his Opportunity, while Glumdalclitch was gone to the Side-board, mounted the Stool that the stood on to take Care of me at Meals; took me up in both Hands, and fqueezing my Legs together, wedged them into the Marrow-bone above my Waift; 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 used to ask me whether the People of my Country were as great Cowards as my felf. The Occafion was this. The Kingdom is much pestered with Flies in Summer; and these odious Infects, each of them as big as a Dunstable 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 visible, although not to the Natives of that Country, whofe large Opticks 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 vifcous Matter, which our Naturalifts tell us enables those Creatures to walk with their Feet upwards upon a Cieling. I had much ado to defend my felf against thefe deteftable Animals, and could not forbear flarting when they came on my Face. It was the common Practice of the Dwarf to catch a Number

of

of thefe Infects in his Hand, as School-boys do ar mong 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 Sweet-Cake for my Breakfast; above twenty Wafps, allured by the Smell, came flying into the Room, humming louder than the Drones of as many Bagpipes. Some of them seized 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 utmost Terror of their Stings. However, I had the Courage to rife and draw my Hanger, and attack them in the Air. I dispatched four of them, but the reft got away, and I presently fhut my Window. Thefe 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 fereral Parts of Europe; upon my Return to England I gave three of them to Gresham College, and kept the fourth for my felf.

CHA P.

CHA P. 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 Description 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 further when the accompanied the King in his Progreffes; and there ftaid until his Majefty returned from viewing his Frontiers. The whole Extent of this Prince's Dominions reached but 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 counterpoise 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-Weft Parts of America; wherein I fhall be ready to lend them my Affistance.

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 bounded by the Ocean. There is not one Sea-Port 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 smallest of their Boats; fo, that these People are wholly excluded from any Commerce with the reft of the World. But the large Rivers are full of Veffels, and abound with excellent Fish; for they feldom get any from the Sea, because the Sea-Fish are of the fame Size with those 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 Reafons to be determined by Philofophers. However, now and then they take a Whale that happens to be dafhed againft 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

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 Side the River that paffes through. It contains above eighty thousand Houses. It is in Length three Glonglungs (which make about fifty four English Miles) and two and a half in Breadth, as I measured it my self 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 feveral Times Bare-foot, and computing by the Scale, measured it pretty exactly.

THE King's Palace is no regular Edifice, but an Heap of Buildings about feven Miles round: The chief Rooms are generally two hundred and forty Foot high, and broad and long in Proportion. A Coach was allowed to Glumdalclitch and me, wherein her Governess frequently took her out to see 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 Westminster-Hall, but not altogether fo high; however, I cannot be very exact. One Day the Governess ordered our CoachMan to ftop at several Shops; where the Beggars, watching their Opportunity, crouded to the Sides of the Coach, and 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 monstrous Size, full of Holes, in two or three

of