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|
Gulliver's Travels (1726) |
Jonathan Swift |
| 1 | THUS, Gentle Reader, I have given thee a faithful History of my Travels for Sixteen Years, and above Seven Months, wherein I have not been so studious of Ornament as Truth. I could perhaps like others have astonished thee with strange improbable Tales; but I rather chose to relate plain Matter of Fact in the simplest Manner and Style, because my principal Design was to inform, and not to amuse thee. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | IT is easy for us who travel into remote Countries, which are seldom visited by Englishmen or other Europeans, to form Descriptions of wonderful Animals both at Sea and Land. Whereas a Traveller's chief Aim should be to make Men wiser and better, and to improve their Minds by the bad as well as good Example of what they deliver concerning foreign Places. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |
I COULD heartily wish a Law was
enacted, that every Traveller before he
were permitted to publish his Voyages,
should be obliged to make Oath before
the Lord High Chancellor that all he intended to print was absolutely true to
the best of his Knowledge; for then the
World would no longer be deceived as
it usually is, while some Writers, to make
their Works pass the better upon the
Publick, impose the grossest Falsities on
the unwary Reader. I have perused
several Books of Travels with great Delight in my younger Days; but having
since gone over most Parts of the Globe,
and been able to contradict many fabulous Accounts from my own Observation, it hath given me a great Disgust against this Part of Reading, and
some Indignation to see the Credulity
of Mankind so impudently abused.
Therefore since my Acquaintance were
pleased to think my poor Endeavours
might not be unacceptable to my Country, I imposed on myself as a Maxim,
never to be swerved from, that I would
strictly adhere to Truth; neither indeed
can I be ever under the least temptations to vary from it, while I retain
in my Mind the Lectures and Example of my Noble Master, and the other
Illustrious Houyhnhnms, of whom I had
so long the Honour to be an humble
Hearer.
| 4 |
I KNOW very well how little Reputation is to be got by Writings which
require neither Genius nor Learning,
nor indeed any other Talent, except a
good Memory, or an exact Journal. I
know likewise, that Writers of Travels,
like Dictionary-Makers, are sunk into
Oblivion by the Weight and Bulk of
those who come after, and therefore
lie uppermost. And it is highly probable, that such Travellers who shall hereafter visit the Countries described in
this Work of mine, may by detecting
my Errors, (if there be any) and adding many new Discoveries of their
own, justle me out of Vogue, and stand
in my Place, making the World forget
that I was ever an Author. This indeed would be too great a Mortification
if I wrote for Fame: But, as my sole
Intention was the PUBLICK GOOD,
I cannot be altogether disappointed. For
who can read of the Virtues I have
mentioned in the Glorious Houyhnhnms,
without being ashamed of his own
Vices, when he considers himself as the
reasoning, governing Animal of his
Country? I shall say nothing of those
remote Nations where Yahoos preside,
amongst which the least corrupted are
the Brobdingnagians, whose wise Maxims in Morality and Government,
it would be our Happiness to observe.
But I forbear descanting farther, and
rather leave the Judicious Reader to his
own Remarks and Applications.
| 5 |
I AM not a little pleased that this
Work of mine can possibly meet with
no Censurers: For what Objections can
be made against a Writer who relates
only plain Facts that happened in such
distant Countries, where we have not
the least Interest with respect either to
Trade or Negotiations? I have carefully avoided every Fault with which common Writers of Travels are often too
justly charged. Besides, I meddle not
with any Party, but write without Passion, Prejudice, or Ill-will against any
Man or number of Men whatsoever. I
write for the noblest End, to inform
and instruct Mankind, over whom I
may, without Breach of Modesty, pretend to some Superiority from the Advantages I received by conversing so
long among the most accomplished
Houyhnhnms. I write without any view
towards Profit or Praise. I never suffer a Word to pass that may look like
Reflection, or possibly give the least Offence even to those who are most ready
to take it. So that I hope I may with
Justice pronounce myself an Author
perfectly blameless, against whom the
Tribes of Answerers, Considerers, Observers, Reflecters, Detecters, Remarkers will never be able to find Matter for
exercising their Talents.
| 6 |
I CONFESS, it was whispered to me,
that I was bound in Duty as a Subject
of England, to have given in a Memorial to a Secretary of State, at my first
coming over; because, whatever Lands
are discovered by a Subject belong to
the Crown. But I doubt whether our
Conquests in the Countries I treat of,
would be as easy as those of Ferdinando
Cortez over the naked Americans. The
Lilliputians I think, are hardly worth the
Charge of a Fleet and Army to reduce
them, and I question whether it might
be prudent or safe to attempt the Brobdingnagians. Or whether an English Army
would be much at their ease with the
Flying Island over their Heads. The
Houyhnhnms, indeed, appear not to be
so well prepared for War, a Science to
which they are perfect Strangers, and
especially against missive Weapons.
However, supposing myself to be a Minister of State, I could never give my
Advice for invading them. Their Prudence, Unanimity, Unacquaintedness
with Fear, and their Love of their
Country would amply supply all Defects in the Military Art. Imagine
Twenty thousand of them breaking into the midst of an European Army,
confounding the Ranks, overturning the
Carriages, battering the Warriors Faces
into Mummy, by terrible Yerks from
their hinder Hoofs. For they would
well deserve the Character given to Augustus; | 7 |
BUT I had another Reason which
made me less forward to enlarge his
Majesty's Dominions by my Discovery.
To say the truth, I had conceived a
few Scruples with relation to the Distributive Justice of Princes upon those
Occasions. For instance, A Crew of
Pyrates are driven by a Storm they
know not whither, at length a Boy
discovers Land from the Top-mast,
they go on Shore to Rob and Plunder; they see an harmless People, are
entertained with Kindness, they give
the Country a new Name, they take
formal Possession of it for their King,
they set up a rotten Plank or a Stone
for a Memorial, they murder two or
three Dozen of the Natives, bring
away a Couple more by Force for a
Sample, return home, and get their
Pardon. Here commences a new Dominion acquired with a Title by Divine Right. Ships are sent with the
first Opportunity, the Natives driven
out or destroyed, their Princes tortured to discover their Gold; a free
Licence given to all Acts of Inhumanity and Lust, the Earth reeking with
the Blood of its Inhabitants: And this
execrable Crew of Butchers employed
in so pious an Expedition, is a modern Colony sent to convert and civilize an idolatrous and barbarous People.
| 8 |
BUT this Description, I confess, doth
by no means affect the British Nation,
who may be an Example to the whole
World for their Wisdom, Care, and
Justice in Planting Colonies; their liberal Endowments for the Advancement of
Religion and Learning; their Choice
of devout and able Pastors to
propagate Christianity, their Caution in
stocking their Provinces with People
of sober Lives and Conversations from
this the Mother Kingdom; their strict
regard to the Distribution of Justice,
in supplying the Civil Administration
through all their Colonies with Officers of the greatest Abilities, utter
strangers to Corruption; and to crown
all, by sending the most Vigilant and
Virtuous Governors, who have no other Views than the Happiness of the
People over whom they preside, and
the Honour of the King their Master.
| 9 |
BUT, as those Countries which I
have described, do not appear to have a
Desire of being conquered, and enslaved,
murdered or driven out by Colonies,
nor abound either in Gold, Silver, Sugar or Tobacco; I did humbly conceive they were by no means proper
Objects of our Zeal, our Valour, or
our Interest. However, if those whom
it may concern, think fit to be of
another Opinion, I am ready to depose, when I shall be lawfully called,
That no European did ever visit these
Countries before me. I mean, if the
Inhabitants ought to be believed; unless a Dispute may arise about the two
Yahoos, said to have been seen many
Ages ago on a Mountain in Houyhnhnmland, from whence the Opinion is,
that the Race of those Brutes hath
descended; and these, for any thing I
know, may have been English, which
indeed I was apt to suspect from the
Lineaments of their Posterity's Countenances, although very much defaced.
But, how far that will go to make out
a Title, I leave to the Learned in Colony-Law.
| 10 |
BUT as to the Formality of taking
Possession in my Sovereign's Name, it
never came onoce into my Thoughts;
and if it had, yet as my Affairs then
stood, I should perhaps in point of
Prudence and Self-preservation, have
put if off to a better Opportunity.
| 11 |
HAVING thus answered the only
objection that can ever be raised against me as a Traveller, I here take
a final Leave of all my Courteous Readers, and return to enjoy my own Speculations in my little Garden at Reddriff, to apply those excellent Lessons
of Virtue which I learned among the
Houyhnhnms, to instruct the Yahoos of
my own Family as far as I shall find
them docible Animals, to behold my Figure often in a Glass, and thus if possible
habituate myself by time to tolerate
the sight of a human Creature: To lament the Brutality of Houyhnhnms in
my own Country, but always treat
their Persons with Respect, for the
sake of my noble Master, his Family,
his Friends, and the whole Houyhnhnm
Race, whom these of ours have the
Honour to resemble in all their
Lineaments, however their Intellectuals came
to degenerate.
| 12 |
I BEGAN last Week to permit my
Wife to sit at Dinner with me, at the
farthest End of a long Table, and to
answer (but with the utmost brevity)
the few Questions I ask'd her. Yet the
smell of a Yahoo continuing very offensive, I always keep my Nose well stopt
with Rue, Lavender, or Tobaccoleaves. And although it be hard for
a Man late in life to remove old Habits, I am not altogether out of Hopes
in some time to suffer a Neighbour
Yahoo in my Company without the Apprehensions I am yet under of his
Teeth or his Claws.
| 13 |
MY Reconcilement to the Yahoo\-
kind in general might not be so difficult if they would be content with
those Vices and Follies only, which Nature hath intitled them to. I am not
in the least provoked at the Sight of
a Lawyer, a Pick-pocket, a Colonel,
a Fool, a Lord, a Gamester, a Politician, a | 14 |
BUT the Houyhnhnms, who live under the Government of Reason, are no
more proud of the good Qualities they
possess, than I should be for not wanting a Leg or an Arm, which no Man
in his Wits would boast of, although
he must be miserable without them.
I dwell the longer upon this Subject
from the Desire I have to make the
Society of an English Yahoo by any
means not insupoortable, and therefore
I here entreat those who have any Tincture of this absurd Vice, that they
will not presume to come in my
Sight. | FINIS. |
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