Marrow-bone upon her Plate, and, after knocking out the Marrow, placed the Bone again in the Dish erect, as it stood before; the Dwarf watching his Opportunity, while Glumdalclitch was gone to the Side-board, mounted the Stool she stood on to take Care of me at Meals, took me up in both Hands, and, fqueefing my Legs together, wedged them into the Marrow-bone above my Wafte, where I ftuck for fome Time, and made a very ridiculous Figure. I believe it was near a Minute before any one knew what was become of me; for I thought it below me to cry out. But, as Princes feldom get their Meat hot, my Legs were not fcalded, only my Stockings and Breeches in a fad Condition. The Dwarf, at my Entreaty, had no other Punishment than a found Whipping.

I was frequently rallied by the Queen upon AcCount of my Fearfulness; and fhe ufed to ask me, Whether the People of my Country were as great Cowards as myfelf? The Occafion was this: The Kingdom is much pestered with Flies in Summer; and these odious Infects, each of them as big as a Dunftable Lark, hardly gave me any Reft while I fat at Dinner, with their continual humming and buzzing about mine Ears. They would fometimes alight upon my Victuals, and leave their loathfome Excrement or Spawn behind, which to me was very vifible, though not to the Natives of that Country, whofe large Optics were not fo acute as mine in viewing fmaller Objects. Sometimes they would fix upon my Nofe or Forehead, where they ftung me to the Quick, fmelling very offenfively, and I could easily trace that viscous Matter, which, our Naturalifts tell us, enables thofe Creatures to walk with their · Feet

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Feet upwards upón a Cieling. I had much ado to defend myself against thefe deteftable Animals, and could not forbear starting when they came on my Face. It was the common Practice of the Dwarf to catch a Number of these Insects in his Hand, as School-boys do among us, and let them out fuddenly under my Nofe, on Purpose to frighten me, and divert the Queen. My Remedy was to cut them in Pieces with my Knife, as they flew in the Air, wherein my Dexterity was much admired.

I remember, one Morning, when Glumdalclitch had fet me in my Box upon a Window, as the ufually did in fair Days to give me Air (for I durft not venture to let the Box be hung on a Nail out of the Window, as we do with Cages in England) after I had lifted up one of my Safhes, and fat. down at my Table to eat a Piece of fweet Cake for my Breakfaft, above twenty Wafps, allured by the Smell, came flying into the Room, humming louder than the Drones of as many Bagpipes. Some of them feized my Cake, and carried it Piece-meal away; others flew about my Head and Face, confounding me with the Noife, and putting me in the utmoft Terror of their Stings. However, I had the Courage to rife and draw my Hanger, and attack them in the Air. I difpatched four of them, but the reft got away, and I prefently fhut my Window. These Infects were as large as Partridges; I took out their Stings, found them an Inch and a half long, and as fharp as Needles. I carefully preferved them all, and having fince fhewn them with fome other Curiofities, in feveral Parts of Europe; upon my Return to England, I gave three of them to Gref ham College, and kept the fourth for myself.

СНАР.

CHAP. IV.

The Country defcribed. A Propofal for correcting modern Maps. The King's Palace, and fome Account of the Metropolis. The Author's Way of Travelling. The chief Temple defcribed.

Now intend to give the Reader a fhort Defcrip

tion of this Country, as far as I travelled in it, which was not above two thousand Miles round Lorbrulgrud, the Metropolis. For the Queen, whom I always attended, never went farther when the accompanied the King in his Progreffes, and there ftaid till his Majefty returned from viewing his Frontiers. The whole Extent of this Prince's Dominions reacheth about fix thousand Miles in Length, and from three to five in Breadth. From whence I cannot but conclude, that our Geographers of Europe are in a great Error, by fuppofing nothing but Sea between Japan and California; for it was ever my Opinion, that there must be a Balance of Earth to counterpoife the great Continent of Tartary ; and therefore they ought to correct their Maps and Charts, by joining this vaft Tract of Land to the North-west Parts of America, wherein I fhall be ready to lend them my Affiftance.

The Kingdom is a Peninfula, terminated to the North-eaft by a Ridge of Mountains thirty Miles high, which are altogether impaffable, by Reafon of the Volcanoes upon the Tops. Neither do the moft Learned know what Sort of Mortals inhabit beyond thofe Mountains, or whether they be inhabited at all. On the three other Sides it is 13 bound

bounded by the Ocean. There is not one Seaport in the whole Kingdom, and thofe Parts of the Coafts into which the Rivers iffue are fo full of pointed Rocks, and the Sea generally fo rough, that there is no venturing with the fmalleft of their Boats, fo that thefe People are wholly excluded from any Commerce with the rest of the World. But the large Rivers are full of Vessels, and abound with excellent Fish, for they feldom get any from the Sea, because the Sea-Fish are of the fame Size with thofe in Europe, and confequently not worth catching; whereby it is manifeft, that Nature in the Production of Plants and Animals of fo extraordinary a Bulk is wholly confined to this Continent, of which I leave the Reasons to be determined by Philofophers. However, now and then they take a Whale that happens to be dashed against the Rocks, which the common People feed on heartily. Thefe Whales I have known fo large that a Man could hardly carry one upon his Shoulders; and fometimes for Curiofity they are brought in Hampers to Lorbrulgrud: I faw one of them in a Dish at the King's Table, which paffed for a Rarity, but I did not obferve he was fond of it; for I think indeed the Bignefs difgufted him, although I have feen one fomewhat larger in Greenland.

The Country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one Cities, near an hundred walled Towns, and a great Number of Villages. To fatisfy my curious Reader, it may be fufficient to defcribe Lorbrulgrud. This City ftands upon almost two equal Parts on each fide the River that paffes through. It contains above eighty thousand Houfes, and about fix hundred thoufand Inhabitants. It is in Length three Glamglungs (which make about fifty-.

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four English Miles) and two and a half in Breadth, as I measured it myself in the Royal Map made by the King's Order, which was laid on the Ground on Purpose for me, and extended an hundred Feet; I paced the Diameter and Circumference several Times bare foot, and, computing by the Scale, measured it pretty exactly.

The King's Palace is no regular Edifice, but an Heap of Building about feven Miles round : The chief Rooms are generally two hundred and forty Feet high, and broad and long in Proporti. on. A Coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me, wherein her Governess frequently took her out to fee the Town, or go among the Shops; and I was always of the Party, carried in my Box; although the Girl at my own Defire would often take me out, and hold me in her Hand, that I might more conveniently view the Houses and the People, as we paffed along the Streets. I reckoned our Coach to be about a Square of Weftminfter-Hall, but not altogether fo high: However, I cannot be very exact. One Day the Go. verness ordered our Coachman to stop at several Shops, where the Beggars, watching their Opportunity, crouded to the Sides of the Coach, Sand gave me the most horrible Spectacles that ever an European Eye beheld. There was a Woman with a Cancer in her Breaft, fwelled to a monftrous Size, full of Holes, in two or three of which I could have eafily crept, and covered my whole Body. There was a Fellow with a Wen in his Neck, larger than five Wool-packs, and another with a couple of Wooden Legs, each about twenty Feet high. But the most hateful Sight of all was the Lice crawling on their Cloaths. I could fee diftinctly the Limbs of these Vermin with my naked Eye,

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