Page 266.
A Traveller’s chief Aim should be to make Men wiser and better, and to improve their Minds by the bad as well as good Example of what they deliver concerning foreign Places.
Page 266.
This indeed would be too great a Mortification if I wrote for Fame: But . … my sole Intention was the PUBLIC GOOD.
Page 267.
What Objections can be made against a Writer who relates only plain Facts that happened in such distant Countries, where we have not the least Interest with respect either to Trade or Negotiations?
Page 268.
I write without any view towards Profit or Praise.
Page 268.
Instead of Proposals for conquering that magnanimous Nation, I rather wish they were in a Capacity or Disposition to send a sufficient Number of their Inhabitants for civilizing Europe, by teaching us the first Principles of Honour, Justice, Truth, Temperance, Public Spirit, Fortitude, Chastity, Friendship, Benevolence, and Fidelity.
Page 269.
As those Countries which I have described, do not appear to have any Desire of being conquered, and enslaved, murdered or driven out by Colonies, nor abound either in Gold, Silver, sugar, or Tobacco; I did humbly conceive they were by no means proper Objects of our Zeal, our Valour, or our Interest.
Page 270.
The smell of a Yahoo continuing very offensive, I always keep my Nose well stopped with Rue, Lavender, or Tobacco leaves.
Page 271.
The Houyhuhums, who live under het Government of Reason, are no more proud of the good Qualities they possess, than I should be for not wanting a Leg or an Arm, which no Man in his Wits would boast of.
Page 271.