gardening.
The governor and his family are served and attended by domestics
of a kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in necromancy he has a
power of calling whom he pleases from the dead, and
commanding their service for twenty-four hours, but no longer;
nor can he call the same persons up again in less than three
months, except upon very extraordinary occasions.
When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in the
morning, one of the gentlemen who accompanied me went to the
governor, and desired admittance for a stranger, who came on.
purpose to have the honour of attending on his highness. This was
immediately granted, and we all three entered the gate of the
palace between two rows of guards, armed and dressed after a
very antic manner, and with something in their countenances that
made my flesh creep with a horror I cannot express. We passed
through several apartments, between servants of the same sort,
ranked on each side as before, till we came to the chamber of
presence; where, after three profound obeisances, and a few
general questions, we were permitted to sit on three stools, near
the lowest step of his highness's throne. He understood the
language of Balnibarbi, although it was different from that of this
island. He desired me to give him some account of my travels;
and, to let me see that I should be treated without ceremony, he
dismissed all his attendants with a turn of his finger; at which, to
my great astonishment, they vanished in an instant, like visions in
a dream when we awake on a sudden. I could not recover myself
in some time, till the governor assured me, "that I should receive
no hurt:" and observing my two companions to be under no
concern, who had been often entertained in the same manner, I
began to take courage, and related to his highness a short history
of my several adventures; yet not without some hesitation, and
frequently looking behind me to the place where I had seen those
domestic spectres. I had the honour to dine with the governor,
where a new set of ghosts served up the meat, and waited at table.
I now observed myself to be less terrified than I had been in the
morning. I stayed till sunset, but humbly desired his highness to
excuse me for not accepting his invitation of lodging in the palace.
My two friends and I lay at a private house in the town adjoining,.
which is the capital of this little island; and the next morning we
returned to pay our duty to the governor, as he was pleased to
command us.
After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, most
part of every day with the governor, and at night in our lodging. I
soon grew so familiarized to the sight of spirits, that after the third
or fourth time they gave me no emotion at all: or, if I had any
apprehensions left, my curiosity prevailed over them. For his
highness the governor ordered me "to call up whatever persons I
would choose to name, and in whatever numbers, among all the
dead from the beginning of the world to the present time, and
command them to answer any questions I should think fit to ask;
with this condition, that my questions must be confined within the
compass of the times they lived in. And one thing I might depend
upon, that they would certainly tell me the truth, for lying was a
talent of no use in the lower world."
I made my humble acknowledgments to his highness for so great
a favour. We were in a chamber, from whence there was a fair
prospect into the park. And because my first inclination was to be
entertained with scenes of pomp and magnificence, I desired to
see Alexander the Great at the head of his army, just after the
battle of Arbela: which, upon a motion of the governor's finger,
immediately appeared in a large field, under the window where
we stood. Alexander was called up into the room: it was with
great difficulty that I understood his Greek, and had but little of
my own. He assured me upon his honour "that he was not
poisoned, but died of a bad fever by excessive drinking.".
Next, I saw Hannibal passing the Alps, who told me "he had not a
drop of vinegar in his camp."
I saw Caesar and Pompey at the head of their troops, just ready to
engage. I saw the former, in his last great triumph. I desired that
the senate of Rome might appear before me, in one large chamber,
and an assembly of somewhat a later age in counterview, in
another. The first seemed to be an assembly of heroes and
demigods; the other, a knot of pedlars, pick-pockets,
highwayman, and bullies.
The governor, at my request, gave the sign for Caesar and Brutus
to advance towards us. I was struck with a profound veneration at
the sight of Brutus, and could easily discover the most
consummate virtue, the greatest intrepidity and firmness of mind,
the truest love of his country, and general benevolence for
mankind, in every lineament of his countenance. I observed, with
much pleasure, that these two persons were in good intelligence
with each other; and Caesar freely confessed to me, "that the
greatest actions of his own life were not equal, by many degrees,
to the glory of taking it away." I had the honour to have much
conversation with Brutus; and was told, "that his ancestor Junius,
Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato the younger, Sir Thomas More, and
himself were perpetually together:" a sextumvirate, to which all
the ages of the world cannot add a seventh..
It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what vast
numbers of illustrious persons were called up to gratify that
insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of antiquity
placed before me. I chiefly fed mine eyes with beholding the
destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to
oppressed and injured nations. But it is impossible to express the
satisfaction I received in my own mind, after such a manner as to
make it a suitable entertainment to the reader..
[A further account of Glubbdubdrib. Ancient and modern history
corrected.]
Having a desire to see those ancients who were most renowned
for wit and learning, I set apart one day on purpose. I proposed
that Homer and Aristotle might appear at the head of all their
commentators; but these were so numerous, that some hundreds
were forced to attend in the court, and outward rooms of the
palace. I knew, and could distinguish those two heroes, at first
sight, not only from the crowd, but from each other. Homer was
the taller and comelier person of the two, walked very erect for
one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick and piercing I
ever beheld. Aristotle stooped much, and made use of a staff. His
visage was meagre, his hair lank and thin, and his voice hollow. I
soon discovered that both of them were perfect strangers to the
rest of the company, and had never seen or heard of them before;
and I had a whisper from a ghost who shall be nameless, "that
these commentators always kept in the most distant quarters from
their principals, in the lower world, through a consciousness of
shame and guilt, because they had so horribly misrepresented the
meaning of those authors to posterity." I introduced Didymus and
Eustathius to Homer, and prevailed on him to treat them better
than perhaps they deserved, for he soon found they wanted a.
genius to enter into the spirit of a poet. But Aristotle was out of all
patience with the account I gave him of Scotus and Ramus, as I
presented them to him; and he asked them, "whether the rest of
the tribe were as great dunces as themselves?"
I then desired the governor to call up Descartes and Gassendi,
with whom I prevailed to explain their systems to Aristotle. This
great philosopher freely acknowledged his own mistakes in
natural philosophy, because he proceeded in many things upon
conjecture, as all men must do; and he found that Gassendi, who
had made the doctrine of Epicurus as palatable as he could, and
the vortices of Descartes, were equally to be exploded. He
predicted the same fate to ATTRACTION, whereof the present
learned are such zealous asserters. He said, "that new systems of
nature were but new fashions, which would vary in every age; and
even those, who pretend to demonstrate them from mathematical
principles, would flourish but a short period of time, and be out of
vogue when that was determined."
I spent five days in conversing with many others of the ancient
learned. I saw most of the first Roman emperors. I prevailed on
the governor to call up Heliogabalus's cooks to dress us a dinner,
but they could not show us much of their skill, for want of
materials. A helot of Agesilaus made us a dish of Spartan broth,
but I was not able to get down a second spoonful.
The two gentlemen, who conducted me to the island, were pressed
by their private affairs to return in three days, which I employed in
seeing some of the modern dead, who had made the greatest.
figure, for two or three hundred years past, in our own and other
countries of Europe; and having been always a great admirer of
old illustrious families, I desired the governor would call up a
dozen or two of kings, with their ancestors in order for eight or
nine generations. But my disappointment was grievous and
unexpected. For, instead of a long train with royal diadems, I saw
in one family two fiddlers, three spruce courtiers, and an Italian
prelate. In another, a barber, an abbot, and two cardinals. I have
too great a veneration for crowned heads, to dwell any longer on
so nice a subject. But as to counts, marquises, dukes, earls, and the
like, I was not so scrupulous. And I confess, it was not without
some pleasure, that I found myself able to trace the particular
features, by which certain families are distinguished, up to their
originals. I could plainly discover whence one family derives a
long chin; why a second has abounded with knaves for two
generations, and fools for two more; why a third happened to be
crack-brained, and a fourth to be sharpers; whence it came, what
Polydore Virgil says of a certain great house, NEC VIR FORTIS,
NEC FOEMINA CASTA; how cruelty, falsehood, and cowardice,
grew to be characteristics by which certain families are
distinguished as much as by their coats of arms; who first brought
the pox into a noble house, which has lineally descended
scrofulous tumours to their posterity. Neither could I wonder at all
this, when I saw such an interruption of lineages, by pages,
lackeys, valets, coachmen, gamesters, fiddlers, players, captains,
and pickpockets..
I was chiefly disgusted with modern history. For having strictly
examined all the persons of greatest name in the courts of princes,
for a 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 many innocent and
excellent persons had been condemned to death or banishment by
the practising of great ministers upon the corruption of judges,
and the malice of factions: how many villains had been exalted to
the highest places of trust, power, dignity, and profit: how great a
share in the motions and events of courts, councils, and senates
might be challenged by bawds, whores, pimps, parasites, and
buffoons. How low an opinion I had of human wisdom and
integrity, when I was truly informed of the springs and motives of
great enterprises and revolutions in the world, and of the
contemptible accidents to which they owed their success.
Here I discovered the roguery and ignorance of those who pretend
to write anecdotes, or secret history; who send so many kings to
their graves with a cup of poison; will repeat the discourse
between a prince and chief minister, where no witness was by;
unlock the thoughts and cabinets of ambassadors and secretaries
of state; and have the perpetual misfortune to be mistaken. Here I
discovered the true causes of many great events that have
surprised the world; how a whore can govern the back-stairs, the
back-stairs a council, and the council a senate. A general
confessed, in my presence, "that he got a victory purely by the
force of cowardice and ill conduct;" and an admiral, "that, for.
want of proper intelligence, he beat the enemy, to whom he
intended to betray the fleet." Three kings protested to me, "that in
their whole reigns they never did once prefer any person of merit,
unless by mistake, or treachery of some minister in whom they
confided; neither would they do it if they were to live again:" and
they showed, with great strength of reason, "that the royal throne
could not be supported without corruption, because that positive,
confident, restiff temper, which virtue infused into a man, was a
perpetual clog to public business."
I had the curiosity to inquire in a particular manner, by what
methods great numbers had procured to themselves high titles of
honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined my inquiry to a
very modern period: however, without grating upon present times,
because I would be sure to give no offence even to foreigners (for
I hope the reader need not be told, that I do not in the least intend
my own country, in what I say upon this occasion,) a great number
of persons concerned were called up; and, upon a very slight
examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot
reflect upon it without some seriousness. Perjury, oppression,
subornation, fraud, pandarism, and the like infirmities, were
among the most excusable arts they had to mention; and for these
I gave, as it was reasonable, great allowance. But when some
confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to sodomy, or
incest; others, to the prostituting of their own wives and
daughters; others, to the betraying of their country or their prince;
some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of justice, in order to
destroy the innocent, I hope I may be pardoned, if these
discoveries inclined me a little to abate of that profound.
veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to persons of high
rank, who ought to be treated with the utmost respect due to their
sublime dignity, by us their inferiors.
I had often read of some great services done to princes and states,
and desired to see the persons by whom those services were
performed. Upon inquiry I was told, "that their names were to be
found on no record, except a few of them, whom history has
represented as the vilest of rogues and traitors." As to the rest, I
had never once heard of them. They all appeared with dejected
looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them telling me, "they
died in poverty and disgrace, and the rest on a scaffold or a
gibbet."
Among others, there was one person, whose case appeared a little
singular. He had a youth about eighteen years old standing by his
side. He told me, "he had for many years been commander of a
ship; and in the sea fight at Actium had the good fortune to break
through the enemy's great line of battle, sink three of their capital
ships, and take a fourth, which was the sole cause of Antony's
flight, and of the victory that ensued; that the youth standing by
him, his only son, was killed in the action." He added, "that upon
the confidence of some merit, the war being at an end, he went to
Rome, and solicited at the court of Augustus to be preferred to a
greater ship, whose commander had been killed; but, without any
regard to his pretensions, it was given to a boy who had never
seen the sea, the son of Libertina, who waited on one of the
emperor's mistresses. Returning back to his own vessel, he was
charged with neglect of duty, and the ship given to a favourite.
page of Publicola, the vice-admiral; whereupon he retired to a
poor farm at a great distance from Rome, and there ended his
life." I was so curious to know the truth of this story, that I desired
Agrippa might be called, who was admiral in that fight. He
appeared, and confirmed the whole account: but with much more
advantage to the captain, whose modesty had extenuated or
concealed a great part of his merit.
I was surprised to find corruption grown so high and so quick in
that empire, by the force of luxury so lately introduced; which
made me less wonder at many parallel cases in other countries,
where vices of all kinds have reigned so much longer, and where
the whole praise, as well as pillage, has been engrossed by the
chief commander, who perhaps had the least title to either.
As every person called up made exactly the same appearance he
had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflections to
observe how much the race of human kind was degenerated
among us within these hundred years past; how the pox, under all
its consequences and denominations had altered every lineament
of an English countenance; shortened the size of bodies, unbraced
the nerves, relaxed the sinews and muscles, introduced a sallow
complexion, and rendered the flesh loose and rancid.
I descended so low, as to desire some English yeoman of the old
stamp might be summoned to appear; once so famous for the
simplicity of their manners, diet, and dress; for justice in their
dealings; for their true spirit of liberty; for their valour, and love
of their country. Neither could I be wholly unmoved, after.
comparing the living with the dead, when I considered how all
these pure native virtues were prostituted for a piece of money by
their grand-children; who, in selling their votes and managing at
elections, have acquired every vice and corruption that can
possibly be learned in a court..
[The author returns to Maldonada. Sails to the kingdom of
Luggnagg. The author confined. He is sent for to court. The
manner of his admittance. The king's great lenity to his subjects.]
The day of our departure being come, I took leave of his highness,
the Governor of Glubbdubdrib, and returned with my two
companions to Maldonada, where, after a fortnight's waiting, a
ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg. The two gentlemen, and
some others, were so generous and kind as to furnish me with
provisions, and see me on board. I was a month in this voyage.
We had one violent storm, and were under a necessity of steering
westward to get into the trade wind, which holds for above sixty
leagues. On the 21st of April, 1708, we sailed into the river of
Clumegnig, which is a seaport town, at the south-east point of
Luggnagg. We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made
a signal for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than half an
hour, by whom we were guided between certain shoals and rocks,
which are very dangerous in the passage, to a large basin, where a
fleet may ride in safety within a cable's length of the town-wall.
Some of our sailors, whether out of treachery or inadvertence, had
informed the pilots "that I was a stranger, and great traveller;"
whereof these gave notice to a custom-house officer, by whom I.
was examined very strictly upon my landing. This officer spoke to
me in the language of Balnibarbi, which, by the force of much
commerce, is generally understood in that town, especially by
seamen and those employed in the customs. I gave him a short
account of some particulars, and made my story as plausible and
consistent as I could; but I thought it necessary to disguise my
country, and call myself a Hollander; because my intentions were
for Japan, and I knew the Dutch were the only Europeans
permitted to enter into that kingdom. I therefore told the officer,
"that having been shipwrecked on the coast of Balnibarbi, and
cast on a rock, I was received up into Laputa, or the flying island
(of which he had often heard), and was now endeavouring to get
to Japan, whence I might find a convenience of returning to my
own country." The officer said, "I must be confined till he could
receive orders from court, for which he would write immediately,
and hoped to receive an answer in a fortnight." I was carried to a
convenient lodging with a sentry placed at the door; however, I
had the liberty of a large garden, and was treated with humanity
enough, being maintained all the time at the king's charge. I was
invited by several persons, chiefly out of curiosity, because it was
reported that I came from countries very remote, of which they
had never heard.
I hired a young man, who came in the same ship, to be an
interpreter; he was a native of Luggnagg, but had lived some years
at Maldonada, and was a perfect master of both languages. By his
assistance, I was able to hold a conversation with those who came
to visit me; but this consisted only of their questions, and my
answers..
The despatch came from court about the time we expected. It
contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to
TRALDRAGDUBH, or TRILDROGDRIB (for it is pronounced
both ways as near as I can remember), by a party of ten horse. All
my retinue was that poor lad for an interpreter, whom I persuaded
into my service, and, at my humble request, we had each of us a
mule to ride on. A messenger was despatched half a day's journey
before us, to give the king notice of my approach, and to desire,
"that his majesty would please to appoint a day and hour, when it
would by his gracious pleasure that I might have the honour to
lick the dust before his footstool." This is the court style, and I
found it to be more than matter of form: for, upon my admittance
two days after my arrival, I was commanded to crawl upon my
belly, and lick the floor as I advanced; but, on account of my
being a stranger, care was taken to have it made so clean, that the
dust was not offensive. However, this was a peculiar grace, not
allowed to any but persons of the highest rank, when they desire
an admittance. Nay, sometimes the floor is strewed with dust on
purpose, when the person to be admitted happens to have
powerful enemies at court; and I have seen a great lord with his
mouth so crammed, that when he had crept to the proper distance
from the throne; he was not able to speak a word. Neither is there
any remedy; because it is capital for those, who receive an
audience to spit or wipe their mouths in his majesty's presence.
There is indeed another custom, which I cannot altogether
approve of: when the king has a mind to put any of his nobles to
death in a gentle indulgent manner, he commands the floor to be
strewed with a certain brown powder of a deadly composition,.
which being licked up, infallibly kills him in twenty-four hours.
But in justice to this prince's great clemency, and the care he has
of his subjects' lives (wherein it were much to be wished that the
Monarchs of Europe would imitate him), it must be mentioned for
his honour, that strict orders are given to have the infected parts of
the floor well washed after every such execution, which, if his
domestics neglect, they are in danger of incurring his royal
displeasure. I myself heard him give directions, that one of his
pages should be whipped, whose turn it was to give notice about
washing the floor after an execution, but maliciously had omitted
it; by which neglect a young lord of great hopes, coming to an
audience, was unfortunately poisoned, although the king at that
time had no design against his life. But this good prince was so
gracious as to forgive the poor page his whipping, upon promise
that he would do so no more, without special orders.
To return from this digression. When I had crept within four yards
of the throne, I raised myself gently upon my knees, and then
striking my forehead seven times against the ground, I
pronounced the following words, as they had been taught me the
night before, INCKPLING GLOFFTHROBB SQUUT
SERUMMBLHIOP MLASHNALT ZWIN TNODBALKUFFH
SLHIOPHAD GURDLUBH ASHT. This is the compliment,
established by the laws of the land, for all persons admitted to the
king's presence. It may be rendered into English thus: "May your
celestial majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half!" To
this the king returned some answer, which, although I could not
understand, yet I replied as I had been directed: FLUFT DRIN
YALERICK DWULDOM PRASTRAD MIRPUSH, which.
properly signifies, "My tongue is in the mouth of my friend;" and
by this expression was meant, that I desired leave to bring my
interpreter; whereupon the young man already mentioned was
accordingly introduced, by whose intervention I answered as
many questions as his majesty could put in above an hour. I spoke
in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my interpreter delivered my
meaning in that of Luggnagg.
The king was much delighted with my company, and ordered his
BLIFFMARKLUB, or high-chamberlain, to appoint a lodging in
the court for me and my interpreter; with a daily allowance for my
table, and a large purse of gold for my common expenses.
I staid three months in this country, out of perfect obedience to his
majesty; who was pleased highly to favour me, and made me very
honourable offers. But I thought it more consistent with prudence
and justice to pass the remainder of my days with my wife and
family..
[The Luggnaggians commended. A particular description of the
Struldbrugs, with many conversations between the author and
some eminent persons upon that subject.]
The Luggnaggians are a polite and generous people; and although
they are not without some share of that pride which is peculiar to
all Eastern countries, yet they show themselves courteous to
strangers, especially such who are countenanced by the court. I
had many acquaintance, and among persons of the best fashion;
and being always attended by my interpreter, the conversation we
had was not disagreeable.
One day, in much good company, I was asked by a person of
quality, "whether I had seen any of their STRULDBRUGS, or
immortals?" I said, "I had not;" and desired he would explain to
me "what he meant by such an appellation, applied to a mortal
creature." He told me "that 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." The spot, as he described it, "was
about the compass of a silver threepence, but in the course of time
grew larger, and changed its colour; for at twelve years old it
became green, so continued till five and twenty, then turned to a.
deep blue: at five and forty it grew coal black, and as large as an
English shilling; but never admitted any further alteration." He
said, "these births were so rare, that he did not believe there could
be above eleven hundred struldbrugs, of both sexes, in the whole
kingdom; of which he computed about fifty in the metropolis,
and, among the rest, a young girl born; about three years ago: that
these productions were not peculiar to any family, but a mere
effect of chance; and the children of the STRULDBRUGS
themselves were equally mortal with the rest of the people."
I freely own myself to have been struck with inexpressible
delight, upon hearing this account: and the person who gave it me
happening to understand the Balnibarbian language, which I
spoke very well, I could not forbear breaking out into expressions,
perhaps a little too extravagant. I cried out, as in a rapture, "Happy
nation, where every child hath at least a chance for being
immortal! Happy people, who enjoy so many living examples of
ancient virtue, and have masters ready to instruct them in the
wisdom of all former ages! but happiest, beyond all comparison,
are those excellent STRULDBRUGS, who, being born exempt
from that universal calamity of human nature, have their minds
free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits
caused by the continual apprehensions of death!" I discovered my
admiration that I had not observed any of these illustrious persons
at court; the black spot on the forehead being so remarkable a
distinction, that I could not have easily overlooked it: and it was
impossible that his majesty, a most judicious prince, should not
provide himself with a good number of such wise and able
counsellors. Yet perhaps the virtue of those reverend sages was.
too strict for the corrupt and libertine manners of a court: and we
often find by experience, that young men are too opinionated and
volatile to be guided by the sober dictates of their seniors.
However, since the king was pleased to allow me access to his
royal person, I was resolved, upon the very first occasion, to
deliver my opinion to him on this matter freely and at large, by the
help of my interpreter; and whether he would please to take my
advice or not, yet in one thing I was determined, that his majesty
having frequently offered me an establishment in this country, I
would, with great thankfulness, accept the favour, and pass my
life here in the conversation of those superior beings the
STRULDBRUGS, if they would please to admit me."
The gentleman to whom I addressed my discourse, because (as I
have already observed) he spoke the language of Balnibarbi, said
to me, with a sort of a smile which usually arises from pity to the
ignorant, "that he was glad of any occasion to keep me among
them, and desired my permission to explain to the company what I
had spoke." He did so, and they talked together for some time in
their own language, whereof I understood not a syllable, neither
could I observe by their countenances, what impression my
discourse had made on them. After a short silence, the same
person told me, "that his friends and mine (so he thought fit to
express himself) were very much pleased with the judicious
remarks I had made on the great happiness and advantages of
immortal life, and they were desirous to know, in a particular
manner, what scheme of living I should have formed to myself, if
it had fallen to my lot to have been born a STRULDBRUG.".
I answered, "it was easy to be eloquent on so copious and
delightful a subject, especially to me, who had been often apt to
amuse myself with visions of what I should do, if I were a king, a
general, or a great lord: and upon this very case, I had frequently
run over the whole system how I should employ myself, and pass
the time, if I were sure to live for ever.
"That, if it had been my good fortune to come into the world a
STRULDBRUG, as soon as I could discover my own happiness,
by understanding the difference between life and death, I would
first resolve, by all arts and methods, whatsoever, to procure
myself riches. In the pursuit of which, by thrift and management, I
might reasonably expect, in about two hundred years, to be the
wealthiest man in the kingdom. In the second place, I would, from
my earliest youth, apply myself to the study of arts and sciences,
by which I should arrive in time to excel all others in learning.
Lastly, I would carefully record every action and event of
consequence, that happened in the public, impartially draw the
characters of the several successions of princes and great
ministers of state, with my own observations on every point. I
would exactly set down the several changes in customs, language,
fashions of dress, diet, and diversions. By all which acquirements,
I should be a living treasure of knowledge and wisdom, and
certainly become the oracle of the nation.
"I would never marry after threescore, but live in a hospitable
manner, yet still on the saving side. I would entertain myself in
forming and directing the minds of hopeful young men, by
convincing them, from my own remembrance, experience, and.
observation, fortified by numerous examples, of the usefulness of
virtue in public and private life. But my choice and constant
companions should be a set of my own immortal brotherhood;
among whom, I would elect a dozen from the most ancient, down
to my own contemporaries. Where any of these wanted fortunes, I
would provide them with convenient lodges round my own estate,
and have some of them always at my table; only mingling a few of
the most valuable among you mortals, whom length of time would
harden me to lose with little or no reluctance, and treat your
posterity after the same manner; just as a man diverts himself with
the annual succession of pinks and tulips in his garden, without
regretting the loss of those which withered the preceding year.
"These STRULDBRUGS and I would mutually communicate our
observations and memorials, through the course of time; remark
the several gradations by which corruption steals into the world,
and oppose it in every step, by giving perpetual warning and
instruction to mankind; which, added to the strong influence of
our own example, would probably prevent that continual
degeneracy of human nature so justly complained of in all ages.
"Add to this, the pleasure of seeing the various revolutions of
states and empires; the changes in the lower and upper world;
ancient cities in ruins, and obscure villages become the seats of
kings; famous rivers lessening into shallow brooks; the ocean
leaving one coast dry, and overwhelming another; the discovery
of many countries yet unknown; barbarity overrunning the
politest nations, and the most barbarous become civilized. I.
should then see the discovery of the longitude, the perpetual
motion, the universal medicine, and many other great inventions,
brought to the utmost perfection.
"What wonderful discoveries should we make in astronomy, by
outliving and confirming our own predictions; by observing the
progress and return of comets, with the changes of motion in the
sun, moon, and stars!"
I enlarged upon many other topics, which the natural desire of
endless life, and sublunary happiness, could easily furnish me
with. When I had ended, and the sum of my discourse had been
interpreted, as before, to the rest of the company, there was a good
deal of talk among them in the language of the country, not
without some laughter at my expense. At last, the same gentleman
who had been my interpreter, said, "he was desired by the rest to
set me right in a few mistakes, which I had fallen into through the
common imbecility of human nature, and upon that allowance
was less answerable for them. That this breed of
STRULDBRUGS was peculiar to their country, for there were no
such people either in Balnibarbi or Japan, where he had the
honour to be ambassador from his majesty, and found the natives
in both those kingdoms very hard to believe that the fact was
possible: and it appeared from my astonishment when he first
mentioned the matter to me, that I received it as a thing wholly
new, and scarcely to be credited. That in the two kingdoms above
mentioned, where, during his residence, he had conversed very
much, he observed long life to be the universal desire and wish of
mankind. That whoever had one foot in the grave was sure to hold.
back the other as strongly as he could. That the oldest had still
hopes of living one day longer, and looked on death as the greatest
evil, from which nature always prompted him to retreat. Only in
this island of Luggnagg the appetite for living was not so eager,
from the continual example of the STRULDBRUGS before their
eyes.
"That 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, however
extravagant he may be in his wishes. That the question therefore
was not, whether a man would choose to be always in the prime of
youth, attended with prosperity and health; but how he would pass
a perpetual life under all the usual disadvantages which old age
brings along with it. For although few men will avow their desires
of being immortal, upon such hard conditions, yet in the two
kingdoms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and Japan, he observed
that every man desired to put off death some time longer, let it
approach ever so late: and he rarely heard of any man who died
willingly, except he were incited by the extremity of grief or
torture. And he appealed to me, whether in those countries I had
travelled, as well as my own, I had not observed the same general
disposition."
After this preface, he gave me a particular account of the
STRULDBRUGS among them. He said, "they commonly acted
like mortals till about thirty years old; after which, by degrees,
they grew melancholy and dejected, increasing in both till they
came to fourscore. This he learned from their own confession: for.
otherwise, there not being above two or three of that species born
in an age, they were too few to form a general observation by.
When they came to fourscore 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
opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative, but
incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which
never descended below their grandchildren. Envy and impotent
desires are their prevailing passions. But those objects against
which their envy seems principally directed, are the vices of the
younger sort and the deaths of the old. By reflecting on the
former, they find themselves cut off from all possibility of
pleasure; and whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repine
that others have gone to a 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, and even that is very imperfect; and for the truth or
particulars of any fact, it is safer to depend on common tradition,
than upon their best recollections. The least miserable among
them appear to be those who turn to dotage, and entirely lose their
memories; these meet with more pity and assistance, because they
want many bad qualities which abound in others.
"If a STRULDBRUG happen to marry one of his own kind, the
marriage is dissolved of course, by the courtesy of the kingdom,
as soon as the younger of the two comes to be fourscore; for the
law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that those who are.
condemned, without any fault of their own, to a perpetual
continuance in the world, should not have their misery doubled by
the load of a wife.
"As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they
are looked on as dead in law; their heirs immediately succeed to
their estates; only a small pittance is reserved for their support;
and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. After that
period, they are held incapable of any employment of trust or
profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leases; neither are they
allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either civil or criminal, not
even for the decision of meers and bounds.
"At ninety, they lose their teeth and hair; they have at that age no
distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever they can get,
without relish or appetite. The diseases they were subject to still
continue, without increasing or diminishing. In talking, they
forget the common appellation of things, and the names of
persons, even of those who are their nearest friends and relations.
For the same reason, they never can amuse themselves with
reading, 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.
The language of this country being always upon the flux, the
STRULDBRUGS of one age do not understand those of another;
neither are they able, after two hundred years, to hold any.
conversation (farther than by a few general words) with their
neighbours the mortals; and thus they lie under the disadvantage
of living like foreigners in their own country."
This was the account given me of the STRULDBRUGS, as near
as I can remember. I afterwards saw five or six of different ages,
the youngest not above two hundred years old, who were brought
to me at several times by some of my friends; but although they
were told, "that I was a great traveller, and had seen all the world,"
they had not the least curiosity to ask me a question; only desired
"I would give them SLUMSKUDASK," or a token of
remembrance; which is a modest way of begging, to avoid the
law, that strictly forbids it, because they are provided for by the
public, although indeed with a very scanty allowance.
They are despised and hated by all sorts of people. When one of
them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded
very particularly so that you may know their age by consulting the
register, which, however, has not been kept above a thousand
years past, or at least has been destroyed by time or public
disturbances. But 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.
They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld; and the
women more horrible than the men. Besides the usual deformities
in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness, in
proportion to their number of years, which is not to be described;.
and among half a dozen, I soon distinguished which was the
eldest, although there was not above a century or two between
them.
The reader will easily believe, that from what I had hear and seen,
my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much abated. I grew
heartily ashamed of the pleasing visions I had formed; and
thought no tyrant could invent a death into which I would not run
with pleasure, from such a life. The king heard of all that had
passed between me and my friends upon this occasion, and rallied
me very pleasantly; wishing I could send a couple of
STRULDBRUGS to my own country, to arm our people against
the fear of death; but this, it seems, is forbidden by the
fundamental laws of the kingdom, or else I should have been well
content with the trouble and expense of transporting them.
I could not but agree, that the laws of this kingdom relative to the
STRULDBRUGS were founded upon the strongest reasons, and
such as any other country would be under the necessity of
enacting, in the like circumstances. Otherwise, as avarice is the
necessary consequence of old age, those immortals would in time
become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil
power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin
of the public..
[The author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan. From thence he
returns in a Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to
England.]
I thought this account of the STRULDBRUGS might be some
entertainment to the reader, because it seems to be a little out of
the common way; at least I do not remember to have met the like
in any book of travels that has come to my hands: and if I am
deceived, my excuse must be, that it is necessary for travellers
who describe the same country, very often to agree in dwelling on
the same particulars, without deserving the censure of having
borrowed or transcribed from those who wrote before them.
There is indeed a perpetual commerce between this kingdom and
the great empire of Japan; and it is very probable, that the
Japanese authors may have given some account of the
STRULDBRUGS; but my stay in Japan was so short, and I was so
entirely a stranger to the language, that I was not qualified to
make any inquiries. But I hope the Dutch, upon this notice, will
be curious and able enough to supply my defects..
His majesty having often pressed me to accept some employment
in his court, and finding me absolutely determined to return to my
native country, was pleased to give me his license to depart; and
honoured me with a letter of recommendation, under his own
hand, to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise presented me with
four hundred and forty-four large pieces of gold (this nation
delighting in even numbers), and a red diamond, which I sold in
England for eleven hundred pounds.
On the 6th of May, 1709, I took a solemn leave of his majesty, and
all my friends. This prince was so gracious as to order a guard to
conduct me to Glanguenstald, which is a royal port to the south-west
part of the island. In six days I found a vessel ready to carry
me to Japan, and spent fifteen days in the voyage.
We landed at a small port-town called Xamoschi, situated on the
south-east part of Japan; the town lies on the western point, where
there is a narrow strait leading northward into along arm of the
sea, upon the north-west part of which, Yedo, the metropolis,
stands. At landing, I showed the custom-house officers my letter
from the king of Luggnagg to his imperial majesty. They knew the
seal perfectly well; it was as broad as the palm of my hand. The
impression was, A KING LIFTING UP A LAME BEGGAR
FROM THE EARTH. The magistrates of the town, hearing of my
letter, received me as a public minister. They provided me with
carriages and servants, and bore my charges to Yedo; where I was
admitted to an audience, and delivered my letter, which was
opened with great ceremony, and explained to the Emperor by an
interpreter, who then gave me notice, by his majesty's order, "that.
I should signify my request, and, whatever it were, it should be
granted, for the sake of his royal brother of Luggnagg." This
interpreter was a person employed to transact affairs with the
Hollanders. He soon conjectured, by my countenance, that I was a
European, and therefore repeated his majesty's commands in Low
Dutch, which he spoke perfectly well. I answered, as I had before
determined, "that I was a Dutch merchant, shipwrecked in a very
remote country, whence I had travelled by sea and land to
Luggnagg, and then took shipping for Japan; where I knew my
countrymen often traded, and with some of these I hoped to get an
opportunity of returning into Europe: I therefore most humbly
entreated his royal favour, to give order that I should be conducted
in safety to Nangasac." To this I added another petition, "that for
The governor and his family are served and attended by domestics
of a kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in necromancy he has a
power of calling whom he pleases from the dead, and
commanding their service for twenty-four hours, but no longer;
nor can he call the same persons up again in less than three
months, except upon very extraordinary occasions.
When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in the
morning, one of the gentlemen who accompanied me went to the
governor, and desired admittance for a stranger, who came on.
purpose to have the honour of attending on his highness. This was
immediately granted, and we all three entered the gate of the
palace between two rows of guards, armed and dressed after a
very antic manner, and with something in their countenances that
made my flesh creep with a horror I cannot express. We passed
through several apartments, between servants of the same sort,
ranked on each side as before, till we came to the chamber of
presence; where, after three profound obeisances, and a few
general questions, we were permitted to sit on three stools, near
the lowest step of his highness's throne. He understood the
language of Balnibarbi, although it was different from that of this
island. He desired me to give him some account of my travels;
and, to let me see that I should be treated without ceremony, he
dismissed all his attendants with a turn of his finger; at which, to
my great astonishment, they vanished in an instant, like visions in
a dream when we awake on a sudden. I could not recover myself
in some time, till the governor assured me, "that I should receive
no hurt:" and observing my two companions to be under no
concern, who had been often entertained in the same manner, I
began to take courage, and related to his highness a short history
of my several adventures; yet not without some hesitation, and
frequently looking behind me to the place where I had seen those
domestic spectres. I had the honour to dine with the governor,
where a new set of ghosts served up the meat, and waited at table.
I now observed myself to be less terrified than I had been in the
morning. I stayed till sunset, but humbly desired his highness to
excuse me for not accepting his invitation of lodging in the palace.
My two friends and I lay at a private house in the town adjoining,.
which is the capital of this little island; and the next morning we
returned to pay our duty to the governor, as he was pleased to
command us.
After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, most
part of every day with the governor, and at night in our lodging. I
soon grew so familiarized to the sight of spirits, that after the third
or fourth time they gave me no emotion at all: or, if I had any
apprehensions left, my curiosity prevailed over them. For his
highness the governor ordered me "to call up whatever persons I
would choose to name, and in whatever numbers, among all the
dead from the beginning of the world to the present time, and
command them to answer any questions I should think fit to ask;
with this condition, that my questions must be confined within the
compass of the times they lived in. And one thing I might depend
upon, that they would certainly tell me the truth, for lying was a
talent of no use in the lower world."
I made my humble acknowledgments to his highness for so great
a favour. We were in a chamber, from whence there was a fair
prospect into the park. And because my first inclination was to be
entertained with scenes of pomp and magnificence, I desired to
see Alexander the Great at the head of his army, just after the
battle of Arbela: which, upon a motion of the governor's finger,
immediately appeared in a large field, under the window where
we stood. Alexander was called up into the room: it was with
great difficulty that I understood his Greek, and had but little of
my own. He assured me upon his honour "that he was not
poisoned, but died of a bad fever by excessive drinking.".
Next, I saw Hannibal passing the Alps, who told me "he had not a
drop of vinegar in his camp."
I saw Caesar and Pompey at the head of their troops, just ready to
engage. I saw the former, in his last great triumph. I desired that
the senate of Rome might appear before me, in one large chamber,
and an assembly of somewhat a later age in counterview, in
another. The first seemed to be an assembly of heroes and
demigods; the other, a knot of pedlars, pick-pockets,
highwayman, and bullies.
The governor, at my request, gave the sign for Caesar and Brutus
to advance towards us. I was struck with a profound veneration at
the sight of Brutus, and could easily discover the most
consummate virtue, the greatest intrepidity and firmness of mind,
the truest love of his country, and general benevolence for
mankind, in every lineament of his countenance. I observed, with
much pleasure, that these two persons were in good intelligence
with each other; and Caesar freely confessed to me, "that the
greatest actions of his own life were not equal, by many degrees,
to the glory of taking it away." I had the honour to have much
conversation with Brutus; and was told, "that his ancestor Junius,
Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato the younger, Sir Thomas More, and
himself were perpetually together:" a sextumvirate, to which all
the ages of the world cannot add a seventh..
It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what vast
numbers of illustrious persons were called up to gratify that
insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of antiquity
placed before me. I chiefly fed mine eyes with beholding the
destroyers of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to
oppressed and injured nations. But it is impossible to express the
satisfaction I received in my own mind, after such a manner as to
make it a suitable entertainment to the reader..
[A further account of Glubbdubdrib. Ancient and modern history
corrected.]
Having a desire to see those ancients who were most renowned
for wit and learning, I set apart one day on purpose. I proposed
that Homer and Aristotle might appear at the head of all their
commentators; but these were so numerous, that some hundreds
were forced to attend in the court, and outward rooms of the
palace. I knew, and could distinguish those two heroes, at first
sight, not only from the crowd, but from each other. Homer was
the taller and comelier person of the two, walked very erect for
one of his age, and his eyes were the most quick and piercing I
ever beheld. Aristotle stooped much, and made use of a staff. His
visage was meagre, his hair lank and thin, and his voice hollow. I
soon discovered that both of them were perfect strangers to the
rest of the company, and had never seen or heard of them before;
and I had a whisper from a ghost who shall be nameless, "that
these commentators always kept in the most distant quarters from
their principals, in the lower world, through a consciousness of
shame and guilt, because they had so horribly misrepresented the
meaning of those authors to posterity." I introduced Didymus and
Eustathius to Homer, and prevailed on him to treat them better
than perhaps they deserved, for he soon found they wanted a.
genius to enter into the spirit of a poet. But Aristotle was out of all
patience with the account I gave him of Scotus and Ramus, as I
presented them to him; and he asked them, "whether the rest of
the tribe were as great dunces as themselves?"
I then desired the governor to call up Descartes and Gassendi,
with whom I prevailed to explain their systems to Aristotle. This
great philosopher freely acknowledged his own mistakes in
natural philosophy, because he proceeded in many things upon
conjecture, as all men must do; and he found that Gassendi, who
had made the doctrine of Epicurus as palatable as he could, and
the vortices of Descartes, were equally to be exploded. He
predicted the same fate to ATTRACTION, whereof the present
learned are such zealous asserters. He said, "that new systems of
nature were but new fashions, which would vary in every age; and
even those, who pretend to demonstrate them from mathematical
principles, would flourish but a short period of time, and be out of
vogue when that was determined."
I spent five days in conversing with many others of the ancient
learned. I saw most of the first Roman emperors. I prevailed on
the governor to call up Heliogabalus's cooks to dress us a dinner,
but they could not show us much of their skill, for want of
materials. A helot of Agesilaus made us a dish of Spartan broth,
but I was not able to get down a second spoonful.
The two gentlemen, who conducted me to the island, were pressed
by their private affairs to return in three days, which I employed in
seeing some of the modern dead, who had made the greatest.
figure, for two or three hundred years past, in our own and other
countries of Europe; and having been always a great admirer of
old illustrious families, I desired the governor would call up a
dozen or two of kings, with their ancestors in order for eight or
nine generations. But my disappointment was grievous and
unexpected. For, instead of a long train with royal diadems, I saw
in one family two fiddlers, three spruce courtiers, and an Italian
prelate. In another, a barber, an abbot, and two cardinals. I have
too great a veneration for crowned heads, to dwell any longer on
so nice a subject. But as to counts, marquises, dukes, earls, and the
like, I was not so scrupulous. And I confess, it was not without
some pleasure, that I found myself able to trace the particular
features, by which certain families are distinguished, up to their
originals. I could plainly discover whence one family derives a
long chin; why a second has abounded with knaves for two
generations, and fools for two more; why a third happened to be
crack-brained, and a fourth to be sharpers; whence it came, what
Polydore Virgil says of a certain great house, NEC VIR FORTIS,
NEC FOEMINA CASTA; how cruelty, falsehood, and cowardice,
grew to be characteristics by which certain families are
distinguished as much as by their coats of arms; who first brought
the pox into a noble house, which has lineally descended
scrofulous tumours to their posterity. Neither could I wonder at all
this, when I saw such an interruption of lineages, by pages,
lackeys, valets, coachmen, gamesters, fiddlers, players, captains,
and pickpockets..
I was chiefly disgusted with modern history. For having strictly
examined all the persons of greatest name in the courts of princes,
for a 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 many innocent and
excellent persons had been condemned to death or banishment by
the practising of great ministers upon the corruption of judges,
and the malice of factions: how many villains had been exalted to
the highest places of trust, power, dignity, and profit: how great a
share in the motions and events of courts, councils, and senates
might be challenged by bawds, whores, pimps, parasites, and
buffoons. How low an opinion I had of human wisdom and
integrity, when I was truly informed of the springs and motives of
great enterprises and revolutions in the world, and of the
contemptible accidents to which they owed their success.
Here I discovered the roguery and ignorance of those who pretend
to write anecdotes, or secret history; who send so many kings to
their graves with a cup of poison; will repeat the discourse
between a prince and chief minister, where no witness was by;
unlock the thoughts and cabinets of ambassadors and secretaries
of state; and have the perpetual misfortune to be mistaken. Here I
discovered the true causes of many great events that have
surprised the world; how a whore can govern the back-stairs, the
back-stairs a council, and the council a senate. A general
confessed, in my presence, "that he got a victory purely by the
force of cowardice and ill conduct;" and an admiral, "that, for.
want of proper intelligence, he beat the enemy, to whom he
intended to betray the fleet." Three kings protested to me, "that in
their whole reigns they never did once prefer any person of merit,
unless by mistake, or treachery of some minister in whom they
confided; neither would they do it if they were to live again:" and
they showed, with great strength of reason, "that the royal throne
could not be supported without corruption, because that positive,
confident, restiff temper, which virtue infused into a man, was a
perpetual clog to public business."
I had the curiosity to inquire in a particular manner, by what
methods great numbers had procured to themselves high titles of
honour, and prodigious estates; and I confined my inquiry to a
very modern period: however, without grating upon present times,
because I would be sure to give no offence even to foreigners (for
I hope the reader need not be told, that I do not in the least intend
my own country, in what I say upon this occasion,) a great number
of persons concerned were called up; and, upon a very slight
examination, discovered such a scene of infamy, that I cannot
reflect upon it without some seriousness. Perjury, oppression,
subornation, fraud, pandarism, and the like infirmities, were
among the most excusable arts they had to mention; and for these
I gave, as it was reasonable, great allowance. But when some
confessed they owed their greatness and wealth to sodomy, or
incest; others, to the prostituting of their own wives and
daughters; others, to the betraying of their country or their prince;
some, to poisoning; more to the perverting of justice, in order to
destroy the innocent, I hope I may be pardoned, if these
discoveries inclined me a little to abate of that profound.
veneration, which I am naturally apt to pay to persons of high
rank, who ought to be treated with the utmost respect due to their
sublime dignity, by us their inferiors.
I had often read of some great services done to princes and states,
and desired to see the persons by whom those services were
performed. Upon inquiry I was told, "that their names were to be
found on no record, except a few of them, whom history has
represented as the vilest of rogues and traitors." As to the rest, I
had never once heard of them. They all appeared with dejected
looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them telling me, "they
died in poverty and disgrace, and the rest on a scaffold or a
gibbet."
Among others, there was one person, whose case appeared a little
singular. He had a youth about eighteen years old standing by his
side. He told me, "he had for many years been commander of a
ship; and in the sea fight at Actium had the good fortune to break
through the enemy's great line of battle, sink three of their capital
ships, and take a fourth, which was the sole cause of Antony's
flight, and of the victory that ensued; that the youth standing by
him, his only son, was killed in the action." He added, "that upon
the confidence of some merit, the war being at an end, he went to
Rome, and solicited at the court of Augustus to be preferred to a
greater ship, whose commander had been killed; but, without any
regard to his pretensions, it was given to a boy who had never
seen the sea, the son of Libertina, who waited on one of the
emperor's mistresses. Returning back to his own vessel, he was
charged with neglect of duty, and the ship given to a favourite.
page of Publicola, the vice-admiral; whereupon he retired to a
poor farm at a great distance from Rome, and there ended his
life." I was so curious to know the truth of this story, that I desired
Agrippa might be called, who was admiral in that fight. He
appeared, and confirmed the whole account: but with much more
advantage to the captain, whose modesty had extenuated or
concealed a great part of his merit.
I was surprised to find corruption grown so high and so quick in
that empire, by the force of luxury so lately introduced; which
made me less wonder at many parallel cases in other countries,
where vices of all kinds have reigned so much longer, and where
the whole praise, as well as pillage, has been engrossed by the
chief commander, who perhaps had the least title to either.
As every person called up made exactly the same appearance he
had done in the world, it gave me melancholy reflections to
observe how much the race of human kind was degenerated
among us within these hundred years past; how the pox, under all
its consequences and denominations had altered every lineament
of an English countenance; shortened the size of bodies, unbraced
the nerves, relaxed the sinews and muscles, introduced a sallow
complexion, and rendered the flesh loose and rancid.
I descended so low, as to desire some English yeoman of the old
stamp might be summoned to appear; once so famous for the
simplicity of their manners, diet, and dress; for justice in their
dealings; for their true spirit of liberty; for their valour, and love
of their country. Neither could I be wholly unmoved, after.
comparing the living with the dead, when I considered how all
these pure native virtues were prostituted for a piece of money by
their grand-children; who, in selling their votes and managing at
elections, have acquired every vice and corruption that can
possibly be learned in a court..
[The author returns to Maldonada. Sails to the kingdom of
Luggnagg. The author confined. He is sent for to court. The
manner of his admittance. The king's great lenity to his subjects.]
The day of our departure being come, I took leave of his highness,
the Governor of Glubbdubdrib, and returned with my two
companions to Maldonada, where, after a fortnight's waiting, a
ship was ready to sail for Luggnagg. The two gentlemen, and
some others, were so generous and kind as to furnish me with
provisions, and see me on board. I was a month in this voyage.
We had one violent storm, and were under a necessity of steering
westward to get into the trade wind, which holds for above sixty
leagues. On the 21st of April, 1708, we sailed into the river of
Clumegnig, which is a seaport town, at the south-east point of
Luggnagg. We cast anchor within a league of the town, and made
a signal for a pilot. Two of them came on board in less than half an
hour, by whom we were guided between certain shoals and rocks,
which are very dangerous in the passage, to a large basin, where a
fleet may ride in safety within a cable's length of the town-wall.
Some of our sailors, whether out of treachery or inadvertence, had
informed the pilots "that I was a stranger, and great traveller;"
whereof these gave notice to a custom-house officer, by whom I.
was examined very strictly upon my landing. This officer spoke to
me in the language of Balnibarbi, which, by the force of much
commerce, is generally understood in that town, especially by
seamen and those employed in the customs. I gave him a short
account of some particulars, and made my story as plausible and
consistent as I could; but I thought it necessary to disguise my
country, and call myself a Hollander; because my intentions were
for Japan, and I knew the Dutch were the only Europeans
permitted to enter into that kingdom. I therefore told the officer,
"that having been shipwrecked on the coast of Balnibarbi, and
cast on a rock, I was received up into Laputa, or the flying island
(of which he had often heard), and was now endeavouring to get
to Japan, whence I might find a convenience of returning to my
own country." The officer said, "I must be confined till he could
receive orders from court, for which he would write immediately,
and hoped to receive an answer in a fortnight." I was carried to a
convenient lodging with a sentry placed at the door; however, I
had the liberty of a large garden, and was treated with humanity
enough, being maintained all the time at the king's charge. I was
invited by several persons, chiefly out of curiosity, because it was
reported that I came from countries very remote, of which they
had never heard.
I hired a young man, who came in the same ship, to be an
interpreter; he was a native of Luggnagg, but had lived some years
at Maldonada, and was a perfect master of both languages. By his
assistance, I was able to hold a conversation with those who came
to visit me; but this consisted only of their questions, and my
answers..
The despatch came from court about the time we expected. It
contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to
TRALDRAGDUBH, or TRILDROGDRIB (for it is pronounced
both ways as near as I can remember), by a party of ten horse. All
my retinue was that poor lad for an interpreter, whom I persuaded
into my service, and, at my humble request, we had each of us a
mule to ride on. A messenger was despatched half a day's journey
before us, to give the king notice of my approach, and to desire,
"that his majesty would please to appoint a day and hour, when it
would by his gracious pleasure that I might have the honour to
lick the dust before his footstool." This is the court style, and I
found it to be more than matter of form: for, upon my admittance
two days after my arrival, I was commanded to crawl upon my
belly, and lick the floor as I advanced; but, on account of my
being a stranger, care was taken to have it made so clean, that the
dust was not offensive. However, this was a peculiar grace, not
allowed to any but persons of the highest rank, when they desire
an admittance. Nay, sometimes the floor is strewed with dust on
purpose, when the person to be admitted happens to have
powerful enemies at court; and I have seen a great lord with his
mouth so crammed, that when he had crept to the proper distance
from the throne; he was not able to speak a word. Neither is there
any remedy; because it is capital for those, who receive an
audience to spit or wipe their mouths in his majesty's presence.
There is indeed another custom, which I cannot altogether
approve of: when the king has a mind to put any of his nobles to
death in a gentle indulgent manner, he commands the floor to be
strewed with a certain brown powder of a deadly composition,.
which being licked up, infallibly kills him in twenty-four hours.
But in justice to this prince's great clemency, and the care he has
of his subjects' lives (wherein it were much to be wished that the
Monarchs of Europe would imitate him), it must be mentioned for
his honour, that strict orders are given to have the infected parts of
the floor well washed after every such execution, which, if his
domestics neglect, they are in danger of incurring his royal
displeasure. I myself heard him give directions, that one of his
pages should be whipped, whose turn it was to give notice about
washing the floor after an execution, but maliciously had omitted
it; by which neglect a young lord of great hopes, coming to an
audience, was unfortunately poisoned, although the king at that
time had no design against his life. But this good prince was so
gracious as to forgive the poor page his whipping, upon promise
that he would do so no more, without special orders.
To return from this digression. When I had crept within four yards
of the throne, I raised myself gently upon my knees, and then
striking my forehead seven times against the ground, I
pronounced the following words, as they had been taught me the
night before, INCKPLING GLOFFTHROBB SQUUT
SERUMMBLHIOP MLASHNALT ZWIN TNODBALKUFFH
SLHIOPHAD GURDLUBH ASHT. This is the compliment,
established by the laws of the land, for all persons admitted to the
king's presence. It may be rendered into English thus: "May your
celestial majesty outlive the sun, eleven moons and a half!" To
this the king returned some answer, which, although I could not
understand, yet I replied as I had been directed: FLUFT DRIN
YALERICK DWULDOM PRASTRAD MIRPUSH, which.
properly signifies, "My tongue is in the mouth of my friend;" and
by this expression was meant, that I desired leave to bring my
interpreter; whereupon the young man already mentioned was
accordingly introduced, by whose intervention I answered as
many questions as his majesty could put in above an hour. I spoke
in the Balnibarbian tongue, and my interpreter delivered my
meaning in that of Luggnagg.
The king was much delighted with my company, and ordered his
BLIFFMARKLUB, or high-chamberlain, to appoint a lodging in
the court for me and my interpreter; with a daily allowance for my
table, and a large purse of gold for my common expenses.
I staid three months in this country, out of perfect obedience to his
majesty; who was pleased highly to favour me, and made me very
honourable offers. But I thought it more consistent with prudence
and justice to pass the remainder of my days with my wife and
family..
[The Luggnaggians commended. A particular description of the
Struldbrugs, with many conversations between the author and
some eminent persons upon that subject.]
The Luggnaggians are a polite and generous people; and although
they are not without some share of that pride which is peculiar to
all Eastern countries, yet they show themselves courteous to
strangers, especially such who are countenanced by the court. I
had many acquaintance, and among persons of the best fashion;
and being always attended by my interpreter, the conversation we
had was not disagreeable.
One day, in much good company, I was asked by a person of
quality, "whether I had seen any of their STRULDBRUGS, or
immortals?" I said, "I had not;" and desired he would explain to
me "what he meant by such an appellation, applied to a mortal
creature." He told me "that 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." The spot, as he described it, "was
about the compass of a silver threepence, but in the course of time
grew larger, and changed its colour; for at twelve years old it
became green, so continued till five and twenty, then turned to a.
deep blue: at five and forty it grew coal black, and as large as an
English shilling; but never admitted any further alteration." He
said, "these births were so rare, that he did not believe there could
be above eleven hundred struldbrugs, of both sexes, in the whole
kingdom; of which he computed about fifty in the metropolis,
and, among the rest, a young girl born; about three years ago: that
these productions were not peculiar to any family, but a mere
effect of chance; and the children of the STRULDBRUGS
themselves were equally mortal with the rest of the people."
I freely own myself to have been struck with inexpressible
delight, upon hearing this account: and the person who gave it me
happening to understand the Balnibarbian language, which I
spoke very well, I could not forbear breaking out into expressions,
perhaps a little too extravagant. I cried out, as in a rapture, "Happy
nation, where every child hath at least a chance for being
immortal! Happy people, who enjoy so many living examples of
ancient virtue, and have masters ready to instruct them in the
wisdom of all former ages! but happiest, beyond all comparison,
are those excellent STRULDBRUGS, who, being born exempt
from that universal calamity of human nature, have their minds
free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits
caused by the continual apprehensions of death!" I discovered my
admiration that I had not observed any of these illustrious persons
at court; the black spot on the forehead being so remarkable a
distinction, that I could not have easily overlooked it: and it was
impossible that his majesty, a most judicious prince, should not
provide himself with a good number of such wise and able
counsellors. Yet perhaps the virtue of those reverend sages was.
too strict for the corrupt and libertine manners of a court: and we
often find by experience, that young men are too opinionated and
volatile to be guided by the sober dictates of their seniors.
However, since the king was pleased to allow me access to his
royal person, I was resolved, upon the very first occasion, to
deliver my opinion to him on this matter freely and at large, by the
help of my interpreter; and whether he would please to take my
advice or not, yet in one thing I was determined, that his majesty
having frequently offered me an establishment in this country, I
would, with great thankfulness, accept the favour, and pass my
life here in the conversation of those superior beings the
STRULDBRUGS, if they would please to admit me."
The gentleman to whom I addressed my discourse, because (as I
have already observed) he spoke the language of Balnibarbi, said
to me, with a sort of a smile which usually arises from pity to the
ignorant, "that he was glad of any occasion to keep me among
them, and desired my permission to explain to the company what I
had spoke." He did so, and they talked together for some time in
their own language, whereof I understood not a syllable, neither
could I observe by their countenances, what impression my
discourse had made on them. After a short silence, the same
person told me, "that his friends and mine (so he thought fit to
express himself) were very much pleased with the judicious
remarks I had made on the great happiness and advantages of
immortal life, and they were desirous to know, in a particular
manner, what scheme of living I should have formed to myself, if
it had fallen to my lot to have been born a STRULDBRUG.".
I answered, "it was easy to be eloquent on so copious and
delightful a subject, especially to me, who had been often apt to
amuse myself with visions of what I should do, if I were a king, a
general, or a great lord: and upon this very case, I had frequently
run over the whole system how I should employ myself, and pass
the time, if I were sure to live for ever.
"That, if it had been my good fortune to come into the world a
STRULDBRUG, as soon as I could discover my own happiness,
by understanding the difference between life and death, I would
first resolve, by all arts and methods, whatsoever, to procure
myself riches. In the pursuit of which, by thrift and management, I
might reasonably expect, in about two hundred years, to be the
wealthiest man in the kingdom. In the second place, I would, from
my earliest youth, apply myself to the study of arts and sciences,
by which I should arrive in time to excel all others in learning.
Lastly, I would carefully record every action and event of
consequence, that happened in the public, impartially draw the
characters of the several successions of princes and great
ministers of state, with my own observations on every point. I
would exactly set down the several changes in customs, language,
fashions of dress, diet, and diversions. By all which acquirements,
I should be a living treasure of knowledge and wisdom, and
certainly become the oracle of the nation.
"I would never marry after threescore, but live in a hospitable
manner, yet still on the saving side. I would entertain myself in
forming and directing the minds of hopeful young men, by
convincing them, from my own remembrance, experience, and.
observation, fortified by numerous examples, of the usefulness of
virtue in public and private life. But my choice and constant
companions should be a set of my own immortal brotherhood;
among whom, I would elect a dozen from the most ancient, down
to my own contemporaries. Where any of these wanted fortunes, I
would provide them with convenient lodges round my own estate,
and have some of them always at my table; only mingling a few of
the most valuable among you mortals, whom length of time would
harden me to lose with little or no reluctance, and treat your
posterity after the same manner; just as a man diverts himself with
the annual succession of pinks and tulips in his garden, without
regretting the loss of those which withered the preceding year.
"These STRULDBRUGS and I would mutually communicate our
observations and memorials, through the course of time; remark
the several gradations by which corruption steals into the world,
and oppose it in every step, by giving perpetual warning and
instruction to mankind; which, added to the strong influence of
our own example, would probably prevent that continual
degeneracy of human nature so justly complained of in all ages.
"Add to this, the pleasure of seeing the various revolutions of
states and empires; the changes in the lower and upper world;
ancient cities in ruins, and obscure villages become the seats of
kings; famous rivers lessening into shallow brooks; the ocean
leaving one coast dry, and overwhelming another; the discovery
of many countries yet unknown; barbarity overrunning the
politest nations, and the most barbarous become civilized. I.
should then see the discovery of the longitude, the perpetual
motion, the universal medicine, and many other great inventions,
brought to the utmost perfection.
"What wonderful discoveries should we make in astronomy, by
outliving and confirming our own predictions; by observing the
progress and return of comets, with the changes of motion in the
sun, moon, and stars!"
I enlarged upon many other topics, which the natural desire of
endless life, and sublunary happiness, could easily furnish me
with. When I had ended, and the sum of my discourse had been
interpreted, as before, to the rest of the company, there was a good
deal of talk among them in the language of the country, not
without some laughter at my expense. At last, the same gentleman
who had been my interpreter, said, "he was desired by the rest to
set me right in a few mistakes, which I had fallen into through the
common imbecility of human nature, and upon that allowance
was less answerable for them. That this breed of
STRULDBRUGS was peculiar to their country, for there were no
such people either in Balnibarbi or Japan, where he had the
honour to be ambassador from his majesty, and found the natives
in both those kingdoms very hard to believe that the fact was
possible: and it appeared from my astonishment when he first
mentioned the matter to me, that I received it as a thing wholly
new, and scarcely to be credited. That in the two kingdoms above
mentioned, where, during his residence, he had conversed very
much, he observed long life to be the universal desire and wish of
mankind. That whoever had one foot in the grave was sure to hold.
back the other as strongly as he could. That the oldest had still
hopes of living one day longer, and looked on death as the greatest
evil, from which nature always prompted him to retreat. Only in
this island of Luggnagg the appetite for living was not so eager,
from the continual example of the STRULDBRUGS before their
eyes.
"That 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, however
extravagant he may be in his wishes. That the question therefore
was not, whether a man would choose to be always in the prime of
youth, attended with prosperity and health; but how he would pass
a perpetual life under all the usual disadvantages which old age
brings along with it. For although few men will avow their desires
of being immortal, upon such hard conditions, yet in the two
kingdoms before mentioned, of Balnibarbi and Japan, he observed
that every man desired to put off death some time longer, let it
approach ever so late: and he rarely heard of any man who died
willingly, except he were incited by the extremity of grief or
torture. And he appealed to me, whether in those countries I had
travelled, as well as my own, I had not observed the same general
disposition."
After this preface, he gave me a particular account of the
STRULDBRUGS among them. He said, "they commonly acted
like mortals till about thirty years old; after which, by degrees,
they grew melancholy and dejected, increasing in both till they
came to fourscore. This he learned from their own confession: for.
otherwise, there not being above two or three of that species born
in an age, they were too few to form a general observation by.
When they came to fourscore 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
opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative, but
incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which
never descended below their grandchildren. Envy and impotent
desires are their prevailing passions. But those objects against
which their envy seems principally directed, are the vices of the
younger sort and the deaths of the old. By reflecting on the
former, they find themselves cut off from all possibility of
pleasure; and whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repine
that others have gone to a 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, and even that is very imperfect; and for the truth or
particulars of any fact, it is safer to depend on common tradition,
than upon their best recollections. The least miserable among
them appear to be those who turn to dotage, and entirely lose their
memories; these meet with more pity and assistance, because they
want many bad qualities which abound in others.
"If a STRULDBRUG happen to marry one of his own kind, the
marriage is dissolved of course, by the courtesy of the kingdom,
as soon as the younger of the two comes to be fourscore; for the
law thinks it a reasonable indulgence, that those who are.
condemned, without any fault of their own, to a perpetual
continuance in the world, should not have their misery doubled by
the load of a wife.
"As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they
are looked on as dead in law; their heirs immediately succeed to
their estates; only a small pittance is reserved for their support;
and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. After that
period, they are held incapable of any employment of trust or
profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leases; neither are they
allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either civil or criminal, not
even for the decision of meers and bounds.
"At ninety, they lose their teeth and hair; they have at that age no
distinction of taste, but eat and drink whatever they can get,
without relish or appetite. The diseases they were subject to still
continue, without increasing or diminishing. In talking, they
forget the common appellation of things, and the names of
persons, even of those who are their nearest friends and relations.
For the same reason, they never can amuse themselves with
reading, 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.
The language of this country being always upon the flux, the
STRULDBRUGS of one age do not understand those of another;
neither are they able, after two hundred years, to hold any.
conversation (farther than by a few general words) with their
neighbours the mortals; and thus they lie under the disadvantage
of living like foreigners in their own country."
This was the account given me of the STRULDBRUGS, as near
as I can remember. I afterwards saw five or six of different ages,
the youngest not above two hundred years old, who were brought
to me at several times by some of my friends; but although they
were told, "that I was a great traveller, and had seen all the world,"
they had not the least curiosity to ask me a question; only desired
"I would give them SLUMSKUDASK," or a token of
remembrance; which is a modest way of begging, to avoid the
law, that strictly forbids it, because they are provided for by the
public, although indeed with a very scanty allowance.
They are despised and hated by all sorts of people. When one of
them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded
very particularly so that you may know their age by consulting the
register, which, however, has not been kept above a thousand
years past, or at least has been destroyed by time or public
disturbances. But 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.
They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld; and the
women more horrible than the men. Besides the usual deformities
in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness, in
proportion to their number of years, which is not to be described;.
and among half a dozen, I soon distinguished which was the
eldest, although there was not above a century or two between
them.
The reader will easily believe, that from what I had hear and seen,
my keen appetite for perpetuity of life was much abated. I grew
heartily ashamed of the pleasing visions I had formed; and
thought no tyrant could invent a death into which I would not run
with pleasure, from such a life. The king heard of all that had
passed between me and my friends upon this occasion, and rallied
me very pleasantly; wishing I could send a couple of
STRULDBRUGS to my own country, to arm our people against
the fear of death; but this, it seems, is forbidden by the
fundamental laws of the kingdom, or else I should have been well
content with the trouble and expense of transporting them.
I could not but agree, that the laws of this kingdom relative to the
STRULDBRUGS were founded upon the strongest reasons, and
such as any other country would be under the necessity of
enacting, in the like circumstances. Otherwise, as avarice is the
necessary consequence of old age, those immortals would in time
become proprietors of the whole nation, and engross the civil
power, which, for want of abilities to manage, must end in the ruin
of the public..
[The author leaves Luggnagg, and sails to Japan. From thence he
returns in a Dutch ship to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to
England.]
I thought this account of the STRULDBRUGS might be some
entertainment to the reader, because it seems to be a little out of
the common way; at least I do not remember to have met the like
in any book of travels that has come to my hands: and if I am
deceived, my excuse must be, that it is necessary for travellers
who describe the same country, very often to agree in dwelling on
the same particulars, without deserving the censure of having
borrowed or transcribed from those who wrote before them.
There is indeed a perpetual commerce between this kingdom and
the great empire of Japan; and it is very probable, that the
Japanese authors may have given some account of the
STRULDBRUGS; but my stay in Japan was so short, and I was so
entirely a stranger to the language, that I was not qualified to
make any inquiries. But I hope the Dutch, upon this notice, will
be curious and able enough to supply my defects..
His majesty having often pressed me to accept some employment
in his court, and finding me absolutely determined to return to my
native country, was pleased to give me his license to depart; and
honoured me with a letter of recommendation, under his own
hand, to the Emperor of Japan. He likewise presented me with
four hundred and forty-four large pieces of gold (this nation
delighting in even numbers), and a red diamond, which I sold in
England for eleven hundred pounds.
On the 6th of May, 1709, I took a solemn leave of his majesty, and
all my friends. This prince was so gracious as to order a guard to
conduct me to Glanguenstald, which is a royal port to the south-west
part of the island. In six days I found a vessel ready to carry
me to Japan, and spent fifteen days in the voyage.
We landed at a small port-town called Xamoschi, situated on the
south-east part of Japan; the town lies on the western point, where
there is a narrow strait leading northward into along arm of the
sea, upon the north-west part of which, Yedo, the metropolis,
stands. At landing, I showed the custom-house officers my letter
from the king of Luggnagg to his imperial majesty. They knew the
seal perfectly well; it was as broad as the palm of my hand. The
impression was, A KING LIFTING UP A LAME BEGGAR
FROM THE EARTH. The magistrates of the town, hearing of my
letter, received me as a public minister. They provided me with
carriages and servants, and bore my charges to Yedo; where I was
admitted to an audience, and delivered my letter, which was
opened with great ceremony, and explained to the Emperor by an
interpreter, who then gave me notice, by his majesty's order, "that.
I should signify my request, and, whatever it were, it should be
granted, for the sake of his royal brother of Luggnagg." This
interpreter was a person employed to transact affairs with the
Hollanders. He soon conjectured, by my countenance, that I was a
European, and therefore repeated his majesty's commands in Low
Dutch, which he spoke perfectly well. I answered, as I had before
determined, "that I was a Dutch merchant, shipwrecked in a very
remote country, whence I had travelled by sea and land to
Luggnagg, and then took shipping for Japan; where I knew my
countrymen often traded, and with some of these I hoped to get an
opportunity of returning into Europe: I therefore most humbly
entreated his royal favour, to give order that I should be conducted
in safety to Nangasac." To this I added another petition, "that for