CHAPTER VIII - Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World

THE KING AND QUEEN MAKE A PROGRESS[83] TO THE FRONTIERS. THE AUTHOR

ATTENDS THEM. THE MANNER IN WHICH HE LEAVES THE COUNTRY VERY

PARTICULARLY RELATED. HE RETURNS TO ENGLAND.

I had always a strong impulse that I should sometime recover my liberty,

though it was impossible to conjecture by what means, or to form any

project with the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I sailed

was the first ever known to be driven within sight of the coast; and the

king had given strict orders, that if at any time another appeared, it

should be taken ashore, and with all its crew and passengers brought in

a tumbrel[84] to Lorbrulgrud. I was treated with much kindness: I was

the favorite of a great king and queen, and the delight of the whole

court; but it was upon such a footing as ill became the dignity of human

kind. I could never forget those domestic pledges I had left behind me.

I wanted to be among people with whom I could converse upon even terms,

and walk about the streets and fields, without being afraid of being

trod to death like a frog or a young puppy. But my deliverance came

sooner than I expected, and in a manner not very common: the whole story

and circumstances of which I shall faithfully relate.

[Illustration: "SHE HAD SOME FOREBODING." P. 94.]

I had now been two years in this country; and about the beginning of

the third, Glumdalclitch and I attended the king and queen in a progress

to the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried, as usual, in my

travelling-box, which, as I have already described, was a very

convenient closet of twelve feet wide. And I had ordered a hammock to be

fixed by silken ropes from the four corners at the top, to break the

jolts, when a servant carried me before him on horseback, as I sometimes

desired, and would often sleep in my hammock while we were upon the

road. On the roof of my closet, not directly over the middle of the

hammock, I ordered the joiner to cut out a hole of a foot square, to

give me air in hot weather as I slept, which hole I shut at pleasure

with a board that drew backwards and forwards through a groove.

When we came to our journey's end, the king thought proper to pass a few

days at a palace he hath near Flanflasnic, a city within eighteen

English of the sea-side Glumdalclitch and I were much fatigued, I had

gotten a small cold, but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined to

her chamber. I longed to see the ocean, which must be the only scene of

my escape, if ever it should happen I pretended to be worse than I

really was, and desired leave to take the fresh air of the sea with a

page, whom I was very fond of, and who had sometimes been trusted with

me. I shall never forget with what unwillingness Glumdalclitch

consented, nor the strict charge she gave the page[85] to be careful of

me, bursting at the same time into a flood of tears, as if she had some

foreboding of what was to happen.

The boy took me out in my box about half-an-hour's walk from the palace

towards the rocks on the sea-shore. I ordered him to set me down, and

lifting up one of my sashes, cast many a wistful melancholy look towards

the sea. I found myself not very well, and told the page that I had a

mind to take a nap in my hammock, which I hoped would do me good. I got

in, and the boy shut the window close down to keep out the cold. I soon

fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, that while I slept, the page,

thinking no danger could happen, went among the rocks to look for birds'

eggs, having before observed him from my windows searching about, and

picking up one or two in the clefts. Be that as it will, I found myself

suddenly awaked with a violent pull upon the ring, which was fastened at

the top of my box for the conveniency of carriage. I felt my box raised

very high in the air, and then borne forward with prodigious speed. The

first jolt had like to have shaken me out of my hammock, but afterwards

the motion was easy enough. I called out several times, as loud as I

could raise my voice, but all to no purpose. I looked towards my

windows, and could see nothing but the clouds and sky. I heard a noise

just over my head like the clapping of wings, and then began to perceive

the woful condition I was in, that some eagle had got the ring of my box

in his beak, with an intent to let it fall on a rock like a tortoise in

a shell, and then pick out my body and devour it; for the sagacity and

smell of this bird enabled him to discover his quarry[86] at a great

distance, though better concealed than I could be within a two-inch

board.

[Illustration]

In a little time I observed the noise and flutter of wings to increase

very fast, and my box was tossed up and down like a sign in a windy day.

I heard several bangs or buffets, as I thought, given to the eagle (for

such I am certain it must have been, that held the ring of my box in his

beak), and then all on a sudden felt myself falling perpendicularly down

for above a minute, but with such incredible swiftness, that I almost

lost my breath. My fall was stopped by a terrible squash,[87] that

sounded louder to my ears than the cataract of Niagara; after which I

was quite in the dark for another minute, and then my box began to rise

so high that I could see light from the tops of the windows. I now

perceived I was fallen into the sea. My box, by the weight of my body,

the goods that were in, and the broad plates of iron fixed for strength

at the four corners of the top and bottom, floated about five feet deep

in the water. I did then, and do now suppose, that the eagle which flew

away with my box was pursued by two or three others, and forced to let

me drop while he defended himself against the rest, who hoped to share

in the prey. The plates of iron fastened at the bottom of the box (for

those were the strongest) preserved the balance while it fell, and

hindered it from being broken on the surface of the water. Every joint

of it was well grooved, and the door did not move on hinges, but up and

down like a sash, which kept my closet so tight that very little water

came in. I got with much difficulty out of my hammock, having first

ventured to draw back my slip-board on the roof already mentioned,

contrived on purpose to let in air, for want of which I found myself

almost stifled.

How often did I then wish myself with my dear Glumdalclitch, from whom

one single hour had so far divided me. And I may say with truth that in

the midst of my own misfortunes I could not forbear lamenting my poor

nurse, the grief she would suffer for my loss, the displeasure of the

queen, and the ruin of her fortune. Perhaps many travellers have not

been under greater difficulties and distress than I was at juncture,

expecting every moment to see my box dashed to pieces, or at least

overset by the first violent blast or rising wave. A breach in one

single pane of glass would have been immediate death; nor could anything

have preserved the windows but the strong lattice-wires placed on the

outside against accidents in travelling. I saw the water ooze in at

several crannies, although the leaks were not considerable, and I

endeavored to stop them as well as I could, I was not able to lift up

the roof of my closet, which otherwise I certainly should have done, and

sat on the top of it, where I might at least preserve myself some hours

longer, than by being shut up (as I may call it) in the hold. Or, if I

escaped these dangers for a day or two, what could I expect but a

miserable death of cold and hunger? I was four hours under these

circumstances, expecting, and indeed wishing, every moment to be my

last.

I have already told the reader that there were two strong staples fixed

upon that side of my box which had no window, and into which the servant

who used to carry me on horseback would put a leathern belt, and buckle

it about his waist. Being in this disconsolate state, I heard, or at

least thought I heard, some kind of grating noise on that side of my box

where the staples were fixed, and soon after I began to fancy that the

box was pulled or towed along in the sea, for I now and then felt a sort

of tugging which made the waves rise near the tops of my windows,

leaving me almost in the dark. This gave me some faint hopes of relief,

although I was not able to imagine how it could be brought about. I

ventured to unscrew one of my chairs, which were always fastened to the

floor, and having made a hard shift to screw it down again directly

under the slipping board that I had lately opened, I mounted on the

chair, and putting my mouth as near as I could to the hole, I called for

help in a loud voice and in all the languages I understood. I then

fastened my handkerchief to a stick I usually carried, and thrusting it

up the hole, waved it several times in the air, that if any boat or ship

were near, the seamen might conjecture some unhappy mortal to be shut up

in the box.

I found no effect from all I could do, but plainly perceived my closet

to be moved along; and in the space of an hour or better, that side of

the box where the staples were and had no window struck against

something that was hard. I apprehended it to be a rock, and found myself

tossed more than ever. I plainly heard a noise upon the cover of my

closet like that of a cable, and the grating of it as it passed through

the ring. I then found myself hoisted up by degrees, at least three feet

higher than I was before. Whereupon I again thrust up my stick and

handkerchief, calling for help till I was almost hoarse. In return to

which I heard a great shout repeated three times, giving me such

transports of joy as are not to be conceived but by those who feel them.

I now heard a trampling over my head, and somebody calling through the

hole with a loud voice in the English tongue. "If there be anybody

below, let them speak." I answered I was an Englishman, drawn by ill

fortune into the greatest calamity that ever any creature underwent, and

begged by all that was moving to be delivered out of the dungeon I was

in. The voice replied I was safe, for my box was fastened to their ship;

and the carpenter should immediately come and saw a hole in the cover,

large enough to pull me out. I answered that was needless, and would

take up too much time, for there was no more to be done, but let one of

the crew put his finger into the ring, and take the box out of the sea

into the ship, and so into the captain's cabin. Some of them upon

hearing me talk so wildly thought I was mad; others laughed; for indeed

it never came into my head that I was now got among people of my own

stature and strength. The carpenter came, and in a few minutes sawed a

passage about four feet square, then let down a small ladder upon which

I mounted, and from thence was taken into the ship in a very weak

condition.

[Illustration: "SOMEBODY CALLING ... IN THE ENGLISH TONGUE." P. 99.]

The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions,

which I had no inclination to answer. I was equally confounded at the

sight of so many pygmies, for such I took them to be, after having so

long accustomed mine eyes to the monstrous objects I had left. But the

captain, Mr. Thomas Wilcocks, an honest, worthy Shropshire man,

observing I was ready to faint, took me into his cabin, gave me a

cordial to comfort me, and made me turn in upon his own bed, advising me

to take a little rest, of which I had great need. Before I went to

sleep, I gave him to understand that I had some valuable furniture in my

box, too good to be lost; a fine hammock, a handsome two chairs, a

table, and a cabinet. That my closet was hung on all sides, or rather

quilted, with silk and cotton: that if he would let one of the crew

bring my closet into his cabin, I would open it there before him, and

show him my goods. The captain, hearing me utter these absurdities,

concluded I was raving: however (I suppose to pacify me), he promised

to give orders as I desired, and going upon deck, sent some of his men

down into my closet, from whence (as I afterwards found) they drew up

all my goods, and stripped off the quilting; but the chairs, cabinet,

and bedstead, being screwed to the floor, were much damaged by the

ignorance of the seamen, who tore them up by force. Then they knocked

off some of the boards for the use of the ship, and when they had got

all they had a mind for, let the hull drop into the sea, which, by

reason of so many breaches made in the bottom and sides, sunk to

rights.[88] And indeed I was glad not to have been a spectator of the

havoc they made; because I am confident it would have sensibly

touched me, by bringing former passages into my mind, which I had rather

forgotten.

I slept some hours, but was perpetually disturbed with dreams of the

place I had left, and the dangers I had escaped. However, upon waking, I

found myself much recovered. It was now about eight o'clock at night,

and the captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already

fasted too long. He entertained me with great kindness, observing me not

to look wildly, or talk inconsistently; and when we were left alone,

desired I would give him a relation of my travels, and by what accident

I came to be set adrift in that monstrous wooden chest.

He said that about twelve o'clock at noon, as he was looking through his

glass, he spied it at a distance, and thought it was a sail, which he

had a mind to make[89], being not much out of his course, in hopes of

buying some biscuit, his own beginning to fall short. That upon coming

nearer and finding his error, he sent out his long-boat to discover what

it was; that his men came back in a fright, swearing they had seen a

swimming-house. That he laughed at their folly, and went himself in the

boat, ordering his men to take a strong cable along with them. That the

weather being calm, he rowed round me several times, observed my windows

and wire-lattices that defenced them. That he discovered two staples

upon one side, which was all of boards, without any passage for light.

He then commanded his men to row up to that side, and fastening a cable

to one of the staples, ordered them to tow my chest (as they called it)

towards the ship. When it was there, he gave directions to fasten

another cable to the ring fixed in the cover, and to raise up my chest

with pulleys, which all the sailors were not able to do above two or

three feet. He said they saw my stick and handkerchief thrust out of the

hole, and concluded that some unhappy man must be shut up in the cavity.

I asked whether he or the crew had seen any prodigious birds in the air

about the time he first discovered me? to which he answered, that,

discoursing this matter with the sailors while I was asleep, one of them

said he had observed three eagles flying towards the north, but remarked

nothing of their being larger than the usual size, which I suppose must

be imputed to the great height they were at; and he could not guess the

reason of my question. I then asked the captain how far he reckoned we

might be from land?

He said, by the best computation he could make, we were at least a

hundred leagues. I assured him that he must be mistaken by almost half,

for I had not left the country from whence I came above two hours before

I dropt into the sea. Whereupon he began again to think that my brain

was disturbed, of which he gave me a hint, and advised me to go to bed

in a cabin he had provided. I assured him I was well refreshed with his

good entertainment and company, and as much in my senses as ever I was

in my life.

He then grew serious, and desired to ask me freely whether I were not

troubled in mind by the consciousness of some enormous crime, for which

I was punished by the command of some prince, by exposing me in that

chest, as great criminals in other countries have been forced to sea in

a leaky vessel without provisions; for although he should be sorry to

have taken so ill a man into his ship, yet he would engage his word to

set me safe ashore in the first port where we arrived. He added that his

suspicions were much increased by some very absurd speeches I had

delivered, at first to his sailors, and afterwards to himself, in

relation to my closet chest, as well as by my odd looks and behavior

while I was at supper.

I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did,

from the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me.

And as truth always forceth its way into rational minds, so this honest

worthy gentleman, who had some tincture of learning and very good sense,

was immediately convinced of my candor and veracity. But, farther to

confirm all I had said, I entreated him to give order that my cabinet

should be brought, of which I had the key in my pocket (for he had

already informed me how seamen disposed of my closet). I opened it in

his own presence, and showed him the small collection of rarities I made

in the country from whence I had been so strangely delivered. There was

the comb I had contrived out of the stumps of the king's beard. There

was a collection of needles and pins, from a foot to half a yard long;

four wasps' stings, like joiners' tacks; some combings of the queen's

hair; a gold ring, which one day she made me a present of in a most

obliging manner, taking it from her little finger and throwing it over

my head like a collar. I desired the captain would please to accept this

ring in return of his civilities, which he absolutely refused. Lastly I

desired him to see the breeches I had then on, which were made of a

mouse's skin.

I could force nothing upon him but a footman's tooth, which I observed

him to examine with great curiosity, and found he had a fancy for it. He

received it with abundance of thanks, more than such a trifle could

deserve. It was drawn by an unskilful surgeon, in a mistake, from one of

Glumdalclitch's men, who was affected with the toothache, but it was as

sound as any in his head. I got it cleaned, and put it in my cabinet. It

was about a foot long, and four inches in diameter.

The captain was very well satisfied with this plain relation I had given

him, and said he hoped when we returned to England I would oblige the

world by putting it on paper, and making it public. My answer was, that

I thought we were already overstocked with books of travels; that

nothing could now pass which was not extraordinary; wherein I doubted

some authors less consulted truth than their own vanity, or interest, or

the diversion of ignorant readers, that my story could contain little

besides common events, without those ornamental descriptions of strange

plants, trees, birds, and other animals; or of the barbarous customs and

idolatry of savage people, with which most writers abound. However, I

thanked him for his good opinion, and promised to take the matter into

my thoughts.

He said he wondered at one thing very much, which was, to hear me speak

so loud, asking me whether the king or queen of that country were thick

of hearing. I told him it was what I had been used to for above two

years past, and that I wondered as much at the voices of him and his

men, who seemed to me only to whisper, and yet I could hear them well

enough. But when I spoke in that country, it was like a man talking in

the street to another looking out from the top of a steeple, unless when

I was placed on a table, or held in any person's hand. I told him I had

likewise observed another thing, that when I first got into the ship,

and the sailors stood all about me, I thought they were the most

contemptible little creatures I had ever beheld. For indeed, while I was

in that prince's country, I could never endure to look in a glass, after

my eyes had been accustomed to such prodigious objects, because the

comparison gave me so despicable a conceit of myself. The captain said

that while we were at supper he observed me to look at everything with a

sort of wonder, and that I often seemed hardly able to contain my

laughter, which he knew not well how to take, but imputed it to some

disorder in my brain. I answered, it was very true, and I wondered how I

could forbear, when I saw his dishes of the size of a silver threepence,

a leg of pork hardly a mouthful, a cup not so big as a nut-shell, and so

I went on, describing the rest of his household stuff and provisions

after the same manner. For although the queen had ordered a little

equipage of all things necessary for me, while I was in her service,

yet my ideas were wholly taken up with what I saw on every side of me,

and I winked at my own littleness, as people do at their own faults. The

captain understood my raillery very well, and merrily replied that he

did not observe my stomach so good, although I had fasted all day; and,

continuing in his mirth, protested he would have gladly given a hundred

pounds to have seen my closet in the eagle's bill, and afterwards in its

fall from so great a height into the sea; which would certainly have

been a most astonishing object, worthy to have the description of it

transmitted to future ages: and the comparison of Phaeton[90] was so

obvious, that he could not forbear applying it, although I did not much

admire the conceit.

[Illustration: "MY DAUGHTER KNEELED BUT I COULD NOT SEE HER" P. 109.]

The captain having been at Tonquin, was, in his return to England,

driven northeastward, to the latitude of 44 degrees, and of longitude

143. But meeting a trade-wind two days after I came on board him, we

sailed southward a long time, and, coasting New Holland, kept our course

west-south-west, and then south-south-west, till we doubled the Cape of

Good Hope. Our voyage was very prosperous, but I shall not trouble the

reader with a journal of it. The captain called in at one or two ports,

and sent in his long-boat for provisions and fresh water, but I never

went out of the ship till we came into the Downs, which was on the third

day of June, 1706, about nine months after my escape. I offered to leave

pay goods in security for payment of my freight, but the captain

protested he would not receive one farthing. We took a kind leave of

each other, and I made him promise he would come to see me at my house

in Redriff. I hired a horse and guide for five shillings, which I

borrowed of the captain.

As I was on the road, observing the littleness of the houses--the trees,

the cattle, and the people, I began to think myself in Lilliput. I was

afraid of trampling on every traveller I met, and often called aloud to

have them stand out of the way, so that I had like to have gotten one or

two broken heads for my impertinence.

When I came to my own house, for which I was forced to inquire, one of

the servants opened the door, I bent down to go in (like a goose under a

gate), for fear of striking my head. My wife ran out to embrace me, but

I stooped lower than her knees, thinking she could otherwise never be

able to reach my mouth. My daughter kneeled to ask my blessing, but I

could not see her till she arose, having been so long used to stand with

my head and eyes erect to above sixty feet; and then I went to take her

up with one hand by the waist. I looked down upon the servants, and one

or two friends who were in the house, as if they had been pygmies, and I

a giant. I told my wife she had been too thrifty, for I found she had

starved herself and her daughter to nothing. In short, I behaved myself

so unaccountably, that they were all of the captain's opinion when he

first saw me, and concluded I had lost my wits. This I mention as an

instance of the great power of habit and prejudice.

In a little time, I and my family and friends came to a right

understanding: but my wife protested I should never go to sea any more;

although my evil destiny so ordered, that she had not power to hinder

me, as the reader may know hereafter. In the meantime I here conclude

the second part of my unfortunate voyages.

[Illustration]

NOTE.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1667, and died in 1745.

His parents were English. His father died before he was born, and his

mother was supported on a slender pittance by his father's brother. He

was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and all through his early life

was dependent on the generosity of others. His college career was not

highly creditable, either from the point of view of manners, morals, or

learning. After leaving college, he travelled through England on foot,

and found employment with a relative of his mother's, Sir William

Temple, in whose house was a noble library; and for two years Swift made

up for some of his shortcomings by studying diligently therein. He went

to Oxford in 1692, took a degree and was ordained in 1694. He was given

a parish in Ireland, which he soon resigned, returning to the home of

Sir William Temple, where he remained until the death of the latter in

1699.

Temple left Swift a legacy, and confided to him the editing and

publishing of his works. This task completed, Swift went again to

Ireland to another parish, and threw himself into political

pamphleteering with great effect, one of the results of his exertions

being the securing of freedom from taxation for the Irish clergy. He

subsequently became Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin, and for a period

achieved great popularity owing to his powerful political writings.

While in what he called his "exile" he wrote _Gulliver's Travels_, which

was at first published anonymously, the secret of the authorship being

so closely guarded that the publisher did not know who was the author.

Dr. Johnson characterized it as "A production so new and strange that it

filled the reader with admiration and amazement. It was read by the high

and low, the learned and the illiterate." In this work, Jonathan Swift

appears as one of the greatest masters of English we have ever had; as

endowed with an imaginative genius inferior to few; as a keen and

pitiless critic of the world, and a bitter misanthropic accounter of

humanity at large. Dean Swift was indeed a misanthrope by theory,

however he may have made exception to private life. His hero, Gulliver,

discovers race after race of beings who typify the genera in his

classification of mankind. Extremely diverting are Gulliver's adventures

among the tiny Lilliputians; only less so are his more perilous

encounters with the giants of Brobdingnag.... By a singular dispensation

of Providence, we usually read the _Travels_ while we are children; we

are delighted with the marvellous story, we are not at all injured by

the poison. Poor Swift! he was conscious of insanity's approach; he

repeated annually Job's curse upon the day of his birth; he died a

madman.

There are numerous biographies of Swift; but probably the best

characterization of the man and his life, rather than of his books, is

to be found in Thackeray's _English Humorists_, and a closer study of

the man and his works in Leslie Stevenson's "Swift," in Morley's

_English Men of Letters_. The other biographies of him are: Lord Orrery

_Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift_, 1751; Hawkes,

on his life, 1765; Sheridan's life, 1785; Forster's life, 1875

(unfinished); Henry Craik's life (1882). The best edition of Swift's

writings and correspondence is that edited by Scott, 1824.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Redriff Rotherhithe_: then a Thames side village, now part of

London.

[2] _Pound_: nearly five dollars.

[3] _Levant_: the point where the sun rises. The countries about the

eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and its adjoining waters.

[4] _Mrs._: it was formerly the custom to call unmarried women Mrs.

[5] _The South Sea_: the Pacific Ocean.

[6] _Van Diemen's Land_: N.W. from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) and in

latitude 30 degrees 2 minutes would be in Australia or off the West

Coast.

[7] _Cable's length_: about six hundred or seven hundred feet.

[8] _Buff jerkin_ a leather jacket or waistcoat.

[9] _Small_: weak, thin.

[10] _Signet-royal_: the king's seal.

[11] _Half-pike_ a short wooden staff, upon one end of which was a

steel head.

[12] _Stang_: an old word for a perch, sixteen feet and a half, also

for a rood of ground.

[13] _Chairs_: a sedan chair is here meant. It held one person, and

was carried by two men by means of projecting poles.

[14] _Crest_: a decoration to denote rank.

[15] _Lingua Franca_: a language--Italian mixed with Arabic, Greek,

and Turkish--used by Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Italians trading with

Arabs, Turks, and Greeks. It is the commercial language of

Constantinople.

[16] _Imprimis_: in the first place, (pr.) im pri' mis.

[17] _Lucid_: shining, transparent.

[18] _Yeomen of the guards_: freemen forming the bodyguard of the

sovereign.

[19] _Pocket perspective_: a small spy-glass or telescope.

[20] _Trencher_: a wooden plate or platter.

[21] _Corn_: such grains as wheat, rye, barley, oats.

[22] _Quadrant_: an instrument long used for measuring altitudes.

[23] _Skirt_: coat-tail.

[24] _Alcoran_ the Koran or Mohammedan Bible.

[25] _Embargo_: an order not to sail.

[26] _Discompose them_: displace them.

[27] _Puissant_: powerful.

[28] _Junto_: a body of men secretly united to gain some political

end.

[29] _Pulling_: plucking and drawing, preparatory to cooking,

[30] _Meaner_: of lower rank.

[31] _Portion_: the part of an estate given to a child.

[32] _Domestic_: the household and all pertaining thereto.

[33] _Exchequer bills_: bills of credit issued from the exchequer by

authority of parliament.

[34] _Close chair_: sedan chair.

[35] _Cabal_: a body of men united for some sinister purpose.

[36] _Lee side_: side sheltered from the wind.

[37] _Ancient_: flag, corrupted from ensign.

[38] _Downs_: A famous natural roadstead off the southeast coast of

Kent, between Goodwin Sands and the mainland, south of the Thames

entrance.

[39] _Black Bull_: inns in England are often named after animals with

an adjective descriptive of the color of the sign; as, _The Golden

Lion, The White Horse_.

[40] _Towardly_: apt, docile.

[41] _Straits of Madagascar_: Mozambique Channel.

[42] _The line_: the equator.

[43] _Hinds_: peasants; rustics.

[44] _Pistoles_: about three dollars and sixty cents.

[45] _Trencher-side_: up to his trencher or wooden plate.

[46] _Discovering_: Showing.

[47] _From London Bridge to Chelsea_: about three miles as the birds

fly.

[48] _Pillion_: a cushion for a woman to ride on behind a person on

horseback. _From London to St. Alban's_: about twenty miles.

[49] _Pumpion_: pumpkin.

[50] _Parts_: accomplishments.

[51] _Sanson's Atlas_: a very large atlas by a French geographer in

use in Swift's time.

[52] _As good a hand of me_: as much money of me.

[53] _Moidore_: a Portuguese gold piece worth about six dollars.

[54] _Guineas_: an obsolete English gold coin, of the value of five

dollars.

[55] _Phoenix_: a bird of fable said to live for a long time and rise

anew from its own ashes.

[56] _Cabinet_: a private room.

[57] _Scrutoire_: a writing-desk.

[58] _Waiting_: attendance on the king.

[59] _Lusus naturae_: a freak of nature.

[60] _Royal Sovereign_: one of the great ships of Swift's time.

[61] _Dunstable lark_: large larks are caught on the downs near

Dunstable between September and February, and sent to London for

luxurious tables.

[62] _Drone_: the largest tube of a bag-pipe, giving forth a dull

heavy tone.

[63] _Gresham College_, in London, is named after the founder, an

English merchant, who died in 1579.

[64] _The square of_: as large as the square of.

[65] _Salisbury Steeple_: this is about four hundred feet high.

[66] _Battalia_: the order of battle.

[67] _Espalier_: a lattice upon which fruit-trees or shrubs are

trained.

[68] _Scull_: a short oar.

[69] _Starboard or larboard_: right or left.

[70] _Corking-pin_: a larger-sized pin.

[71] _Stomacher_: a broad belt.

[72] _Varlet_: knave.

[73] _Levee_: a ceremonious visit received by a distinguished person

in the morning.

[74] _Spinet_: a stringed instrument, a forerunner of our piano.

[75] _Closet_: private room.

[76] _Signal_: memorable.

[77] _Chancery_: a high court of equity.

[78] _Glossing_: commenting.

[79] _Dionysius of Halicarnassus_ was born about the middle of the

first century, B.C.; he endeavored in his history to relieve his Greek

countrymen from the mortification they had felt in their subjection to

the Romans, and patched up an old legend about Rome being of Greek

origin and therefore their "political mother."

[80] _Ideas, entities, abstractions, transcendentals_, words used in

that philosophy which deals with thinking, existence, and things

beyond the senses.

[81] _Mercurial_: active, spirited.

[82] _Composition_: compact, agreement.

[83] _Progress_: an old term for the travelling of the sovereign to

different parts of his country.

[84] _Tumbrel_: a rough cart.

[85] _Page_: a serving-boy, and especially one who waits on a person

of rank.

[86] _Quarry_: prey.

[87] _Squash_: shock, concussion.

[88] _To rights_ speedily.

[89] _To make_ To get alongside.

[90] _Phaeton_ a son of Apollo who was dashed into the river Endanus

for his foolhardiness in attempting to drive the steeds of the sun for

one day.