CHAPTER IV.

MILENDO, THE METROPOLIS OF LILLIPUT, DESCRIBED TOGETHER WITH THE

EMPEROR'S PALACE. A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND A PRINCIPAL

SECRETARY, CONCERNING THE AFFAIRS OF THAT EMPIRE. THE AUTHOR OFFERS

TO SERVE THE EMPEROR IN HIS WARS.

The first request I made, after I had obtained my liberty, was, that I

might have license to see Milendo, the metropolis; which the emperor

easily granted me, but with a special charge to do no hurt, either to

the inhabitants or their houses. The people had notice, by proclamation,

of my design to visit the town.

The wall, which encompassed it, is two feet and a half high, and at

least eleven inches broad, so that a coach and horses may be driven very

safely round it; and it is flanked with strong towers at ten feet

distance. I stept over the great western gate, and passed very gently,

and sideling, through the two principal streets, only in my short

waistcoat, for fear of damaging the roofs and eaves of the houses with

the skirts[23] of my coat. I walked with the utmost circumspection, to

avoid treading on any stragglers who might remain in the streets;

although the orders were very strict, that all people should keep in

their houses at their own peril. The garret-windows and tops of houses

were so crowded with spectators, that I thought in all my travels I had

not seen a more populous place.

The city is an exact square, each side of the wall being five hundred

feet long. The two great streets, which run across and divide it into

four quarters, are five feet wide. The lanes and alleys, which I could

not enter, but only viewed them as I passed, are from twelve to eighteen

inches. The town is capable of holding five hundred thousand souls; the

houses are from three to five stories; the shops and markets well

provided.

The emperor's palace is in the centre of the city, where the two great

streets meet. It is enclosed by a wall of two foot high, and twenty foot

distant from the buildings. I had his majesty's permission to step over

this wall; and the space being so wide between that and the palace, I

could easily view it on every side.

The outward court is a square of forty feet, and includes two other

courts; in the inmost are the royal apartments, which I was very

desirous to see, but found it extremely difficult; for the great gates

from one square into another were but eighteen inches high, and seven

inches wide. Now the buildings of the outer court were at least five

feet high, and it was impossible for me to stride over them without

infinite damage to the pile, though the walls were strongly built of

hewn stone, and four inches thick.

At the same time, the emperor had a great desire that I should see the

magnificence of his palace; but this I was not able to do till three

days after, which I spent in cutting down, with my knife, some of the

largest trees in the royal park, about an hundred yards distance from

the city. Of these trees I made two stools, each about three feet high,

and strong enough to bear my weight.

[Illustration: "HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY WAS PLEASED TO SMILE VERY GRACIOUSLY

UPON ME" P. 50.]

The people having received notice a second time, I went again through

the city to the palace, with my two stools in my hands. When I came to

the side of the outer court, I stood upon one stool, and took the other

in my hand; this I lifted over the roof, and gently set it down on the

space between the first and second court, which was eight feet wide. I

then stept over the building very conveniently, from one stool to the

other, and drew up the first after me with a hooked stick. By this

contrivance I got into the inmost court; and, lying down upon my side, I

applied my face to the windows of the middle stories, which were left

open on purpose, and discovered the most splendid apartments that can be

imagined. There I saw the empress and the young princes in their several

lodgings, with their chief attendants about them. Her imperial majesty

was pleased to smile very graciously upon me, and gave me out of the

window her hand to kiss.

But I shall not anticipate the reader with farther descriptions of this

kind, because I reserve them for a greater work, which is now almost

ready for the press, containing a general description of this empire,

from its first erection, through a long series of princes, with a

particular account of their wars and politics, laws, learning, and

religion, their plants and animals, their peculiar manners and customs,

with other matters very curious and useful; my chief design, at present,

being only to relate such events and transactions as happened to the

public, or to myself, during a residence of about nine months in that

empire.

One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my liberty,

Reldresal, principal secretary (as they style him) for private affairs,

came to my house, attended only by one servant. He ordered his coach to

wait at a distance, and desired I would give him an hour's audience;

which I readily consented to, on account of his quality and personal

merits, as well as of the many good offices he had done me during my

solicitations at court. I offered to lie down, that he might the more

conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my

hand during our conversation.

He began with compliments on my liberty; said he might pretend to some

merit in it. But however, added, that if it had not been for the present

situation of things at court, perhaps I might not have obtained it so

soon. For, said he, as flourishing a condition as we may appear to be in

to foreigners, we labor under two mighty evils: a violent faction at

home, and the danger of an invasion, by a most potent enemy, from

abroad. As to the first, you are to understand, that, for above seventy

moons past, there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under

the names of _Tramecksan_ and _Slamecksan_, from the high and low heels

of their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves. It is alleged,

indeed, that the high heels are most agreeable to our ancient

constitution; but, however this may be, his majesty hath determined to

make use only of low heels in the administration of the government, and

all offices in the gift of the crown, as you cannot but observe: and

particularly, that his majesty's imperial heels are lower, at least by a

_drurr_, than any of his court (_drurr_ is a measure about the

fourteenth part of an inch). The animosities between these two parties

run so high, that they will neither eat nor drink nor talk with each

other. We compute the _Tramecksan_, or high heels, to exceed us in

number; but the power is wholly on our side. We apprehend his imperial

highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency towards the high

heels; at least, we can plainly discover that one of his heels is higher

than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait. Now, in the midst

of these intestine disquiets, we are threatened with an invasion from

the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe,

almost as large and powerful as this of his majesty. For, as to what we

have heard you affirm, that there are other kingdoms and states in the

world, inhabited by human creatures as large as yourself, our

philosophers are in much doubt, and would rather conjecture that you

dropped from the moon or one of the stars, because it is certain, that

an hundred mortals of your bulk would, in a short time, destroy all the

fruits and cattle of his majesty's dominions. Besides, our histories of

six thousand moons make no mention of any other regions than the two

great empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty powers have, as

I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate war for

six-and-thirty moons past. It began upon the following occasion: It is

allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking eggs, before we

eat them, was upon the larger end; but his present majesty's

grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it

according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers.

Whereupon the emperor, his father, published an edict, commanding all

his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their

eggs. The people so highly resented this law, that our histories tell

us, there have been six rebellions raised on that account, wherein one

emperor lost his life, and another his crown. These civil commotions

were constantly fomented by the monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they

were quelled, the exiles always fled for refuge to that empire. It is

computed, that eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered

death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many

hundred large volumes have been published upon this controversy, but the

books of the Big-endians have been long forbidden, and the whole party

rendered incapable, by law, of holding employments. During the course of

these troubles, the Emperors of Blefuscu did frequently expostulate, by

their ambassadors, accusing us of making a schism in religion, by

offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog,

in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blundecral (which is their

Alcoran)[24] This, however, is thought to be a mere strain upon the

text; for the words are these: That all true believers break their eggs

at the convenient end. And which is the convenient end, seems, in my

humble opinion, to be left to every man's conscience, or, at least, in

the power of the chief magistrate to determine. Now, the Big-endian

exiles have found so much credit in the emperor of Blefuscu's court, and

so much private assistance and encouragement from their party here at

home, that a bloody war hath been carried on between the two empires for

six-and-thirty moons, with various success; during which time we have

lost forty capital ships, and a much greater number of smaller vessels,

together with thirty thousand of our best seamen and soldiers; and the

damage received by the enemy is reckoned to be somewhat greater than

ours. However, they have now equipped a numerous fleet, and are just

preparing to make a descent upon us; and his imperial majesty, placing

great confidence in your valor and strength, hath commanded me to lay

this account of his affairs before you.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the emperor, and to

let him know that I thought it would not become me, who was a foreigner,

to interfere with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard of my life,

to defend his person and state against all invaders.